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Our Father in heaven we come before you this morning just rejoicing in your goodness to us. Thankful that we have yet another day to gather together to worship you to contemplate What you have done on behalf of sinners father.
I pray that as we Meet here this morning that you would bless our time as we look to your word as we study about you. That we might know you the one true living God in Christ's name. I pray amen well.
Quite a week this morning, and I thought I might just grab your attention with a quiz. Who doesn't love a good quiz on Sunday morning? And if you fail, you know what that means did I see a hand on that.
I wasn't asking for hands. All right. Well, we've been going through Culver systematic theology book. Some of you know that some of you don't know that but that's what we've been doing and as everybody have a copy of the quiz.
Okay Deb do you don't I have a couple extra here. Oh Linton has one. All right good. I could give you time and go through it. But why do that? Let's just wing it number one. True or false the God is spirit points to toward the truth that his church need not meet physically.
That is just the worst question. I've ever seen who wrote that. Oh is me. Okay. Yeah, that's false. There are people of course to say that. Where would I get the idea that God is spirits. John 424 I hear and John 424 is Correct.
In fact Culver goes on to say this God is spirit a saying of Jesus. John 424 was spoken for practical reasons. Jesus was introducing an age wherein the geographical location and physical implements of worship are no longer of great Importance.
What does Culver mean by that? Why would the physical location and the physical implements of worship no longer be of great importance. Do do do coffee room is open by the way, Pam. God is no longer just.
We don't have to go to the temple to worship him any longer. It's not the the the physical Implements that were in the temple all these kind of things. Jesus is with us. Christ is with us. So good. Culver goes on to say whatever temporary value the Old Testament ritual actions and materials may have had.
They are worthless now. Supposed to make good museum pieces, but that's about it. They may teach us but we dare not perpetuate them. God is spirit and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
It is all in the spiritual realm. However much mankind's unity of body and spirit and resonance and material world. Require such things as buildings music hymns Bibles pews and central heating. And to which I add central air-conditioning on occasion as well as a convenient location and accessible premises, but Ceremonies religious buildings and objects are now secondary to the purely spiritual, you know, so some folks say well then I don't need to go to church.
Well, that's not right. How do you participate in? Worship while I worship at home. I worship in the forest. I worship in the. We gather together for a purpose. We gather together to worship him and we do so because I mean for several reasons.
I don't want to recreate the entire new belief. New members class, but we gather together to equip the Saints. Ephesians 4 would tell us that we are to equip the Saints for the work of the ministry. We also gather together.
To edify one another. We gather together to bear one another's burdens. We gather together to serve one another and then what do we do? You know, is it Sunday? Here's kind of the the way I've been really just focused on this here lately.
What is the purpose of Sunday? Why do we gather together? What's that? First day of the week. So we come together on the first day of the week because that's what the church did in the beginning. Why else.
What else is special about Sundays Bruce. To glorify God we gather together on Sundays, but is the purpose of Sunday just to show up to get together with a bunch of believers and then to go out the rest of the week and just Forget about it until the next Sunday.
I Think the problem with some Christians quite frankly is we have the idea that Sunday is Sunday morning is more of a it's an appointment in our calendar book it's I Won't call it any convenience. It's just something that we do.
And we need to have that right mindset that we come here to worship the king that we're here to honor him that we're here. To focus on what he has done. We're here to serve one another. We're here to get equipped.
But Sunday is just the beginning of the week. What do we do for the rest of the week? No, we carefully hide our candle under a bushel we leave here we take off the suit and we put on the camouflage. Low crawl around the world so that nobody knows.
You know, it's kind of like the opposite of Jude 3 and 4 where you know. The unbelievers creep into the church and kind of gain Statue stature and everything and we leave here we sneak into the world so that nobody knows.
That's not the point. We worship on Sundays. Yes, but the rest of the week that worship needs to be on display. We need to be joyful. We need to be happy. We need to be focused on how we present the good news to a lost and dying world.
Cover goes on to see we're free from an elaborate ceremonial system. Which I just think you know, where's the incense where's the big, you know, we need the sensors and things waving in the air. No. He says here that no one has ever framed a definition of spirit that fully satisfies everyone.
I mean, what does it mean that God is spirits? We understand some of that. But how do we we can't fully define what spirit is? Commitments about reality in general are involved for those who believe matter and chemistry.
And the chemistry of it to be only a part of reality holding a lot of cares. Number two. Sorry, mr. Culver. Number two true or false. That God is a spirit means that he cannot have substance. False. Very good.
You guys are right on top of it this morning. There's a certain reluctance to speak of the divine spirit as a substance. This is because our minds can scarcely conceive of a substance without the quality of materiality.
In other words, we want to if something has substance. What do we think we have to be able to touch it? We have to be able to kind of get a sense of its texture. It has to appear to one of us one of our senses anyway, you know, whether it's sight sound, whatever.
We have to kind of have some idea that there's something physical. There color goes on to say that yet. We know that God is not a mere idea. In other words, he's not just a theory and doesn't have some substance, but God is not a thing.
The truth is God is a spiritual substance one that we cannot really define. Just as we cannot define who can tell me what a soul looks like who can tell me what a soul feels like. Who could kind of give me the texture of their soul?
And the truth is you can't God as a pure spirit is as Insubstantial is as let me back up is as substantial as our own spirits though His spirit is not spatially enclosed in a body as ours is. There must be an agent In order to choose a substantial being in order to act.
In other words He's saying that God must have a will and yet he must have some manner of substance in order to act. He can't just be a thought and emanation. The Bible presents God as a self-conscious Personal spirit.
He is the living God active and intelligent. He is not only a God who acts freely. He self determines what he will do and what he wants to do, but also with sovereign purpose. We must think of this group of ideas in connection with the spirit or with this statement.
God is spirit. We are not to completely isolate these elements even for purposes of discussion. In other words, we need to think of God as a whole person in all of his attributes and all of The truths that are true about him.
Number three true or false. The Bible often portrays God as an impersonal force. Only the movies do that a person is a subject who thinks God is a person. A person is also an object of thought. By this We mean that there is a kind of relationship of persons to persons that is unique to persons.
I Love my dogs. But none of them are a person. Although sometimes we think they're Anything other than a person with whom I relate myself as cover speaking. Any anything other than the person with whom I relate myself as a person is an it.
My dogs for example, of course when I Discourse about thee with another thou then thou art a he or she for purposes of discourse. In a definite matter We now have seen them a practical demonstration of how personality works rather than what is it is.
In other words We know ourselves to be persons. We know other people to be persons. We know other persons to be persons. We understand that interaction and there's a separate relationship with Things but Bible makes it very clear.
Because God always says what he doesn't say. Well, let's just say what it says. He says I meaning personal me, you know a person and he when he speaks to other people he says you or you plural. Referring to other persons as other persons because that's the relationship he has.
Most readers will need to trace these matters through only a fragment of the biblical evidence to be convinced God is never in a distant impersonal Ghost that sounds itself impersonally through some occultist medium, you know, it's not like.
There is a sense in which We never see the Bible talk about him like that. He is an eternal Eternal person not a force. He's not impersonal. He's personal. He regulates all things he is involved in all aspects of creation personally.
Personal character of God is plain in his conversations with Adam and Eve. Let's look at Genesis 3. Genesis 3 verses 9 to 23. And if I could get somebody to read that please Genesis 3 verses 9 to 23 now, here's a this is an extra credit question.
Does the Bible ever call God a person? God is a person those who worship him must worship him in his. Does it ever say that? No. No, it doesn't. So how how can we say then that God is a person? Charlie he has personhood which means He exists in three persons.
You're not helping me Charlie. He has the characteristics of personality. Do we see the Bible expressing Laying aside the the the anthropomorphic language here. Do we see God expressing emotion in the Bible?
Do we see God taking action in the Bible? He does all the things that a person would do for example. Does God have friends calls Abraham his friend and. This is this is this is interesting. Just think about this in when in discussing Abraham and Genesis 18 17 The Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do.
I Mean there's this there is a distinct Personhood to God and the way he's presented in the Bible the way he speaks and the way he acts. There's no doubt about it. Now he says Culver goes on to say a first caution should be observed in saying God is a person or God is a personal spirit the meaning is not exactly the same as.
When the three members of the triune God are called persons the three persons Are persons of the one God. It Indicates the sense in which God is three. But there is only one God. Peter James and John are threes.
He gives an example. Peter James and John are three separate persons. Yet sir, they share a generic unity of nature humanity. But there are not three gods each of whom shares in a generic Something called divinity godness or Godhead.
Where the father is there also are the Son and the Spirit. But they're all each everywhere. Second caution should also be observed. Our personal nature is analogical to God's nature his essence being in some important ways yet God is an infinite and Self-existent person while we are limited and dependent wholly on him.
Okay, number four true or false in the eyes of God animals are just as important as people. I could rewrite that and say in the eyes of people animals are just as important as God and I'd probably I could probably get a true.
Because a lot of people you know do that. I mean I see these things on TV, and I'm I'm very much a Dog person. I I love animals, but when I see these advertisements for you know Just for $18 a month you can save a dog or whatever and I'm going.
Okay, or for $18 a month I could actually Save a child or you know all these different things. I mean, it's like apples and oranges. It is difficult when a pet dies. It's a lot more difficult when a person dies.
People have souls and we need to keep that in mind. Culver says this self-consciousness is part of what it means to be a person. I mean, it's amazing you learn so much about Dogs because that's all I have by having by having a dog.
You know when you start studying them and reading about them. You know that dogs are they are pack creatures. We understand that but did you know that they? Why is it that dogs don't want to show weakness?
Because what happens to a weak member of a pack? They get taken out later on the pack says you're useless, so they get rid of them. And so they live in that kind of fear of becoming useless of becoming too weak to have any value.
But that's the only kind of sense of Personal awareness, I mean a dog is never worried a dog never says to you. Obviously they can't speak, but a dog is never concerned that he's naked or she's naked.
They're never concerned about that. They have no self-awareness. They don't you know they don't ever have to say excuse me. They they're just they just are who they are. There is a complete difference between an animal and a person so I mean that's just ridiculous.
But that's how some people think if you have a biblical worldview. You'll love dogs. You'll love dogs as part of God's creation. You'll marvel that he made cats, but that's a whole separate issue. He goes on to say Culver says our pets and domestic beasts are conscious of course they go to sleep and awaken they receive stimuli have sensations and respond to.
But only human beings among God's creatures have the ability to think of themselves objectively. Although some people don't really think of themselves objectively. Engaging in introspection as we do. We are aware of our own actions and states of mind and we can rationally distinguish the self.
Which is sub the subject of those states of mind and which initiates actions brutes or animals? Cannot accomplish these feats of personal beings. In other words there is there's a categorical difference and then again between us and God.
Categorical difference in so many ways you know even as we talk about Animals sleeping. I mean sometimes. I think my dogs would be happy to sleep about 23 hours a day like teenagers, but I digress we we Need sleep we need rest.
God never slumbers nor sleeps. We have a tendency to flit about from thought to thought to thought. God is capable of Massively multitasking and handling all thoughts at all times. That's how we can listen to all prayers.
There's a categorical difference between animals and us. There's a categorical leap between us and God. Number five true or false like God we have perfect self-consciousness. Repeat with me wrong. I mean as this I have achieved Self-consciousness yes Culver says this patent truth is one aspect of the famous declaration of God to Moses as he responded to Moses question.
What is? His name what is the name of this God that I'm going to go represent to the people of Israel and God of course said Nexus 314. I am who I am. It's not just Self-existence, but it is a self-conscious person.
This is the ultimate verbal self-disclosure. Culver says God's self-consciousness. Like all other features of his being is his imperfection. He's perfectly aware of all that he is. I mean, we don't we don't have to go very far to understand our own limitations in this.
I mean, I I'm always shocked at the old guy staring back at me in the mirror. I mean, I you know. Mentally, I'm still probably about 15. God's self-consciousness is perfect. But in this respect our Creator is both like and unlike the most excellent crown of his creative art mankind.
He is like us and that we are self-conscious but unlike us and that he's perfectly self-conscious. Culver says this gives us a little self-disclosure. There are innumerable crannies of my personality of which I am unconscious.
Right. I mean we don't even realize how we come across to some people. Reminded of that all the time Culver says some I do not wish to acknowledge even when others who see them clearly point them out to me.
David said who can discern his errors and that's exactly right. That's that's the way we are. We don't understand all of our flaws. God knows himself completely and he's without flaw, of course, but he is never surprised at what he says or does.
And may I just add he's never disappointed at what he says or does. He's never ashamed of it. He never has to take it back. So it was with our Savior in the days. That he walked on this earth. Because this is so we may ask our God to help us discover ourselves.
Reveal to me my faults reveal to me my sins. We can also ask him to reveal the deep things of God himself. We need his spirit to give meaningful effect to the very words about him that we read in the Bible.
We can't understand right. 1st Corinthians 2 would tell us that we can't understand the deep things of God. What? Apart from his spirit apart from his spirit enabling us to discern those things. Number six true or false.
The gods of Buddhism and Hinduism are self-conscious and self-determining in a manner similar to God. That is myself or that is my coexist. You know salutes for the day. That's false. You know, it's like Dagon.
You set them up they go down. I mean they they have nothing that whole section of Isaiah, you know. And what is that? Maybe Isaiah 42 to 48 where he just he talks about how men Make these idols who can't hear they can't see they can't smell they can't do anything.
They can't speak. If they worship them carve them up set them up and then worship them. Dumb. Really really dumb and that's the same thing for the gods of Buddhism and Hinduism. They are nothing's they have no self-consciousness.
Culver says later we shall discuss life and activity as aspects of God's personality. They are prerequisites of Self-consciousness and self-determination. So let's just focus on that for a second life and activity our prerequisites of self-consciousness and self-determination.
Well, Buddha has no light, you know, or the the gods of Hinduism have no life and Therefore they have no self-consciousness and no self-determination. In fact Culver says in this respect. The Christian God is wholly different from the gods of the great oriental religions i .e. Hinduism Buddhism Parsi ism, which I don't even know and I don't even know what that is.
There is no personal self-conscious Self-determining active self-moving living center in these gods. The center of reality is impersonal Unconscious unmoving and certainly not alive. These religions are pantheistic at heart God insofar as it is correct to speak of the central fact of their religion as God is personal only in mankind or other spirits.
The idea of freedom or self-determination those somewhat self-explanatory needs some limitation of not Clarification all things we can think of are determined in some way certainly by their characteristics and their natures.
Let's see to a certain to a limited degree human beings are thus determined and Much of our societal behavior eating requirements recreation and the like is to a certain degree predictable, right we we know that When we get up in the morning Even if we don't eat breakfast and you really should it's the most important meal of the day.
Even if we don't eat breakfast, we're going to be hungry. We know that sometime during the middle of the day we're going to get hungry. Why. Because this is just that the the subject or the It is a truism of our of our existence that we are going to have these things.
We're going to experience hunger. And He says here insofar as politicians social planners technocrats and similar can manipulate us individually and collectively. We are beings determined by what we collectively are.
We need to eat. We need shelter. We need clothing. We need all these things. We need work. We need we are creatures who have certain conditions that we need to exist. We are truly within limits self-determined.
Listen to this to date every totalitarian political regime has run aground on people's unwillingness to yield Determination of their behavior to someone else for a very long period of time. Why is that?
Why is it that all dictatorships fail it might take? Decades, but why do they fail? Well because we are Longing to be free for one thing, but I think it's also it's just this Self-determination this this desire within us to determine our own destiny, but more than that when we have.
Sooner or later. We know that dictator the dictatorship for example in North Korea is going to fall because people will not starve to death voluntarily indefinitely. You can't continue that sooner or later.
It's going to get overthrown. But mankind self-determination is under Almighty God. Humanity has faculties for self-determination. They were great before man fell and thereby ceased to operate wholly in God's moral will.
God only is self-determined in other words. We have a will it is. It moves in a given direction. But only God let me see if I can we have a will. But it is it is subsumed it is under God's will. Only God does exactly what he wants as he wants always as he desires and makes it come to pass.
We don't. Let's go on to number seven. True or false our freedom for self-determination is like God's. Well, we already know that's false. The Bible speaks frequently of the will of God in such a way as to show that there is a Human will.
Just as there is a human will as a person so there is a will of God as a person. Classical theologians of great repute. Warn us against carrying the parallel too far. Calvin makes the point at the very beginning of his institutes that no one's genuine human self.
Will is to know something of the Creator in whose image we are made. He immediately follows with warnings against carrying this this example too far because of the sin in our hearts which distorts the image and leads to a warped opinion of ourselves.
So our self-determination is not like God's number eight true or false. God's great power is the ultimate reason everything exists true. Culver says the will of God is the ultimate cause of all things.
Think about that for a moment. We talked about his power. But if God willed or if he no longer willed if he no longer desired everything to exist, then it would no longer exist. But he has decreed that it will exist and so it will.
To join God's will of this or that to his nature without notice that God is a spirit who performs free acts of personal expression leads to pantheism that is God in. Or everything is in God. Not to the biblical God.
Freedom is part of the law of his being okay. Number nine. True or false since evil exists. It must reflect some bad part of God's personality. It's false. Good God is the ultimate highest good in Latin that is.
It's not even in my notes here is I learned this from R .C. Sproul as sumum bonum. It's a highest good. He is the best. He is the ultimate highest end and the highest good which Cannot but will and love.
For he cannot nullify his own glory or deny himself. Why does evil exist. You know, there's a question you often get from unbelievers. Why does evil exist? Okay, so evil exists because in part because.
That's the output of man, right. And God bounds that he puts boundaries on it. But ultimately, why does evil exist? Evil exists so that Christ might be glorified by redeeming men from. From sin, right.
Okay, that's certainly one reason John. Okay. You actually said two important things here. Number one is God allows it. God allows evil. Can he stop evil? Okay, secondly We're not for evil were it not for sin.
There are a lot of things we would not understand. We wouldn't understand God's mercy. We really wouldn't understand what God's justice. We wouldn't understand. I mean you could just go down a list of attributes and anything that kind of weighs against Evil or stands against it.
In other words, we would we understand God's holiness. What do we understand his purity? Would we understand any of these things? The answer is no we certainly wouldn't understand our need for a Savior because There wouldn't be one so all these things exist and and and.
Ultimately you said this too or this is kind of combining what you and Bruce said, but ultimately it's so that we might understand his Personhood so that we might understand more about him so that we might see his attributes on display and ultimately is for his glory.
Evil exists for God's glory and there's an amazing thought, you know when An unbeliever says, you know, well, why does God allow evil to exist? How about this answer for his glory? That's the short answer and then you know, if that doesn't drop their jaw, then I don't know what will.
Yes, daddy. What's the difference between sin and evil? I think that's an excellent question. I think sin is an action. I think evil is just the overall kind of system or Arena in which sin exists, you know, what evil will not exist in heaven?
Sin will not exist in heaven. Sin is an individual act or a series of acts and evil is the the system that results therefrom. So. Or or the mindset that exists there from so I I think that's The distinction.
I would make any other thoughts on that difference between sin and evil. Okay, moving on number 10 true or false. We can know God's will concerning everything. What's that? This side of the grave. Hmm, let's read that again true or false.
We can know God's will concerning everything. How do we know that's false? Is there a scripture? Deuteronomy 29 29 29 The parents favorite verse come on. Haven't you ever said to your kids Deuteronomy 29 29 and then have them come back to you go, but you're not God.
Well, you know but I'm God's agent and I'm telling you that some of the secret things that he has he's given to me and Come on, you never use that. You know, you're not as bad a parent as I was the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to Us right we can know a great many things.
We can't know everything. You know, there are certain imponderables and when people ask you things that just go outside the nature of Scripture. Then you just have to say what? Well, here's what I do.
Let me make up an answer. No. Yep, see, I don't know or God hasn't revealed that or let me you know at the very least. Let me research that. But here's what Culver says he says he did not have to make the world True.
I mean, there's nothing in God's nature that forced him to do what he did. Creation preservation and salvation are free acts of God. Some to see distinguished between the decretive that is that which God has decreed and the precept of will that Which he would like to come to pass.
The former refers to God's decrees or plans. The Former is always accomplished while the latter is often disobeyed. Right. God says thou shalt not murder and yet what happens? People murder. Thou shalt not steal and yet what happens people steal?
There is a general call an Invitation to where all people everywhere are commanded to repent and believe but what happens many reject so let's move on here to number 11. Sure false one of God's attributes is that he is living.
True as One examines the text it becomes apparent that the Living God is associated with all of God's attributes and works. I'll see. I mean, what are we gonna sing children of the Living God? I don't know.
But why does God get angry especially in the Old Testament? We see this over and over again. God his anger is Kindled against Israel. Why is that? Because they are worshiping idols. But they're dead idols.
There are they have no ability to do anything. Scripture indicates clearly how important it is that Yahweh is the Living God and why God is to be greatly. Or is greatly to be feared because except for the elect people of God No other can hear God's audible voice and live says that in Deuteronomy 5 26.
How about Hebrews 10 31? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of The Living God, I mean there it could just say God right but it doesn't say that. What's the clarify out of any God that any person might think about?
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and Again, that's just in contrast to the idols of pagans. This must surely have been in Paul's mind when he wrote to the Thessalonians how they turned from God or To God from idols to serve the living and true God first Thessalonians 1 9.
Since he is the Living God his people may safely go on the offensive in pursuit of the goals of his kingdom. The Living God is among you. He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites.
We would read that in Joshua the Living God also rescues his people from physical Threats their lives when his purpose and will are served thereby to his great surprise. Nebuchadnezzar discovered this in Daniel 6.
Missionaries sometimes passed by various Promising exercises lead to freedom. Anyway, they survive things. I mean just think of the life of Paul and all that he got through. All right number 12. True or false God acts effectually and Omnipotently, let me try that again Omnipotently and notice that I capitalized and so you can't separate the two.
Okay, it's still true God. God acts effectually he notes here as we shall see when he acts he does so Omnipotently this idea activity is scarcely separable from the idea of life. In other words that God is that he has being that he exists.
Is really not separable from the idea that he acts and that he acts omnipotently. It had it is nevertheless a distinct feature of the biblical God who can act. The prophets of the Old Testament pour scorn on the gods of the heathens the dead idols.
Which never move unless their devotees move them. I love that. You know you want your God to move. Well, then you better scoot him you better just pick him up move him a little bit. It's funny because he says here that various ceremonies Dressing going to dinner retiring for the night and similar were conducted for the gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia.
You know, they would actually dress them up and have them come to dinner and whatnot. You just think boy I mean, it's kind of like playing dolls, you know, they were just moving these little these little gods around a recent article in one magazine.
Described in detail these fruitless processes, which would be hilariously funny if not so tragically and real. I still think they're funny other but they are utterly offensive to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
Why. Because no matter Who these people are no matter the fact that they were outside the the people of Israel think about what they are all men are. Their image bearers of the Living God and yet what do they do?
They worship Creations they carve them around and then they they literally, you know. It's like a little Barbie doll or a Ken doll or a GI Joe and they dress them up and they march them around. They worship to they pray to him.
They sacrifice things to him. He just go it's insane. Well, that's what I mean imagine if you caught your kids, you know, get him a little GI Joe you have a Little boy want him to grow up to be a marine so you give me a GI Joe and he started praying to the GI Joe.
Started dressing him up and bring him to dinner and talking to him and asking him for things. You'd probably get rid of that GI Joe, but back then they thought that was perfectly logical. Action for these other people's people intuitively discern Action or possible action as an integral aspect of life, even though in other words, it's just this idea.
Self movement is a sign of life. He gives a great example here when we see somebody in a coma and they and they move their hand their finger. They flip their right, you know, their little eyelid flips open for a second or whatever.
We think that person might still be alive they might be coming back and the most minimal movement by a person in a coma is more than these idols could do and Yet they're worshipped here. But God's ability to Do all these things is what makes him God and separates him from all these dead False idols.
Well, we're gonna have to close here and we'll Continue next week. Father we thank you that you are the Living God Active a creator a sustainer father the shepherd of our souls. Lord, I just pray that as we Think about who you are and about how you are omnipresent how you are with us always.
That we would have a Self-conscious desire to lean on you at all times. To be in communication with you at all times. To confess our sin to you at all times Lord. I would pray for each one here this morning that our first thought when we get up in the morning would be of Christ and our last thought when we go to sleep at night would be of Christ and That all our actions and thoughts in between would be governed by the reality that you are ever present with us.
Would you so bless us all in Christ's name we pray amen.