Attributes of God - Fixed Numbers

Copyright 2010 by Campus Outreach Birmingham
Publications.
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reviews.
Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations throughout
the study guide portion of this publication are from The
Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by
Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations throughout the commentary portion of
this publication are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,
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Cover design by Pete Collins and Ben Gallant
Interior design and typeset by Joseph Rhea
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Introduction 6
Week 1: Knowability 14
Week 2: Worthiness and Glory 16
Week 3: Ability and Power 18
Week 4: All-Knowing 22
Week 5: Love and Compassion 26
Week 6: Faithfulness and Dependability 30
Week 7: Goodness 34
Week 8: Omnipresence 38
Week 9: Sovereignty 42
Week 10: Holiness and Moral Perfection 46
Week 11: Spirit 50
Week 12: Justice and Wrath 54
Week 13: Father 56
The God You Can Know Study Guide 68
Chapter 1: God: I Want to Know You 70
Chapter 2: The Glory of God 76
Chapter 3: The Perfection of God (Part 1) 80
Chapter 4: The Perfections of God (Part II) 86
Chapter 5: Gods Heart Exposed to the World 90
Chapter 6: What Motivates God? 94
Chapter 7: God: I Want to Worship You 98
Chapter 8: Gods Testimony of Us 102
Chapter 9: Ordinary Me with an Extraordinary Love 106
Introduction
The goal of this workbook is to help you know and
experience God on a deeper level. The scriptures and
questions are designed to help you not only gain a
deeper mental understanding of who God is, but to also
help you meditate on these truths until they practically
affect how you live.
The topic each week revolves around a different attribute
of God. You have the freedom to adapt this study
however you choose, but each day should consist of the
following major parts in some fashion.
Center and focus on God
Show God you are hungry to connect with him today;
beg him to speak to you personally. Do not let your time
with God become merely a routine.
7
Introduction
Pray through the IOUS:

1. I Incline my heart to thy testimonies and not
towards dishonest gain (Ps. 119:36)
2. O Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful
things from thy law (Ps. 119:18)
3. U Unite my heart to fear thy name (Ps. 86:11b)
4. S Satisfy me in the morning with thy loving-
kindness that I may sing for joy and be glad all my
days (Ps. 90:14)
Keep a to-do list nearby to write down distractions that
pop in your mind, then focus on ghting against those
distractions.
Meditate on the word
A. Read through the verses.
B. Choose a favorite verse or two, rarely more; may-
be just choose a phrase.
C. Read over the verse again slowly, emphasizing
8
The Attributes of God
each word, draining each thought. Muse and
ponder on it.
D. Try to memorize the verse just for that day, so that
you may keep meditation going all day.
E. Write the verse in your own words. Do not try to
get an exact translation, just the main focus.
F. Ask four questions to every text (but do not just
write the correct answers. Think specically
for today.) Write down all your answers to these
questions:
a. What does this tell me about God?
b. What does this tell me about me? What specif-
ic sins did you commit yesterday that this text
convicts of? What are you repenting of today?
c. What does this tell me about Jesus? How does
he save or how is he my example?
d. What does this tell me about what my response
should be?
9
Introduction
G. Pray
Pray through your answers to the above questions. This
is one of the best ways to preach the gospel to yourself.
Keep this as a principle: Pray until you pray, until you
are conscious that you connect. Do not leave worship
until your heart is touched.
A. Start by worshipping and thanking God for the
truth he has revealed.
B. Then confess sins that came up, trace them back to
their root, work to see how evil they are and how
it hurts the great God you just worshipped. Make
yourself feel low and desperately needy for Christ.
C. Then run to Jesus Christ on the cross, preach the
gospel to yourself and have great delight.
Glance and grieve at sin; gaze and glory at and in
Jesus Christ.
D. Pray through your response. Pray that your
affections would be changed. Prayerfully take
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your affections off of sin and place them on Jesus.
Wrestle here with God; beg and demand that he
do it. Hold his promises up to him, and expect
satisfaction from him. Detach yourself from world
and attach yourself to God.
E. Pray in light of all these same things for those on
your prayer list. Certainly pray for normal re-
quests and desires as well, but avor your prayers
with the truth you learned that morning.
Get up and go live differently.
Like anything else in life, as you go through this study
you will reap what you sow. There is nothing magical
about this combination of scriptures and questions that
will mystically bring you closer to God. You could easily
read all the verses and ll in all the blanks with a cold
heart and really not benet at all from this study. Or,
you could focus the gaze of your soul on your Savior and
11
Introduction
believe the numerous truths throughout Gods word that
promise us when we seek the Lordwe will nd him.
12
The Valley of Vision
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime starts can be seen from the deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me nd thy light in my darkness,
13
Introduction
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
- unknown
From The Valley of Vision
Week 1:
Knowability
Monday Jeremiah 9:23-24
Tuesday Philippians 3:7-11
Wednesday Isaiah 55:6-11
Thursday Isaiah 43:10-12
Friday Jeremiah 29:11-14
Saturday 1 Corinthians 2:11-16
Sunday 1 John 5:13, 20
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands
and knows me, that I am the Lord...
Jeremiah 9:24
The highest distinction, the greatest advantage, the
crown of our lives is the honor of knowing this exalted,
supreme Creator knowing Him personally and
intimately. There is none like Him
15
Knowability
Jerry Bridges
Only to sit and think of God,
Oh, what a joy it is,
To think the thought,
To breathe the name.
Earth has no higher bliss,
Father of Jesus,
Loves reward,
What rapture it will be:
Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
And gaze and gaze on Thee.
- Frederick W. Faber
Week 2:
Worthiness and Glory
Monday I Corinthians 10:31
Tuesday I Chronicles 29:10-13
Wednesday I Chronicles 16:23-27
Thursday Colossians 1:27-29
Friday John 17:20-24
Saturday Psalms 8
Sunday Revelation 5:1-14

Gods glory is the total manifestation of all His
attributes
Dan DeHaan
Though God sincerely seeks to promote the happiness
of his creatures and to perfect the saints in holiness,
neither of these is the highest possible end. That end is
his own glory.
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Worthiness and Glory
Henry C. Thiessen
We are modern people, and modern people, though
they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule
small thoughts of God. When the person in the church,
let alone the person in the street, uses the word God, the
thought is rarely of divine majesty.
J.I. Packer
Men are never duly touched and impressed with
a conviction of their insignicance, until they have
contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.
John Calvin
Is Gods glory so special that we will pay the price, or
is His glory cheap?. . .Until we allow God to put His
nger on what is clearly not giving Him glory, we are in
no position to expect Him to be strong on our behalf.
Dan DeHaan
Week 3:
Ability and Power
Monday Jeremiah 32:17
Tuesday Ephesians 1:18-23
Wednesday Isaiah 14:24, 26-27
Thursday Romans 11:33-36
Friday Isaiah 40:21-31
Saturday Matthew 9:27-21
Sunday Psalm 145
God is the ever-present and all-pervading energy,
guiding and directing everything.
Lewis Sperry Chafer
Vast indeed is the universe of GodThe more we
know, the further back we push the frontiers of the
known, the more elusive seem the mysteries in the
unknown to which they point. Every blade of grass is
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Ability and Power
an insolved miracle of God. Every atom is an ocean into
which, if you take three steps, you are lostThe majesty
of God! Our minds are lost in the thought of it.
J. Wallace Hamilton
All human pride, pretense and achievement is reduced
and evacuated by God, because he is that sort of God.
R.P.C. Hanson
No difference exists between what God wills and what
he can do.
Emil Brunner
The earth is the Lords. That is not good advice; it is
the great truth, to which we must adjust, and without
which nothing else will come right.
J. Wallace Hamilton
He is our Creator, our Lord, our Sustainer. He has an
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unlimited right to us and claim over us which in any
other person would be intolerable tyranny, but is right
and justied in God alone, because God is God. In the
case of God alone it is wrong and sinful for us to criticize,
to be objective or neutral, to stand outside; we must
submit and surrender.
R.P.C. Hanson
Only God is free.
A.W. Tozer
Men are never duly touched and impressed with
a conviction of their insignicance, until they have
contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.
John Calvin
As holiness is the beauty of all Gods attributes, so
power is that which gives life and action to all the
perfections of the Divine nature. How vain would be the
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Ability and Power
eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them.
Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity,
His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere
scarecrow. Gods power is like Himself: innite, eternal,
incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained,
nor frustrated by the creature.
Stephen Charnock
Week 4:
All-Knowing
Monday Psalm 139:1-4
Tuesday Hebrews 4:12-13
Wednesday Proverbs 15:3
Friday I John 3:19-21
Saturday Psalm 33:13-15
Sunday Jeremiah 17:9-10
If he [God] should wish to tell us the number of grains
of sand on the seashore or the number of stars in the sky,
he would not have to count them all quickly like some
kind of giant computer, nor would he have to call the
number to mind because it was something he had not
thought about for a time. Rather, he knows all things at
once. All of these facts and all other things that he knows
are always fully present in his consciousness
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All-Knowing
Wayne Grudem
Divine omniscience means that God holds no false be-
liefs. Not only are all of Gods beliefs true, the range of
his knowledge is total; He knows all true propositions.
Ronald Nash
Though my thought be invisible to the sight, though
as yet I be not myself cognizant of the shape it is assum-
ing, yet thou hast it under thy consideration, and thou
perceivest its nature, its source, its drift, its result. Never
dost thou misjudge or wrongly interpret me; my inmost
thought is perfectly understood by thine impartial mind.
Though thou shouldest give but a glance at my heart,
and see me as one sees a passing meteor moving afar, yet
thou wouldst by that glimpse sum up all the meanings
of my soul, so transparent is everything to thy piercing
glance.
Charles Spurgeon
24
Consider how great it is to know the thoughts and in-
tentions, and works of one man from the beginning to
the end of his life; to foreknow all these before the being
of this man, when he was lodged afar off in the loins of
his ancestors, yea, of Adam. How much greater is it to
foreknow and know the thoughts and works of three
or four men, of a whole village or neighbourhood! It is
greater still to know the imaginations and actions of such
a multitude of men as are contained in London, Paris, or
Constantinople; how much greater still to know the in-
tentions and practices, the clandestine contrivances of so
many millions, that have, do, or shall swarm in all quar-
ters of the world, every person of them having millions
of thoughts, desires, designs, affections, and actions! Let
this attribute, then, make the blessed God honourable in
our eyes and adorable in all our affections. . . Adore God
for this wonderful perfection!
- Stephen Charnock
Week 5:
Love and Compassion
Monday Romans 5:8
Tuesday I John 4:7-12
Wednesday John 15:9-17
Friday Ephesians 3:14-19
Saturday Ephesians 5:1-2
Sunday Psalm 40
To some of us, the most incredible verse in the Bible is
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock The angels
must have been breathless with the sheer restraint of it:
this God who could wither us by his power, coming to
men not with might, but with mercy, with enormous
respect for our frailty and freedom, standing at the
hearts door to seek admission there.
J. Wallace Hamilton
27
Love and Compassion
If the oceans were like ink and the sky were the scroll,
the heavens would be too small to contain the innite
mysteries of Gods love.
- unknown
It is staggering that God should love sinners; yet it is
true. God loves creatures who have become unlovely
and (one would have thought) unlovableGod loves
people because He has chosen to love them and
no reason for His love can be given except His own
sovereign, good pleasure.
J.I. Packer
And can it be that I should gain an interest in the
Saviors blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love!
How can it be? That Thou, my God, should die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou my God, should
die for me!
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- Charles Wesley
Calvary is the supreme demonstration of Divine love.
Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, go
back to Calvary.
Arthur W. Pink
Behold the amazing gift of love
The Father hath bestowed,
On us the sinful sons of men,
To call us sons of God!
- Isaac Watts
Week 6:
Faithfulness and Dependability
Monday Lamentations 3:22-23
Tuesday II Timothy 2:11-13
Wednesday Deuteronomy 7:6-9
Thursday I Thessalonians 5:23-24
Friday Hebrews 10:22-25
Saturday Numbers 23:19
Sunday Psalm 89:1-37
It is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a
Divine truth, it is quite another to act upon it. God has
given us many exceeding great and precious promises,
but are we really counting on His fulllment of them?
Are we actually expecting Him to do for us all that He
has said?
A.W. Pink
31
Faithfulness and Dependability
The faithfulness of God is the unfailing source of
comfort and assurance to those who are right with him,
or partakers of his covenants of promise. It was a word
of great meaning when Christ said, I amthe truth.
(John 14:6).
Lewis Sperry Chafer
The biblical language about the faithfulness of God
iseverywhere the expression of a great and joyful
amazement.
Emil Brunner
Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father! There is
no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not,
Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou
forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is They
faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see; All
I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is they
faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
32
Thomas Chisholm
For a moral being to change, it would be necessary
to change in one of two directions. Either the change
is from something worse to something better, or else
it is from something better to something worse. It
should be evident that God can move in neither of these
directions.
James Montgomery Boice
Upon Gods faithfulness rests our whole hope of future
blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants
stand and His promises be honored. Only as we have
complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in
peace and look forward with assurance to the life to
come.
A. W. Tozer
Week 7:
Goodness
Monday Exodus 33:17-19
Tuesday 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Wednesday Psalm 107:1
Thursday Psalm 34:8-11
Friday Psalm 31:19-24
Saturday James 1:16-18
Sunday Matthew 5:43-48
The goodness of God is a character trait which applies
to every other attribute. Gods wrath is good. Gods ho-
liness is good. Gods righteousness is good. God is good
in His entirety. There is nothing about God that is not
good. There is nothing God purposes for His children
that is not good. God gives to His children only that
which is good. And He withholds nothing good from
us. God is good, and He is at work in our lives for good.
35
Goodness
Nothing which God creates, nothing which God accom-
plishes, is not good.
Bob Defnbaugh
He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing
else is; for all creatures are good only by participation
and communication from God. He is essentially good;
not only good, but goodness itself: the creatures good
is a super-added quality, in God it is His essence. He is
innitely good; the creatures good is but a drop, but in
God there is an innite ocean or gathering together of
good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot
be less good than He is; as there can be no addition made
to Him, so no subtraction from Him
Thomas Manton
When others behave badly to us, it should only
stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the
Lord, because He is good; and when we ourselves are
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conscious that we are far from being good, we should
only the more reverently bless Him that He is good.
We must never tolerate an instants unbelief as to the
goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned,
this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His
dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the
same.
- Charles Spurgeon
Week 8
Omnipresence
Monday Psalm 139:7-12
Tuesday Jeremiah 23:23-24
Wednesday Colossians 1:15-17
Thursday I Kings 8:27;
2 Chronicles 2:6;
Isaiah 66:1
Friday Isaiah 57:15
Saturday Psalms 121
Sunday Matthew 28:18-20
God is everywhere: He is with us in temptation...w/
us in need...w/ us in loneliness...w/ us thru difcult
service... w/ us in danger... w/ us in death...Begin to
cultivate a consciousness of Gods presence. Greet Him
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Omnipresence
at the beginning of each new day. Remember often
through the day that He is right there with you. At
bedtime, rehearse the events of the day and think about
how you could have allowed Him to be more a part of
them, and what difference it would have made if you
had. Say goodnight to Him before you drop off to
sleep, remembering that He will be with you all night
long.
Richard Strauss
Perhaps the most serious, sobering thing my mind has
ever contemplated is the fact that I am always in the
presence of God. God cannot be shut out anywhere.
Even in the most secret recesses of my mind and the
deepest, most secluded imaginations of my heart, God
is there. Everything I think, say, and do is done in the
immediate presence of God. This fact should cause me to
be lled with reverence and godly fear and with great joy
too. God is present everywhere to save, preserve, and
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comfort his elect.
-Don Fortner
How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to
sinners! How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place
from the incomprehensible God, who lls and contains
all things, and is present in every point of the world.
When men have shut the door, and made all darkness
within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the
most intricate recesses be sheltered from the presence
of God. If they could separate themselves from their
own shadows, they could not avoid his company, or be
obscured from his sight: Ps. cxxxix. 12, The darkness
and light are both alike to him. Hypocrites cannot
disguise their sentiments from him; he is in the most
secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is
secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the
other. He is present with our heart when we imagine,
with our hands when we act. We may exclude the sun
41
Omnipresence
from peeping into our solitudes, but not the eyes of God
from beholding our actions
Stephen Charnock
Week 9:
Sovereignty
Monday Philippians 2:9-11
Tuesday Matthew 7:21-23
Wednesday Isaiah 45:5-7
Thursday Luke 9:23-25
Friday James 4:13-15
Saturday Romans 10:8-13
Sunday Psalm 104
Christ is either Lord of all or is not Lord at all.
-J. Hudson Taylor
The lordship of Christ, in reality, is something that is not
discovered and yielded to once, but thousands of times.
It is yieldedness to his lordship that is at stake every time
we are tempted to sin every day.
John Piper
43
Sovereignty
For God to rule the angry sea seems nothing to me
compared with the power which he exercises upon
himself when he endures the provocations of ungodly
men, the hardness of their hearts, their rejection of Christ,
and oftentimes their blasphemous speeches and their
unclean deeds. O sinner, when you are sinning with
a high hand and with an outstretched arm, is it not a
wonder of wonders that God does not cut you down, and
end your insolence?
C.H. Spurgeon
You may know Christ as Lord in your head, but is this
reected in your hearts?
Unknown
What a strange kind of salvation do they desire that care
not for holinessThey would have their sins forgiven,
not that they may walk with God in love, in time to
come, but that they may practice enmity against Him
44
without any fear of punishment.
If you dont do what the doctor says, you dont trust
him.
John Piper
Jesus Christ has today almost no authority at all among
that groups that call themselves by His name. The
present position of Christ in the gospel churches may
be likened to that of a king in a limited, constitutional
monarchy. The king is, in such a country, no more than
a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of unity
and loyalty much like a ag or a national anthem. He
is lauded, feted and supported, but his real authority is
small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis
someone else makes the decisions.
A.W. Tozer
Week 10:
Holiness and Moral Perfection
Monday Isaiah 66:1-2
(Isaiah 57:15)
Tuesday I Peter 1:15-16
Wednesday Revelation 4:8-11
Thursday I Thessalonians 4:3-7
Friday Titus 2:11-14
Saturday Isaiah 6:1-8
Sunday Exodus 15:11
In its original and most fundamental sense, holy is not
an ethical concept at all. Rather, it means that which is of
the very nature of God and which therefore distinguishes
him from everything else. It is what sets God apart from
his creation. It has to do with his transcendence.
James Montgomery Boice
47
God alone is God; the creature is only a
creature. Hence the holiness of God evokes from
man an incomparable sense of distance from him.
God in his nature is inaccessible. He dwells in light
unapproachable (I Timothy 6:16).
Emil Brunner
He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and
in all his commands. To him is due from angels and
men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship,
service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.
Westminster Confession of Faith
We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands
apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible,
and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He
may fear Gods power and admire his wisdom, but his
holiness he cannot even imagineHoly is the way God
is. To be holy he does not conform to a standard. He
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is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an innite,
incomprehensible fullness of purity.
A.W. Tozer
Holy, Holy, Holy! Tho the darkness hide Thee, Tho
the eye of sinful man They glory may not see; Only Thou
are holy; there is none beside Thee, Perfect in powr, in
love, and purity.
Reginald Heber
Power is Gods hand or arm, omniscience His eye,
mercy his bowels, eternity his duration, but holiness is
His beauty.
Stephen Charnock
We are so accustomed to equating holiness with purity
or ethical perfection that we look for the idea when the
word holy appears. When things are made holy, when
they are consecrated, they are set apart unto purity. They
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are to be used in a pure way. They are to reect purity as
well as simply apartness. Purity is not excluded from the
idea of the holy; it is contained within it. But the point
we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never
exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is
much more than that. It is purity and transcendence. It
is a transcendent purity
R.C. Sproul
Man is never sufciently touched and affected by the
awareness of his lowly state, until he has compared
himself with Gods majesty.
John Calvin
Week 11:
Spirit
Monday John 14:26
Tuesday Ephesians 1:13-14
Friday Galatians 5:16-18
Saturday Psalm 139
Sunday I Corinthians 2:10-14
In my sober judgment the relation of the Spirit to the
believer is the most vital question the church faces today.
Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-lled life
about as bitterly as any other doctrine there is. He has
confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions
and fearsThe Spirit-lled life is not a special, deluxe
edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total
plan of God for His people. There is nothing about the
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Spirit
Holy Spirit queer or strange or eerie.
A.W. Tozer
We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity,
without either confusing the persons or dividing the
substance. For the Fathers person is one, the Sons
another, the Holy Spirits another; but the Godhead of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, their glory
is equal, their majesty co-eternal.
The Athanasian Creed
It is not as we strain after feelings and experiences but
as we seek God Himself, looking to Him as our Father,
prizing His fellowship, and nding in ourselves an
increasing concern to know and please Him, that the
reality of the Spirits ministry becomes visible in our
lives.
J.I. Packer
52
To be lled with the Spirit means to be totally under His
inuence.
John McArthur
The Spirit teaches the mind of God, and glories the
Son of GodHe is the agent of a new birth, giving us an
understanding so that we know God and a new heart
to obey HimHe indwells, sancties, and energizes
Christians for their daily pilgrimageand assurance joy,
peace, and power are His special gifts.
J.I. Packer
The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to restore the
lost soul to intimate fellowship with God through the
washing of regeneration. Gifts and power for service the
Spirit surely desires to impart, but holiness and spiritual
worship come rst.
A.W. Tozer
Week 12:
Justice and Wrath
Monday Romans 2:5-8
Tuesday Zephaniah 1:14-18
Wednesday Hebrews 12:3-11
Thursday Mark 15:16-39
Friday 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Saturday Nahum 1:2-8
Sunday Psalm 2
Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as He
did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not
react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect?
Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to
evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that
the Bible has in view when it speaks of Gods wrath
J.I. Packer
55
Justice and Wrath
Then, too, unless we give a real content to the wrath
of God, unless we hold that men really deserve to have
God visit upon them the painful consequences of their
wrongdoing, we empty Gods forgiveness of its meaning.
For if there is no ill desert, God ought to overlook sin.
We can think of forgiveness as something real only when
we hold that sin has betrayed us into a situation where
we deserve to have God inict upon us the most seri-
ous consequences, and that is upon such a situation that
Gods grace supervenes. When the logic of the situation
demands that He should take action against the sinner,
and He yet takes action for him, then and then alone can
we speak of grace. But there is no room for grace if there
is no suggestion of dire consequences merited by sin
Leon Morris
Week 13:
Father
Monday 1 John 3:1
Tuesday John 1:11-13
Wednesday Romans 8:14-17
Thursday Galatians 4:1-7
Friday Matthew 7:7-11
Saturday Psalm 103
Sunday Isaiah 63:15-16
What is a Christian? The question can be answered
in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a
Christian is one who has God as Father.
J.I. Packer
There is one attribute of God through which we are
able to see all the other facets of Him. It serves as the
viewpoint or table from which we are able to view all the
57
Father
other facets of His personality. God is rst and foremost,
above and beyond anything else, a father.
Peter Lord
Jesus came to tell us that there is nothing on the heart
of God more than that we know Him as our Father.
One the basis of the counseling I do, I would say that
the two greatest problems among Christians are a lack
of understanding their position in Christ and a lack of
knowing God as their Father.
Dan DeHann
You sum up the whole of the New Testament teaching
in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the
Fatherhood of the holy CreatorIf you want to judge
how well a person understands Christianity, nd out
how much he makes of the thought of being Gods child,
and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought
that prompts and controls his worship and prayers
58
and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not
understand Christianity very well at all. For everything
that Christ taught, everything that makes the New
Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that
is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish,
is summered up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of
God. Father is the Christian name for God.
J.I. Packer
We are to persist in asking for Gods grace as though
we are beggars (for spiritually we always remain so).
And we shall never really understand the wonder of his
grace until, seeking mercy like beggars before a judge; we
discover that he wants us to be his sons and daughters.
Sinclair Ferguson
Week 14:
Humble
Monday Philippians 2:5-8
Tuesday Luke 2:4-7
Thursday Matthew 20:26-28
Friday Luke 23:26-47
Saturday John 1:14-18
Sunday Isaiah 53
That one who has suffered defeat in the service of
God, whose enemies crucied and mocked him, one
who out of the depths of dereliction cried aloud to God,
could reveal the almighty power of God what human
understanding, or what human imagination, would have
conceived such an idea?
Emil Brunner
61
Humble
Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut His
glories in, when Christ the Mighty Maker died for man,
the creatures sinAlas, and did my Savior bleed, and
did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred
head for sinners such as I?
Issac Watts
When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince
of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour
contempt on all my pride.
Isaac Watts
Is it not obvious that the reason why we have to be
humble in order to walk with God is not merely because
God is so big and we are so little, that humility bets
such little creatures but because God is so humble?
Roy Hession
62
He humbled Himself to the manger,
And even to Calvarys tree,
But I am so proud and unwilling,
His humble disciple to be.
He yielded His will to the Father,
And chose to abide in the Light;
But I prefer wrestling to resting,
And try by myself to do right.
Lord, break me, then cleanse me and ll me
And keep me abiding in Thee;
That fellowship may be unbroken,
And Thy Name be hallowed in me.
-Roy Hession (Calvary Road)
Week 15:
Heart for the Nations
Monday Genesis 12:1-3
Tuesday Matthew 24:14
Wednesday Daniel 6:19-27
Friday Luke 24:46-47
Saturday Acts 1:7-11
Sunday Revelation 7:9-12
A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep
mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile,
millions who have never heard it once fall into the ames
of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story.
- K.P. Yohannan
Answering a students question, Will the heathen who
65
Heart for the Nations
have not heard the Gospel be saved? thus, It is more a
question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and
fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.
- C.H. Spurgeon
As long as there are millions destitute of the word
of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be
impossible for me to devote my time and energy to those
who have both.
- J.L. Ewen
You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations,
cultures, arts, civilizations these are mortal, and their
life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals
whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit
immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
C.S. Lewis
If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over
66
our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with
our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If
hell must be lled, at least let it be lled in the teeth of
our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and
unprayed for.
- Charles Spurgeon
The God You Can Know
Study Guide
Chapter 1
God: I Want to Know You
Study Questions
1. Why is it important to focus on knowing God
rather than just serving him? (Luke 10:38-42)
2. What will be the results of a life of knowing God?
3. What does the word passion mean?
71
The God You Can Know Chapter 1
4. Do you have a passion to know God? Why or
why not?
5. Take a few moments to think about Philippians
3:7-10. How does your passion compare with
Pauls?
6. Look up the following verses about Gods char-
acter as revealed in the Old Testament. How do
these verses point to what God has shown of him-
self on the cross?
a. Exodus 42:6-7:
72
b. Hosea 9:11:
c. Isaiah 6:3.
7. Why is it important what you think about?
8. What kinds of things most often occupy your
mind?
73
9. What kings of things should occupy your mind?
(Philippians 4:8-9)
10. According to this book, what are some results of
knowing God intimately? List each of them and
ask yourself how each of these are reected in
your life. In which areas are you weak?
74
11. What should the overall goal of your life be?
Why?
12. What steps can you take to move you toward the
goal of knowing God intimately?
Chapter 2
The Glory of God
1. How does the book dene glory?
2. How do the following verses help us understand
what Gods glory is like?
a. Psalm 145:
b. Exodus 40:34-35:
c. I Kings 8:10:
77
d. Ezekiel 10:4-5:
3. What is the root of mans sin? Genesis 3:5
4. According to the Westminister Catechism, what is
the chief end of man?
5. How did seeing Gods glory affect Moses? (Exo-
dus 34:29)
6. What are the rst two commandments God gives
to his people? (Exodus 20)
78
7. How do these commandments reveal Gods desire
that man give him glory?
8. What are some modern-day idols or ways in
which we violate these two commandments?
9. How can you live out obedience to these com-
mandments? (I Corinthians 10:31)
10. Meditate on Jeremiah 13:15-17 and ask God to
show you specic ways you have been proud or
unwilling to glorify God. Ask God to show you
way in which your life (attitudes, actions, motives)
can bring glory to him.
Chapter 3
The Perfection of God (Part 1)
1. What does Gods immutability mean? Look up
Psalm 102:26-27 and James 1:17.
2. Does Gods love or forgiveness for you ever
change? What if you sin big?
3. In what other ways do you think God does not
change?
4. What does omnipotence mean? Look up Psalm
115:3 and Jeremiah 32:17, 27.
81
5. Is there any area or problem in your life that has
caused you to feel overwhelmed? How should a
right understanding of Gods omnipotence affect
you?
6. Write out a denition for Gods omniscience.
7. How should a proper understanding of Gods om-
niscience affect our daily thoughts and actions?
8. Gods omniscience means that he knows every-
thing about youeven the things that no one else
knows. Is there anything you have been trying to
keep hidden?
82
9. How does this book dene the sovereignty of
God?
10. What do the following verses tell us about Gods
sovereignty?
a. Genesis 50:20
b. Daniel 4:35
c. Acts 17:24-26
11. How does knowing about Gods sovereignty affect
your seemingly impossible situations, your un-
certainty about the future, your past failures and
mess-ups, or your fears?
83
12. List the ways you see the goodness of God in your
life. Take some time to thank God for each one of
these.
13. How sad to see a Christian complaining when
it is because of the goodness of God that he has
anything. The ability to see Gods goodness was
an amazing characteristic of Pauls life.
a. Read Psalm 139:1-12.
b. How can you make yourself more aware of
Gods constant presence (omnipresence)?
84
14. Spend time meditating on Exodus 15:11.
a. How can you apply this verse to your life in a
practical way?
15. What are one or two steps can you be taking right
now to know God more?
Chapter 4
The Perfections of God (Part II)
1. What were the one or two steps you committed to
do in chapter three in order to know God more?
(Do you remember without looking back?) Pray
through those steps right now; ask God to teach
you about himself and to show you the things that
are keeping you from knowing him.
2. How does the book dene Gods foreknowledge?
3. Does Gods foreknowledge refer to events or
people? (Look up Acts 2:23, Romans 8:29-30, I
Peter 1:2)?
4. What do these verses say about Gods view of
you?
87
5. Read Psalm 63:3 and list 5 specic ways God has
shown His lovingkindness to you in your life.
6. What does it mean for us to be motivated by Gods
lovingkindness?
7. How does this play out in your life?
88
8. Can you think of ways that God specically re-
veals his patience toward you?
9. Read the parable in Matthew 18:23-35.
a. Who does the master represent?
b. Who does the servant who was forgiven but
demanded the servant under him to pay up
represent?
c. How are we like this wicked servant in the
way we treat people who offend us, etc.?
d. What does this parable tell us about the pa-
tience of God?
89
10. Gods patience should astound every one of us.
We should be amazed that we suffer so little for
the consequences of sin.
a. What is a denition of Gods grace? What do
you receive as a result of the grace he has given
you?
11. Read Ephesians 2:4-9. What was the price God the
Father paid in order to offer us grace?
12. Look up Hebrews 12:28-29, Exodus 34:6-7, and
Romans 1:18-32. In light of Gods holiness and
perfection, why is the wrath of God a necessary
part of his character?
Chapter 5
Gods Heart Exposed to the World
1. What do the following verses say about the deity
of Jesus Christ?
a. John 14:9
b. John 8:58
c. Philippians 2:6
d. Colossians 1:15
e. Hebrews 1:3
91
2. With what did God redeem you? (I Peter 1:18-21)
3. Why is a right understanding of our sin and Gods
holiness necessary for us to appreciate redemp-
tion? (page 67)
4. Read Mark 1:11 and Mark 15:34.
a. How much does God hate sin?
b. Do you hate it?
92
5. Take a few moments to read and think about Isa-
iah 53. Put your name in each verse to personalize
the message.
But he was wounded for _______
transgressions; he was crushed for _________
iniquities
6. What did Jesus do so you could be righteous? (II
Corinthians 5:21)
Chapter 6
What Motivates God?
1. Why is it important for us to know what motivates
God?
2. What are some ways God reveals himself to us?
3. Write out the meaning of each of the following
names of God and look up the corresponding
verse with each name. Meditate on these names
and think about how God shows himself in your
life through his names.
a. Elohim (Genesis 1:1)
95
b. El Shaddai (Genesis 28:3)
c. Jehovah-Jireh (Genesis 22:8)
d. Jehovah (Isaiah 42:8)
e. Jehovah-Rapha (Exodus 15:26)
f. Jehovah-Nissi (Exodus 17:15)
g. Jehovah-Shalom (Judges 6:23-24)
96
h. Jehovah-Horhi (Psalm 23)
i. Jehovah-Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35)
4. How will our primary concept of God affect what
we do?
5. What is at the very center of Gods being? (see pp.
77-78)
Read II Corinthians 6:18 and Romans 8:15-16.
6. How did Jesus usually address and speak about
God?
97
7. How is Gods fatherhood reected in what he de-
sires of his children?
a. James 1:27
b. John 13:35
8. How do you primarily view God?
9. How is that affecting your relationships with him
and with others?
Chapter 7
God: I Want to Worship You
1. Read Jeremiah 9:23-24 and Hosea 6:6. What does
God delight in?
2. Why do you think God delights in this?
3. Remembering the story in Luke 10 about Mary
and Martha, in what ways are you similar to Mar-
tha? Write down some things that keep you from
really focusing on the one thing that Jesus talked
about.
4. Read Psalm 46:10. Is your focus on doing things
for God rather than knowing him?
99
5. Write down areas of pride or crowns in your life.
Ask God to show you things that could exalt you:
looks, intellectual ability, sports, background, etc.
6. Take some time right now to confess any uncon-
fessed sins that come to mind. Cast all things that
might exalt you before God, to humble yourself
before him.
7. Look up Bible verses that address each of these
idols. Ask someone for help if you cannot nd
any. Write them here and begin memorizing them
so that you may have them to ght these idols
when they arise.
100
I Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not
receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did
not receive it?
8. Read the following verses out loud to God and
proclaim to him his worth.
a. Psalm 145:1-13
b. Revelation 5:11-14
9. According to this chapter, what are the three basic
activities of worship?
10. What are some steps you can take to practice these
activities throughout the day today?
Chapter 8
Gods Testimony of Us
1. What were the steps you committed to in Chapter
7 to worship God throughout the day?
2. How can you be more effective in this?
3. What are you learning through worshipping God
more?
103
4. Read 2 Corinthians 7:9-11. Whats the difference
between remorse/sorrow over sin and true repen-
tance?
5. Answer the following questions from the given
verses.
a. What were you like before Christ saved you?
(Colossians 1:21, Ephesians 2:1-3)
b. How does God view you now? (I Peter 2:9-10,
Colossians 1:22)
104
6. If God has already forgiven us of all our sins, why
do we still need to ask forgiveness?
7. This chapter used the four following terms to
describe our position before God. What do they
mean?
a. Completeness
b. Circumcised
c. Created anew
d. Cleansed
8. Read Romans 8:31-35, 38-39 and thank the Father
for his goodness, kindness, love, redemption,
death and payment for your sins, mercy, grace,
etc.
Chapter 9
Ordinary Me with an Extraordinary Love
1. Why does teaching on our duty as Christians
always need to follow teaching about doctrine and
all we have in Christ?
2. To what are we indebted as Christians?
3. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 and make a list of words
that describe your condition before Christ and a
list of words that describe your new position in
Christ now. What a remarkable difference!
107
4. Think about the parable about Sally in the book.
Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. How
would you respond to a person who had given
you so much?
5. How do the gifts that Sallys husband gave her
compare with the gift that God has given us in
Christ?
6. According to Ephesians 1:13-14, what is our seal or
guarantee of all we have in Christ?
108
7. Take a few minutes to honestly reect on the fol-
lowing questions.
a. Are you in love with the Lord?
b. Could you say that the reason you do what
you do is because you are in love with the
Lord?
c. Do you thirst for him?
d. Would those closest to you say that you have a
thankful heart or a love for the Lord?
109
8. Read the following verses. Ask the Lord to give
you a heart more like the psalmists.
a. Psalm 27:4
b. Psalm 42:1-2
c. Psalm 63:1-2
d. Psalm 84:10-11
For more information or for a list of additional resources
contact:
Campus Outreach Birmingham
phone: 205-776-5500
email: cobirmingham@campusoutreach.org
website: http://www.cobirmingham.org

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