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some searching. So for right now, I just want 
to close with an emphasis first on the necessity of theology 
proper. In other words, brethren, that 
is our bread and butter. That's what differentiates us 
from the non-Christians. It's not about our performance. 
It's not about our conduct, it's not about our virtue, it's about 
our God. It's about Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. That's what distinguishes us. 
Now certainly we should have conduct consistent with that 
true and living God, and especially the redemptive work of His Son 
that has brought us forgiveness, that has brought us salvation. 
We should live in light of that and live in a particular manner. 
But brethren, the knowledge of God is absolutely crucial. Who 
is this God? That ought to be what we are 
longing to understand. Certainly the Bible is filled 
with all kinds of good lessons and all kinds of good helps for 
life in this present world. In fact, in Ephesians, when we 
get later on, In Ephesians 5 and 6, for instance, there's a great 
emphasis on ethics within the Christian life as individuals, 
as families, as employers, as employees. Brethren, I am not 
suggesting we shouldn't study those passages, but it seems 
to me that the church has hastened to study those passages and bypass 
the glory of Ephesians 1, 3 to 14. Paul the Apostle starts not 
with husbands love your wives, but he starts with blessed be 
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed 
us with every spiritual blessing. He starts with God, he ends with 
God, he discusses God within. Why? because it is the knowledge 
of God Most High that not only differentiates us as His people, 
but it gives us encouragement, it gives us strength, it gives 
us the wherewithal to get out of bed each and every day and 
to persevere unto that heavenly kingdom. Because of who God is, 
it enables the people of God to continue to faithfully go 
forward. If we don't know this God, if we don't understand the 
system of grace, if we don't understand the benevolence of 
God, we'll always be on this sort of mercenary footing. Am 
I okay with you today, Father? One of my grandsons asks his 
father, are you happy, daddy? I'm happy. He likes to test the 
waters. Everybody happy here? People 
pleaser, right? That's indicative of this little 
fellow. He wants everybody around him to be happy. Sometimes I 
think we treat God that way. Are you okay with me, God? Have 
I sinned my way out of your covenant and kingdom? Have I broken that 
covenant in such a way that I've got to sort of carry my favor 
back with you? That's not the God of Holy Writ. 
In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of 
sins. According to what? The riches 
of His grace. See, brethren, this isn't just 
some sort of a sideline note. When we get that concept that 
all that is in God is God, that God is His perfections, that 
means love is infinite. That means grace is infinite. That means mercy is infinite. There is no utilization of all 
the resources that are in our God. We can never exhaust it. We can never out-sin God's grace. I'm not suggesting we try, but 
we cannot. It's according to the riches 
of His grace. So understanding God differentiates 
us from the pagans. It differentiates us from all 
the false sort of religions out there. But it encourages us, 
it comforts us, it strengthens us. Where does the psalmist go 
when he's musing on the chaos that oftentimes obtains in the 
world around us? He goes to God. Psalm 4610, be 
still and what? Know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. 
The comfort for the believer is not in, I hope the circumstances 
work themselves out. I hope the chaos is overcome 
by the new political leader. The comfort for God's people 
is the God of the people. The comfort for God's people 
is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each of whom we 
have communion with, yet not three gods, one God, most glorious, 
most wondrous, most loving. Those are things predicated of 
this God because this is what the Bible teaches. So the doctrine 
of theology proper, that means the study of who God is, is necessary 
to differentiate us, it is necessary to encourage us, and it is necessary, 
brethren, because it's what we should want to do. It is what 
we should want to do. Turn to Psalm 111. Psalm 111. The psalmist sets forth a pattern 
here that we should employ in this context of theology proper. Psalm 111 at verse 2, the works 
of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. There are people that spend time 
studying the creation. There are people that spend time 
in botany and zoology and biology and all manner of understanding 
the created world around them. This has its tap roots in history 
and in scripture. Solomon was a natural scientist. Solomon was a philosopher. Solomon 
composed several proverbs, not just what we have in there, but 
he has this approach to wisdom. He looks at God's world and he 
thinks through it. He looks at the two books, God's 
revelation and general revelation, and God's revelation and special 
revelation. And it leads him to ponder, it 
leads him to muse, it leads him to contemplate. So we study God's 
works, creation. It's a good thing to study. Providence, 
we ought to study that and be aware of that because in the 
midst of the chaos, God is over all. It is His chaos. It is for His purposes. It is 
ultimately for His glory, and understanding providence, I hope, 
would put us in a proper place in terms of our humility before 
God. But redemption, great are the works of the Lord, or the 
works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure 
in them. It is just and legitimate and 
necessary for those conquered by sovereign grace to want to 
understand their God, to want to know about the Father, the 
Son, and the Spirit, to take passages like Ephesians 1, 3 
to 14 seriously, and to bless God for who He is, to bless God 
for what He does, to bless God for His triunity and the wisdom 
that is displayed in the salvation of His people. He chose us before 
the foundation of the world. In the fullness of the time, 
He sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 
to redeem those under the law. And then He sends the Spirit 
to those conquered by the grace of that Savior, so that they 
can cry, Abba, Father, so that they receive that Spirit of adoption. 
I mean, brethren, you're saved. Isn't that the best thing you've 
ever heard? That's the most glorious and 
wondrous thing. We were dead in our trespasses 
and sins. We were justly liable to God's 
wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. 
Our dessert is hell. Our dessert is separation from 
God. Our dessert is the outer darkness 
wherein there is weeping and wailing, gnashing of teeth. But 
lo and behold, God saved us. Is it a stretch, then, to think 
that Peter's kind of losing his mind in 2 Peter 3, 18, but grow 
in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ? I don't want to say, brethren, 
this is a duty, and you better start to study the Trinity. But 
brethren, it is a duty, and you better start to study the Trinity. 
You better have clear understanding. In this internet age, there is 
no shortage of heresy. There is no shortage of Arianism. There is no shortage of Sabellianism. There is no shortage of ways 
that people, the professing people of God, can go astray with old 
ancient heresies that have been brought back anew, baptized afresh, 
and employed against the living and true God. And then finally, 
without this knowledge, without this understanding of who God 
is, without a recognition of the riches of His grace, we won't 
be evangelists. We won't proclaim the glory of 
Christ to a lost and dying world. But when we understand that glory 
of Christ, when we understand the blessed power of redemption, 
It's an impetus to us to go and tell sinners about Christ. Come to Him. Yeah, but I'm a 
sinful man. Yeah, that's who He came to save. It magnifies the glory of God 
in the salvation of sinners and provides the impetus for the 
people of God to go, therefore, and to make disciples of all 
the nations. Perhaps we're not better at making 
disciples because we're not as fully committed to the God that 
we're proclaiming. But when we understand this God, 
when we grow to see how the scripture refers to this God, it melts 
the heart, it wins the soul, it causes conquest and it makes 
us want to serve Him and to glorify Him and to understand that this 
is the most blessed provision that has ever been given in the 
history of mankind. And we will bid, by grace, sinners 
to come to