Good News Series # 1 :
The Perfect God
God is perfect, thus, He is worthy to be loved above all
God is perfect, thus, He is worthy to be loved above all
Welcome to the Good News Series. It is a great joy to share with you precious and life-changing truths from the Bible. It is necessary to study God’s Word for Christ Himself said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
This lesson series will review and explain further the good news that Jesus Christ alone can save and satisfy man’s soul. The good news (gospel) is highly important for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes it (Romans 1:16). It is the means God uses to save man from the penalty, the power, and eventually from the presence of sin. The Gospel is also the means by which the Holy Spirit enables the spiritual growth of every Christian. By embracing the promises of the Gospel, one grows in loving God and loving others. Thus, it is a must to review and learn more the Gospel of Christ.
God is the main source, the main subject, and as well as the main goal of the good news. Thus, this first lesson of the Good News Series presents three essential truths about God specifically on His perfection.
Psalm 90:2 ' Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.'
There has never been a time when God did not exist. He is without beginning and ending. Throughout eternity God is perfectly independent – self-existing, self-sustaining, and self-sufficient. Thus, God’s eternality is a proof of His perfection for it means that He lacks nothing.
Without God man is nothing, but without man God is still God. In fact, without anything else, God is still God. Without the 350 billion plus galaxies in the universe, without the heavens and the earth, without humans and angels, without everything else, God is still God.
Psalm 47:2 'For the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.'
Psalm 68:35 ' O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places. The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!'
1. What do you think is the most holy and most awesome place God has ever made?
✔ Heaven
2. Do you agree that desiring and valuing heaven more than God is idolatry? Why?
✔ Yes, because desiring valuing anything more than God is idolatry
Psalms 11:7 'For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.
God’s love for righteousness also means God hates all unrighteousness (Romans 1:18)
1 John 4:8 'He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.'
Generally, being loving refers more to a kind-hearted attitude and actions of a person while being lovely refers more to a person’s attractive appearance. Is it possible for someone to be loving but not lovely or for someone to be lovely but not loving? If yes, can you give an example?
God is both loving and lovely. He is loving for He expresses His love even to people who do not deserve it, namely, sinners (John 3:16, 19; Romans 5:10). He is lovely for He is the King of glory (or beauty) (Psalm 27:4).
Job 37:16 'Do you know how the clouds are balanced, Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?'
Psalm 147:5 ' Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. '
Psalm 16:11 'You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.'
1. What do you think of the statement “God is boring”?
2. What do you think of the statement “God is kill joy”?
Isaiah 6:3 'And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” '
The holiness of God does not only mean that He is sinless but it also implies that He is infinitely perfect in all that He is – He is perfect in power and humility, in wisdom and beauty, in holiness and happiness, in wrath and mercy, and in justice and love.
The first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). It is noteworthy that the Bible begins not by trying to prove the existence of God, but by simply stating the fact that God exists.
1. How long did God create the universe (Genesis 2:1-2; Exodus 20:11)?
a. Six days
b. Seven days
c. Millions of years
Genesis 2:1-2 'Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. '
Exodus 20:11 'For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.'
✔ a. Six days
2. What does Genesis 1:31 say about God’s original creation?
Genesis 1:31 'Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.'
✔ Very good
3. According to Deuteronomy 32:4, God’s work is __________.
Deuteronomy 32:4 ' He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.'
✔ perfect
The Bible says that God is not only the Maker of all things but the Maintainer of all things as well (Co1:17). He made and maintains everything, both by the power of His Word (Gen 1:3-31; Psa 33:6; Heb 1:3).
1. Why do my eye balls and lips move while reading this question right now (Acts 17:28)?
Acts 17:28 'for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’'
✔ Because of HIM
God is the primary and ultimate cause for every movement and non-movement of anything in the universe. Even the very paper of this lesson material exists as it is, simply because God is sustaining all the atoms and other elements of this paper at this very moment.
1 Corinthians 8:4 'Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.'
Matthew 28:19 'Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'
Mark 12:30 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. '
Matthew 5:48 'Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.'
Because God is perfect, only perfect people can go to heaven and thus, escape hell (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10; Rev. 21:27). Is this good news or bad news? Why?
Do you love and obey God perfectly?
How did a thief at the cross became perfect in the eyes of God?
Do you believe that it is only by having the perfection of Christ that man can be accepted by the perfect God now and in heaven?
How can man obtain the perfection of Jesus Christ and thus receive the gift of eternal salvation?
Do you remember the three main things Jesus did to provide salvation for man (Truth #5 of Jesus Christ Alone app)?
The reality of the perfection of God has made the perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ to be good news. It is so because if God is not perfect, man does not need a perfect Savior. Man’s good works would be acceptable to an imperfect god. However, because God is perfect, even man’s good works are like filthy rags in His eyes (Isaiah 64:6). Thus, nobody can save man except through the One who perfectly fulfilled the requirements of God—the Lord Jesus Christ. Talk to God in prayer right now in response to the truths we have just studied.
Suggested Readings: The Gospel of John, at least 1 chapter a day