The Doctrine Of God: Pt. 2

The Justice of God

16:00 - JI Packer in describing God’s Holiness, “When Scripture calls God, or individual persons of the Godhead, “holy”, the word signifies everything about God that sets him apart from us and makes him an object of awe, adoration, and dread to us. It covers all aspects of his transcendent greatness and moral perfection and thus is an attribute of all his attributes, pointing to the “Godness” of God at every point. Every facet of God’s nature and every aspect of his character may properly be spoken of as holy, just because it is his. The core of the concept, however, is God’s purity, which cannot tolerate any form of sin (Hab. 1:13) and thus calls sinners to constant self-abasement in his presence (Isa. 6:5).

Justice, which means doing in all circumstances things that are right, is one expression of God’s holiness. God displays his justice as legislator and judge, and also as promise-keeper and pardoner of sin. His moral law, requiring behavior that matches his own, is “holy, righteous and good” Packer, J. I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Tyndale House, 1993, pp. 43–44.

“Unlike any other being in the universe, He maintains absolute and perfect Justice all the time; He has done this for all eternity past and will do it for all eternity to come.”

Exodus 34:6–7 “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

“We have to understand that if God were to ignore sin, it would be a complete denial of his just and righteous character.”

Just punishment:

“How can God remain perfectly just and righteous while saving Sinners who deserve only wrath and punishment?”

Romans 3:21–26 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Why is it so important to remember that sinners are saved through an act of God’s justice at the cross, as well as through God’s grace? stop at 20:05

The Grace of God

God’s grace in creation:

“Creation itself is a wonderful act of God’s grace! He did not need to create human beings or to deliver them from sin and death, but He graciously chose to do all this for His pleasure an for the eternal good of His people.”

God’s grace in Salvation:

Human beings are dead. Ephesians 2:1–2 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,”

God is merciful. Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,”

“by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”

God’s grace in patience: 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

“Why, according to Peter, has Jesus not returned to judge the world? It is because God is gracious and “patient,” giving people time to repent.”

God’s grace in eternity:

“Those who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord will have an eternity full of the experience of His Amazing Grace and love as they dwell forever in His perfect presence!”

The Sovereignty of God

A sovereign God: When we talk about God’s sovereignty, we are dealing with His complete power, control, and might, which determines everything in this world and in the entire universe He created.

God’s sovereignty in creation.

This Doctrine teaches us that God created the world not because of any need or deficiency in Him, but purely out of the overflow of His goodness, grace, and love.

God’s sovereignty in His plan.

God is sovereignly working out His plan: He is controlling the course of history.

God’s sovereignty in salvation. Ephesians 1:1-10.

Ephesians 1:5 “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,” The Bible does teach that God chooses to save some people, and even chooses them as His children before the foundation of the world.

God’s sovereignty in judgment.

Philippians 2:10–11 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

End at 29:26

The Glory of God

Read Eph. 1:11-14.

When we talk about the glory of God, we mean God’s well-deserved praise, honor, and fame.

God ‘s pursuit of His own glory. Isaiah 48:11.

In everything that God does, He aims to glorify Himself and to lift up His name.

His creation is about His Glory.

The salvation He provides is about His glory.

For all eternity, His people will declare His praises and glorify His name, because that is right, good, and perfectly fitting, given who God is.

God’s glory and our good.

God’s glory is not disconnected from the greatest good of human beings.

How should we respond to God?

We should respond to God with humility.

Isaiah 66:1–2 “Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.”

It is absolutely right and necessary for us to respond to this great God in worship.

When we understand who God is then we understand that we must obey Him.

Because God has provided salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life for us through His Son, our response should be immense and eternal gratitude!

This is amazing grace; He did not have to save us, but He chose to do it freely through the death and resurrection of His Son!