Major Doctrines of The Bible: The Existence of God | Steve Benson

the major doctrines of the word of God.

This morning we're going to look at the

the existence of God.

Who is our God?

We need the word of God to answer that

question.

We certainly don't know, do we?

God must reveal himself to us.

And he does.

I'm going to start out on the book of

John this morning. Not going to be there

very long, but John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Jesus directed us

on the subject who is God

and God's existence.

It's one of the first things that

um disciples need to know.

It's what

Moses struggled with.

Well, who am I going to tell the people

you are?

So, we need to know God because we're

Moses was a sinner and he he was among

sinful people.

And Jesus was asked, he asked the

apostles the same question in the New

Testament,

who do men say I am or who do you say I

am?

Was a little better one.

Nothing's changed. Everybody's uh got

their ideas and

and their thoughts on Jesus, but many of

them aren't correct. We need the word of

God to guide us into that. And that's

exactly where Jesus pointed us

was to the word of God.

We have that phrase, it is written.

It's, you know, it's over and over

again. And so I guess that's,

you know, anytime you come to a a trial

or a tribulation or a problem in life,

it's good to say, "What's the Bible say

about this?"

That's the way Jesus looked at things.

and he responded, "It is written

numerous times and especially as we

recall when he was tested in the

wilderness."

That word means

it means uh it's in the present tense.

It's not in the past tense.

So, it stands written. So, the word of

God stands written. And if we're going

to know who God is, we're going to

understand his existence, then we got to

come to the word.

and understand that without the word of

God, we have no Christianity.

I mean, what kind of church would we

have if we just threw the Bible away?

Wouldn't be long. We would be steering

off course.

So, without the word of God, we have no

church. Without the word of God, we have

no Christianity. Without the word of

God, we have no Christ.

At least the one that's in the found in

the Bible. And Jesus says here in

chapter 14 of John,

you know, he was getting ready to go

away. So they were going to lose the

physical presence of Jesus.

He'd been with them for three and a half

years. So in his preparation, their

hearts are troubled. You know this

chapter very well. But he says here in

verse 15,

"If you love me, keep my commandments."

It's almost what he tells Peter at the

end of the book of John when Peter

wanders off and Jesus reconciles him. He

said, "Feed my sheep. Do you love me?

Feed my sheep." Here, you love me, keep

my keep my word.

And these aren't the ten commandments.

This is, you know, the whole Bible here.

Genesis to Revelation,

the things that Jesus has said. He says

he's going to pray the father and we're

going to get a comforter who's going to

help us into these things. And we

learned this uh in the first message

about about the word of God

and obeying Christ and walking in his

light. And he says up there in verse 21

of John, he that has my commandments

and keepeth them. That's important. A

lot of people have

the Bible, but they don't use it or they

don't keep it. There were many like

that. many who that was the Jews

problem. That was the whole nation of

Israel's problem. They had the word of

God but they didn't obey it.

So the church we need the word of God

and we need to obey it. Keep uh and he

says he that is one that keeps my word

is he that loveth me and he that loveth

me will be loved of my father and I will

love him and manifest myself to him. So

Jesus says right here, the key to

Christianity, the key to following him

is is is here is the word of God to

listen and do what he said.

And the apostles had to learn that,

didn't they? And we have to learn that

as we are, you know, we're we're

disciples. We follow along follow him,

too. But he says over in John 16:12, he

John 16:12

says,"I have yet many things to say unto

you, but you can't bear them now."

So, you know, he he again reminds them

that there's more coming,

you know, and the more coming is the

whole New Testament, you know, after his

ascension into glory. We have the book

of Acts. Um, we have the Gospels, we

have the epistles, we have the book of

Revelation,

we have all those things. And that's

what Jesus says here, there's more

coming.

So, it's important that you learn how to

follow me. It's important that you learn

how to obey me. It's important that you

learn how to follow me because like I

said, we don't have we have no church

without following him and his word. We

have no Christianity

without him and following his word. And

remember he said that back in chapter 15

at the end of verse five,

pick up that phrase. He says, "For

without me, you can do nothing."

So that's an important lesson for us to

learn about the word of God and the

existence of God and studying God, who

God is, the existence of God. that all

these things are important for us to

remember that Jesus he's here's where he

pointed us.

And he said the word of God is it's

trustworthy.

You know, it's like God. We we're like

Moses, aren't we? We we're sinful

people. And I'm a sinful man and I live

among sinful people. But God's not

sinful. Jesus is not sinful.

You know, they're pure. They're they're

as the word of God, you know, they're

living as the word of God is living. And

so Jesus told them as well back up to

chapter 10.

So, and these again, these were some of

the earliest people to follow Christ,

and he's telling them how to how to do

it.

And he says here in verse uh 35 of

chapter 10,

he says, "If you be called gods," he's

arguing with the Pharisees here. And he

says,

um,

I wanted verse 35.

If you be called gods unto them who who

the word of God came, that the scripture

cannot be broken. There's what phrase we

want. The scripture cannot be broken.

So Jesus in his authority

gave the word of God all the authority.

He did that with his his early apostles.

He's he's done that with everyone since

then. This is what the church needs to

do. It needs to follow Christ and

understand his absolute authority and

not deviate from these things. We have

no uh we have no Christianity without

the word of God. We have no uh salvation

without the word of God. We have no

Christ without the word of God.

So as the New Testament uh epistles were

added in the book of Revelation, now the

you know the Bible's closed. We don't we

don't want to add anything to this. Like

the book of Revelation says it's uh it's

come to an end. This the Bible is a

closed cannon. You probably heard that

phrase. There's nothing else to add to

the word of God. We have everything we

need. It's like our salvation. It's

sufficient. It's like God. It's

sufficient. And the word of God is

living, you know, like God is. So, you

know, we need the word of God. We need

these great things about to learn about

who God is. So, you know, we have to

take comfort in that. You know, Jesus

says everything is in the word of God.

You know, it's it's the final court of

appeals. It's it's it will not be

broken. Everything that God has given to

us will come to pass. I'll turn back to

the Psalms.

Psalm 22. This is the one

messianic psalm about the crucified

Christ and Savior.

Psalm 22.

And what Jesus taught the men when he

was on the earth is, you know, what

David had to learn and what, you know,

the men in the Old Testament had to

learn as well. They had to follow Christ

even though he had never come to earth.

You know, they were anticipating that.

So here in in the Psalm 22,

I just want to pick up one verse here.

Oh, I'm sorry, more than one. verse

three, Psalm 22

in verse three.

We need to know God is holy.

You know, there's um that's so

important. There's a lesson Moses had to

learn. You know, we fail. We're sinners.

We got problems. You know, we're going

to, you know, we're going to, you know,

maybe dry up and be parched someday, you

know, on this earth. But God never will.

And here this psalm cries out. This is

the the suffering savior. You guys are

very familiar with this psalm because of

that.

But David says here that God's holy.

Uh but thou art holy, oh thou who

inhabitest the praises of Israel. Well

there in verse three.

So we're trying to understand a holy

God. We're trying to um get to know a

holy God. We're trying to let this holy

God show us who he is.

And on his side, he's willing to do

that.

That's the wonderful thing about this.

And David, he wrote all these psalms

here. And there's quite a bit here. Once

I started looking, look in verse 22.

I will declare thy name unto my

brethren. Who's that? Well, that's

Christ.

Jesus is going to come and declare the

word of God to the Jews.

So, that's where we need to look. You

know, God makes some things pretty easy

to find for us.

So, Jesus is going to declare God's name

to us and in the midst of the

congregation, I will praise thee. And

then verse 22, ye who fear the Lord,

praise him, all the seed of Jacob,

glorify him and fear him, all you seeds

of Israel.

So what's Jesus say? He says that God's

holy,

follow him, you know, listen to him, you

know, everything that comes out of his

mouth. Um, and and and praise him for

it.

So important. And then we have verse 20

or excuse me Psalm 23 verse1.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not

want.

How can that be? If God's holy and I'm

sinful, how can God be my shepherd?

>> Well, it's this Messiah here in in Psalm

22

who God sent to declare his name,

declare his word, and to accomplish

salvation. So now we have this great

salvation. And we have a great shepherd

uh now who is uh who who God sent to the

earth.

And before we can know him as shepherd,

we got to know him as savior.

And then if you will look over in

Psalm 24,

he says, "The earth is the Lord's and

the fullness thereof, the worlds and all

they who dwell

therein." So,

you know, that's what we need to know

when we look around that the Bible talks

about

heaven and earth. And you know, whatever

God talks about on the earth is true.

Whatever God talks about in heaven is

true.

So, we we need to know when we look

around at creation, we need to know that

the Lord sent uh and did this. This

belongs to him.

Everyone that's here, not just the not

just the world, but everyone who is

here, we all come from Adam. We all come

from God.

Without that there, you know, that's who

we owe our beginning to

is God.

That's what the Jews said. We owe our

beginning to God. We go we go all the

way back to Genesis and God brought us

into existence.

you know, he's the one that brought us

into existence. He's the one that

brought the nation of Israel into

existence.

So, things come from God. Every good

gift, every perfect gift, these things

come from God. And we should be thankful

and we should praise God for all these

things that he's done, all these things

that he has given us. And then verse

two, he says, he has found it upon the

seas and he's established it upon on the

floods. Who shall ascend into the hill

of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy

place? Remember he said that David did

way back over there in Psalm 22 about

God being holy?

Us being sinful. Well, how can we how

can we become how can God become our

shepherd?

How can we get into this holy presence

of God who made everything around us? He

says, "He who has clean hands and a pure

heart, and he who's lifted up his soul

not in vanity, nor sworn deceitfully,

he shall receive the blessing from the

Lord and the righteousness from the God

of his salvation." So, it's going to

come from God,

you know, and all this is buried here in

these psalms for us to see.

God is the God of our salvation. Things

the the earth come from him. We came

from him. Madame Eve came from him. The

nation of Israel came from him. Our

Messiah will come from him.

Our savior will come from him.

And he says here, "This is a generation

of them who will seek him, who seek thy

face, oh Jacob."

So God tells us to seek him, you know,

even though, you know, we're sinners and

we're sinful. We're like Moses and the

children of Israel and we're like the uh

apostles and we're like the disciples.

We're sinful people. But God says, "Come

on, seek me. Come the right way." And

the right way is through his son. The

right way is through the savior that we

have in chapter 22.

And God says, "Lift up your heads, you

gates. Lift them up to the everlasting

doors and the king of glory will come

in." It's almost, you know, the metaphor

of of being at home and open up your

door for God to come in. Except this is

our life.

You know, God's holy, God's just, his

son's going to declare his ways uh in

the in the midst of the congregation of

verse 22 says, "And we will glorify him.

We will fear him." So we we fear God, we

praise God, we thank God for

generations.

And then he says in verse 8, who is the

king of glory?

You guys know the Lord strong and

mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. We we

think of God that way

that he's going to battle for us.

Um well, he he he is here. He's going to

send the savior. He's going to send us a

redeemer. He's going to send us the son

of God. He's the king of glory.

So these things uh in the Old Testament

help us to see who Christ is and what

Christ has done. Then verse 90, he says,

"Lift up your heads, oh you gates, lift

them up

uh you everlasting doors and the king of

glory shall come in."

So as we seek God, he's going to come in

to us into our into our lives, into our

minds, into our hearts, into to to our

beings. This God who created everything.

And he says, "Who is the King of Glory?"

The Lord of hosts, he is the King of

Glory. And you know that's the

resurrected Christ. That's who that is,

the resurrected Jesus. He's the King of

glory.

Now he's back in glory. He's at the

right hand of the father. But here, this

is thousands of years before that

happened. God says, "I'm going to send

my son. I'm going to we're going to send

a me member of the trinity to the earth

to declare the word of God, to show you

the way into this presence of this holy

and just God."

So God's ways are our ways. The prophet

said that over and over, didn't he?

But look what he says here in Psalm 25

down in verse 8.

Good and upright is the Lord. Oh,

remember him.

He's that holy one over there in in

chapter 22:3. The holy one,

our holy God.

Um he is good and upright.

And therefore will he teach sinners in

the way.

So we shouldn't say I'm a sinner. I'm

running hide from God. We should say I'm

a sinner. God help me.

Who can better help sinners than God? No

one.

Who can better show us who God is than

the son of God than God himself?

And he says he's good and upright. He's

going to teach sinners in his way. So we

need teaching, we need instruction,

we need understanding to we need to

humble ourselves before this holy and

just God. And that's what verse 9 says.

The meek will he guide in justice and

the meek will he teach his ways. So

that's who God is. That's his holy God.

He He loves sinners. He's going to help

sinners. He's going to teach sinners in

the way. That's who the King of glory

is.

So, and while we return, we we return

praise and and and rejoicing and

thanksgiving and take comfort in God.

That's what David says up here in verse

one. And to thee, oh Lord, do I lift up

my soul. You know, we're we're not

bodies

alone. We're we're souls with bodies,

you know. So God has told us that in his

word, don't think that once you die,

it's over. It's not. You have a soul. I

have a soul that's going to live

forever. We're going to bury the body.

You may bury my body, but my soul's not

there. I'm not there.

I'm going to be with God.

And David says, "Oh my God,

I trust in thee.

Let me not be ashamed. Let not my

enemies triumph over me." So this faith

is just in it's just ingrained in us to

trust God in in everything.

Every day, every morning, every night,

you know, let not my enemies triumph

over me. whoever they are, wherever they

are, God, help me. I'm going to trust

you.

I'm a sinner. You're going to teach me

the ways. You're gonna you're going to

let me in on wisdom and understanding

and who you are and what you've done.

And David sees these things here before

Jesus ever walked the earth.

Now, we look back, we see what he did.

We have the gospels. We see what he's

done. But David saw all these things

before he ever came.

And he says here, "Lead me in the

truth."

Or or excuse me, I'm going to start in

verse three. He says, "Yay, let none of

them that wait on me be ashamed.

Let them be ashamed who transgress

without cause." David said, "People that

trust God, people that know God, the

holy God of Israel, the holy God of this

book,

he's going to help us fight our battles.

He's going to help us with our enemies.

And David says, "Show me your ways, oh

Lord. Teach me your path." So David was

so dependent on God and so dependent on

the word of God

that that was his source for truth, his

source for living, his source for going

triumphing over his enemies, his his

source for life, everything. Uh God was

everything to David. That's why he says

up there, oh my God, in verse two, I

trust in thee

and made that declaration here.

And then he says

in verse six, remember, O Lord,

thy tender mercies and thy loving

kindness, for they have been of old.

David remembers how God can forgive.

God can forgive us because not because

of what David did, but because of what

Jesus did for David. Back over there in

Psalm 22, we have a wonderful savior.

So, we praise God. We we bring him our

request. We say, "I'm going to trust

you. I'm going to follow you. Teach me

your ways. Show me yourself. Show me who

you are, God." And when we come to the

word of God, it's so important that we,

you know, humble ourselves and know that

God is holy and we're not.

Now, turn over to Psalm 27.

So that who is the king of of glory?

Well, that's Jesus. He's at the right

hand of the father now. He's

he's he's been he's been here and done

that, right?

And we have the full account.

And

his resurrection is proof that God

not only

can save us, he has saved us

and he's going to return for us. But

here's David, you know, centuries before

this even happened

under trying to understand who God is

and trust God.

And here he says in Psalm 27,

I was going to read the whole psalm,

but for time's sake,

he says here,

look in verse 14 of chapter of Psalm 25.

Psalm 25, I'll get to I said 27, now I'm

backing up. I was going to read that

whole psalm and now I just seeing all

everything that I'm skipping. So I'm

sorry but look in verse 14

>> 25

the whole psalm whole that whole psalm

25 is about trusting God. David says my

eyes my mind my feet everything in me

trusting in you.

And then he says, if you will,

verse 14, Psalm 25, verse 14, now that I

Psalms 25:14

got everyone confused,

the secret of the Lord is with those who

fear him, and he will show them his

covenant.

It's pretty much one-sided.

The reason we know God is because

he decided to know us.

And it doesn't stop with salvation. God

wants us to to trust him.

The secret of the Lord with those who

fear him, and he will show them his

covenant. My eyes are ever toward the

Lord,

for he shall pluck my feet out of the

net.

In verse 17, the troubles of my heart

are enlarged. Oh, bring thou me out of

my distress.

Look at my afflictions. So, it wasn't

like he had a, you know, he just had a

easy life.

D David's almost embarrassing to talk

about,

you know, he committed adultery. He he

murdered Uriah.

Um he he was a man of war. The Bible

says he is a bloody man.

How can a bloody man have this kind of

fellowship with a holy God? There's

someone in between.

And the one who is in between is the one

back there in Psalm 22.

Our wonderful savior and our redeemer.

Oh, keep my soul. Deliver me. Verse 20.

Let me not be ashamed. I put my trust in

thee.

Pretty simple for David. I'm going to

trust the God of the word of God. I'm

going to trust the God of Israel. The

God who created everything.

Surely if he takes care of everything,

he can take care of me.

Let integrity and my uprightness

preserve me for I wait on thee. There it

is. Redeemer Israel, oh God, out of all

of his trouble. So David had a great

redeemer.

We have a great redeemer.

Even though God is holy and we're

sinful,

we have a great

redeemer.

Doesn't it doesn't prevent us from from

seeking God. You know, I think sometimes

we're like, I you know, God doesn't want

to talk to me today.

Not true. He's there for us. Whatever

our troubles are, whatever our issues

are, you know, whatever whatever is

bothering us is bothering him.

He's a great God. He can he can handle a

little stress.

In Psalm 27

and verse 8,

when you said this holy God,

this just God, this perfect God, this

this great God who made everything

around us, who spoke and it happened.

You said, "Seek my face."

And my heart said unto thee, "Thy face,

Lord, will I seek." See the imitation.

Holy God's given us a great imitation

that we can come and seek his face. And

he says in verse 9, "Hide not thy face

far from me. Put thou not thy servant

away in anger, but thou has been my

help.

Leave me not, neither forsake me, oh God

of my salvation." David says it again,

God of my salvation. Every day, God's

here for us. Every hour of every day,

every moment of every day, he's uh here

for us in all of our troubles and all of

our problems.

He wants us to know him

and to know him greatly, to know his

face. That's what this Hebrew word, the

Hebrew word means, countenance.

That's what it means.

David said, "Your count Lord, you said

seek my countenance. I will seek your

countenance."

That's that's God's character.

It's this holy God's character. David,

God says, "Come on. I want to reveal and

show you who I am and what I can do. His

honor, his glory." And we're just

getting started. We got more to come

when we get to heaven.

You know, God's going to raise these

bodies of ours. So this this word face

it means more than you know the mouth.

You know you start thinking about God.

You know what's the Bible say? Well the

Bible says you know the mouth of God.

It's it's there he spoke.

So but he he's this is much more than

the mouth. This is this is the whole

person the whole being. God says know me

all of me. Not just some of me not part

of me. It's the that's the invitation

for us to come and know all of God,

know his know his countenance, know his

character, know his honor, know his

glory,

and to be in a person's presence,

you know, um and and if it if it talks

about humans,

if this word appears in the Old

Testament talking about humans, it means

their upside, you know, talk talk to

people about their upside. side, you

know, when you're face to face or when

you're talking, well, you know, there is

no downside with God. It's all up.

You know, he has no fault.

He has no issues at all. They're all

We're the sinners. We're the sinful

ones. We're the ones that have the

issues. But God still says, "Come,

come, come unto me all you that labor

and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest." Who said that?

But God's wisdom and God's love and

God's mercy and God's grace and God's

truth, all these things, God says,

"Come, let me show you. Let me teach

you." And here David says, "You invited

me. You said come, Lord. You said seek,

Lord, and I'm going to do that even

though I'm a sinful man."

So, you know, God has no faults. So we

worship him. We praise him. We thank

him. We fall before him. We get on our

knees before him.

So this open invitation

is here for us.

And now look at verse I'm sorry Psalm

29. Another two.

Psalm 29.

You got to know the Lord to worship him.

You got to know who he is to appreciate

him.

And that's what the word of God is for.

Give unto the Lord, oh you mighty. Give

unto the Lord glory and strength. God

wants us to know his glory

and his strength. Give unto the Lord the

glory. Do his name. worship the Lord in

the beauty of holy.

He's holy. We're not, but he's making us

holy. And it's, you know, that's what

Thomas Manton said about God's holiness.

Said it's not enough for God just to

say, "Here, let me I'll show you I'm

holy and take us to heaven." Now, he's

now he's working on us.

God's love and grace and mercy. He wants

to make us holy

and we are holy in his son. and and we

got more to come. We're going to have to

have a changed body and a changed

location

to understand all these things.

And there is a beauty in holiness. Not

until we see it in God are we going to

want it in us.

And the voice of the Lord is upon the

waters. You have the God who made

everything around.

All the oceans and all the mountains,

everything that we stand in awe of.

He's He's even greater.

Everything owes it its origination with

him. The world does, we do, Israel does,

uh, Adam does, Abraham does, the Jews

do, David does. We all owe God our

existence. He brought us into being.

And he says here in verse four, the

voice of the Lord. How can we hear the

voice of the Lord? Well, we we're

hearing it now. We're hearing it from

his word.

We're hear it from him

in the middle of the night sometimes.

Last week, I heard a thunderstorm come

through in the middle of the night. I

heard a pretty loud thunder collapse.

But lightning and thunder pale in

comparison to God. He's the Almighty. Is

there anything he can't do?

He's full of majesty. He's holy.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

Yay. The Lord breaks the cedars of

Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like

a calf.

Uh the voice of the Lord divides the

flames of the fire. And that's, you

know, that's what this whole psalm says.

The voice of the Lord, the voice of the

Lord. And then verse 10,

the Lord sets upon the flood. Yeah. The

Lord, he sets king forever. Remember

what he said? Who's the king of of

glory? Well, that's Jesus.

Well, he's going to return back to

heaven. So, he

he left heaven as a king. He come to

earth as a king. He returned to heaven

as a king. He's done his job.

And in between is you and I. We're we're

a part of this kingdom now. We're part

of his kingdom now. us sinful people

have been made holy by the king

spoken of here and the Lord will give

strength into unto his people. So that's

where we get our strength.

We get our strength from the Lord. We

get our strength from his word. We get

his strength from prayer, from being

together where that's where we get our

strength.

And the Lord will bless his people

with peace. So God says, "Seek me.

Seek my face. Seek who I am." David

said, "Lord, I will."

And then David was rewarded in knowing

these things and understanding these

things before they ever took place in

these great uh prophecies. So, you know,

the the personality of God is kind of

what we're trying to zero in on that,

you know, God, he's not an it, he's not

a thing, he's not a force,

he's a person.

And here we see as he dealt with David,

oh sinful David, God said, "Come on now,

I'll help you."

So the invitation is there and uh we

want to seek him. We want to know these

things about God. The door is open. God

says, "Seek my face." And we're going to

do it.

We're going to do it through his word.

Turn back to Numbers 23.

Numbers 23.

So when the people said, "Well, Moses,

who sent you?" Moses had an answer.

When the apostles, Jesus said, "Who sent

you?" The men had an answer.

So when people say, "Well, you

Christians, what's going on? Who is it

that you serve?" Well, we got an answer.

You serve the Lord of Hosts. He's mighty

in battle.

Uh he created everything around us

and he sent his son down here to die for

us. Now now he's back in heaven and

we're waiting to join him.

That's pretty encouraging.

And in Numbers 23 and verse 19,

God is not a man that he should lie,

neither the son of man that he should

repent.

You know how many verses are in the

Bible like this?

I just Googled it. Just just came back

and said over a hundred.

There are a hundred verses similar to

this in the Bible that said

God's not a liar like you are. God's not

like you are and I am.

So he's much greater than we are. So

when it comes to us understanding who he

is, we are so dependent on him

for that to happen.

And like David said, Lord, you said,

"Seek my face and I will seek your

face."

And here in verse 19, he has said,

"Shall he not do it? He has spoken and

shall he not make it good."

So God's promises are like Jesus said.

He he put all the authority on the word

of God and everything God said. That's

where it's at.

So that's how David could say, you know,

I'm a sinful man. Remember, don't

remember my sins anymore, Lord. He's the

one that wrote in Psalm 103 about his

sins being as far as the east is from

the west. So far have you removed my

transgressions from me? That was before

the cross ever happened.

But now we're looking back on that and

and we see that God is so great

and and that we need him

to teach us and to show us

who he is. We're not perfect. We're not

like Jesus. We're like Moses. We're not

like Jesus. We're like Peter.

So all these faults are in us. And we

need God in order uh for us to see

who he is.

And Paul said in Romans a couple weeks

back, we looked at that verse in Romans

11 at the end of verse 11 where he says

God's ways, you're just past finding

out.

So God, it's a kind of a paradox we're

in. God's past finding out. Yet he says,

"Come, I'll show you. I will teach you

my ways.

You know the the our church fathers used

to think that thinking wrong about God

was a sin. Like speaking of God wrong is

a sin. Thinking of God wrong is a sin.

So that's why we want to have an

understanding of who he is. We don't

know everything about God. We only know

some things, but we want to know the

right things. And we want to know him as

he is.

He's holy, just, he's perfect, and so

are all of his ways. So his his most

holy character, that's who God is.

And and uh that's how God wants us to

know. And and David said in the Psalms

how just how faithful God was and is,

how trustworthy God's is.

David got up every morning and went to

bed every night trusting the Lord. And

he said, 'I'll seek your face. So, you

know, God is completely faithful. God is

totally faithful. He'll never let us

down. That's what the New Testament

says.

He says, "I will never fail you." Others

may fail you. Others may let you down.

Others may hurt you, but not God.

So we have a great lesson here for us

that the limitations

and the invitation

the limitations are in us but God says

come anyway. The invitation is come

anyway. Let me show you. And that's what

God did for David.

So turn over to second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

2 Corinthians chapter 3

2 Corinthians 3:10

verse 10.

You know, this was,

you know, who better to understand

what happened in the Old Testament that

God was doing and how the how the Jews

failed

and how Jesus succeeded.

And then Paul, he he sees how he he

failed and Jesus succeeded

and and everything now is riding on

not Moses

but Jesus.

That's what you remember he said that

oh we believe Moses. You know how many

times they threw that at him? He said

Moses is here. Oh we believe Abraham. Oh

a greater than Abraham is here.

So this king of glory has been here and

he has he has you know updated

everything

you know and and there are no more

sacrifices for sin.

He said it is finished. It is completed.

He's back in heaven. He's on the right

hand of the father. So, so

knowing God now has become

updated,

you know, not that the Old Testament was

wrong, but that now we have Christ. Now

we know who the King of Glory is.

Now we know who the Lord of hosts is.

So now we can preach a gospel that can

save people. That's who Jesus is. He's a

savior. That's what Psalm 22 said. We

got a redeemer. He said, 'I will declare

your ways, God. I will show them who you

are.

So, here we are now, having been shown

who God is through Christ. He's a

redeemer.

God's going to die for our sins. That's

not a little thing.

But the Jews, they they wanted to go

back to the old the old way. That's

Hebrews. And you know, if you're

familiar with the New Testament, it's

all over the place here.

Galatians, they want to go back under

the law. Put Gentiles under the law.

Every time

the Bible says, "No, we're not going

back. We're going forward."

And here Paul tells the Corinthians that

here in verse 10 he says, "For even that

which was made glorious had no glory

uh by the resp uh by by reason of the

glory that excelth." Yeah, that's the

verse we want. For even that which was

made glorious had no glory in this

respect

by reason of the glory that excel. Paul

says we compare what Jesus did

to the Old Testament. There's no

comparison.

And that word excelth means it

surpasses.

So Paul says that what Jesus did and who

Jesus is and what's going on now and all

this new stuff in the New Testament,

all this sound doctrine, all this truth

that Jesus brought us and gave us, we're

not going backwards,

we're going forward. And he says in

verse 11, if that which was done away

was glorious, how much more that which

remainth is glorious. Seeing then that

we have such hope, we use plain

plainness of speech, not complicated.

Paul says, not as Moses who put a veil

over his face that the children of

Israel could not steadfastly look to the

end that that which is abolished,

but their minds were blinded.

>> For until the day remain at the same

veil taken away in the reading of the

Old Testament, that veil was done away

in Christ.

But even until this day when Moses is

read, the veil is upon their heart.

They're still ignorant. You talk to a

Jew and they

they call Paul a a crippled epile

epilep.

You know what I'm trying to say?

That's what they call him. They don't

want to listen to Paul.

You know, they don't think the Messiah

has come, but he has. And then how wrong

they are.

How wrong we are not to move on to the

New Testament

to the person and the work of Christ.

Now God can work in us in a greater way.

So we have the New Testament and we have

the Holy Spirit. That's what this says.

Nevertheless,

when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil

will be taken away. Now the spirit

now the Lord is that spirit. And where

the spirit of the Lord is, there is

liberty.

Jesus said, "I, I will make you free.

I'll set you free." We have great

liberty in Christ now. We're not under

the law. We're under grace. Now, when we

fail, we just confess and he forgives.

We don't have to set the temple up

anymore. We don't have to go and bring a

bring a lamb to church because we sin.

No, we have a greater sacrifice.

That's what the book of Hebrews says.

So, we're in this liberty.

Now, it's not so we can sin. It's but

it's so when we do sin, we know

all of our sins have been paid for in

full. Our debt paid. You can't outlive

the debt that Jesus paid

for you and for me. And we are all

unveiled face beholding in a mirror the

glory of the Lord. Where's the glory of

the Lord at? Here. Where who is the Lord

of glorious? David asked back there in

the Psalms. It's the resurrected Jesus.

So we get our eyes fixed on him. He is

the glory of God. We don't have to look

for it now.

He is the glory of God. He is the sound

doctrine.

He is the one who who did all these

great and wonderful things. And Paul

says for us to have no confidence in the

flesh. We put all of our confidence in

Jesus. And we are equipped, as he says

here, we're equipped with the Holy

Spirit.

You know, so we have more we have more

now than David did. David knew these

things without I know the spirit came to

David, didn't he? He told him, prayed

for him not to leave.

But David had a great understanding of

the king of of glory before the

incarnation.

And we have a great understanding of the

king of glory with the incarnation.

So you know we can move past our flesh.

We can move past the law and now we can

put our faith in Christ. We have a

redeemer. We don't want to to go

backwards and live under the law with a

natural man.

No, we're we're freed from that. That's

that liberty we have there in verse 17.

So where the spirit of God is and where

the word of God is, there's going to be

a chain.

You know, that's why God wants us to

look at him

and seek his face and understand who he

is and understand

what he has done. And again, Thomas

Manton said, "It is so fitting for God

to make us holy in his sight. God's done

a great thing for us." Turn to First

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 4.

Peter told his people a similar thing.

as you have received Christ. So, walk ye

in him. We don't need anything else.

We're We're ready to go. We're ready for

the rapture. We're we're ready for

death.

Um we're ready. Jesus has made us ready.

And here in 1 Peter chapter 4

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

and verse six,

this is our walk in the spirit.

He says, "For this, for this cause

the gospel preached also to them that

are dead, that they might be judged

according to the men of the flesh, but

live according to God and the spirit."

That's what God wants us to do.

The new birth has and the freedom we

have in Christ, uh, we have a we have a

new hope. We have a greater hope. We

have a better hope. Moses didn't die for

me. Jesus did. David didn't die for me.

Jesus did.

So the son of God, God came and died for

me and took away my sin. And now we can

be born again. That's what he told

Nicodemus. Why do you want to talk about

the word of God in the Old Testament?

You You guys aren't obeying it anyway.

Jesus said, "You must be born again. He

who has all authority in heaven and

earth

said you must be born again.

And it comes from above. That's what the

Bible said.

You got to be born from above.

I don't say these things to make anyone

doubt their salvation,

but make sure you've been born again

from above. Make sure you have to put

God up on his offer of redemption.

And you, like David, can say, "Don't

remember my sins anymore. I'm a sinful

man. Lord, I'm glad they're all gone.

I'm glad they vanished." The only one

who can make them vanish, not Moses, not

David, not Peter, not Paul,

only the son of God.

And he says here, according to his

divine power has given unto us. How did

it come? Did you earn it? Did I earn it?

Nope.

He gave it to us in a gift. This great

gift of salvation. The new birth is a

gift. Regeneration is a gift. Salvation

is a gift. Redemption is a gift.

But that gift covers everything in this

life.

Whatever it is we fail in, it's our

fault, not God's.

He's equipped us. And he's called us to

glory and to virtue

by which he has given unto us exceeding

great and precious. What are they? We're

still listening to his promises. Are you

kidding me, Lord? Can we have something

more than a promise? You don't need We

don't need anything more than a promise.

By these you might be partakers of the

divine nature. God has given us a down

payment. When the Holy Spirit came, the

new birth came, you know, Jesus

incarnation. I'm not saying that ours

was equal to his, but everyone that's

been born again, we've had our

incarnation.

We're ready for heaven.

We have the spirit. We have Christ.

We're ready to go. And he goes on to

say, "And we want to escape the

corruption. Why would we want to go back

to this old sinful world that we come

out of? Are you kidding me, Lord? After

what you've done for me,

knowledge, self-control, self-control,

and it goes on down through there.

Brotherly love. That's where we are with

brotherly love and and u these great

things that God God has called our souls

to himself. We need to leave the flesh

behind.

And every day we're in a struggle. And

every day we fail. And every day God

says, "Come seek my face."

And I will declare and show you who I

am. And we, like David, want to say,

"Your face, Lord, will we seek." Let's

pray. Father, we thank you this morning

for this great invitation,

not just to salvation.

And we thank you for that. That's it's

just incredible that you would save us

sinners.

But even more incredible that you want

us to be holy. You want us to be like

your son. And we stumble at the thought

of those things. But father, we know

that it's provision you've made. The

spirit works in us and in your word. So

help us to follow you. Help us to walk

in your ways and trust in your ways

like David did and say, "Father, thank

you for not remembering my sin anymore.

It's gone as far as east is from the

west

because of the great work of your son."

What a great savior we have. Pray in his

name. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world.

As we go from this place,