The Character of God

I. Of course we all know that by the name of God is meant the character of the Most High, so that our first lesson is that The Character Of God Furnishes The Righteous With An Abundant Security.

The character of God is the refuge of the Christian, in opposition to other refuges which godless men have chosen. Solomon suggestively puts the following words in the next verse —

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
and as an high wall in his own conceit
(Proverbs 18:11)

The rich man feels that his wealth may afford him comfort. Should he be attacked in law, his wealth can procure him an advocate; should he be insulted in the streets, the dignity of a full purse will avenge him; should he be sick, he can fee the best physicians; should he need ministers to his pleasures, or helpers of his infirmities, they will be at his call; should famine stalk through the land, it will avoid his door; should war itself break forth he can purchase an escape from the sword, for his wealth is his strong tower.

In contra-distinction to this, the righteous man finds in his God all that the wealthy man finds in his substance, and a vast deal more.

The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;
therefore will I trust in Him. (Lamentations 3:24)

God is our treasure; He is to us better than the fullest purse, or the most magnificent income; broad acres yield not such peace as a well attested interest in the love and faithfulness of our heavenly Father.

Provinces under our sway could not bring to us greater revenues than we possess in Him who makes us heirs of all things by Christ Jesus.

The Character of God

Even when he is not able to perceive it by experience, yet God’s character is the refuge the saint. If we come to the bottom of things, we shall find that the basis of the security of the believer lies in the character of God.

I know you will tell me it is the covenant; but what is the covenant worth, if God were changeable, unjust, untrue?

I know you will tell me that the confidence of the believer is in the blood of Christ; but what were the blood of Christ if God were false; if after Christ had paid the ransom the Lord should deny him the ransomed, if after Christ had stood the substitute, the Judge of Men should yet visit upon our heads, for whom he suffered, our own guilt; if Jehovah could be unrighteous; if he could violate his promise and become faithless as we are, then I say that even the blood of Christ would afford us no security.

You tell me that there is His promise, but again I remind you that the value of a man’s promise must depend on his character. If God were not such that He cannot lie, if He were not so faithful that He cannot repent, if He were not so mighty that He cannot be frustrated when He intends to perform, then His promise were but waste paper; His words like our words, would be but wind, and afford no satisfactory shelter for a soul distressed and anxious.

But you will tell me he has sworn with an oath. Brethren, I know he has. He has given us two immutable things in which it is impossible for him to lie, that we may have strong consolation. But still what is a man’s oath worth irrespective of his character? Is it not after all what a man is, that makes his asseveration to be eminently mistrusted or profoundly believed. And it is because our God cannot by any means foreswear himself but must be true, that his oath becomes of value to you and to me.

The purpose of God in our salvation is
The glorifying of His Own character

Brethren, after all, let us remember that the purpose of God in our salvation is the glorifying of His Own character, and this it is that makes our salvation positively sure, if everyone that trusts in Christ be not saved then is God dishonored, the Lord of Hosts hath hung up His escutcheon (a defined area on which armorial bearings are displayed and which usually consists of a shield), and if in the face of the whole earth He accomplishes not that which He declares He will perform in this book, then is His escutcheon stained. I say it, He hath flung down the gauntlet to sin, and death, and hell, and if He be not the Conqueror over all these in the heart of every soul that trusts in Him, then He is no more the God of Victories, nor can we shout His everlasting praise as the Lord mighty in battle. His character then, you see, when we come to the basis of all, is the great granite formation upon which must rest all the pillars of the covenant of grace and the sure mercies thereof. His wisdom, truth, mercy, justice, power, eternity, and immutability, are the seven pillars of the house of sure salvation.

Comfort In the Character of God