Transcript Basic Doctrine

Basic Doctrine
and
Membership Class
GOD
Who and What is God
 We
must get this right
 Wrong ideas about God lead to:
– Wrong worship (idolatry)
– Wrong ideas about ourselves
– Wrong ideas about sin
God’s Self Disclosure
Without divine revelation: speculation
 God has revealed himself

– General Revelation
 Mediate
revelation: creation
 Immediate revelation: implanted innate sense of
himself
– Specific Revelation
 The
Bible
 His Son

We can’t remake Him
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
PS 19:2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
PS 19:3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
PS 19:4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Heb. 1: 1-3
In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at
many times and in various ways, 2
but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he
appointed heir of all things, and
through whom he made the
universe. 3 The Son is the radiance
of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being
God’s Incomprehensibility
 It
does not mean we can know
nothing about God
 It means our knowledge is partial
and limited; it is not comprehensive
 What we can comprehend is real and
useful
Romans
11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable his
judgments, and his paths
beyond tracing out!
Deut. 29:29

The secret things belong to the LORD our
God, but the things revealed belong to us
and to our children forever, that we may
follow all the words of this law.
Hidden aspect of God
Revealed aspect of God
Triunity of God
 Within
the one being that is God,
there exists eternal three coequal
and coeternal persons, namely, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
James White
Being and Person are Different
 Being
makes something what it is
 Person
makes someone who they are
Vital Distinction
 The
Trinity is:
One what = One Being: God
Three whos = Three Persons: Father,
Son and Holy Spirit
Common errors
 Three
persons who are one person
 Three
beings who are one being
 NOT
 Remember,
its one what, three whos
Matthew 3:16-17
 As
soon as Jesus was baptized, he
went up out of the water. At that
moment heaven was opened, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a
voice from heaven said, "This is my
Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased."
The Self-existence of God
 God
always was
 There was never a time when there
was nothing
 He is eternal, self-sustaining and
necessary
 He has the power of being in himself
– Non-contingent
The Self-existence of God
 HE
ANSWERS TO NO ONE
– We don’t like that, we want answers; we
want explanations
– Sometimes he gives them, most often
he does not
The Self-existence of God

HE HAS NO NEEDS
– He didn’t create us because he lacked glory or
love
– God gains nothing from us. We add nothing to
him.
– “Were all human beings suddenly to become
blind, still the sun would shine, for it owes
nothing to those who benefit from its light. If
every man were to become an atheist, it could
not affect God in anyway. He is what he is
without regard to any other. To believe in him
adds nothing to his perfections, to doubt him
takes nothing away.” A. W. Tozer
The Self-existence of God

HE IS ETERNAL
– He can be trusted to remain as he reveals
himself to be (immutability)

HE IS INESCABABLE
– He will always be there. We can ignore him
but not escape him
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father
of the heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows.
Psalm 90:1-2
Lord, you have been our dwelling
place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born or
you brought forth the earth and the
world, from everlasting to everlasting
you are God.
Exodus 3:14
 God
said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the
Israelites: `I AM has sent me to
you.' "
God is Holy
 Otherness
has to do with his majesty
– Everything about God that sets him
apart from us and makes Him the object
of our dread, awe and adoration
 Purity
has to do with his
righteousness
– He pure and righteous in all he is
(internal) and all he does (external)
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Isaiah 6:3 & Rev. 4:8
 The
Trisagion (thrice holy)
 Only attribute of God raised to the
3rd degree
 Greatest of all attributes?
The Sovereignty of God
 God
has absolute authority, rule and
control over his creation
 The sovereignty of God is the
Christian’s strength and comfort in
the storms of life
 There is no maverick molecule (for
want of the nail…)
1 Chron. 29:11-12
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and
the power and the glory and the
majesty and the splendor, for
everything in heaven and earth is
yours. Yours, O LORD, is the
kingdom; you are exalted as head
over all.
Psalm 47:7
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
Daniel 4:34-35
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation
to generation. All the peoples of the
earth are regarded as nothing. He
does as he pleases with the powers
of heaven and the peoples of the
earth. No one can hold back his
hand or say to him: "What have you
done?"
Eph. 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having
been predestined according to the
plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will
God’s Sovereignty and Man’s “free
will”
Man is able to make free moral choices
 Man’s freedom is a limited freedom

– Man’s freedom is contingent on God’s
sovereignty
– Man’s freedom can never override the power or
authority of God
There is no contradiction between God’s
sovereignty and man’s freedom
 There is a contradiction between God’s
sovereignty and man’s autonomy

Blessings of Sovereignty
 It
deepens our worship and
submission to the living and true God
– How can we worship a God who is
subservient to the will of man
Blessings of Sovereignty
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It gives comfort in the midst of trial, temptations
and sorrows
This is the Providence of God; his most holy, wise
and powerful preserving and governing all His
creatures, and all their actions
God’s providence does not violate the natural
order, or the free, responsible agency of human
beings.
God’s sovereignty and providence does not take
away the power of secondary causes but rather
establishes them
We are never in the grip of blind fortune, chance,
luck or fate. Everything that happens is divinely
planned and each event comes as a new summons
to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for
our good and God’s eternal glory
Blessings of Sovereignty
 It
provides encouragement and joy in
evangelism
 God is sovereign in salvation, as well
as in power and authority
 He is able to take rebellious sinners
and turn them in spite of their
inclinations to reject Him
 God calls whom He wills and calls
effectively
Blessings of Sovereignty
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It affords a deep sense of security
The enemies are formidable (the world, the
flesh, the devil, the lust of the eyes, the lust of
the flesh and pride of life)
No one can snatch me out of his hand (Jn. 10)
Nothing can separate me from his love (Rom. 8)
He who began a good work in me will finish it
(Phil. 1)
He is able to save to the uttermost; to keep that
which I’ve committed to Him until that day (Heb.
13)