Question 4g Holiness
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: question 4, shorter catechism Leave a comment »John Thackway at The Chippenham Conference April 2012
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: Conferences, Reporting from | Tags: conference reports Leave a comment »
Mr Thackway’s addresses were upon ‘The Fourfold Profit of the Word’
See the conference website for the Audio. We reviewed the messages in the Doctrine Class of 22nd April 2012. Sadly I have not quite been able to complete transcribing the notes I made, but here is what I have done:
Aspects of the Atonement: Passover
Posted: April 8, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: Aspects of the Atonement, Jeff Gilbert, Passover Leave a comment »Jeff Gilbert’s Doctrine Class Notes 18th March 2012 ‘The Passover’ are attached.
Question 4f: Power
Posted: March 25, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: Mike Johnson, power, question 4, shorter catechism Leave a comment »Read Psalm 18, Sing ‘Praise my soul the King of Heaven’
Q4 What is God?
Answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Power: there is power to act,
Wisdom see ends and means, Power to enact them.
Q. 1. What is the Power of God?
Jeremiah 32:17. Ah Lord God, behold thou hast made the Heavens, and the Earth by thy great power, and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
Child asks, ‘Can he lift a car?’ But we barely ascend higher as we try to grasp what God’s power this means… considering the difficulty we have envisaging anything outside our immediate experience. What is the heaviest thing you have lifted? At least that is within the realms of our understanding. We were sharing the hotel on Friday night with Newcastle Falcons professional rugby team and the size of rugby players is quite awesome, yet, as we have seen, there is still a place for smaller, nippy types. Great power struggles to be kept under control. But God is not some clumsy oversized oaf.
Man’s power is at it’s height in destruction – as a child I lived through the 70’s with the constant threat of ‘cold war’ supernova blowing the planet to bits. But if such an explosion should happen, God could track the path of every atom and bring them back into their right place. In fact he has undertaken to do just that! The resurrection! What power!
What is power? What types are there?
Ps18 the power to delegate, bestow, enable, or give power.
Power of God to make different forms of energy: light, heat, chemical, kinetic, potential,
But the ‘light in my darkness’ – what kind of power is that? Spiritual too – over ‘shadow of death’
Power to endure…
Creativity – world thinks discord or graffiti as creative, vacuum cleaner music, ‘new’, but God…
He can do one thing as easily as anything else (but note redemption). But God is not diminished by this… Entropy does not affect Him, ‘He gives but He does not give away’ Tozer.
Cruise of oil, I think of the gospel like that, omnipotent blood of Jesus,
Flavel asks: Q. 4. Are there some things which God cannot do?
A. Yes, there are, but they are such things as are inconsistent with his truth and holiness. Titus 1:2. …which God that cannot lie. 2 Timothy 2:13. He cannot deny himself.
Q. If God’s power is unlimited, why do his people struggle under their burdens so?
A. His strength is made perfect in weakness. David encouraged himself in God.
- 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. 1 Samuel 30:5-7 (in Context) 1 Samuel 30 (Whole Chapter)
But power can also mean Authority:
Contrast David’s authority and legitimacy with pretenders to the throne: Absalom: schemer, Mephibosheth: even the idea!, Sheba: man of Beliel, Adonijah: userper.
Power to set laws, ‘an external rule enforced by authority’, laws of ‘nature’ (Tozer). But this force is a Person!
Applications: Our motto should be ‘By his grace’
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Jas 4 14-17
God is not a miser. ‘My grace is sufficient’, ask of me, anything!
As we age, fade and diminish, ‘God endures unchanging on’. Hang upon him.
Flavel: Q. 5. What is the first thing inferred from God’s Power?
A. That all the Creatures necessarily depend on him for what ability they have, and without the permission of the supreme Power they can do us no hurt. John 19:11. Thou couldest have no power against me except it were given thee from above.
Q. 6. What is the second Inference from hence?
A. That the difficulties which lie in the way of the Promises, need be no stumbling-blocks to our Faith. Romans 4:20-21. He staggered not at the Promises through unbelief, being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able also to perform.
Q. 7. What is the third Inference from this Attribute?
A. The Saints need not be scared at the greatness of their sufferings: their God can carry them through. Daniel 3:17. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.
Q. 8. What is the fourth Inference?
A. That the Salvation of God’s People is certain, whatever their dangers be, being kept by this mighty Power. 2 Peter 1:5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith to Salvation.
Q. 9. What is the last Inference hence?
A. That the state of the damned is unconceivably miserable. Their Punishment proceeding from the glory of the Almighty. 2 Thessalonians 1:9. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.
These ‘inferences’ and some other points are from John Flavel’s work on the shorter catechism.
Q. 2. What evidence have we before our eyes of the Almighty Power of God?
A. It appears in the Creation of the World. Romans 1:20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead. And its Sustentation. Hebrews 1:3. Who upholdeth all things by the word of his Power.
Q. 3. Did God’s Power ever act its utmost?
A. No, he can do more than ever he did, or ever will do. Matthew 3:9. God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Matthew 26:53.
Question 4e: Wisdom
Posted: March 21, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: Mike Johnson, question 4, shorter catechism, Thomas Watson, tozer, wisdom Leave a comment »These notes relate to the doctrine class of the 11th March 2012, Mike Johnson leading.
Q4 What is God?
Answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Through all his ancient works
Amazing wisdom shines,
Confounds the powers of hell,
And breaks their cursed designs:
Strong is his arm,
And shall fulfil
His great decrees,
His sovereign will.Isaac Watts
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter. http://mbible.com/kjv/daniel/2.htm
Affirmation 2010 The Trinity: Three in One
Posted: March 21, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: affirmation 2010, affirmation2010, Alex Hutter, trinity Leave a comment »Alex Hutter led the Doctrine Class on 12 February 2012. The topic was The Trinity.
We have three principles to uphold in thinking about the Trinity.
- One God
- Three Persons
- These Three are co-equal and co-eternal
We believe something called the perspicuity of scripture, meaning that what we read in the bible we can take at face value. Yet we are dealing with topics far beyond our capacity to understand and it is no wonder if we struggle. We have truths, yet we cannot make ‘the ends meet’, yet there are no contradictions. Many have argued that the Trinity can be helpfully explained by analogies: the ‘three legged stool’, the clover leaf, the various roles/titles a person can maintain. Yet these always fall so far short that they are actually misleading and end up in a heretical position, which is always characterised by falling short on at least one of the three principles above. These short-comings are in no way a new phenomenon – the Doctrine of the Trinity has a long history of opposition:
- Tri-theism opposes the principle that there is One God
- Sabellianism opposes the principle that there are three Persons in the Godhead
- Arianism opposes the principle that there are three persons in the Godhead – Jesus is held to be a mere ‘demi-god’.
Affirmation 2010: The Trinity
Posted: March 4, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: affirmation, affirmation 2010, Alex Hutter, Person of Christ, trinity Leave a comment »Alex Hutter took the doctrine class on the subject of the Trinity on Sunday 26th February 2012. This was the second study on this topic. We saw that biblical references to the Lord Jesus Christ varied as to his being: ‘begotten not made’ in respect of his eternity, ‘made flesh’ in respect to his incarnation. We considered phrases which seem to imply at least a subordination of the Son to the Father, ‘My Father is greater than I’ Jonh 14:28, and yet, ‘I and my Father are one’ John 10:30. This is hard for us to reconcile or think about aright. Since none of us has been God and man at the same time. We saw that it was possible to have ‘equals’ and yet for one to be subordinate to the other, as in the relationship between husband and wife. As Jesus said, ‘a servant is not greater than his lord’, yet the two are still human and essentially equal.
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58
Question 4d: Unchangable
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: attributes, immutable, question 4, shorter catechism, unchangable Leave a comment »These notes are from the Doctrine Class yesterday, 19th February 2012.
Q4 What is God?
Answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Sing Ps 102:25-27 1st version in Christian Worship.
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town
And beats high mountain down.
God is Immutable – Unchangable
Adds a gilt-edge to all the other attributes…
The love-songs of the world are littered with ‘forever’ and promises that I’ll ‘always be there for you’, Only Aorist tense – once and forever Rom5
Helen Mirran – said that her sister and the Queen were her ‘only constants’.
David – one day triumphs over goliath, another, scrabbling before Achish, despairing of his life,
Every second, we decline – how far can anything travel inside earth’s atmosphere and under the influence of gravity? What are the limits of ballistics?
Trace a line – we always decay from that line.
Even the Angels are subject to change:
Jude 1 v 6 “For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for …
If God could change, how could be God? He cannot improve, (Tozer p67)
Alex was teaching us abotu the Trinity last week – how can we understand Christ’s incarnation? Does it represent a change in God?
TW says it’s like a cloud covering the sun, but I think it’s more like a dawn or sunset where the clouds are magnificent and glorious because of the sun behind them.
The pastor touched on it this morning… he and Thomas Watson split this into the essence of God and His Decrees
http://www.shortercatechism.com/resources/watson/wsc_wa_004_d.html
What does the bible mean when it uses the word repent of God? e.g. Jonah 3:10 ‘The Lord repented of the evil that he said he could do unto them’
He may will a change, but not change his will, his sentence but not his decree. (Watson)
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it?
We can spend too much time being perplexed over questions about sovreignty and responsibility and not enough time rejoicing and basking in the consequences – He is ever kind, faithful, etc.
But if God’s decree be unchangeable, and cannot be reversed, to what purpose should we use the means of grace? Our efforts towards salvation cannot alter his decree.
The decree of God does not affect my endeavour; for he that decreed my salvation decreed it in the use of means, and if I neglect the means I reprobate myself. No man argues thus: God has decreed how long I shall live, therefore I will not use means to preserve my life, I will not eat and drink. God has decreed the time of my life in the use of means; so God has decreed my salvation in the use of the Word and of prayer. As a man who refuses food murders himself, so he that refuses to work out his salvation destroys himself. (Watson)
Just as Is 40, the youths grow weary,
28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
but also, even as the sandals of the Israelites did not fade… Deuteronomy 29:5
5And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
What and if the Lord gives the ability to endure, rest ur soul on God’s immutibility…
Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love (Hebrew – Ahavat Olam): therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Isaiah 54:10
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Sacrifice
Posted: February 4, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: Aspects of the Atonement, atonement, Jeff Gilbert, sacrifice Leave a comment »I’m not able to be at the Doctrine Class tomorrow so, Lord willing, Jeff Gilbert is leading the meeting on the subject of ‘Sacrifice’, as part of a series on ‘The Atonement’. His notes are downloadable from this link
The bookstall has one copy of the book by Leon Morris which Jeff has recommended. Have a look and snap it up – we can order more.
Just to mention that the rota for the year is pretty much complete, with the exception of the meetings either side of the conference. More news on that anon.
Question 4c: Infinite, Eternal
Posted: January 30, 2012 Filed under: meetingnotes | Tags: eternal, faber, infinite, malcolm watts, Mike Johnson, question 4, shorter catechism, Thomas Watson, tozer Leave a comment »Q4 What is God?
Answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
God is a Spirit
9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Before we proceed, we pause to consider that, ‘the world by wisdom knew not God’ (1 Cor 1:21) and acknowledge that we cannot ‘find out the Almighty unto perfection’ (Job 11:6).
MW: infinite refers to space, eternal refers to time. Berkov says infinite is an overarching term, referring to most of God’s attributes. He also notes that infinite is a negative term – there is no positive way of expressing what God is, we can only go from what we are familiar with, the finite, and say, ‘well, God is not like that’.
Eternal
Yet I may love thee too O Lord, almighty as thou art,For thou hast stooped to ask of me the love of my poor heart. (Faber)
