← Back to sermon library

[Music] the Lord God Reigns [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] equity [Applause] in Jacob you love Justice [Music] um for Moses was his praise his name they called upon the Lord [Music] his testimony oh Lord our sovereign [Music] [Music] and worship God for him [Applause] [Music] amen well let's pray our blessed God and Holy Father we thank you for this beautiful day we thank you for the sunshine we thank you for the the demonstration of your majesty in the created order as well we thank you for that Redemptive order and the celebration that we have today the fact that Christ has risen from the grave that he sits and thrown now at your right hand that he ever lives to make intercession for us and that he is our Advocate with the father we bless you and we praise you for the gospel of our Salvation we thank you for the the reality that Christ lived and died and was raised again for us men and for our Salvation And as we worship today may we do so in spirit and in truth may we have that proper appreciation an understanding of just who you are and may it frame our hearts a right May there be that reverence and that fear but may it be mingled with great joy and Thanksgiving at the thought that our God has has saved us from our sins even now forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness guide us in the understanding of Christian doctrine by the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit and we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we can turn with me in your confession of Faith to chapter 2 of God and of the Holy Trinity we are in paragraph one and then we'll take up paragraph two this morning basically what we have in paragraph one it deals with the attributes or the Perfections of God paragraph two treats God's external relations how God relates to the created order and then paragraph three explains God's internal relations the relations between Father Son and Holy Spirit the father is unbegotten the son is begotten by the father and the spirit proceeds from the father and the son the way in which we maintain not only the consubstantiality of the Son and the spirit with the father but also the distinction between the persons of the godhead things that are very crucial in terms of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity but I'll read beginning in Chapter 2 at paragraph one the Lord our God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence is in and of himself infinite and being and Perfection whose Essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself a most pure Spirit invisible without body parts or passions who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto who is immutable immense Eternal incomprehensible Almighty every way infinite Most Holy most wise most free most absolute working all things according to the Council of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own Glory most loving gracious merciful long-suffering abundant and goodness and Truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him and with all most just and terrible in his judgments hating all sin and who will by no means clear the guilty God having all life Glory goodness blessing in and of himself is alone in and unto himself all sufficient not standing in need of any creature which he hath made nor deriving any Glory from them but only manifesting his own glory in by unto and upon them he is the alone Fountain of all being of whom through whom and to whom are all things and he hath most Sovereign dominion over All Creatures to do by them for them and upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth in his sight all things are open and manifest his knowledge is infinite infallible and independent upon the creature so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain he is most holy in all his counsels and all his works and in all his commands to him as due from angels and Men whatsoever worship service or obedience as creatures they owe unto the Creator and whatever he is further pleased to require of them in this Divine and infinite being there are three subsistences the Father the word or Son and the Holy Spirit of one's substance power and Eternity each having the whole Divine Essence yet the essence undivided the father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding the son has eternally begotten of the Father the Holy Spirit proceeding from the father and the son all infinite without beginning therefore but one God who is not to be divided in nature and being but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence on him amen well as we look at this particular chapter again we see the emphasis on what has been called recently classical theism in other words the the the the Baptist divines here did not sort of formulate the doctrine of God they didn't come to a table with a pen and paper and say okay we're we're going to figure out what the Bible says about who God is they reach back into the history of the church the Creeds and the councils and the confessions that were already extant that were already in play and they used that they Incorporated that and they put that into their confession here to underscore the reality that they were within that stream of Christian thought with reference to our true and living God the fact that he is one but only the living and true God but who exists in three persons father Son and Holy Spirit so they didn't reformulate they didn't reform the doctrine of God they took the best insights of the church prior and they Incorporated that into their confession of Faith so last time we looked at some of the Perfections of God in paragraph one and we got to the impossibility of God so if you look at the beginning of paragraph one it says the Lord our God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence is in an in and of himself infinite in being and Perfection whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself a most pure Spirit invisible without body parts or passions so we notice the unity of God he is but one only living and true God what is called the aseety of God the fact that his subsistence is in and of himself he's not derivative he is not uh dependent upon any others we saw the Infinity of God he's infinite in being in Perfection the incomprehensibility of God whose Essence cannot be comprehensive comprehended by any but himself again that does not mean we can't have true knowledge about God there's 31 propos 31 000 propositions in the Bible that teach us truth about God but it teaches us that there is a distinction between the Creator and the creature a distinction between the infinite and the finite and while we can arrive at true knowledge of God we will never be able to fully comprehend who God is because again he's in a different category of being he is not like us he is not one of us so our knowledge of God in the history of interpretation has been called actypal his is archetypal his is original his is uh absolute and comprehensive he doesn't come to it by discursive analysis it's always present to him but we learn and we grow and we understand so there's a difference in the way that God knows and in the way that we know and then it goes on to speak of the spirituality of God it highlights the fact that he is a most pure spirit and from that we derive the doctrine of act as purists or pure act there's no potency in God God does not become God does not decrease there is no sort of movement or fluctuation in God he is pure act everything about God is pure act we are potent we can be acted upon to increase or to decrease we have the ability within us to increase or decrease God does not have that that is a creaturely limitation that God does not have as a most pure Spirit the confession goes on to highlight the visibility of God the scriptures underscore that first Timothy 1 First Timothy chapter 6 John 1 18 and the prologue no one has seen God at any time but the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father has declared him and again the difference between this uh the spirituality or the spirit the fact that God is Spirit and the fact that we are temporal that we are material that we are confined by space it goes on to highlight the incorporeality of God that means he's without body God does not have a body like man Jesus defines God or describes God in John 4 24 he is spirit so therefore he does not have a body and then the Simplicity of God is highlighted in that phrase without Parts God is not a compounded being there's nothing outside of God by which God became there is no sort of uh uh uh immaterial and material that makes up God there's nothing more ultimate than God God is a simple uncompounded being that's what the confession means by without parts and then without passions that means God does not have emotional flux he doesn't go from one state to another he doesn't respond scripture predicates of God response but that's what's called an improper predication or spoken in the manner of man Divine scripture is accommodated to us so that we can get our minds wrapped around just who God is but there's no flux no movement no no increase or decrease with reference to God he is without passions and now we pick up at What's called the immortality of God it says who had only half immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto and essentially this means an attribute of all spiritual being meaning not subject to disillusion The Immortal immortality possessed by angels and Men is contingent because they have it by derivation from God thus God and God Alone is absolutely and eternal Immortal and we can use that that statement with reference to man in contrast to dogs we have an immortality by which we will not cease but we don't have an immortality in the way that God does God never had a beginning and God will never have an end we have a beginning the fact that we won't have an end indicates that our immortality is derived from God it's given to us by God conferred Upon Us by him so God and God Alone is absolutely and eternally Immortal when we speak of the immortality of God we have to highlight it's in derivative or underivative it's not received by God from something outside of God and then next notice the immutability of God that simply means that God cannot change we see that in the scripture James 1 for instance you can turn there James chapter one we see that James is underscoring the glory and the Majesty of God most high and in James 1 16 he says do not be deceived my beloved Brethren every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning and then he points to that greater list of all gifts which is the Salvation of sinners in verse 18. so verse 17 every good and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures again the fact of God's immutability and we see that the subset or the subset Doctrine is impassibility is a great encouragement for the people of God he doesn't change it's not the case that he's for us on Sunday we go out and do something foolish on Monday and therefore he cuts us off that's not the way God operates God has no change no capacity to change change would imply that God was an imperfect being it would indicate that there's something he can do better or there is a way that he can decrease and do something less and so to predicate of God immutability is simply to understand the godhead of God the godhood of God he is a without change being we are flux people we change change we we grow we diminish there's all kinds of all kinds of instability in us but God is an immutable being and he does not change and in that the people of God Rejoice if you look back at Hebrews chapter 6 you see that emphasis by the Apostle Hebrews 6 13 for when God made a promise to him to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you now when God swears there it's not for the benefit of God when you and I go into the courtroom and we swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help us God that's our confirmation of our veracity God does this for the benefit of man God does this to show man the veracity or the truthfulness that he that he is and then verse 15 and so after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise for men indeed swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute thus God determining to show more abundantly to The Heirs of Promise the immutability the unchangeableness of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope sat before us so this doctrine of immutability in its subset Doctrine and impassibility is not to reduce God to this static or sort of inert or uh uncaring being but rather he is the most caring he is the most wondrous he is the most loving as we'll see later on in this category or this classification of attributes and then notice what the author says in verse 19 this hope the fact that God is immutable the fact that God has promised by way of oath that he would save his people from their sins this hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and steadfast and which enters the presence behind the veil where the Forerunner has entered for us even Jesus having become High priests forever according to the order of Melchizedek one of the early you know expressions of Christian art in the church was not the cross one of the early expressions of Christian art was the anchor when they saw the catacombs and they see where Christians were there were anchors all over the place why because God is unchangeable God is immutable God is impassable and as a result we have a steadfast hope grounded upon that God So for anybody who says oh those doctrines of immutability and impossibility it's only the sort of Ivory Tower Seminary stuff no this is the stuff that you and I need on a daily basis in our world of flots in our world of change in our world of resolution to to not sin against God only to find that we break those resolutions it's a wondrous thing to have a God who doesn't change toward us whose love does not diminish or decrease based on our lack of performance in in a specific way next it speaks of the immense immensity of God it says immense now I think that this is a a a sort of a twin Doctrine to what we'll see in a moment eternity so immensity relates to God in space it relates to God and place it relates to God and sort of geography in fact if you turn back to the book of First Kings in the dedication of the the temple Solomon underscores this right at the very beginning in First Kings chapter 8 and it's a very good thing to underscore in light of the fact that they just built the temple the pagans the Heathen around the the children of Israel or the nation of Israel they made God their uh temples to hold their gods in other words the Temple of Dagon actually contained Dagon you could go there to see Dagon so Solomon wants to make sure that we understand or that Israel understood that the temple is the visible representation of the presence of God among his people but that's only it it's not the actual place where God lives it's not the actual place that contains God it's not that that God is confined to the Tabernacle and wherever Israel moves in the wilderness that's where God is or when they build the temple in Jerusalem that's where God is so it's a good way to start off the dedication of the temple to make sure that the children of Israel to make sure that we understand that God is Not locally confined to a particular box God visibly represents himself there there is that Shekinah Glory that signifies his presence among his people but that's not to say that that's where he is that that's where he dwells so notice in First Kings chapter 8 at verse 27 but will God indeed dwell on the earth behold Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you how much less this Temple which I have built and so he goes on to say that the name of God is there there is that special presence of God Almighty in that Temple complex but it's not that that's where God lives that's where God is that's where God only confines himself to be just like in the church today Christ is in the midst of the lampstands but that does not exhaust everywhere that Christ according to his divinity is he's locally present according to his Humanity at the right hand of the father but by presence and power of the spirit he's everywhere there's omnipresence predicated the Son and the spirit so God is immense one dictionary defines it this way the immeasurability of God indicating his freedom from all limit of space or measure apart from all created space this is distinguished from omnipresence by the fact that omnipresence refers to his filling presence of God in all created places so the idea is is that God cannot be exhausted by geography cannot be sort of spent by being you know confined in a particular location and then as I said the next statement the next Perfection after who is immense is uh uh Eternal and this is god with relation to time see we are always going to be bound by time we are creatures Bound by time God's not bound by time and for this one you can turn to Psalm 90. planning plenty of places that underscore the eternality of God but Psalm 90 is as good a place as any psalm 90. specifically at verse 1 a prayer of Moses the man of God and this is interesting Moses lived quite a while before David and Moses Psalm Finds Its way into the Psalms of David why is that because the god whom David rejoices in and preaches and teaches in the psalters the god of Moses God has always been what God has always been and that's the the way that the psalm starts off a prayer of Moses the man of God lord you have been our Dwelling Place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world even from Everlasting to Everlasting you are God see these are incommunicable attributes you cannot predicate of us that we are immense cannot predicate of us that we are Eternal we are confined by space or within space and by time there's never never a time or instance where we're going to be free of those things and those things aren't bad it's not that space or or geography or a creature or time is bad it just doesn't apply to God the way that it applies to us we speak of Eternity past and Eternity future that's you know helpful in one sense but there's no past or present or future in eternity it's a concept that that we at best can only be accommodated unto through Revelation in scripture so after the Eternal eternality of God it repeats the fact that he is incomprehensible and again this does not mean we can't know anything about God but it simply means that he's only the the essence of God is known only by himself after incomprehensibility it speaks of the omnipotence of God he's Almighty that means he can do all his holy will there are what John Murray calls in scripture Divine cannot he cannot lie he cannot deny himself that's why there's a there's a helpful question and answer in a children's version of the Shorter Catechism and it says can God do all things and it says God can do all his holy will and I think that's a sort of a hat tip at that reality God can't deny himself God can't lie God can't do things that are not consistent with his Perfections and character but the fact that he's all Mighty or omnipotent again speaks great encouragement to the people of God then it speaks of the Infinity of God that again differentiates him from the finite which is us God is infinite when it comes to his immense uh he fills all things he's infinite with reference to time he's Eternal from Everlasting to Everlasting to God is infinite we are finite we are derivative he is underivative and then it speaks of communicable attributes things that we can participate in but not to the same degree or way that God does notice it says that God is Holy most holy and this statement or this phrase word most applied I think is a hat tip to the doctrine of impassibility it the fact that he's most indicates that he cannot increase he cannot diminish which confirms or affirms the doctrine of divine impassibilities without passions there's no movement there's no flux there's no emotional crisis in God where he comes to himself and says man I wish things hadn't have been that way no he's most in terms of the the expression of these Perfections so he's Most Holy notice he's most wise and this is a great sort of you know uh call for us to read our bibles if God's most wise we need to acknowledge that we're not and if the most wise God has revealed himself in scripture what does that mean to the not most wise creature it means we should look to the word of God it means we should read the Holy Scriptures it means we should be under preaching and teaching so that we can learn wisdom and learn how to function and navigate in this present evil age it goes on to say that he's most free again he is not constrained by things outside of himself there's no sort of counsel that God answers to there's no sort of uh committee that God has to check with there's you know no uh uh supervision with reference to God turn to Romans chapter 11 where the Apostle sort of summarizes the godhood of God after discoursing concerning uh election and predestination and the doctrine of God's sovereignty notice in Romans 11 at verse 33. first of all look at how God's sovereignty relative to the Salvation of his people should affect us shouldn't make us angry shouldn't make us you know uh what's the word pugnacious Fighters um I realize we need to be pugnacious with Armenians and pelagians and let them have it and that sort of thing but but notice what a consideration of God's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of Sinners does to the Apostle Paul it causes him to praise it causes him to worship it causes him to glorify God almighty 11 33 oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor God's most free doesn't have counselors there's nothing outside you know God doesn't have to check with us before he does something God doesn't have to sort of you know make sure that we're okay before he operates in a particular fashion verse 35 or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen and I think it's this particular doctrine that is somewhat offensive to the modern Christian Church well probably not just the modern Christian church but the most freeness of God we don't like that we're a little embarrassed when God destroys Canaanites in the Old Testament we get a little embarrassed when God says to the children of Israel go into Canaan and utterly dispossess the land of those wretches kill them break their stuff take whatever it is that you want with the exception of these cities under the ban we like to try to define or describe God out of that sort of a of a depiction he just seems like this vicious blood bloodthirsty God in the Old Testament are we bothered by the most freeness of God or do we acknowledge with the Apostle oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments in his ways past finding out our task is not to defend God I mean our task now there's a sense where contend earnestly for the faith which was once we're all delivered to the Saints but to sort of apologize for God sorry that in the Old Testament you know uh JL uh uh killed Cicero in in such a brutal way so sorry sorry that Sampson killed all these Philistines with the Jawbone of an ass so we're not supposed to apologize for that we're supposed to embrace it and rejoice in the god of Heaven and Earth the imprecatory Psalms of David if you know I think I've mentioned before there's a sense where I like C.S Lewis C.S Lewis was a great writer see that's Lewis's deal theology was a little bit off especially when it came to the imprecatory Psalms I mean don't take your doctrine of the imprecatory Psalms from C.S Lewis because it's bad it's just not good at all should we be embarrassed by the imprecatory Psalms of David absolutely positively not they're cited favorably in the New Testament we have cases or in uh instances of imprecations in the New Testament First Corinthians 16 22. uh Galatians chapter one second Timothy chapter four we've got God most high just and righteous and vindicating his honor and glory in vindicating his people through the the the Judgment rendered upon men so we're not supposed to be embarrassed about the most freeness of God Almighty and then notice the next one it says he's most absolute again we see the connection between several of the attributes or the Perfections here if God is in fact uh pure Spirit then he's most absolute there's no becoming in him there's no increase there's no diminishing in him it then goes on to highlight the sovereignty of God and that's a doctrine that I think we celebrate a lot in the reformed Faith working all things according to the Council of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own Glory so again the sovereignty of God is not some cold callous Doctrine where we you know just stand amazed at the the the the inertness of God now God is doing all these things according to the Council of his own immutable will for his glory to manifest that power to show and demonstrate who he is in the lives of his creatures and then notice he's most loving again most because he cannot increase and because he cannot decrease he is what he is for his people he doesn't get worse at it he doesn't get less at it now I'm not suggesting go out and sin because God's love will never change for you but I am suggesting that when you do sin we have an advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous and that has loved us not diminished there's no decrease it's not that God loves you on Sunday and hates you on Thursday that that's just not going to happen he's he's most loving and then that word most I think we can apply with with you know certainty to the following Perfections or to the following attributes and we certainly know these things to be true in our own lives he's most gracious the fact that any of us are saved has to underscore the most graciousness of God when you consider the fact that you are who you are when you consider yourself in light of the law of God you have to stand in awe at the most graciousness of our God he is most merciful again if you are a sinner saved by grace you know what Mercy is grace and mercy are very closely connected I think the difference is is that Mercy shows or the uh points to the the recipients of God's grace see God's grace doesn't come to the upright God's grace doesn't come to the to the deserving God's grace comes mercifully to The Wretched into the undeserving so that's a you know a bit of a semantic range or overlap in terms of grace and mercy but a bit of a distinction as well the the grace of God comes to most undeserving most unworthy wretched people and we cannot underscore the most mercifulness of our God and then notice he is long-suffering and again I think it would be appropriate to apply most there and if you doubt that read the Old Testament if you doubt that think Israel in the old Covenant if you doubt that thing you in the New Covenant if you doubt the long-suffering of God you're not familiar with the scriptures how many times have you read through the Old Testament and you said I can't believe that God Bears long with these people the fact that God's patience with these people it is absolutely amazing and underscores the fact that he is most long-suffering and then notice he's abundant in goodness and Truth he doesn't just have a little bit for this turn to Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 we could certainly go back to the revelation of God's Perfections to Moses in Exodus 33 and 34 but look at Ephesians chapter 2. specifically at verse 4. so look considering that phrase abundant in goodness and Truth we we need abundant goodness and truth because we're abundantly wicked and evil in terms of our sin notice in Ephesians 4 2 4 but God who is rich in Mercy Mercy is great but he's rich in it and then it goes on to say because of his great love loves great but his great love is great great his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved go back to the prophet Micah Micah chapter 7 where the Prophet is sort of playing off his own name the name Micah means who is God or who is a God Like You and and Micah asks that question in in Micah chapter 7 at verse 18. he says who is a god like you notice he doesn't ask that in the preceding section I think I've mentioned this before the the Judgment of God or the wrath of God shouldn't be a curiosity to us it it shouldn't perplex us why God sends Paul pot to hell it shouldn't perplex us why Mao Zedong is in hell it it shouldn't perplex us when in a just and moral government Sinners meet with utter destruction that that's not a perplexing thing right it really isn't what is perplexing is that any sinner receives Mercy that any sinner receives Grace that any sinner gets good from God you could have told you before C.S Lewis has a a second time when Lewis he's in my head for some reason uh the problem of pain trying to describe pain in in this creaturely world gershner was better he said the problem is pleasure we should understand pain in light of the fact that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we should understand suffering in light of the fact that we've transgressed and rebelled the thing that ought to be a curiosity is the problem of pleasure why does any wretch on this side of Heaven receive any good from a holy and glorious God so if you back up to Micah 7 16 the nation shall see and be ashamed of all their mind they shall put their hand over their mouth their ears shall be death they shall lick the dust like a serpent they shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth they shall be afraid of the Lord Our God that again is not a surprise and and shall fare because of you and in fact notice the allusion to Genesis 3 14 and 15 they shall lick the dust like a serpent Genesis 3 14 and 15 is programmatic for the rest of History it teaches us that there's this antithesis between the righteous and the wicked and the wicked receive judgment from God but what evokes the question question from the prophet is not judgment upon The Wretched but it's mercy upon the ratchet Verse 18 who is a God Like You pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his Heritage he does not retain his anger forever because he Delights in Mercy he will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea you will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham which you have sworn to our fathers from Days of old so what evokes the question of who is a God Like You is not judgment it's Mercy it's Grace it's the fact that God is abundant in goodness and truth and then it goes on to highlight or sort of tease this out in more detail notice how do we see this abundantness in goodness and Truth according to Chapters four and five we see it in Creation in Providence God demonstrates his wisdom his power and his goodness when he creates the world he demonstrates his wisdom goodness and power when he when he is sustains the world or is the providential agent who governs that world but we see that abundance and goodness and Truth in Redemption and that's where the confession points us here notice forgiving iniquity transgression and sin you want to ask how God is abundant and good and goodness and Truth look at your own life look at the fact that you've been forgiven of your iniquity of your transgression and of your sin if you've ever doubted his abundance and goodness yeah you can look at creation today yeah you can look at the reign of Christ at the right hand of the father just to look within as well the fact that you have been cleansed in Precious Blood is a demonstration a demonstrable proof that God is abundant in goodness and Truth he has forgiven your iniquity he has forgiven your transgression and your sin and then notice the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him accommodation with reference to the creature coming after their God Hebrews 11 6 but it doesn't stop there and with almost just and terrible in his judgments hating all sin and who will by no means clear the guilty so that is a catalog of the attributes or Perfections of God now in paragraph two there's a close connection we see that at the end of paragraph one and into paragraph two paragraph one gives us this list of his Perfections it gives us this list of his attributes it gives us this list of what God is or it describes that the very end of paragraph one it shows how God relates to the righteous he forgives their iniquity but how God relates to the unrighteous he punishes them and brings them into Everlasting suffering and then chapter or paragraph two elaborates on that it it it it it amplifies that it it demonstrates that in more sort of uh uh uh Exposition and so after the Perfections of God paragraph one toward the end of paragraph one there's this sort of linking statement between or how God relates to the righteous how God relates to the unrighteous and then paragraph two expounds that or amplifies that before paragraph three which shows God's ad intra or internal relations Father Son and Holy Spirit so that's the flow of the confession at this particular point before we move to paragraph two properly does anybody have any questions or comments nope great all right notice the external relations of God to God and His creatures and there's four things that that are specifically or five things specifically brought out here I'm sorry four things specifically brought out here first the independence of God second the omniscience of God third the Holiness of God and fourth the obligation of the creature to God so again it's not new information in terms of his Perfections or in terms of his attributes but it's information on how God expresses declares manifests or demonstrates those things to the creature so that's the connection between paragraphs one and two and with reference to the independence of God look at paragraph to the first section so God having all life Glory goodness blessedness in and of himself is alone in and unto himself all sufficient not standing in need of any creature which he hath made nor deriving any Glory from them so again we need to understand not new information we know of God's aseety we know of God's Independence we see that in paragraph one why do you think it's rehearsed here in paragraph two because as the confession moves into how God relates to the creature we need to make sure we're clear God doesn't relate to the creature the way that other creatures relate to the creature the way that you and I relate to one another is exponentially different it's in a different class or order than the way that God relates to the creature so just by way of reminder God having all life Glory goodness blessedness in and of himself is alone in and unto himself all sufficient not standing in need of any creature which he hath made nor deriving any Glory from them but only manifesting his own glory and by unto and upon that so I think that this deflects against this concept that God made the Earth because there was a need in God God wasn't complete God God wasn't whole God wasn't eternally happy there was something missing so so God makes the world sort of the way an older couple gets a puppy you know their kids have gotten older and the kids have gone on to their families and you know their kids are growing up you don't get as much sort of traffic or connection with the with the uh the grandkids or the kids that you might like so so what are we gonna we're gonna get a puppy there's something lacking in our relationship which you know that's sad and pathetic in and of itself I think a puppy can be a helpful thing but if it's to you know make sure that your relationship is on track and that's sad and pathetic anyways God didn't make the world because he needed a puppy I think that's why paragraph two starts the way it does when when we think about how God relates to creatures we better evacuate from our minds this thought that God made us because he needs us this fact that God made us because there was something lacking in God wherein the creature was necessary as a supplement turn to the book of Acts specifically acts 17 the areopagus or Paul on Mars Hill Paul underscores this is he's preaching to the pagans stoic and Epicurean philosophers who had a bad concept of creation who had a bad concept of God or God's related to Creation notice what the Apostle Paul says in Acts 17 specifically at verses 24 and 25. he says God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of Heaven and Earth does not dwell in temples made with hands now what was the prevailing sin in Athens that Paul is combating well you can see it at the very beginning of the section acts 17 16. now while Paul waited for them at Athens his Spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to Idols if you and I traveled there today we would stand in awe at the architecture at the beauty at the glory at the Majesty for Paul it was just another evidence just another demonstration of the sinful idolatry of man he looked at it and there was a peroxism in his heart in his soul his his Spirit was provoked within him when he saw a transgression in the New Covenant era of the second commandment so when Paul saw that he he went to the open air he went to the Agora he went to the marketplace and he's sorted speaking truth and there he was seen by the epicureans and the stoics they called him a a babbler a seed picker it was the sort of guy that you think we have a lot of today they just get a little bit here a little bit there off the internet and they sort of build their theology that's what they thought was doing in terms of his philosophy in theology so they summons him tomorrow's Hill so what does he do he sees he says to them look at the preface in verse 22. then Paul stood in the midst of the areopagus and said men of Athens I perceive that in all things you're very religious for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God kind of like they wanted to cover all their bases we got this God we got this God we got this God we'll throw up an altar just to make sure our bases are covered we want to make sure that you know if there is an unknown God out there that we have an appease we're going to make sure we have this altar to him offer up sacrifices on occasion to make sure he's okay with us it's kind of the sum and substance of idolatry and of polytheism and Heathen we don't know what we're doing and so Paul says as much because I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God therefore the one whom you worship without knowing the one you Worship in your ignorance him I I Proclaim to you God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of Heaven and Earth does not dwell in temples made with hands nor is he worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything since he gives to all life breath and all things so you see the confession starts there with God's relation to the creature to make sure that the creature understands we were not needed by God we're not the puppy to God we don't complete god father Son and Holy Spirit are eternally blessed and enjoy beatitude among the persons with or without us in fact one man in a book on theology proper John Webster said the the Triune God could be without the world no Perfection of God would be lost no Triune Bliss compromised were the world not to exist no enhancement of God is achieved by the world's existence that's why paragraph two starts off he made us because he needs us he he made us because he was was empty he he you hear this stuff Brethren this is terrible theology it reflects poorly on our God and it's certainly not the teaching of Holy Scripture vis-a-vis acts 17 Visa V First Kings 8. Solomon was a great Theologian he was a great king to be sure but never underestimate the greatness of his Theology and where did he learn a theology from the architect of the psalter David was a theologian certainly it was typical of Jesus certainly was the king an administrator of Israel certainly was the The Fighter of Philistines and the destroyer of Nations he was a theologian he knew his God and so these men underscore that reality that he is independent now notice when it says uh uh uh toward the end of that statement nor deriving any Glory from that it's kind of interesting why do we come to church we come to worship and glorify God don't we why does Westminster Shorter Catechism ask what is the chief on demand man's Chief and is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever well if God doesn't derive or receive Glory from us then it seems like a Fool's errand well there's a distinction that we ought to make between essential glory and declarative Glory essential glory is what God has that doesn't diminish it doesn't increase it doesn't grow it doesn't get vacated declarative glory is what the creature does the creature sings the Praises of God the creature takes the Psalms of David and sings them back to God the creature rejoices in that and and in that ascribes glory to God so it's not that God was lacking or missing something and now we've come and because we sing on Sunday that little bit of God has now been supplemented or completed there's a Puritan by the name of Thomas Adams and he made this observation he says not that praise can add to God's glory nor bless blasphemies detract from it all the wickedness of man out there with all their wretched talk and all their evil speaking does not detract from the glory of God the essential glory of God it's unchanging like God doesn't diminish doesn't increase she says not that praise can add to God's glory nor blasphemies detract from it as the son is neither battered by the birds singing nor battered by dogs barking he is so infinitely great and constantly good that his glory admits neither admission nor uh diminution yet we cannot make the his name greater yet we can't uh yet we that cannot make his name greater can make it seem greater and though we cannot enlarge his glory we can enlarge the manifestation of his glory so in terms of essential Glory there's no increase there's no diminishment but in terms of the declarative Glory that's our duty that's our responsibility that's our joy and privilege is to sing his praise and to glorify his great name so with reference to this particular statement it underscores the fact that he manifests his glory through creation he manifests his glory through Providence he manifests his glory through Redemption and each of these doctrines are told us several times in the scripture this is one of the the the reasons why jeopardizing the doctrine of of creation as the Bible reveals it is very dangerous you know this happened in the 18 1900s it happened at the the emergence of Darwin and his theory of of evolution it it happened when good man jumped on that bandwagon again the good man it pains me to even say Charles Hodge and Benjamin Warfield took you know departed from you know literal Six-Day Creation in a young Earth C.H Spurgeon did it's painful to even to rehearse it I'm not sure in terms of the special creation but he had millions of years before Adam was was created which underscores some effector impact by the theory of Darwin but when you read the scriptures not only do you see it outlined clearly in Genesis 1 to 3 you see it as a means by which the creature praises the Creator because God created what do we do we glorify him because God is the governor or sustainer it's Sovereign and Providence what do we do we praise him because God is Sovereign in Redemption this is one of the biggest problems with armenianism and pelagianism there's always a place for you to Pat yourself a little bit on the back in an Armenian or pelagian scheme but when we come to the Book of Revelation salvation Belongs To Our God and to the lamb who sits upon the throne all glory all honor all praise is given to God for the works of creation and Providence and Redemption Bob Inc says God is the Real the true being the fullness of being the sum total of all reality and Perfection the totality of being from which all other being owes its existence he is an immeasurable and unbounded ocean of being the absolute being who alone has being in himself and as a result the creature reflects this and speaks well or glorifies our blessed God so the independence of God make sure that when we come to God and creature we don't see some sort of inextricable inextricable connection we see dependence we see Connection in the sense that we are created and we come from his hand but it's not the other way around doesn't reciprocate to God God is somehow connected to us or dependent upon us or somehow in need of us that's why the confession starts there notice next it speaks of the omniscience of God uh specifically it says in his sight all things are open and manifest his knowledge is infinite infallible and independent upon the creature so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain this is most crucial as well when it comes to God and creation God is not a reactive being he isn't learning new things okay tomorrow you go out you do something horrible wow I I never saw that coming how am I going to respond now to him God has omniscience there's no sort of growth and understanding or growth and knowledge of Our Lord II Peter 3 18 lays an obligation upon the people of God to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ there's not that in God there's no sort of discursive process God didn't go to God's school to learn everything that he learned God always knows all things he's omniscient it's always present before him there's no hiding from him there's no sort of getting one over on him and this is one of the sort of Follies of Sinners they think they can get over on God they think they can hide among the trees and Escape God's notice no that's not the way that it functions the Declaration of his omniscience and his sight all things are open and manifest the Perfection of his omniscience infinite infallible and independent upon the creature and the nature of his omniscient so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain now this phrase is going to be dealt with later in the confession or at least the concept there are there are doctrines that emerged in the life of the church to try to explain God's knowledge and man's knowledge God's relation to the creature God's sort of reaction to the creature things that that the the early stage early chapters of the confession sort of build the the foundation and then later on in the confession they demolish those thoughts or those uh contrary doctrines held by various persons outside of of the reformed Faith so remember these these men are writing not just in terms of confessing their faith that they're doing that but they're also engaged in polemics and polemics means we try to destroy the uh false doctrines of of others so they are dealing with Roman Catholicism they're dealing with Quakers they're dealing with a with a whole lot of things outside of their camp and so some of these statements are are useful correctives for the people of God useful defenses for the people of God but also destructive of those who teach things contrary to what scripture teaches and then notice it speaks of the Holiness of God so after the statement concerning uh his omniscience it says he is most holy in all his councils in all his works and in all his commands so he is most holy in all his counsels and all his works and in all his commands now this is a very important perfection or attribute of God it's not the case that it's sort of distinct from all the others but Holiness is is definitely one of those things communicated often concerning the god of Heaven and Earth you see it in Exodus 15 the song of Moses and then you see it in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah rehearses is called the prophetic Ministry what does he see sees the angels ascribing to to God most high holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is is full of his glory turn to the Book of Revelation with reference to this theme Revelation chapter 4. thank you Revelation chapter four I'm pretty sure that in chapter one of our study of the confession when it talks about translation of scripture in paragraph eight I had mentioned that there's a few different uh ways in terms of the the the restoring or not restoring but but in uh engaging what's called textual criticism there's over 5000 extant manuscripts of the New Testament and so basically there's three approaches to categorizing those five thousand plus manuscripts there's What's called the majority text which simply means the most amount of readings on a particular text are what we go with there's What's called the textus receptus which is pretty much the Protestant tradition uh the TR the received tax this is the tax from which the King James version is translated uh the new King James is translated from that as well and then there's what's called The Eclectic text and The Eclectic text is basically the the Greek tax behind most of the modern Edition so your NIV your Nas B your your ESV I think I said back then that in about 85 percent those tax types agree so 85 percent is pretty good so so the biggest difference would be TR and eclectic text uh about 3 000 differences and when you hear that you go wow that's incredible but it might be the difference between bethsaida or Bethesda we're not talking about you know massively significant horrifying thoughts here but but if you look at Revelation 4 and again the new King James is based on the textus receptus notice uh Revelation 4 at verse 8. it says the four living creatures each having six wings were full of eyes around and within and they do not rest day or night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come if you look in your margin and you find four eight if you're using the new King James you'll see that it says M that means the majority taxed remember the new King James is translated from the textus receptus and majority text has holy nine times isn't that beautiful so holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come what do you think they want to communicate to us what do you think the angels in Isaiah 6 are doing they say holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole Earth is filled with his glory now it's probably not the case that they do that at 9 00 a.m and they're done by 9 A.M plus five seconds EJ young says it's antifinal praise there's a class of angels whose job it is to stand in the presence of God and ascribe Holiness to him what's your job I ascribe Holiness to God why because he's so glorious and he's so awesome and he's so holy that that's my soul function and notice that this Holiness is in all his counsels in all his works and in all his commands the councils The Works the commands governing the universe are not arbitrary or capricious or the outflowing of impersonal fate rather they are the outflowing of the decree of a holy and glorious God I think I mentioned before that Isaiah speaks of God as the Holy One of Israel far more than any of the other prophets that doesn't mean the other prophets don't think God's holy but probably his call to the prophetic Ministry Isaiah 6 holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts framed his appreciation for the Holy One of Israel so Isaiah refers to God as the Holy One of Israel about 25 times and the Holy One four times it's only used two times elsewhere in the rest of the prophets in Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51. then of course you've got this ascription in Revelation 4 with the threefold holy or the nine-fold holy depending upon the the particular textual manuscript that you're using and then notice finally with reference to the confession the obligation of the creature to God so God's relation to the creatures is this what is the creature's relation to God after the statement concerning his Holiness it says to him is due from angels and Men whatsoever worship service or obedience as creatures they want to their create unto the Creator and whatever he is further pleased to require of that and that necessarily follows if God is who God is if God is what scripture declares him to be if God is what the confession declares him to be in paragraphs one and two well then it follows necessarily that the creature owes obedience the creature owes Glory the creature owes honor given to this great God well I'll close in prayer and if there's any questions we'll take those Our Father in heaven we thank you for your word we thank you for this wonderful confession uh the Perfections of God your relation to the creature help us God to be comforted and encouraged by these truths and help us to stand in awe the way that the Apostle Paul does there in Romans 11 33-36 may we confess with him from our hearts that of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen and we pray through Christ Our Lord amen questions or comments on any of that material yes comes I guess is having two words like four or five minutes half the cathedrals and churches and Holland Belgian friends to ask for the wings it's like how do they get access between so long little idols and these things are fantasy and ordinating and everything looks like but they're useless yeah yeah absolutely yes um dessert and mercy is withheld from you what you actually yeah yeah that's right yeah yes sir the Texas receptus why you think that's right not right now you can set up an appointment we can have that discussion for sure yeah it would take us yeah that's not a 30 second hand so um any others it's 30 seconds as a matter of preference um yes well the the vaticanus and alexandrikas uh Alexandria they they're based on the oldest manuscripts and that seems to hold the day that seems to hold the day with a lot of people yeah I would suggest that the fathers help us a lot Church fathers what were they quoting what were they citing uh one scholar in this study a field of study and then 1800 said that if we lost the New Testament completely we could rebuild it from the quotations by the fathers so for me for me the church fathers help a lot to confirm a good friend told me [Music] yeah I think we need to be generous when it comes to translation but I also think we can have some convictions or preferences that go that way