1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 2: Paragraph 3: The Trinity: Part Five
OUTLINE Union Communion INTRODUCTION Today we want to conclude our look at the doctrine of the Trinity. There are many aspects of the doctrine we have not explored. This is indeed one of the deepest doctrines we could ever hope to encounter as we are dealing with the triune nature of God. There are complexities here which can occupy the Christian for eternity. But we want to look at the practical value of this doctrine before we leave it. The doctrine of the Trinity is not just a mystery to occupy the intellectually curious, not it is the very...
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1689 Baptist Confession Chap. 2: Para. 3: The Trinity: Part Four
OUTLINE The name of the Son The Begotten-ness of the Son The descriptions of the Son INTRODUCTION As we are coming to grips with the confessions teaching on the Trinity, we have had to go back in time to the councils of Nicea and Constantinople. We have had to learn about Arius and Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers and the Pneumatomachians. We have had to learn some big words like homoousios meaning same substance. The 1689 which is the longest statement on the Trinity in the 17th century has packed all the good stuff from these early creeds into one...
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Chap. 2: Para: 3: The Trinity: Part Three
OUTLINE Nicea Constantinople INTRODUCTION For those who suffer from technologophobia (the fear of technical terms); or those those who suffer from disconeologophobia (the fear of learning new words); or who have Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (the fear of long words), today is going to be a living nightmare. We come to one of the most important teachings in the Bible, the Trinitarian nature of our God and this is an area where we are stretched to the ends of human language and conception to articulate what we understand the bible to be saying. I know there is a reactionary attitude that thinks...
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Chapter 2: Paragraph 3: The Trinity: Part Two
OUTLINE The divinity of the Son The divinity of the Spirit INTRODUCTION We continue with the doctrine of the Trinity. Last week we made a beginning at looking at the biblical data establishing that in both the OT and the NT there is a very clear plurality of persons that is presented to us in the form of progressive revelation. We recognized that the Bible does not present the evidence of God’s nature in a textbook form but because each part is God’s word and we cannot make God a liar who contradicts Himself we take all the data...
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1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 2 Paragraph 3: The Trinity: Part One
OUTLINE Plurality of persons Divinity of persons INTRODUCTION We come now to the glorious doctrine of the Trinity. The 1689 out of the 3 confessions of this era is the fullest in what it says. ‘In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not...
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1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 2 Part 3 The incommunicable Attributes of God: Part Three
Immensity/omnipresence Last week we spoke about God’s infinity, this is a quality that defines every perfection in God. He is infinitely powerful, infinitely majestic, infinitely wise. We come now to the last two incommunicable attributes that we will be dealing with and these have to do with God’s infinity in relation to space—omnipresence; and His infinity in relation to time—eternity. We are continuing to look at the phrase, ‘who is immutable, immense, eternal.’ Dealing with the incommunicable attributes we must remember that the same qualitative distinction not merely quantitative distinction exists between our experience of space and God’s immensity;...
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1689 London Baptist Confession: Chapter 1 Part 2 Talking about God
INTRODUCTION Let me begin by reading chap. 2 para. 1, ‘The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous...
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Chapter 1 Part 4-5 The Authority of Scripture
OUTLINE The witness of God The witness of evidences The witness of the Spirit INTRODUCTION By what authority do we accept the Bible to be the word of God? This is the question that the 1689 is addressing in Ch. 1 para. 4-5. This may sound like a strange question to you but it is an important one. At the time of the Reformation a major part of the disagreement between the Protestants and the Catholics was over authority. The Reformers were saying that the Scripture alone is our authority as it is the Word of God; the Catholic...
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Luke 21:25-28: The Second Coming of Christ
OUTLINE The response of creation The response of the unbeliever The response of the believer INTRODUCTION We move from the third worst judgement in history, the fall of Jerusalem described for us in v20-24; to the second worst judgement in history, the Second Coming of Christ Luke 21:25-28. When we come to the cross we will come to the worst judgement in human history. How can the cross, where only one man was judged for sin, be worse than the end of human history where every sinner who has not trusted in Christ will be cast into eternal damnation?...
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Luke 20:1-8: The Authority of Jesus
OUTLINE The question of Jesus’ authority The question of John’s baptism INTRODUCTION It is Wednesday in the passion week, and this is a day of conflict and controversy. Just look down at chapter 20, notice v19, ‘the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour.’ This chapter has several encounters of conflict. It begins with the leaders of the people questioning Christ’s authority, v1-8; v9-18 has the parable of the wicked tenants a hard hitting parable that condemns the rejection of the Messiah and the judgement that will follow; then we see Jesus questioned over...
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Luke 19:28-44: The King Enters Jerusalem
OUTLINE The prophet King The humble King The weeping King INTRODUCTION The coronation of royalty has always been a loud and expensive affair. When Napoleon decided to crown himself emperor he got a crown called ‘the crown of Charlemagne’ made; a mantle that weighed eighty pounds and had to be carried by four helpers; he held a scepter that belonged to Charles V and a sword belonging to Philip III. The Pope was dragged into crowning Napoleon giving the impression of the approval of the Roman Catholic Church in an elaborate ceremony in Notre Dame. A hot air balloon...
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Luke 18:31-34: ‘Everything…Written…Will be Accomplished.’
OUTLINE Birth Nature Ministry Death, burial and resurrection INTRODUCTION I am a fan of science fiction and fantasy, and a common theme in many these genres is the issue of prophecy. Modern fiction thinking reflects modern world views. It too tries to create stories that don’t have God as the Bible describes Him in them. Often you will have a prophecy about someone’s death and this will spark the various characters into having philosophical dialogues. The main problem presented in these dialogues is this one. How can the future be fixed and our choices be free? A common plot...
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Malachi 1:6-14 The Worship God Hates
OUTLINE Dishonoring worship Minimalistic worship Lukewarm worship Compromised worship INTRODUCTION How much worship does God deserve? How much honor, reverence, fear, awe, love, obedience, and sacrifice? The truth is we can never worship, honor or revere God too much. If I as a finite creature gave every moment of time to give a constant flow of heartfelt praise, it would never be enough. If every person in all of creation worshipped God for all eternity, even this finite choir could not give God’s infinite majesty the glory it is due. Enter sin into that equation where we worship as...
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Malachi 1:1-5: Doubting the Love of God
INTRODUCTION The Puritan Samuel Rutherford, in a letter to a man who doubted whether he was a Christian wrote this: ‘We being born in atheism, and bairns (children) of the house we are come of, it is no new thing, my dear brother, for us to be under jealousies and mistakes about the love of God.’1 Having atheist hearts that are in disposition contrary to God we call God a liar instead of believing He cannot lie; we believe God vacillates and changes instead of believing that He cannot change; we believe that God is against us when He...
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Ephesians 6:21-24: Final Encouragement
Overview We come now to the end of the book of Ephesians. This is one of Paul’s denser letters as it focused us on God’s work of building the church. Where Romans is a tour de force of the Gospel, Ephesians is considered Paul’s tour de force of the church. In concluding our sermon series let me attempt to give a view from 30 000 feet. The basic thrust of the letter is God’s work in Christ to make a new humanity for a new creation. Firstly, let me give the large sections that we covered. After the introduction...
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