God, June 1st Lesson

Last week's lesson is absolutely essential...please review it first if you missed that week. You must have it settled that you believe the Bible is the Word of God or you will continuously struggle with believing that the Lord is speaking to you through the Word and that IT is always Truth! The Bible reveals God as the only Infinite and Eternal Being, having no beginning and no ending. He is Crator and Sustainer of all things. He is the Supreme Personal Intelligence, and Righteous Ruler of His universe. He is life, and therefore, the only Source of life. John 5:2

Man is natural and cannot know God by wisdome..."Canst thou by searching find out God?" Job 11:7 God is a persona and can be known only by revelation. In the O.T., He revealed Himself to and through His prophets. In the N.T., He reveals Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1-3

I. The Existance of God
The Bible nowhere attempts to prove or argue the existence of God. "For he taht cometh to God must believe that He is." The existence of God is a fact taken for granted by the writers of the Word. "In the beginning God..." Gen.1:1 The Bible opens by announcing the sublime fact of God and His existence. Heb. 11:6

Food for thought regarding the existence of God:
1. Universal belief in God comes from within man...innate and comes from rational intuition.

2. The argument from "cause and effect". Everything that began owes its existence to a cause. Building - Builder! Creation - Creator. This creation could not have come into existence without an intelligent, personal creator, any more than the alphabet could produce a book! Watch - Watchmaker!

3. The argument from anthropology. Man's moran and intellectual nature argues for a moral and intellectual Creator.

4. The Bible and the Christ that it reveals, His virgin birth, His sinless life, death, resurrection -- all of this an much more argue for the existence of God.

II. The Bible reveals God as a personality - "the living and true God" Self consciousness and self-determination. His personalit is show in what He does...

1. Loves John 3:16 2. Hates Proverbs 6:16 3. Cares I Peter 5:7 4. Grieves Gen. 6:6

Only personality can love, hate, care, griever...God a living, eternal, personal Being.

III. Four definitions of God in the Bible...incomplete yet throw light upon the nature of God.
1. God is love...nature of God in His divine compassion.
2. God is light (I John 1:5) nature of God in His divine character; in Him there is no darkness.
3. God is consuming fire (Heb. 12:29) nature of God in His divine holiness.
$. God is Spirit (John 4:24) nature of God in His divine essence.

The attributes of God reveal His nature. His holy nature is unveiled-attributes ascribed to Him:
1. Life (John 5:26)
2. All knowledge (Psalm 147:5)
3. All power (Rev. 19:6)
4. Filling the universe with His presence (Psa.139:7-10)

God is everywhere present, but He is not in everything. God is a Spirit Being!

IV. The Grace of God Eph. 2:8-9
Grace is the love and mercy of God in action. Mercy=negative, love=positive, together mean grace. God showed mercy in love when He sent His Son to bear our sins in His own body on the cross.
THE GRACE OF GOD:
1. ...SAVES FOREVER. (Rom.8:38-39)
2. ...IS UNCONDITIONAL
3. ...IS SUFFICIENT (II Cor. 12:9)
4. ...MAKES NO DISCRIMINATION (Rev. 22:17)
5. ...justifies (Rom. 3:23-24)
6. ...makes every believer an heir. (Titus 3:7)
7. ...teaches the believer how to live (Titus 2:11-12)

The grace of God is noting less than the unlimited love of God expressed in the gift of His Son, our savior. It is the undeserved love of God toward sinners.

V. The Trinity of God (Matt. 3:16-17)
Three distinct persons in ONE God!
1. The Father is recognized as God (I Peter 1:2) AND in all the fullness of the Godhead invisible. (John 1:18)
2. The Son is recognized as God (Hebrews 1:8) AND is all the fullness of the Godhead manifested in the flesh (John 1:14)
3. The Holy Spirit is recognized as God (Acts 5:3-4) AND is all the fullness of the Godhead acting up9on man, convicting him of sin (John 16:7-11) AND guiding the believer into all truth (John 16:12-15)
4. The doctrine of the Trinity is clear according to the Amplified translation...Genesis 1:26 "Let US [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness..."
5. The doctrine of the Trinity is revealed in the N. T. ... Matt. 3:16-17...a beautiful picture of all three Persons: Christ being baptized, the Father speaking, and Holy Spirit descending as a dove. The spoken word/words: "into the NAME (not names) of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)
6. Creation implies the Trinity. Creation: space, matter, time in one creation! Space: length, breath, height in one space. Matter: energy, motion, phenomena in one substance. Time: past, present, future in one time. Man: body, soul and spirit in one man (I Thess.5:23)
7. In the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit in ONE God!