“ Summary, Part 3 (final) ” 2. HIS SPIRITUALITY CALLS US TO WORSHIP HIM IN TRUTH [50:13], which is His word, especially the Gospel. The Gospel liberates us from the Levitical format given to the Jews and into the spiritual priesthood. Divine revelation, not human tradition, defines how we are to draw near to Him. CONCLUDING QUESTIONS [56:23]: 1. Does God’s supreme spirituality enter your thoughts when you come to worship Him? 2. Do you see how irreverent is formalistic or creative worship? 3. Do you understand that worshipping God acceptably is not something peripheral to the Christian life?
“ Summary, Part 2 ” God’s capacity to feel is unoriginated, eternal, ideal, perfect, pure, absolute, immutable. He does have emotions, but they are not to be mistaken for human emotions. His are exalted. 4. HIS DIVINE MORALITY [33:36]. Only God is morally ideal: He can never be morally improved or tarnished. He is incapable of flaw (yes, there are things God cannot do): He can never look upon evil with favor, let alone commit it. Even the heavens are not pure in His sight. He cannot be tempted by evil, nor can He tempt to evil. 5. HIS DIVINE PERSONALITY (His triunity) [38:55]. Even before the creation, God could have holy communion; He can never be lonely. Thus He didn’t create us for companionship with Him. No other personality is like this. B. THE EXPERIENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF GOD’S SPIRITUALITY [42:45]. In Jn 4:24, the Lord is stressing this practical principle. In the passage, He addressed the timeless religious misunderstanding that worship is prefaced by place and tradition. True worship is rooted in God’s nature, and He seeks and requires worship in spirit and truth. What does this mean? 1. HIS SPIRITUALITY CALLS US TO WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT [48:39]: that is, with our hearts and entire souls in sincerity and not empty ritual, which God condemns.
“ Summary, Part 1 ” [Pastor Nutter credits his former professor, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the outline of this message, which can be found in Pastor Nichols’ book, *What does the Bible say about God?: The Biblical doctrine of God*.] In this message, we look at the things that uniquely true of God as a supreme Spirit [starting at 4:10 of the audio]. Though spirits have communicable traits, divine spirituality is incommunicable. God is supreme in His faculties. So we consider things that are true of His spirituality alone. A. DIVINE INCORPOREALITY [12:36]. This means immaterial: without a body. 1. HIS MAJESTIC FORM [13:05]. He is thus invisible, indivisible, impassible (without appetites), and indissoluble (permanent). 2. HIS DIVINE ANIMACY (His power) [16:00]. He is unoriginated, omnipotent, immortal, immutable, and ideal. 3. HIS DIVINE FACULTY (His supreme mind, will, and affection) [22:00]. His understanding is infinite and exalted (“My thoughts are not your thoughtsâ€); By His will, He works all things to its purpose; none of them fail, and none are changed by anyone. It is absolute: without cause or restraint. His exalted will is understood as God’s sovereignty.
“ Summary, Part 4 (final) ” B. THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF HIS INFINITE FLAWLESSNESS [51:27]. 1. It calls us to humble and contrite submission to whatever He ordains in our lives. 2. It calls us to trust in His integrity, not to blame Him for temptation or sin, even though we cannot understand how He sovereignly controls temptation or sinners. 3. It calls us to strive to imitate his flawless character. He is not only a heavenly Father, but a model Father.
“ Summary, Part 3 ” 3. MT 5:48 [39:56]. God’s perfection is the standard of Christian obedience and behavior. Though we can’t hope to satisfy it, Christ makes no sense if this is not what this means. God’s ideality has profound implications for Christian ethics. Sinless perfection is communicable, but perfection is not. 4. JAS 1:13 [42:58]. God is inherently incapable of sin. Again, only faith in God’s word resolves the tension of God controlling Satan without any responsibility for Satan’s actions. II. SUMMARY OF THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF GOD’S IDEALITY [46:01]. A. THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF HIS INEXHAUSTIBLE SUFFICIENCY [46:45]. 1. It calls us to praise Him for making our lives complete. 2. It calls us not to second-guess Him, but rather to fear Him. 3. It calls us to give Him all the credit for all we have. 4. It calls us to trust and ask Him to supply all our material and spiritual needs. 5. It calls us to cling to Christ for all we need and beware whatever draws us away from Him.
“ Summary, Part 2 ” I. SURVEY OF THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO GOD’S IDEALITY (HIS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION) [17:31]. A. BEHOLD THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO GOD’S INEXHAUSTIBLE SUFFICIENCY. 1. PS 18:30-32 [18:11]. Because God is perfect, we can safely depend upon Him, even for our own perfection. Not sinless perfection, but evangelical obedience as completeness. From our perspective, we don’t see our lives as the complete tapestry God made them to be. 2. ECC 3:14 [24:16]. All God does is ideal, since God Himself is ideal. We cannot improve His work. 3. ROM 11:35-36 [26:07]. God is in debt to no one and needs nothing from anyone. 4. EPH 1:22-23 [27:36]. God lacks nothing. 5. COL 2:8-9 [30:33]. Christ is ideal (which makes this a good passage to share with Jehovah’s Witnesses). Everything we need is found in Christ. Humanistic philosophy doesn’t teach this. B. BEHOLD THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO GOD’S INFINITE FLAWLESSNESS [32:56]. 1. JOB 4:17-18, 15:1-16 [33:31]. Compared to God, even the heavens are unclean and the angels are foolish. Our own charge from this is to walk humbly. We have no right to complain to God about our misfortunes. 2. HAB 1:13 [37:31]. Why does God use the godless to chastise His people, or at all for that matter? Trust in God resolves the tension. Faith doesn’t end the mystery; it only diffuses it.
“ Summary, Part 1 ” [Pastor Nutter credits his former professor, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the outline of this message, which can be found in Pastor Nichols’ book, *What does the Bible say about God?: The Biblical doctrine of God*.] INTRODUCTION [starting at 1:25 of the audio]. ‘Existential’ refers to existence. Existential properties, then, refer to the general parameters of existence: completion, dependence, limitation, origin, duration, and alteration. Thus, we define God’s existential attributes when we answer these very questions about His being. When God created the universe, He entered relations into the things He made. When we thus distinguish absolute and relative attributes, we must exercise great caution. It would be wrong to say that it is absolutely necessary for God to be omnipresent in space, or ever-present in time. In all this, we must uphold God’s unchangeableness. He does not change. Thus, we expound God’s existential attributes in terms of His relations to space, time, creatures, and sin. God’s ideality is His inherent and infinite perfection. ‘Perfect’ means complete and flawless.
“ Summary, Part 3 (final) ” 2. CONSIDER THE DISTILLED ESSENCE OF GOD’S IMMANENCE (vv. 27-28) [32:34]. Paul points out the analogy between how dependent children relate to parents and how dependent men relate to God. III. CONSIDER THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF GOD’S INDEPENDENCE [34:56]. A. The general implication: men must repent (vv. 29-31). B. The specific implications: 1. To worship only God, not His creatures. 2. To humbly recognize that God doesn't need us. C. The specific implications of God’s immanence: 1. To be grateful to God for our life and possessions. 2. To acknowledge our complete dependence on God. 3. To courageously fear God more than we fear men. In conclusion: how many are the sermons that teach that Paul blew it at Athens when he preached philosophy and not Christ crucified. Many who profess the gospel reject God’s sovereignty.
“ Summary, Part 2 ” II. CONSIDER THE DUAL SUBSTANCE OF GOD’S INDEPENDENCE (Acts 17:24-28) [15:04]. In these verses, Paul proclaims one true God as master and maker of all men. In verses 24-25, Paul proclaims God’s transcendence, and in verses 25-28, His immanence. A. CONSIDER GOD’S TRANSCENDENCE (Acts 17:24-25) [17:54]. The transcendence of God boils down to this: that God--who made the world--runs and controls it. We must not think of God as an impersonal life-force of the material world. B. CONSIDER GOD’S IMMANENCE (Acts 17:25-28) [20:02]. The continuation of the universe and preservation of the creatures require His active involvement. 1. CONSIDER THE TWOFOLD DISPLAY OF GOD’S IMMANENCE (Acts 17:25-27) [21:24]. a. The immanent God provides everything man needs (v. 25). God neither depends on us, nor ignores us, but we depend on God and He supplies our every need. He is not indifferent to human life, but actively involved with our little realm of need and care. He orders all the affairs of men and nations with His sovereign will (Dan 4:35, Eph1:11). Few things evoke as much hostility as God’s sovereignty over human affairs.
“ Summary, Part 1 ” [Pastor Nutter credits his former professor, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the outline of this message, which can be found in Pastor Nichols’ book, *What does the Bible say about God?: The Biblical doctrine of God*.] In eternity, God was solitary, but not lonely. Yet God’s aseity is the preface, but not the whole story of His self-existence. It serves as the foundation of His self-existence in history. God’s independence has two prongs: first, He transcends all He has made. That is: He is separate from and exalted above His creatures. This is His ‘transcendence’. Second, He sustains, maintains, and oversees His creatures. They depend completely on His care and are completely under His control. Thus, we refer to this aspect of His independence as His ‘immanence’. I. CONSIDER MEN’S CULPABLE IGNORANCE OF GOD’S IMMANENCE (Acts 17:22-23) [starting at 9:11 of the audio]. In these verses, Paul launches his sermon from the platform of men’s ignorance. The Epicureans denied God’s immanence. The Stoics denied God’s transcendence. Their philosophical speculations and idolatrous superstitions betrayed their blatant ignorance of God (Rom 1:19-21).
“ Summary, Part 3 ” We cannot actually ascend to heaven or tunnel into the middle of the earth. But if we could, we would find God there. He is also in the uninhabited and even in the dark places. Verse 12 means that darkness does not thwart God at all. 3. PR 15:3 [31:22]. God’s ‘eyes’ are His faculty of perception, not eyes of flesh. He is aware of every sordid thing that sinners do in His world and every good deed that His saints perform for His glory. His omnipresence implies that men should live in the fear of God (cf. Lev 19:14). This is a spur for holy striving and against hypocrisy and bitterness. The perfect judge will judge perfectly. 4. JER 23:24 [38:06]. This text epitomizes all we have seen. It confirms that God is present, with His whole being, in the entire universe. The mountains do not hide those who seek their protection from Him. 5. MT 18:19-20 [41:27]. This text links God’s omnipresence with His special presence. He offers comfort in His presence, as he did for Jacob in prison and for the liberated building the Temple. CONCLUDING APPLICATIONS [44:32]. 1. We are called to fear God and walk sincerely before Him. 2. We are called to wait on God for vindication and validation. 3. We are assured that we are never beyond the range of God’s protection.
“ Summary, Part 2 ” God is present everywhere in His entirety. Do not confuse this with pantheism. God is everywhere does not infer that everything is God. C. GOD IS SPECIALLY PRESENT ON EARTH, IN SOME PLACES, AND IN HEAVEN [16:54]. God, according to His sovereign good pleasure, specially or emphatically dwells in diverse locations at diverse times. Scripture often refers to these places as “His house†or “His templeâ€. An example is the Garden of Eden. Jacob: “Surely the Lord is in this place†(Gen 28:16). God was in the tabernacle. Today, He dwells in every true church and Christian. He dwells permanently in Heaven (Col 2:9). Other places, we read of God departing, leaving off, etc. II. Survey of the biblical witness to God’s spatial supremacy [20:02]. A. THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO GOD’S IMMENSITY AND OMNIPRESENCE. 1. 1 KI 8:22-27 [21:27]. In Acts 17:28, we read of God’s immanence, which is a different quality. The current text better captures the quality at hand. In his dedication to God’s house, Solomon asserts God’s immensity. His temple does not exhaust his special presence, let alone His omnipresence. 2. PS 139:7-12 [24:52]. There is no such thing as a God-forsaken place. Yet how often do we all try to flee from Him? Where God’s Spirit is, there God is. God is in the inaccessible places.
“ Summary, Part 1 ” [Pastor Nutter credits his former professor, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the outline of this message, which can be found in Pastor Nichols’ book, *What does the Bible say about God?: The Biblical doctrine of God*.] God alone is without limitation. In this message, we focus exclusively on God’s relation to space. Nothing external can limit Him. I. THE CONCEPT OF GOD’S SPATIAL SUPREMACY [starting at 6:07 of the audio]. We summarize as follows: (1) God is not limited by space (His immensity); (2) God is present with His whole being at every point in space (His omnipresence); (3) God is specially present at some points in space (His special presence). A. GOD IS IMMENSE [9:47]. The vast heavens cannot contain him. We can assert His immensity, but we can’t entirely comprehend it. Indeed, He is often far too small in our minds. B. GOD IS OMNIPRESENT [11:42]. He is present with His whole being at every point in space. No one can flee from His presence. He is everywhere, no matter what else is there. Spirits can occupy occupied space as well, yet cannot fill all of space like God can. The devil has the same limitation despite the common notion that he is omnipresent (he isn’t).
“ Summary, Part 7 (final) ” 5. A SPIRIT HAS PERSONALITY [50:21]. Personality involves self-awareness, which is expressed by personal pronouns. By this, we distinguish ourselves from others. In angels and demons: LUKE 1:19; MARK 4:9; MATTHEW 8:29, 31. In humans: taught in almost every page of the Bible, but it is starkly illustrated in disembodied humans (LUKE 9:30; ACTS 16:23-31; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:8; PHILIPPIANS 1:23; REVELATION 6:9-10). Scripture clearly teaches that God is a personal being, not an impersonal force (many texts, but consider ISAIAH 45:22). APPLICATIONS TO BE CONSIDERED NEXT LORD’S DAY.
“ Summary, Part 6 ” To be unmoved is to be un-Christian, and it leads to the church looking to the world for wisdom on emotion. 4. A SPIRIT HAS MORALITY [45:18]. Spirits are free moral agents. This consists of two parts: a. MORAL CAPACITY involves the personal consciousness of right and wrong, and with it the capability to discern right and wrong and to commend what is right and to condemn what is wrong. Scripture often calls this capacity ‘conscience’ (ACTS 24:16; ROMANS 2:14, 15; etc.). In humans: PROVERBS 20:27. In angels and demons: GENESIS 3:5; 2 PETER 2:4; REVELATION 12:10. b. MORAL CHARACTER. Moral character also is associated with spirits. Understand that spirits are never morally neutral: they are either good or evil, righteous or wicked. In angels and demons: 2 PETER 2:4; JOHN 8:44; 1 SAMUEL 16:14, 16, 23; MATTHEW 3:43. In humans: 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1. In God: GENESIS 3:5; JOB 40:8; DEUTERONOMY 32:4.
“ Summary, Part 5 ” All spirits feel in a manner consistent with their nature. God’s capacity for emotion (His emotivity) has been denied by some, but more often neglected by others. Those who deny God’s emotivity say that the capacity to feel is incompatible with God’s purity, immutability, and sovereignty. But that reduces many of the texts we’ve cited to figurative language. Scripture states that all spirits possess the capacity of emotion. Anthropomorphic language for God in the Bible is figurative, meant to capture something important about Him. But emotional language for Him is literal, because affections are of the spirit. Men’s denial or neglect of God’s capacity to feel does not honor God or His word. It does not grow from careful interpretation of the Bible, but often comes from self-justification and prejudice. There has been a Western, specifically northern European cultural bias imposed on God’s character. God is not a stoic, unemotional being unmoved by His creation. This grave error has led to prayerlessness and cold doctrinarianism. Moreover, because man is the image of God, this denial of God’s emotivity tends to undermine the dignity of human emotion, which in turn tends to undermine the cultivation of a godlike emotional life by God’s people.
“ Summary, Part 4 ” 3. A SPIRIT HAS FACULTY [25:10]. These faculties are composite; though distinct, they are to be considered together. As higher spirits, humans, angels and demons, and God all possess these faculties. a. INTELLECT OR MIND [26:45]. In humans: PSALM 77:6; PROVERBS 20:27; 1 CORINTHIANS 2:11. In angels and demons: REVELATION 12:12. In God: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:11; MARK 2:8. A dead body, though it has a brain, doesn’t know, perceive, or understand anything. b. WILL [29:26]. In humans: EXODUS 35:21; MATTHEW 26:41. In angels and demons: LUKE 4:6. In God: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:18; EPHESIANS 1:5, 11; ACTS 21:14; ROMANS 9:18; JAMES 4:15; 1 CORINTHIANS 12:11. Will is also called spontaneity. c. AFFECTIONS (or feelings) [32:32]. In humans: EXODUS 6:9; NUMBERS 5:30; JUDGES 9:13; 1 SAMUEL 1:15; PROVERBS 18:14; LUKE 1:47; PHILIPPIANS 4:7. In angels and demons: JOB 38:7; REVELATION 12:12; LUKE 15:10. In God: EXODUS 20:5; JUDGES 9:13, 10:16; PSALM 90:11; ISAIAH 42:1; JOHN 11:33, 35, 17:24; ROMANS 1:18, 9:13, EPHESIANS 4:30; PHILIPPIANS 4:18.
“ Summary, Part 3 ” 2. A SPIRIT IS A LIVING BEING [14:10]. The second property of spirits is life, or animacy. Spirits are not inanimate objects, but living beings. They’re not only living, but life-giving (JAMES 2:26, GENESIS 2:7). Without a spirit, a body becomes a corpse which disintegrates into the dust. ‘Soul’ stresses the animate nature of spirit, and ‘spirit’ stresses its animating character. After death, the righteous continue to live with Christ (REVELATION 20:4; HEBREWS 12:23) and He doesn’t stop being our God (LUKE 20:37-38; cf. EXODUS 3:6). But what is life? What does it mean to be animate? The Bible doesn’t offer a clear-cut definition, but it does distinguish the animate from the inanimate. The distinguishing trait is that animate creatures act on their own initiative (HEBREWS 4:12); dead, inanimate objects cannot do this. If ‘soul’ emphasizes action, ‘spirit’ emphasizes a specific type and pattern of action, namely breathing. In fact, the Hebrew word for spirit (‘ruach’) also means breath. All of this indicates that God is alive. As life is marked by power and action, it is a property of all spirits.
“ Summary, Part 2 ” DEFINED: a spirit is a non-material and living being, having faculty, morality, and personality. This describes human spirits, angels, demons, and God Himself. Reformed theologians call spirit a communicable attribute of God. 1. A SPIRIT IS A NON-MATERIAL BEING [8:03]. LUKE 24:36-39 – the disciples thought they were seeing a spirit and not a material being. But Jesus reassured them by negation: explaining what spirits don’t have. Still, the Bible tells us that spirits are real and non-material. That is not a contradiction, but an acknowledgement that a non-material realm exists. It is as real as the material realm. In virtue of its non-material nature, a spirit is invisible (COLOSSIANS 1:15; 1 TIMOTHY 6:16) and indivisible: it cannot be separated into parts. Again: a spirit, because it is non-corporeal, is impassible. It doesn’t have bodily appetites or passions. In LUKE 24:41-43, Jesus requested food to show the disciples that He was not just a spirit. Finally, because a spirit is non-material, it is immortal; it is not subject to dissolution. Only God is inherently immortal, but the human spirit returns to Him upon death.
“ Summary, Part 1 ” [Pastor Nutter credits his former professor, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the outline of this message, which can be found in Pastor Nichols’ book, *What does the Bible say about God?: The Biblical doctrine of God*.] III. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD. JOHN 4:24 – this passage is the epitomizing text for our study. It rests three grounds: the existence of spiritual beings, that God is a spirit, and the importance of God’s spirituality for believers. A. THE BIBLICAL CONCEPT OF A SPIRIT [starting at 3:00 of the audio]. We learn about spirits from Scripture. Created spirits, in the broadest sense of the word, may be divided into two categories: the ‘lower spirits’: which are the spirits of beasts, which sustain no continued existence apart from a material body; and ‘higher spirits’: the spirits of angels and men, which can and do sustain existence apart from a material body (HEBREWS 1:14, 12:23). ECCLESIASTES 3:21 – like the beast, man returns to dust; this is to humble him. Yet unlike the beast, man’s spirit does not extinguish upon death, but rather returns to the God who gave it (ECCLESIASTES 12:7). And so the higher spirits can and do exist independent of a material body. We will only concern ourselves with higher spirits.
9/9/14 3:33 AM
