God
Notes
Transcript
Article 2 of BF&M 2000
Article 2 of BF&M 2000
God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
Today, we will be breaking this statement down and explaining exactly what we mean. In the following weeks we will dive into each revelation of God: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Today is an overview, if you will, of God as a WHOLE.
Memory Verse
Memory Verse
Do not have other gods besides me.
Knowing God is the highest privilege given to humanity!
All true knowledge begins with God. The most important knowledge that we can ever have, is knowledge about God. It is central to our faith as Christians, that we know the One True Living God.
Our belief in God and knowledge that we possess about God sets us apart from any other religious group on the planet.
There is no other faith that possess that knowledge about God, as we possess, because we possess the Bible, through which God reveals Himself.
So we must be careful that what we claim to believe about God, comes from the revelation that gave us regarding Himself.
There are a lot of books written about Benjamin Franklin. Books written by historians, second hand accounts, tales of things he may or may not have done. But there is one book that is unique and reveals Benjamin Franklin like no other. It is a book, but was not written as a book. Instead, this book is a compilation of letters that he wrote to his son, so that his son may know him better. His heart is revealed in these letters, and by reading them you get to learn so much more than any historian could ever dream of discovering.
We have the same thing, letters from God, revealing His heart and so much more.
And yet, despite having this precious treasure, the Word of God, most people have a superficial idea about God. Primarily based upon human speculation, social media posts, or mistaken quotes that sound ‘biblical’.
“ ‘This is what the Lord says:
The wise person should not boast in his wisdom;
the strong should not boast in his strength;
the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
But the one who boasts should boast in this:
that he understands and knows me—
that I am the Lord, showing faithful love,
justice, and righteousness on the earth,
for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
We should seek to know God, to read His word to discover Him.
The highest aspiration of the human soul and mind must be to know the one true and living God, to enjoy Him, and to serve Him with gladness.
One Living and True God
One Living and True God
BF&M says that there is “one living and true God”.
God makes it clear that there is one, and no other.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
there is no God but me.
I will strengthen you,
though you do not know me,
I AM THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER; THERE IS NO GOD BUT ME!
God is not the strongest among other gods. He is not Zeus fighting for control from Hades. He is not greatest among all gods.
God is GOD. He is the ONLY God. He is the TRUE God.
And He repeats this:
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”
E.Y. Mullins
The doctrine of many gods is polytheism, and against it the prophets of the Old Testament poured out their inspired and burning eloquence. The Old Testament is the record of how God trained Israel to the thought of a pure monotheism, that is, to the belief in one holy and spiritual God.
The Attributes of God
The Attributes of God
BF&M
God is intelligent, spiritual, and personal.
Intelligent -
God is a knowing being, NOT some blind force.
God is ALL Knowing - omniscient
Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?
God describes Himself as having perfect knowledge. Perfect meaning COMPLETE!
Spiritual -
God is transcendent.
He has no limitations.
Personal -
God has a personality and relates to His people in a personal way.
I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people. This is the declaration of the Lord God. You are my flock, the human flock of my pasture, and I am your God. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’ ”
BF&M
BF&M
God is self-existent, self-sufficient and eternal
God is self-existent, self-sufficient and eternal
God depends on nothing.
Jireh - Wasn’t holding you up, so there is nothing i can do to let you down!
God is complete by himself. He is the only uncreated being - the original, necessary, I AM.
There was never a time when God was not, there will never be a time when God won’t be. God is the Creator of TIME and all things were made by Him.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
For the High and Exalted One,
who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this:
“I live in a high and holy place,
and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and revive the heart of the oppressed.
WHO LIVES FOREVER
God is Glorious
God is Glorious
God does not NEED, however He CHOOSES to glorify Himself through His creation.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his wondrous works among all peoples.
God is Unchanging
God is Unchanging
“Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
The Activity of God
The Activity of God
God is Creator
God is Creator
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
God is Redeemer
God is Redeemer
God rescues His people from Peril.
Rescues His people from destruction.
Exodus
Jesus
God is Preserver
God is Preserver
God protects and guards His creation and creatures.
nothing is to big or small for God.
Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
God is Ruler
God is Ruler
God exercises His authority over all creation .
This word is by decree of the watchers,
and the decision is by command from the holy ones.
This is so that the living will know
that the Most High is ruler
over human kingdoms.
He gives them to anyone he wants
and sets the lowliest of people over them.
The Trinity
The Trinity
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:
Who will I send?
Who will go for us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Certainties About God
Certainties About God
God’s Soverignty
God’s Soverignty
The sovereignty of God is one of the most compromised doctrines in the church.
Many people mean well when giving advice, but believe that God cannot seem to make his will come to pass. Or perhaps is a needy God who cannot do all on His own. Or requires some external assistance to accomplish His will.
Worse still is, God is viewed as not knowing what he wants.
This is not the GOd of the Bible. THe God of the bible is in suprem and in charge.
The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying,
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign forever and ever.
God’s Character
God’s Character
God is HOLY. There is not a single, even slightest imperfection in God. He is pure and complete.
And one called to another:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;
his glory fills the whole earth.
Holiness is the ultimate quality of God’s moral character and it defines all other attributes.
A Holy God demands that we be holy.
But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
