1. A study based on AW Tozer’s book
The Attributes
of God
A study based on AW Tozer’s book
by the same name

3. God’s Attributes God’s Infinitude
“God can’t be weighed or measured; you can’t apply distance or time or space to Him for He made it all.”
“The more we get to know God, the more we understand who we are and what about us can please God.”
God’s Immensity
“God is above all things, presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing, and inside of all things filling.”

4. “You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.” (NIV)
God’s
Goodness
Psalm 119:68
“You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.” (NIV)
Psalm 34:8
“O taste and see that the
Lord is good;
How blessed is the man
who takes refuge in Him.”
Psalm 34:8
The call to “taste” is the call to test. We are not just to believe in the Lord’s goodness; we are to experience that goodness. God’s goodness includes both His deliverance (vv. 4–7) and His gifts (vv. 9–10). His goodness to us is the expression of His character.
Henrietta Mears used to invite skeptical students to take the test of faith. As a former chemistry teacher, she would ask them into the spiritual laboratory to find out if Christ is real. She described this according to the analogy of finding a chemical unknown. She would encourage students, “Commit your life to Him and He will prove Himself real to you.” As current advertising would put it, “Take the taste test.”
David follows the call with comfort:“Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” The word “blessed” means “happy.” True happiness comes from surrender to the living God

5. And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”
God’s
Goodness
Psalm 36:7
“How precious is Your
lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”
In verse 7, David returns to the mercy or “lovingkindness” of God. He calls it “precious.” It is this covenant- love that is beyond comparison. With it we can be like chicks protected by a mother hen. We can nestle “under the shadow of [the LORD’S] wings” (see Matt. 23:37)

6. God’s
Goodness
Matthew 7:11
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him.”
The walk with God is a walk of prayer, a life in fellowship. And as we pray we need to understand the kind of God to whom we are praying. It is this knowledge which undergirds our faith, for faith is not a blind wish; it is response to evidence. The more we understand God the more our faith is developed. It has been said that it is better to have a small faith in a great God than a great faith in a small God. The threefold emphasis on prayer in this section is answered by the statement in verse 11 about the goodness of God. The comparison is made between the good deeds sinful men do for their children and the goodness of the Father toward His children in response to their prayers. The words “how much more” add the dimension of contrast.
Jesus follows with two illustrations from the relationship of father and son. These are lifted from well- known Jewish arguments on the nature of prayer. This fact gives us insight on Jesus’ own synagogue education and also on His ability and strategy of identifying whenever He could with the proper emphasis in Jewish faith. A father whose son has asked him for bread will not respond with a stone, nor, when asked for fish will instead give him a serpent or an eel—something unclean and forbidden in his diet. This is to say, with these illustrations, that a father won’t mock a son in his requests. He concludes with, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things!

7. God’s Attributes God is infinitely good.
“God is kindhearted, gracious, good- natured and benevolent in intention.”
13. God’s
Goodness
“What God is, He is perfectly.”
“The goodness of God means He cannot feel indifferent about anything. People are indifferent, but not God.. The goodness of God requires that God cannot love sin”
It is possible for the sun to be bright, but not infinitely bright because it doesn’t have all the light there is. It is possible for a mountain to be large but not infinitely large. It is possible for an angel to be good, but not infinitely good. Only God can claim infinitude. When I say that God is good, that God has a kind heart, I mean that He has a heart infinitely kind and that there is no boundary to it. When I say that God is good- natured, good and kindly of nature, I mean that He is infinitely so

8. God, out of His goodness, created us.
God’s
Attributes
Why are we not destroyed when we sin?”
God is good.
How could Christ die for me?
Why does God answer prayer?
Why don’t I get what I deserve?
13. God’s
Goodness

9. God’s Attributes Goodness and Severity
God is good toward all who accept His goodness. And for those who reject His goodness, there’s nothing that even the Almighty God can do.
13. God’s
Goodness
“God of His goodness has ordained means to help us, full, fair and many; the chief being that which He took upon Him, the nature of man.” In coming to earth as a man, God came where we were, and by coming where we were He understands us by sympathy and empathy.
God is good toward all who accept His goodness. And for those who reject His goodness, there’s nothing that even the Almighty God can do if He’s going to allow man his free will—and I believe in free will. Free will was given as a gift of God—He’s given us a little provisional sovereignty out of His absolute sovereignty. He has said, “I’ll allow you, within a little framework, to be your own boss and to choose to go to heaven or to hell.” If a man will not take God’s goodness, then he must have God’s severity toward all who continue in moral revolt against the throne of God and in rebellion against the virtuous laws of God
Sympathy – I feel sorry for you; I am connected emotionally
Empathy – I feel sorry for you: I am connected experientially
Compassion – I feel sorry for you; let me carry your burden

10. God’s
Goodness
Romans 11:22
“Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
God in all His majestic power is thus seen to be a God of “goodness and severity,” and it is the behavior of the people that determines which aspect of His nature becomes most dear then. If they fall, severity in judgment is a reality. If they continue, only the goodness of God will be their portion. In the same way that those who do not continue in faith reveal the spurious nature of their faith and are thus broken off, so those who previously were hard to the gospel but subsequently believe will be grafted in. In other words, Gentiles should no more presume on the goodness of God than the people of Israel, because God has the power to graft in any who believe and to break off all who will not—Jew or Gentile—and He will use this power

11. all the earth deal justly.”
God’s
Justice
Genesis 18:25
“Shall not the Judge of
all the earth deal justly.”
Psalm 19:9
“The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.”
Genesis 18:25
There are many questions about good and evil. There are many problems concerning inequality and iniquity. There is no doubt that often the wicked flourish and the righteous suffer. Some people have allowed their hurts to turn to cynicism which in turn has dragged them into the cold pit of unbelief. They say things like, “If God is good He is not God. If God is God He is not good.” Better to rest on the assurance that the Lord is righteous, that our concepts of righteousness originated with Him, and that we should trust Him to be all that He professes to be even though we might wonder which way He is going at times in much the same way that Abraham worried about His intentions concerning Sodom. But the safeguard in all our uncertainties is the attitude of an Abraham who asked his hard questions in a spirit which could not be faulted. He was careful to preface his remarks with suitably humble words like, “ Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord” (v. 27)
Psalm 19:9
The next line reads:“The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” It is through the Torah of God, the revelation of God, that God establishes His justice and, therefore, His judgment. Thus the judgments are “true,” trustworthy, and “righteous.” Here God reveals what is true and right. We are accountable to that revelation on the Day of Judgment. The good news is that God’s truth and righteousness have been incarnated for us in Christ who is “the way [right], the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). As our Mediator He gives us His own truth and righteousness when we abandon our untruths and unrighteousness and flee to Him

12. “Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
God’s
Justice
Psalm 97:2
“Clouds and thick darkness
surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”
God is seated on His throne as the exalted ruler with “righteousness” (covenant order) and “ justice” (covenant judgment) as “the foundation.” The community of earth will be ruled by God’s law. This makes life here possible as evil is restrained and the oppressed are defended (see Ps. 72:2)

13. And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away
God’s
Justice
Isaiah 28:17
““I will make justice
the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away
the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.”
An architectural analogy continues as God says that He will make “justice” the measuring line and “righteousness” the plummet (v. 17).
A plumb-bob or a plummet is a weight, usually with a pointed tip on the bottom, that is suspended from a string and used as a vertical reference line, orplumb-line. It is essentially the vertical equivalent of a "water level".
The instrument has been used since at least the time of ancient Egypt[1] to ensure that constructions are "plumb", or vertical. It is also used in surveying to establish the nadir with respect to gravity of a point in space. They are used with a variety of instruments (including levels, theodolites, and steel tapes) to set the instrument exactly over a fixed survey marker, or to transcribe positions onto the ground for placing a marker

14. God’s Attributes What is justice?
“Justice is indistinguishable from righteousness in the Old Testament. It’s the same root word with variations according to the part of speech used. It means uprightness or rectitude.”
13. God’s
Goodness
13. God’s
Justice
Rectitude – “morally correct behavior or thinking; righteousness.”

15. God’s Attributes What is judgment?
“The word “judgment” as used in the texts above is the application of justice to a moral situation, favorable or unfavorable.”
13. God’s
Goodness
13. God’s
Justice
“Justice is not something that God has. Justice is something that God is.”
The word “judgement”…..
When God judges a man He brings justice to that man’s life. He applies justice to the moral situation which that man’s life created. And if the man’s ways are equal, then justice favors the man. If man’s ways are unequal then, of course, God sentences the man.
We’ve been lied to, cheated, betrayed and deceived so much by even those we look up to and respect that we have come to project our cynicism to the very throne of God. And unknown to us we have within our minds a feeling that God is like that, too. Let me tell you that God always acts like Himself.
Justice is not….
All God’s reasons for doing anything lie inside of God. They do not lie outside of God to be brought to bear upon Him. They lie inside of God—that is, they are what God is. And God’s reasons for doing what He does spring out of what God is

16. and still be just? (Anselm)
“How canst Thou
justify a wicked man
and still be just? (Anselm)
God’s
Attributes
Reason #2 – The Passion of Christ
“The question, “How dost Thou spare the wicked if Thou art just?” is answered from the effect of Christ’s passion. That holy suffering there on the cross and that resurrection from the dead cancels our sins and abrogates our sentence.”
13. God’s
Goodness
13. God’s
Justice

17. and still be just? (Anselm)
“How canst Thou
justify a wicked man
and still be just? (Anselm)
God’s
Attributes
Reason #3 – The Unchanging God
“When God punishes the wicked, it is a just thing to do, because it is consistent with the wicked man’s deserts. But when God pardons a wicked man it is a just thing to do as well, because it is consistent with God’s nature. Always, always, God acts like God.”
13. God’s
Goodness
13. God’s
Justice
The Great God Almighty, always one with Himself, looks upon a moral situation and He either sees death or life. And all of God is on the side of death or life. If there is an iniquitous, unequal, unatoned, uncleansed, unprotected sinner in his sin, there’s only one answer—all of God says, “Death and hell.” And all of heaven can’t pull that man up.
But if he beats his breast and says, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), and takes the benefits of the infinite agony of God on a cross, God looks on that moral situation and says, “Life!” And all of hell can’t drag that man down. Oh, the wonder and the mystery and the glory of the being of God