we're gonna go ahead and get started. And this morning we're gonna be, so last week we did an introduction to the Trinity, kind of looking at some of the historical development of it, how do we define it, some heresies and other things. This week we're gonna start getting into the nuts and bolts of what that looks like, speaking about the essence and independence So before we get started, I want to read a section of scripture that kind of I think is a good start for this morning. So Job 38 and the first seven verses. So the Lord is responding to Job here. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man, I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements? Surely you know, or who stretched out the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So you can see here, he's asking Job, well, and telling him to dress for action like a man, and where were you when I created? And in fact, Job can darken the knowledge of God. So really gets at that creator-creature distinction. So very important, and it kind of distills, perhaps, some of what we're going to discuss today. So let's pray. Almighty God, we do thank you that you are our father. We thank you that you love us. We thank you that you have called us to be your people and that you have made us holy by the blood of your precious son, Jesus Christ. We thank you. A spirit that you are sanctifying us according to the definite and sure plan of our Father. We ask that you be with us now as we study your word and also learn more about you, who you are, our perfect God. So be with us now by your spirit in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so I wanna start this morning by asking the question, what is a dog? Fur, typically fur, best friend, man's best friend. It's an animal that has some essential quality of dogginess without which it would not be a dog. Ah, here we go. I think he knows where I'm going. Then let me ask you, what is the essence of your soul? The spirit of God within us. Being an eternal part of the totality? Yes. That's a tough question, right? All I'm attempting to do by asking that particular question is we don't even know the essence of our own soul, and so as we approach and look at the essence of God, how much greater humility should we have whenever we come and study the Lord? So we don't even understand ourselves fully, or perhaps the essence of the sun. Sure, we have an idea, but we have not sent any probes into the sun. And then the idea of a dog, we'll get into this, but we know what a dog is only because of observed things, forelegs, fur, dogginess, which is kind of the totality of dogs, what they generally do, bark, sometimes bite, man's best friend, but we don't know Really those are to kind of juice our thinking whenever we come to look at what the essence of God is. And so that's where we get into this first point, the imperceptibility of God. And I hope that those questions get at that a little bit. So God is infinite, we are finite. And so, even as Selene mentioned, soul is eternal. It's only eternal because God has made it such and because God is eternal. And he could cease to make us eternal at any point which he chooses, but that is not his plan. Creator, creature, which we just read about in Job 38. very clear distinction, I was reading last night Theology, a children's book before our children went to bed and it reminded me that God brought these things into being like light, let there be light by speaking those words and the sun was created along with the stars and so And so that gets at some of the immensity of God, which is a different lesson. But yeah, so creator, preacher, we don't have that ability. And then independent being, which is God, and dependent being, which is man, which is really kind of what we'll be looking at today. So Petrus and Mastrich was, So he says there's an imperceptibility of the essence, so we can't know God's essence because he's God, we are finite. We just have total inability when it comes to knowing his absolute essence. But then it's also imperceptible. There's just this barrier as well. Because if we could understand God, that would make us then knowing like God, which by the way, our first parents wanted to do as well. So all this to say, we should have a humility when we come to this topic, but at the same time, it should not drive us to not look at and understand God. So if you remember when I preached a number of weeks ago, kind of gave this very simple definition, God's essence is who he is in and of himself. So just like Ben is Ben, even though I don't really know what makes Ben, I am Ben. So you can describe me as a chaplain, you can describe me as tall or whatever, So anyway, Bobbink I think kind of helps give this idea to us here. It's the totality of God. So God is the real, the true being, the fullness of being, the sum total of all reality and perfection, the totality of being from which all other being owes its existence. He is an immeasurable and unbounded ocean I feel like that's a fairly, even though small, it's a robust enough of a saying to kind of get after this idea of God's being. When we talk about essence, that's kind of using these terms. Some theologians call it the aseity of God, but the being of God So, and then we will, the reason we're taking these two together is because God's independence is connected to this idea of his essence, his being. So before we dive into scripture, I also want to mention briefly, the reason we're taking a look at the essence and independence of God first, especially the essence, is that As we go through these other lessons, all of these things are from the essence of God. We'll get into it, but God is not composed. So as 1 John 4 says, God is love. Yes, he absolutely is love, but God is more than love. And you cannot write love justice, the way he's interacted with his people, we know him through those things, and they flow out of him, and they get after this idea of who he is, his person. But he is simple, he's one. So it's not, he's not a composed being, which again, this is where if your mind is like, wait, how is that? Perfect, that's where you should be. So that's why we're looking at the essence of God first, because it's essentially a call, the foundation from which we build upon these other things. So any questions on that? Does that make sense? Are you? I mean, when I've been studying this stuff, my brain has been hurting on the regular. All right, well then we will dive in to particularly one scripture this morning to kind of illuminate this idea. So Exodus 3, I'm gonna give you a little context there with 9 through 14. So yeah, the context, sorry, just a little bit. So Moses killed a man in Egypt, he fled, and then we get to this scene where the Lord is calling him, and there's the burning bush, familiar perhaps to many, but that's the context. So if someone would like to read 3, 9 through 14. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. You shall serve God on this mountain. And Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am. That has sent me to you. Good, thanks. So what's happening here? What are you guys seeing taking place in these verses? God is establishing himself as an ever-present, omnipotent being. It's not, at this point, necessarily as a triune God, but as a saving God. Any other thoughts? I think beyond too much, as you've been alluding to so far, is that we can't totally know him. So he would try to simplify it in such a way that even though this is still somewhat understated, Yeah, so this is a very crucial passage here, and there are a lot of things going on. God has covenanted with his people, they're in bondage, and it's been 400 years or so, perhaps he's, who knows, fallen out of favor with the Israelites, maybe they don't talk about God as much as they did a few hundred years ago, me go to the most powerful dude now and say let your people go, and to Israel and tell them come with me. I mean what should I tell them because that's kind of a big deal. So you see Moses giving them this question, what is his name? He anticipates this question. Notice here that God does not respond with his name. So there's almost a rejection of that idea. No, no, no, no, that's not, you should not be asking that. word here is Jehovah or Yahweh, and it's a verb of being, which means to be, and it breaks down really future, present, here is that he is he's just saying I am who I am go and heed my command and we know it's true because Israel does come to worship God at Mount Sinai which the Lord in that case says let no one come to the mountain lest they perish so again there's just this holiness and this idea of Again, rejecting the curiosity shows the imperceptibility, like if God were to show us without the grace of his son who he actually was, we would just perish because, I mean, we would perish getting too close to the actual son, much less God himself. So there are some other passages. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name and what is his son's name? Surely you know. So again, just this idea of God's being, the totality of it, it is imperceptible. It's there. Now, in the midst of all this discussion, what we have to realize, knowing God, what we know of God and what we're studying of God is sufficient for salvation, sufficient to know him. So even though there's this imperceptibility, we also can perceive who God is to the point of salvation, faith, obedience, all these things. So I also want to make sure that that's clear. But we can't do that by our own steam. Correct, yes. And that's where if we were left without the word of God, we would be absolutely in the dark, which is the worst thing, which is why in the Old Testament, like throughout some of the prophetical books, it talks about the word of God not being present. which is a very dire situation, because without the word of God, we are in the dark. So, yeah, so this shows the simplicity, the infiniteness, the authority, sufficiency of God, we could go on and on, but just this idea of his being. So, what we know is that God's essence is eternal, what we observe, and also from what He has revealed to us. Well, I should reverse the order. What is revealed to us, and then we see that those things are observed in real space and time as well. But we cannot know what that essence is. If we don't know what the essence of our own soul is, again, here we cannot So when it comes to defining God, it's a very difficult thing to do. But again, it's just based off of what we know from scripture, which is spoken by God, and so it is truth. But God is not a composition of these elements, so again, God is not and he's one, he's simple. So, all right, any questions from the scripture passage? Well, can I just say, another thing I love about his name is that he not only affirms his characteristic of being more than the sum of his parts, But simply, he confirms his very existence. And that's where so many people really need to start. So many people say there is no God. They say, I am. Don't be fooled. Yeah. Yeah. And that really, we'll touch on that. But I had a discussion recently with someone upon by an outside force. So even if you have this big kaboom, and then magically everything appears, what is the first cause? There still has to be a cause. And existence, this is getting into the philosophical aspects of it, but existence doesn't come from existence. It has to come from itself. Or rather, yeah, existence doesn't just there has to be an exist-or that gives existence its existence. Does that make sense? So absolutely, he is the being and again God is sufficient in himself, he did not need to create anything, he is perfectly happy, delighted, glorified in and of the Trinity without any existence. do so, to create, which again reveals something about who he is, but all existence flows from him and thus is sustained by him. So again, I know these are some large topics, can be pretty abstract, but important for us to understand. So this next section, kind of getting in, Some of this, we've covered a bit of it, but God's essence necessarily means his utter and absolute independence. And so when we speak of God's independence, we mean that he is absolutely free in every way, above everything, for all time, without question or anything else. So God has zero dependence, upon anyone or anything because he is all sufficient in himself. Does that make sense? So that's where the idea of God's independence comes from. Because as soon as you chip away and say that God is not free or he's dependent on something, then philosophically, if that is the case, which this is, I show this a little bit later, and I don't want to be too harsh here, but even the idea, you know, if you look at the doctrine of election, if God has decided and chosen, prepared beforehand, vessels of mercy, vessels of wrath, the idea of election, if God bases his decision It then creates a God who is dependent upon his own creation, which thus makes him imperfect, or needy in some way, or responding to an outside force. Even if it's on foreseeing good works, because then it's still an outside entity, outside agency, impacting the decisions So I don't want to be too harsh there, but just even this idea, we can chip away at the independence of God in ways like that. And so it's very important to think. in our daily lives as well, something happens, it is by providence, it's either permitted by God to happen or he actions it, decrees that it will happen, and so the idea of chance really then again is chipping away at the idea that something can happen. When I had that conversation a couple of months ago with some Latter-day Saints, I asked them, I said, what is hell then? And they said, oh, it's this place away from or outside of the presence of God, and that's their punishment is that God is not there. Well, that would then imply that there's some kind of existence that exists there, which would then mean that there is some other god, then that has created this hell place. So, again, these things may seem like a small idea, but once you start thinking about it, that's why we're studying this, because it does matter. So, he is par excellence in every way. There are zero imperfections or accidents, so incidental properties. So what is in God is perfect, and God does not have anything that is just like unnecessary or shaves in this way instead of this way and it doesn't make that big of a difference. God, everything that is God is perfect. So when we talk about perfection, as we go through the attributes, when we talk about justice, it's perfect justice, mercy, perfect mercy, authority, perfect authority. There are zero imperfections in all of those and so as he reveals and as he works in his imperfect, that would mean that there is necessarily something or someone more perfect because there is an imperfection. Does that make sense? So he is the absolute, one and only, first being, and utterly dependent of any prior cause. So this has been studied. a variety of ways, which if you remember last week when we talked about the development of the Trinity, this is where a lot of people have gone awry. So if you have multiple gods, then those gods would be imperfect and dependent in many ways, depending on what that particular and then, you know, it's a battle between the gods, you know, if you have a dualistic view, good and evil, like, you know, where's the power, like, ultimately, who's gonna win, and... And not all powerful either. Yeah, and then they're not all powerful. Yeah, so, you can't have multiple gods, because then you start, yeah, like, well, where did they come from? And some people will say gods gave birth to other gods and all this weird stuff, but at the end of the day, I think philosophically it does break down when we start actually diving pretty deep into it. So I don't want to go down a rabbit hole, but again, that idea of the Big Bang Theory, which is anathema, which is not correct, but even for argument's sake, if you did argue that, there is still a first that mover, there's still a first cause to that ball of existence before it went poof. So anyway, any questions or thoughts on that? of itself. It's not a thing, it's nothing. So it can't do anything. So only beings can do things. Yes, yes, yeah, and so as we'll get into more in depth with each of these, everything that is known means that it's derivative from the source, which is God. Though his authority, his will is perfect, and what we define as goodness, all of that comes from God, and so to say that an unintellectual being created To think that the first being would create something greater than himself So yeah, we'll dive into that more But I do want to read here Isaiah two quick verses Isaiah 42 8 So it says I Am the Lord that is my name my glory. I give to no other nor my prayer Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. So God cannot actually give his glory to anybody else. It's just necessarily the condition because there is no one like God. And if you think there is, may you proclaim it. Tell God and see what his response is. That's why idolatry is so, that's why it's the second commandment. And you shall love the Lord your God is no one like God, because all things are created. So, again, yeah, the attributes of God, I'll just say, flow from His essence. I have to be careful with words here. But they, yeah, there's no composition, but they do flow from God. And yeah, this is the basis. So, I wanna get into, Well, by understanding God's independence, I think that helps us understand what we're doing when we're praying to God. We're not changing His mind since He's independent of us. So I think that helps us understand us and how we relate to God through prayer. Yeah. I think it's super important for a proper understanding of the ordering of creation, creator-creature distinction. Augustine said something about, like, all you have to do is to know God and know man, and you'll know all you need. Which, obviously, that's a lifetime of study, but if we understand that God is independent Yeah? I think understanding God's essence also helps us love Him as we ought, because we're commanded to love the Lord our God. And as many of us know from loving spouses or family members, the better you know someone, the better you can love them. And in the case of God, the better we know Him, the better we are able to obey His the better we are able to worship him in accordance with how he wants to be worshipped and so on and so forth. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's like God, even if God did not choose to save mankind, he still deserves to be glorified because of who he is. So, yeah. Yeah, no, that's good. So I'm just gonna briefly go through these here. utterly humble before the face of God not just because he has saved us but because he is God and all humanity every person should tremble before the face of God because he is utterly absolute and we are So yeah, he is, we are not without him. So nothing exists without him. And our very own existence, as Acts 17.28 says, in him we live, move, and have our being. Our very being is dependent upon him every moment of every day. And furthermore, This was really the root sin, the great noble lie in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, having knowledge of good and evil, you will be like God. And so the reason now, set ourselves up, unbelievers, that is, as, well, all of us before Christ, but as many gods, and so we have phrases to that end. The world doesn't revolve around you, or whatever it is. Well, most people do think that it does because of original sin, and that's what sin does. humility, studying this should be cause for great humility because of the pride which we are all prone to. We are dust and ashes. It should also, Maastricht says, and I read a quote from Calvin last week, but put a restraint upon our curiosity. And I like that idea. There is a healthy understanding of God, as he's revealed, and what we're doing this morning is healthy and good, it's not vain. But we can have undue interest in this, trying to discern or understand the essence of God. Do not tread there, as God warned the Israelites when they came to Sinai, lest you and that humility includes a healthy restraint. But Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So fearing him, knowing him, obeying his commands. And then like I said, the second commandment. No one or nothing is like God, and so we should not in any way try to create any sort of idol or likeness of God, because one, we cannot, and two, and more importantly, because there is nothing like God, nor will there ever be nor can be. Two, it's good for correction. So it warns us against infringing upon the independence of God. That's why it's so important. Jesus taught us, not my will but yours, or Jesus said, not my will but yours be done. And then may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. because it is a perfect will, ours is not, we do give the Lord our desires, but we entrust them to him who is perfect with our imperfect desires. And then we talked about the idea of predestination, or somehow our choices impeding or affecting God, or somehow we can limit And I think sometimes practically this happens by we think for whatever reason that hey there's a very difficult medical situation, the Lord, I mean I guess the Lord could heal, but he may not heal. We are placing limits upon Does that make sense? Yeah, we're placing limits upon maybe what God can do. We should pray for healing and we should pray for these things, though it may not be his will. We should never think that God is unable to do something. So those are all ways in which it corrects us and helps us to know and see God for who he is as we walk with him. And there's some scripture reference How beautiful is it that this is our God? And He has chosen in His good pleasure to save us. And if it's His good pleasure, it will happen. Nobody, that's why Paul is so clear, nothing can separate you from the love of God, because there is no being greater than God. And so when God chooses to love us out of his own good pleasure, it comes to pass. Praise be to God. So that's one great confidence and comfort that we have, but also in our times of need, Whenever we are facing evil, there's no evil that's greater. For good, preserving life, granting life, for good health, for peace and rest, for need of wisdom, comfort and mercy in any circumstances. for any and all good and holy means, that's why we are to go to our Father, who is all sufficient in every way. All right, any questions? I know we breezed through this again. My goal is to give you more than what we can discuss on scripture references for your further study. But any questions before we close? to answer your question about the importance for us of the recognition of God's independence. I was thinking that it makes me more aware of what Jesus endured by making himself dependent as a man. The limitations of the flesh, the temptation of Satan, the evil designs of men. Yeah, it's the human nature. Yeah, which, that's a large topic. Jesus was still divine, all these things apply, but he had the two natures in one person. That must have been awful. Yeah, God did his thing, praise God. Well, good, thanks for joining this morning. Next week we're going to get into looking at God the Father. And then Connor will lead looking at God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and we'll kind of get into some more of the attributes. So I want to take three weeks to look at each person. All right, well, someone want to pray for us as we enter our time of worship? that we have, that we have had to study your word and learn more about who you are. I pray that this knowledge would not stay in our heads, that you would apply it to our hearts, to our wills, so that we might love you more, obey you more, glorify you more in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. I pray that you'd be with us now as we move to corporate worship.