Who is God?
Jeremiah 9:23, 24, Jeremiah says, “But let him that boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.”
Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”
John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
If I were to ask you the most important question you could ever ask, I think most of us would say, “The most important question is, ‘Who is God?’” If you don't have the answer to that question, you're in trouble. And thankfully, wonderfully, God has revealed Himself in two great ways. First, by the things that He has made, what we've often called general revelation. Psalm 19, for example, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And that revelation is found everywhere, it's inescapable. Romans 1 tells us that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen, clearly seen. God makes Himself clearly known to the whole world, and that means that all men know God. There's no such thing as a real atheist. They're pretend atheists. They're just suppressing the truth more and more, that's all they're doing. We don't live in an atheistic world, we live in a world that God made. His fingerprints are everywhere.
But general revelation is insufficient. It doesn't tell us everything about God, at least when it comes to what a sinner must do. And it does leave us without excuse, Romans 1, so no one can stand before God on judgment day and only have general revelation and God can't judge them because of their suppression of the truth. So it leaves men without excuse, but it doesn't allow men and women, boys and girls to see or have a high definition of God.
I don't know how else it is stated. I could put it this way, it doesn't let us see God through a gospel lens; it doesn't tell us how sinners can be reconciled. You can stare at the sun, the moon, the stars, you'll never learn how sinners can be reconciled by looking at stars. It doesn't tell us about Christ. It doesn't tell us about the God-man. It doesn't tell us about the cross. It doesn't tell us about the empty tomb. And that's why God wrote a book. You could say God wrote a book called the Bible, a God-breathed revelation, what we often call, to make the distinction, a special revelation. General revelation revealed to all men, but the special revelation.
And one of the great things we learned about God from our Bibles is that He is not just the creator God, but He is a savior God, a three-person God. We need three persons to save us, three in one, one in three. If you read through the New Testament Bible, it's saturated with Trinitarian language. And the more you go looking for the Trinity, you find it more and more. But the Bible is saturated. The New Testament is. The Apostle Paul is always talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And every one of his church letters either starts off or ends or interwoven throughout the epistle is Trinitarian language. For example, Romans is a book that has a lot to say about the Trinity, chapter 1, chapter 5, chapter 8, chapter 15. You go to Ephesians, three distinct major times in Ephesians, two times in Galatians, twice in Philippians.
And this last Sunday school hour, our brother John Polderman opened up that section from Ephesians 1:11-14 where the Holy Spirit comes into focus. But he reminded us of the Trinity. And if you go back to the early part of that chapter, those first 11 or so verses, we saw chapter 1:4, God the Father planned our salvation, starts with God the Father. He chose us before the foundation of the world, verse 5, the Father predestined us unto adoption. And then he uses that ‘in Christ’ language, it's because of Christ that we have redemption by His blood, verse 7. And where's the Holy Spirit? Well, we heard about it this past Sunday, verse 13, when you believed, you were sealed by the Spirit; verse 14, the Spirit is a deposit of our inheritance. So here's how it goes, the Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it, and the Holy Spirit applies it.
Now, we probably don't think of the practicality of the doctrine of the Trinity. We get lost in the mystery of it, it's an incomprehensible doctrine. We can understand it, but not completely, none of us ever will. But the doctrine of the Trinity should produce gratitude, confidence, assurance that our salvation does not depend upon us, but depends upon God. We need a three-person God to save us.
And the doctrine of the Trinity also promotes fellowship and communion with God. When you think of fellowshipping with God, we should be thinking of fellowshipping with the three-person God. Dr. John Stott was a British theologian. I was exposed to him in Bible college, he passed away about 15 years ago, he was sort of like a Dr. Packer. But he talked about the Holy Spirit and praying to the triune God. He would get up at five o'clock in the morning, get down at the side of his bed. This was a pattern that he did for decades of time, and he would begin with these words,
Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”
John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
If I were to ask you the most important question you could ever ask, I think most of us would say, “The most important question is, ‘Who is God?’” If you don't have the answer to that question, you're in trouble. And thankfully, wonderfully, God has revealed Himself in two great ways. First, by the things that He has made, what we've often called general revelation. Psalm 19, for example, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And that revelation is found everywhere, it's inescapable. Romans 1 tells us that the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen, clearly seen. God makes Himself clearly known to the whole world, and that means that all men know God. There's no such thing as a real atheist. They're pretend atheists. They're just suppressing the truth more and more, that's all they're doing. We don't live in an atheistic world, we live in a world that God made. His fingerprints are everywhere.
But general revelation is insufficient. It doesn't tell us everything about God, at least when it comes to what a sinner must do. And it does leave us without excuse, Romans 1, so no one can stand before God on judgment day and only have general revelation and God can't judge them because of their suppression of the truth. So it leaves men without excuse, but it doesn't allow men and women, boys and girls to see or have a high definition of God.
I don't know how else it is stated. I could put it this way, it doesn't let us see God through a gospel lens; it doesn't tell us how sinners can be reconciled. You can stare at the sun, the moon, the stars, you'll never learn how sinners can be reconciled by looking at stars. It doesn't tell us about Christ. It doesn't tell us about the God-man. It doesn't tell us about the cross. It doesn't tell us about the empty tomb. And that's why God wrote a book. You could say God wrote a book called the Bible, a God-breathed revelation, what we often call, to make the distinction, a special revelation. General revelation revealed to all men, but the special revelation.
And one of the great things we learned about God from our Bibles is that He is not just the creator God, but He is a savior God, a three-person God. We need three persons to save us, three in one, one in three. If you read through the New Testament Bible, it's saturated with Trinitarian language. And the more you go looking for the Trinity, you find it more and more. But the Bible is saturated. The New Testament is. The Apostle Paul is always talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And every one of his church letters either starts off or ends or interwoven throughout the epistle is Trinitarian language. For example, Romans is a book that has a lot to say about the Trinity, chapter 1, chapter 5, chapter 8, chapter 15. You go to Ephesians, three distinct major times in Ephesians, two times in Galatians, twice in Philippians.
And this last Sunday school hour, our brother John Polderman opened up that section from Ephesians 1:11-14 where the Holy Spirit comes into focus. But he reminded us of the Trinity. And if you go back to the early part of that chapter, those first 11 or so verses, we saw chapter 1:4, God the Father planned our salvation, starts with God the Father. He chose us before the foundation of the world, verse 5, the Father predestined us unto adoption. And then he uses that ‘in Christ’ language, it's because of Christ that we have redemption by His blood, verse 7. And where's the Holy Spirit? Well, we heard about it this past Sunday, verse 13, when you believed, you were sealed by the Spirit; verse 14, the Spirit is a deposit of our inheritance. So here's how it goes, the Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it, and the Holy Spirit applies it.
Now, we probably don't think of the practicality of the doctrine of the Trinity. We get lost in the mystery of it, it's an incomprehensible doctrine. We can understand it, but not completely, none of us ever will. But the doctrine of the Trinity should produce gratitude, confidence, assurance that our salvation does not depend upon us, but depends upon God. We need a three-person God to save us.
And the doctrine of the Trinity also promotes fellowship and communion with God. When you think of fellowshipping with God, we should be thinking of fellowshipping with the three-person God. Dr. John Stott was a British theologian. I was exposed to him in Bible college, he passed away about 15 years ago, he was sort of like a Dr. Packer. But he talked about the Holy Spirit and praying to the triune God. He would get up at five o'clock in the morning, get down at the side of his bed. This was a pattern that he did for decades of time, and he would begin with these words,
"Good morning, Heavenly Father. Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good morning, Holy Spirit."
And then he would focus on each one in terms of their distinctive roles according to their work,
"Father, creator and sustainer of the universe; Son, Savior and Lord of the world; Spirit who sanctify the people of God."
Now he would expand each one of those, but he would end his prayer on this note,
"Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me."
I also find it significant that the very last words that Jesus spoke to His disciple friends in the upper room was about the Trinity. There's nowhere else to my knowledge in scripture where Jesus talks as clearly and as definitively and as intensely about the three-person God than in the upper room. It was the last great doctrine that He taught. Jesus knew. Why? He knows they're going to suffer. He knows that their whole world is going to be turned upside down. He has told them that He is going to be betrayed by one of them. He told them that Peter is going to deny Him. He has also told them about their desertion. It all sounded so bleak and so dark, but then He reminds them that they won't be alone. They will have the full support of the triune God.
John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper.” John 14:26, “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in My name.” He's saying, “My disciple friends, you don't have to be afraid, you don't have to be troubled, you have the three-person God on your side.” I think the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most neglected doctrines in evangelicalism today. It's one of those doctrines that we need to treasure in our minds and often put on our lips when we pray. So we go to God, we go to a three-person God. Let's not forget who He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper.” John 14:26, “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in My name.” He's saying, “My disciple friends, you don't have to be afraid, you don't have to be troubled, you have the three-person God on your side.” I think the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most neglected doctrines in evangelicalism today. It's one of those doctrines that we need to treasure in our minds and often put on our lips when we pray. So we go to God, we go to a three-person God. Let's not forget who He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Posted in Pastor Devotional