Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, November 16,

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

Memory Verse 2 Tim 2:4, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

John 15:18-21 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #1: Satan’s Cosmic System hates the believer! Reason #2: We are not of this world-Election out from the World! Reason #3: “The servant is not greater than his Lord,” therefore we too will have persecutions! Reason #4: “The Cosmos does not know God and is ignorant to His Plan.” John 15:18-21 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #1: Satan’s Cosmic System hates the believer! Reason #2: We are not of this world-Election out from the World! Reason #3: “The servant is not greater than his Lord,” therefore we too will have persecutions! Reason #4: “The Cosmos does not know God and is ignorant to His Plan.”

John 15:21, “But all these things, (persecutions), they, (those of Satan’s Cosmic System), will do to you all (disciples of the Lord) for the sake of My (Jesus’) name. Because they (self- righteous religious types) inherently do not know the One (God the Father) who sent Me (Jesus Christ).”

God the Father I. Introduction:

God is revealed to mankind through nature as its Designer and Creator and through Scripture, and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:18, Mat 11:27

John 14:7, “If and you have known Me, you will also know My Father, and from this point forward you keep on knowing Him and have seen Him.”

Jesus Christ, the God/Man, is the Son of God, the Image of God, and is God just as the Father is God. John 1:18; 1 Tim 6:15-16; Heb 1:3; 1 John 4:12-14

John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 14:7, “If you know Me you will know the Father too”. So let us see what Jesus has told us about the Father.

II. The Trinity. God is one in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name (all three members of the Trinity in view), He will teach you all things (Mystery Doctrine of the Church Age) and cause you to remember all that I taught you.”

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit all share equal, eternally and infinitely the exact same Divine essence and attributes.

Father Planner Son Executor Holy Spirit Enabler Co-Equal Co-Infinite Co-Eternal

In the OT the emphasis of the Trinity is upon Divine unity where a Divine plurality is seen in the meaning of “ELOHIM”. Deut. 6:4

Deut 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God (ELOHIM), the LORD is one!”

The NT emphasizes the individual Persons of the Trinity and their separate responsibilities for the purposes of redemption, yet refers oneness of essence. Mat 28:19

Mat 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus Christ the Son is the radiance of His glory. Heb. 1:3

1 John 1:5, “And this is the message which we have heard from Him and we announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

John 1:5, “The light shined in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (overpower) it.”

John 8:12, “Again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.’”

1 Tim 6:16, “Who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

One God can be three in person because of their shared attributes.

SovereigntySovereignty RighteousRighteous JusticeJustice LoveLove Eternal LifeEternal Life OmniscienceOmniscience OmnipotentOmnipotent OmnipresenceOmnipresence ImmutableImmutable VeracityVeracity Attributes of God

These attributes are set forth in Ex 15:11; 33:19; 34:6-7; Deut. 6:4; 10:17; Num 16:22; Isa 44:6; Hab 3:6; Psa 102:26; Job 34:12; Rev. 5:12 and 7:12.

The Father is known as the first person of the Trinity, the Son as the second, and the Holy Spirit as the third.

III. God the Father A. The first person of the Trinity is identified as “Father” for example:

1. “Our Father … in heaven”, Mat 6:9, 14, 26, etc. 2. “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus”, 2 Cor 11:31, etc. 3. In the OT God was revealed as Father:

a. Of the Israelites, Ex 4:22. b. To the special represent- ative of the nation, the king, 2 Sam 7:14. c. As a father who loves his children, Psa 103:13.

4. In the NT it is first revealed in relation to the eternal Son, John 1:14, 18.

John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Tape # Obstructions to Divine Good Production, Part 21 (Not Knowing God) God the Father, Part 1 Upper Room Discourse, Part 440 John 15:21; 14:7, 26; Deut 6:4; 1 John 1:5 Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, November 16, 2010 Tape # Obstructions to Divine Good Production, Part 21 (Not Knowing God) God the Father, Part 1 Upper Room Discourse, Part 440 John 15:21; 14:7, 26; Deut 6:4; 1 John 1:5 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010