Transcript

We Believe I - We Believe in God | Chas Stallard

All right, everybody, thank you for coming tonight. We welcome you back to we believe part one. I know the handout makes it look like an eye. We might have to work on that. But again, this is we believe one class. And thank you guys for attending. Tonight is going to be really our first night of a really serious study. Okay, I know last week we started with a quiz, started with a little bit of tests, and it went like starting with that. But we got to talk a little bit about what the, some of the things we're going to learn. Why we believe then, certain doctrine, certain things to be able to explain, right? Now, real quick, housekeeping. I know the attendance sheet. Who has it right now? (indistinct chatter) Oh, Ms. Margaret's got it? Ms. Margaret, I know you already put it out, right? (indistinct chatter) We have the attendance sheet passing around that could take a little bit. Just sign your name, sign an X. If your name, if your name is not on it, at the very blast page, at the very bottom, you just fill in your name. It'll be the second column. You just put an X there, okay, for the second class. Another housekeeping note. Next week, now this is important. Next week, we will not be having this class on Wednesday. Okay, it is VBS. We're going to be setting up tons of stuff so we won't be in here on Wednesday night, right?

• It'll be on Thursday for the VBS.

So there will be no church service next Wednesday night.

• No church service next Wednesday night,

an event for VBS, I guess, Thursday night. Okay, so make sure and come to that. Now, other than that, tonight, like I said, is the first serious study night. Okay, throughout this series of We Believe One, this is to help you, the Christian, the person who professes Christ's name, to be able to explain the primary essential doctrines of your faith. We're going to be talking about God and what we believe about God. We're going to be talking about Jesus, what we believe about Jesus. We're going to be talking about salvation, the Protestant Christian view of what we believe the scriptures say about salvation and how you can have peace with God. And finally, we're going to be talking about the Bible, how you got the Bible in your hands. We're going to talk a little bit about a manuscript history, our belief of the total inspiration of scripture, how it's an errand, like what is inspiration, what is an errand, how do I explain, we're going to talk about those things. And we're going to do so in a way that is almost in a very memory hook way. Chaz is going to display that tonight. But tonight is over the doctrine of God, what we believe about God. In theology, big word here, this is sometimes called theology proper. And why it's really typically called that is every view you have about your faith, the root of it, stems from your view of God, okay? And so if your view of God is messed up, then your view about Jesus, your view about salvation, your view about the Bible is going to be air, okay? And so tonight we're starting with God, all right? So I'm going to go ahead and break us down in prayer and the Chaz is going to get up and give us his presentation, okay? And real quick, it is anybody needing an extra sheet, is everybody got a sheet, okay? Keep your hands up, once I say amen, I'll come around and pass those out. And also if you need a pen or pencil, keep your hand up too, I'll be doing that as Chaz begins, okay? But for right now, let's bow our heads in prayer and then we'll begin. Thank you, Lord, for this night. Thank you for allowing us as Christians to be able to come into here and know what we believe. Lord, there might be unbelievers here, people who might not even know that they have peace with you, that they have been born again and have been united to your son through faith and through faith alone. Lord, we pray that your spirit enlightens them and convinces their heart to submit to you in faith alone, Lord. We ask that as Christians here, that they can study the scriptures. They believe your word, Lord. They say yes and amen to it, but they might not be as what they feel is sophisticated or intelligent, but they don't need to. If as long as they read your word, your spirit will give them the answers, Lord. We wanna help give them those easy conversational answers about what they believe. Lord, it's important that we know the pillars of our faith. We confess you, Lord, and confessing you where you're ambassadors, we represent you. And when we represent you, we must speak properly about you, Lord. Let us do so tonight. We ask this all in Christ's name, amen. All right, good evening. You guys keep your hands raised, no big deal, Jason, to make his way around. He's got a few pencils and pens and then also the papers. If you don't know, my name's Chaz. I know many of you in here, but if you don't know, my name's Chaz, that's Jake. And like I just wanna reiterate, we're so excited that you're here for this class. And we're gonna go ahead and get it kicked off tonight 'cause we have a lot to cover and I think it's gonna be awesome. So I wanna start with this main question. I want you to think, in your mind, what your answer to this question is, okay? So we're gonna start with this question. What do you believe about God? What do you believe about God? If you had to close your eyes or if you had to look at that piece of paper that's right in front of you and you had to write down, what's your answer to that question is? What is your answer? Can you even begin to articulate what you think that you know about God? What do you believe about God? That's what we're gonna talk about tonight. If someone asks you, what do you believe about God? Do you know enough to be able to communicate that? And so tonight, we're gonna give you a tool that Jake already referenced. We're calling it a memory hook, okay? It's something that's very simple, it's very easy, but it's something that you can use as a tool to when you get asked this question, you know exactly where you can go with your answer. What do you believe about God? The memory hook is this, it's four points, okay? And these are gonna be the outline far less. It's four points. God is love. He's three in one. He's holy other and he's our maker. If you can remember those four, you can have a guideline for being able to communicate what you believe about God. You guys with me so far. God is love, we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about how he's three in one. We're gonna talk about how he's holy other. And then we're gonna talk about him being our maker. And that's what the memory hook, it's those four boxes right there that we're gonna talk about tonight. So the first point, what do you believe about God? God is love. What does the Christian faith believe about God? The first point we're gonna talk about is God is love. Okay, so let's dive into that. I just wanna get some interaction in here tonight. This can be practical, we can have some conversation. I just wanna ask, who's the most loving person that you have ever known in your life here on earth? Your grandmother, your mom, anybody else?

• My sister.
• Okay, there you go.

Front row to back row love right there. Good. Okay, so let's say Aunt Phyllis, okay? We can say, or that person that you thought of when I asked you that question, we would say Aunt Phyllis is loving, right? We would say Aunt Phyllis is the most loving person that I've ever known. Aunt Phyllis is loving, right? But let's look at how the Bible describes God. Let's look at how the Bible describes God, okay? First John, chapter four, verse eight. I'm gonna have a lot of verses tonight. They'll be up on the screen. They're referenced on that sheet. I want you to use that sheet. You can jot down as many notes as you need for tonight. Is everybody got in the paper? I just wanna triple check and up in if you need it before we get going. All right, sweet, I think we're good. All right, the first verse I wanna look at. First John, chapter four, verse eight. The one who does not love, does not know God, for God is love. God is love. Okay, let's look at the next verse. Same chapter, first John, chapter four, verse 16. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love. God is love. And the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him, okay? So why did I ask you the first question? Let's talk about Aunt Phyllis, right? Aunt Phyllis, she probably makes pecan pie and allowed you to have a great summer. You went on the 4th of July after house. She's loving, right? Aunt Phyllis is loving, but you would never say Aunt Phyllis is love, right? You get that distinction. You'd say Aunt Phyllis is loving, but you would never say Aunt Phyllis is actually love. But here in the Bible, and God's word, it clearly defines it for us and it makes it very clear that it says that God is love. Not just that he's loving, but he's actually love. You guys track with me so far. He said, Chaz, that's great. Those are two New Testament verses. Old Testament version of God, he was much meaner and harsher. No, no, no, let's look at Old Testament verse. Exodus 34, verse six. This is what Moses asked to see God's glory. And God tells him that he's gonna proclaim his name to him. This is what it says, verse six. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, abounding in loving kindness. Our God is love, okay? So let's compare that to how the worldviews God, right? We talked about we want to be firmly rooted in how we look at our faith, right? We talked about that last week. What does the world say about God? Does the world always say God is love? They may say that, but then they're gonna twist that and probably mean something totally different than the truth, aren't they? They're gonna say God may be even, he's evil. He sits on high in heaven like a tyrant and dictates orders. That's the world's view of God potentially, which would be wrong. But you as a Christian, when you hear those things, you want you to be able to say, no, no, no, no, no, no. First John chapter four, God is love. What you're saying about God's not true because it's defined right here in Holy Scripture. God is love. And this may seem very simple to you, but you're gonna track with me and you're gonna see why we're starting here, okay? One more verse. First John chapter four, same chapter further on. Verse 20, "If someone says I love God "and hates his brother, he is a liar. "For the one who does not love his brother, "whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. "And this commandment we have from him "that the one who loves God should love his brother also." This is foundational, and we're gonna talk about a lot of stuff that's intellectual in a way, but it's very, very practical and foundational to our faith. God is love, and therefore us as believers, we should be loving, right? Love originated with God. It was manifest in his son and it's demonstrated by us, his children, all right? God is love, and because he's love and his spirits in us, then guess what we're gonna be doing? Loving, right? Pretty simple. Everybody with me so far, this is pretty right down the fairway. Okay, so let's go back to the beginning. Let's go back to our memory hook. It's four points, right? The first one, God is love. He's three in one. He's holy other, and he's our maker. What's the first point?

• God is love.
• God is love, all right, sweet.

We got that one down. God is love, that's what we just talked about, right? He's not just loving, he's actually love. He's not like our aunt Phyllis, right? Even though we love her. Okay, when the world says that God is evil, he's a tyrant, he just, no, no, no, no, God is love. First John chapter four, right? All right, so now let's track this a little further. To understand how deep this idea that God is love is, let me ask you in outside the box question, all right? Another question for you. What was God doing before creation? Anybody ever thought about that question? Tom has the right answer, so I'm not gonna call on him yet. Think about it. What was God doing before creation? Genesis 1-1, God created the heavens and the earth. What was he doing before that? Before the beginning? You ever thought about that? All right, well good, we have an answer for it, it's actually in Holy Scripture, okay? I know Tom was gonna quote this word for word, but I'll steal a thunder. Okay. He could do whatever he wanted to. You're right, that's exactly right. But you know the cool thing is, that's right, that's exactly right. The cool thing is, we can see from this right here, we actually know for a fact what he was doing. John 17, verse 24, what was God doing before he created anything? Chapter 17, verse 24, listen, father, okay? This is Jesus in his high priestly prayer, right before Judas betrays him. He says, father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. This is Jesus saying, father, you loved me before the foundation of the world. So this is a key point, I want you to get this. Before the foundation of the world, the father was eternally loving the son through the spirit. Forever, back into eternity, the father was loving the son through the spirit. You guys tracking with me on that, okay? And there's a reason why we started the way we did. This leads to our second point. He said, God is love, our second point is three in one, right? God is triune, three in one. Now you don't have to answer this out loud, but the same thing is gonna go right here. I want you to think, if you were to put your answer down, you could write it down right on your piece of paper right now. If someone asks you, give me the reasons why it's so important that God is triune. Give me, why is it actually that important that God is a three in one God, that he's the Trinity? Why is that so important? Think about it, you can write your answer right there on your paper. Many of you may be like, I don't know, right? We don't think about that much, do we? Why is it important that he's triune, that he's three in one? We mention it all the time, don't we? And it's very important. Think about it like this. A lot of times, anytime the Trinity comes up in discussion, it probably comes up like this. Someone says, you know, we serve a God that's three in one, and we say yes and amen to that as we should. But then maybe you thought of a question that you kind of wanted to ask to kind of make more sense of it. And then the answer to always ends up being, oh, it's a mystery, right? It's a divine mystery. And in a way it is, it certainly is. But at the same time, there's depths to this that we should want to learn and know more about why is that important that he's three in one. All right, so think about that. Let me ask it to you this way. If God were a solo, single person God, if he were not three in one, if he was just one single person, why would that matter? What would that God be like? Think about that. This is the point I want you to write down, all right? The reason God is love is because he is triune. The whole reason he is love is because he is triune. Triune, T-R-I-U-N-E, 'cause he's three in one. Get that point, the reason he's love is because he's triune, okay? Go back to before creation, let's think about this if it were a single person God. If it were a single person God, before he had made anything, it was just that God there, before he had created anything, he would be what? Alone, right? Be alone. And if he hadn't created anything, and if he's there alone, how could he possibly be love or even loving? The answer is he couldn't, right? He couldn't. If you just had a single person God, we could never say that that God is love. You guys get that? And that is the way in the beginning of understanding just a piece of the beauty of the Trinity. God is love because he's three in one. The Father eternally loving the Son through the Spirit. And if it were just a single person God, he would need something else or someone else there to be able to show that, to experience that love. But guess what? The Father's Son and Spirit were always there eternally. All right? That's the necessity of the Trinity. How is God love? It's because he's triune. The reason God is love is because he's triune. If you just walk away and got that, that'd be a victory for tonight. So when someone asks you, why is it such a big deal that you talk about the God being in Trinity? What can you say? What can you say? You say that God is love. And the whole point of how he can be love is because he's triune, because he's three in one. You guys get that? All right, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. What do we mean when we talk about that? Three in one. Let's go back to our memory hook. What was the first point?

• God is love.
• God is love.

What's the second one?

• Three in one.
• Three in one.

All right, we're doing great. Three in one, holy other, our maker. God is love. Three in one. I'm gonna say it so many times you get six, so hopefully it's ingrained in your head. Holy other, our maker, right? Three in one. Let's get into the word to try to understand. Okay, Chaz, that's great. How'd you get that? How do we actually know that this is true? All right, Matthew chapter eight, verse 19. This is the great commission. Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." So here you have Jesus and he's mentioning all three, right here side by side, the Father, the Son, the Spirit. Second Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 14. This is Paul after he's written a letter to the Corinthian church. He signs off, he gives a farewell. And this is what he says. He says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." There they are again. Paul, he's missing all three, right there, bam, bam, bam. You've got the Son, you've got the Father and you've got the Spirit, okay? So the question is now let's just think logically, okay? Let's just think logically. How? Some of you probably asked this question or heard someone ask this question. How? You say Chaz three and one, what do you mean? How's that possible? Isn't that a contradiction? Doesn't that actually, that doesn't add up. You see, there's some people in the world who even say I can't believe in Christianity because the Trinity, that is not logical. It contradicts itself and so therefore I can't believe that. So let's ask the question, is it a contradiction? Is it a contradiction? All right, I want everybody to look at the screen right now. Everybody see that right there? All right, one equals three, that's what I have up on the screen right there. All right, raise your hand if you think this is a contradiction. Raise your hand if you think it's a contradiction. All right, good, we have a little bit of interaction. We have some meat cans going up. Good, okay. All right, now raise your hand if you think this is an accurate depiction or representation of the Trinity. (laughing) Really? Okay, all right, good. This is good because of all the true false questions we took last week, this was probably the trickiest one. All right, guess what? I don't know if you knew this, but if you try to do this in your math class in fifth grade, you're probably gonna get it wrong. Okay, one does not equal three. That is a contradiction. Logically, that doesn't work. Okay, so this is a contradiction. This is not an accurate representation of the Trinity. All right, let's take it one step further. Let's try something else. All right, now let's go to this. All right, so you've got one. Take in category A, in category A, we have one. But it also in category A, we have three. Raise your hand if you think that's a contradiction. (laughing) Yeah, guess what? It is. You cannot have one of something in A, and then also at the same time in that exact same sense say that you have three in something. It's a contradiction. That is not what is depicted by the Trinity. You guys tracking with me? All right, I see a lot of long faces. (laughing) All right, good, now watch this. I'm gonna do something real quick. Make sure you're paying attention so you catch it. Bam. It just changed the whole game right there. Now, I have one in category A, but I have three in category B. In one sense, in A, it's one. In another sense, in B, it's three. Is that a contradiction? No. (laughing) It is not. It is not a contradiction. In A, it is one, in B, it is three. Okay, this is not a contradiction, and this is accurate of the Trinity. What do I mean? God is, and we talked about this last week. God is one in being. He shares the same essence, but he's one in being, okay? But he's also three in persons, okay? One in being, three in persons. So we have it up there. What is he? He is God. He's one being. God is one. Who is he? Who are the persons? Father, Son, and Spirit. You guys got me on that? So let's go back. Raise your hand if you think this is a contradiction. There we go, all right. Everybody else, there we go. Yep, yep, and guess what? That one is two. That one's not, right? One being three persons. He's God, and he's Father, Son, and Spirit. It's not a contradiction. This is not something that you have to disbelieve logic to believe the Trinity. You guys following with me? All right, good. Doing great. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about how can it be. Chaz, that's a great idea. You just did that with your little illustration. But how from the Bible can we say that God is one, but he's also three, I'm gonna need some more proof. Good, now you're thinking through the Bible. Let's do it. First point, there's one God, right? There's one God. Let's look at this. I mean, chapter six, verses four through five, the Shema, if you've heard of it. The word means here, okay? Verse four, hero Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Hero Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. Okay, think about this, this is Old Testament times. The Jews were distinct from every other religion and faith and pagan people of this time, because they believed in one God. Monotheism, as you probably have heard it. One God, they were monotheistic. They didn't believe in the wind God, and the sun God, and the rain God, and the moon God, and the food God, and all those guys, no, no, no, no. There is one God, and that made them distinct from everybody else. Okay, this is the Shema, like we said. This Jesus actually quotes this in Mark chapter 12 when the scribes ask him what's the most important commandment of all, and he says, love the Lord your God. He's quoting this. Okay, so we've established, what does it say right there? The Lord is our God, the Lord is what?

• One. - One.

He's one. All right, that's great, Chas. So we got the first part. We know that God is one. How do we get that he's three? Let's go to the next verse. Psalm, one ten one. Okay, let's look at this verse. This is King David. King David is writing this. Okay, King David, King of Israel. Let me ask you guys this, at this time in the Jewish world, who was above King David? No human, right? No human, just the Lord, just God. In the hierarchy of the Jewish world, you had God, and then an infinite way down, then you had King David, and then everybody else was below him, right? One person was above King David, one, and that was God. All right, now let's look at this verse then. All right, that's what you think. Verse one, the Lord says to my Lord. Okay, so this is King David writing this. King David says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit it my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Huh, the Lord says to my Lord, okay? So King David is neither of these lords, is he? 'Cause King David's writing this. He says, the Lord said to my Lord. So how many lords do we have here? We got two. The Lord, Jehovah, says to my Lord, Ad and I, okay? There's two lords, there's the Lord, and then he's talking with my Lord David writes, okay? And so, you're confused, what do we have there? We don't have time to go fully to the depths of it, but this is King David writing about a conversation between the father and the son. Between the father and the son. So you just told me King David, there was just one that was higher than him and it was God, but then you have here King David's referring to two lords. You see this? The Bible is saying, yes, God is one God, but there's also a multiplicity here. He's referring to the Lord said to my Lord, this is the father in conversation with the son. You guys tracking with me? Now, Jake will probably refer to John 1-1 whenever we get to that, talking about in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, right? Okay, he said, Chad, that's great. You just talked about the father and the son, that's two in one, I didn't hear you saying that. What about the Holy Spirit, right? What about the Holy Spirit? This is a little small, but it's the only verse that I could put up there, so just listen to me. Acts five, I have the verse down there on your sheet. You can just listen to me. Acts five, Chad, that's great. You got the father and the son. What about the spirit? Here you go. This is Peter in the New Testament church to Ananias and Sephira. Anybody remember that? What happens there? Ananias is Sephira, it says verse one, but a man named Ananias and his wife Sephira sold a piece of property and they kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge and bringing a portion of it. He laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to who? God, you guys track with me here. Peter says, Ananias, verse three, you lied to the Holy Spirit. You lied to the Holy Spirit, Ananias and Sephira, when you lied and you said you gave all the money that you sold that land for and donated it to the church and then you kept a little bit back in the back pocket, you lied to the Holy Spirit. But then we go one verse further, verse four, you have not lied to men, but to who? God, so here you have Peter. He's equating the Holy Spirit with God. The Holy Spirit is God. You guys with me? One being, three what? Persons, one being three what? Persons, three beings? No, one, one being three persons. It's not a contradiction. It is a divine mystery in some ways, absolutely, but it's not a contradiction. And I just wanna say one more thing about this as we kinda go along because there's a gut instinct because it is something that our brain is trying to work out, right? We're trying to understand it. And so you wanna think like, okay, what's a good example so that I can grab hold of and understand it, right? Let me ask you this, would water be a good example? Let me explain how. You have water, right? Water can be a liquid. Water can be ice, it can be a solid. It also can be a gas or vapor or steam, right? Okay, so let me ask you, is that an accurate example of the Trinity? What do you guys think?

• No. - Okay, I got some nose.

Anybody say yes? Okay, why would that not be a good example?

• So if the water are a thing of advice

they can have to be something they'll be working maybe with a vapor.

• Okay, steam has to be something else

before it can be vapor, here's why. Because for that to be a good example, it would have to be liquid, ice, and steam, all at the same time. Can't do that, okay? That example right there, water would be an example of what it's called and you can write this down, modalism, modalism. It's that would be like if, if that were a good representation, which it's not, that is like saying God puts on one mask, he goes behind the stage, he comes back, he puts on his Holy Spirit mask and he goes back and then he puts on another mask. No, no, no, that's not true. That's not a good example, it's not three roles. He's three persons, okay? So that's not a good example. What about an egg? Okay, you take an egg, you have the shell, right? Then you've got the white, right? And then you've got the yolk. So you've got three right there, Chaz, what's wrong with that? That's a good example, right? Is that a good example, what do we think? What? Okay, Gerald's right, go ahead. Yeah, you don't eat the shell, well I don't advise that. You usually try to throw that out. And egg is not a good example for this reason. That would be like making God one third the son, one third the spirit and one third the father. God is not in parts, that's called partialism, okay? The egg is not a good example because that is partialism. God is not parts, he is fully God. He's fully the father, he's fully the son and he's fully the spirit. There's no one thirds in this, okay? So that's not a good example. All right, so you say, Chaz, that's great. I'm just trying to understand the trinity, give me an example, right? Good, good question. All right, let's find one. Matthew chapter three, verse 16 and 17. If someone says, Chaz, give me an example of the trinity. What is the trinity like? This is where you need to go, the baptism of Jesus. This is where you need to go, verse 16. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were open. And he saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on it. And behold, a voice out of the heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, okay? So you've got Jesus the son, you've got the Holy Spirit descending like a dove onto him, correct? And then you have the audible voice of the father saying, this is my what son, what does it say?

• This is on the other side.
• Beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

One God, three persons, all together here at the baptism. Think about that, and even right there, we talked about God being loved, how does God say this is my what? Beloved son, right? It's right there. All right, I want to apply this truth to you guys tonight. This is, like I said, if you get a little intellectual that's good for us. But also, I want us to think about it tonight, especially to the youth. And I'm so fired up that the youth are all here tonight. I want you guys to pay attention to this part, okay? Let's apply this, what we've learned about the trinity so far. Let's apply this to you and to us and everybody that's in here. Let's go back to Genesis one, okay? Verses 26 and 27. It says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image,' according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. So you were made in what? The image of God, right? Okay, Chaz, what does that mean? Part of what that means is in a lesser sense, you share qualities of God in a much, much lesser sense, right? You can create, you can think, you can write songs, like Riley, she's in here, right? You can write songs, you can think, you have consciousness, you have dominion over some things, right? The animals are below us as people, okay? You're made in the image of God. We're image-bearers of him, okay? You guys are tracking with that. But let's apply that to the Trinity. Because God is three and one, the Father has been eternally loving the Son through the Spirit like we talked about. That means that God in himself is a relational God. He's a relational God. There's not a single person God, okay? There's always been the Son and the Father and the Spirit. Okay, so you being made in the what? In the image of God, share this same relational quality. Did you know that? You share that same relational quality. You are not meant, youth person here, young person, old person, whoever it is, me. You're not meant to be isolated all by yourself. God didn't make you into just be something where you can just go and be happy all by yourself. You are a relational creature, why? 'Cause you are made in the image of God. Father, Son and Spirit, three and one. Not just a single person God, that's rooted in the Trinity. You are a relational person, a relational being. And so we wonder why whenever in all of us, you're sitting on your phone, doom-scrolling all day by yourself, it's probably the time where you feel the most alone or the most depressed or the most down or the most out of it, right? You're getting a funk. You aren't meant to be doing that all the time by yourself. You're a relational being, that's the point of the church. We are a community, we are the body of Christ. You are meant, when there's times in your life where you probably, if I were to ask you, when in your life are you feel the most fulfilled? When was that? I guarantee you is probably in the midst of others or someone else, wasn't by yourself. God is a relational God and that impacts you. You're a relational creature, okay? That's not an accident. All right, that echoes the Trinity. And then I wanna read One X or does anybody ever read Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis? Anybody read C.S. Lewis? He's awesome, I would recommend it. Great Christian author, a mere Christianity, he's probably one of my favorite books I've ever read. He wrote a book called The Screwtape Letters, okay? And it's a way of him communicating and getting the Christian to think of all the ways that spiritual warfare is being brought about them through temptation. Think of all the ways you're tempted every single day. And so he wrote a book from the perspective of a manager level demon, writing to a little demon that's out there tempting people, okay? To get in their heads, to say think of all these ways we can attack these people, right? It's an inverse way of looking at it, it's a great book. And one of the quotes in chapter eight of that book, it says this, it says he really does want, okay? This is the manager level guy, manager level demon writing about God. He says he really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of himself whose life on a miniature scale will be qualitatively like his own, not because he absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to his. And this is the part of why I brought mention this. He says we want cattle who can finally become food but he wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in the demon, we want to suck people in, he wants to give out, he wants to give out, God does. He says we are empty and would be filled, he is full and flows over, that is our God, okay? The whole Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Spirit, guess what? He didn't need to create and yet he did and yet he did. Think about that. We want to suck in, you want to get in the worst version of yourself, just keep everything to yourself, be isolated all by yourself but God, he wants to give out, he wants to serve others, he wants to be in community in the church. All right, so let's recap. Let's go to our memory hook. Let's see how we're doing, all right? What was our first point? What was our second point? Three and one, that's what we just talked about, right? Ad nauseam in a good way, right? God is love, three and one, holy other, our maker. God is love, he's three and one, it's not a contradiction, right? Holy other, our maker. God is love, how is it that God can be love? 'Cause he's trying, there we go, exactly right. All right, so let's go to our next point. Holy other, and not H-O-L-E-Y, like your pants, holy with a W, holy, like a whole part, all right? Holy other, what do you believe about God? Go back to that initial question, what do you believe about God? I believe God's holy other, all right? Holy other, now let's go back to our Aunt Phyllis. We said Aunt Phyllis can be loving, but Aunt Phyllis can't be love, right? Okay, so let's look about this. We know God is love, okay? He's so different, he's holy other from you and me, let's establish that, and then let's look at four examples to try to understand that, all right? What do we mean when we say God is holy other? Okay, this is what's called, and you can write this down, have it in the paper, the creator, creature distinction. If you've heard Jake teach on the Trinity when he had us this probably six months ago, he talked a lot about this, this is fundamental. The creator, creature, distinction, you say, Chad, what in the world is that? Good question, Isaiah chapter 55 verse 89, let's set that up first, Isaiah 55 verse 89, the Lord declares this, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways, my ways," declares the Lord. Verse nine, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Okay, there is a giant chasm between you and me and God. His ways are as far from us as the heaven is from the earth. His thoughts as far as the heaven is from the earth. There's a giant chasm between you and God, the creator, creature, distinction, all right? Let's look at this on a deeper level. Does anybody remember in Exodus chapter three, what was going on with Moses? The burning bush, there we go, that's right. The burning bush, and if you remember, God tells Moses, he says, "You're gonna go deliver my people, you're gonna go to Pharaoh, and you're gonna say, let my people go, and you're gonna deliver my people, I'm gonna use you, Moses." But then Moses says to God, okay, I'm gonna do that, then I'm gonna go up to the Israelites, my brethren, and I'm gonna tell them that the God of their fathers, he sent me to you guys, and they're gonna ask, what is your name, God? What's your name? What do I tell them when they ask that? You guys remember that? All right, Exodus chapter three, verse 14. And God said to Moses, I am who I am. God said to him, what do I tell him? Your name is God? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus, you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am, has sent me to you, I am. All right, this is also, if you guys can remember, in John chapter eight, if you guys remember when Jesus is getting into an argument with some of the scribes and Pharisees, and he says, "Before Abraham was born, I am, he's making himself equal to God." That's the reason they pick up the stones to try to throw them at him, right? I am. God says, tell them, I am sent you. Okay, and if you're like me, when you hear that, you're like, your brain almost feels like it's trying to do like a 300 pound power clean. Like, what is this? I am. Like, what? I get that, but like, it just almost breaks down in your mind, right? Does anybody feel that way when you try to say, I am who I am? Like, what, okay? There shouldn't there be something after that? Okay, let's think of it, I wanna explain it this way. My name is Chaz, like I said. I'm glad everybody's here tonight. We're having a good time, I hope. My name's Chaz. I am aging. I'm aging. I'm 31 years old, about to turn 32. (audience laughs) I am increasing in weight, but you believe it or not. I am increasing in weight. I'm about five to 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago. I'm not proud of it, but that's a reality. I'm changing physically, I'm changing physically, okay? I am Chaz, I am growing in knowledge and learning, hopefully. I'm re, as I studied for this, I added some knowledge. God gave me some knowledge, I increased in knowledge. I am learning. I Chaz, hopefully I am growing wiser as I get older, right? You say, okay, boil that down. This is what you need to know. I am becoming. That's the phrase you need to remember. I am becoming. You are becoming. You are becoming something. You are changing. You are shifting. You are growing. You are evolving in a way, right? In your knowledge, in your physical form, all these different ways, we are changing. Now let's compare that to God. Let's compare that to God. And this will be quick and easy. And this might break your brain too. God is, period. God is, he just is. God is, you say, what do you mean? God is not aging, he's eternal, right? God is not growing in weight. He's omnipresent, he's everywhere. God's not growing in wisdom or knowledge. He's omniscient, he knows everything. He's not changing. You guys get that. God is not changing at all. God is being. He is just what is called pure being. Pure being. God just is. Okay, you, me, we are becoming. We're changing. God, he just is. Okay, and that is what I have up there. The creator, creature, distinction, okay? It hints on his asciety, which we're gonna talk about briefly. God just is. In Exodus 3, verse 14, he says, I am who I am. Who are you God? I am, right? He says, it's so different from you or me that even hearing that you're like, what do you mean? There has to be something, no, no, no, no. He just is. And the point of that is that that is the chasm between you and God. You are not like him. He is pure being. You are becoming something, you're changing. Does everybody understand that part of it? Good. So why is that, Matt? Right? Okay, Chez, that's great. What does that have to do with actually anything? Okay? Like I said, this is the idea of God being wholly other. God is not some person, human being, that just advanced, advanced, advanced, advanced infinity times and then became God. He is wholly other than us. Okay, and that'll become important. I'm sure when the next time we have these meetings and we get to get in some differences with other religions. He's wholly other. God is love. He's three in one. He's wholly other and he's our maker. All right, so let's establish that. Now let's look at four ways. God's different than you or me to try to understand that. The first one is that he's eternal. He's eternal. Psalm 90 verses one and two. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. All right, let me pick on the youth here 'cause I'm not gonna ask this. Pike, what year were you born? 2012. All right, what were you doing in 2010? (congregation laughing) What? You don't know what you're doing in 2010? Why not? Yeah, he weren't alive. That's exactly right. Guess what? Before 2012 minus nine months, Pike did not exist, okay? Pike is not eternal. Pike had a beginning. God is eternal. It says before the mountains were born, even from everlasting to everlasting, eternal. God is eternal. We are not eternal, right? We had a beginning, okay? That's the first one. God's eternal. Very simple, right? Second point, how's God difference in us? This is a key one. God is spirit, right? We all know that. Okay, what's that mean? God is spirit. Look at Psalm 139 verses seven and eight. This is David. He says, where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and shield, behold, you are there. David says, where can I go that you're not God? Where can I possibly go? Jeremiah 23, 23 and 24. He says, am I a God who is near declares the Lord and not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him? Declares the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? Okay, get this point. David said, God is everywhere, okay? He's everywhere. And in Jeremiah, it says that he fills the heavens and the earth. He fills them. He's everywhere. All right, let me ask you guys, is what room are we in in the church building? What is this called? Okay, we're here in the sanctuary, right? Are you also in your bed at your house right now? Why? 'Cause you are a finite physical being, right? You are here, you couldn't possibly be here and then also in your bed at the same time, right? So how can we say that God fills the heavens and the earth? How is this possible? We say, well, Chaz, God is omnipresent, right? And he is. But what allows him to be omnipresent? How does that work? How is that actually possible? The answer is right here in John, chapter four, verse 24. I'm glad you asked. Verse 24, God is spirit. God is spirit and those who worship him, worship him must worship in spirit and truth. God is spirit, okay? Here's a great definition from a systematic theology book that kind of does a good job of communicating. It says God's spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts, no dimensions. He's unable to be perceived by our bodily senses and is more excellent than any other kind of existence, okay? He's not made of parts or physical matter. God is spirit. When you read that in John, chapter four, verse 24, God is spirit. That is how God is omnipresent. If God had a physical body, that means he couldn't be infinite, right? God is spirit. He's not like you and I, we're physical beings, right? We're finite beings, okay? But at the same time you're saying Chaz, that sounds great, but God does show us something of himself, doesn't he? Yes, absolutely, right? He does it through creation. He did it through his son and still does. Colossians 1.15, he is the image of the invisible God, Christ, okay? It's also, as you know, we've studied through the Old Testament many times in this church. Talk about the Shekinah glory of God, the pillar of a fire by day, the pillar of cloud by night or the other way around. Got the Shekinah glory, right? So he does reveal to us something, but the point is God's total essence, his spiritual being cannot be seen by us. He is spirit, okay? Track with me. We're not spirit, we're physical beings, right? Now let's go to the third point. God is self-existent. God is self-existent. This is what's called the aciety of God, all right? Acts chapter 17, verse 24 and 25. The God who made the world, this is Paul writing, they're saying this. The God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all people life and breath and what? All thanks. All right, next question. If I locked these doors right here, and we all stayed in here for 100 days, and I put Jake right there in front so no one could pass, what would happen to us if we got trapped in here for 100 days? Yeah, it wouldn't be good, would it? I'll get it all. So we're like, maybe we get some fights, maybe we'd have some good discussions, probably wouldn't go good after about day one, right? But think about this, why is that? Because you and I are dependent on things to exist. We need oxygen, we need water, we need food, we need shelter. If we don't have those things, guess what? We cease to exist. Guess what? God's totally different than that. Totally different. God is self-existent. Self-existent. It says right there, God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. That's talking about him being spirit really right there. But then it says, God doesn't need anything. He himself gives to all people, life and breath and all things. This goes back to the Trinity, right? He's just giving. He didn't have to do anything, but he did create. He did send his son. He didn't have to do any of that, but he did. Okay, he's self-existent. He doesn't need oxygen, air. If you took that away from God, he's perfectly fine. He doesn't, you can't even classify that onto him. He's self-existent, all right? We are not. And we don't want to be trapped in here for 100 days together. All right, the fourth point. How's God different than us? He never changes. He never changes. He never changes. Malachi chapter three, verse six. "For I the Lord do not change." For I the Lord do not change. Therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. I the Lord do not change. And I think, honestly, this is probably something that we, as believers and just people in general, probably take this for granted about God more than any other thing that we've talked about so far tonight. We take it for granted. What do you mean by that? Let's do this. I'll do this as an example, actually. All right, here's what I want to do. First person to stand up and raise their right hand gets $2,000. Go. [LAUGHTER] All right, there we go, Tom. All right, everybody get round of applause for Tom. [APPLAUSE] All right, actually change my mind. Nope, not going to give out $2,000. How do you give me an hour? I'll give him some monotony money. [INAUDIBLE] Think if we served a God that acted like that. It said, oh, you know what? I'm not going to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. Oh, you know what? Change my mind. Think about that. We take that for granted. We take those promises for granted. You say, you know what? You know what? You can have eternal life in my son. Oh, you know what? You sinned too much. Not change my mind. Don't take that for granted. God doesn't change. Thank goodness he does not change. Number is 2319. It says, God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it, or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? Thank God, whatever he says, it will be. You can bank it. It's not going to change. You don't have to lay in bed at night and keep your fingers crossed and hoping, man. I hope God keeps us into-- no, no, no, no. Whatever he says, it will be. He doesn't change. Not only does he not change in his physical sense because of all the things we've already talked about, but his word. When he says it, it doesn't change. God doesn't change. Thank goodness, because we know we do. All right, where are we at so far? We're making good progress. We're getting close to the end here. You guys sticking with me. God is holy other. What's our first point? What do we say? God is love. What's our second one? Third one. Good, and what's our last one? All right, you guys already had good. Holy other, that's what we're just talking about. He's holy other. There's a distinction between us, the creatures, and the creator. We have to understand that. When I ask you, what do you believe about God? Well, I believe God's love. I believe he's three and one. I believe, guess what, he's a lot different than me. He's holy different than me, OK? That's good. He's holy other. All right, now let's look at our last point. Our maker. Our maker. What do you believe about God? What do you believe about God? I believe God's love. I believe he's three and one. I believe he's holy other, and I believe he's our maker, OK? And this one, we've reached our last of the four points, so this is more of like an emphatic statement exclamation point than something that's super deep. We've established that there's a creator-creature distinction, which makes it very clear that God is the creator, right? Creator of all. OK, so how do we know that? Where do we get that from? We just making that out. All right, let's go. Job, Tom. Genesis 1, 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, right? You guys know that passage very well. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Day one, created light. Day two, he created the sky, the atmosphere, the expanse, right? Day three, dry land and the seas. Day four, sun, moon, and stars. Day five, the sea creatures and the birds. Day six, the land animals, the mankind. And then on the seventh day, what do you do? Rest it, right? God created. OK, but I want to ask you this next question off of that. What did God create with? What did he use to create? Did he have this barrel of eternal material that he had here, and then all of a sudden, that's how he created? How do you know that? Good. We got some Bible thinkers in here. Hebrews 11, chapter 3. What did God create with? Listen, by faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the what? The word of God. So that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible, which are visible. So what was the world created by? Was it by some eternal matter, internal material that God used to craft creation? No, it says it was created by the word of God. And then it says what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible. This is what's called ex-Nihilo. They say, what in the world is that? It means God created ex-Nihilo. That means ex out of nothing. He created out of nothing. It was simply his word, his breath. He didn't need some eternal matter to create. It was the word of God. Notice this. And there's some profound truths that you could just chase that down about the word of God and that being creation is incredible. But think about this. Genesis 1 and verse 3, it says, God said, let there be light. Verse 6, God said, let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters. Verse 9, God said, let the waters below the heavens be gathered. Verse 11, God said, let the earth sprout vegetation. Verse 14, God said, verse 20, God said, verse 24, God said, verse 26, God said, if you get the point, by his very speaking, God creates out of nothing by the power of his word. That's incredible. Praise God for that. Psalm 33, 6. It says, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. And by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts. This is spoken of more in John chapter 1, the first three verses. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. And apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. God is the creator. He's our maker. I want to close by looking at this last question. And the question is, why did God create? You ever thought about that? If he didn't have to do it, we talked about that, right? Because he's triune. He had the fellowship of the Son and the Spirit and the Father were all there. He's so other. He's self-existent. He didn't need us to survive or do anything else. Why did he do it? You ever thought about that? Romans 11, 36. That's right, Margaret. Romans 11, verse 36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the what? Glory forever, amen. From God, through God, to God are all things. Everything, to him be the glory forever, amen. Everything is for his glory. Everything. 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. It's all for his glory. Why did he create? For his glory, because he's rooted in it, because he is love, right? It's for his glory. He didn't need anything from creation, and yet he created for his glory. Even in Psalm 19, 1, we know that actually creation actually attests to this, to his glory. It says the heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. What a mighty God that we serve, right? He's our maker. It's all for his glory. And that answer is tied directly to a question that's very practical to you tonight. You may be asking or have asked this question, what's the point of my life, right? Why am I here? Why do I get up in the morning? Why do I, you know, why am I even here on this earth? It's the same answer. It's for his glory. It's for his glory. That should be, what is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's the main purpose of our life, our Christian for all of us that are here tonight. All right, so we're bringing this all the way back around. We'll go back to our memory hook. What's our first point? God is love. What's the second? Third one. And our last one. God is love, three in one. Holy other, our maker. So just go back to where we first started. The very first question that I asked you. What do you believe about God? What do you believe about God? Now instead of feeling nervous, I don't know, you know. No, I believe God's love. I believe he's three in one. I believe he's holy other and I believe he's my maker, right? Let's grab hold of that. Continue to look through that. You have that sheet of paper. You can continue to study those verses. I would challenge you, study those verses. There's so many more for the sake of time. We weren't able to go too deep. But that's just the starting point. Take that, grab hold of that. I know it'll edify you as a believer. What do you believe about God? We believe God's love. He's not just loving. He's actually love. We believe he's three in one, right? He's three in one. Is that a contradiction? No, it's not. We believe he's holy other. He's completely different from you and I. And lastly, we believe that he's our maker. He's creator of all. He created out of nothing. By the power of the word of his mouth, by his breath, right? Praise God for who he is, amen? All right. Before we wrap, I know if you guys have those pins or whatever. As we dismiss, I think Jake's going to come up here. He may pray us out. But just drop those in the bucket as you leave. And if you missed the clipboard, if you weren't able to scratch your name, just make sure you do that before you leave. I just want to say I'm extremely thankful for everybody. And then open it up if Jake, if you have anything else that you'd like to add before it closes. Do you want to have anyone if they have any questions?