Behold Your God!

, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 for our time of study in, in God's word. we have chosen the book of First Timothy, which is a part of God's revelation and we've been working through it a verse at a time, taking breaks here and there, but we're going to re-enter today into our study of this book and our entry point will be right in the middle of verse 15 of chapter 6, and we'll look at verse, the second half of verse 15 through, verse 16, and if you want to give a title to the message, it is behold your God.

Behold your God.

When I say behold, see, look, stare at your God. Essentially, that's what Paul is going to lead us in doing. All we're going to do today is just stare at God through the eyes of the The apostle Paul. as we, begin to do that though, let me just share a few thoughts, with you, regarding the notion of staring at God.

First of all, I want to encourage you guys with the thought that it's OK to stare. OK, it's OK to stare at God. We have an unwritten rule in our culture that, that it's not polite to stare. We've as parents have probably even said that to our children.

We don't like being stared at, and we feel uncomfortable even staring at other people. Sometimes if we'll notice someone. staring at us, like in our peripheral vision, we'll, we'll like turn to that person, maybe give them a dirty look like, what are you looking at? or we'll just stare back until they, they turn away, because we, we don't like being stared at.

And then there are times I know I've done this where like you're staring at somebody, and they don't know that you're staring, because they're looking somewhere else, but then they turn in your direction, and so you just turn away. And, and then when they turn back, and they're not looking, you continue staring. And, and I don't know why that is, but I, for some reason, I think we feel uncomfortable being caught staring at somebody for whatever. A reason, but I want to let that when it comes to your relationship with God, God's totally OK with you staring.

In fact, he commands that like in Hebrews 12:2 says, fix your eyes on Jesus. In other words, stare at him continuously. So you're never going to be staring at Jesus, and he's going to respond and say, What are you looking at? Why are you staring at me?

That's actually what God wants for all of us. as we stare, our goal is to learn about what we're staring at. In fact, believe it or not, there's actually been a book written on the subject of staring, by a professor at Emory University. And the title of the book is Staring How We Look.

In other words, like how we, how we look at people, and this particular study that she did that the book was based on was more from the vantage point of the staree, the person being looked at. And so she interviewed people that were frequently stared at for positive or negative reasons and really did a study of that and she put her findings in this book and actually wrote a book and said profound things like what you see on the screen. staring is a starer's quest to know and a staree's opportunity to be known, and that's actually quite profound, especially when you think of our relationship with God.

We stare at God because we want to know Him, and He, the staree, loves the opportunity to be known by God.

Maybe some reasons, one of the reasons we don't like to be stared at is we don't want to be examined too closely. but God doesn't mind that at all. not only is it OK to stare at God, but actually, I would try to make the point this morning that we need to stare at God. It is in our best interest.

We absolutely need this, for a few reasons. in my opinion, world events demand that we stare at God. these are some, Breathtaking days that we're living in and there's a lot to be troubled by. There's the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that just the best minds with millions of dollars behind their efforts have not been able to.

To bring to a stop, and I hope maybe they can figure out something sooner rather than later, but some have suggested this could go on for months and already millions and millions of gallons have been released into the ocean. It's the worst oil spill in United States history. In addition to that, there's the crisis that's developing in the Middle East with the commandos landing on that aid vessel that was heading toward Gaza, and they were attacked and they also fired their firearms and And some people were killed and there's been international condemnation over that and no doubt there's probably going to be reprisals and some back and forth that may escalate, hopefully it doesn't, but there's a lot to be concerned about there.

In addition to that, just the global economy is something of profound concern that's been roiling the markets.

Recently, and Greece is, there's a lot of concern about it defaulting as a sovereign nation, which would be absolutely a colossal thing to develop, and their people are rioting because they don't like the austerity measures that are being implemented in order to try to figure out some way to stay solvent as a country. There's concerns about Spain. In Portugal and in the latter part of last week there began to be some whisperings about Hungary and there's and all the markets globally have been responding to these profound concerns and as we see that roller coaster ride, the brightest, most powerful minds in the world are observing some of these things and And don't know what to do about them.

There are problems that are very deeply entrenched that the powers that be are not able to fully solve.

In addition to that, even in our own government, there's a poisonous atmosphere in Washington DC between The two political parties that doesn't show a lot of promise in the days to come. And so I don't know, just reading the headlines lately and seeing all the things that there are to be concerned about and seeing how the potentates of this world, the powers that be, the kings and the princes and the presidents and so forth, how they, they're looking at these things and, and they're troubled by these.

Things and having trouble coming up with a solution for these matters of grave concern and it's very important for us as Christians to, yes, understand the times that we're in and to be clued into that, but then to lift our eyes from these earthly powers and to gaze at our God. We need it.

World events demand it. I would also suggest that our own personal sanctification and transformation demands it and depends upon it. one of my favorite verses in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 3:18, and it's a remarkable revelation. Paul figured out this thing about personal deep-seated transformation.

And it's actually quite simple. He says, as, as we are beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image. He says, what I figured out is I just stare at God and His glory, and I catch myself undergoing a metamorphosis into the very image of the God that I am beholding. And so if you're in this room and maybe there's, there's ways that that you need to change and grow, there's stuff in your character that doesn't belong there and you want to get rid of it, and there's things that are not in your character that should be there and you want to see those things.

be transformed into being in your character. And there's a lot of transformation that needs to happen. And that, you need to stare at God. There's no more practical thing that you can do to generate transformation than to spend your life gazing at God.

And I would also say that our souls demand it. That's really ultimately what we crave. Listen to what John Piper says in his book, the Supremacy of God and preaching. He says people are starving for the greatness of God.

that's what, and I think he would say everyone is starving for the greatness of God. whether they're Christians or non-Christians, ultimately, that is their deep rooted appetite. They don't know that's what they're starving for. They think they're starving for this or that or the other that the world has to offer.

But at its root, they are starving for the greatness of God. Look what he says next, but most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. They don't know that that's the problem, that that's really what they're hungering for. They think they're hungering for this relationship or, or this pleasure or this entertainment or whatever the world has to offer.

They think that's what they hunger for. But then they do those things or they obtain those things, and they're still left unsatisfied, because ultimately what they're starving for is the greatness of God. Piper then says the majesty of God is an unknown cure. It's the ultimate cure.

And yet it's unknown. There are far more popular prescriptions on the market, but the benefit of any other remedy is brief and shallow compared to the benefit of just gazing at, staring at the majesty and the greatness of God. Profound things happen when we do that. And so we're going to join Paul in doing this most practical activity of just beholding God.

Let me read the passage today, beginning in verse. let me start in verse 13. He says, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. And now, here he goes staring.

He who is the blessed and only. Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to Him be the honor and eternal dominion. Amen. There are 6 truths that That we can observe about God in this verse and a half if we stare at God through the lens of this text of Scripture, and the first of those truths is that God is the ultimate and the only sovereign.

God is the ultimate and the only sovereign. Look what he says in the middle of verse 15. He who is the blessed and, and here's the two words we'll focus on, an only sovereign. The only sovereign, the word that is translated only is the Greek word monos, from which we get like mono monochrome, for example, and the word for sovereign is dynastas from which we get what?

Dynasty. OK. Throughout China's history there were various dynasties of rule that lasted for varying lengths of time. In the mind of Paul throughout human history we've all been operating throughout that entire history under the go dynasty.

He has always been in charge. He is the sovereign ruler, and he says he is the mono sovereign. He is the ultimate and the only sovereign. In fact, look at what he says next.

And, and what you see on the screen is a literal rendering of this. He is the King of kinging ones. In other words, he's the king of those who are doing kinging, or reigning, and he is the Lord of the lording ones. So what he's saying is God is the only sovereign.

And you might say, well, there's other kings and lords that I see. And Paul says, well, go ahead and look at them too and realize that God is the king of those who are doing kinging. And he is the Lord of every lord on planet Earth. He is the ultimate.

And only sovereign Lord and King of the universe. This means many things to us that can help us as we go through life. It means that God is in total control. There's not one maverick molecule in the universe.

God is in absolute and total control over all of the Affairs of nations over oil spills, everything that we see happening today, it may feel chaotic and feel out of control, and people's hearts may melt because of fear. But we, as we gaze at God, see a God who is absolutely sovereign and in total control over every detail. And so we do not fret the way that others do. We also learned from this that not only is God in total control, But if he's the mono sovereign, what that means is that all other sovereigns, all other potentates, all other kings and lord, lords that we see on earth, their lordship and their power is merely a derived power.

It's a received power that God, the ultimate Lord, has chosen to grant to them. Listen to some of these words from the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 2, it says Daniel answered and said, Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him, and it is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings and establishes kings.

So God is the absolute sovereign monarch of the universe over all the affairs of mankind, and God is the one who takes down kings and establishes kings in their place. In Daniel chapter 4, verse 32, it says the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and he bestows it on whomever he wishes. Anyone in our world today and throughout human history who has ever ascended to the presidency, or any position of office, senator, representative, King, whatever, they have assumed that position because they have been granted that position by a sovereign God.

Who has allowed them to serve in that position in order to serve His ultimate purposes in human history, to bring human history to that ultimate climax when God unveils His Son at the second coming.

And he Comes to the world. We see that described at the end of the book of Revelation and referred to in many places in the New Testament. And even those that are in power, kings and senators and presidents and so forth, that even in their many moments of decision making, they only have the power to decide what God sovereignly allows them to decide. This is taught in Proverbs 21:1.

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. Whatever decisions are made. they are ultimately serving God's purposes and history of bringing it to its ultimate climax.

I would also say, guys, that aside from those in positions of political or national power, there are people that you have in your life that I have in my life who have power. They have power to hurt us. They have power to do good. They, they have power to say or do things that might change, affect our day or ruin our day or bring pain or bring tears.

So there are people in our lives that have power, but we need to know that God is the ultimate power, the ultimate sovereign. No one ever does a thing to us. That God has not sovereignly allowed because God intends to use that ultimately for our good and His glory. In John chapter 19, Jesus has already been scourged.

He's been whipped. He's been mocked by the Roman soldiers. A crown of thorns has been placed upon his head, and now he's standing before Pilate, and Pilate, is asking Jesus questions, and Jesus doesn't answer him. And so Pilate takes offense at that and look what it says in John 19:10.

So Pilate said to him, You do not speak to me. Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to crucify you? I don't think there's ever been a dumber thing ever said in history than that. And of all people to say this to Jesus, the King, Verse 11, Jesus answered, you would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above.

Get off your high horse pilot. You only will do what my Father allows you to do to accomplish his purposes. And here's Jesus going throughout this very painful day of a crown of thorns on his brow beaten into his brow and punched and slapped and mocked and ridiculed and whipped again and again and again. And Jesus, he knows theologically that nothing is happening to me today.

Other than what my father has allowed. In order to accomplish his good purposes. God wants us to walk in that same assurance. And so you see the value of just gazing at God and he's the ultimate sovereign.

He's the ultimate Lord. And any power that anyone possesses, politically or in my life, it is a granted power that has been given to them by the mono sovereign, who has all power to give. There's a second thing that we observe that's tied to this, and that is not only is he the ultimate and only sovereign, but he's also a happy sovereign. He is a happy sovereign.

Look at verse 15, which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is the blessed, and only sovereign. So let's put blessed and sovereign together because that's his meaning. God is the blessed sovereign. And that word blessed is Makarios that is used, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are the pure in heart.

Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are those who mourn. This word means very simply to be happy, to be enviably happy. And so what we have here is, as Paul is beholding God, he sees an absolute monarch who has total power.

And he also observes that he's a happy sovereign. He's happy with who he is. He's happy in the position that he holds. He's happy with With his exertion of might.

He's a happy sovereign. We, we need to look at happy sovereign, a happy sovereign, do we not? In fact, listen to what Ironside said back in the late 40s. Apparently this was true then, it's even more true today.

He says, I do not think there is any happy potentate now. I am sure the kings of Europe and in other lands are far from happy, nor are presidents of presidents of republics in any more cheerful state. No, there are no happy potentates today. They are so hampered by conflicting principles and contesting political parties that they find themselves almost helpless to carry out the things which they believe are for the betterment of the nations.

As he looked around, he says, I don't, I don't see any happy king, any happy sovereign, just in the circumstances that they found themselves in during that day. And what, we can say the same thing. I, I, I think of our governor here in California, our president, and, some of these people are thinking, why did I run for office? Just this.

In fact, the joke after Obama won the election was that someone came up to him and said, looks like you won the election. You're now President of the United States, and he says, Wait a minute, I demand a recount, indicating, making a joke of the fact that, do you really want the presidency of this country during this extremely difficult time? And then, the way we are as a country, we, we never really make up our mind politically and so we'll elect a president from one political party because we're upset with the other political party.

And then we've got to wait 4 years, if we want to change our mind, but there's a 2 year point where the midterm elections occur and it's like, well, what, maybe we can, he's still in office, but we don't want to have him do everything he wants to do.

We're not sure we trust him, so let's balance this out and put some people of the opposing party in office as senators and representatives so that there's a balance of power. What we're indicating is we don't really trust. Anyone that is being elected, and I'm speaking as a national consciousness, but that creates, protects the American people from maybe a lot of dumb things being done, but it creates a lot of frustration for those that are in these offices. But as we lift our eyes beyond all of that mess, we see a happy potentate who is happy.

why? Because he's the absolute monarch and he does absolutely everything he wants to do. Listen to what it says in Daniel chapter 4, verse 35. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He, God does according to His will in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off his hand and say to him, What are you doing?

God does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. And as he begins to move with his arm, no one can stop his hand and say, wait a minute, explain yourself. This is why God rejoices in His role. This does not mean that God is not displeased with sin and grieves over sin and is not angry with the wicked every day.

Who of us in this room can even begin to understand the emotional complexity, the infinite emotional complexity of God, but at his core he is a happy monarch ruling over the universe that He has created. Psalm 135:6, it says, All that He, God, pleases, he does. In heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deep. Psalm 1:15 3, our God is in the heavens.

All that He pleases, he does. Psalm 46, 9 and 10. I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me.

My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my delight forever. That is a happy monarch who does whatever he pleases, and ultimately will see to it that his good pleasure comes to pass. You might say, well, I know one thing he couldn't have been pleased to do. what about the death of his son?

We know that that was planned in human history by, by God, but did that please him? Well, Isaiah 53:10, the Lord was pleased. To crush him. Putting him to grief.

That doesn't mean God did not feel extraordinary pain in that moment. But God was pleased to crush his Son on the cross in order to accomplish his saving purposes. In our lives, and even Jesus was willing to endure the cross. He was pleased to do so.

Hebrews 12:2. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the writer says, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. He endured the cross as painful as it was because he was pursuing a greater joy beyond the cross, and that was the joy of bringing many sons into glory with Him. God is absolutely sovereign.

absolutely powerful. And because of that, he is happy with who he is, happy in his role, all of his good pleasure will ultimately come to pass. We really need to see this view of God. I think some people I have a gut level view of God where God is, my life is supposed to revolve around God, but at the center of my life there's this God who's often angry and upset and depressed, and he's this angry, depressed cosmic killjoy who doesn't want anyone to experience happiness.

And whenever we have happiness or joy, he's rebuking us for that. That is not the biblical view of God. in fact, listen to what this godly person says about what he found about God. Psalm 16:11, literally in the Hebrew text, the psalmist says, In your face is fullness of joy.

Most translations say in your presence, and that's definitely true, but the psalmist is saying, when, when I look into your face, When I look into your countenance, God, I see a fullness of joy and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. God, you have incredible pleasures that will endure forever. In fact, Jesus came into the world in order to give us his joy that he experienced in his love relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And listen to what he says to the disciples and all of us in John 15:11.

He says, these things I've spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you and so that your joy may be full. Jesus says, I, I, I came into this world to be with you. And I'm saying the stuff that I'm saying right now so that the joy that right now is in my bosom may be inside of you. And I know that if that happens, you will have a joy that is full.

At the center of our lives as we seek to orbit our lives around God is this amazingly, infinitely happy God, who's absolutely sovereign. And in control and is bursting with joy. In the relationship that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit enjoy with one another. There's a 3rd thing that we observe about God as we stare at him through the lens of this little section in 1 Timothy chapter 6, and that is that God is the only possessor of immortality.

God is the only possessor of immortality. Look what it says in verse 16, who alone possesses immortality. And again that word alone is monos, so he doesn't just possess immortality, but he's the only one who really possesses immortality. The word immortality is simply the Greek word for death with a negative prefix attached to the beginning of it.

In other words, he is the lone possessor of deathlessness. OK. obviously that means that God will live forever, right? And that's good news for us because as long as God lives, he's going to rule, and as long as he lives, we will be saved and forgiven and redeemed as long as God lives.

Our salvation will last as long as our Savior God lives. But it also means not only that he will live forever, but that, that even right now, there's no death that is working in him in any way, shape or form. God is not dying in any way. He is not lessening or diminishing in any way, shape or form.

One of the things I've noticed about me. is that I'm not deathless. and, if I look at a picture of me 20 years ago, and a pic, and I look at myself in the mirror today, I am not the same yesterday as I am today because death is working inside my body and actually what I've noticed is that my body has already begun to depart. I don't know where it's going, but little by little it's going somewhere, and daily I see the evidence that that my body is slowly but surely a cell at a time just leaving me because death is at work in me physically and so I am not the same person that I was 10 or 15 years ago.

I can't wrestle with some of my children the way that I could have before and accomplish the same superhuman feats that I may have accomplished back then. went for a hike on Monday, felt pain for a couple days after that, that I don't think I would have felt 10 years ago, because I'm not deathless and death is working inside of me. I have death in me that is working in my physical body. God is the lone possessor of deathlessness.

And therefore, our God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Amen. So God today is the same God with the same strength and vitality as the God who parted the Red Sea thousands of years ago. He's the same God today with the same might and strength as he did on the day that He raised His Son explosively from the dead.

On the Sunday after Christ was crucified, he's the same God. He's always the same. He does not age. He does not diminish.

And we need to stare at that fact about our God. Also, for Paul to say that he's the lone possessor of immortality means that any being that has immortality, it's a derived immortality. It's been given, it's been granted, it's been received from God, who's the only God who can give. That immortality.

So angels that may live forever, they live forever dependently on this God who's the lone possessor of the immortality that He gives to them. Those of us that have put our trust in Jesus, and we will live forever with God, that is a derived immortality because God, who's the only one who can give that, has imparted that to us. It is a gift from Him. And I want you to notice that there's an exclusivity to these verses.

In fact, let me try to point this out to you. Go back to verse 15. and underline some words here, which he will bring about at the proper time, He who is the blessed and only sovereign underline the word only. so in other words, he's saying Paul is saying a lot about every other supposed deity or sovereign, and that is they are not sovereign.

God is. He's the only one. Verse 16 who alone possesses, underlying that word alone, in other words, he's the only one that possesses eternal life or immortality, who dwells in unapproachable, underlying the letters UN because that's a negative right there. It's.

Unapproachable light. Look at this, whom no man has seen underlined the word know or can see. Paul is being very sharp and crisp, and he's not just saying something about the Christian God. He's saying much about every other supposed deity.

And what he's saying here is of all the gods that are out there that claim to be gods that people follow in worship, this God is the only one that possesses immortality. He's the only one. And anyone who worships and follows another God in hope of obtaining immortality, they're following a God who simply doesn't have that to give. You understand what Paul's saying there.

God is the only one, the true God, Jehovah God, the God of the Bible is the only one who has this gift in his hands to give. He's the loan possessor. of immortality. He's provided for us a way to obtain that.

Through the gift of His Son, who died and shed His blood so that our sins might be forgiven, and as we believe in Him, we're brought into sonship. He imparts his life to us. And we live forever with the life of God inside of us. There's a 4th thing that we behold as we stare at God.

Through the lens of this verse and a half, and that is that God dwells in unapproachable light. God dwells in unapproachable light. Look what he says in verse 16, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light. OK.

God is light, we know that, but that's not really what Paul is saying. he's saying God is housed in light. The word dwells is that Greek word oikos that means home or house, and so God inhabits it speaking of God's habitation, which is what it's heaven. Heaven is a place of light and not just light, but it's unapproachable light.

In other words, it is the light that us right now in our present physical bodies could never handle, or it would kill us. We would not be able to approach it if somehow we did. We would instantly be killed. We could not handle this light.

He's also indicating here that it's a light that God won't allow anyone to approach. God is being very exclusive. I do not allow just anyone to approach and enter into this light. I hope you guys realize that the Bible teaches that a day is coming when people will try to get into heaven, and God will disallow them.

He will not allow them to get into heaven. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will, will essentially enter into heaven, and they're going to say, Hey, Lord, I did this, I did that, and look at these good deeds I did, and Jesus is going to say, You're disallowed. You cannot come in. The light that is here is not approachable by you.

Because you are a worker of iniquity. and of sin. In Revelation, we have a description of the new Jerusalem and the new heavens and the new earth and, and we're we're told what's inside like the city, but then look at what it says in Revelation 22:15. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying.

We're told those who will be inside that light, and those who will be left outside. And what, God, In excluding the dogs and sorcerers, immoral persons and so forth in life, in excluding them from heaven, God is actually showing love to those whom He's allowing in. Does that make sense? He's protecting those whom He's allowing in.

You won't have to deal with this anymore, OK. And Timothy, who is in the city of Ephesus, this would be a great encouragement to him. Timothy's got to deal with false teaching. Paul says, I left you behind there in Ephesus to confront false teachers and to tell them, Stop doing what they're doing.

And there's Hymeneus and there's Alexander and who have made shipwreck of their faith and they're creating hassles for for Timothy and in Chapter 4. Paul says we're in the last times and there's deceitful spirits. There's doctrines of demons, so there's demonic beings that you have to, to be dealing with that Timothy has to deal with. There's hypocrites.

There's liars. There are people and teachers who are seared in their conscience, and as a result of the influence and the hassles of these people and their false teaching. there are people who were a part of the church that are wandering away from the faith. And there's every indication this letter that Timothy would love to be anywhere other than in Ephesus dealing with all this mess.

Paul says, hey, Timothy, a day is coming when you're going to be done with this mess. And you by God's grace will be brought into the light, a light that God will not allow all of these others to enter into. And you will experience all of eternity, not having to deal with this anymore. Think of the hassles.

We deal with with sin from without, but also think of indwelling sin. Don't you long to be done with that mess even inside of you? John MacArthur, I heard him in a message about a year ago say that probably the primary thing he looks forward to in terms of being in heaven is not, is being rid of his sinful flesh and not having to deal with that anymore. What, what a great moment that's going to be.

We should all be delighted by what Paul's saying here, but we should be humbled because, what, not a one of us in this room, including me, deserves to be brought into the light. Right? I am no better than anybody else. None of us in this room that will be brought into the light because we put our trust in Jesus.

We don't deserve to be brought into that light, any more than anyone else. It is God's mercy. It's God's grace. In fact, the only people that can come into the light.

are those that God supernaturally enables to handle the light by glorifying them, and he will only do that to those who acknowledge their bankruptcy and their need for a savior, who confessed their sins and received forgiveness through Jesus Christ. We will spend all of eternity walking around in this light, amazed at the grace of God. And we will also thank God for protecting us from these other elements, excluding these other elements, who would only create eternal hassles for us, and extracting the sinful flesh from our own being and getting rid of that also.

So that we can live forever free of any taint.

Or burden of sin There's a 5th thing that we could observe about God as we stare at him through the lens of, of this verse and a half, and that is that God is not visible to our weak and finite eyes. God is not visible to our weak and finite eyes. what, I don't, I don't know that we would have thought to say this if we're thinking of like the most impressive attributes of God, that we want to glorify Him for, I don't think any of us would have said, Yeah, I know an attribute that's really amazing about God.

And that is that he's invisible.

I don't know that we would have thought of that. But Paul does. his, his heart is welling up with praise as he's, he's just amazed at God beholding him. And look what he says in verse 16, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, or literally has the power to see.

He's saying throughout human history, no one has seen God. No. I think we know what he means by that. Moses saw a portion of God and of God's glory.

Jacob seemed to have seen something of the face of God as he wrestled with that stranger during the night. And Jacob even said, I can't believe I saw the face of God and lived. And there are others, and even Christ came into the world and he says, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And John says, we beheld his glory, glory is of the only begotten of the Father.

So there are levels in which throughout biblical revelation, people have seen God. But I think we all understand that what Paul is saying is that God in the fullness of His glory, Nobody In this state has seen that. And in fact, no one can, because it would kill them. God is invisible.

why? Because he's too great to be seen. maybe sometimes we think, man, it'd be nice if God were visible. Almost like God's invisibility is just something that, man, it would have been nice if God would have thought about that to make himself visible.

And it would have solved every problem. Everyone would believe in him. almost like his invisibility is a nagging problem. But in the mind of Paul, the invisibility of God is, is one of the great attributes of God.

It's a sign of his greatness. God is so great He cannot be seen by these finite. Limited, human fallen, decaying eyeballs. Those who would say, well, God should be visible if he wants us to believe in him.

He should be visible to these eyes, people who think that way and talk that way, they think too highly of these eyes. what I'm saying? They think too much of these eyes. Do you realize that even in the material realm, You, you, if you were to somehow sweep together everything you see throughout your lifetime with your eyes, it's not the smallest.

You can't even measure how small of a fraction of all of matter in the universe. That you would have actually seen compared to what you didn't see. And even What you did see, you still don't see all that there is to see. You might see, for example, a drop of water, but, and you're looking at that with your eyes.

But do you see the 5 sextillion atoms that are in that drop of water? No. By the way, 56 tillion, just write a 5, and then I think 23 zeros after that. That's how many atoms are in a single drop of water.

So you ever seen an atom? no, your eyes can't, your eyes aren't set up to even be able to see that. And this is amazing. I was watching a program recently where They were talking about developing a theory of everything amongst physicists and so forth, and they were talking on this program about the string theory of matter and how that matter is atoms, for example, has as a component part just little strings or waves of energy slash matter that are so small, get this, that are so small.

That if you like went to a drop of water and extracted one of the 5 sextillion atoms, and then you blew that atom up to the size of our solar system, one of these strings would be the size of a tree on Earth, compared to the solar system. You follow that? One wave that's in an atom such as that would be the size of a tree, compared to the size of our entire solar system. Now, I'm not an advocate for the string theory.

I don't even know what I'm talking about here. It may not even be true, but I'll tell you if that theory isn't true. then it's probably because there's something even more amazing that they haven't even been clued into yet. So we don't see all of that.

And even what we do see, for example, the sun, our own sun, we can't stare at the sun at noon. with the naked eye, we can't do that because it would destroy our eyes. And even if we tried, our pupils would, would constrict, our brain would send a signal to our eyeballs to say, close up shop here, and don't let the sunlight in because it will destroy your eyes. So we, we can't even see all that there is to be seen in matter.

And we can't even take in all that there is to see of what we do look at. And so God, God who created all of this, is invisible. He's too great for us to be able to fully behold with these eyes. And he even says in the Bible, if I did give you what you wanted, and I revealed myself and all of my glory, you would die.

It would kill you. It is a mercy at this point in your present state. That I am an invisible God. In heaven though, we will be glorified, we will receive new eyeballs.

And in heaven, Revelation 22 4 and 5, there will be no night, no need for a lamp or sun. The Lord will illumine, and they, the inhabitants of the city, will see his face. We will be able to behold Him in all of His glory and thrive in the sight of that rather than be slain by it. Just in closing, there's a 6th thing that we observe in this passage about God.

As we observe him through the lens of this text, and that is that he is the only one worthy of eternal honor and dominion. Paul says to him, the honor and eternal dominion. Amen. how Paul's responding at the end there as he beholds this God.

He's like, what, this God is worthy of all honor. I don't know who I've been giving honor to up to this point in my life, but he deserves all honor, all adoration, all praise, all worship, all glory. And not only that, but he deserves dominion, which speaks of rule. And eternal dominion.

What Paul is saying is anyone that really beholds God the way that Paul is beholding him here would bow and worship and say, You deserve all honor from me for the rest of my eternal existence, and I want this God to rule me. I want this happy, mono sovereign, ultimate sovereign to be the ruler of me for all of eternity. If we really see God for who He is, we, we would say this, we want this God to rule forever. And we want him to be the ruler of us.

I want him to rule over every part of my day, every part of my life, my relationships, my, my education, my entertainments. this, this God is worthy of all honor, and he's worthy of all rule. I want him to rule me in every way, every day. Through all eternity.

This is your God. And what a God he is. And he's my god too.