We'll take the Word of God and open our Bibles in Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15. You'll know the previous chapter records for us the passing through of the children of Israel on dry land through the Red Sea. And how then the Egyptians, as they attempted to do the same, God brought that sea back upon them and they were drowned. And as a result, Moses and the children of Israel, they worship God, that demonstration of God's power. And we're going to read the song that they sang in Exodus chapter 15, part of it at least, and we'll read down to the verse 13, starting at verse number one. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, For he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him in habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them, and they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thy excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou sendest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as on heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thy stretches out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Now when thy mercy has led forth the people which thou hast redeemed that was guarded them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation Amen, and we'll end we said the verse number 13. Let's pray our loving father. We thank thee for This great song that was sung We thank thee that moses sang on redemption ground. We thank thee that they had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb brought out of the house of bondage, and now having witnessed and surveyed and stood and saw the salvation of the Lord, how they sang this song. And we too, O God, from redeemed hearts can sing this song too, who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness. Lord, become We pray that we might see again our God. Pray that thou wilt open our hearts and our understanding to the things contained within thy book, and grant, O God, help and assistance, O God, in these moments of time. Shut us in to God. Send the Holy Spirit. Grant the anointing of thy Spirit for both preacher and hearer alike. For we offer these, our prayers, in and through Jesus, all precious name. Amen. Well today we want to continue to behold our God, and in doing so we want to move from the incommunicable attributes of God, those attributes that belong exclusively to God, that he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. And we want to move now on to the communicable attributes of God. They're attributes that both God and man possesses. But I remind you again that God alone possesses those attributes to an infinite degree, while mankind only possesses those attributes to a finite, to a lesser degree. The second part of the Shorter's Catechism to the question, what is God, introduces us to those communicable attributes of God, namely the attributes of being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Now, ofttimes we forget about the attribute of being, but being is an attribute. And in this service, I want us then to consider that first attribute of God. and meditate on the being of God. Now whenever we come to that attribute of God, we're obviously stating that there is such a being as God, that God possesses a being, that He is, that He exists. Outside the Bible narrative, the existence of God can be argued in a number of ways, and I want to briefly repeat those ways to refresh your memory and help you, I trust, to confront the militant atheism that exists in the education system, in our workplaces, and in society at large today. Those non-biblical arguments for God's existence are more fully set out in any good theology textbook if you want to do a little extra study yourself, but I'll give them to you very quickly. Can I say, first of all, there is the cosmological argument that there is a God, and that is an argument that is taken from nature. There is such a thing as the law of causology. It states that every effect has a cause. I'm sure maybe some of our young people or teenagers have learned that in physics. There is, with every effect, there has been a cause. Let me give you an example. If you walked into a room with a snooker table present and saw one of its balls rolling on that snooker table, you would have to assume that something or someone has caused that ball to move. The effect of the ball moving can be traced back to an initial cause because the ball in and of itself has no inherent ability, no internal ability in and of itself to move itself. Well, this cosmological argument argues that God is the initial first cause of all things. What we see working around us, the motions or laws, the laws of nature, these things that have been set into motion had to have an initial cause for such to take place. And in a roundabout way, when we think about that law of causology, it really solves the conundrum which came first, the chicken or the egg. I'm sure you've all heard that, which came first, the chicken or the egg. Well, can I say that that's really not a conundrum at all to all Bible-believing Christians, because they find that conundrum answered in Genesis chapter 1. Because before the chicken came God. And God created the chicken with the ability to produce offspring after its own kind. And so the chicken came first, not the egg. But anyway, there is the cosmological argument. Every effect has a cause. And as we look in the world today and all that happens in this world, and we see the laws of nature, it reminds us that there is someone who has set all these things in motion. Then there is what is known as the teleological argument, which is the argument from order and design, which says that everything leads up to something. And what we see by way of order and design within our world points us to one who has and is ordering all things, having designed all things to do so. There is then the moral argument. which argues that our awareness of good and bad, our sense of right and wrong points to in the existence of a moral lawgiver who is God. And then there is the historical argument which is derived from the historical fact that all peoples have their belief in a supreme being. This argument arises from the fact that people everywhere, even among the most primitive of races, and even in the most undeveloped of places in the world, they think and they feel that there is a God. It is suggested that there must be some ground for such thinking, and so this universal consent among the nations is proof of the existence of a greater being, a supreme being, And that being is God. And so we have these four non-biblical arguments that present to us the existence of God. The cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the moral argument, and the historical argument. But can I say this? As good as these arguments are, they never create or produce faith. A faith which saves in the heart of any sinner. Rather, faith comes as a gift from God and by the hearing of the Word of God. So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Faith must be imparted. if a sinner is to trust in Jesus Christ. So, brethren and sisters, we could have all the arguments of the day to send out against the atheist within our school and within society at large, but unless God works upon the soul, Unless faith is imparted as a gift, unless the heart is regenerated by the Spirit of God, then those individuals will never believe that there is a God and that they must be reconciled to that God. It takes a miracle of God's grace. You must remember that. Now, there are a number of things that we have already noted about the being of God within previous studies. If you can remember back, We thought about how God is spirit. He is a spirit being. And yet we reminded you then that he, though being a spirit, has and does possess personality and power. We also thought about how God is self-conscious and how God is self-determinating. But there are a number of things that I want us to look at today, and then, God willing, in a few weeks' time, we want to come back to the being of God. But I want you to notice a number of things just today. Note with me in the first instance, the solitary God. The solitary God. Now, when we think about God as being solitary, we're thinking about the uniqueness of our incorporate into this view of our God the transcendence, the eminence, the immensity of our God. God is solitary in all of his excellencies and in all of his perfections. Rhetorical question is asked time and time again in scripture, who is like unto our God? We find it being asked by Moses here in this very chapter, in the verse number 11 of Exodus chapter 15. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? David would ask the same question in Psalm 35 verse 10. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him? Ethan the Asriite over there in Psalm 89 in the verse 6, for who is in the heaven? For who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? the unnamed penman in Psalm 113, verse 5 and 6, who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. Isaiah 40, verse 25, God said of himself, to whom then will you liken me or who shall be my equal, saith the Holy One? Prophet Micah in Micah 7 verse 18, Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of his heritage? Those questions are then answered throughout the scriptures. I think of the answer to those questions, Who is like unto God, Deuteronomy 33 verse 6, There is none like unto the God of Jusharun, who rideth upon the heaven and in thy help and in his excellency on the sky. For Samuel 2.20, there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Or 2 Samuel 7.22, wherefore thou art great, O Lord, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Isaiah 45 verse 5, I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. Isaiah 46 verse 9, remember the former things of old, for I am the Lord and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. Jeremiah 10 verse 6, for as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great and thy name is great in might. All of these statements, they speak of the unique, The distinctive, the solitary place that God Himself occupies within the created universe and beyond in comparison to everything and everyone else that exists. Nothing and no one can be compared to our God. Let me say it again, that God is solitary in all of His excellencies. A.W. Pink, as he thought, in the solitary position that God occupies. He wrote these words, there was a time of time it could be called when God in the unity of his nature dwelt all alone. There was no heaven where his glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage his attention. There were no angels to him as praise. No universe to be upheld by the word of his power. There was nothing, no one but God. And that, not for a day or a year or an age, but from everlasting, God was alone, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing. This is our God. Behold, your God. It was to this God, who dwells alone in solitary majesty and glory, Paul ascribed his praise as he came to close out his first letter to Timothy, over there in 1 Timothy 6 verse 15 and 16. On that occasion, the Apostle Paul, he said this about God, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Verse 15, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Can I say that there's none, there is none in this created universe that can claim to be the governor the potentent of all things, and no other person can claim to possess essential immortality. God alone is immortal. He cannot die. The more we behold our God, I believe the more we gain a better understanding of Him, and then the more we come to appreciate There are so many things, so many things that separate and distinguish us from Him. So many things that separate and distinguish Him. The false gods of this world that distinguish him as God and God alone, he alone, he in his solitary majesty and power and being, he alone is the one who transcends all bounds and all limits, whether that be space or time or age. There is none like him and none can be his equal. In light of what I've said, Let our little gods fall before him. As Dagon, that false god of the Philistines, fell prosperous before the very presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant was carried into his temple. On that occasion, one of the two had to give way. We read and we know from 1 Samuel in the chapter number 5 who was the loser in that confrontation when the severed hands and head of Dagon lies scattered in the ground before the Ark of the Covenant acknowledging that there was one greater. One greater had come. The very presence, the Shekinah glory had entered in by the Ark of the Covenant and that false god had to bow before him. Let our gods be like Dagon. Let our gods of money and fashion and popularity, let those gods fall before this God, this solitary God, this unique God. And then, brethren and sisters, let us have the highest possible views of our God that we can. That to happen we must never attempt. To bring God down to man, we must reject all attempts to humanize God and to deify man. That's where we live in a society today. There is this push for the deifying of men. They've become their own gods. Their bellies are their gods. Oh, let us reject all. And let us reject all attempts for those who would want to but humanize God and bring Him down from His high exalted position and bring Him down to just a mere mortal man. But let us exalt Christ. Let us uplift our God and let us keep Him in His rightful place. And let us reject all attempts to deify men and humanize God. And so we see God, the solitary God, Something else we want to consider in connection with the being of God, namely the self-existent God. If you think about it, the gods of this world have originated or they've come into being at some time or another, whether that be by the material construction, by someone forming an idol about that God, or whether by mental conception. The gods of this world at some point have come into existence, not so with Argo, not so with the God of the Bible. God has always existed. God revealed himself to Moses as I am that I am. He's not only revealing in that name that he was eternal, and we thought about that, but he was also revealing to Moses that he was the self-existent God. Now, when theologians speak about God's self-existence, they use the term aseity, A-S-E-I-T-Y. It is a word that comes from the Latin meaning through or off himself. That term is applied to God and it means that God has his existence in and through himself. He is not a dependent being. He's not dependent in any other for his existence. His existence is in and off himself. This is where you and I differ from God. God does not need you or I to exist. However, you and I need Him to exist because it is in Him we live and move and we have our being. That's a distinction between a self-existent being and a dependent being. And I say that no human being has the inherent power of being within themselves. You know, I cannot fill my own lungs with air. I cannot cause my heart to beat. I cannot stay, death's chilling embrace. As a human being I am wholly and fully dependent on God, but God in himself is able to exist without any support outside of his own being because he has life within himself. John 5 verse 26, turn there, it'll keep us honest and it'll keep us awake. John chapter 5, In the verse 26, these are the words the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, verse 25, verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, life in himself, life in himself, because God has life in himself. God is not dependent for his existence. He has eternally existed without any external or prior cause. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ, he said concerning his death, he says, I have power to lay down my life. and power to take it up again. He was speaking about his own self-existence, disability, this life within himself. And the Bible reveals that God is independent. It is a term that the reformers choose to use over this term self-existent, but we are reminded in the Bible that God is independent. Can I say that he's, first of all, he's independent in his thoughts? Romans 11, verse 33 and 34. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgment and His ways past finding out, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsel? God thinks what He wills. He's independent in His thoughts. He's independent in the area of his will. Daniel 4 verse 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? God not only thinks what he wills, God wills what he wills. And then thirdly, God is independent, self-existent with respect to his counsel. Psalm 33 verse 11, the counsel of the Lord standeth forever and the thoughts of his heart to all generation. God decrees what he wills. He is independent. He does not take advice from any outside of himself. We do not advise God in prayer. God needs no advice from any of us, brethren and sisters. God will will and decree and will set his counsel according to his own counsel and will and decree. So we realize that God is self-existent. Mr. Tozer said to admit that there is one who lies beyond us, who exists outside all of our categories, who will not be diminished with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason or submit to our curious inquiries. This requires a great deal of humility, both more than most of us possess. So we see a face by thinking God down to our level or at least to where we can imagine him. Yet how he eludes us, for he is everywhere while he is nowhere. for where has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both. He is unaffected by time or motion, is wholly self-dependent, and owes nothing to the worlds His hands have made. Brethren and sisters, this is our God and it is a profound yes biblical mystery that we cannot understand by our finite minds But it is a truth nonetheless that we can meditate and as we meditate upon it It will bring much comfort and much assurance and much stability in the life of the child of God because since God is independent and all things and of all people, it automatically follows that He will always be there for us. It is a truth of His self-existence that undergirds, I believe, that exhortation over there in Hebrews. Let our conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You might ask today, What has the self-existence of God got to do with me? Maybe saying today that this is all very dry and all very academic today. And yet we need to remember that we as created beings are dependent each moment for our existence upon the one who needs no other for his existence. The fact of God's existence is pivotal to our existence. You see, if you think God away, if you argue God away, if you philosophically remove God from your thinking, then man has no ground for his existence. And really that's the basic tenet of the Christian faith. God is everything and man is nothing. And so if you're here today and to coin a phrase, if you think you're the bee's knees, Well then, this truth should humble you as you recognize that without God your existence would not even be possible. Not only that, but it is only because of his mercies that you're not consumed by his wrath. It's only because of his long-suffering that he has not, sinner, condemned your soul in the lowest depths of hell. Only of his mercy, only of his grace, only of his long-suffering O sinner, recognize that today your life is dependent upon one whose life is dependent on none other, but you're fully dependent on Him. In His hand is the breath of all men. In His hand is the souls of all men. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We, as dependent creatures are, so dependent on our independent, our self-existing God. Child of God, as much as a dependent creature on the independent God as the ungodly, I'll ever keep before you the truth of those words that the Lord Jesus Christ uttered there in John 15 verse 5, for without me you can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. Even living itself is impossible without him. Oh, that God, this day, this Lord's day, help us to recognize how free we are and how dependent we are as creatures on an independent, self-existent God. The solitary God, the self-existent God, one final truth for today. the self-sufficient God. I've already hinted at this aspect of God's being within the message, but let me remind you that the God of the Bible is dependent on nothing or anyone outside of himself for the sustenance of his being. God is totally independent of everyone and everything. He is self-sufficient. I'm sure you've heard of individuals who call themselves self-sufficient people. Those are people you've maybe heard of. They live off the land. They're not connected to the mains, either by electricity or by water. They tap into the natural water supply instead of being connected to the water system. And in a narrow way, I suppose they could call themselves self-sufficient people. Taking a broader view of their lives, if God withdrew the rain, and if God inhibited the crops to grow, and if God ordered the sun never to shine upon their little plot of land, those self-sufficient people would soon come to appreciate that they're not self-sufficient creatures at all. but that they are dependent creatures on the God of heaven, who, as we are reminded, he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth the rain on the just and on the unjust. And so those who call themselves self-sufficient are but finite beings dependent on an infinite God for absolutely everything. You know, sinners often feel themselves to be self-sufficient creatures, you're maybe one such person. See, the fall, the fall of sin into sin has blinded such individuals to the fact that without God life is not possible and salvation from sin is certainly not possible. I trust that you're not someone here today who would classify yourself as a self-sufficient individual. All that you would see today that you need the Lord, you need to be saved from your sin, and only Christ is the Savior. You know, while we are dependent creatures, as I've said, God is dependent on no one, and whenever you think that truth out, can I say in the first place, it means that God needs no one to support Him. On whose arm would the self-sufficient God need to lean upon? None. God needs no one to uphold him. He needs no helper outside of himself to support him. He in and of himself finds all the sufficient power that he needs for every task that he performs. He never falters or feels in anything. He shall not feel nor be discouraged. He needs no one to support him. He needs no one to assist Him. Whom does God need assistance of? Is the Almighty? Is the Almighty God ever at a loss to how He will accomplish His purposes in the world? The self-sufficient God needs no one to assist from any of His creatures. Now that does not mean that we sit back and do nothing, just in case you think that to be the case. This is no hindrance to evangelism, to missionary endeavor, to gospel missioning, to handing out gospel tracts. Though God does not need assistance from us, as Tozer put it, He has in sovereign condescension stooped to work by and in and through His obedient children. But God does not need anyone to assist Him because He is self-sufficient. Finally, he needs no one to defend him. A self-sufficient God does not need armies, doesn't need troops, he doesn't need military equipment to defend him. A God who needs to be defended is one who could only then help us when someone is helping him. It would be true to say that such a God could not command the respect of men. Instead, such a God could only draw from us pity if He needed someone to defend Him. Our Lord and our God is a man of war. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Here is evidence in Exodus chapter 15 that He needed no one to help Him. Moses the children of Israel could not assist our God on this occasion But thank God the self-sufficient God brought his people through and he'll bring us through he'll bring you through He'll bring you through sister He'll bring you through brother Whatever the need is thank God though. He needs no one to support him. Thank God. He supports us And though He needs no one to assist Him, blessed be His name, He assists us. And though He needs no one to defend Him, thank God, He will defend us to the very end. Because He knows that we are frail creatures of dust. Thomas Brooks, when he came to behold the self-sufficient God, he made this blessed application from the self-sufficiency that resides in God to his hearers and readers. And he said this, God has in himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you. In this message today we've beheld our God once again, the uncreated, uncaused being, who infinitely transcends everything and everyone else that exists in the created universe. one who owes his existence and completeness as God to nothing outside of himself. Viewing God in such a way, I could find no better words to close this meeting than the words of Psalm 95, verse 6, O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. This God is our God and he will be our guide even on to death. May God bless the word to our hearts today. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's seek the Lord. Oh God our Father, we confess that we live in a world that would want us to consider ourselves to be self-dependent individuals, those that are independent. And yet, Lord, we're reminded from thy word that there is only one being who possesses such independence, and that is our God. We draw from him today all that we need, Oh, that the sinner would draw from thee today all the pardoning grace that they need to cover their sin and to bring them into that place of reconciliation with God. Oh, that the backslider would draw from our God all the forgiveness that he alone extends to the one who has wandered far from thee. Oh, that they would know the restoring grace of God and thy people Lord, we come to thee in all of our poverty and in all of our bankruptcy, and we cry to thee for power and grace and help. And Lord, we pray in Christ's name that we might behold who we are in light of who thou art. O God, we acknowledge that the nations are but as a drop in the bucket, as small dust upon the balances, and the nations are but grasshoppers in thy sight. O God, we thank thee today for our daily bread. Thou hast given it to us. O, we look beyond the grocery stores of our land, look toward the hand of our God who has opened up his bounty and given to us what we do not deserve. O may the goodness of God bring then sinners to repentance. O answer prayers. and help us to understand these things. And if not, oh God, enlighten and enlarge our understanding. Let us come to God's house with hearts ready to hear the word. Oh God, we realize that it is to such people that God ministers to. So let us come each Lord's day in thy will. Let us come to this house hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Oh, we look to Thee, bless in all that occurs this afternoon and this evening, for we pray these things in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen and amen. Thank you.