How You & Your Neighbour Can Know God Exists & Saves
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Dear Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
It is good and necessary for us to consider our knowledge of a simple spiritual being whom we call God. It is both thrilling and scary for us mere mortal to contemplate his attributes. At some level absolutely unavoidable to do this. But it is not enough for us just to conclude such a God not only exists by His providence and by His acts in redemption, he interacts with the world He made and the creatures he made.
God’s interaction with the world and creatures he made is communication. Two fundamental beliefs, presuppositions, that make sens, can’t ultimately be nationalistically proved, but reasonable once you come to being called God that He is not only there, but He is not silent, He speaks. He relates to us. Another way to put this is that just knowing the existence of God isn’t enough, you must come to know God’s story with us, and God’s story with you and me personally. If there is a God who is a personal being - than that God must necessarily be a God who is communicating.
Whenever two living person’s become conscious of each other - are in each other’s presence they are communicating even if they make no audible noise. There is non-verbal communication between people, facial expression, gestures, even silence, can speak more loudly than a person’s words at times. Now you and I, and everyone who has ever lived are in the presence of this great Creator God. Being in His created universe, is like being in another room with a person? - what is He saying to us, and how are we responding.
But listen to me, better than the non-verbal communication of persons with minds, who “read” each other . You probably know the story of Helen Keller, born blind, mute, an dumb. So sad for long early years of her life, people didn’t think their was real full person in there because of the disability of her physical body. Just non-verbal communication of fits of anger tantrums. But patient teacher, believed by intuition that rational mind, with living soul, full image bearer of God - braille, through language expressed by touch. Training of vibrations. Remarkable world of words of verbal communication opened up between them - and then Helen Keller to the world!
Well congregation our texts this evening Psalm 19 and Romans 1 speak of both types of communication that God has to us, Xn and NonXn very important to know what God is saying. As Christians we too often skip to God’s Written Word verbal communication, but his super clear and important communication in general revelation - the content of that is so important too and in fact foundational in our relationship to him.
If we are to move beyond th existence of God in our witness to each other and our neighbours to the person and story of God with us, we need to be clear on how we listen to both of God’s ways of communicating with us. Let’s consider both books of God’s communication to us, and their purpose in our lives.
A. General Revelation: Communicates God’s Existence & Some of His Attributes without Words
IE Wilderness trek, desert, beautiful garden with rows of tended vegetables, flower beds scattered through out, fountains playing in the midst. Surmise that another human being, and one who cares a great deal about garden, who nurtures and tends this plot of ground.
Now we can discern God’s power and divine nature - by looking at the order and design, the providences of God in this physical world - and like Louis Armstrong - say its a beautiful Word. Science gets us to ponder these things and read the characters of this wordless language that speaks of God.
Even more I think the very wonder of our human nature, of what it means to be a person. When you look within in yourself - God is speaking of his eternity and power. Grandeur of man, microcosm of the universe.
Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
But its not just the existence of these things, but its is God’s active hand of preservation, of upholding all things, and bending them to serve his good purpose, Providence,. you can read that God is good and not only that , you can see in this world that God is judge , that evil is to be ultimately condemned and judged and that good is to be rewarded.
Now these even for believers are not just light preliminary things that you learn once and then graduate to the deeper truths of God. This understanding from creation that God is master of the universe, that we are responsible to Him as the owner and Creator and Sustainer of life.
Romans 1:20a For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Many religions understands this, and our neighbors can feel this , and Christians themselves need this as foundational knowledge to look in faith to God’s goodness, to honour and revere him, to have the fear of God attract to good and holy judge. This sense that God is benevolent and kind Father the whole creation without words is God’s way of speaking this to us.
But according to Romans 1 not only is this general revelation of God limited to some of the attributes of God not the whole story, but there is another limit. A limit that is a problem not with God’s communication, but with our receiving.
God authored book, but it has become largely hidden from our eyes and our hearts. since brokenness, bloody march of war, degradation of nature, not just beauty of sunsets but horror of tsunamis and hurricanes. The Fall has clouded our understanding,noetic effects of sin, so that two things happen when sinful man tries to hear God speaking in general revelation:
Romans 1:18b For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The inconvenient truths about God we try to push down, so God is conveniently out of the picture and not so intrusive especially in the areas of our sin. But look what else we do with this general revelation:
Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
We take good and right and true knowledge of God, limited but it was good and right true, and we twist it, we exchange these truths about the living God with our own ideas about who we would like God to be to suit us. Project our wishes and wants onto God.
And so though the information God is giving us is good and should be used in our evangelism, and in our own lives to pull u into God’s story and communication, what is the result. Problem of evil, heresy that Mean , lesser God created the physical world; no something happened that dampened our eyes, and introduced evil and suffering; Look at what Romans 1:20 says the problem with us using God’s general revelation has become:
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
We have enough information about God to hold us accountable and guilty before Him. And God will use that sense of accountability and guilt - either to drive our neighbor to God’s Word and Christ, or if we don’t turn to convict us. This means that in our believing and our confessing the faith to our neighbours we must remind people of senses of God they have, but don’t want to really fully admit. It’s like this knowledge of God from general revelation is a a “Trojan Horse” within every unbelieving neighbour. And like the Book of Job we are to summon them to stand before our great and wonderful awesome God as Creator!
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But from the beginning we would be treating God like so many treated Helen Keller before they thought she was capable of words - if we just really on God’s general revelation. There is nothing wrong with God’s general revelation and it is in fact necessary and a foundation for Special Revelation, to draw us into proper communication and faith with God, but it was never designed to be the only way God communicated with us. Ever since the creation of man, before sin and the Fall distorted our vision of God in creation, man has always needed general revelation complemented and supplemented, with better more clear and holy words - verbal revelation.
And especially after the fall, how thankful we can be that God continued to turn to His world in giving us this second way of communicating with us, through His Word.
Canons of Dort 3-4: Art.1
Canons of Dort 3-4: Art.1 Man was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in his mind with a true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual, in his will and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity; indeed, the whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil’s instigation and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstanding gifts. Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terrible darkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity, defiance, and hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all his emotions.
SO NEED SECOND BOOK, only know God through his creation; but IN THE SCRIPTURES GOD IS MUCH MORE CLEAR AND MANIFEST… Creation only tells us of the glory of GOD… but v.7-14 LORD, ROCK, REDEEMER - tells us He is our Saviour, Redeemer, covenant Lord, Refuge and Strength..
IE Lt. Dan in Forest Gump, got it wrong yelling at the storm show yourself, is that the best you can do… make peace with God of creation. Be a man. Stare not into creation, but this WORD - why make more fully and clearly known, because revealing not just info, but a person =John 1:1 God's Second Book Reveals God’s Heart and the Very Person of Christ with Verbal Precision!
B. Special Revelation: Communicates God’s Heart and the Very Person of Christ with Verbal Precision
Find it revealing more than general knowledge of God’s existence and some of his attributes. But it reveals his very heart, comes in distinct and special words of who He is and what He’s li,e Of what His plan is, God after the Fall, continued to pursue us. In sin we selfishly pull the curtain back on God can’t hear him clearly. But He goes to work and He communicates in clear distinct words right way, that He will hold nothing back in giving His Son Gen 3:15, to draw us back into right relationship with him. Our confession is clear that open Divine Word, is verbal. God is as it were, like a parent getting down on hands and knees and assuming a lower form of language, prattling with a baby, God speaking in the baby words of human language. He accommodates His through and words and to our form. (All language God uses with us is analogical!)
The Bible says, these words here , though agency of free humans, never had their origin in the imagination of man, but origin in mind of God - delivered through free human in human speech, carried along by Spirit to the exact form and words for God’s speech to us!
2 Peter 1:20-21 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
God’s communication in general revelation was never meant to be all we needed or final, and now we see what special revelation, God’s verbal revelation, particularly the revelation that God caused to be written down and inscripturated in this book for all peoples and all times - what makes it so different and so very precious. Why are we a people of the book?
Because progressively until the time of fulness of revelation in Christ Jesus through the apostles, we have here what God’s most urgent and important words are. As our confession puts it: “as much as we need in this life, for his glory and for the salvation of his own.”
Here it is important to realize the actual content and purpose of this revelation is different, it isn’t first of all his majesty in creation and providence, but the focus is on God revealing and explaining His action, his works for His people in history:
Special revelation concerns the activity of God in human affairs. It is therefore historical, and it proceeds in stages. The mode of revelation is thus suited to the epoch and the stage of redemptive history, but has its culmination in the `fact of Christ.' God has spoken, finally, in His Son, in His teaching, His work of atonement, and in the interpretive apostolic activity. The OT revelation prepares for Christ. Christ does not repudiate the OT, He fulfills it. The historical character of revelation makes clear its uniqueness
The final word is Jesus, the exact important, representation of God’s being and will and ways. And the OT prefigures symbolizes and foretells, while the NT explains and looks back to show that perfect revelation of God to us. And do you see those two purposes: It’s not just our salvation - but also his glory. It snot just to get us to heaven, but its in this life to transform us for his glory and our deliverance. And the Scripture down to the actual words, propositions is God revealing Himself to us!
You know in charismatic movement a smaller subset Word of Faith movement, about us naming and claiming - but biblical Christianity realizes the Word of Power is not what comes from our lips , but God’s into our lives. For faith and for life. Thinking and for doing. Hearst and our hands. You are to feel this contrast in general revelation - ultimately for the unbeliever they feel this about God but in the dark , and without clear word - so it is revelation of the wrath of God. But listen just before our passage we read: I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL - all this GOOD inscriputrated WORD .. why not ? IT IS THE POWER OF GOD… for what? Salvation for Jew and Gentile… why?
Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Do you understand that this WORD opens our eyes, so we can see creation, and the revelation of God in aright? Why Calvin called the Scriptures the eye glasses through which wee the rest of creation, enable us to rad God’s providence and structures in creation. Don't misunderstand me - not like, become a Christian and have the Scriptures and you;ll understand everything - not what we are confessing to our neighbors.
No, the wonder and mysteries a plenty remain, but enough - can’t comprehend, but the story God wants to make clear in creation, and even more crystal clear through his Word, we are a people who can say - this is what God says about life and history , and morals, and culture, - His glory is at stake, our good. We have holy words that reveals His heart and plan and mission. As I read his word, as I hear the prophesies, and promises warnings, and teaching, preached - teh world my life becomes transparent I can see and hear the meaning of God in Christ in it all. God is showing himself to me, not like general revelation universally to all creatures, but to His chosen people and through this revelation His saving grace is made known! Do you understand it now. Both general and special revelation necessary but distinct and complementary !
How does Psalm 19 put it, there is all the awe and wonder that the first book and calls us to - worship of God as Creator, but listen to what happens when we are reading the words of the Second Book of Scripture!
Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
Law is torah, teaching, of the covenant of grace, law and the gospel , ways and salvation. Look a what happens as we receive those words:
Psalm 19:8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
God is pouring forth speech in general revelation and communication is always a two way street - and reading his general revelation with eye glasses of Scripture - praise, not suppression and twisting that goes on. But as the second books words come from God through Scripture into our lives, look: Wow a believer communicates back - our soul revives and our lives respond back to God following his wisdom, our heart rejoices. - God’s words of salvation and direction for life - we seek after those and that righteousness imputed to us, is not worked out in us. as we say May these WORDS now echoing on my lips, and these meditations now reverberating in the thoughts of my heart - may they be acceptable.. t- transformative - my rock and my redeemer!
Deism says , God but not speaking, not upholding not involved, Kind of like agnostics, kind of like Muslims transcendence but no involvement. Opposite error in pantheists God in everything, or everything in God… But God in Christ, Col 1:17
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
General revelation is Christ, special Revelation is Christ, only way God speaks to his Creation is through His Son - that is his role, and as you and I hold to His Word, as we validate what neighbour can know through general revelation must say this God has spoken. Listen to Jesus title in revelation: Rev 19:13b
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
And he who is the Word, has the story you need …
We are living in a time in our denomination and in the West in general were so eager to find common ground, that almost as content to say our neighbor has got general revelation who are we to speak special revelation into their lives. Culturally suicide to say God has a word in Chris,t and you absolutely need it. CONVICTS NOT CONVERTS, NO EXCUSE NOT SAVES… NO REVELATION OF GRACE OR MERCY IN CREATION!!! Sure our neighbor has a sense of divinity in general revelation, but they need the word of Grace. message of Jesus the Word of God.
Not going to find that in general impressions, in scientific study, not in traditions, rituals, communicated in clear human words of Scripture recognized and deposited in the church. Can’t reason your way to it, though its not against reason. Can’t find it in mere human spiritual experience. Need God speaking create words of Scripture and you and I and our neighbor hearing and reviving and responding to them!
ie. modern scientists are climbing the mountain of knowledge little by little, seeking to find out teh meaning of life and the world we live in, and when they finally reach the top, they will find the great theologians of old awaiting them.
… Sagan, Hawkins… realize beyond to cosmology; Anthony Flew - yes God but can’t get beyond WHY NOT?
John 5:39 that knowledge is of HIM.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
w/o this teaching TORAH, make a blur and ruin everything IE #D MOVIE WITHOUT GLASSES..
What does the knowledge of the Sepcial Revelation amount to? Knowledge of CHRIST -all promises of OT Yes and AMen,. NT expalins hem..
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
Sufficiency of Word 2 Tim 3:14-17 - HOW GOD still speaks today not through tongues, prophesies mixed with human sin and error, not toatly inspired, not canonical Scripture
TO HIS GLORY AND OUR SALVATION: LIMITS to Special Revelation too… as far as necessary for HIs glory and our salvation… can’t know Trinity, can’t stare at the sun … Glorify God - life 10 commandments, prayer,