WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.640 Yes, let me pray for us as we start. Let me pray. Father, we want to ask for your help this evening. Maybe our minds are wandering to tomorrow morning already and things that we've got on this week. 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:22.899 Perhaps we've had a busy day. Lord, we pray that you might quiet our hearts as we think about perhaps the most holy of subjects, as we think about your character and what you're like. 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:30.160 Please help us to do so with an appropriate reverence and carefulness, we pray. 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:37.000 And Lord, that you might enlighten our hearts and our minds and help us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:37.200 Amen. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:49.460 So perhaps you say to somebody, oh, I believe in God. Or somebody else at work says to you, oh, yeah, I believe in God. 00:00:50.180 --> 00:00:56.680 When you say that, what do you mean? Who is the God that you believe in? What are they like? 00:00:57.859 --> 00:01:02.760 What's different between the God that you say you believe in and the God that I say I believe in? 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:13.159 Or the God that you say you believe in and the God that the Muslims next door that way in the, yeah, in the next door building that they believe in? 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:14.579 What's the difference? 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:28.939 What's the difference between the God that you believe in, the God that your Muslim friends believe in, and the God that maybe your kind of theistic or deistic friends believe in, who they don't go to church, but they don't want to write off the idea of God altogether. 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:31.560 I mean, that seems crazy, doesn't it? Let's not write him off altogether. 00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:36.879 What is the difference? And how do you know that you're right? 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:42.979 How do you know that your God exists and their God doesn't exist? 00:01:43.399 --> 00:01:43.939 How do you know? 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:49.079 Are you just wishfully thinking that that might be right? 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:52.340 Or are you blindly just believing that it is? 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:53.979 Or do you have some reasons behind it? 00:01:55.299 --> 00:01:57.280 Well, those are going to be our questions for the next few weeks. 00:01:57.419 --> 00:02:01.819 And I want to show you again, if I can, that we're not the first people to ask that kind of question. 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:05.879 And those questions are anticipated by the confessions. 00:02:06.299 --> 00:02:08.139 And the confessions have really good answers to that. 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:16.519 So you might remember, if you've been here in previous weeks, that there are three confessions written by the Protestant Church in the light of the Reformation. 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:27.359 The first was the Westminster Confession, written on the instructions of the British Parliament by over 150 theologians working together just down the road from here in Westminster. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:37.300 Then there was the Savoy Declaration, which came after that, which was written by the Congregationalists just a few years later, which was basically a copy and paste of the Westminster Confession. 00:02:37.420 --> 00:02:42.620 If they were submitting these as essays in university, they would be done for plagiarism. 00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:52.060 But they deleted the Presbyterian Church governance out of the Westminster Confession and put Congregationalism in the Savoy Declaration, but retained infant baptism. 00:02:52.060 --> 00:03:06.860 And then in 1689, after a period of persecution, the London Baptist Confession was written by the Baptists, who, again, copied and pasted large portions of the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration, 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:15.759 but removed the bits on infant baptism, kept the bits on congregational governance and added credo baptism, baptism on profession of faith. 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:20.360 And each of those confessions, then, not surprisingly, starts in the same way. 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:26.880 So we have been looking over the last few weeks that each of them starts with the Bible, right? 00:03:27.380 --> 00:03:38.640 Starts with the Bible, starts with God's revelation of himself in the Scriptures, and then go on in chapter 2 to talk about the nature of God, what he's like, and how he works. 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:45.200 And before we look in any detail at that second section, I want just to say a couple of things about this. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:47.800 The first is I want to say the order here is important. 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:49.080 The order is important. 00:03:50.320 --> 00:03:57.860 You might have wondered, if you were going to write a confession, right, so you're going to write down what it is that you believe, where would you start? 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:03.500 If someone said to you, they say to you at work, or your neighbor, or a member of your family, he says, well, what do you believe? 00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:05.740 Perhaps you would start with God. 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:07.820 That would seem like the most obvious place to start. 00:04:08.160 --> 00:04:09.520 But none of the confessions do that. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.020 They start with the Scriptures. 00:04:13.100 --> 00:04:23.300 And that's right, because it is important to note that without the revelation of the Scriptures, what we say we know about God is really only a projection of our own imagination. 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:35.620 If you say, I believe God is like this, just because of your internal impression, what you believe in is really a projection of your ideals about what God might be like. 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:38.639 Some of which might be true, and others which might not be true. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:40.240 We're just making it up. 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:47.819 But we need to start with God's self-revelation of himself, that God speaks and God tells us what he's like. 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:52.500 You may have heard the parable of the blind man and the elephant. 00:04:52.779 --> 00:04:57.360 It has origins in Buddhism, I think, but it's become quite popular today. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.519 The parable goes something like this. 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:05.100 A long time ago in India, there was a king who wanted to teach an important lesson. 00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:09.259 So he gathered a group of men who had been blind since birth. 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:13.199 None of them had ever seen an elephant, and they'd never touched one. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:19.920 The king ordered that an elephant be brought before them, and he led the first man forward and placed his hands on the elephant's side. 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:22.759 This blind man felt the side of the elephant. 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:27.240 It was a solid surface and said, an elephant is like a wall, he said. 00:05:28.039 --> 00:05:29.919 The second man was led to the elephant. 00:05:30.039 --> 00:05:32.159 He reached out and touched the elephant's tusk. 00:05:32.219 --> 00:05:34.300 It felt smooth and pointed. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.319 He said, no, an elephant is not like a wall. 00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:38.740 An elephant is like a spear. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:43.680 The third man felt the elephant's trunk, and he said, no, you're both wrong. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:45.600 An elephant is like a snake. 00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:47.139 The other man grasped his leg. 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:48.740 He said, no, you're all wrong. 00:05:49.259 --> 00:05:50.800 An elephant is like a tree trunk. 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:52.519 Anyway, it goes on. 00:05:53.960 --> 00:06:03.240 Now, the theory of the parable is basically this, that no one really knows for certain because you only have a little bit of it. 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:08.720 And so the king steps forward and says, you're all partly right. 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:15.300 You've all touched one part of the elephant, but no one has touched the whole because each of you only felt a part. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.500 You think your experience is the complete truth. 00:06:19.400 --> 00:06:23.519 Then the blind men fall silent, and they begin to realize their ignorance. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:29.099 Now, the parable has become really popular in, like, truth claims, religious truth claims. 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:30.859 You know, Christians, you might have got the trunk. 00:06:31.099 --> 00:06:32.139 Muslims, you've got the tail. 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:34.620 Secularists, you've got the legs or something. 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:41.479 But the parable collapses, doesn't it, in the face of the scripture's claim to be God speaking. 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:47.500 Because the claim, essentially, to read it back into the parable, is that the elephant has a voice. 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:52.080 The elephant speaks, which, of course, changes everything, doesn't it? 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:53.520 No, just hang on a minute. 00:06:53.580 --> 00:06:54.360 You've only got my trunk. 00:06:54.640 --> 00:06:57.340 Let me describe to you what I am really like, says the elephant. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:00.100 Let me tell you what I look like. 00:07:01.020 --> 00:07:07.800 And that means, doesn't it, that our understanding of God, and it's really important, must not be based simply on our own experience, our own ideals. 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:11.379 You're not to say, oh, when I think of God, I think of God like this. 00:07:11.960 --> 00:07:17.819 You're to say, no, I know that God is like this because he has told me he is like this. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:19.700 And that's not a proud claim. 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:22.460 It's not a proud claim to have worked out everything for ourselves. 00:07:23.020 --> 00:07:25.060 Rather, it's a humble claim, isn't it? 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:27.180 It's a humble claim to say, no, I'm listening. 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:29.660 I'm listening to the God who speaks. 00:07:30.340 --> 00:07:34.340 And so God's speaking needs to be considered before we think about what he is like. 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:35.439 So that's the first thing. 00:07:35.460 --> 00:07:36.040 The order is important. 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:39.800 Secondly, we are unable to understand everything. 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:52.600 I had a lecturer at seminary who used to introduce his lectures on the doctrine of God with a moment of silence and reverence. 00:07:52.600 --> 00:08:03.580 Because he would say to us, how dare we speak about the living God in our words, thinking that we might summarise him in his greatness. 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:04.340 We don't belong. 00:08:05.200 --> 00:08:05.680 Yeah, like that. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.639 Not wanting to answer any of his questions. 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:09.000 But he's right, isn't he? 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:16.959 We're on holy ground that we might think to try and describe our creator when we are only creatures. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:21.579 And we must understand that that means that we can only understand in part. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.540 We are unable to understand everything. 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:31.300 And so when it comes to knowing God, we cannot know all there is to know about God. 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:32.860 That is beyond us. 00:08:33.420 --> 00:08:44.279 So when the elephant speaks and describes to us what he himself is like, he must do it in a simplified way that we are able to understand. 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:56.000 So God speaks truly about who he is, but not fully, because we can't understand everything, but we can understand true things. 00:08:57.379 --> 00:08:59.179 John Calvin understood this. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:07.519 He talks in the Institutes about people who imagine that because God says that he speaks and he hears, that therefore God must have a mouth and ears. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:18.220 What I love about Calvin's Institutes, right, if you've never read the Institutes, he's just quite rude about the people who he disagrees with, which is probably not to be commended, but it's kind of funny. 00:09:18.699 --> 00:09:22.740 So he makes some insults about people who imagine that God has mouth and ears. 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:24.199 And then he says this. 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:39.560 For who even of slight intelligence does not understand that as nurses commonly do with infants, God is wont in a measure to lisp in speaking to us. 00:09:39.900 --> 00:09:47.200 So the nurse talking to their infant in this image is speaking in baby language, aren't they? 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.000 Say hello to dada, mama. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:10:02.220 Thus, such forms of speaking do not so much express clearly what God is like as to accommodate the knowledge of him to our slight capacity. 00:10:02.940 --> 00:10:06.759 To do this, he must descend far beneath his loftiness. 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:18.080 God is speaking to you and me in words that we might understand about who he is, to communicate true things to you and me. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:26.560 But we must understand that the very process of him doing that is him being gracious in accommodating himself to our limited understanding. 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:38.080 So when we think we grasp something about God and we know it, we have to accept humbly we only really know a part of it because we can't know it fully. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:48.400 Obviously, the ultimate or the ultimate or the sort of the maximum accommodation of God's revelation in showing us what he's like is what? 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:50.520 It's the incarnation. 00:10:51.520 --> 00:10:53.680 The arrival of the son in human flesh. 00:10:54.300 --> 00:11:03.680 The son who in his divinity is the exact representation of God's being, but he and his humanity veils his glory so that we might see him and know him. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:15.219 Now, just to tease this out a little bit more so that we don't know fully, but we know in part, it doesn't mean that we don't know the truth. 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.959 I made a terrible mistake in life of taking A-level physics. 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:21.279 I did it at my father's advice. 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:24.259 He might watch this, but he knows it was a mistake. 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:26.179 So I did physics A-level. 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:32.919 What they tell you when you do physics A-level is, listen, what you need to understand is everything we taught you at GCSE is complete nonsense. 00:11:33.859 --> 00:11:38.219 And so they just go, anything you thought you knew about physics is no help to you now. 00:11:38.479 --> 00:11:39.500 I'm going to teach you again. 00:11:40.079 --> 00:11:42.479 And the problem is I could never grasp it the second time round. 00:11:43.219 --> 00:11:49.479 Now, there's a sense in which, isn't there, that if you oversimplify, you end up saying something that's not true. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.719 But God is not like that. 00:11:51.720 --> 00:12:03.000 God, in his accommodation to our understanding to reveal who he is and explain who he is, is able to teach us true things, even in our limited understanding. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:08.500 God is never misleading us, even if we can only know in part. 00:12:11.560 --> 00:12:12.879 Okay, so there we have it, right? 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:15.540 Revelation first, and then accommodation. 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:16.759 Revelation and accommodation. 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:24.879 Now, with that in mind, I'm going to read this opening statement on the doctrine of God in the 1689 Baptist Confession. 00:12:24.939 --> 00:12:26.179 I've put it on your handout there. 00:12:26.340 --> 00:12:34.620 And then what I'm going to ask you to do, and you can do this with the person next to you, is to underline anything that either stands out or you don't understand or is kind of surprising to you. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:38.139 So you might want to start that process as I read it out to you. 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:39.299 Okay? 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:42.439 I'm going to read it to you. 00:12:42.819 --> 00:12:45.620 Underline things, and then you can talk to your neighbor about them in a minute. 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:52.039 The Lord our God is one, the only living and true God. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:57.240 He is self-existent and infinite in being and perfection. 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:02.320 His essence cannot be understood by anyone but him. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.659 He is a perfectly pure spirit. 00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:11.580 He is invisible and has no body, parts, or changeable emotions. 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:14.960 He alone has immortality. 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:18.399 Dwelling in light that no one can approach. 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:28.419 He is unchangeable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, in every way infinite. 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:30.519 Absolutely holy. 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:32.500 Perfectly wise. 00:13:33.139 --> 00:13:34.000 Holy free. 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:36.039 Completely absolute. 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:47.019 He works all things according to the counsel of his own unchangeable and completely righteous will for his own glory. 00:13:47.819 --> 00:13:52.799 He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. 00:13:53.379 --> 00:13:58.959 He overflows with goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.800 He rewards those who seek him diligently. 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:07.280 At the same time, he is perfectly just and terrifying in his judgments. 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:13.620 He hates all sin and will certainly not clear the guilty. 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:14.620 Okay. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:17.179 Talk to the person next to you. 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:24.379 Anything that stands out, that's surprising, or that you don't understand, have a look at that for a few moments, and then we'll get back together. 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:25.379 Okay. 00:14:35.379 --> 00:14:37.559 Does anyone want to yell anything out? 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:40.899 Yes. 00:14:41.439 --> 00:14:42.100 My wife? 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:44.919 All right. 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:45.519 No, sorry. 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:46.019 All right. 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:47.500 I'm speaking for myself. 00:14:47.899 --> 00:14:48.500 Wow. 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:50.720 It's the first time ever, this. 00:14:53.720 --> 00:15:02.399 The question that is in my mind is that is not incomprehensible only for all means. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.299 Was he incomprehensible to Adam? 00:15:07.059 --> 00:15:07.860 Yes. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:10.000 And no. 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:17.340 So I would say God is by definition incomprehensible to his creatures in their totality, 00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:19.620 because we're only ever creatures, right? 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:21.960 And we are finite, yes. 00:15:22.780 --> 00:15:26.399 But there is a sense in which that situation is made worse by the fall. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:27.560 Yeah. 00:15:29.560 --> 00:15:29.960 Right. 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:34.879 We had a good question at the back, which was, 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:40.500 why is God able to work for his own glory? 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:43.240 Does it not seem that God doing things for his... 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.720 Is that not a little bit sort of self-interested? 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:45.820 Yeah. 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:51.080 I think the answer to that is, it would be for anybody else. 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:54.680 But for God, it's right for him to do this, yeah? 00:15:55.180 --> 00:15:59.940 So Romans 11, from him and for him and to him, all things exist. 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:07.040 And so for God to work for the purpose of someone else's glory is for him to lie about himself. 00:16:08.040 --> 00:16:13.400 For you to work for anybody's glory but God's is for you to lie about yourself. 00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:16.799 It's as if to say, oh, no, actually, this was all me, right? 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:19.039 That is a lie, yeah? 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:24.620 The strength, the understanding, the wisdom, the skill, all comes to you from God. 00:16:24.819 --> 00:16:26.199 So it's all to his glory. 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:27.039 Yeah. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.879 Okay, let's keep going with some things on here. 00:16:30.939 --> 00:16:33.079 And you can come back to me at the end if you've got more questions. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:37.360 I'm going to try and summarize two things from this statement. 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.179 And yeah, anyway, let's see how it goes. 00:16:40.819 --> 00:16:42.279 Number one is this. 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:45.179 God is not like you or me. 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.819 Now, in a way, that's just really obvious, okay? 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.479 The Bible says this directly in a number of places. 00:16:51.199 --> 00:16:54.899 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:01.559 In Hosea 11, God talking about why he's not going to destroy the Israelites, he says, 00:17:01.699 --> 00:17:04.200 For I am God and not a man, the Holy One amongst you. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:06.399 I will not come against their cities. 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.579 Perhaps the most foundational statement, really, in the whole Bible about who God is. 00:17:10.579 --> 00:17:14.919 In the beginning God, from Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. 00:17:15.659 --> 00:17:20.480 Now, what really the confessions do is they extrapolate from those statements, 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:23.460 theologically and philosophically, and others like them, 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:27.299 to underline the ways in which God is different from us and the implications of it. 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:32.079 So you are told in the confession, firstly, that God is self-existent. 00:17:32.879 --> 00:17:35.419 That is, God was not made. 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:40.960 God is, and always has been, and always will be. 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:43.420 He says to Moses, doesn't he? 00:17:44.080 --> 00:17:45.779 I am who I am. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.700 God is self-existent. 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:50.860 He relies on no one, is created by no one. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.200 He is the one who did not need to be made. 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.500 He, therefore, is the origin of all that is made, 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.940 and by definition existed before and outside all things. 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:04.860 Now, listen, this is really obvious, okay? 00:18:04.859 --> 00:18:07.899 So if you think, wow, this sounds, from Steve's tone of voice, 00:18:07.959 --> 00:18:10.479 that he's saying something way more complicated than this actually seems. 00:18:10.639 --> 00:18:14.579 Is he just saying that God existed before and outside of all that's made? 00:18:14.679 --> 00:18:15.259 Yes, I am. 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:16.059 That is all I'm saying. 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:18.979 I'm not trying to say anything more complicated than that, but it is important. 00:18:20.399 --> 00:18:23.519 Our existence is not self-existence, right? 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:26.139 Our existence is, if you like, contingent. 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:32.039 That is, our existence depends on the existence of someone or something else for its existence. 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:34.119 We did not make ourselves. 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:35.680 We were made. 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:38.980 We are part of the creation, but God is not. 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:41.099 He existed before all things. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:46.779 And so because of that, God is not made up of the stuff of this world, right? 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:49.899 Because he is the creator of all of the stuff. 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:50.879 He was there beforehand. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:59.340 And so God, therefore, if we keep building on this idea, is what the confession calls perfectly pure spirit. 00:18:59.820 --> 00:19:02.820 That is, he is outside all that he has made. 00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:05.040 So he doesn't have parts. 00:19:05.540 --> 00:19:08.240 He doesn't have physical parts like you and I do. 00:19:08.340 --> 00:19:11.780 So he doesn't have arms, legs, mouth, ears. 00:19:11.779 --> 00:19:17.420 But also he doesn't have sort of emotional parts or attributes in that sense. 00:19:18.379 --> 00:19:24.619 You know, you could chop off my arm and I would still be me, but without my arm, right? 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:31.059 You could remove my patience, what limited patience there is. 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:34.879 You could remove that from me and I would still be me, right? 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:42.160 You could experience my moodiness instead of my kindness and you'd still be experiencing me. 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:46.940 You can sort of divide me up both physically and emotionally because I have stuff. 00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:50.780 I'm made of stuff and stuff can be taken away from me. 00:19:51.460 --> 00:19:53.400 But God is not like that, right? 00:19:53.580 --> 00:19:58.160 Because he is not made up of parts physically or emotionally. 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:01.160 He doesn't possess anything. 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:04.560 He is those things, right? 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.000 So the confession says that he is invisible. 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:11.200 He has no body, parts or changeable emotions. 00:20:11.840 --> 00:20:15.040 In other words, God is all that he is all of the time. 00:20:15.780 --> 00:20:20.140 So you don't encounter God as being good one day and kind another day and gracious another day 00:20:20.140 --> 00:20:21.920 and then another day something completely different. 00:20:22.280 --> 00:20:25.340 Because God is all of those things all at the same time. 00:20:25.800 --> 00:20:27.320 He has no changing moods. 00:20:27.320 --> 00:20:30.220 He is not changed by his creation. 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:33.440 He is all of his attributes all at the same time. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.860 So God doesn't have goodness. 00:20:36.100 --> 00:20:37.779 He doesn't have patience. 00:20:37.980 --> 00:20:39.539 He doesn't have kindness. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.200 God is goodness. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.600 He is kindness. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:43.980 He is patience. 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:49.400 God doesn't possess life like you and I possess life. 00:20:49.620 --> 00:20:51.380 He is life. 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:54.339 We can have our life taken from us. 00:20:54.339 --> 00:21:00.519 But God cannot have his life taken from him because he is life and existence itself. 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:07.299 Probably the most familiar verse in the Old Testament for Jews, they're required to say it twice a day, 00:21:07.379 --> 00:21:08.680 is Deuteronomy 6 verse 4. 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:12.859 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:21:12.859 --> 00:21:16.979 Now, oneness there means that God alone is God, right? 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:19.079 There are no other gods. 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:22.879 But also that he himself is a oneness. 00:21:23.699 --> 00:21:25.079 He has no parts. 00:21:26.159 --> 00:21:31.059 Now, there's an irony to this because theologians call this the doctrine of divine simplicity. 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:33.299 And it's not actually that simple. 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:37.000 But their idea is that God himself is simple. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.039 Again, not because God is easy to understand. 00:21:40.379 --> 00:21:43.819 The doctrine of simplicity is not, hey, it's kind of obvious and it's easy to understand. 00:21:43.899 --> 00:21:44.519 It's not that at all. 00:21:44.879 --> 00:21:51.799 Rather, it is that God is not made up of component parts, but he is a simple one being. 00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:55.919 And so he is all of his essence all of the time. 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:01.500 Augustine, who is the great African bishop, put it like this. 00:22:01.559 --> 00:22:02.139 It's amazing. 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:03.500 He's writing this in the fourth century. 00:22:03.919 --> 00:22:04.399 He says this. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:10.599 It is for this reason, then, that the nature of the Trinity, the nature of God, is called simple. 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:13.879 Because it has not anything that it can lose. 00:22:14.379 --> 00:22:17.919 And because it is not something different from what it has, 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.100 in the way that a vessel is different from its liquid or a body from its color 00:22:22.100 --> 00:22:25.320 or the air from its light or heat or the mind from its wisdom. 00:22:26.180 --> 00:22:28.779 But none of these things is what it has. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:30.820 The vessel is not the liquid. 00:22:31.019 --> 00:22:32.200 The body is not color. 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:33.779 The air is not light or heat. 00:22:33.860 --> 00:22:34.840 The mind is not wisdom. 00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:37.660 And hence, they can be deprived of what they have 00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:41.120 and can be turned or changed into other states or qualities. 00:22:41.120 --> 00:22:44.220 The vessel may be emptied of the liquid of which it is full. 00:22:44.300 --> 00:22:45.840 The body may be discolored. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.059 The air may grow dark or cold. 00:22:48.199 --> 00:22:49.439 The mind may be foolish. 00:22:50.159 --> 00:22:51.679 But God cannot. 00:22:52.919 --> 00:22:55.959 God doesn't change because he is simple. 00:22:56.579 --> 00:22:58.019 And he cannot change. 00:22:59.339 --> 00:23:00.159 Now, I wonder what you think. 00:23:00.220 --> 00:23:01.679 What is the point of all that? 00:23:01.799 --> 00:23:03.199 How does that help you and me? 00:23:03.419 --> 00:23:06.559 What's the value in thinking like this about God? 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:10.919 Well, Malachi chapter 3, verses 6 and 7 says this. 00:23:11.379 --> 00:23:12.720 Really picking up on this idea. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.139 I, the Lord, do not change. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:20.919 But God cannot change because he doesn't have anything that can be taken away. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.799 Nothing can be added to him. 00:23:23.199 --> 00:23:25.000 So he is simple and cannot change. 00:23:25.399 --> 00:23:26.480 And what's the implication of that? 00:23:26.679 --> 00:23:29.359 So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 00:23:29.959 --> 00:23:33.639 Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees 00:23:33.639 --> 00:23:34.480 and have not kept them. 00:23:34.659 --> 00:23:38.059 Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:43.159 You know, as Malachi teaches this, as well as God speaks to Malachi and reflects on this, 00:23:43.579 --> 00:23:48.960 his unchanging oneness means that his people are safe and not destroyed. 00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:51.299 Because, why? 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:55.500 Well, God is not going to wake up tomorrow and have forgotten to be gracious to them. 00:23:56.339 --> 00:23:59.859 He is not going to forget his promises to them and his goodness. 00:23:59.859 --> 00:24:03.959 He can't be good and gracious today and bad and ill-tempered tomorrow. 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:09.679 But also, he can't tomorrow be the God who regrets the promise that he made. 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:14.619 Because he's not learned anything new about them that he didn't know when he made the promise. 00:24:15.639 --> 00:24:19.059 Exactly what he expected and knew is exactly what is happening. 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:22.619 He doesn't find out, oh, do you know what? 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.440 Steve is not quite the person I thought he was when I called him to be mine. 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:28.460 No, he doesn't feel like that. 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:30.859 He doesn't think like that because he knows exactly who I am. 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:35.299 And so we can pray and we can come to God again and again in confession and faith, 00:24:35.919 --> 00:24:39.200 knowing that God is unchanging, unmoved and unflinching, 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:43.359 that he knows all there is to know about me and he still saves me. 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:45.240 Which is amazing, isn't it? 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:50.579 I'm going to make one last point if I can and then I'll take some questions. 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:53.839 Number two, God is not wicked. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.720 Okay, so this comes through, doesn't it? 00:24:57.339 --> 00:24:59.819 Over and over again in the confession. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:01.220 God is absolutely holy. 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:03.319 God is perfectly wise. 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:06.160 God has a completely righteous will. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:08.720 He overflows with goodness and truth. 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:09.900 He hates all sin. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:11.880 He will not clear the guilty. 00:25:13.299 --> 00:25:14.779 Again, this is really important, isn't it? 00:25:14.779 --> 00:25:20.259 I'm sure you can think of Bible verses that would just say exactly the same sort of thing. 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:23.660 You say, even the confession itself kind of quotes, doesn't it? 00:25:23.779 --> 00:25:28.099 1 Timothy 6, that the Lord dwells in unapproachable light. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:39.399 He is so holy and other and no darkness or evil or wickedness can even come anywhere near him. 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:45.420 You know, the living creatures around the throne bow down and sing, holy, holy, holy. 00:25:46.560 --> 00:25:50.600 Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord and it is the train of his robe that fills the temple. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:59.100 It's like not even just the hem of his robe fills this awesome space because he is so majestic and glorious. 00:25:59.099 --> 00:26:04.879 And as he sees the vision, he says, woe is me, a man of unclean lips. 00:26:05.399 --> 00:26:08.719 He sees God to be holy, holy, holy. 00:26:10.299 --> 00:26:12.139 Now, but think about what that means. 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:19.179 If God is, right, if God is before all things, the origin of all things, and he is good and pure and holy, 00:26:19.180 --> 00:26:25.900 he lives in unapproachable light, surrounded by angels calling out his holiness. 00:26:26.539 --> 00:26:28.680 If that's true, where does evil come from? 00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:30.580 Where does evil come from? 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.060 Who made evil? 00:26:34.940 --> 00:26:44.600 Now, again, that is a tough question for 726 on a, or whatever it is, 723 on a Sunday evening. 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:50.959 But Augustine helped us out with this, and this, again, is the backdrop to lots of the stuff in the Confessions. 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:56.359 He says, I was going to read you a whole chunk of his book called The Confessions. 00:26:57.099 --> 00:27:00.939 I don't know whether you like old books, but The Confessions, if you do like old books, 00:27:01.659 --> 00:27:03.179 then you can kind of stick with them. 00:27:04.399 --> 00:27:06.439 The Confessions is worth a read. 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:08.919 I was going to read you a chunk, but I think it's just going to be confusing. 00:27:09.059 --> 00:27:12.639 So let me just read to you his conclusion, which comes in his book, The City of God. 00:27:12.639 --> 00:27:13.740 He says this. 00:27:13.740 --> 00:27:26.200 Now, that's what's being picked up by the Confessions. 00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:32.660 God is pure and holy and without sin, so much so that it is, if you like, the absence of God, 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:39.640 or perhaps better, the exclusion of God in his goodness and as the source of all goodness, which is evil. 00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:47.380 Evil is the label for the exclusion of God or his absence, if you like. 00:27:47.700 --> 00:27:51.240 Not that it's entirely possible for God to be completely absent. 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:55.200 So do you believe in God? 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:57.140 Well, yes, I do believe in God. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:58.039 Who is he? 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:01.180 Well, he is the self-existent I am. 00:28:01.539 --> 00:28:03.079 The one who did not need to be made. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:04.920 The one who is pure in spirit. 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:07.620 Who is a simple, complete oneness. 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.940 Who is good and defines good. 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:15.940 And who owns goodness to the point at which evil is defined by his absence. 00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:18.100 That is the God I believe in. 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:19.440 Why do you believe in that God? 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:27.880 Because that's the God who speaks and who has arrived in the person of the Son and who we know about from his revelation in the Scriptures. 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:32.320 Okay, so those are the two things I wanted to cover this evening. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:34.660 And we're going to do more next time. 00:28:34.780 --> 00:28:37.320 But I wanted to give you a chance for questions or comments. 00:28:38.080 --> 00:28:41.880 So you can have a little shuffle and a think and then ask a question if you'd like to. 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:44.900 I'd like to just qualify the thing that Augustine says here. 00:28:45.020 --> 00:28:48.940 Because the fact that he's defining philosophically the absence of God. 00:28:49.020 --> 00:28:49.180 Yeah. 00:28:49.320 --> 00:28:51.200 And the fact that you can say that's the absolute truth. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:55.760 But there's also the fact that evil does have a positive operation in our lives. 00:28:56.440 --> 00:29:01.840 So this definition is not pretending to do away with that. 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:03.759 Okay, yes. 00:29:04.119 --> 00:29:15.220 So if, yes, if the, if that statement from Augustine gives the impression that evil has no power or influence, then yes, that's not. 00:29:15.659 --> 00:29:15.839 Yes. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:16.199 Yes. 00:29:16.199 --> 00:29:17.399 Yes. 00:29:20.619 --> 00:29:21.579 That is helpful. 00:29:22.619 --> 00:29:24.500 So evil is parasitic. 00:29:25.379 --> 00:29:25.579 Yes. 00:29:25.679 --> 00:29:27.399 Whereas goodness can exist without evil. 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:28.679 Evil cannot exist without evil. 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:30.759 Thank you. 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:31.920 That's really helpful, Mike. 00:29:33.380 --> 00:29:34.720 Just a small thought. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:36.720 Yes. 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:39.759 So that's what we were looking at a couple of weeks ago in Romans 8, isn't it? 00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:53.640 That the Lord, so although he is without sin and is completely pure and holy, still he is sovereign and his sovereignty is not threatened by evil in the world. 00:29:53.640 --> 00:30:01.160 And he is even able to use wickedness and evil without being morally responsible for it in a way that accomplishes his purposes. 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:04.759 Which is cross. 00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:07.920 I think what you were saying is very good about the simplicity of God. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:18.200 There are some good people that, like some rabbis, well, I see rabbis say there's a difference between God's essence and his manifestation. 00:30:18.460 --> 00:30:18.660 Right. 00:30:19.019 --> 00:30:26.160 The manifestation, if you take it, and the Eastern Orthodox, Gregory Palamas, who guys decide if it's God and his energies. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:26.840 Okay. 00:30:26.840 --> 00:30:35.580 So if you take that view, you're looking at God through a perspective which does not enable you to know whether you've got an accurate view of God, because there's a screen. 00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:36.140 Yeah. 00:30:36.360 --> 00:30:44.360 Whereas in the Bible, God's manifestations, you can trace them back to the source in a more direct way. 00:30:44.600 --> 00:30:44.940 Yes. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.300 And know that God embraces all of this. 00:30:48.580 --> 00:30:48.940 Yes. 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:50.100 That's a bit like a rainbow. 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:50.880 Yeah, yeah. 00:30:52.100 --> 00:30:54.519 Trying to work out how to simply summarize that for people. 00:30:54.519 --> 00:31:07.160 So if you say that you, so God as he really is, right, in his essence, is how he is communicating himself to us. 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:16.720 So he is not projecting something and say, well, know that, know my power, and then kind of try and extrapolate back about what my essence might be like. 00:31:17.059 --> 00:31:22.720 He is actually, in his revelation of himself, opening the window of his essence so that you might see who he really is. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:26.860 And that's, that's like incredibly gracious of him to do that, isn't it? 00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:38.440 So, you know, with someone that you really love, a really dear friend or a member of your family or a husband or a wife, you might, you might show them what you're really like. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:38.900 Yeah. 00:31:39.100 --> 00:31:40.860 So you're not projecting anymore. 00:31:40.859 --> 00:31:51.099 And God is showing us his divine essence, especially in the person of the son, as he comes in human flesh, which is unbelievably brilliant. 00:31:54.179 --> 00:31:54.699 Right. 00:31:56.399 --> 00:31:57.119 Amy, yeah. 00:31:57.119 --> 00:31:58.119 Yes. 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:58.119 00:31:58.119 --> 00:31:59.119 So, God not changing. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:28.839 Or changeable emotions as well. 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:30.079 How it puts it in the confession. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:36.980 How does that fit with sometimes the Bible talks about God changing his mind or God relenting in response to people's prayers. 00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:42.699 I think there are, there is just like some fences, aren't there, to put up. 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:52.319 So to say, it can't be that God discovers new information in the prayers of people. 00:32:52.319 --> 00:33:01.619 It must be that their praying and their prayerfulness is part of his sovereign will and purpose. 00:33:01.779 --> 00:33:07.819 And so that in some way that is mysterious to us, he is using our prayers to accomplish his foreordained purposes. 00:33:07.819 --> 00:33:17.939 And so that our prayerlessness or our prayerfulness is the way that God is accomplishing the ends to which he wants to work, whilst also holding us morally responsible for them. 00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:22.500 But the other thing I think to say is about the accommodation language that we're talking about at the beginning. 00:33:23.080 --> 00:33:31.140 For us to, to, to as closely understand God as we can, he reveals himself in ways like that. 00:33:31.140 --> 00:33:39.500 Because that's, he wants you to know how much he is concerned for your prayerfulness, that he would describe it like that. 00:33:40.060 --> 00:33:48.240 And so, and even though, again, so God doesn't experience emotions in the same way that we do. 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:54.440 And yet in the person of the son, according to his human nature, he experiences the full range of human emotion, doesn't he? 00:33:54.759 --> 00:33:59.220 He weeps, he laughs, he experiences hunger and tiredness and all those things. 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:09.500 So yeah, there's mystery there, but I think accommodation and yet God's sovereignty are even over what happens and doesn't happen in our prayer. 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:12.780 So maybe put it like this, right? 00:34:12.780 --> 00:34:27.360 So who knows, right, whether God's chosen means of saving that family member that you care about deeply is not that you might go home and pray for them tonight, 00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:33.980 that they might come to know Christ and get up tomorrow morning and do the same and go to bed the following night and do the same. 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:37.519 No, actually, that's how God works, isn't it? 00:34:37.860 --> 00:34:41.440 It's not that you're twisting his arm to do something that he hasn't intended to do anyway. 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:48.039 It's that actually his intended means of doing it is you and me praying and coming to him, which is a wonderful opportunity. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:52.780 It's half past seven. 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:57.440 So I'm going to close in prayer and then we'll come back to it next week. 00:34:58.760 --> 00:34:59.380 Let's pray. 00:34:59.380 --> 00:35:10.760 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. 00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:34.760 Amen. 00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:34.760 00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:35.280 Amen. 00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:41.200 Amen. 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.200 --> 00:35:41.200 00:35:41.199 --> 00:36:11.179 Thank you.