 So it's a great blessing now for us this morning to return to a consideration of the doctrine of God or theology proper as it's called in our series on the essentials of the faith. I pray certainly in our study of the essentials that our understanding has been informed. We've learned that we've learned more about him as he has revealed himself to us in his word. We are thinking about him as been more biblical or thinking about him as maturing. But also I pray in addition to our understanding being informed that our hearts are enlarged for him, right? The more that we ponder the wonder and majesty and splendor of God, the more that we should love him for who he is and what he's done. So I pray that our love for him has been fueled, that our awe of him has been increased, that our worship of him, as John Stott said, would be more intelligent and loving. Those things go together. As we become more intelligent in our understanding of God, our worship of him becomes more fervent, faithful and loving. Now that's the point, isn't it? A study of theology proper, a study of theology is to learn more of him, to worship him more in spirit and in truth. The more you understand, the greater your knowledge of him, the more that we worship him and love him as we ought to. David says in the Psalms, he says, I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. And then he says, men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts and I will declare your greatness. That worship, that praise comes from an informed heart and informed understanding. In our course of outline here, the outline of our course of study that we've undertaken, we now come to a subject in our theology proper, our study of the doctrine of God, to the person and work of God the Father. Now we first begin our study in the doctrine of God with a sermon on the trinity. And such has been the difficulty of our approach in this case. We consider one sermon, one hour and one vast immeasurable, incomprehensible subject. I've heard it said this way, that you can carry around with you a pail of ocean water, but you cannot contain the ocean in the pail. We attempt to do the same thing in our preaching of these subjects. We're carrying around small pails of ocean water when the Lord is a vast, immeasurable, incomprehensible ocean. But listen to this statement now, by means of introduction, by way of introduction, listen to this statement from our confession of faith, the second London Baptist confession of 1689. And this statement in chapter two, article three, regarding the three distinct persons of the Godhead. And if you have your church app, you can pull it up on your church app and follow along. The London Baptist confession of faith, chapter two, article three, listen. In this divine and infinite being, there are three substances or persons. So in this one infinite divine being, in this one essence of God, there are three persons, the Father, the Word, or the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Of one substance, power, eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. It's an amazing, miraculous, incomprehensible mystery, the mystery of the Trinity, how he is in essence undivided, and yet three substances or persons, the Father, the Word, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is of none, neither begotten or proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and from the Son. All infinite, meaning they're all co-equal, co-equal, without beginning means that they are co-eternal, therefore but one God who is not to be divided in nature, not to be divided in being, but distinguished, that's an important word, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations, which the doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence on him. I want to draw your attention to that one statement from our confession of faith, therefore but one God, we're talking about one God who is not to be divided in nature and being, but is distinguished by several peculiar relative properties or characteristics and personal relations or roles. So we serve, we worship one true and living God, one God in divine essence, one God in being, undivided, infinite, co-eternal and in three persons, distinguished by relative properties, distinguished by characteristics and distinguished by personal relations or roles. Now where does that statement come from? Where does that statement come from? It's a thoughtful statement, it's a fairly wordy statement, I invite you to pull that up and look at it on your own and consider those things being said. It's a loaded statement, then a couple of theologians in the early church all get together in a dark room and sit down and just concoct that out of their own imagination. Where do they get that statement from? That comes from a clear, that is a clear summary of the Bible's teaching on the nature and being of God. Comes from the Bible. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. This is the Shema or the confession of faith you could say of the ancient Jews. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The Lord our God is one. And then Paul, listen to this, Paul picks up on that Old Testament statement about the nature of God and clarifies for us the doctrine of the Trinity in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 6 where Paul says this, yet for us there is one God. You see Paul referencing the Shema in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. Yet for us Paul says there is one God and then he explains the father of whom are all things and we for him and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live. You see how Paul clarifies this statement. Paul affirms that there is one God in quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 and then he identifies that one God with the father and with the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that truth expressed all over the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We serve one God in three distinct persons. Texts that obviously include not just the father, not just the son or Lord Jesus Christ but the Holy Spirit as well. Now you're in Matthew chapter 6 that was the text read in your hearing. Looking back to Matthew chapter 3 and look at verse 16 there, let me give you one of these examples where we see the three persons of the Godhead distinguished by their function or by their peculiar properties or personal relations. Matthew chapter 3 and look there beginning at verse 16. Lord Jesus Christ is being baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist and we read in verse 16, when he had been baptized, Jesus, now Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, God the Son, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity descending like a dove and alighting upon him and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, the voice of the Father. Do you see? Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, God the Father, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in one text. The very beginning of the Lord's earthly ministry we encounter the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the three distinct persons of the Godhead acting as one God at the very beginning of the saving mission of the Son. Now regarding the saving work of the triune God in our salvation among many texts in the Bible, Paul would later say this in Galatians chapter four of verse four. Listen to this from Galatians chapter four. Paul says, but when the fullness of the time had come, God, the Father, sent forth his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, born of a woman, born under the law in order to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons and because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying out, Abba, Father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a Son. And if a Son, then an heir of God through Christ. The Lord Himself, didn't He, commanded us to baptize disciples in the name singular of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. There are just two numerous to quote here. We could do a year long sermon series on this very subject. There is but one God and the Father is God and the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. One essence in three persons, the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity. That is a very brief summary of a sermon that was preached a few weeks ago. I commend that sermon to you if you want more information. Now, when we think of the Trinity then, the Trinity, one God, one essence in three persons, we generally think of the three distinct persons of the Godhead in one of two ways or in two aspects. One, we think of the Godhead essentially, essentially according to his essence or according to his being. A theological word for that is ontology. We think of him ontologically. We think of him essentially according to his essence. In their essence, each distinct person within the Godhead is equally and fully God. Each contains the absolute fullness of the Godhead, meaning that each person, each distinct person of the Godhead is infinite, immutable, unchangeable, eternal, transcendent as we discussed not long ago, sovereign, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, right? Charles Hodge in a systematic theology says this, in the Bible, all divine titles and attributes are ascribed equally to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. The same worship is rendered to them. The one is as much an object of worship as the other. It is not more evident that the Father is God than that the Son is God, nor is the deity of the Father and the Son more clearly revealed than that deity of the Holy Spirit. See? One God, one essence in three persons. One we think of the Godhead essentially according to their essence. Secondly, however, we also think of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit economically. The economic trinity. This helps us to distinguish between the distinct persons of the Godhead, which is what we're going to be doing this morning when we get to that point in the sermon. We think of them economically, not according to their essence, but according to their function. We can think of the Godhead with respect to their essence, their divine being, that one absolute perfect, infinite essence, undivided. Or we can think of them in terms of the economic trinity. We can think of the distinct persons of the Godhead according to their function. Although the three persons of the Godhead are equally God in their essential being, there is a distinction between the members of the trinity in their respective role or activity. Now, if the Bible didn't clarify that, we wouldn't know it. The only reason that we understand, what we understand of the trinity is because God Himself has disclosed that to us in the Scripture. And that's where it comes from. It comes from the Bible. So if you read, if you're going to be a good systematic theologian and you start in Genesis, you're going to read through to Revelation and you're going to think through all of the assertions that are made in the Bible with respect to the person of God, you're going to come out with one God in essence in three distinct persons. Essentially, according to their essence in being undivided, infinite, immutable, eternal, and also economically distinguished according to their functions where the three persons of the Godhead are distinguished according to their respective roles or activity. That's what our confession is referring to. And our confession states that there is but one God who is not to be divided in nature and being. In other words, God is not to be divided according to His essence or according to His being, not to be divided ontologically, but is distinguished, but rather distinguished by several relative properties and personal relations. He is to be distinguished, the three persons of the Godhead distinguished according to their roles or functions. Each distinct person of the Godhead may be distinguished by those characteristics, those relative properties that are peculiar or unique to that person. In other words, God the Father has a particular function, God the Son has particular functions, God the Holy Spirit has particular characteristics of the role that the Holy Spirit plays within the Godhead that distinguished the third person of the Trinity from God the Father and God the Son. Do you see? They're to be distinguished by those characteristics and each distinct person of the Godhead may be distinguished by personal relations. The relationship of each person of the Godhead, one with another inside the Godhead and the relationship of each person of the Godhead to us and how each person of the Godhead relates to us. Now, this is a lot, hang in there, write down notes if you need to, if you hear something that doesn't make sense, try to write it down. We can talk about it later. You can listen to this again. I want to be able to understand how God is to be understood as he has revealed himself to us in the Bible. Both the essential characteristics of God's nature or God's being and those economic or functional distinctions are seen clearly in God's own revelation of himself in his word. Whatever we understand of the Bible, to be speaking at any given time, we know that God is one God in three persons, one God undivided in his essential being and yet distinguished by the functions of the three persons of the Godhead. We can understand more about how God operates and how we're to understand God from his word when we think about him in that way. The trinity then clearly revealed in the Bible, clearly revealed in the Old Testament. You started in the Old Testament, started studying the trinity, you're going to see the trinity there, but those distinctions among the members of the trinity certainly brought into much sharper focus in the New Testament and I wonder why that is. Why would it be that in the progress of revelation in the New Testament that the person and work of the Godhead, the trinity would come into sharper and clearer focus, what comes into sharper and clearer focus because of the arrival of God the Son, the second person of the trinity revealed in the New Testament primarily, right? We see then the functional relationships or the functional distinctives between God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, more clearly in the New Testament. So then that being an introduction. During the time that we have allotted for us this morning for this purpose, we want to consider then those particular relative properties or those personal relations that distinguish God the Father. I want to talk about God the Father. How is the person and work of God the Father distinct from the person and work of God the Son? How is the person and work of God the Father distinct from the person and work of God the Holy Spirit? And we'll see there is a distinction in the way in which God the Father relates to the other persons of the Godhead and there's a distinction to the way in which God the Father relates to us among the members of the Godhead. So much could be said. Hours and hours and hours could be spent. This is just a lightning fast overview of this particular subject. With that in mind, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, we're looking at those characteristics, those properties, those personal relations that distinguish God as God the Father, the first person of the Trinity. In Ephesians chapter 1, look with me beginning in verse 1, where Paul writes this, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Notice immediately in verse 1, we've got a distinction between God and Jesus Christ. God there meaning God the Father and Jesus Christ. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God the Father to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you, verse 2, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's make a couple of observations in those two verses, okay? Notice first that the term Father is used to describe how the first member of the Trinity relates to us as his sons and daughters. Now where do we get that from? Look at verse 2. In verse 1, this letter is written by Paul and this letter is written to the saints who are in Ephesus. Now in verse 2 then, Paul refers to God the Father as God our Father. Who is he talking about? He's talking about himself and those saints in Ephesus, right? Paul and those saints have God as their Father. In other words, God is the Father of Paul and the Father of the saints who are in Ephesus. So how then does Paul go on to define those saints? You look at verse 3, the saints are those blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Those saints in verse 4 are those he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Those saints in verse 5 are those predestined to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ. The saints in verse 6 are those accepted in the beloved. The saints in verse 7 are those redeemed by his blood and forgiven of their sin. We could keep going if we wanted to through the text. The saints then, what are they? They're Christians. The saints are those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. They're those who have been born again in Christ. They've been saved. They've been forgiven of their sins. Right? In other words, here's what I want you to take away from this. God doesn't relate to all people as Father. He is not the Father of all people and all people are not his children. It's just simply a misunderstanding, a lie that gets continuously perpetrated. We are not all children of God. God relates to his people as Father. That's clear from the text and many other texts in the Bible. God relates to his people as Father. Now we see that in the Old Testament, in relation to his covenant people, Israel. God made a covenant with Abraham and his offspring, his descendants. He made a covenant with the nation of Israel. And he says to the nation, for example in Malachi chapter 1 verse 6, listen, God says this to the nation. He says, a son honors his father and a servant honors his master. He says to them, if then I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts. In other words, the Lord refers to himself as the father of the nation, the father of Israel. Under the new covenant then, in the New Testament, that privilege of being sons of God is no longer given by natural birth into the nation. That privilege is no longer given by natural birth, but by spiritual birth. We see that in Ephesians chapter 1. It's not the physical seed of Abraham that are the sons of God their father, but the spiritual seed of Abraham through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said this to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3 verse 26, listen, he says, for you all are sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. So how is it that you become a son or daughter of God? How is it that you could be called children of God? How is it that you could say, God is my father by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith in Christ. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, Paul says, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. We are the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So then think with me. The gift of sonship, which is our relationship to God our Father if we are in Christ. The gift of sonship, the gift of having God the Father as our Father comes not through being born, but through being born again. The gift of having God as our Father comes through being born again. Listen to John chapter 1 verse 12. John says, but as many as have received him to them he gave the right to become children of God. He gives them the right to become the children of God to those who believe in his name. What's that? That is biblical saving faith. Who were born, John says, not of blood, not born of natural descent. Who were born not of the will of the flesh means not according to their own actions or their own efforts, nor of the will of man. It's not man's decision, but they were born from above by God, right? Those whom he gave the right to become children of God are those who were born by God. Sonship then is a gift of God's grace. It's a gift of God's grace, and it's given through adoption. Adoption is a glorious doctrine in the Bible. There's a sermon coming up on adoption, and I can't wait to get to that sermon. Adoption is glorious because God, our Father, adopts us into the household of God. We are sons and daughters of the kingdom through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that comes with so many blessed promises. It's awesome. We're going to look at that very soon. Listen again to Galatians chapter 4, verse 4, when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, God the Father, sends forth God the Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. He redeems us so that we could be called children of God. Do you see? We're not children of God if we're not redeemed. God is our Father if we've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And because you are sons, Paul says, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Can you see how in salvation and everything to do with our redemption, the whole trinity is actively engaged in our redemption, right? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit with direct, distinct roles and functions as regards our salvation. You can think about that salvation. John says this, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. It's a glorious, matchless love. Those who have never turned from sin to trust in Christ by faith cannot claim God as their Father. The Lord says they have a different Father. John chapter eight, they are of their Father the devil. They are children of wrath. They are sons of disobedience. That marks every person who is not vitally united to the Lord Jesus Christ through faith. That marks every lost person on the planet. They are of their Father the devil. They are children of wrath, sons of disobedience like the rest. For believers, flip the page, we're in Ephesians chapter one. Just flip the page and look at Ephesians chapter four and drop down there to verse four. Ephesians chapter four. Look at verse four. There is one body, that one body is referring to the church, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We are saved into one body. There is one body and one spirit. Just as you were called in the hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. You see, our God is one God in three distinct persons. Now notice, notice second, that the term Father is used to describe how the first member of the Trinity relates to the second member of the Trinity. We saw how the first member of the Trinity relates to us, how we are sons and daughters of God our Father. Now notice second, how the term Father is used to describe how the first member of the Trinity relates to the second member of the Trinity. And look back at Ephesians chapter one and look at verse three now. Look at verse three where Paul says, blessed be now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if we're looking at functional distinctions within the Godhead, according to roles and functions within the Godhead, we see distinguished of God the Father that he both relates to us as God our Father and now we see that he relates to God the Son as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see? Now notice verse three, this is the full, standard, distinctive title for the first person of the Trinity. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the first person of the Trinity. And the Lord's relationship to the Father is expressed in his title, the Son of God. These relations are seen in their titles, the Father and the Son. We see this relationship referenced often in the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter nine verse six, for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. We see this obviously referenced in the New Testament very often in the New Testament. Remember the words, the Father's words at the baptism of Jesus Christ. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The Father relates to the Son, the first and second person of the Trinity, they're relating to one another by these distinctions. We see the Trinity in the Old Testament. We see the Trinity in the New Testament, but more clearly in the New Testament because of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ reveals the Father to the world. That's part of the Son's role. The Son's function is to reveal the Father. John chapter one verse 18, John says this, no one has seen God in any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. Right? God the Son declares and reveals the Father. Matthew chapter 11 beginning in verse 27, he says, all things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him. So we understand more fully the distinguishing characteristics of the Father when we look at the person and work of the Son, the ministry of the Son. The Son expresses this relationship. Turn back with me to John chapter 17, John chapter 17. And again, we learn this and we'll make application here in a moment, but we're learning these things about the Father because of the testimony of Scripture. What is said by the Son, what is said by the Father, what is revealed in the Bible by God to us with respect to the Trinity and the three distinct persons of the Godhead. Right? We see this expressed in John chapter 17. So for example, in verses 1 through 5, John chapter 17, beginning in verse 1, these are the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at how the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, relates to the first person of the Trinity. Jesus spoke these words in verse 1, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and he said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. Listen, there are all kinds of heresies that have raised their ugly head inside the church related to the person, the nature of God. One of those is called modalism. You have a lot of modalists out there today who believe that God is one, and they're just, it's just God manifesting himself in three different ways. At one time, God manifests himself as the Father. At another time, he manifests himself as the Son, and at another time, God manifests himself as the Holy Spirit. One God, one person, manifesting himself in different ways. It's called modalism. It is a heresy, not what the Bible teaches. Here you'd have God essentially having a conversation with himself, right? Father, the hour has now come, glorify your Son. I will glorify you. I'm ready to have a conversation with himself. No, modalism is not in the Bible. This is the three distinct persons of the Godhead having a conversation, right? The Lord Jesus Christ praying to God the Father. Now listen to how the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, relates to the Father. He says in verse 1, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you, as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Listen, God the Father commissions God the Son. God the Father sends God the Son. God the Father will glorify God the Son, and God the Son will in turn glorify God the Father. Verse 3, And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. In other words, God the Son, co-eternal with the Father, existed with the Father before anything was created, right? They are co-eternal. Back to Ephesians chapter 1. Back to Ephesians chapter 1. In this now, we see the distinct person of God the Father as he relates to us, and we see the distinct person of God the Father as he relates to God the Son. Many, many, many more texts inform our understanding of all that. I really commend reading through your Bible, thinking about these things as you go. Now, in what ways then do we see him exercise his role as Father? We see him relating to us as God our Father. We see him relating to God the Son as God the Father. And what ways then do we see God the Father exercise his role as God the Father, as head of the divine family, so to speak, right? We see these roles by illustration or analogously, by analogous language, by analogy, in our families, don't we? We have a head of the household. Relating to God's word, the husband is the head of the household, the wife submits herself to her husband as unto the Lord, the man is to submit himself to the Lord Jesus Christ and to love his wife as the Lord loves his church, right? We see that economic, those economic functions even within the family as God has intended it, and that is an illustration of, or analogous to, even the functional responsibilities or the functional subordination within the Godhead. And what way do we see God the Father exercise his role within this functional distinction among the members of the Godhead? First, we see it in terms of God's decree. In terms of God's decree, God the Father is the one who decrees. God the Father is the one who wills, okay? God the Father is the one within the Godhead who decrees his sovereign will, his eternal purposes. And by, for his own glory, he has determined all things whatsoever that come to pass. That's God the Father. Look at down at verse 11. He works all things according to the counsel of his will, Ephesians 111. That's God the Father who decrees. And the Bible consistently reveals that the decree of God is God the Father's prerogative. It's God the Father's role or responsibility. We see that in terms of his eternal purpose or God's determined will. God is the one, God the Father is the one who decrees. Now in verse four, Ephesians chapter one verse four, we see his decree in terms of his election and in terms of predestination. This is part of God's decree. You can see that in verse four. Look at verse four. Just as he, God the Father, chose us in him, Lord Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, God the Father, according to the good pleasure of his, God the Father's will. That is all verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, God the Father's grace, by which he, God the Father, made us accepted in the beloved. Who's the beloved? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, right? A lot of pronouns, a lot of he's back and forth, but that's the idea that you get. God the Father is the one who, verse four, chose us in him. God the Father is the one in verse five, having predestined us to adoption. And that is all, verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace. This represents the outworking of God's decree and redemption. The outworking of God's decree in our redemption. God the Father has elected or has chosen those who would be in him, in Christ, when did he do that? Before the foundation of the world, right? In other words, God's election predates creation. Before anything was created, God in eternity passed, elected or chose those who would be in Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace. So election is the activity or the work of the Father, do you see? Election is a fruit of or a byproduct of you because they have God's decree. Election predestination is what God decrees. It finds its origin in God's decree. First Peter, chapter one, in verse two, Peter says that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. God the Father elects, he chooses and predestines. Why is that so important? Well, one, when Adam sinned, when Adam sinned, all mankind fell into sin. When Adam sinned, he sinned as the federal head or the representative of all those who would be born in him. So all of his posterity, all of humanity who would be born in Adam after him, sin, Romans chapter five, in Adam, sin spread to all men because all men sinned and death spread to all men because all men sinned, right? Men and death come through Adam. When Adam sinned, all mankind sinned in him. Now we're all sinners, every one of us. We should know that very clearly, gutturally. We should know we are sinners. Man is now fallen. Man is rebellion, rebellious against God. Man is an enemy of God by his wicked works. And God the Father, for no reason whatsoever found in man, for no reason whatsoever found within man, but according rather to the good pleasure of his own will, verse five, purposed within himself to redeem from the mass of fallen men a precious possession that he would unite to Christ in love. God did that without any prior condition in the creature, in man. No prior conditions. God does it, verse five, according to the good pleasure of his own will. He would unite them to Christ in love. Verse six, all to the praise of the glory of his grace by which by that grace he made us accepted in the beloved. Now one of the truths that we're to see revealed in the Father's decree then, and this is only true of God the Father, is the, it's only true of God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, is the unmerited and therefore unconditional love with which God loves us in him. The fact that it's merited nothing by men. The fact that it's not based on any condition in man. There's nothing about you and I that made us lovable such that God would choose us before the foundation of the world, right? That's why Arminianism is such a heretical doctrine. God doesn't look down the quarter of time, find something about that person, namely their choice of God, right? Find something in that person lovable and say, well because of what they did or because of who they are, I choose to elect them in Christ. It's not what God does. God from before the foundation of the world with no condition whatsoever in man, with nothing lovable foreseen in man chooses according to his own will, the good pleasure of his own will to redeem from the mass of fallen humanity a precious love gift for the Son and a love gift that would be to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. He loves us in Christ. That love is truly an unconditional, freely given, freely sustained, freely preserved by his word love. It's not conditioned on us. If it were conditioned on us, would it ever last? Not for a second. It'd be gone. It would be a wisp of air, right? No love like that can last. Why? Because we are unlovable apart from Christ. We are sinners, rebellious. God loves us in him and that electing, predestinating love is an unconditional love. It's an inviolable love. It's a covenant keeping love. It's a steadfast love. It's an unchanging love. It's a love that we will never be separated from. Notice also, notice also now verse five that in keeping with his decree, God also predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. We are now in the household of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sons and daughters. And if you're a son or a daughter in the kingdom, then you're in air. You're in joint air with Christ. What about all those promises now? Then all those promises are yes and amen in him. In him, verse seven. Look at verse seven. In him, in Christ the beloved, we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his, the Father's grace. All of that unconditionally freely given in Christ. Nothing that we can or should do to earn it. Right? Nothing else can be done. It is a free gift of the Father's grace. It's all of grace, as Spurgeon would say, right? Which this grace, verse eight, he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself, and again, all of this, right? Emphasizing the free, sovereign, electing choice of God has nothing to do with us. It is the electing choice of God. He purposed in himself, verse nine, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In other words, in the Father's decree, he sent forth his son into the world to redeem sinners. These are the very personal, the very intimate, the very loving actions of God, our Father. You see? God, our Father. In him, verse 11, also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. You see how also that the Father here is the particular or distinct object of glory and praise. Now we're to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We can glorify God the Holy Spirit. We can glorify God and glorify each of the three distinct members of the Godhead. But notice how in particular it will ultimately be the Father who is all in all, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, right? That is to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Again notice the three persons and their distinctive roles regarding our redemption, who the Holy Spirit of promise is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. There it is again, right? To the praise of his glory. Through his decree and through the exercise of his will, we see the person of the Father distinguished by his decree, distinguished by his decree. Do you see? It's the prerogative of the Father to will and to decree. And then God sends forth the Son and the Spirit of God proceeds from the Father, proceeds from the Son, doing the work that the Father has given him to do. Secondly, secondly, through his decree, through the exercise of his will, we see the person of the Father then distinguished by his ultimate authority, distinguished by authority. Being that God the Father decrees, and as we've seen he elects and predestines, that decree comes with authority. And one of the ways in which God the Father is distinguished in his distinctive role within the Godhead is by this authority that is seen given to or held by God the Father. God the Father exercises a governing authority. Turn back with me to John chapter five. Let's look at an example of this. We've got to remember as we consider these things that the three persons within the Godhead are co-equal, co-eternal, co-equal, co-eternal. There's no inferiority of one member of the Godhead to another, co-equal, co-eternal. But they have different functions, functional differences, which we see expressed in Scripture. Look particularly at John chapter five and drop down in John chapter five to verse 16. So in verse 16, the Lord Jesus Christ has healed a man who's been lame for 38 years, I believe it is, near the pool at Bethesda, and to antagonize the Pharisees, he performs this miracle on the Sabbath, right? Performs this miracle on the Sabbath, gets himself in hot water with the Pharisees. For this reason, verse 16, look at verse 16 with me, for this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, my Father has been working until now, and I have been working. Notice that the two members of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, are both involved in the same work. And here's particularly the work of redemption. Verse 18, therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said now that God was his Father making himself equal with God. In other words, the Jews recognized, what we should recognize, that a Father and a Son are of the same essence, or of the same substance. For Jesus Christ to say, in a monotheistic confession of God as being one God, for Jesus Christ to come along and say, of that one God, that he is the Son, is an express claim to deity, that he is claiming himself to be of one essence with the one God. He is God the Father, Jesus Christ is saying, I am God the Son, it's an express claim of deity. So therefore the Jews sought to kill him because the Jews understood what Jesus Christ was claiming. Then verse 19, Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly I say to you, the Son, listen, can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do, for whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. In other words, the Son derives his authority to do the works that he does directly from the Father. The Father works, and so the Son works in cooperation with, in tandem with, God the Father. God the Son, God the Father working together, God the Son imitating God the Father gaining his authority from God the Father to do the works that the Son does. Look at verse 20, for the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. Now notice also in verse 20, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the persons within the Godhead is the love that they have for one another within the Godhead and the love that they show to us as they relate to us. God the Father loves God the Son supremely, infinitely, immeasurably, superlatively, preeminently loves the Son. What does that say then of us when the Bible says that as I am, or as he is, so am I in this world, right, love them as you have loved me, right? It's an amazing testimony of the love that God has for his own. Verse 21, for as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. In other words, there's a sense in which God has given judgment to the Son that comes with decree, God has decreed that judgment would be given to the Son. That has been agreed, you could say, in the eternal councils of the Godhead and there's an express authority that God has to give or to commit judgment to the Son. In other words, God is distinguished, God the Father is distinguished within his role in the Godhead by his governing authority, right? He's committed all judgment to the Son. Verse 23, so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So many texts that speak of this very thing. The Father exercises governing authority. God in exercising, God the Father exercising his governing authority, begets the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is most often understood or distinguished in the Godhead by what is called eternal generation or eternal beginning. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternally begotten Son of God. That's expressed also in John chapter 5. Look down with me at verse 26, again speaking of God the Father's authority, verse 26. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself and has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man. Is he God granting the Son to have life in himself? The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Son is most distinguished within the Godhead by that term eternal generation or eternal beginning. The Father prepares an incarnate body for the Son, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 5. The Father sends the Son, many places in Scripture, particularly 1 John chapter 4, verse 14. God the Father delivers up the Son, Romans chapter 8, verse 32. God the Father gives the cup of suffering, the cup of death to the Son, John chapter 18, verse 11. God raises the Son from the dead, Galatians chapter 1, verse 1. God seats the Son with him in the heavenly places, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 20. God exalts the Son, gives him a name which is above every name, Philippians chapter 2, verse 9. The Father, God the Father sets his seal upon God the Son, John chapter 5, verse 37. And God the Father loves God the Son, glorifies God the Son in John chapter 17. In no way does any of that imply an inequality. It doesn't imply an inferiority, but a voluntary, loving submission. The three distinct persons of the Godhead are equal, co-equal, co-eternal in their essential being, but different in function. A beautiful picture of this is Philippians chapter 2. Turn there with me to Philippians chapter 2. Let's look at this quickly. An equal, but there's a decided covenant submission. Philippians chapter 2, look there beginning at verse 5. So Paul exhorts us in chapter 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God? Equality with God wasn't something that the second person of the Trinity had to grasp before. He was, is equal to God the Father, right? Being in the form of God did not consider it robbery, didn't consider it something to be grasped for to be equal with God, but rather made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Obedient to whom? To God the Father, right? To God the Father. This speaks of God the Son's role and function within the Godhead. It also speaks of the way in which God the Father is distinguished within the Godhead according to his authority that Jesus Christ became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross. Therefore God the Father also has highly exalted him, has authority to do this, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The Father's authority most clearly expressed. The Father's authority most clearly expressed in the loving submission of the Son. There's so much that could be said. There is an implication with respect to this. Turn with me back now to the text read earlier in your hearing, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, as we consider what we've learned about the person of God, not only his works, but the excellence of his person over the last several weeks as we've considered his communicable attributes, his incommunicable attributes, the person of God, the work of God, as we've considered the transcendence of God, how God was revealed in the Old Testament, it would have been an absolute astonishment to first century Jews for someone to come along and to assert that we should pray to God as our Father. It would have been a miraculous astonishing revelation to the Lord's disciples when in Luke chapter 11, one of the disciples comes up to the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ has just finished praying himself and he asks the Lord, Lord, teach us to pray. He sees the Lord praying, Lord, teach us to pray. There's a second example of this in Matthew chapter 6, I believe the Lord repeats his teaching in different circumstances, different contexts. We see the same prayer here given in Matthew chapter 6 where the Lord is teaching his disciples to pray in verse 9 where he instructs them in this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven. Now, that is a glorious reality that we can pray to God as our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. There are many who would say that the word often used in the New Testament for Father Abba is like the modern day use of the word daddy, a child would come up and call their Father daddy. It's not quite that familiar. There is a transcendence about God that should be honored. It is our Father, we pray our Father in heaven. That is immediately followed up with hallowed be your name, revered be your name. We are to be in awe in wonder of who God is. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. One of the distinguishing factors of God the Father is that the kingdom belongs to God the Father. He gives it to God the Son, right? He gives it to God the Son, and in the end, God the Son will turn and deliver the kingdom back to the Father that he may be all in all. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we pray to our Father who knows what we need before we even pray it. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. All praise, honor and glory be to God our Father. Amen. Let's pray. Take a few moments. As you consider the Trinity and the particular person in work of God the Father, consider how we might honor him in our worship, how we might praise and glorify him in our worship. And then let's do that in prayer and we'll be dismissed. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are so grateful to you, Lord, that we have access to you through faith in Jesus Christ, that we can pray to you, our Father, and that in him we can pray with the expectation of faith knowing that you hear us, that you know our needs, you know everything about us, our thoughts before we think them, our words before we speak them, even the very hairs of our head numbered, and that you, Lord, love us and care for us and provide for us and have given us great and glorious promises. Praise you and thank you, Lord, for these blessed truths. And I pray, Lord, that our understanding of you from your word and the way that you have revealed yourself to us will help us, Lord, to praise you and worship you more faithfully, more accurately, more lovingly, more devotedly, and more in accord with truth, as you have revealed yourself. Please protect us, Lord, from errors that so easily creep up because of the remaining corruption that is within us and the remaining darkness and ignorance that sometimes ensnares us and help us, Lord, to praise you as you've revealed yourself in your word. We are in awe of who you are and in awe of what you do, what you have done, and look forward with great anticipation, Lord, to that day when we will be as he is for we shall see him as he is, and we will from then forward, Lord, worship you and praise you unfettered by sin, glorified for all eternity in heaven. We just praise you and thank you, Lord, for that blessed promise. Our future hope and pray, Lord, that you would come quickly. Thank you for our time together. Thank you, Lord, for the blessed privilege of studying your word and help us, Lord, to understand and help us to learn of you and to worship you and praise you as you are worthy to be worshiped and praised. In Jesus' name, we pray all these things. Amen.