The Holy Trinity

Here are some helpful thoughts from Bavinck on the Trinity:

For a true understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity three questions must be answered:

What is the meaning of the word “essence”?

What is meant by the word “person”?

And what is the relation between “essence” and “person” and between the persons among themselves?

The divine nature cannot be conceived as an abstract generic concept, nor does it exist as a substance outside of, above, and behind the divine persons. It exists in the divine persons and it totally and quantitatively the same in each person.

The persons, though distinct, are not separate. They are the same in essence, one in essence, and the same being. They are not separated by time or space or anything else. They all share in the same divine nature and perfections. It is one and the same divine nature that exists in each person individually and in all of them collectively.

Consequently, there is in God but one eternal, omnipotent, and omniscient being, having one mind, one will, and one power.

(HT: Martin Downes)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, God the Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, The Trinity

What is true of Him

 

“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

We must think of suffering in a new way, we must face everything in a new way. And the way in which we face it all is by reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in us. There is the future, there is the high calling, there is the persecution, there is the opposition, there is the enemy. I see it all. I must admit also that I am weak, that I lack the necessary powers and propensities. But instead of stopping there . . . I say, “But the Spirit of God is in me. God has given me his Holy Spirit.” . . . What matters . . . is not what is true of us but what is true of Him.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, page 100.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Discipleship, Evangelical, God centredness, Holy Spirit, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Warfare, The Christian Life, The word of God

Man Is Not the Centre

Spurgeon writes in Lectures to My Students:

Just as the earth is not the centre of the universe, so man is not the grandest of all beings. God has been pleased highly to exalt man; but we must remember how the psalmist speaks of him: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” In another place, David says, “Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” Man cannot be the centre of the theological universe, he is altogether too insignificant a being to occupy such a position, and the scheme of redemption must exist for some other end than that of merely making man happy, or even of making him holy. The salvation of man must surely be first of all for the glory of God; and you have discovered the right form of Christian doctrine when you have found the system that has God in the centre, ruling and controlling according to the good pleasure of his will. Do not dwarf man so as to make it appear that God has no care for him; for if you do that, you slander God. Give to man the position that God has assigned to him; by doing so, you will have a system of theology in which all the truths of revelation and experience will move in glorious order and harmony around the great central orb, the Divine Sovereign Ruler of the universe, God over all, blessed for ever.

(HT: Darryl Dash)

Filed under: Attributes of God, CH Spurgeon, Doctrine, Evangelical, God centredness, God's Glory, Sovereignty of God

Reach them with the Amazing God not helpful tips

From Kevin DeYoung:

I beg of you, don’t go after the next generation with mere moralism, either on the right (don’t have sex, go to church, share your faith, stay off drugs) or on the left (recycle, dig a well, feed the homeless, buy a wristband). The gospel is not a message about what we need to do for God, but about what God has done for us. So get them with the good news about who God is and what he has done for us.

Some of us, it seems, are almost scared to tell people about God. Perhaps because we don’t truly know him. Maybe because we prefer living in triviality. Or maybe because we don’t consider knowing God to be very helpful in real life. I have to fight against this unbelief in my own life. If only I would trust God that God is enough to win the hearts and minds of the next generation. It’s his work much more than it is mine or yours. So make him front and center. Don’t preach your doubts as mystery. And don’t reduce God to your own level. If ever people were starving for a God the size of God, surely it is now.

Read the rest HERE.

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, God centredness, God's Glory, Moralism, The Gospel

Why does God focus so much attention on Himself?

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, Evangelical, God the Father, God's Glory, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, The glory of Christ, Worship

What is God’s Glory?

(HT: Allsufficientgrace)

Filed under: Attributes of God, God's Glory, God's holiness, John Piper

Piper: Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies

I find John Piper’s rationale compelling. I also appreciate his humility:

Now that the video of the Q&A at Advance 09 is available, I can look at it and feel bad all over again. Here’s what I regret, indeed what I have apologized for to the person who asked the question.

The first question to me and Mark Driscoll was, “Piper says get rid of my TV, and Driscoll says buy extra DVRs. How do you reconcile this difference?”

I responded, “Get your sources right. . . . I never said that in my life.”

Almost as soon as it was out of my mouth, I felt: “What a jerk, Piper!” A jerk is a person who nitpicks about the way a question is worded rather than taking the opportunity to address the issue in a serious way. I blew it at multiple levels.

So I was very glad when the person who asked the question wrote to me. I wrote back,

Be totally relieved that YOU did not ask a bad question. I gave a useless and unhelpful, and I think snide, answer and missed a GOLDEN opportunity to make plain the dangers of the triviality you referred to. . . . I don’t know why I snapped about the wording of the question instead of using it for what it was intended for. It was foolish and I think sinful.

So let me see if I can do better now. I can’t give an answer for what Mark means by “buy extra DVDs,” but I can tell you why my advice sounds different. I suspect that Mark and I would not agree on the degree to which the average pastor needs to be movie-savvy in order to be relevant, and the degree to which we should expose ourselves to the world’s entertainment.

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.

Sorry again, for the bad answer. I hope this helps.

Pastor John

Filed under: Attributes of God, Christ-centred, Discernment, Discipleship, Evangelical, God's worthiness, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Renewing the Mind, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The Church, Worldliness

What Can We Gain from Calvin Today?

John Piper: We can gain an orientation on the majesty and holiness of God.

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's Glory, God's majesty, God's worthiness, John Calvin, John Piper, Worship

The Pleasures of God Seminar

Another great resource from John Piper at Desiring God is the audio and video from the seminar, “The Pleasures of God.”

The Pleasures of God, Part 1

The Pleasures of God, Part 2

The Pleasures of God, Part 3

The Pleasures of God, Part 4

The Pleasures of God, Part 5

Filed under: Attributes of God, Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God centredness, God's Glory, God's worthiness, John Piper, The Bible, The Christian Life, The word of God, Theology, Worship

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility by D. A. Carson – some quotes

“The sovereignty-responsibility tension is not a problem to be solved; rather, it is a framework to be explored.” (2)

“Once again, then, the divine activity calls for a response, not fatalism; while human calling and seeking do not make the divine activity contingent.” (14)

“The point is so obvious that it scarcely requires making. From the first prohibition in Eden, through commands to individuals like Noah and Abraham -whether commands to build an ark or to walk blamelessly- to the prescriptions laid on the covenant people, human responsibility is presupposed.” (18)

“Men are not held to be responsible in some merely abstract fashion; they are responsible to someone.” (19)

“It is difficult to find an adequate word or phrase to express this ‘ultimacy’ in God. The crucial point is that his activity is so sovereign and detailed that nothing can take place in the world of men without at least his permission; and conversely, if he sets himself against some course, then that course cannot develop.” (28)

“…the Old Testament writers do not shy away from making Yahweh himself in some mysterious way (the mysteriousness of which safeguards him from being himself charged with evil) the ‘ultimate’ cause of many evils.” (28)

“To fail to acknowledge Yahweh’s ultimacy-to fail to praise-is not real independence from divine dominion, but overt rebellion, a misguided declaration of self-dependence. The absoluteness of divine sovereignty and the reality of human responsibility meet in the human obligation to acknowledge divine sovereignty with grateful humility.” (34-5)

“In short, although we may lack the categories needed for full exposition of the problem, nevertheless we must insist that divine ultimacy stands behind good and evil asymmetrically.” (36-7)

“In the case of both Caiaphas and Judas, therefore, divine ultimacy even behind evil actions is presupposed. But divine ultimacy operates in some mysterious way so that human responsibility is in no way mitigated, while the divine being is in no way tarnished. In particular, Judas is responsible even when Satan is using him; but over both stands the sovereignty of God.” (132)

“There is a sense in which God’s love is directed to the ‘world’ per se; but to absolutise the passage where this is enunciated is to fail to recognize the even more numerous passages in which the divine love is restricted to the elect, while unbelievers sit under wrath and judgment.” (197)

“Hence it [John's gospel] feels no embarrassment at picturing God’s control and purposes over events themselves evil. God is neither tainted not thwarted by evil actions. Indeed, his purposes in salvation history are being fulfilled even by such actions. Men for their part do not find their responsibility lessened by God’s sovereign reign.” (202-3)

“It must be protested that although the various time/eternity models serve a useful purpose as bases for discussion, they are in no sense explanatory solutions of the sovereignty-responsibility tension. That would be to explain the obscure by the more obscure.” (210)

“The example of Job is particularly instructive. Job and his friends stress equally that God is all-powerful and perfectly good; but the message of a book as a whole is that their conception of God is not high enough. God’s ways are unfathomable; his knowledge, limitless; his power, effectual; who can tell him he is wrong? What man has arrogance to deny divine providence by ignorant words? No simple solution is possible, for men with their limited knowledge cannot judge God’s government. Man’s peace must come from knowing and trusting this God. It is significant that Job cries out in the end, not “I understand!” but “I repent.” ” (217)

(HT: Jude St.John)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Books, DA Carson, Doctrine, Human responsibility, Sovereignty of God, The word of God

God himself is the great good of our redemption

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ has purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world.

The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the ‘the river of the water of life’ that runs, and the tree of life that grows, ‘in the midst of the paradise of God.’ The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them.

—Jonathan Edwards, “God Glorified in the Work of Redemption,” in The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach, et al (1999): 74-75

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, God centredness, God's Glory, Jesus Christ, Jonathan Edwards, Redemption, The Christian Life, The word of God, Worship

Al Mohler’s New Book

Al Mohler’s latest book, “The Disappearance

of God”, can be ordered HERE

.

From the Publisher:

For centuries the church has taught and guarded the core Christian beliefs that make up the essential foundations of the faith. But in our postmodern age, sloppy teaching and outright lies create rampant confusion, and many Christians are free-falling for ‘feel-good’ theology. We need to know the truth to save ourselves from errors that will derail our faith.

As biblical scholar, author, and president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler, writes, “The entire structure of Christian truth is now under attack.” With wit and wisdom he tackles the most important aspects of these modern issues:

Is God changing His mind about sin?
Why is hell off limits for many pastors?
What’s good or bad about the emergent movement?
Have Christians stopped seeing God as God?
Is the social justice movement misguided?
Could the role of beauty be critical to our theology?
Is liberal faith any less destructive than atheism?
Are churches pandering to their members to survive?

In the age-old battle to preserve the foundations of faith, it’s up to a new generation to confront and disarm the contemporary shams and fight for the truth. Dr. Mohler provides the scriptural answers to show you how.

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Filed under: Al Mohler, Attributes of God, Books, Cultural relevance, Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Emerging Church, Evangelical, Liberalism, Postmodernism, Religion, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Gospel

Sovereign Spirit

This week’s sermon from John Piper: “The Free Will of the Wind“

The Wind has a will of his own.

We don’t control the Wind of God’s Spirit. He gives the new birth as he pleases. His will is decisive, not ours. For sure, our will moves when we receive the new birth—it moves toward the crucified Christ. But the decisive Mover is the Spirit. He gets the credit for our new birth.

The free will of the Wind is threatening to those who would be captain of their own souls. But to those who know they are desperate, dead in sin, and utterly unable to save themselves, this truth can be thrilling.

(HT: David Mathis)

Here’s an excerpt:

Filed under: Attributes of God, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Monergism, New Birth, Regeneration, Sovereignty of God, Substitutionary Atonement

Sam Storms on a Big God!

Sam Storms says that the Psalms should lead people to stand in awe of how big God is. “From, woe is me, to wow is Thee!”

Filed under: Attributes of God, Biblical exposition, Books, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's Glory, God's majesty, Knowing God, Sam Storms, The Christian Life, The word of God, Worship

Getting Substitutionary Atonement Right

“The penal substitution model has been criticized for depicting a kind Son placating a fierce Father in order to make him love man, which he did not do before. The criticism is, however, inept, for penal substitution is a Trinitarian model, for which the motivational unity of Father and Son is axiomatic. The New Testament presents God’s gift of his Son to die as the supreme expression of his love to men. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son’ (John 3:16). ‘God is love, . . . Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ (I John 4:8-10). ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’ (Rom. 5:8). Similarly, the New Testament presents the Son’s voluntary acceptance of death as the supreme expression of his love to men. ‘He loved me, and gave himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20). ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends . . .’ (John 15:13f.) And the two loves, the love of Father and Son, are one: a point which the penal substitution model, as used, firmly grasps.”

- J.I. Packer from his classic article “What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution.”

.

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Christ our Mediator, Christ our righteousness, Evangelical, God the Father, JI Packer, Jesus Christ, Penal substitution, Propitiation, Reconciliation, Redemption, Substitutionary Atonement, The Cross, The Gospel, The glory of Christ, The word of God