Our Most Precious Faith: God
Romans 11:33-36
Turn to John 14. As we come to week #3 of our series, Our Most Precious Faith, we come to our doctrinal statement on God:
We believe there is one God, existing from eternity past to eternity future in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:4-6). God is sovereign over all things, and all things will be for His glory (Daniel 4:34-35; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 1:17).
There are so many things that we could look at this morning. I did an evening series on the attributes of God for a number of weeks, but this statement really addresses the fact that God is One in three Persons; that He is from eternity past to eternity future (which we already spoke about last week and therefore will not look at this week); that He is sovereign over all things or we could call this His sovereign decree; and that everything will be for the Lord’s glory. So, we will address the Trinity, the sovereign decree of God, and the glory of God. But before we do that, I wish to make some comments about God the Father, as we will address Christ and the Holy Spirit over the next few weeks. I told this story to the evening class about a little boy who was drawing a picture of God. His teacher asked him what he was drawing and the little boy said, it is a picture of God. And he said, son nobody knows what God looks like. And the little boy said, they will when I’m done my picture.
GOD THE FATHER
We touched on this last week, considering the existence of God and His eternity before creation. And there are so many arguments to prove that God exists. And this goes right against the whole evolutionary argument, that for everything to exist today, there must be a Creator. And the Bible simply assumes that God is the original cause of all things, as the Scriptures say that without God, nothing was made that was made. For there must be an Intelligent Designer. That the beauty and intricacies of creation can no way be explained outside of a brilliant God. And when we use the term “brilliant” we cannot even consider it in the way we might say that so-and-so is brilliant, for the creation of God out-of-nothing is so far beyond the capabilities of man. Over the past two weeks Anne has had some eye surgery done. And it boggles my mind how someone would have ever thought you could cut into an eye and do surgery. And then we were smiling of who was the first guy to volunteer to be the patient. Yes, man is extremely capable. But who made man’s brain and who made man’s eyes out-of-nothing.
And it is not only the beauty and intricacies of creation, but it is also the precision of creation. That for everything to run well, there are millions of things that must be considered. And we do not have near the time to look at them but referring to things such as our distance from the sun, the effect of the moon, the way in which powerful oceans are set in boundaries, the earth’s tilt on its axis providing our seasons. In other words, the Master Designer has created a magnificent universe. Another thing is that of all the creation, the Bible says that man was created in the image of God. This accounts for truths about man, that he has a conscience and that man has a sense of eternity, something that no other created being possesses. And because man has a conscience, he therefore has a sense of right and wrong. That even though man’s conscience can be seared, there is still within him a sense that he should do what is right.
It is also interesting that man would even think about God. Whether man believes in God or not—though there are really very few atheists in the world, even though they may claim to be. But that man would even think about God, shows us that man has been given some kind of understanding of a perfect Being who created. All civilizations have some kind of concept of God, though their concepts are always flawed because of the sin of man, and therefore, the need of the Word of God to give man a proper understanding of God. So, we believe that there is one God, who has existed for all of eternity and is the Maker of all things, and has placed within man His image. Secondly, our statement reads that God is in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
THE TRINITY OF GOD
When we think of the word “trinity” we immediately go to the thought of three Persons. This is likely not the best understanding as it misses the truth of the unity and oneness of God. A better word may be as some have said “three-oneness” or “triunity.” Paul Enns gives this definition of the Trinity:
“The Trinity is composed of three united Persons without separate existence—so completely united so as to form one God. the divine nature subsists in three distinctions—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology 205
There are certainly many misunderstandings of the Trinity, such as merely three manifestations of God. In other words, He is able to manifest Himself in three various ways, but not in three distinct Persons. So, what do we mean by the word “Trinity”?
- God is One
This truth is clear in the Bible. Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is one.” The Hebrew word there for one is echad which means “united one” or “compound one.” Though the three Persons in the Trinity have different roles, yet all their attributes together make one God. It has been said that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father; but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God. It is also said that they never act independently from one another, for God is one.
- God is Three Persons
Though it is difficult through language to give this proper understanding, the idea of Persons helps us to know the distinct roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as long as we still understand that they are one. As each of the Persons are God and each possess the fullness of God. Consider an Old Testament verse such as Isaiah 48:16:
“Draw near to Me, hear this:
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time it took place, I was there.
So now Lord Yahweh has sent Me, and His Spirit.”
Isaiah 48:16 (LSB)
Here we see the distinctness of the Trinity and they come all in one sentence. So now Lord Yahweh (the Father) has sent Me (a promise of the coming of Christ) and His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). We also see in the Bible where the Father sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit. And this is all communicated without any reference to one being inferior to the other. Now we do have the statement by Jesus, if you have your Bibles at John 14.
“You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
John 14:28 (LSB)
Now this does not mean that the Son has less authority than the Father, but this is due to the truth that the Son was willing in His role as Son to submit to the Father. D. A. Carson said that the Father in His undiminished glory is greater than the Son in His incarnate state.” Look what Jesus had just told His disciples:
“‘If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves’”
John 14:7-11 (LSB)
Jesus had earlier said in John 10:31, “I and the Father are one.” And the religious leaders knew exactly what He was claiming here as they were quick to pick up stones to throw at Him in the very next verse, for they said, “He makes Himself to be God.” We will discuss some of these truths in the next two weeks as we will look at the deity of the Son and the deity of the Holy Spirit, but this morning I wish to help us with the truth of the Trinity. In the Old Testament at creation, we see that God created the heavens and the earth, and it says that the Holy Spirit hovered over the earth. And then later in Colossians 1 that through Christ all things were created. And then of course, the words in Genesis 1 when God said. “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”
The evidence for the Trinity is also stated throughout the New Testament. Matthew 3, “And after being baptized, Jesus [the Son] came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit] descending like a dove and coming upon Him, and behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying [the Father], ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’” Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Hard to argue with this statement of three distinct Persons. Second Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” Jude 20-21, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Wayne Grudem gives a very simple statement: God is three persons; Each Person is fully God; and There is one God (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology 231).
THE DECREE OF GOD
Our statement says that God is sovereign over all things. The Apostle Paul wrote:
“In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
Ephesians 1:11 (LSB)
When we consider the sovereign decree of God, we must know that either God has sovereign control over all things, or He does not have sovereign control of all things. Yet we believe and we know that God is sovereign, as nothing occurs in our world or ever has ever occurred without it being part of God’s sovereign plan. And nothing—as God works all things—nothing is outside God’s control. Though we also know as Paul Enns said that:
“God is never the author of sin, nor does His sovereignty eliminate man’s responsibility.”
Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology 210
And the decree of God or simply the plan of God is this, as Millard Erickson wrote that:
“The plan of God is His eternal decision rendering certain that all things that will come to pass.”
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology 319
And the decree of God was already determined before the world was created. The Bible says that “God does according to His will in the host of heaven, And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can strike against His hand, Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” Second Timothy 1:9:
[Who] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
2 Timothy 1:9 (LSB)
Here we see that in all things God has a plan and a purpose, which includes all the things in this life where we might ask the question, “why?” But God has a reason and purpose. Proverbs 16:4, “Yahweh has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked.” And the comfort for us as believers is that God’s decree is good and right, because God alone is full of wisdom and He has planned what is ultimately best. In Romans 9—11, it addresses the sovereign hand of God in the nation of Israel, as it speaks about the Lord’s sovereign election of believers. Three chapters where even the Christians responded with, that’s not fair! And then concludes with a doxology that expresses how God’s wisdom and knowledge can never be comprehended.
I do find it odd that we will read that His ways are higher than our ways, and this Romans passage that says “who has known the mind of the Lord,” yet we will still turn around and not quickly accept something in the Bible simply because it does not make sense to us. We also know from Scripture that the sovereign decree of God is not only what He chooses to do but it is what He pleases to do. And that as Daniel 4:35 says that God does according to His will on earth and in the hosts of heaven. Daniel wrote:
“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and might belong to Him.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to men of understanding.”
Daniel 2:20b-21 (LSB)
We could also say this that “The Lord is free to do as He pleases, and therefore, His sovereign decree is free, as it is not dependant upon man, on anyone or anything.” What I mean by this is that God has directly ordained events. God has created and God controls the universe, for it is His; He establishes kings and governments, He has elected a people for salvation. But also in His sovereign decree, God has allowed events that occur that He uses, events that He is controlling and has planned. An example would be when Satan enticed Eve to eat the apple and when Satan enticed David to take a census. Listen to what Enns wrote:
“Sinful acts, for example, do not frustrate the plan of God, but neither is God the author of them. They are within the scope of God’s decree and are part of His eternal plan and purpose, but man is nonetheless responsible for sinful acts … All acts—including sinful acts—conform to the eternal plan of God, but He is not directly the author of all acts.”
Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology 211
We had this very example in our study of 1 Samuel. The people rebelled against God, and they looked at the nations around them. And they sinned and therefore they asked the Lord for what? a king. And what did God do? He gave them a king. And we could leave it there to say, well, okay the people did something wrong and God allowed it and somehow fit it into His plan. But we would be missing a massive piece of the biblical puzzle, what is it? That God would give them a king was part of His plan all along! It wasn’t like God made do with the actions of these people, so that God thought, I will now bring from the situation my Son, the ultimate King. No, God had said eight books earlier in the Old Testament that he would give them a king. Before they even became a nation, he told Abraham that kings will come from him. So, God brought about His stated decree that He has already determined and brought it about through the sinfulness of His people, the same way He brought about His plan to save the world through Christ, through the sinfulness of those who put Him to death. This is why Enns could say that “All acts—including sinful acts—conform to the eternal plan of God.”
But again, we also need to emphasize that man in totally responsible. And we may ask the question; how can man be responsible for his actions when God has determined all things? The same question they asked in Romans 9. And I know we have this theology right because when they asked that question, Romans 9:19, why does God still find fault, when Paul was teaching them that God can show compassion at times and at other times harden the hearts of people, they said how can God find fault for who can resist His will? Paul doesn’t answer, no, no, you don’t understand. He simply says, who are you to answer back to God?
Again, the example of the death of Christ, where God had determined before the world was created that Christ would die. As it would be pretty hard to argue that the death of Christ for the salvation of the world was not part of God’s eternal decree, yet the people who killed Christ are held responsible. We could ask the question, was the death of Christ part of the decree and plan of God? Answer, yes. Were those who murdered him responsible for His death? Answer, yes. Yet we also know that (Isa 53:10) says that it pleased the Father to crush the Son. We also see this in the book of Habakkuk, where God chose to punish His own people of Judah. So, He raises up the Chaldeans to come against His people. And did God hold the Chaldeans responsible for their actions against Judah? Answer, yes. Though it was God who said (Hab 1) that I have raised up the Chaldeans for this very purpose. The decree of God. Finally, our statement says that “all things will be for His glory.”
THE GLORY OF GOD
The psalmist wrote (Ps 104) about the numerous works of God, and that in wisdom He had made all things. I suppose we might wonder why the Lord made the universe so big that at least at this point we cannot even begin to see but only a small fraction of the universe, or why the Lord made other things so small that we continue to discover greater and greater smallness. As it would seem that as telescopes become bigger, the universe grows; and as microscopes become more powerful, things become smaller. It is almost like there is no end. Why? Well, David tells us why:
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; [of which there is no end]
And the expanse [maybe there is no end to His creation] is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.”
Psalms 19:1-2 (LSB)
This is why the psalmist said, “How numerous are Your works, O Lord!” As we said in our statement that “all things will be for His glory.” Now we might say that the ultimate aim of God was to save a people for Himself, but this would be a wrong perspective of God. A better understanding would be to say that the ultimate aim of God is to bring glory to Himself. And part of the glory will be achieved through our salvation. Our salvation will bring Him glory. John Piper said:
“Everything is being done from creation to redemption so that in the end the Person who will be honoured, magnified, and glorified will be God alone. His glory alone will be the end and that end will not be shared in its ultimacy with anything else.”
John Piper, To the Glory of God Alone
Turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4:15:
“For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:15 (LSB)
Think of this for a moment, that if believers are saved and therefore justified before a holy God by grace alone—grace, undeserved favour—not grace, plus any kind of merit on our behalf, but saved by the grace of God alone. As Paul wrote:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 (LSB)
Now if that is true, then we could say that grace produces glory to God. Hebrews 10:14, “For by one offering [the death of Christ], God has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” And this is why Paul says that no one may boast, because the salvation given to me was not given because of my own works, it is not of ourselves. So, we understand that there is no glory here for us. So, where does the glory land? Well, the glory lands on the One who gave the grace, not on the one who simply received the grace. The glory lands on the One who gave the faith, not on the one who simply received the faith. The glory lands on the One who gave the gift, not on the one who simply received the gift. So, there is no boasting allowed. Charles Spurgeon once preached:
“If there be any here that think they can be saved by their own works, I have no Gospel to preach to them whatever, I will not interfere with them. My Master has said that there is no need of a physician to them that are not sick. Good people, virtuous people, excellent people, you that are going to heaven all on your own account, don’t quarrel with us poor sinners, that we choose to have what you despise. If you do not want the medicine, let us drink it, and be not bitter against us if we choose another way than yours. If your road is broad enough, and there are enough companions in it, let us alone if we choose the narrow path … [but] when you come to die, you will find that good-works are unable to bear you up.”
Charles Spurgeon, No Boasting, But Trusting
No boasting allowed—no boasting is self—for there is a boasting that is allowed. As Paul told the Corinthians that when God chose them, they were low and despised, not all that smart. And Paul said there was a reason that God did this—that no human might boast. Yet he did not mean that they would not boast entirely, for he went on to say this:
“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
God has made it clear to us that our sole purpose is to boast in Him, glorify Him—not that we would ever add to His glory—but that we would rejoice or would comprehend with all the saints, in fact, all creation, the glory of God. And here is the warning to those who will miss this eternal privilege given to us in Isaiah 2:
“For Yahweh of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and high
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be made low …
The loftiness of man will be bowed down,
And the men who are high will be made low;
And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.”
Isaiah 2:12, 17 (LSB)
I suppose one of the greatest questions in life is, why am I here? And we as humans like to attach a “little” personal flavour. Why am I here? Well, I am different from you. In other words, the Lord has me here for a reason. And you may be thinking the same thing, God wants to use me in this little niche here. And by the way, don’t infringe on my territory. Why am I here? Why are you here? Big picture? Well, we are actually here for the same reason—to glorify God.
We believe there is one God, existing from eternity past to eternity future in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is sovereign over all things, and all things will be for His glory.
Paul wrote in that famous Roams 11 passage:
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)
Let’s pray. If you and I were Jewish and we were standing at the cross of Christ. And we were of those who had believed in the message of Jesus. And therefore, we had pinned all our hopes on what Christ might do for us as His people, and we watched as the Roman soldiers put Him to death. We would have never believed that this whole event, whole event was under the sovereign hand of the perfect Heavenly Father, and that it would all used for His glory. Lord, would you grant to us as Your people an excitement, everyday, as You unfold for the world Your plans and Your purposes. And may we above all people, glory in You alone. And all God’s people said, amen.