ACBC Theology Exam 8 - The Attributes of God
00:00:00.000 | to our eighth class meeting
00:00:01.760 | of Intermediate Biblical Counseling.
00:00:04.560 | And I trust that you're doing well in the Lord
00:00:07.360 | and that God is blessing your studies
00:00:10.040 | and drawing you near to him
00:00:12.480 | as you study his precious word.
00:00:14.640 | And tonight we have the opportunity
00:00:17.360 | to look at theology exam number eight,
00:00:19.840 | which is an exam focused on the attributes of God.
00:00:24.060 | And I think it's just gonna be a good time for us
00:00:26.840 | to study God's word and to think about the truths
00:00:31.160 | of who God is.
00:00:32.840 | And I trust that this will be a encouragement
00:00:34.960 | and a blessing to each of you tonight.
00:00:39.080 | To introduce our study for tonight,
00:00:41.520 | I'd like to do a devotional
00:00:44.320 | from one of my favorite passages in scripture,
00:00:48.040 | which is Lamentations chapter three, verses 21 to 26.
00:00:54.100 | And I hope this will be both a good devotional thought
00:00:57.960 | and encouragement for us.
00:01:00.000 | And also an introduction to how the attributes of God
00:01:04.920 | can be used in counseling
00:01:06.360 | and why this essay topic is so important
00:01:10.920 | for our understanding.
00:01:12.760 | So this is Lamentations chapter three, starting in verse 21.
00:01:16.400 | And I'm gonna go ahead and put this on the screen there.
00:01:21.240 | Lamentations three, starting in verse 21.
00:01:25.420 | The prophet Jeremiah says,
00:01:26.520 | "But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.
00:01:29.820 | The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
00:01:33.500 | His mercies never come to an end.
00:01:37.260 | They are new every morning.
00:01:38.900 | Great is your faithfulness.
00:01:41.500 | The Lord is my portion, says my soul.
00:01:44.460 | Therefore I will hope in him.
00:01:46.680 | The Lord is good to those who wait for him.
00:01:50.980 | To the soul who seeks him,
00:01:52.980 | it is good that one should wait quietly
00:01:55.820 | for the salvation of the Lord."
00:01:58.500 | And that's a wonderful passage from God's word.
00:02:02.960 | But if you know the book of Lamentations,
00:02:05.760 | you know that this passage is found
00:02:08.620 | smack dab in the middle of a lot of weeping,
00:02:12.800 | a lot of sorrow, a lot of grieving
00:02:16.320 | and lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem.
00:02:20.460 | The prophet Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet.
00:02:23.820 | He ministered just prior to the Babylonian captivity
00:02:28.540 | in 586 BC.
00:02:31.660 | And his eyes witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem
00:02:35.560 | in the Babylonian captivity.
00:02:37.180 | And he writes the book of Lamentations
00:02:40.060 | to express his sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem
00:02:45.060 | and the captivity of his people.
00:02:48.980 | And if you've read this book,
00:02:50.280 | you know that it's filled with really a lament
00:02:55.100 | over all that has happened to God's people,
00:02:58.060 | but it's written in a very disciplined manner.
00:03:02.140 | Jeremiah uses the form of an acrostic,
00:03:07.340 | a Hebrew acrostic to write these laments.
00:03:11.620 | And so it's not just undisciplined venting of emotion,
00:03:15.640 | but it is a very disciplined and organized expression
00:03:20.640 | of Jeremiah's grief and his sorrow over all that he has seen.
00:03:26.760 | And then smack dab in the middle of all of this grieving
00:03:31.440 | and lamenting, we have this amazing passage of hope
00:03:35.720 | and remembrance of the truth of who God is.
00:03:40.720 | And Jeremiah says in verse 21,
00:03:43.760 | "But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope."
00:03:47.380 | That's an amazing statement there
00:03:51.820 | that Jeremiah can have hope in the middle
00:03:54.820 | of so much calamity, so much loss of life,
00:03:59.820 | so much national struggle.
00:04:05.720 | And here we are in the lowest point of Judah's history.
00:04:09.980 | And Jeremiah says, "But this I call to mind
00:04:13.400 | and therefore I have hope."
00:04:16.680 | You notice what he says in verse 21.
00:04:19.540 | He says, "This I call to mind."
00:04:22.780 | And so here we have the prophet Jeremiah
00:04:26.380 | making a conscious, willful decision
00:04:30.820 | to set his mind on certain truths of who God is.
00:04:36.860 | And the therefore in verse 21 is very important.
00:04:41.240 | It's because Jeremiah made that choice
00:04:45.180 | to call to mind the truths of who God is,
00:04:49.500 | that he was able to have hope
00:04:51.100 | in the midst of these very difficult circumstances.
00:04:56.100 | What are the truths that Jeremiah calls to mind?
00:05:00.220 | Verse 22, he calls to mind the steadfast love of the Lord.
00:05:04.500 | He says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases."
00:05:10.340 | The Hebrew term chesed, which is almost a term
00:05:14.900 | that is untranslatable in the English language
00:05:17.980 | 'cause it combines the idea of covenant faithfulness,
00:05:22.980 | loyalty, kindness, love, and mercy.
00:05:28.660 | The King James Version has the translation loving kindness,
00:05:36.220 | trying to capture something of the meaning of this term,
00:05:41.220 | combining love and kindness and faithfulness and loyalty.
00:05:45.300 | That's the idea of the steadfast love of the Lord.
00:05:49.700 | He says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases."
00:05:54.600 | Then he calls to mind the mercy of God.
00:05:58.100 | He says, "His mercies never come to an end."
00:06:02.180 | You notice the plural there.
00:06:05.920 | It's not singular mercy, it's plural mercies,
00:06:10.920 | talking about the manifold nature of God's abundant mercies,
00:06:17.060 | mercy for every circumstance, mercy for every trial.
00:06:23.800 | His mercies never come to an end.
00:06:27.640 | One commentator writes that the word mercy signifies
00:06:32.020 | a warm compassion, a compassion which is ready
00:06:35.220 | to forgive sin, to replace judgment with grace.
00:06:40.220 | And Paul Tripp has a devotional
00:06:44.180 | that's called "New Morning Mercies."
00:06:45.940 | I would highly recommend that for you.
00:06:48.660 | We use that in our counseling ministry
00:06:50.380 | to give to our counselees, just to get them thinking
00:06:54.260 | about the truth of who God is.
00:06:56.900 | And he writes in that devotional,
00:06:59.120 | "God's mercies don't come in one color.
00:07:01.620 | "No, they come in every shade of every color
00:07:04.800 | "of the rainbow of his grace.
00:07:07.260 | "Remember God's new morning mercies
00:07:09.380 | "and celebrate your identity as the object of mercy."
00:07:14.380 | So here Jeremiah is in the most devastating season
00:07:20.340 | of Judah's history.
00:07:21.740 | And he says, "God's mercies never come to an end.
00:07:25.680 | "They are new every morning."
00:07:28.740 | And then he calls to mind,
00:07:30.340 | not only the steadfast love of the Lord,
00:07:32.500 | not only the mercy of the Lord,
00:07:36.160 | but he calls to mind the faithfulness of God.
00:07:39.560 | And he says, "Great is your faithfulness."
00:07:43.820 | The term great is describing the faithfulness of God
00:07:49.640 | in terms of its massive size.
00:07:53.240 | It's almost as if Jeremiah is comparing
00:07:55.800 | the circumstances of life to the massive dimensions
00:08:01.480 | of God's faithfulness and showing how any circumstance,
00:08:06.480 | no matter how intimidating,
00:08:10.920 | is really pales in significance to the greatness,
00:08:15.920 | the magnitude, the size of God's faithfulness.
00:08:21.160 | And he calls to mind these three attributes of God.
00:08:29.040 | So there's three attributes of God in this passage,
00:08:33.000 | the love of the Lord, or the loving kindness of the Lord,
00:08:37.200 | the mercy of the Lord, and the faithfulness of the Lord.
00:08:42.200 | And it's Jeremiah's, again, it's his conscious,
00:08:47.760 | willful decision in verse 21, "This I will call to mind."
00:08:51.420 | So I'm not gonna get lost
00:08:54.200 | in only looking at the circumstances.
00:08:57.400 | I'm not gonna get lost in only analyzing
00:09:01.960 | the situation at hand,
00:09:03.360 | but I will call to mind the attributes of God,
00:09:07.760 | and therefore I have hope.
00:09:10.720 | The attributes of God, if properly understood,
00:09:14.080 | give the believer hope in the middle of the most difficult
00:09:19.080 | and distressing of circumstances.
00:09:24.960 | So the result is, in verse 24, Jeremiah says,
00:09:27.380 | "The Lord is my portion," says my soul.
00:09:31.160 | "Therefore, I will hope in him."
00:09:34.580 | The idea of a portion, it's really a simple way
00:09:38.560 | of Jeremiah saying, "The Lord is enough for me.
00:09:42.800 | "I'm satisfied in him."
00:09:46.080 | He goes on to say, "The Lord is good
00:09:47.680 | "to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him."
00:09:52.880 | And then verse 26, "It is good that one should wait quietly
00:09:57.780 | "for the salvation of the Lord."
00:10:01.580 | That's an amazing statement there.
00:10:06.240 | The quiet waiting of the believer who places his hope
00:10:11.240 | in a God who is loving and faithful and merciful,
00:10:19.120 | he says, "I will wait quietly for the Lord to save."
00:10:24.120 | And I just can't help but make an observation
00:10:28.920 | from our day to day.
00:10:30.960 | We live in a world of noisy hearts.
00:10:35.960 | I think you know that well.
00:10:38.560 | I think this season has really brought out
00:10:42.880 | a lot of noise in the world and in society,
00:10:46.000 | and people are expressing their noisy hearts
00:10:49.640 | through noisy words and noisy social media posts.
00:10:54.640 | And here you have the example of a believer
00:10:58.800 | who knows who his God is.
00:11:01.240 | And he says that, "I will wait quietly
00:11:06.840 | "for the salvation of the Lord."
00:11:11.880 | As I've said before, the trusting heart is a quiet heart,
00:11:16.880 | and a quiet heart is a strong heart.
00:11:20.720 | And this is where Jeremiah is, "I will wait quietly."
00:11:26.920 | So here you have national crisis, economic devastation.
00:11:38.560 | You have a divided kingdom.
00:11:40.280 | Northern tribes have already been taken into captivity,
00:11:45.480 | into Assyria in 722 BC.
00:11:49.720 | And then you have the Southern tribe of Judah
00:11:52.520 | taken captive in 586 BC by the Babylonians.
00:11:56.680 | You have a divided nation.
00:11:59.820 | You have physical devastation, death.
00:12:04.880 | And you have real grief and real sorrow.
00:12:08.900 | So this passage doesn't take away anything
00:12:10.680 | from the real lament and sorrow that Jeremiah is expressing.
00:12:15.680 | But in the midst of all of that, Jeremiah says,
00:12:20.380 | "I have hope, and I have hope because I know who God is.
00:12:25.380 | "And I have hope because this is what I'm going to
00:12:29.980 | "call to mind, is I'm gonna call to mind
00:12:34.260 | "the steadfast love of the Lord, which never ceases."
00:12:39.260 | And so I think you and I need to apply this
00:12:42.900 | to our own hearts and our own lives tonight.
00:12:47.180 | I think we see in this passage
00:12:52.240 | how powerful the attributes of God are.
00:12:54.360 | I mean, these are just three of the attributes of God.
00:12:56.600 | I mean, there are more attributes,
00:12:59.240 | but Jeremiah just calls to mind three attributes of God
00:13:03.640 | and the power, the effect upon his soul.
00:13:06.620 | It replaces despair with hope.
00:13:10.080 | It replaces noise with a quiet trust
00:13:14.820 | and waiting in the Lord.
00:13:16.920 | And Jeremiah's sorrow turns to a confident expectation,
00:13:22.940 | which is what hope is, a confident expectation
00:13:30.140 | in God's future activity that will bless his people.
00:13:35.080 | And if Jeremiah could say that
00:13:36.460 | in the midst of the destruction of Jerusalem,
00:13:39.660 | then I think you and I as believers can apply that
00:13:43.900 | to our own hearts in the struggles
00:13:45.880 | and the trials that our nation is facing today.
00:13:49.340 | So let me pray for us,
00:13:50.780 | and we'll get into our study for tonight.
00:13:53.440 | Let's pray.
00:13:56.420 | Well, Father, we do call this to mind
00:13:59.060 | that you are a God who is a God of covenant loyalty
00:14:04.060 | to your people.
00:14:05.960 | Your loving kindness endures forever.
00:14:10.220 | Your mercies are new every morning.
00:14:13.300 | Your faithfulness is from generation to generation.
00:14:16.780 | And we thank you that those circumstances change
00:14:22.080 | and those seasons change,
00:14:24.660 | that your character never changes.
00:14:27.980 | You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:14:31.620 | You are immutable, unchanging.
00:14:35.000 | You do not change for the better because that is impossible.
00:14:39.060 | You are perfect, and perfection cannot be improved upon,
00:14:42.460 | and you never change for the worse
00:14:44.780 | because there is no way for you to lose your perfection.
00:14:49.500 | You are forever loving, forever faithful,
00:14:53.920 | forever merciful, forever kind, forever holy.
00:14:58.120 | And we just rejoice in the truth
00:15:01.100 | that though life does bring us very difficult
00:15:06.100 | and devastating circumstances,
00:15:08.260 | that we can have hope because we know who our God is.
00:15:13.180 | And so we just pray that, Father, our study tonight
00:15:17.820 | and the writing of this essay, Theology Exam Number Eight,
00:15:22.540 | would have this blessed and beneficial effect
00:15:27.360 | upon our souls,
00:15:29.480 | and that we would not only write a great essay,
00:15:32.520 | but that we would be equipped to use the attributes of God
00:15:37.520 | in counseling others and also in counseling our own hearts
00:15:42.600 | as we seek to walk through these difficult times together.
00:15:47.460 | Thank you for each student in this class
00:15:51.620 | who have devoted themselves to the study of your word.
00:15:53.800 | Bless each one, and may this time result
00:15:58.240 | in much fruit for your glory,
00:15:59.840 | and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.
00:16:02.580 | Amen.
00:16:06.660 | Well, I hope you see from that brief devotional
00:16:12.800 | that the study of the attributes of God
00:16:16.120 | are relevant for everyday life.
00:16:19.240 | This is not some ivory tower topic.
00:16:22.380 | This is something that needs to be applied
00:16:25.460 | in the everyday situations that we face.
00:16:28.460 | And I also hope that you see that the attributes of God
00:16:31.660 | are relevant for counseling.
00:16:33.400 | Counseling is using God's word to minister to people,
00:16:39.660 | and one of the great arsenals of truth
00:16:44.500 | that you have at your disposal as a biblical counselor
00:16:48.940 | is the attributes of God.
00:16:51.660 | These are truths that you want to use
00:16:55.620 | and be well acquainted with.
00:16:57.800 | You want to really be able to, as we saw in Jeremiah's case,
00:17:03.380 | use the attributes of God to give people hope.
00:17:07.260 | And we'll talk through some examples of how to do that.
00:17:12.220 | But tonight's study is a very practical study.
00:17:14.940 | Let me read the exam topic for us,
00:17:17.260 | and then we'll talk a little bit more about this subject.
00:17:21.320 | So the exam question is explain
00:17:23.860 | each of the following attributes of God,
00:17:26.260 | describing the practical implications
00:17:29.020 | of each attribute for life and counseling.
00:17:33.300 | And then there are six attributes
00:17:34.700 | they're asking you to write about.
00:17:38.180 | Wrath, mercy, holiness, omnipotence,
00:17:43.180 | omniscience, and omnipresence.
00:17:46.920 | So we have wrath, mercy, holiness,
00:17:49.960 | omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.
00:17:54.960 | So best of luck to you all
00:17:57.880 | to get all that in in a page and a half.
00:18:00.480 | That is probably the most challenging part
00:18:03.460 | of writing this essay is talking about six attributes of God
00:18:08.460 | and getting that in under a page and a half.
00:18:12.820 | Obviously, we're asking you to be very concise.
00:18:17.020 | We're asking you to give really a brief definition,
00:18:20.140 | a little bit of scriptural support.
00:18:24.060 | And then the essay is asking you to describe
00:18:26.600 | the practical implications of each attribute
00:18:29.700 | for life and counseling.
00:18:32.880 | And so you'll want to do one or two practical implications.
00:18:40.480 | I don't know how much more you can really do on that
00:18:43.320 | and fit within the space constraints of this essay,
00:18:46.860 | but that's gonna be a challenge
00:18:48.440 | to get all that in under a page and a half.
00:18:50.620 | But rest assured, it can be done by God's grace
00:18:53.760 | and it has been done by a number of students,
00:18:55.720 | but that is gonna be a challenge
00:18:58.200 | to get all that in under a page and a half.
00:19:01.840 | If you look at your handout there,
00:19:07.560 | I have on page number one,
00:19:09.480 | some good resources that you can use to write this essay.
00:19:12.640 | We have Paul Enns, "The Moody Handbook of Theology,"
00:19:16.200 | pages 193 to 203.
00:19:19.280 | And he's good on practically any topic,
00:19:23.000 | very concise and well distilled information.
00:19:27.360 | Then you have Wayne Grudem, "Systematic Theology."
00:19:30.040 | Grudem's "Systematic Theology"
00:19:31.520 | is excellent on the attributes of God.
00:19:34.400 | I think he has two to three chapters
00:19:37.000 | on the attributes of God,
00:19:39.720 | and it's just excellent information,
00:19:42.040 | very well articulated and well summarized.
00:19:47.040 | So you'll definitely wanna take a look
00:19:49.480 | at Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology."
00:19:52.400 | Then we have Heath Lambert's,
00:19:53.680 | "A Theology of Biblical Counseling."
00:19:55.840 | Dr. Lambert's work is really helpful
00:20:00.400 | in showing how you would use the attributes of God
00:20:05.200 | in a counseling session.
00:20:07.800 | I think he has some case studies
00:20:10.120 | in his work, "A Theology of Biblical Counseling,"
00:20:12.520 | and he shows how you would use
00:20:14.120 | these different attributes of God to encourage
00:20:17.840 | or to give hope to a believer who is in despair
00:20:22.400 | or just struggling with sin.
00:20:24.600 | So that's a really good work.
00:20:25.720 | I would recommend that you read that as well.
00:20:28.040 | And then I have A.W. Pink's, "The Attributes of God,"
00:20:30.800 | and A.W. Tozer's, "The Knowledge of the Holy,"
00:20:33.520 | and some selected chapters,
00:20:35.280 | which are targeted toward the six attributes
00:20:38.120 | that we're asking you to write about.
00:20:41.400 | And those two works are just phenomenal, both of them.
00:20:46.400 | I'd encourage you to maybe use Tozer's work
00:20:50.920 | as a devotional aid and just take a chapter a day
00:20:55.400 | and read through that because it really is
00:20:58.320 | a wonderful treatment on the attributes of God
00:21:02.000 | and A.W. Pink's work as well.
00:21:04.440 | And then some favorites of mine
00:21:06.040 | that I just recommend to you for general reading.
00:21:08.920 | There's R.C. Sproul's, "The Holiness of God."
00:21:11.600 | That's a fantastic read.
00:21:13.200 | If you haven't gotten your hands on that yet,
00:21:16.400 | please do so and just read that for your own soul
00:21:19.440 | to remind yourself of the greatness of who God is.
00:21:22.880 | And then obviously, J.I. Packer's, "Knowing God,"
00:21:25.600 | is a classic.
00:21:27.220 | That's just a standard work
00:21:28.600 | that all of us should be acquainted with.
00:21:32.700 | And if you really wanna go deep into this subject,
00:21:36.280 | pick up Stephen Charnock's,
00:21:37.720 | "The Existence and Attributes of God."
00:21:39.400 | You can get that for free online.
00:21:41.480 | I believe that's a public domain at this point.
00:21:45.240 | And that'll be, you'll get lost in that one.
00:21:48.880 | You can go as deep as you wanna go,
00:21:50.840 | and it's just a fantastic read
00:21:54.120 | and encourage you to pick that up.
00:21:55.880 | If you don't read through that page by page,
00:21:58.560 | just use it as a reference for certain attributes
00:22:02.400 | if you wanna go deeper in your understanding.
00:22:04.640 | So those are just some general resources
00:22:09.300 | that I would recommend to you.
00:22:13.080 | Now, if you move to page two of your handout,
00:22:17.060 | just some introductory statements
00:22:18.920 | on the attributes of God.
00:22:20.620 | I think A.W. Tozer said it really well when he said,
00:22:27.680 | "What comes into our minds when we think about God
00:22:30.440 | "is the most important thing about us."
00:22:35.440 | What comes into our minds when we think about God
00:22:39.160 | is the most important thing about us.
00:22:44.160 | Now, Tozer didn't write that
00:22:47.320 | in a biblical counseling textbook,
00:22:49.360 | but he might as well have.
00:22:51.520 | It's a statement that is really relevant
00:22:53.960 | to biblical counseling.
00:22:57.300 | You could maybe revise that a little bit
00:23:01.280 | and say what comes into your counselee's mind
00:23:05.160 | when your counselee thinks about God
00:23:08.280 | is the most important thing about that person.
00:23:14.120 | Really, what comes into your counselee's mind
00:23:17.840 | when he or she thinks about God
00:23:20.280 | has relevance to the counseling situation.
00:23:24.360 | So you'll remember my presentation
00:23:28.800 | of a typical counseling issue.
00:23:30.980 | Here you have a counselee who is expressing himself
00:23:35.520 | or herself in certain words, actions, and emotions.
00:23:40.520 | And we said that a secular psychologist
00:23:43.180 | under common grace can make accurate observations
00:23:48.080 | on this external behavior.
00:23:51.500 | What is this counselee saying?
00:23:52.960 | What are they doing?
00:23:54.340 | What is the external behavior
00:23:57.840 | that is being expressed by this counselee?
00:23:59.880 | A secular psychologist and a biblical counselor
00:24:02.860 | will most likely make very similar observations
00:24:05.700 | about external behavior.
00:24:08.560 | But what a secular psychologist cannot do
00:24:12.280 | is understand the source of this type of behavior.
00:24:17.280 | Where is this behavior coming from?
00:24:22.340 | And so we have built an understanding
00:24:29.440 | through year one and also year two
00:24:31.820 | that scripture says the source of human behavior
00:24:35.320 | is what is going on in the heart.
00:24:37.120 | It is out of the heart, the flow, the springs of life,
00:24:41.440 | Proverbs 4, verse 23 says.
00:24:44.540 | And the heart is expressing itself
00:24:48.480 | in these external behaviors.
00:24:51.980 | But as a biblical counselor,
00:24:53.280 | we also see that the heart is relating always to God.
00:24:58.280 | The heart is always relating either wrongly or rightly
00:25:04.240 | to the true and the living God.
00:25:07.720 | The heart is always relating either in a godly manner
00:25:11.720 | to who God is or an ungodly manner to who God is.
00:25:15.920 | And so a biblical counselor is called
00:25:21.880 | not only to make accurate observations
00:25:24.320 | about words, actions, and emotions,
00:25:26.800 | but also to make right interpretations
00:25:31.800 | of how the heart is relating either rightly
00:25:35.360 | or wrongly to God.
00:25:37.660 | That was indictment of Jesus toward the Pharisees
00:25:41.400 | in Matthew 15, verse eight, where he said,
00:25:44.080 | "This people honors me with their lips,
00:25:46.720 | "but their heart is far from me."
00:25:50.800 | And so when the heart is far from God,
00:25:53.640 | when the heart is not worshiping God and treasuring God,
00:25:58.140 | then you have aberrant words, actions, and emotions.
00:26:02.600 | You have ungodly behavior that comes out
00:26:04.880 | of that wrong heart dynamic
00:26:09.620 | that the heart is relating wrongly to God.
00:26:12.840 | And if you want any more confirmation of that,
00:26:15.600 | read Romans 1, verse 18,
00:26:19.160 | all the way to the end of that chapter.
00:26:20.600 | You'll find that when the heart does not worship
00:26:24.680 | the true and the living God,
00:26:25.760 | that all sorts of aberrant behaviors come out
00:26:28.880 | of that heart dynamic.
00:26:32.960 | So when we are deficient in our understanding
00:26:37.960 | of who God is, then we respond in an ungodly manner
00:26:42.680 | to our circumstances.
00:26:44.280 | So going back to Tozer's statement,
00:26:47.480 | what comes into our minds when we think about God
00:26:51.760 | is the most important thing about us.
00:26:57.680 | We want to help our counselees understand
00:27:01.400 | the attributes of God.
00:27:03.680 | This is, I think, one of the most helpful,
00:27:08.980 | practical things in counseling ministry
00:27:11.120 | is whenever you're in doubt, you don't know what to do,
00:27:15.400 | go to the attributes of God.
00:27:16.980 | I mean, you just can't go wrong with this.
00:27:20.520 | You can't go wrong by, and by that,
00:27:22.760 | I don't mean pull out 20 attributes of God
00:27:25.360 | and make your counselee memorize all 20.
00:27:27.480 | Really, in practical counseling ministry,
00:27:30.900 | if you pull out one attribute of God
00:27:33.920 | and just encourage your counselee with that attribute
00:27:37.200 | or two to three attributes of God
00:27:40.160 | and just help your counselee see the faithfulness of God
00:27:45.160 | or help your counselee see the sovereignty of God
00:27:48.520 | or help your counselee see the love of God.
00:27:51.300 | I mean, any one of those attributes
00:27:54.020 | will have a beneficial effect
00:27:55.840 | upon the soul for your counselee.
00:27:58.480 | And you just have this arsenal of truth here
00:28:01.560 | to impart help and hope to your counselee.
00:28:04.080 | And that's sort of one of my go-tos
00:28:07.680 | if I don't know what to do.
00:28:09.720 | You never go wrong going to the attributes of God
00:28:12.840 | and using that in counseling ministry.
00:28:16.480 | Some of these statements that theologians have made
00:28:19.760 | on the attributes of God just kind of explode
00:28:22.800 | with significance for counseling ministry.
00:28:25.340 | I know that C.H. Spurgeon was not teaching
00:28:29.580 | in a biblical counseling class,
00:28:31.220 | but just listen to what he said about the attributes of God.
00:28:34.660 | He said, "There is something exceedingly improving
00:28:37.040 | "to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity.
00:28:40.300 | "It is a subject so vast that all of our thoughts
00:28:43.100 | "are lost in its immensity."
00:28:45.120 | This is just perfect for biblical counseling.
00:28:49.580 | He says, "Would you lose your sorrow?
00:28:52.500 | "Would you drown your cares?
00:28:53.920 | "Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea.
00:28:57.600 | "Be lost in its immensity and you shall come forth
00:29:00.540 | "as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated."
00:29:04.140 | In counseling, we are working with people
00:29:07.500 | who are overcome with sorrow or overcome with cares
00:29:12.500 | who need refreshment from God's word.
00:29:15.140 | And Spurgeon says, "There's no better place to go
00:29:17.960 | "than the attributes of God."
00:29:21.620 | He says, "I know nothing which can so comfort the soul,
00:29:24.460 | "so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief,
00:29:28.240 | "so speak peace to the winds of trial
00:29:30.620 | "as the devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead."
00:29:33.980 | That just has so much implications for counseling ministry
00:29:39.100 | because we are ministering to people
00:29:40.940 | who are dealing with just that,
00:29:43.460 | the sorrow and the grief of life.
00:29:48.900 | And then Packer's statement,
00:29:50.060 | "A study of the nature and the character of God
00:29:53.060 | "is the most practical project anyone can engage in."
00:29:58.060 | And then watch this, he says,
00:30:02.440 | "The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place
00:30:06.940 | "and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant business
00:30:11.560 | "for those who do not know about God."
00:30:15.820 | I mean, that's the world today, isn't it?
00:30:17.980 | They're just trying to interpret
00:30:21.020 | all of what's happening in our nation
00:30:23.440 | apart from an understanding of the true and the living God.
00:30:27.100 | And the world has become a strange, mad, painful place.
00:30:32.020 | But for those of us who know our God,
00:30:36.980 | there ought to be a different understanding
00:30:38.940 | of the events in our day.
00:30:41.900 | Again, doesn't remove the sorrow,
00:30:43.620 | doesn't remove the true grief that happens in this life,
00:30:48.220 | but there is a different perspective
00:30:50.580 | that we must bring to bear upon the issues of life
00:30:54.860 | because we do know our God and we do know who he is.
00:30:58.940 | Packer continues, "Disregard the study of God
00:31:01.660 | "and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder
00:31:05.400 | "through life, blindfolded as it were,
00:31:08.020 | "with no sense of direction
00:31:10.640 | "and no understanding of what surrounds you.
00:31:13.620 | "Knowing about God is crucially important
00:31:16.460 | "for the living of our lives."
00:31:21.140 | So I talked about how in counseling ministry,
00:31:26.980 | it's not that you take 20 attributes of God
00:31:30.260 | and just overload your counselee
00:31:33.600 | with theological information.
00:31:35.560 | It really is many times one or two attributes of God
00:31:40.700 | or even using a narrative in scripture
00:31:42.980 | to highlight the truth of God's faithfulness
00:31:47.900 | and his sovereignty.
00:31:50.000 | And one example of how we do this
00:31:51.980 | is in Jerry Bridges' work, "Trusting God,"
00:31:56.420 | which is I think one of the go-to counseling resources
00:32:01.420 | that we use in our counseling ministry.
00:32:06.860 | He has both the book, "Trusting God,"
00:32:09.300 | and he also has a pamphlet, "You Can Trust God,"
00:32:13.460 | which we have in our counseling library.
00:32:16.700 | And essentially in that book, "Trusting God,"
00:32:21.220 | Jerry Bridges takes three attributes of God
00:32:25.500 | and uses those three attributes to minister help and hope
00:32:30.500 | to people who are struggling with the issues of life.
00:32:33.900 | So he takes the sovereignty of God,
00:32:36.500 | God's complete control over all creation,
00:32:39.360 | including God's complete control
00:32:43.980 | over every circumstance in our lives.
00:32:46.720 | He takes the wisdom of God,
00:32:49.460 | which is the idea that God ordains the best ends
00:32:54.460 | and then ordains the best means to achieve those ends.
00:32:58.660 | Every circumstance in our life
00:33:00.740 | is an expression of the wisdom of God
00:33:04.940 | that he has a goal in mind.
00:33:06.820 | And that goal is the best goal that is possibly conceivable.
00:33:11.820 | And the circumstance that is ordained for our lives
00:33:17.780 | is the best means to achieve that ultimate end.
00:33:22.780 | And then he has the love of God, God's love for his people,
00:33:28.960 | that God will always ordain the best ends for his people
00:33:33.260 | because of his infinite love for us.
00:33:38.020 | And he talks about this idea that we need to warm up
00:33:41.500 | the doctrine of the sovereignty of God
00:33:43.640 | with the doctrine of the wisdom of God and the love of God,
00:33:47.500 | that it's not just cold sovereignty
00:33:51.780 | that we need to minister to people,
00:33:53.380 | but it's the idea of God's sovereignty
00:33:57.280 | coupled with his wisdom and his love
00:34:00.140 | that brings comfort to God's people.
00:34:04.560 | If you believe that God is on his throne
00:34:08.020 | and he's completely ruling over this universe,
00:34:12.240 | that there is no maverick molecule in the entire universe,
00:34:18.020 | as R.C. Sproul says,
00:34:19.920 | that everything is under his complete control,
00:34:22.980 | if you believe that he is infinitely wise
00:34:26.340 | and everything that is happening today
00:34:28.780 | is part of his wise plan to glorify himself
00:34:33.780 | and to do good to his people,
00:34:35.540 | and if you believe that God loves his people
00:34:38.660 | with an infinite love
00:34:40.820 | and that everything that he has ordained
00:34:42.860 | is an expression of his perfect
00:34:45.260 | and infinite love for his people,
00:34:47.000 | then the result, as Bridges says, is you can trust God.
00:34:52.280 | You can trust this God.
00:34:54.720 | You can release control, as it were, of your life
00:34:59.720 | to a God who is in complete control,
00:35:04.280 | and you can place your life in his hands.
00:35:07.680 | Trust in the Lord with all your heart
00:35:09.640 | and lean not on your own understanding.
00:35:12.160 | In all your ways, acknowledge him,
00:35:14.240 | and he will make straight your paths.
00:35:17.040 | If this is the God that you believe in,
00:35:20.140 | then you can trust him.
00:35:21.800 | And as Jeremiah said, you can wait quietly for him
00:35:26.800 | to do his work in your life for your good and for his glory.
00:35:32.120 | Again, those are just three attributes.
00:35:38.720 | I mean, there are so many more
00:35:40.280 | that you could use to comfort and encourage people,
00:35:44.560 | but that's the power of just the attributes of God.
00:35:48.080 | Here you have three attributes of God,
00:35:50.480 | and Bridges builds an entire book around this,
00:35:53.920 | and the power of this to minister to the heart
00:35:59.960 | so that the believer can trust God
00:36:02.800 | in the midst of very trying circumstances.
00:36:05.920 | If you become, as a counselor,
00:36:08.960 | just well-acquainted with these three attributes,
00:36:11.200 | the sovereignty of God, the wisdom of God, the love of God,
00:36:14.280 | you can apply that to,
00:36:16.960 | I mean, that's like a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
00:36:19.360 | You can use that in so many different settings.
00:36:21.480 | So many different people need to just understand
00:36:25.520 | God's sovereignty, wisdom, and love
00:36:28.760 | so that they can trust him.
00:36:31.140 | And as they trust him,
00:36:32.440 | then they will begin to bear good fruit in their lives.
00:36:37.240 | So let me just encourage you
00:36:41.260 | to learn all of the attributes of God,
00:36:43.940 | but in counseling ministry,
00:36:45.640 | don't drown your counselee
00:36:49.240 | in trying to get him or her to learn 20 attributes,
00:36:54.960 | but become skilled in using one, two,
00:36:58.160 | or three attributes of God
00:36:59.560 | to really minister to your counselee.
00:37:02.400 | So on your handout there,
00:37:07.480 | we have the benefits of understanding the attributes of God.
00:37:10.280 | First of all, the attributes of God
00:37:11.680 | help us to understand our lives.
00:37:16.000 | That's going back to Packer's statement
00:37:18.600 | that the world becomes a strange,
00:37:22.120 | mad, and painful place
00:37:24.720 | for those who do not know about God.
00:37:28.560 | But for those who do know God,
00:37:32.320 | the attributes of God helps us to understand our lives.
00:37:35.360 | I don't know why our nation is going through the trials
00:37:39.780 | that we are going through.
00:37:41.160 | I don't know why.
00:37:43.400 | The full explanation of all that is happening today,
00:37:47.100 | I do know that God is sovereign,
00:37:50.480 | that he is wise, that he is loving, that he is good.
00:37:54.980 | And whatever his purpose is in this time,
00:37:59.200 | it is ultimately the best possible purpose.
00:38:04.200 | And if I understand those things, then I can trust him.
00:38:09.180 | And I know I'm in the process of that.
00:38:11.200 | I know many of you, you're in the process of doing that,
00:38:14.980 | of entrusting your lives to God during this time.
00:38:17.540 | But the attributes of God help us to understand our lives.
00:38:22.540 | Secondly, the attributes of God
00:38:24.120 | help us to respond rightly to trials.
00:38:26.780 | I think of Joseph's statement in Genesis 50, verse 20,
00:38:33.760 | when he was speaking to his brothers
00:38:35.280 | who had sold him into slavery.
00:38:38.720 | And he says, "As for you, you meant evil against me,
00:38:43.720 | "but God meant it for good to bring it about
00:38:47.920 | "that many people should be kept alive as they are today."
00:38:52.120 | Although God is not the author of evil
00:38:56.240 | and does not tempt any man to evil,
00:38:59.240 | Joseph's statement is that God is sovereign
00:39:03.600 | over even the evil deeds of man
00:39:06.200 | and uses even the sins of men
00:39:09.820 | to accomplish his good and holy purposes.
00:39:12.200 | So he says to his brothers, "You meant this for evil.
00:39:16.140 | "God meant this for good."
00:39:18.400 | And that enabled Joseph to respond graciously
00:39:22.520 | to his brothers.
00:39:24.200 | So the truth of who God is will help us respond rightly
00:39:28.120 | to trials.
00:39:29.320 | Thirdly, the attributes of God help us to endure
00:39:31.720 | through difficult seasons.
00:39:34.660 | I think back to Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations.
00:39:39.160 | Jeremiah couldn't have known all the details
00:39:42.480 | or the ins and outs of how God was going to use
00:39:46.080 | the Babylonian captivity for his glory.
00:39:50.020 | He couldn't have known all of the details
00:39:54.760 | of how God was gonna do that.
00:39:56.200 | We know from a New Testament perspective
00:39:57.940 | that God preserved the line of Judah
00:39:59.760 | and from Judah's line came the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
00:40:03.560 | And this was all part of God's plan
00:40:05.720 | to bring about salvation for the world.
00:40:08.240 | But from Jeremiah's perspective,
00:40:09.640 | he couldn't have known all that.
00:40:11.240 | But he said, "I have hope
00:40:14.560 | "because although I don't know all that information,
00:40:17.020 | "I know who God is,
00:40:18.780 | "that he is loving, he is merciful, and he is faithful."
00:40:23.980 | And so the attributes of God help us endure
00:40:29.160 | through difficult seasons.
00:40:31.800 | And then fourthly, the attributes of God
00:40:34.360 | equip us to minister to others.
00:40:37.200 | Let me give you an example of this.
00:40:39.960 | Let's say, for example, a counselee comes for counseling
00:40:44.580 | and says to me, "My child is rebellious.
00:40:49.580 | "My child is hard-hearted.
00:40:51.980 | "My child is involved with friends that I don't like.
00:40:57.500 | "My child won't talk to me.
00:40:59.580 | "What am I gonna say to this counselee?
00:41:02.660 | "How am I going to bring encouragement to this counselee?"
00:41:07.660 | Well, one option is to say,
00:41:09.500 | "Well, don't worry about it
00:41:12.640 | "'cause things are gonna get better."
00:41:14.500 | And that's the old Annie musical, right?
00:41:21.040 | "The sun will come up tomorrow.
00:41:23.560 | "Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun."
00:41:27.480 | One option is to give my counselee this idea that,
00:41:32.480 | "I guarantee you that because you're a Christian,
00:41:36.880 | "things will get better."
00:41:39.000 | Now, what have I just done there
00:41:40.640 | if I give my counselee that type of response?
00:41:44.760 | Well, possibly, I've given my counselee false hope
00:41:49.160 | because I don't know that.
00:41:52.560 | I don't know if things are gonna get better,
00:41:55.380 | at least from a human temporal perspective.
00:41:59.920 | I don't know if the situation is going to get better.
00:42:02.600 | I don't know if God's plan for my counselee
00:42:07.200 | is that the trial is going to be removed.
00:42:11.880 | Now, believe me, I'm gonna pray to that end.
00:42:15.960 | I'm gonna pray that this child will turn in their heart
00:42:22.680 | to the Lord and then the relationship will be restored.
00:42:26.680 | But I don't know, I can't assume that God is gonna answer
00:42:31.020 | that prayer in the timing that I have designated
00:42:34.740 | or the timing that I would prefer.
00:42:36.820 | If I say that to my counselee, "Don't worry about it.
00:42:41.500 | "Things are gonna get better."
00:42:43.860 | Then I may be giving that person a false hope.
00:42:49.520 | I may be guaranteeing things that I can't guarantee
00:42:54.320 | because I don't know what God's plan is for my counselee.
00:42:58.720 | Let me give you a better option.
00:43:03.320 | What if I say to my counselee, "Dear friend,
00:43:07.780 | "I don't know how the situation is going to work out
00:43:12.860 | "and I don't know what God's plan is for your life,
00:43:17.280 | "but I do know that God is faithful.
00:43:19.360 | "I do know that God is loving.
00:43:24.920 | "I do know that God is in complete control
00:43:29.180 | "of this situation and He will work this out
00:43:33.800 | "for His glory and for your good.
00:43:36.660 | "And I just wanna encourage you to trust Him,
00:43:39.920 | "to trust Him with all your heart.
00:43:41.940 | "Do not lean on your own understanding.
00:43:44.700 | "Trust Him because He can be trusted.
00:43:47.020 | "He is trustworthy and no one in the history of redemption
00:43:52.020 | "has ever trusted the Lord in vain.
00:43:59.540 | "If you trust Him, you will not be an exception
00:44:03.220 | "to that rule.
00:44:04.640 | "You can trust Him today because He is faithful.
00:44:09.740 | "In fact, let's trust Him together.
00:44:11.580 | "I'm gonna pray for you that God will help you
00:44:15.740 | "to trust Him, and I wanna trust the Lord
00:44:19.900 | "for you and for your child."
00:44:22.340 | And let's just see together if God will do a good work
00:44:25.980 | in this very difficult situation.
00:44:29.080 | You see, what I have done at that point
00:44:32.020 | is I have rooted the counselee in the true hope
00:44:36.500 | of who God is, in His unchanging character,
00:44:42.720 | and not in a false hope that the circumstances of life
00:44:47.720 | will work in our favor,
00:44:51.160 | at least from a limited temporal perspective.
00:44:54.540 | I don't know how the situation is going to work out.
00:44:58.620 | I do know that God will be faithful to my counselee
00:45:01.600 | if my counselee is a believer in Christ.
00:45:05.600 | Now, watch this.
00:45:08.180 | This isn't false advertising, but this does happen,
00:45:12.540 | and this has happened.
00:45:13.860 | Let's say my counselee takes that counsel to heart
00:45:18.400 | and learns to trust God,
00:45:19.920 | and learns to say, "Whatever my situation may be,
00:45:25.500 | "whatever my child does or doesn't do,
00:45:29.000 | "I know my God is faithful.
00:45:30.620 | "I know my God is merciful.
00:45:32.360 | "I know my God is sovereign.
00:45:34.140 | "I'm going to trust my God with my circumstances."
00:45:40.840 | And as my counselee learns to trust God,
00:45:43.340 | what you see in my counselee's heart
00:45:45.620 | is this beautiful fruit begins to grow,
00:45:47.980 | because that's what happens when you trust the Lord,
00:45:51.040 | is there is joy, and there is peace, and there is patience,
00:45:56.040 | and there is wonderful fruit.
00:45:59.140 | There is hope that begins to grow in my counselee's heart,
00:46:04.140 | and just this gracious attitude.
00:46:08.340 | And now my counselee is coming to his or her child
00:46:13.080 | with this heart that is filled with hope, grace,
00:46:18.040 | and mercy, peace, and patience.
00:46:21.860 | Do you think that this parent
00:46:25.840 | will have a more effective ministry to that child
00:46:30.600 | now that the counselee's heart is trusting in the Lord?
00:46:37.120 | Do you think that this relationship might actually improve
00:46:40.420 | if the parent is walking with the Lord in this way?
00:46:46.160 | I don't know God's plan.
00:46:47.540 | It's possibly that the child may still respond
00:46:50.960 | in a rebellious manner.
00:46:53.120 | But from a human perspective,
00:46:55.960 | people who are filled with hope and joy
00:46:59.400 | are more likely to give encouragement to that child
00:47:02.120 | than those who are filled with anger
00:47:05.800 | and with anxiety.
00:47:08.740 | There is more likely gonna be a good
00:47:12.420 | and beneficial ministry to that child
00:47:14.840 | because the counselee is rooted
00:47:16.200 | in a strong relationship with the Lord.
00:47:18.400 | So that's the power of using the attributes of God
00:47:22.320 | in counseling ministry.
00:47:24.200 | Now, I'm gonna be a lot quicker here,
00:47:26.520 | but let me just walk you through some material.
00:47:29.280 | What is an attribute?
00:47:30.360 | An attribute of God is simply something
00:47:32.100 | that is true about God,
00:47:34.680 | and you can look at Wayne Grudem
00:47:37.400 | has some good information on that
00:47:39.440 | just defining what an attribute is.
00:47:43.240 | The attributes of God are typically
00:47:45.240 | categorized under incommunicable attributes
00:47:51.440 | and communicable attributes.
00:47:53.760 | The communicable attributes are those attributes
00:47:57.200 | which are more reflected by man,
00:47:59.440 | at least to some substantial degree.
00:48:03.360 | And the incommunicable attributes are those attributes
00:48:05.720 | which are less reflected by man,
00:48:08.680 | at least to any substantial degree.
00:48:11.880 | And there's this intramural debate
00:48:13.920 | between theologians of which attributes
00:48:17.520 | fall under the category
00:48:19.080 | of being incommunicable versus communicable.
00:48:21.640 | This is not an inspired table right here.
00:48:25.880 | This is just one way that you might categorize these,
00:48:30.000 | but generally speaking,
00:48:30.920 | theologians have categorized these attributes
00:48:34.760 | under the headings of communicable and incommunicable.
00:48:39.640 | And the main idea here is that
00:48:41.960 | the communicable attributes are those
00:48:44.480 | that we as Christians are called to emulate or imitate.
00:48:49.280 | We're called to be merciful because God is merciful.
00:48:53.000 | We're called to be gracious
00:48:54.080 | because God is gracious and so forth and so on.
00:48:58.800 | So the six attributes that this essay
00:49:03.200 | is asking you to write about are
00:49:05.040 | wrath, mercy, holiness, omnipotence,
00:49:07.960 | omniscience, and omnipresence.
00:49:11.240 | I put a lot of material on your handout,
00:49:13.920 | but for our class time and we're limited in time,
00:49:17.760 | but I wanna give just a brief definition of the attributes,
00:49:21.880 | but really I'd like to give you some starter points
00:49:26.300 | of what would be the practical implications
00:49:29.560 | of this attribute for life and counseling.
00:49:32.120 | I found that really what's the hardest part
00:49:33.880 | about writing this essay is not giving
00:49:37.600 | the correct definitions of the attributes,
00:49:39.820 | but really thinking through how would this attribute of God
00:49:43.960 | relate to life and counseling.
00:49:46.680 | And I'm not gonna do all the work for you on this,
00:49:49.120 | but I do wanna give you some starting points,
00:49:51.640 | just some things that might jog your mind
00:49:56.240 | and help you to start brainstorming
00:49:59.080 | of how these attributes might be used in counseling.
00:50:01.680 | So first of all, we have the wrath of God,
00:50:04.280 | which is God's holy and righteous anger against sin.
00:50:08.680 | Many passages speak of the wrath of God in scripture,
00:50:12.320 | Nahum chapter one, Luke chapter 13,
00:50:15.560 | and many passages on your handout there.
00:50:19.740 | What would be some counseling implications
00:50:22.960 | for the wrath of God?
00:50:25.300 | Some thoughts to think through.
00:50:28.240 | Number one would be, I think this attribute causes us
00:50:32.900 | to be very motivated to know if our counselee
00:50:35.680 | is a true believer or not.
00:50:38.020 | If our counselee is not a true believer in Christ,
00:50:43.880 | then they have a much bigger problem
00:50:47.500 | than their counseling issue.
00:50:48.900 | They have a much bigger problem than the fact
00:50:52.920 | that their marriage is under a lot of strain
00:50:57.420 | or that they have an anxiety issue.
00:51:00.740 | If the counselee is not a true believer,
00:51:04.320 | then they are still under the wrath of God,
00:51:07.140 | and that is their main counseling issue.
00:51:10.180 | Whatever the presenting problem is,
00:51:11.700 | their main counseling issue is they need to be saved
00:51:14.900 | and believe and understand the gospel.
00:51:16.540 | This is why you wanna take pains
00:51:18.740 | to get a good salvation testimony,
00:51:20.620 | to get a right understanding of the gospel
00:51:24.260 | with your counselee, because we should labor to know
00:51:27.260 | if our counselee is a true believer.
00:51:29.760 | The truth of the wrath of God should produce humility
00:51:35.000 | in the heart of a counselee.
00:51:37.460 | A husband says, "Well, I deserve to be respected by my wife
00:51:43.680 | "because I do all of these things for my family."
00:51:48.480 | Well, the truth is that you deserve the wrath of God
00:51:51.840 | because of your sins.
00:51:54.180 | And anything less than eternal hell
00:51:58.120 | is God's undeserved favor in your life.
00:52:01.980 | And if you come from that starting point,
00:52:04.300 | you come from a point of true humility.
00:52:07.860 | Rehearsing this truth should produce humility
00:52:11.140 | in the life of the counselee.
00:52:14.340 | This truth should also produce appreciation for Christ
00:52:18.600 | and his saving work.
00:52:19.860 | The truth that Christ has drank the cup
00:52:22.980 | of God's wrath in full,
00:52:24.780 | and God's wrath has been satisfied
00:52:27.820 | for the believer in Christ.
00:52:31.340 | Romans 8, verse one, "There is therefore no condemnation
00:52:33.660 | "for those who are in Christ Jesus."
00:52:36.320 | Those are some starting points.
00:52:37.700 | You can think through implications on your own.
00:52:39.460 | But again, we're trying to connect the attribute
00:52:42.620 | to how you would use this in life and in ministry.
00:52:47.580 | "The mercy of God is his heart of compassion
00:52:52.420 | "for those who are in distress."
00:52:55.260 | Psalm 103, verse eight, "The Lord is merciful and gracious,
00:52:58.580 | "slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love."
00:53:02.900 | How would this attribute connect with life and ministry?
00:53:09.700 | Some ideas here, and this is just me getting you started
00:53:14.700 | on thinking through counseling implications.
00:53:18.120 | I think the mercy of God should really shape
00:53:22.100 | the counselee's prayer life.
00:53:23.720 | Especially, and you know this,
00:53:26.820 | especially when the counselee is in times of trial
00:53:30.660 | or difficulty.
00:53:31.940 | Psalm 103, verse 13, "As a father shows compassion
00:53:37.580 | "to his children, so the Lord shows compassion
00:53:39.860 | "to those who fear him."
00:53:40.860 | We ought to encourage our counselees who are believers
00:53:44.780 | to come and cry out to God.
00:53:47.660 | God is your heavenly father.
00:53:52.460 | If even evil fathers will not turn away their children
00:53:56.340 | when they're in times of distress,
00:53:58.080 | how much more will your heavenly father hear you
00:54:01.620 | when you come?
00:54:02.540 | Come to God, he is merciful, he is full of mercy.
00:54:07.100 | And especially when you're in times of distress,
00:54:10.220 | call out to him because he will receive you
00:54:15.220 | if you're a believer in Christ.
00:54:18.380 | You can use this attribute to help the counselee
00:54:22.220 | produce a heart of mercy for others
00:54:24.020 | in the life of, in their relationships.
00:54:28.280 | One of the things we see often in counseling ministry
00:54:30.500 | is just counselees who have a hardened heart
00:54:34.140 | in their relationship with others.
00:54:37.060 | And that heart needs to be melted by the mercy of God.
00:54:42.060 | The counselee needs to be encouraged
00:54:50.060 | to have mercy upon others
00:54:51.580 | because God has had mercy upon him or her.
00:54:55.520 | Let me just, before I move on here,
00:54:58.340 | let me just encourage you also that the quality
00:55:03.180 | of a good biblical counselor is mercy.
00:55:07.000 | I hope that you will pursue being a merciful
00:55:12.000 | biblical counselor,
00:55:16.040 | that you will just have compassion on people.
00:55:18.960 | I've been just noticing over and over,
00:55:22.440 | biblical compassion is disarming.
00:55:24.980 | Just real compassion, just empathy,
00:55:29.640 | showing sympathy for another person who is in distress
00:55:34.720 | is disarming.
00:55:36.240 | These individual expressions of compassion and mercy
00:55:41.720 | don't solve every issue, don't address every issue,
00:55:46.060 | but they do build relationships
00:55:50.520 | and bridges to relationships.
00:55:52.600 | Moving quickly here, holiness of God
00:55:57.200 | is his complete separation from all creation
00:55:59.880 | and moral separation from sin.
00:56:01.720 | It's the only attribute of God
00:56:03.360 | emphasized three times in scripture,
00:56:05.280 | Isaiah six, verse three.
00:56:06.520 | "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
00:56:09.760 | "The whole earth is full of his glory."
00:56:12.760 | It's the one attribute that qualifies every other attribute
00:56:16.120 | so that when you look at the love of God,
00:56:18.600 | it is a holy love.
00:56:19.820 | When you look at the wrath of God, it is a holy wrath.
00:56:22.320 | When you look at the justice of God, it is a holy justice.
00:56:29.000 | Some counseling implications for the holiness of God.
00:56:34.000 | We need to be reminded that God uses holy vessels
00:56:37.520 | in his ministry.
00:56:38.580 | Second Timothy two, verse 20 talks about those vessels,
00:56:44.360 | which are for honorable use.
00:56:47.400 | Verse 21 says, "If anyone cleanses himself
00:56:49.640 | "from what is dishonorable,
00:56:51.400 | "he will be a vessel for honorable use set apart as holy."
00:56:55.120 | We need to be reminded to pursue holiness
00:56:58.840 | because God uses holy vessels.
00:57:02.660 | And also to be reminded that sanctification
00:57:06.980 | is ultimately beautiful because the idea of holiness
00:57:11.840 | is really connected with the idea of beauty.
00:57:15.280 | God is beautiful because he is set apart from all sin
00:57:20.240 | and what is set apart perfectly
00:57:23.680 | from anything that is polluting.
00:57:27.200 | We can expect to see God do beautiful things
00:57:30.120 | in the counseling ministry.
00:57:32.720 | And then I'll just deal with the omnis,
00:57:36.940 | a little more quickly, the omnipotence of God,
00:57:42.480 | which is the truth that God is all powerful
00:57:45.440 | and able to do anything consistent with his own nature.
00:57:48.580 | We have the omniscience of God,
00:57:52.120 | which means that God possesses all knowledge,
00:57:56.880 | and then the omnipresence of God,
00:57:59.200 | which means that God is unlimited with respect to space.
00:58:04.200 | What are the counseling implications
00:58:08.360 | of these great attributes?
00:58:12.680 | God's omnipotence means that nothing
00:58:16.040 | is too difficult for the Lord.
00:58:18.000 | We should never lose hope for our counselees
00:58:22.320 | because whatever their issue is,
00:58:26.200 | nothing is too difficult for God.
00:58:28.520 | God is infinite in power and he can do
00:58:31.840 | exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.
00:58:35.340 | I think reflecting on God's omniscience,
00:58:40.000 | God's omniscience should lead us to be amazed at his love.
00:58:43.440 | It's just amazing to know that God
00:58:46.080 | knows everything about us.
00:58:49.040 | I love the song Chris Tomlin sings.
00:58:54.840 | There's a line there that says,
00:58:56.360 | "You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same."
00:58:59.840 | Just an amazing truth that you can use
00:59:04.640 | to encourage your counselee.
00:59:06.000 | God knows everything about you.
00:59:07.560 | God knows everything about your past.
00:59:10.040 | He knows everything about your present.
00:59:11.500 | He knows everything about your future,
00:59:13.440 | and he loves you with an infinite love.
00:59:17.480 | That's a powerful encouragement
00:59:19.280 | that you can give to your counselee.
00:59:23.840 | Then God's omnipresence should fill us with solid comfort.
00:59:29.840 | The truth that God has promised
00:59:32.520 | never to leave us or forsake us.
00:59:34.520 | Jesus said, "Lo, I'm with you always to the end of the age."
00:59:40.280 | Those are some implications of those three attributes.
00:59:44.360 | I'm sure you can think of some on your own as well.
00:59:47.760 | Some final encouragements from the attributes of God.
00:59:53.000 | Learn to use not only the principles,
00:59:59.040 | the definitions of God's attributes to give to your counselees,
01:00:04.320 | but also learn to use narratives
01:00:07.360 | to illustrate the truth of the attributes of God.
01:00:11.320 | I mean, our pastor is teaching
01:00:13.400 | through the narrative of Ruth right now.
01:00:16.600 | It's one thing to tell your counselee,
01:00:19.880 | "God is faithful, and he will be faithful to his people."
01:00:23.640 | It's another to walk through the narrative of Ruth together,
01:00:28.280 | and to show how God has been faithful to his people.
01:00:34.840 | God was faithful to Naomi,
01:00:36.360 | God was faithful to Ruth,
01:00:38.440 | God was faithful through the actions of the kinsmen redeemer, Boaz.
01:00:44.360 | To use that narrative to illustrate the attribute of God is a powerful thing.
01:00:49.840 | The narratives of Joseph's life,
01:00:52.600 | the narrative of David's life.
01:00:54.880 | I mean, so many narratives of scripture really highlight the attributes of God,
01:00:59.800 | and so become skilled in using narrative
01:01:03.840 | to teach the attributes of God to your counselee.
01:01:09.760 | I have some counselors who are doing this right now,
01:01:13.480 | and I often say of them that if biblical counseling is learning to play piano,
01:01:23.680 | then sometimes I feel that some of my counselors are doing Mozart.
01:01:32.440 | Because when I hear what they're doing in their counseling sessions,
01:01:36.600 | and in many ways,
01:01:38.480 | much more gifted than I am in this way,
01:01:40.960 | they're using narrative,
01:01:42.600 | they're using Old Testament,
01:01:44.240 | New Testament, they're using promises.
01:01:46.880 | They're just weaving together a lot of different scriptures,
01:01:51.240 | a lot of different genres of scripture to
01:01:55.480 | communicate the truth of God's attributes to their counselees.
01:01:59.640 | It's just a beautiful thing,
01:02:00.720 | and I just really am humbled by that,
01:02:03.440 | and also grateful for the counselors who
01:02:07.400 | use every part of scripture to teach their counselees the attributes of God.
01:02:12.520 | So learn the narratives of scripture,
01:02:15.400 | and learn to illustrate these truths,
01:02:17.960 | and then learn to take your counselees to the cross.
01:02:22.040 | It's really at the cross of Christ and his sacrificial death at Calvary,
01:02:28.200 | that the attributes of God are put on full display.
01:02:33.160 | I mean, you can look at the cross,
01:02:35.200 | and you see the sovereignty of God,
01:02:38.000 | of his redemptive plan being fulfilled.
01:02:41.480 | You see the holiness of God,
01:02:44.200 | you see not only the holiness of the Father,
01:02:47.240 | his holy wrath against sin,
01:02:48.520 | you see the holiness of the sacrifice of the Son that was offered up at Calvary.
01:02:54.440 | The holy wrath of God being perfectly fulfilled and
01:02:59.280 | satisfied because of the holiness of the sacrifice that
01:03:02.840 | was offered in the Son's redeeming work.
01:03:07.040 | You see the wisdom of God that as 1 Corinthians 1 talks about,
01:03:13.640 | it's through the foolishness of the cross that the wisdom of God was put on display.
01:03:21.160 | You see the mercy of God towards sinners that he would provide the sacrifice.
01:03:26.120 | You see the love of God.
01:03:28.160 | You see the justice of God and the holy law of God being perfectly fulfilled.
01:03:33.080 | I mean, you just see all of the attributes of God put on
01:03:36.320 | full display in the cross of Christ and his redeeming work.
01:03:41.200 | Learn to take the attributes of God and then go to the cross of Christ with these attributes.
01:03:48.040 | Spurgeon talked about how he loved to take
01:03:50.720 | any truth that was in God's word and make a beeline to the cross with that truth.
01:03:57.120 | Just theologically, if you think through it,
01:04:00.160 | any of the attributes of God will make a beeline to the cross.
01:04:04.760 | You can be meditating on any attribute of God and you can go to
01:04:10.440 | the cross with that attribute because at the cross,
01:04:13.680 | the attributes of God are put on full display.
01:04:16.640 | Just a final encouragement,
01:04:17.920 | it's not on the slide here,
01:04:19.040 | but I just encourage you to devotionally take an attribute of God,
01:04:28.040 | one attribute a day maybe,
01:04:30.160 | and just dwell on that truth of who God is and praise God,
01:04:38.040 | adore God for his attribute,
01:04:40.320 | because that is one way to just enrich your own devotional life,
01:04:44.160 | and then also fill up your own heart with the truth of who God is,
01:04:47.920 | and so that you're equipped to minister to others,
01:04:51.720 | reading through A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy,
01:04:55.200 | and just taking one chapter a day,
01:04:57.080 | and just meditating on an attribute of God a day is one way to
01:05:01.160 | prime the pump for good solid biblical ministry.
01:05:06.240 | Well, I have used up all my time tonight and then some.
01:05:10.680 | I want to just commend to you the study of the attributes of God and pray that this was
01:05:15.200 | a good primer for the study that's ahead of you with essay number 8.
01:05:22.400 | This is a great essay topic.
01:05:24.880 | I trust that you'll have a wonderful time studying these attributes,
01:05:28.920 | and then also writing this essay for God's glory.
01:05:34.920 | May the Lord bless you.
01:05:36.720 | I'm going to go ahead and close in prayer,
01:05:39.960 | and if you have any questions,
01:05:42.680 | I'll be happy to stick around for five minutes
01:05:45.480 | after and answer any questions you might have.
01:05:48.120 | Otherwise, may the Lord bless your week,
01:05:50.520 | and have a great study this week,
01:05:54.040 | learning about the attributes of God. Let me pray for us.
01:05:56.480 | Father, thank you for these truths.
01:05:59.840 | We pray that the study would equip us to be effective biblical counselors.
01:06:06.080 | Thank you for each of these beautiful attributes which express the truth of who you are.
01:06:12.920 | We pray that we may learn them well,
01:06:15.080 | that our own hearts will be led to worship,
01:06:17.600 | and be filled with hope,
01:06:18.880 | and that we would be able to minister to those who are in need of help.
01:06:23.160 | We give this study to you.
01:06:24.560 | We pray this in Jesus' name.