We Believe - The Doctrine of God - The Trinity - Part 1

Isaiah 40:1–31 (ESV)

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Introduction

In looking at what we Believe we come to the Doctrine of God. We see

His Character

His Essence

His Actions

His Approachability

WE BELIEVE there is one true and living God; a pure spirit without any material parts whatever; whose very essence is love; who is self­sufficient, immutable, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, almighty and incomprehensible. In all his relations outside himself he is sovereign, gracious, righteous, just, longsuffering, merciful, and approachable through Christ only.

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1. His Character

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WE BELIEVE there is one true and living God; a pure spirit without any material parts whatever;

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Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

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John 4:24 (ESV)

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

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2. His Essence

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whose very essence is love; who is self­sufficient, immutable, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, almighty and incomprehensible.

a. Love

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1 John 4:8 (ESV)

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

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b. Selfsufficient

Isaiah 40:13–14 (ESV)

13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

c. Immutable

Malachi 3:6 (ESV)

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

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James 1:17 (ESV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

d. Eternal

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Deuteronomy 33:27 (ESV)

27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’

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Psalm 90:2 (ESV)

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

e. Omniscient

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Isaiah 46:9–10 (ESV)

9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

f. Omnipresent

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Psalm 139:7–11 (ESV)

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

g. Holy

Isaiah 6:3 (ESV)

3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

h. Almighty

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Psalm 135:6 (ESV)

6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

i. Incomprehensible

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Job 11:7 (ESV)

7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

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3. His Actions

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In all his relations outside himself he is sovereign, gracious, righteous, just, longsuffering, merciful,

a. Sovereign

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Isaiah 48:11–12 (ESV)

11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. 12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.

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Jeremiah 10:10 (ESV)

10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

b. Gracious

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Psalm 103:8 (ESV)

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

c. Righteous

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Isaiah 45:21–22 (ESV)

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

d. Just

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Ephesians 1:11 ESV

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

e. Longsuffering

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Exodus 34:6 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

f. Merciful

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Romans 9:15 (ESV)

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion - on whom I have compassion.”

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4. His Approachability

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approachable through Christ only.

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1 Timothy 6:15–16 (ESV)

15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

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John 14:6 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Conclusion

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1 Timothy 1:17 ESV

17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.