WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.500 everyone by raising Him from the dead. Amen. So, I guess we should begin by asking the question, 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:16.660 you can ask me the question, why a series exploring the Apostles' Creed? I think dating 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:23.780 from the second century, so a very ancient document. Why does it have any use and value for 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:33.120 us today? Well, to help us into that, three different voices. The first, J.I. Packer, 00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:40.840 a great theologian of the 20th century. He says, you can think about the Apostles' Creed 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:51.280 as being like a basic A to B roadmap, enabling us as Christian people to understand our beliefs 00:00:51.280 --> 00:01:00.480 at a glance. A document like the Apostles' Creed then makes it easier to operate and to orientate 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:06.219 as we get into the Bible. He says, think about the Bible as being like the ordinance survey map, 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:13.200 super detailed, gives you every undulation and contour. But a document like the Apostles' Creed 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:20.879 is a really clear statement of faith that then enables us to dive into the Bible and have some 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:27.479 understanding of a worldview of an understanding about God. He also made the point that it's 00:01:27.479 --> 00:01:33.019 always been used by the church for the purpose of discipleship. And just because something is old 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:38.019 doesn't mean we have to get rid of it. And he went further to say that actually nowadays, and he was 00:01:38.019 --> 00:01:43.859 speaking a number of years ago, he's saying the Apostles' Creed might very well be useful for our 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:51.340 mission. Because many people today, if we want to share the gospel with them, they have little 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:59.680 background at all. And so what people need is a thorough explanation of the gospel. I think as we 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:05.500 work through the Apostles' Creed week by week, we'll see that it gives that thorough explanation that could 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:12.780 helpfully walk us through how to share our faith with someone else. Another voice I was listening to this 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:21.699 week was Carl Truman, who lectures on theology and the history and philosophy of thought. I listened to 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:27.439 a lecture that he gave what he said, the urgent need of the church today, and he was speaking two weeks 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:36.219 ago, so right now, is that the church would catechize its own members. In other words, that we would give 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:44.719 instruction into what we believe in the face of culture that's constantly looking to shape us and 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:53.219 mold us in its image. The Apostles' Creed is very helpful for giving us instruction as to what we 00:02:53.219 --> 00:03:02.060 believe. The third voice, a little bit different, was the voice of an Uber driver who was reporting—this was 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:06.379 an Uber driver in the States—who was reporting on the fact, commenting on the fact that if there was 00:03:06.379 --> 00:03:15.280 folks in his Uber car who wanted to convert him to Christianity, he was already a Christian, he said, 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:19.379 well, the two issues, one, they never asked me what I believed. We could have had a very different 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:25.159 conversation. But he said, secondly, without fail, if anybody plucked up the courage to share their faith, 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:34.780 the faith they shared was a prosperity gospel. God wants you to have more than this. You just need more faith, 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:38.740 and you won't be an Uber driver anymore. There'll be something more wonderful. 00:03:40.359 --> 00:03:44.740 So, when even people claiming to be Christians are sharing a truth that's less than the truth, 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:52.340 it's always good for us to get to basic beliefs. The Apostles' Creed is helpful for that as well. 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:58.159 Secondary question, why begin in Athens? I think Athens is an excellent place for us to begin, 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:04.039 because the city that Paul visited in the first century was described in its day as a forest of 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.039 idols. So, it's a picture of the Agora there. You can see some of the statues still remaining. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:16.720 Somebody joked that it was easier to find a god than a man in the city of Athens. So, what Paul saw as 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.660 as he arrived in Athens was a very beautiful city, beautiful images, gold, silver, marble, ivory, 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:33.520 all kinds of Greek gods. So, he encountered a city with a worship instinct. But we discover, too, 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:40.220 that as Paul arrives and sees all this beauty, in verse 16, we see that he's greatly distressed 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:48.520 to see that the city was full of idols. He's provoked by idolatry, just as God in the Old Testament was 00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:56.960 provoked by idolatry as he is robbed of glory. And Paul recognizes something about this city 00:04:56.960 --> 00:05:04.100 and about these people with a worship instinct, doesn't he? In verse 23, I walked around and looked 00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:10.120 carefully, I even found an altar with this inscription, to an unknown god. So, you are ignorant of the 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:17.700 very thing you worship. He recognizes their ignorance. They want to worship God. They're worried they're 00:05:17.700 --> 00:05:24.080 missing a god. And so, Paul wants to fill in the blanks and at the same time to say to them, 00:05:24.540 --> 00:05:32.720 your gods are too small. Your concept of God is too small. And so, Paul, as he addresses the folks 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.920 in Athens, he reminds us that our great need is to know the God who is, the God who is there, not the 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:47.420 God of our imagination. The great need that we have, the great need that our world has, 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:56.600 is to know the God who is big enough to explain all of life, the God who is big enough to save. 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:05.400 And so, as we think about God, the maker of heaven and earth, God, the Lord Almighty, God, the Father, 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:12.160 it's really vital gospel background. And it's where our creed begins. 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:25.220 Go with me then to Acts 17 and verse 24, as Paul begins to introduce Athens to the God who as yet was 00:06:25.220 --> 00:06:34.580 unknown to them. And he begins with God, the maker of heaven and earth. Verse 24, the God who made the 00:06:34.580 --> 00:06:41.260 world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human 00:06:41.260 --> 00:06:50.140 hands. He begins where God begins, Genesis 1.1. God's revelation begins in the beginning. God created the 00:06:50.139 --> 00:06:59.259 heavens and the earth. And so, Paul wants to introduce to Athens, God, the creator of all. 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:07.300 We need to be reminded that God is our creator. I had a wonderful reminder this week, now that the 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:14.219 stormy weather was largely past, a couple of walks up Blackford Hill with the dog. The first day, I think 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:19.660 it was on Wednesday, you know, when the air was all crisp and clear and the views were wonderful and 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:27.460 you could see for miles, it was just a reminder. We live in a beautiful city. I'm from the West Coast, 00:07:27.520 --> 00:07:30.640 that can be quite a hard thing to say. But it's a beautiful city that we live in. There's hills 00:07:30.640 --> 00:07:36.140 everywhere, beautiful sea all around. And then the second day I went up, it was a wee bit more squally, 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:42.540 and then this rainbow appeared covering all the way from Arthur's seat all the way over the castle. 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:49.819 So, I took a terrible picture while trying to tame the dog. And it was a reminder to me that the God 00:07:49.819 --> 00:07:57.180 who made us is the God who's preserving life to give people the opportunity to know him and his salvation. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:04.340 Our creator is good. But Paul begins with this emphasis on the distinction, the gap between the 00:08:04.339 --> 00:08:14.639 creator and creatures. The Bible begins there as well, reminding us God made this earth as a home 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:23.799 for humanity. That's both how big and how caring our God is. So, then it stands to reason that we cannot 00:08:23.799 --> 00:08:29.679 imagine that we could create a home for God. God is unlimited. God is infinite. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:41.960 God made us in His image, according to Genesis 1. We don't make gods in our image, which is what was 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:52.159 happening in Athens. We don't imagine God. I think God is light. And as soon as Paul introduces the God 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:58.960 who made the world and everything in it, he's introducing points of contrast with popular beliefs in the first 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:07.800 century and in the 21st century. Because he's saying God made the world. It's not the product of random 00:09:07.800 --> 00:09:17.660 forces. God is Lord over His creation. There is personal rule. The world doesn't work by impersonal forces. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:26.379 And He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He's the Lord of it all. He's not local, and He's not limited. 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:32.179 Basic ideas that challenged worldviews and continue to do so today. 00:09:35.860 --> 00:09:42.860 Paul begins by introducing God the Creator. The creation question in the Bible is principally about 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:50.320 who, not how. It's an important thing to realize that the Bible isn't a science textbook. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:57.740 Nor does the Bible seek to go about to necessarily prove that God is there. The starting point, the 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:06.060 assumption is that God is there. That God is the Creator, and the evidence is all around us. 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:15.559 The account of creation in the Bible is that our Creator has made a world that is good, a world that 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:26.659 is very good. And in that world, we should not worship the creation. We should worship the Creator. 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:35.919 And so, Paul, as he begins to speak about the God who is, begins with God the Almighty Maker. 00:10:37.459 --> 00:10:41.699 One of the problems in Athens that was that their gods were too small. 00:10:44.139 --> 00:10:50.159 One of their problems was that their worship was being misdirected, so that they were worshiping 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:59.639 idols. And so, the great need was to know the one true and living God, so that they and that we might 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:11.480 worship Him. So, God is the Maker of heaven and earth. God is also Almighty. And Paul's speech is so 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:21.840 helpful for us in moving us away from kind of vague notions about God, you know, I think God is like or 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:29.879 should be like, by speaking to us in terms of revelation. So, Paul doesn't quote from the Bible 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:38.340 in this context, but he has ideas that come straight from the Bible. So, he's communicating effectively 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:47.780 in this particular culture. But he very clearly reminds us that we need to take God on His terms. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:55.320 Another thing that is really helpful in Paul's speech is it lays the foundation 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:05.160 for the reality of God's providence, God's control, God's care over everyone and everything, 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:11.240 which is an idea that can be difficult and comes with challenges. 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:20.719 But the alternatives would be profoundly unhelpful. 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:31.279 The idea of a God who knows but is powerless to act, the God who is taken by surprise, 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:40.059 the God who doesn't interfere and get involved, or a God that comes second to our human free will, 00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:47.519 is not a God worthy of worship, and He's not the God of the Bible. 00:12:49.199 --> 00:12:54.939 So, the idea of God's sovereignty and God's providence, while it's difficult, and sometimes 00:12:54.940 --> 00:13:02.960 we encounter hard circumstances or we find ourselves in hard conversations, it is much preferable 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:10.400 to an idea of a small and a limited and in some ways powerless God who is unworthy of worship. 00:13:11.260 --> 00:13:16.460 It is God's providence, ultimately, that will help us to sleep at night, knowing there is a God in 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:22.900 control that we can trust. It is God's providence that will enable us to walk our streets, 00:13:22.899 --> 00:13:32.360 not living with daily fears that overwhelm us. It is the providence of God that will enable us to live 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:43.740 in our society and to bear witness to God, trusting in His kingdom coming. Now, how does Paul show God 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:53.659 Almighty in this little section? Well, notice again, verse 24, He is the Lord of heaven and earth, 00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:59.019 and He does not live in temples built by human hands. So, there's that reminder that the God of 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:06.240 the Bible, the God we worship, He's unlimited. No temple could contain Him. Maybe we think of Solomon as 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.419 he dedicates the temple in the Old Testament. He testifies. The temple can't contain our God. 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:18.139 Even the highest heavens can't contain our God, because there is no place where God is not. He is 00:14:18.139 --> 00:14:25.979 unlimited. Our God is also self-sufficient. Look at verse 25. He is not served by human hands, 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:35.500 as if He needed anything. The idols in Athens, they needed to be served. They needed to be made. 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:48.179 God does not need us for anything. People are not made because God is lacking. People do not complete 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:57.840 God. Rather, we are created from an overflow of the joy and love that He has in Himself, Father, Son, 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:06.720 and Holy Spirit. Our God is self-sufficient. He is almighty. He is the life giver. Look at the end of verse 25. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:19.220 Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. Every breath we take 00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:33.200 is a gift from our God. We depend entirely on God's mercy, on God's sustaining of us. Every good thing 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:44.899 that we have, every good that we have enjoyed or will ever enjoy, come to us from our Almighty Father in 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:55.059 heaven. And Paul speaks to the people in Athens, and as he speaks, he reminds us of God's absolute rule. 00:15:55.659 --> 00:16:00.620 Verse 26, from one man He made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth, 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:08.759 and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. The rule of God 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:15.939 Almighty governs our heartbeats, He's the life giver, but also governs the rise and fall of nations. 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:25.059 History and geography are in God's hands. Seasons and eras belong to Him. 00:16:28.059 --> 00:16:37.200 To think about the book of Proverbs 16.33, here's another way to think about the sovereignty of God. The lot 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:46.040 is cast is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. So, when you or I roll a dice, 00:16:47.040 --> 00:16:59.140 God knows the number. Our God is Almighty. In stark contrast to the small gods of Athens, 00:17:00.140 --> 00:17:07.180 the small gods of our own imaginations. That God is Almighty means He can, 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:16.440 and He will do all that He intends. He tells us that in Isaiah 46, I say, 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:25.519 my plans will stand. I do what I please. Now, of course, there are some needed limits on that. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:36.380 God can't sin. God can't tempt anyone to sin. God cannot condone sin. God cannot forgive sin without 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:46.060 atoning for it by sacrifice. But if something is in the will of God, then it is certain 00:17:46.060 --> 00:17:55.800 that God is Almighty means that we can't stop His plans. And that's a good thing. 00:17:55.799 --> 00:18:05.059 Think back to the Joseph story, when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, thinking they 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:11.240 would get rid of him. God had other plans, eventually raising him up to be second in command 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:17.480 in Egypt to spare the whole family. And Joseph could say to his brothers, you intended it for evil, 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:26.400 but God intended it for good. Human decisions, even human plans, can't override God's plan. 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:36.700 Don't we see that to be true in Jesus' story? The greatest evil ever to be carried out in the earth 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:45.740 was when the sinless Son of God was crucified. And yet, while they killed the author of life, 00:18:46.539 --> 00:18:55.259 was God's plan and for God's salvation, so that He might save sinners who would trust in Jesus. 00:18:56.259 --> 00:19:03.319 That the Lord is Almighty is good news. We cannot stop His plans. 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:10.919 God's providence. God's providence then becomes good news for us, especially as we come to understand 00:19:10.919 --> 00:19:23.919 that nothing comes into our lives by chance. All of life is directed by God, and God in Christ is our 00:19:23.919 --> 00:19:33.299 Father, and He's a good Father, and He's a wise Father. And to understand that, 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:40.500 God is for us as believers is for us as believers a source of patience. When times are hard, 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:49.639 I can keep going, and I can trust my Father in heaven. But it's also a source of thankfulness 00:19:49.639 --> 00:19:57.639 when times are good. Thank you, God, for the good things that you bring to my life. 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:07.400 Before we leave this, to ask ourselves briefly, what about God Almighty and the problem of evil? 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:15.780 Perhaps, again, we've been in conversations where that topic has come up. If God is all-powerful, 00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:22.840 then how do we account for evil? Is God either not powerful, or is He not good? Actually, 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:30.839 the Bible presents a different way of thinking about it. Just some basic thoughts. We begin at the 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:37.379 beginning to go back to the Old Testament, to the book of Genesis. What do we learn about sin? 00:20:38.139 --> 00:20:44.699 We learn that sin's origin comes from human rebellion and the rejection of God and His Word. 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:54.140 And from that fall into sin comes all the misery that we see in our world. And so, it's important 00:20:54.140 --> 00:21:02.100 when we think about the problem of evil to trace it back to human sin. But it's also important to 00:21:02.100 --> 00:21:07.600 recognize that as we consider the storyline of the Bible, and it's made really clear for us in the New 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:20.019 Testament that God plans to overcome evil through His Son. And that victory over evil begins at the cross. 00:21:21.199 --> 00:21:26.819 Sin is defeated. Death is defeated. The devil is defeated. But it will finally be completed 00:21:26.819 --> 00:21:37.059 only when Jesus returns. We live in this gap. The victory begun, but it's not completed until 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:46.819 the second coming of Christ. In the meantime, and I think this is helpful, Peter reflects 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:52.939 in chapter 3 of his second letter, verse 8, he says, 00:21:52.940 --> 00:21:57.920 Do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:03.400 and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:13.180 as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:20.779 but everyone to come to repentance. So, at least one answer to the problem of evil 00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:30.059 is the fact that our God is being patient so that people might have a chance to repent and to be 00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:38.139 saved. It still gives us a problem, but it also shows us God's gracious response. 00:22:39.779 --> 00:22:49.019 Ask God Almighty, back to Acts 17, to think about how Paul speaks about God our Father. 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:57.359 Whenever we think about the fatherhood of God, I think it's important for us to recognize that 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:04.879 that word, father, has very different associations for probably each one of us, 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:12.359 depending on our own story and background. Some of us have very positive associations. Some perhaps 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:21.579 we're neutral. Some have very negative thoughts about fatherhood because of our own stories. 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:31.799 And so, it's very important for us to recognize that God as Father is both far better than the best of 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:42.139 human fathers, and He is totally unlike the worst of human fathers. There was a point in Matthew chapter 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:53.740 7 when Jesus is teaching His disciples about prayer. Matthew chapter 7. I'm just going to find those words. 00:23:55.820 --> 00:24:00.759 Chapter 11. Chapter 7, verse 11. Jesus says, 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:08.420 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your 00:24:08.420 --> 00:24:17.119 Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? And Jesus tells us something really important 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:23.599 there. He says all human fathers, even the best human fathers, are marked by evil and weakness in some 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:30.099 way, but there is no evil, and there is no weakness, and there is no limit in God, our perfect Father. 00:24:30.099 --> 00:24:35.839 Father. And that's so important for us to hear and to understand. That's one of the ways that the 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:43.639 Lord's Prayer was so revolutionary. Jesus is inviting us into a relationship with our Creator God, 00:24:43.719 --> 00:24:50.779 our Almighty God, where we call Him Father. Before the coming of Jesus and the people in Jesus' day, 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:57.719 they wouldn't even use God's name. But for the follower of Jesus, we're invited into a living, 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:08.339 personal relationship with God as Father. Now, how does Paul introduce the idea of God as Father? 00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:14.819 It's interesting, isn't it? To look at verse 27 and verse 28, we discover 00:25:14.819 --> 00:25:23.480 he introduces it by quoting from Greek philosophy. End of verse 28, as some of your own poets have said, 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:30.319 we are his offspring. So, there Paul brings to their attention that idea of the universal 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:37.000 fatherhood of God, that because he has created us all, God, in a sense, is Father of us all. And he 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:43.880 draws an implication. Verse 29, therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:52.940 divine being is like gold or silver or stone. If God is our Father and God has made us, then by implication, 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:59.440 a lifeless God, a lifeless God, or a God that we imagine or create, makes no sense. 00:26:02.220 --> 00:26:09.500 Rather, there is this wonderful dignity that Paul introduces, the dignity for humanity that we are 00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:17.500 all made in the image of God. The concept of human rights, the concept of the value of life, 00:26:17.500 --> 00:26:27.319 flows from the Bible, flows from the character of God. But we also see that clearly it doesn't mean 00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:32.160 that the Father is pleased with us regardless of how we live, because in the very next verse, 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:38.200 we discover in the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:45.160 repent. So, there's a reminder that there is something that is broken in that relationship. 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:55.240 That's why Jesus came. So, Paul speaks of the idea of God as Father in creation terms. God is Father 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:59.940 in the sense of being Creator of us all. But the Bible, we know, goes further than that, and we need 00:26:59.940 --> 00:27:06.300 to think about that. We need to recognize that God is Father because He is the Father of His Son, 00:27:06.779 --> 00:27:12.440 the Lord Jesus. Actually, we're going to think about that a lot more next week. But just to listen in, 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:19.320 to see how important that is, to listen in to what the Father had to say about Jesus. Remember when Jesus 00:27:19.320 --> 00:27:26.059 was baptized? Remember when the disciples saw Jesus shining with glory as He was transfigured on 00:27:26.059 --> 00:27:36.920 the mountain? This is my Son. I love Him. I'm well pleased with Him. Listen to Him. So, the Father very 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:45.160 clearly states that He's in this unique relationship with Jesus, the Son of God. And that's why we heard 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:51.080 from John chapter 5 to hear the flip side, to hear Jesus speak about the unique relationship He has with God, 00:27:51.400 --> 00:28:01.759 His Father. That they act the same. That the Father wants the Son to have the same honor that He has. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:09.640 And that the Son, and this goes to our verse here in verse 31, the Son, Jesus' Son, is appointed to be 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:18.579 the judge. What does Paul say? God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He 00:28:18.579 --> 00:28:24.220 has appointed. He's given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead. The Father says, I am 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:31.620 I am the Father of my Son. The Son says, this is my Father, lives to do His will, testifies that the 00:28:31.620 --> 00:28:41.680 Father wants Him to be honored. And importantly, for the sake of our faith, not only is God the Father 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:47.519 in terms of creation, not only is God the Father of His Son, the Lord Jesus, God is the Father of His 00:28:47.519 --> 00:29:00.139 people through adoption. It's the gospel, isn't it? To go back to Acts chapter 17, we discover that as 00:29:00.139 --> 00:29:08.359 Paul began to speak in verse 18, he was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:16.059 And of course, as Paul preaches the good news about Jesus, he would have been preaching Him as the Son of 00:29:16.059 --> 00:29:22.659 God. To speak about the resurrection, of course, he would have spoken as Jesus, the Son of God, dying in 00:29:22.659 --> 00:29:31.799 the place of sinners. So, the gospel needs this proclamation of Jesus dying and rising as Savior, 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:41.259 and that because of His work on the cross, because Jesus, the Son of God, has made atonement for our sin, 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:50.039 that by receiving Him as Lord, by believing on His name, we have the right, as John's gospel says, 00:29:50.099 --> 00:29:58.859 to become children of God. Or as Paul puts it in Galatians 3.26, in Christ Jesus, united to Him, 00:29:58.980 --> 00:30:08.720 faith in Him, in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. So, the faith that we confess 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:25.339 is that in Christ Jesus, trusting in Him, God is my Father. In Christ, I am as loved as Jesus, His only begotten Son. 00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:25.419 Amen. 00:30:29.419 --> 00:30:36.000 Some thoughts on this as we close. First, to recognize that God's fatherhood is perfect. 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:42.480 I find it really helpful to listen to John Piper's description of this. He said, 00:30:42.679 --> 00:30:48.119 the gap, so picture the gap between, so our idea of a bad father and a good father, 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:53.000 how our father is versus how we'd like Him to be. He said, picture that as being like a millimeter. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:03.799 The gap between the best father and God, that gap is infinite. And so, we must always be careful not 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:14.359 to limit our view of God based on our fathers. To recognize that the God of the Bible is unlimited 00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:22.420 and sinless and perfect, and He is for us and always for us. It's a perfect fatherhood. Because of that, 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:33.080 God's fatherhood can be trusted. This takes us to Romans chapter 8, nothing can separate us from the 00:31:33.080 --> 00:31:40.779 love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of our Father. And we need 00:31:40.779 --> 00:31:48.400 to hold on to those truths, maybe especially in those times where life is hard and our circumstances 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:55.540 are challenging. To recognize that they come from our Father, and we are in the hands of our Father, 00:31:56.320 --> 00:32:04.400 and we can trust that He has His purposes. Even if we don't always see them, even if we never see them, 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:11.600 God's fatherhood can be trusted, and God's fatherhood can be experienced. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:20.459 So, Paul spoke to them the good news of Jesus, the Son of God, who died and then rose. 00:32:21.919 --> 00:32:26.519 And then he was invited to speak again, and he spoke about God, the Maker of heaven and earth, 00:32:26.639 --> 00:32:37.500 God the Almighty, God who is the Father of all. And as he closes, there's an invitation to experience 00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:44.180 God's fatherhood personally. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:50.160 all people everywhere to repent. It was the idea of repenting, it's the idea of a change of mind, 00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:56.680 it's the idea of a change of direction, in this case, a change of directing our worship towards the 00:32:56.680 --> 00:33:07.320 one true and living God, to faith in the Lord Jesus. So that in trusting in Him, there is the promise 00:33:07.320 --> 00:33:15.980 that we will enjoy an eternal welcome from our Father, that when Jesus comes back as judge, 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:22.180 if He has already been judged in our place on the cross and we're trusting Him, then we know 00:33:22.180 --> 00:33:33.060 then we'll be welcomed into eternal glory. This is the faith that we confess. I believe in God, 00:33:33.160 --> 00:33:41.580 the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. Every word matters. 00:33:41.579 --> 00:33:54.339 And central to our faith is this idea that this God who is mighty and powerful in and through the Lord 00:33:54.339 --> 00:34:03.339 Jesus has become our Father. The God who is mighty to save, the God who is mighty to overcome our ignorance 00:34:03.339 --> 00:34:12.279 and our unbelief. It's the God who is mighty to bring Christ to us so that we would live our lives under His 00:34:12.279 --> 00:34:23.579 Lordship, under His fatherly care. Let's pray as we close. Lord, our God, we thank You for who You are 00:34:23.579 --> 00:34:33.139 as revealed in Your Word. We thank You that You are our great Creator. Thank You for the beauty that we see, 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:37.340 all around the order and the complexity, even...