Oh, the the riches
both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable
are His judgments
and His ways
past finding out!
Romans 11:33
God hath all life,a glory,b goodness,c blessedness,d in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made,e not deriving any glory from them,f but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them: He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things;g and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleaseth.h In His sight all things are open and manifest;i His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature,k so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain.l He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands.m To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.n (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646 A.D.; Chapter 2; section 2). (Scripture References: a: John 5:26; b: Acts 7:2; c: Psalm 119:68; d: 1 timothy 6:15; Romans 9:5; e: Acts 17:24-25; f: Job 22:2-3; g: Romans 11:36; h: Revelation 4:11; 1 Timothy 6:15; Daniel 4:25, 35; i: Hebrews 4:13; k: Romans 11:33-34; Psalms 147:5; l: Acts 15:18; Ezekiel 11:5; m: Psalms 145:17; Romans 7:12-14).
From the preceding blogs it has been demonstrated that faith comes in at least two ways: 1: Common faith, we believe a thing, even though it may be unseen, to be true. In other words, faith has in it elements of trust, belief, hope; therefore one of those elements are greater at times than another. The more knowledge we have of a thing in which we are putting our "faith" the more the elements evolve in importance. For instance; if we were to attempt to cross a lonely out of the way bridge, all alone, to cross it with no knowledge about it would require much faith. If we had knowledge as to its construction and it soundness, the less faith we would have and the more trust or belief is evidenced. This then is objective faith. 2. Propositional faith has no concrete evidence and requires more faith and even those other elements make up the quality of faith less is required of them, at least until more knowledge is obtained, then more trust and hope, and belief become major elements of our faith, but faith in propositions always reigns and requires our faith, first and foremost. We have put our faith in the unseen, that which cannot be seen, therefore when the unseen thing is salvation, this requires salvation faith. God is unseen, and all we know of Him is what He has revealed. We have some objective evidence, i.e., trees, dirt, flowers, etc. but still we cannot see Him or touch Him. Yet, we say that He is sovereign over all things. How can we have faith in the unseen? How does the world around us give any evidence in which to lead us to faith in Him? How can we know for sure, put our faith in salvation, the world to come, everlasting life. In fact who is this God in which we have put our faith?
Let us come to this understanding before we examine the Sovereignty of God. God is a different being! We must not attempt to anthropormorphize Him, that is to make Him have any resemblance to man. God is infinite, there is no beginning nor any end to Him. This may "boggle" the mind as we have recognition of things having a beginning and an end. We cannot understand Him except by the means He has given in which He reveals Himself, or that revelation that we need to know of Him. We cannot judge God in any way for we have limited knowledge and He has unlimited knowledge or He knows the end from the beginning. To say that God should do or have done a thing is at best fallacious. We cannot blame Him for the bad for God is good in all that He does, His purpose will stand no matter what occurs here on earth. Moses writes: "Then He said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Exodus 33:19). While speaking to Moses God reminded Him and us: "But He said, 'You cannot see My face; for no man shall see me, and live" (Exodus 33:20).
We now begin a series on the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God. This Doctrine has been ravaged by some to have meanings that fit their presuppositions and are not founded on the revealed Word of God causing confusion, lives that are lived with the wrong idea of God and what this Sovereign God wants from His creatures. Acknowledgement of the the Sovereignty of God in our lives is life changing. Once the Biblical understanding of this Doctrine is assimilated by us we are no longer the same and our faith has a solid and sure foundation.
Paul further quotes from the Old Testament in regards to God: "For who has know the mind of he LORD? (Isaiah 40:13) or who has become His counselor? (Jeremiah 23:18) or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? (Job 41:11)."
But as it is writtten:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear
heard,
Nor have entered into the
heart of man
The things which God has
prepared for those who love
Him." (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17)
1 Corinthians 2:9
Blessed Be The Name of God Forever
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment