Dakota Community Church
February 1, 2009
Foundational Truth 10
(Week 11)
Why study these foundational doctrines?
Why bother with this doctrinal detail?
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:
“I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!’
Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.”
Now, Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God—experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused.
And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map. You see, what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, but nothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it. In fact, that is just why a vague religion— all about feeling God in nature, and so on—is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work: like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland by studying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going to sea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map. —from Mere Christianity
Hebrews 5:11-14
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 6:1-3
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
1. Christians are to grow up spiritually.
2. Repentance from acts that lead to death.
3. Faith in God.
4. Water baptism
5. Holy Spirit baptism
6. Laying on of hands
7. Resurrection of the dead
8. Eternal Judgment
There is a coming judgment day.
Why does God require us to forgive if He will judge?
a.) God is just.
Psalm 45:6-7
Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
Genesis 4:1-10
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don’t know," he replied. "Am I my brother’s keeper?"
The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
Thinking about a just God in light of the words of C.S. Lewis, consider the doctrine of original sin.
We who have grown up in this relative age of peace and wealth might think in our view from the beach that man is basically good.
This is not the case. Good people do not need an atoning sacrifice they need only a guide to enlighten them.
Fallen people need a sacrificial lamb!
Read Matthew 23
Hebrews 12:14-24
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
b.) God is omniscient.
In this world justice is exceedingly rare because fallen man does not see and know all that is required to achieve it in any situation.
Acts 15:7-9
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
God is just, God is omniscient, and …
c.) You and I are neither.
Parents have you ever found yourself in a position where you must discipline all of your children for the action of one of them? The deed is done, someone is guilty, but no one will confess. This is never a problem for God. (Men or children are not just, they are selfish.)
Have you ever been passionately incensed about some wrong that has been done by someone and then you find out more information and your position is changed? (Not omniscient)
Have you ever felt the sting of a harsh and incorrect judgment?
I have ordered a meal for the family at A&W, 5 burgers, 5 fries, 5 sodas, and been asked; “Is that for here or to go?”
I have been accused of not caring about someone when the truth is I was praying for them regularly and cared very much about their situation but was just not sure how to express my concern without offending them. Anyone else?
You and I are not just; we are incapable of justice in our fallen state.
The number one reason for our injustices is our lack of omniscience.
From Charles Spurgeon devotional “At the Master’s Feet” for Jan. 20:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV)
And we now declare that the God of Holy Scripture is a God of inflexible justice, He is not the God Whom some of you adore. You adore a god who winks at great sins; you believe in a god who calls your crimes peccadilloes and little faults. Some of you worship a god who does not punish sin but who is so weakly merciful, and mercilessly weak, that he passes by transgressions and iniquity and never enacts a punishment.
You believe in a god who, if man sins, does not demand punishment for his offense. You think that a few good works of your own will pacify him, that he is so weak a ruler that a few good words uttered before him in prayer will win sufficient merit to reverse the sentence, if indeed you think he ever passes a sentence at all. Your god is no God; he is as much a false god of the Greeks or of ancient Nineveh.
The God of Scripture is one who is inflexibly severe in justice and will by no means clear the guilty. “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Nahum 1:3, NIV). The God of Scripture is a Ruler who, when His subjects rebel, marks their crime and never forgives them until He was punished it, either upon them or upon their Substitute.
The only question concerning your sin is who is going to be held accountable for it?
Either your sin has already been punished by death on a cross, or it remains your responsibility and punishment is forthcoming.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
