1. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1 "Of the Holy Scripture," paragraph 1
There is a lot being told to us in this short paragraph, It starts out relating that through creation we are able to see that there is a God. That means when we look with our eyes at the wonder and granduer of creation, the majestic mountains, the vast ocean, the complexity of it all, we reason in our minds, that there is a God, another amazing thing that it states is that we know that from what we seee and experience, we know that God is good, we know He is good because our hearts speak to us of right and wrong, we know right and wrong, we have a conscience.
Romans 2:14-15 is our proof, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto thenselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.
Man is unexcusable. God has painted a huge glorious picture and noone can miss it, no excuse.
Romans 1:19-20 Because that which may be know of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.
A point I want us to see with the truths we read in this summary statement are that: (1) We can know that their is a God. (2) We can not see that we need to be saved or to how to go about being saved.
It is number 2 that I want to look at. The Confession of Faith states that knowing that there is a God through creation, is insufficient for us to obtain that knowledge of God, which is necessary for salvation, or even God's will. That is amazing!!
There is nowhere we can look to see that we need to be saved, there is nowhere we can look to see how to be saved, there is nowhere in all the beauty of creation that gives us the hint, that we need salvation. The Bible speaks of darkness, this is spiritual darkness, all the beauty of creation surrounding us, but nothing leading us to what we need: salvation. Please don't miss this aspect of it also, we could not even search our own hearts to find out this vital information. We love our hearts, we love our minds, our wisdom. O, how our culture exalts the wonder of our minds, the power of the human spirit to accomplish anything, how many stand aloof from God because of the supposed brillance of their minds. Our wisdom can not lead us to the Grace of God. That kind of brillance concludes that there is no God .Psalm 19 says that day unto day uttereth speech, but we can't hear it because we are in darkness, cut off.
1 Cor. 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
But then the confession says that it pleased God to reveal Himself!!!!! - There are no more blessed words that these, the Great God, who has created all and holds all together, who is wholly complete in Himself and needed nothing, it pleased Him to reveal Himself. People, that is the good news, that is the gospel. It pleased God to reveal Himself. That is the kind of God we serve, Our Heavenly Father! Because He revealed Himself, we can obtain true knowledge and wisdom.
Thank God for His Word. John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
We can only know Him through His Word.
We thank God that He spoke through Moses, and all the other Prophets, we thank God that He spoke through the Apostles, and we thank God that in the last days He has spoken to us through His Blessed Son, Jesus Christ, and also that God had it written down. Why? The confession says to make it easier to spread the Word, to make it easier to teach, to have a record. To establish the church and to assist in fighting against our spiritual enemies.
Blessings upon blessings, our dark, spiritual dead hearts are now alive in Christ and are now able to hear His Word and His Word is able to conform us to the image of Christ, since we have been made alive in the spirit, and the Spirit dwells in us, with the determination to drive all darkness out, and to let the light of the glorious gospel penetrate every recess of our hearts and teach us so that we would be able to understand that it pleased the Father to save us, He did not hold back His Son, but delivered Him up to be bruised and crushed by His own wrathful hand. What amazing Grace is this, what an amazing life is this, to be called a Child of the Living and True God, to know the price that was paid for one such as me, one who fails God at so much and in so many ways, yet, who holds me with an unbreakable bond that can not be broken forever.
He holds us all in like fashion - thank Him, bow the knee to Him, give Him the Glory He is due, no one else deserves the Glory that only belongs to Him, Bless His Eternal and Holy name forever and ever.
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