1689 London Baptist Confession Of Faith (part 7)

We talked about persecution from time to time and It was interesting to me that this week. I don't know probably most of you saw the clip of a senator. He was basically supposed to be vetting what a nominee for kind of an undersecretary of management budget director of management and budget money thing and Asking him because this man.

I don't know how many of you how many of you saw this interview or Or this interrogation this questioning between Senator Sanders and okay, and This man. I think his last name is it's either Vought or vote or something like that vo you ght.

Anyway, this man graduated from Wheaton College and Wheaton College a year or two ago fired a professor there. Do you remember what she was fired for? Yeah, she said that Teaching universalism was the answer that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

Now is there a problem with that? Some people say no. Right. So she said that she got fired and he wrote an an essay and what he said in this essay was essentially that Muslims have deficient theology.

Why would he say that? Muslims have deficient theology because they do is not an answer next. I mean, that's it. That's If I'm your instructor and you say because they do that's an f-minus it's a failure and you didn't try so Next next.

Yes, Anthony. Thank you, because they don't believe in the triune God and they don't believe that Jesus died for our sins once for all. That's the essence of Christianity, I mean we could expand further on that right, but they're not they're not Christians.

They don't believe that Jesus Christ is deity. They don't believe that he died for our sins that he rose on the third day, right? So that's a deep to put it nicely a Deficient theology. I mean I could say, you know.

You know such and such a church down the streets has a deficient theology. Well, that's that's an errant theology that is a theology that Islam is the theology that condemns consigns one to hell if you believe it, so Senator Sanders is asking this man.

Well, do you believe that these people are condemned consigned, you know to eternity? I don't remember how he said it, but they're condemned basically in the sight of God. And he just went on and on and on because and the man just kept saying I'm a Christian.

I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Here's my point. This man is defending Christianity, right? He's just saying this is the content of our faith. And Sanders is saying well you can't be a Christian and and Serve basically you can be a Christian.

You just can't Espouse Christianity, right? You you can't defend Christian views you can't enumerate Christian beliefs you can't recount Christian doctrine, in fact, you can't even quote Jesus which he does at one point.

Not Sanders with this other man. You can't quote Jesus and still serve in the government. What's that and I and I think I think we're just heading for a time in this country where? This stuff. Confessing the faith believing Christianity.

Having some content to what you believe is going to get you in trouble and it does all the time. I There are there are some other things that happen in the news. I don't know how many of you saw this wasn't really the news if you turn on the news this morning you wouldn't Seen this but you know people are going after James White for not being Not understanding Islam correctly, and I'm like that's pretty interesting considering he has I Mean he already had a PhD and he went back to school and got a PhD in Islam.

So I don't know you know my response to somebody posting about on Facebook is I said You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spin into the wind. You don't poke the mask off the old Little Ranger, and you don't mess around with Jim also known as James White just don't do it.

Don't call him Jimmy there, but. Okay, so all that said we've been talking about the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith talking about scripture. What the confession says about scripture, and we got to talking about the Trinity.

Last week we see exactly how far we go. Because I find it hard to believe that that's as far as we go. Okay, that's as far as we go. I'm still I'm turning and I'm turning. I'm turning okay. There we go.

The Trinity in the 1689 London Baptist Confession

So anybody want to try to define the Trinity and by the way if you do I won't Label you unable to serve in the government. God in three persons, okay. Nobody all right. Well, let's let the Confession define it for us the Lord our God is but one.

Only Living and true God whose subsistence is in and of himself infinite in being and perfection whose essence cannot be comprehended by anybody 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 counsel 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 I think I tried to say this last last week this word and with all I can't say it. Sorry. It looks like it should be with all and with all. Most just and terrible in his judgments hating all sin and who will by no means Clear the guilty.

It's a mouthful should be a hymn although it wouldn't really rhyme very well, okay, so I Was reading through and I think I mentioned this last week. I was I've been reading through Waldron's book on 1689 and when it got to the Trinity, I don't know if I confess this about the confession last week.

But when I get to the part where Waldron discusses the Trinity, I was reading it I'm going I read it and I read it again, and I read it again. And I still after four or five times. I had no idea what he was talking about.

So pastor Mike had said there was another book about this and I thought well I'll read that one and see if it makes more sense. So and it does this is what Van Dix horn said. He says. We can of course ask Questions about who God is but scripture often answers or first answers the question How many gods are there?

How many gods are there. The most basic creed of the Old Testament is the cry here. Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one which is found in Deuteronomy 6 verse 1 is not correct. Can I get to anybody 3?

It's verse 4. It's verse 4 here. Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one. Anybody know what that's called? It's the the Shema. Okay. This is a quote. I stole off something else here. Listen to this describing the Trinity.

Whatever is in the Father is In the Son since the Father is not a creature. Neither is the Son. The will of the Father and the will of the Son are one since they are indivisible. The Son is an exact seal of the Father.

I think another word that's used to describe that is what? He is the. Or he is in the Greek word is icon, right? He's the image. The triad is one and indivisible without degrees. There is no first second or third God.

Why is that important? When we when we think about the Trinity, do you just tend to think you know, it's like Um, okay, I'm gonna be mildly blasphemous here for a moment, but you know, is it Larry Bird Kevin McHale Robert Parrish, you know, in other words, do we have degrees of The Trinity there's God the Father Jesus The Holy Spirit.

Is that right? No, it's not right. And that's exactly what he's saying here. He's saying there is no first second or third God and we need to if we if we allow ourselves to think about God in that way, then we're actually committing blasphemy even if we don't Ultimately believe that we ought not to eat.

We need to try to think about God rightly. From the Westminster Standards. In general the doctrine of the Trinity may be stated thus in The Godhead three distinct persons who are the same in substance and equal in power and glory there.

We go back to the equality subsist in a single indivisible essence. Why is the Trinity hard to explain? Okay. He's unlike any of his creations. Very he's infinite. Okay, but specifically to do with the Trinity what why is it hard to explain the Trinity that's well said very confusing but well said.

There's one God three persons. Each of the persons is God, but they're not individual gods. They're one God. I Mean this was the hardest thing when I was you know, I hate to even describe You know getting saved as a process because it's not a process but it felt like a process at the time.

The hardest thing for me to wrap my head around was the doctrine of the Trinity because I'd spent my whole life Disbelieving the Trinity. Let me go on a little bit more with the Westminster Standards here.

There is a this is a slight expansion of the shorter catechism. We say the larger catechism names the three persons and as that there are one. Or these are. One true eternal God the same as substance equal in power and glory although distinguished by their personal properties.

The confession makes a very Compact utterance when it says that in the unity of the Godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity. Putting what our standards teach upon this great subject in an orderly form.

There are some particulars to be noted and we'll get to that in a minute. But it's just important to note one God three persons. Not three personalities not three different modes, but three separate persons in one God.

How does that? Again, we can't fully wrap our minds around that Jesus God the Father is God. The Spirit is God one God. The Godhead subsists in three persons. The names of these persons are the Father's Son Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit?

These three are properly called persons because in the scriptures the qualities of personality such as into that. Individuality intelligence and free agency are ascribed alike to these three. In other words Self-consciousness and self-determination the elements of personality are applied in the scriptures equally to the persons of the Godhead.

The Father stands first in the order of being an operation hence he is of none. Neither begotten nor proceeding. I want to back up for just a second here. Can you think of and if you've taught or taken? Fundamentals of the faith you ought to be able to think about this.

How would we say that the Holy Spirit is a person? Instead of a force. What scriptural? Evidences could you give for that? Yeah, Gary? Okay, male pronouns are used good. Can you think of anything the Holy Spirit does where we would go that is something a person would do.

He leads he draws he convicts. He comforts. Okay, x5 says he can be lied to right Gary. He can be grieved. Who gives Spiritual gifts says in first Corinthians that he distributes the gifts just as he wills of the Holy Spirit.

So, yeah, he does all those things and so when we think of the Holy Spirit we ought not to say it because he is not in it. And that's for other religions to describe him that way. He is a person. See, okay.

The Father stands first now. This is what I'm gonna get down to the weeds for a minute and then we'll try to dig our way out of the weeds. The shorter or the Westminster standards they say. Uniformly, he speaking of the father is spoken of as first in order.

The son always stands second in order and is eternally begotten of the father. He is and ever has been the only begotten and well-beloved son of the father the Holy Spirit Always stands third in order and is represented as eternally proceeding from the father and the son for he is called alike The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ on account of this order of subsistence and operation.

They are called the first the second and third persons of the Godhead. But this does not denote that there is any Inferiority of essence or any limitation of attributes in any of the three persons. It is only meant that there are three eternal and abiding relations Subsisting between the three persons and the individual essence of the Godhead.

Thank you. So, what does that all mean it means this we can say that the The son is sent of the father, right? What did Jesus say over and over again? I don't do what I want to do. I do what he who sent me.

You know sent me here to do. I don't say what I want to say. I say what he wants me to say. Can you think of yeah now this is an easy one it is it it is it is easy. I guarantee it. Can you think of an Old Testament verse that kind of?

Demonstrates the idea of the Trinity and I know you'll have one and then I'll give you a second one. I heard Genesis something anybody want to help Cory out? Okay Genesis 126 once you go ahead and read that Cory.

Okay, and why does that demonstrate the Trinity? Okay. Some people think that's a plural of majesty, but okay I mean, I'll take that I would go even further back in Genesis 1, of course, right right to you know basically the beginning why because the spirit is hovering so or brooding depending on how you have the what the translation is there and I just lost my other thing, but the other.

And we would know from other places that Jesus we could go to John 1 where it says it talks about Jesus creating all things. But for a moment, I'd like you to turn to Isaiah chapter 48 and I think I've recounted before how I how I tried to use this on the Jehovah Witnesses, I thought I was so clever because they came to my door one fine Saturday morning.

And I said, you know, I just thought you know what? I'm just gonna be well, I'll be Honest, I was just gonna be a little bit lazy and not go get my Bible and just ask for theirs. So I turned to Isaiah 48 verse 16 and they had changed the Translation didn't really shouldn't have surprised me, but it did I mean they really they're thorough when they're if you're gonna be in a cult that changes the Word of God.

That's the cult to be in because they change everything. 4816 says this Draw near to me. And by the way, this is the pre-incarnate Christ speaking. He says draw near to me hear this from the beginning.

I'm not spoken in secrets from the time it came to be I have been there and now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit and This this refers to both the father sending the Son and Him sending the Spirit and we would also see in John that Jesus sends the Spirit so there is a sense in which they are they both the Father and the Son send the Spirit and then the father is only said to have Sent the Son.

So there is that there is a sense in which there there is a An order of operations, I guess a good way to say it now. Let's put it another way. Let's put it. Let's bring it into our homes. We use this sometimes we say, you know, here's the father who's in charge Nominally of the household, you know and the mom and the wife, you know.

Who is in charge of various things and everything but? Technically biblically speaking the husband is the head of the household. Does that make the husband? more important. Does it mean he is more beloved of God?

Does that make the wife a second-class citizen? Makes it more. I see I I'm just like it just means he has a higher accountability right on judgment day. You know, the wife will be able to just go his fault, you know.

He's Going to be held accountable and There's a sense in which the the Godhead is sort of mirrored in this way there is a sense in which not in terms of accountability, but just in terms of responsibility and and the scope of what they do.

We don't see for example, the Sun pointing to the Holy Spirit and saying worship him. We don't see that what we see is the Holy Spirit pointed to Jesus and saying worship him. So let's keep moving here the second point About the Trinity here relates to the peculiar property pertaining to each person.

This is a point which the theologians say much but the standards do little more than state the fact as has done a large catechism. Personal properties are possessed by the three persons. Okay, first the peculiar property of the father is paternity or fatherhood.

The term here is taken in its narrow sense as expressing the relation of the father to the son. The property of the father is to beget the son eternally. This does not apply the Genesis of the Son in time and that let me just kind of put that into English here.

Jesus does not have a starting point. He always existed, but there is some sense in which He has He is begotten of the Father and that's all it says and to try to go further than that is to you know Tread in dangerous ground, so I'm not going to do it.

Jesus there was never a time when Jesus did not exist and that's important for us to know He is ever existent eternal fully God. Comments or questions about that. Yes. I don't know you want to give it a shot.

Yes, you probably somebody can but they've probably written about 300 pages on it and we can't possibly I don't think discuss that. You know reasonably in this setting anybody want to try to explain eternally begotten.

I Think you know to put it in shorthand, here's what I would say. I think it just refers to the The functionality of the Godhead. I think that's probably the safest way to talk about it in a few seconds.

So Other ideas or thoughts. Anybody want to be a heretic this morning? Did the DNA of Jesus exist eternally. I think it might be too literal. I I think what we could we could say safely is That the DNA that was in or that became Jesus body.

What was in Mary Didn't exist before Mary existed. I Don't think there was a vault in heaven where they kept they kept that or anything so I I think we could just say he is eternally begotten in the sense that his Position was always that of the Son if he had chosen to reveal himself in that way I mean you could have a Christophany.

I don't know. I mean that that would just be speculation. I I don't think I don't think there being a particular purpose though and Jesus having a different Appearance before he was born then, you know after he was born, but that's speculation.

Okay. The peculiar property of the third person is procession or spiration. That just that just means that he is he is sent from the The Father and the Son. This means that from eternity the Holy Spirit holds the relation of one proceeding from the Father and the Son.

It is to be remembered here Also that this Relation does not apply a beginning in time of the third person in other words that there was a time that he didn't exist. Holy Spirit is ever existent. All the properties of the godhood applies equally to each person.

It is rather an assertion that from eternity the third person Sustains a certain inner Constitution inner Constitutive, sorry. Relation to the other person's just means that they always related in the same way.

This is the chief doctrinal barrier between the Eastern and Western churches today. Protestantism has followed the opinion of the Western Church and Holds that the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son not from the Father only which is the Eastern Church.

Let's see. Divine names are applied indiscriminately to each of the persons. Why. Because they are all God. Secondly divine attributes such as omniscience omnipresence Absolute rectitude and other many others are applied equally to the three persons.

This is done in such ways to imply community of essence and true deity in each. Thirdly divine works such as creation inspiration working of miracles and regeneration are connected with the agency of each of the persons we tend to think of.

I Think we tend to think of Them each having their own categories, you know, for example, who causes somebody to be born again? What's that? Okay, any other answers. What's that? God draws them. Okay.

I Mean a you could make a case if you were to do an exhaustive study. Yeah I think you make a case for each of the it's easier to go to John 3 and just say You know, unless you be born of the Spirit, you know, etc, etc.

You you know, you must be born again. But if you look at first Peter chapter 1, I think you make a case that that's the father. You can look at different places and say well Jesus chose that I mean in other words I'm just gonna kind of run over these.

We know that the father chooses. We also know that Jesus chose. You know the Holy Spirit seals who does the miracles? Well, the Holy Spirit does them is only the Holy Spirit. Well, no, it appears that it's also Jesus.

And yes, it also appears. It's the father it it's it's hard to Narrow one down and say this one only does this or only does that except we can say that only Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Divine worship and homage are to be given to each of the three persons.

This is evident from the terms of the apostolic benediction of the formula of baptisms. If none, but God is to be worshipped and if each of these three persons is to be reverence as God. Then it must be that they each possess the essence of deity.

From these Proofs it is evident that essential deity and true personality belong to each of the three persons. Okay, let's talk about What it means to and and I just took some. These are mostly from Van Dix horn where the guard is some of the attributes.

Because I think I mentioned this Waldron completely punts on attributes. He's like there's plenty of written about that elsewhere. So I'm not going to talk about it. Okay. The infinitude of God that he is infinite.

Van Dix horn says but while God is limited in number one. He is unlimited as being and in all his perfections. Job and his friends were wrong about many things. But at least all of them understood that the depths of the divine being cannot be sounded by any mere man.

We can hardly even grasp the outer fringes of his works. He is unlimited in his being and all his perfections. He is perfect. What about angels. Are angels perfect, you know when we say that God is perfect.

Well, if angels are perfect do they have the. Do they have an attribute of deity? Okay, Charlie Charles willing to step out on the ledge. Yes, his perfection is from his nature. It's in his being. Is it interesting though?

Because the we're told that angels long to look into the things of the gospel and how God saves people right because it fascinates them and I think pastor Mike said either last week or Months ago whenever it is.

I could just hear it rattling around in my head just talking about how they want to look because the idea of Something fallen being redeemed is completely foreign to them because what happens the fallen angels they stay in their fallen state.

They can't be redeemed. There's no hope for them. And it's interesting though to to think about elect angels. Charlie was just kind of hinting at that if they have that element of perfection in them that if they are the elect Angels then guess what?

They can't sin so this whole thing of Redemption is really utterly fascinating to them because they it's just beyond their experience. But to me Angels are kind of interesting. Because the idea of never being able to sin I think that's I think that's pretty interesting.

Let's see talking about attributes of God. How about In comprehensible. Let's look at Psalm 8. Psalm 8 and if somebody would read Psalm 8, I think it's reasonably brief. Not a hundred and seventy six verses or anything like that.

Thank you. What's the what's the focus of the psalmist here? What do you think if you were gonna summarize this. I mean, there's the little interlude here about the babies and all that. But what's the what's the focus of the psalmist in Psalm 8?

The majesty of God. And really, we could say as I'm gonna say here in a minute. We could say really the incomprehensibility of God how how difficult it is to even understand it when he says. When I look at your heavens the work of your fingers.

The moon and the stars which you have set in place then he says what is man? That you are mindful of him. In other words, he's contemplating his place in the universe and just thinking when I when I see what you have done God when I look out on it when I think even of this world and all the creatures and everything that you've put under me.

And I look up at the heavens and I'm just like why do you even pay attention to me? Why do you care about me? What how is it possible that someone who could do that? Would care about me and it talks about the incomprehensibility of God that just the majesty the awe that we ought to have for God's.

RC Sproul says. Incomprehensibility is related to a key tenet of the Protestant Reformation. The finite cannot contain or grasp the infinite. Human beings are a finite creature. So our minds always work from a finite perspective.

We live move and have our being on a finite plane. But God lives moves and has his being in infinity and really we could say in himself, right? Our finite understanding cannot contain an infinite subject thus God is incomprehensible.

This concept represents a check and a balance to warn us lest we think we have captured altogether and Mastered in every detail the things of God. It should also tell us to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.

I think about the Tower of Babel. You know, we will do this and we will and we will and we will. God says no you won't. If we misunderstand the the doctrine of God's incomprehensibility. We can easily slide into two serious errors.

The first error says that since God is incomprehensible, he must be utterly unknowable and Then you wind up. Well, he says anything we say about God is gibberish right because we don't know it's just rubbish but Christianity affirms the rationality of God in other words that we What we can know about God is revealed to us.

Alongside the incomprehensibility of God our minds can only go so far in understanding God and to know God we need his revelation. But that revelation is intelligible not irrational. It is not gibberish.

It is not nonsense. The incomprehensible God has revealed himself truly. So we can know God we can't know him fully we can't know him comprehensively. But we can know him via his revelation. Thoughts or questions about the incomprehensibility of God.

Okay God is an actual spirit who can cite recites John 4 24. God is the Spirit. Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. This is from again RC Sproul the verse we've selected John 4 24 this may be may immediately conjure up images of a ghost or some other apparition.

But we must be clear to say that the Lord is spirit does not mean he is wispy or ethereal. When Jesus says God is spirit He is simply teaching what the Father is like divine not limited by physical Corporality that means he doesn't have a body.

As human beings we are defined by our locality we can be localized at one particular. Well, we are localized at one particular place at one particular time that we can. Though we are composed of body and spirit.

Our spirits are always where our bodies are at least while we're alive. God on the other hand cannot be localized when we say that he is spirit. We're saying that he is invisible and not contained. There's some analogical similarity between our spirits and the being of the Lord, but they are not identical.

Okay to be physical. We have extension blah blah blah. Okay, I Mentioned impassibility a few weeks ago who remembers what that means. What is Impassible not impossible mean God is impassible. It's impassible.

Come on everybody, that's right. He doesn't have emotions. He's not subject to emotions like we are. You know, God is never Wringing his hands. He's never depressed. He's never nervous never edgy never, you know in Love and in the kind of flighty sense.

So he's not subject to emotions in the same way we are. Another attribute he is immortal cannot die in the sense of eternally dying. He's always existed and it's it's really difficult because we are Creatures who exist in time.

It's hard for us to imagine Someone who is not a creature and someone who is not subject to time. But that's God immutable immutable. Ben Dix horn writes which just means he's not subject. He doesn't change how right they were talking about the The people who wrote the Westminster Confession how right they were to draw distinctions between the Creator and his creatures.

God is immutable. He does not change like shifting shadows. James 117 says indeed the Prophet Malachi once noted God does not change at all. Malachi 3 6. God is immense. He fills all things and is everywhere present.

We cannot hide from God and there is no place for God to hide. We cannot hide from God because He's everywhere and he cannot hide from us because the universe testifies to him he's everywhere present.

He fills it from one end of the universe to the other and from past the universe. He is the king of ages, which is only to say that he is eternal. And what is true of space is also true of time. In other words, he exists outside of time and space both of those are his creation.

Even though we say that we know all these things about God. How can we search out what these categories really mean when applied to God. God is knowable. He has revealed himself but there are such vast limits to our knowledge that we also have to admit that in a profound sense God is incomprehensible.

Let's go back to the confession. Says that God having all life glory goodness blessedness in and of himself is alone In and unto himself all sufficient that is to say he needs nothing and they go on to say that Not standing in need of any creature, which he hath made.

I Heard somebody say the other day and I don't know who this was, but they were quoted as saying that Without us God would not be God. Oh, you know who it was. I'm sorry. It was the Pope. I Heard that and I was like, that's terrible.

You know God if we did not exist God would not be God horrific he may be many things but Not a good theologian. He is not a good theologian. Let's see. Not driving 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. I read this and I'm like this God. This is a God worthy of worship.

This is not a God that you come in and just kind of you know. Give a high-five to and you know talk about Jesus your best friend. This is a God that you worship. He hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures to do by them for them or upon them.

Whatsoever himself pleaseth in his sight. All things are open and manifest. In other words, he knows everything. 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 is 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.

Now that's a mouthful but ultimately what we're talking about here is the sovereignty of God his sovereign decrees and in fact We're going to be talking about his will and we're going to be describing how Everything everything works according to the counsel of his will which is hard sometimes to understand.

And that's what we're going to be talking about. How is it possible that he even ordains? Sin. Disaster, you know, is it correct? True or false. This is true or false. Is this a correct statement? Well, let me see.

How can I do that true or false? This is a correct statement. No. Is a statement true or false? There we go. I know if I turn it around for 30 40 minutes. I'd figure it out. Okay God allows things to happen.

Wow, let's close in prayer. We'll discuss that in two weeks father. We just thank you. We just are amazed By you. So we consider all that you have created all that you have established all that you have done all that you will do.

Who are you Oh God to be mindful of us and yet you are From eternity past you chose us you set your affection upon us you determined to redeem us In spite of our actions not because of our actions father.

We praise you for being a saving God One who sent his son the Lord Jesus Christ? To bear our sins and to redeem us from The damnation that we surely deserve father. We give you all the praise in Jesus name.

Amen.