Faith of Our Fathers

Introduction

II. God

David Wells has reminded us in his important work, No Place for Truth, what a secular and postmodern age often does to "God" is not to eliminate him, but rather to relocate him from the center of our lives to that which is periphery

The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

There is one and only one living and true God.

God is immutable - meaning He never changes. The truth that God is Father, Son, and Spirit is fully revealed in the NT. However, that doesn’t mean that the Old Testament doesn’t drop hints of God’s triune nature.

Isaiah 6:7–8 ESV

7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Think of it! We who were ruined by the Fall and we who rightly stood under God's just condemnation are now, by grace "through faith in Jesus Christ," able to address God as Father. Of course, this incredible truth must be understood and appreciated within the context of a biblical understanding of God the Father. For if we make him less than he truly is and if we attempt to domesticate him in such a way that his authority, sovereign rule, knowledge and holiness are not what Scripture says they are, then I dare say that the truth that we are "children of God through faith in Jesus Christ" will ring hollow with us