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Today is a simple instruction of who God is from the Bible. Jeremiah 10 begins by describing two types of gods people worship today:
God created by human
Read Jeremiah 10:2-5;
2 'Thus says the Lord : “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good.”'
These are not God because they are created by human hands, but worshipped by men as god - these are called idols.
The true and living God
The creator of heaven and earth, and all things in them. This is the God we must worship. Read Jeremiah 10:10;
'But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.'
V10 introduces the 3 key characteristics about the true and living God:
God is the true God
God is the living God
God is the everlasting king
God is truly the one true God, but why is it so difficult to believe that God is true? One of the reasons is because God is spirit; He is invisible and no one can see Him. Since He is invisible, it is also difficult for us to show Him to others. It is difficult to convince someone who doesn’t believe in God that God exists. Nevertheless, there are many who worship this invisible God. Why is it that they can worship with such faith and conviction for a God that is invisible? Though God is invisible, we can still see His mighty works. The presence and existence of the universe are His mighty works.
When we want to see the greatness of a person, we can see how great he is from his accomplishments. Let us read from the Bible who God has done in this world. Before that, we turn to 2 Timothy 3:16;
'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, '
The Bible is inspired Word by God; it is the best-selling book in the world; the book translated into most languages in the world; the book read by most in the world; influences most human life and history; the Bible begins with God.
Read Jeremiah 10:12;
'He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.'
God is the one who created heaven and earth. in fact, Genesis 1:1 already tells us how God created the world;
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. '
Jeremiah 10:12 describes His power and how He created the world. His power is so great beyond understanding that we are unable to comprehend it. Not only is God the creator of heaven and earth, the Bible also tells us what God truly is. He is the great and powerful God, there is nothing He cannot do. This is the God we must worship. Everything we see is created by His hands, there is nothing too difficult for Him to achieve. All the planets that orbit are controlled by the power of God. Since we know that God can create so many things beyond our comprehension, we realise how small we are; we realise how little our knowledge and understanding are. If we realise this, we know that we must be humble before God.
Read Jeremiah 10:13;
'When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”'
God makes the lightning for the rain, He brings the rain out for His treasuries - this is how His creation can grow and live. Rain and wind are very important for living beings. Rain and wind provide water to cool the temperature and moisture for the air. God brings air for His creation to breathe. All these are the works of God and represent the love of God for His creation. We can, through His creation, see how loving He is despite His power and might. Turn to Psalm 8:1;
'O Lord , our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!'
Why is God’s name so excellent? Because His creation is beyond compare! His name is above all names and His glory is above heavens because He is so great. God is so glorious and we cannot describe His glory enough by words.
The Bible describes humans as dust. We cannot see dust in the air, unless it is accumulated on the surface. Men are nothing because they are too small, like dust. God is so great, that humans in comparison are just like dust. We now get the idea of how great God is. Turn to Psalm 19:1;
'The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.'
God’s existence is through His creations; no one can deny His existence through His creation. Read Psalm 19:7 that talks about how His Law is completely perfect;
'The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;'
No man can find anything more perfect than the Law of God; there is nothing more beautiful than the Word of God to lead human lives. God’s greatness is not only seen through His creations but also through the words He has spoken through the Bible. His words can convert a soul. When a person studies the Word of God, his soul can be awakened. In the past, we may have led a life of confusion. We may not know where we may end up after this life or our purpose; we pass one day after another without meaning. But after we read the Word of God, we started to understand where humans came from (we are created by God); we understand that we eventually end up with our Father in heaven and that should be our focus in life. Through the Word of God, we are awakened, and know the purpose of our lives. We need to now prepare our lives to meet our Creator. The purpose of our lives now becomes clear.
Read Psalm 19:8;
'The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;'
The Word of God can give us wisdom. There is a difference between wisdom and intelligence. Intelligence is about attaining knowledge and being able to solve problems through that knowledge; wisdom is about applying the correct knowledge in a more efficient way. The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that is recorded in Proverbs 9:10;
'“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.'
If a person lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, as recorded in James 1:5;
'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. '
As humans, we are easily amazed by the creations of men - high technology, sky light buildings, smart phones. Reading someone’s biography may help us know more about the person and that is the same for God. To know God better, we need to read the Bible. Everything that God says is the truth and is accurate. When we have the Word of God implanted in our hearts, everything that we see can be discerned clearly. We would then be able to be filled with wisdom and not be deceived. Let us study further and worship the true and living God.
God will never change. He will be the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, forever. Everything in this world is changing everyday. Humans may change and the world will continue to change. Value changes over time. The only constant is God and His value is eternal. Why will men feel empty at the end of their life? Because things that men pursue will eventually change. We cannot hold on to anything in this world forever. One day, we will leave the people around them. Men therefore find life meaningless. But there is something we can keep holding on forever, that is God Himself because He is eternal. Family members will leave us, but God will never forsake it. God is very precious to everyone and it is a tragedy if we do not know this true and living God.
God is the true and living God
Earlier, we read Jeremiah 10:10;
'But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.'
Though God is invisible, we can still interact with Him because He is a living God. How can we interact with God? The Bible guides us on this:
Entrust our lives to God
Psalm 34:8;
'Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!'
We must taste and see that the Lord is good! To taste is to experience Him in our daily lives. Then, we can see that God is good. Just like someone who recommends a tasty restaurant, we will go there to taste the food for ourselves. Then, we will find that their food is tasty. When many tell us that God is good, that is something they have experienced for themselves. We can experience it for ourselves and when we taste that God is good, then we will know that God really exists.
When we attend church services, we are not listening to a lecture but to experience this true and living God. We can experience God during our worship.
Psalm 34:8 tells us that those who trust in him will be blessed - to trust Him is to hand what we have in life into His hands. When we entrust our life problems into the hands of God, He will use His grace and blessings to take care of us. Then, we can taste that God is indeed good; His name will be glorified in our lives. If we do not entrust our lives to Him, to whom can we entrust our lives? We know that we cannot rely our lives on anyone, because humans are limited by time, space and abilities. Humans also change and are hence unreliable; we ourselves are unreliable. No one can rely on another forever because they will leave one day. Some also rely on riches and knowledge but all these things are also temporary and will change. It will one day disappear and we won’t be able to rely on them anymore.
Turn to Jeremiah 17:7-8;
7 '“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord , And whose hope is the Lord .
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.'
If a person knows how to trust in the Lord, His heart will be planted and rooted in the Lord. This person is like a living tree, full of abundant life; his life will be in joy, peace and hope because the one he trusts is faithful. Such joy and peace can truly be experienced. To experience God, the first thing we must do is to entrust all matters to Him. Then, we will be blessed.
Fear the Lord
Psalm 34:9;
'Oh, fear the Lord , you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.'
By fearing the Lord, He takes care of all we need. God will take care of every aspect of our lives, IF we fear Him with a sincere heart. If we fear God, we will become righteous. When God says to not do it, we don’t do it; obey accordingly. We don’t treat God as just a reference but a command. We trust God and fear Him because He is important in our lives. Then, God will fill His grace and blessings in our lives. The Bible also tells us that if we follow His word, He will abide in us. Then, we will feel peace and joy all the time.
Seek after God
Psalm 34:10;
'The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.'
The young lions were strong but could not capture its prey because some of its prey could run faster than them. Therefore, they cannot catch their food. But the Bible says that those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing because God will provide what is good for us. To experience the living God, we must seek after God.
What does it mean to seek after God?
Remove all idols from our lives - physical idols or idols in our hearts. Only then, we can centralise God in our hearts. Subsequently, we will experience Him in our lives. Nowadays, people experience wealth and it becomes the center of their lives. Day and night, they pursue riches of the world and wealth becomes the idol in their hearts. But if we put God in the centre of our hearts, our hearts will be focused on God and we will always want to draw closer to Him. As the Bible says, we will then not lack in any good thing. Some live in an abundance of luxury but their hearts are filled with emptiness and sanity because they don’t have God as their central focus. But if we pursue after God, our hearts will be filled with Him and we will feel full meaning and abundant joy in our lives.
To know God better, we need to read the Bible. When we continue reading the Bible, we will know that the name of the true and living God is Jesus - He is our creator - He is the creator of heaven and earth.
While we enjoy life and its good things, we must also worship and praise God because He created all things, including us. Then, we will be blessed by Him.
Testimony
The speaker closes his sermon with a testimony: how his late mom came to know the true and living God.
The speaker came from a non-Christian family. In the past as a child, his family would pray to their gods and ancestors. They had a big altar at home. His father passed away when he entered secondary 4 (year 1989). Since then, his mom was the sole breadwinner and their lives went through many problems. His mom was very diligent and devoted herself to her beliefs. Without fail, she would pray and offer joss sticks to her gods thrice a day. However, none of her problems were resolved. In fact, one problem piled after another. At that time, she didn’t know God and the speaker only came to know God in the year 1990. Despite many problems his mom faced, there was one that troubled her very much. One day, he was sharing with her about Jesus Christ (they were still living in Jakarta then). She said, “If Jesus helps me resolve this problem, I will come to your church (year 1992 or 1993).”
After many years, though her problems were resolved, she didn’t come to believe in Jesus Christ. They both forgot about it. But he continued sharing about the true and living God. After that, the speaker moved to Singapore and due to distance, he could only preach to her over the phone. They kept this matter in prayer and in the year 2007 or 2008, he gave her a call as usual and they talked about life; they talked about life problems. He told her that Jesus is a good God and she can rely on Him. She sounded a little frustrated because he kept bringing up God. Suddenly, he remembered the conversation from 10 years ago and told his mom, “Do you ever remember this promise? If God resolved this problem for you, would you come to my church?”
His mom was a person who kept her words. I told her, “Even to men you try to keep your promises, what more to God? You must keep your promise to Him!” She remained silent. Her silence could mean:
Acknowledgement of this promise to God
That she was upset by what he had said
But she remembered it because the next Sabbath day, she went to church alone. She was in her 70s then. That is amazing because we don’t even remember what we had spoken last week. Just because the speaker remembers doesn’t mean his mom remembers because she is an elderly. She could have easily denied it but she did not. That could possibly be the help of the Holy Spirit.
Praise the Lord that He was very merciful to his mom. To cut the long story short, she attended Sabbath services diligently. She believed in Jesus and entrusted problems in His hands. When the speaker visited her last year before her passing, she testified to him. Only then, he knew that she prayed for many matters for many years, “I have been praying diligently for many years yet nothing changed. But the moment I believed in Jesus, one problem was solved after another amazingly.” She even explained how her problems were resolved one by one.
Most importantly, even if God is invisible, she could taste God and experience it for herself that God is good. She could see God with her spiritual eyes. She even proclaimed that Jesus is the true and living God.
Moving forward, she had Someone to rely on.
After her baptism, she became a child of God and had someone she could rely on forever.
There was one night when she was laying on her bed before sleeping. She was alone at home. She experienced something she had never experienced before - a spiritual battle. When she was laying on the bed, she experienced a bad cramp. She tried to control her pain but something pulled her nerve on her other leg. Suddenly, the nerves on her hands were pulled, from all directions of her limbs. She was in extreme pain and alone; yet she had Someone to rely on. She cried out loud, “Lord Jesus, please help me!” Amazingly, as soon as she cried out for help, all the cramps slowly disappeared and she was comforted. God is good and is always ready to help His children. Thank God.
Brothers, sisters, and friends, Jesus is the true and living God. He is also our everlasting Father and Friend. We can always rely on Him. Though we cannot see Him, we can experience Him too because He is the true and living God.
Trust your life in the true and living God, and you will be blessed
Fear Him and you will lack nothing
Seek Him and your life will be blessed