The Doctrine of Revelation:
How God Reveals Himself
Introduction to DoctrineWhat is Doctrine? ______Biblical Doctrine? ______
Is all doctrine true?______Is it true because you believe it or is it true because it is TRUTH? ______John 17:17; 1 John 2:21
Revelation
So when I say “revelation” you say what? ______
The doctrine of revelation is what? ______
How does God reveal Himself to us? ______
A. Universal or General Revelation
1. ______/ ______
Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20
2. ______
Romans2:14-15
B. Special or Particular Revelation
1. ______
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 1 Corinthians 2:13
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Doctrine of The Word of God
Where did the Bible come from? ______
2 Peter 1:20-21
The makeup of the Bible
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Psalm 119:105
Do you nourish your soul on the spiritual food of the Word as carefully and diligently as you nourish your body on physical food?
Doctrine of the Nature of God
So what makes up God’s Nature? What makes God – God?
1. The God of the Bible is ______.
This means God is above all, including common human needs.
Isaiah 55:8; Genesis 1:1; John 1:1; God is the creator, not a creation.This means that the god of pantheism is not the true God that we worship (Pantheism teaches that god is in all things, that all things are god).
2. The God of the Bible is ______.
This means God is involved with His creation in a personal way.
2 Corinthians 6:16b
This excludes the god of deism and theistic evolution.(Deism teaches that God created the universe and then left it on its own to develop.) This also excludes the Muslim Allah as being the God of the Bible because he is an impersonal, unknowable deity. You and the Muslims are not praying to the same god.
3. The God of the Bible is ______.
God is not a physical object and nothing can represent Him.
John 4:24; 1 Timothy 6:15b-16;Isaiah 44:9-10
This makes our religion distinct from others such as Buddhism, which has deified a man.
4. The God of the Bible is ______.
Deut. 6:4
This means that the God of Mormonism and Hinduism as well as other polytheistic religions is not the God of the Bible.
5. The God of the Bible is Trinity.
We will look at this next week.
SO WHAT? How does this personally affect us?
Do most people today believe that God exists? If so, why are they not living for Him?
Doctrine of the Trinity
What is the Trinity?
One God in three persons,
______,
______,
______.
While the concept of Trinity is present in the Bible, the word itself is not. Let’s look at some Trinity passages.
Genesis 1:1-3; Genesis 1:26a; John 1:1; John 1:14a; Matthew 28:19-20
1. Whichof the 3 persons of the Trinity is God?
______-John 6:27; ______-Colossians 1:15; ______-Acts 5:3-4
2. Who do we pray to since God exists in three persons? ______- John 15:16b; ______- 1 John 5:13-15; ______- Romans 8: 26-27
3. In what ways do the three persons of the one Godhead function differently?
Though there is overlapping in the functions of each person, generally we find the Father acting in ______, the Son acting in ______, and the Spirit acting in ______.
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Why does Jesus need to be God? ______
1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18
Why does the Holy Spirit need to be God? ______
John 3:5-6
Doctrine of Incommunicable Attributes of God
What does the word incommunicable mean? ______
What does the word attribute mean? ______
What do you get when you put these together? ______
What do you think would be an incommunicable attribute of God?
______
1. God is ______.
a. In ______. Psalm 90:1-2
b. In ______(Omnipresent). 1 Kings 8:27
c. In ______(Omniscient). Psalm 94:11a
d. In ______(Omnipotent). Psalm 115:3; Matthew 19:26
e. In ______. Psalm 36:5-6
2. God is ______.John 5:26; Acts 17:25
3. God is ______/__Immutable____.Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Why is it important to your faith to know that God is infinite in time, space, knowledge, etc.? ______
Communicable Attributes of God: Part I
Holiness
God is holy and He commands us to be holy. Exodus 15:11;
1 Peter 1:15-16
Because God is Holy, He…
A.…is separated from impure things.
Habakkuk 1:13a
…cannot be tempted. James 1:13
We are to be like God.
1 Timothy 5:22b
B.…cannot lie or deceive or fail to keep a promise. Numbers 23:19
We are to be like God. Matthew 5:37;
Proverbs 12:22;
2 Corinthians 4:2
C.…is right and is the final standard of what is right. Ezra 9:15a
We are to be like God.
Romans 3:21-22; Romans 12:2
D.…hates all sin and cannot tolerate it. Romans 1:18
We are to be like God.
Proverbs 8:13;
Matthew 5:29-30
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Knowing about these attributes of God should compel us to live in a way that honors His holiness. We should also realize that we cannot develop these attributes without Him.
Communicable Attributes of God: Part II
Love
God is love.
1 John 4:7-8
God’s love is unconditional.Romans 5:8
We know what love is only because God has loved us.
1 John 4:19
God’s Love is …
A.Psalm 145:8-9
B. Getting what you do not deserve.
Matthew 5:45b;
1 Peter 4:10
C. Not getting what you do deserve.
Titus 3:5a
D. Psalm 136;
2 Peter 3:15a
As God's people, we are called to be like Him, especially in showing His love (John 13:34) and His holiness (I Peter 1:15).
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Biblical love, because it is a holy love, cares too much to tolerate unholy, self-destructive acts and attitudes in the lives of those who are loved.
Creation
What did God create?
A. God created ex nihilo which means ______.
Anything that humans make is just a manipulation of materials that God originally created.
Hebrews 11:3
B.Looking at Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31, what do these verses have in common?
God saw that His creation was ______. This means that the material is not essentially evil. The world is not inherently evil.
Is everything still all good like it was when God created it? ______
Why or why not? ______
Creation still gives testimony to the glory, power and goodness of its Creator.
C. Besides the natural world, God’s creation includes ______.
Psalm 148:2-5
What did some of them do? ______Jude 6
Their purpose is ______.
So are there guardian angels? ______Hebrews 1:14
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
1. For what reason did God create? ______
2. As God’s creation what should our #1 priority be? ______
Providence of God
Providence means ______.
1. Preserving and Sustaining
What does it mean to say God preserves or sustains His creation?
______
Ways God is sustaining creation ______
Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3a
Ways God is working in the lives of humans ______
Philippians 4:19
2. Governing and Guiding
What does it mean to say that God governs or guides His creation?
______
What does the word sovereign mean? ______
Ways God governs creation
1. ______Daniel 2:21
2. ______Acts 14:17
3. ______Romans 8:28
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Prayer
Prayer is personal ______with God.
What should our attitudes and motives be when we pray?
______Matthew 6:5-8
Let’s look at a model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”(v.9)
What does hallowed mean? ______
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (v.10)
What are we asking for here? ______
“Give us today our daily bread.” (v.11)
How often should we pray concerning our needs? ______
Proverbs 30:8-9
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (v.12)
Remember these 4 lessons:
1. Our debt of sin against God is greater than any debt anyone will ever owe us.
2. When we refuse to forgive someone we place that person in bondage.
3. We are to forgive at the same level that we are forgiven by God.
4. If we choose to keep a record of wrongs or bear a grudge we will live with tormenting memories and oppression until we release that person and forgive.
Psalm 139:23-24;
How do we have our debts (sins) forgiven? ______1 John 1:9
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”(v.13)
How can we avoid temptation / sin? ______
Matthew 26:41; 1 Corinthians 10:13
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Grace
This lesson will be focusing on special grace; that grace given to those who by faith trust in Christ for salvation.There is also common grace; that shown to all people.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Now let’s break these verses down and see what they tell us about grace.
- ______comes through grace.
- We receive grace through ______.
- We have ______in grace.
- Grace is a ______. Romans 4:4
What happens to grace if we add works to it?Romans 11:6
- Grace isn’t a ______for good works, we can’t earn grace.
Other facts about grace
Grace is shown in Christ:
2Corinthians 8:9; John 1:17
Grace is unmerited favor:
An acrostic for grace is:
In God’s grace we find His riches (salvation, freedom from sin, peace, joy, etc.) at the expense of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, none of this is based on anything we have done, it is completely unmerited.
Grace is not given and then taken back, once God has saved you, you are saved forever.
John 10:27-28
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Since we have grace can we do whatever we please, confident that God will forgive? ______Romans 6:1-2; Titus 2:11-12
Creation of Humanity
We are going to look at a few facts that are true of humanity.
1. We are ______beings. Psalm 100:3
2. We were created to ______. Genesis 2:15
What are some positive aspects of this?
- We can serve and honor Christ through our work.
Colossians 3:23-24
- Our work can be a testimony for Christ, showing others how He has affected our character.
Titus 2:7a
- Work not only provides for our needs, it also gives us something to share with others.
Ephesians 4:28
3. We were created for ______. Genesis 2:18
This is especially important within the church.Hebrews 10:24-25
4. We were created in the ______. Genesis 1:26-27.
Several facts about what it means to be made in the image of God:
A)All of mankind is made in the image of God.
B)We have value and worth in God’s eyes.James 3:9
C)The image of God in humanity was affected by the sin of Adam and Eve. The image of God in man was distorted in some way, but not lost totally; it is still present in all people.
D)Christ is the perfect image of God, while we are created in the image of God. Colossians 1:15
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Male andFemale
God’s purpose in creating us male and female
A. For ______Genesis 1:28
B. For ______Genesis 2:18-20
God provided for this need. Genesis 2:21-25
______and ______takes place when a man and woman are united in marriage.
Roles of Males and Females
A. The Bible affirms that men and women are both ______and ______of each other.Galatians 3:28
We can look at Jesus’ treatment of women, such as Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene and the Samaritan woman, as proof that God sees them as having equal worth to men.
B. Men and women do typically fulfill certain roles within the home and church.
Men are given a position of authority, but this does not indicate being higher or lower than women; it is just the proper way of complementing each other.Ephesians 5:22-25; Ephesians 5:33
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Sin
When and where did sin begin? Who were the first sinners? Why did they sin? Did God create sin?Genesis 3:1-7
What is sin? ______
Everyone is born with a ______nature. It is natural for humans to sin.
Romans 5:12
There are sins of ______or things that we do that are wrong.
There are also sins of ______, or things that we don’t do, even though we know we should, making it a sin. James 4:17
You are ______for your sins. People may want to place the blame on the devil, the culture we live in, or influences like family and friends, but in reality when we sin we only have ourselves to blame. We make the decision.
James 1:13-15
1. God is not the ______of any of our temptation.
2. Sin begins with ______.
3. By actingon those desires we are ______because we have not trusted God to strengthen us to resist temptation.
4. The final result of sin is ______.
Other results of sin are that we suffer ______and ______and our ______with God and others is harmed. There are always ______, and sometimes we may not even notice them until much later.Our sin impacts not only ourselves, but ______as well. We may hurt our witness, or influence someone negatively, or any other of multiple harmful effects.
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
1 John 1:8-9; Romans 5:17-19
Temptation
What is temptation? ______
Sources of Temptation
1. ______1 Thessalonians 3:5
2. ______James 1:14
3. ______1 John 2:15
Each of these sources of temptation are very real and dangerous to our spiritual walks, and each of them are results of putting something else before God in our lives. However, they are all avoidable.
What to Do About Temptation
In1 Corinthians 10:13we see that God will not let us be put in a situation where it is ______not to sin, another good thing to remember is found in Matthew 26:41.
Here Jesus tells Peter, James and John that they must be careful to “watch and pray,” which means to be ______and ______on God in order to avoid giving in to temptation.
For a specific example of someone handling temptation the right way lets look at the temptation of Jesus. Read Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus handled these temptations by answering Satan with ______and showing that He had perfect ______in God.
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
1 John 1:9; Galatians 6:1
The Person of Christ
Who Christ Is
John 1:1
When did Christ come into existence?
Jesus Christ is ______Colossians 1:15-17
He is the second person of the Trinity.
But doesn’t the Bible say no one can see God and live?
Philippians 2:5-11
Jesus Christ is ______Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-35
How can Jesus be both fully man and fully God?
The passage in Isaiah is a ______of the birth of Jesus Christ. Who is called, Immanuel, which means “God with us.” This prophecy was made approximately 700 years before Jesus’ birth.
The passage in Luke describes the ______, which is a fancy way of saying when Christ took on human flesh. It is the fulfillment of the prophecy that we looked at in Isaiah. This is not the moment when Christ began. He has always been. The incarnation is the moment when He was born and took on human flesh.
So, as a man, do you think Christ experienced the same things that we experience? Hebrews 4:14-16
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
The Atonement
“The atonement is the ______Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation.” – Wayne Grudem
1. Sacrifice
The Jewish animal sacrifices were made continuously to ______(cover) the people’s sin.Leviticus 17:11.
Christ came as the final, perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 9:11-14; 26b
2. Propitiation
God is holy and just; He cannot ______sin. Romans 1:18; 2:5
God’s ______against sin had to be poured out on something. In propitiation God’s wrath was directed toward ______while on the cross instead of us.1 John 2:1b-2
3. Substitution
How was Christ’s death on the cross a substitution? 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24
Christ was a substitute for us, taking the punishment that we deserve.
4. Reconciliation
We have ______our relationship with God by our sin.Romans 5:10
Christ’s death was able to ______the relationship and allow us to come back into fellowship with God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
5. Redemption
Redemption is paying the ______and purchasing something. Christ redeemed us from our bondage to ______.1Peter 1:18-19; Romans 6:11
6. Victory
Christ won the victory over sin, death and Satan and we should praise Him for it. 1 Corinthians 15:55
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Salvation
The particulars of what actually happens in salvation.
Part 1 of 3
1) The Work of God before Time
Even before the creation of the world God was ______our salvation.Ephesians 1:4-6
2) The Gospel Call
The gospel call is the ______of the gospel. It is made effective when the Holy Spirit uses it to bring you to a realization and understanding of your position as a sinner and need for salvation. He also gives a desire to respond to God’s offer of grace through faith.
John 16:7-11
3) Conversion (Faith and Repentance)
What is faith? Hebrews 11:1
Ephesians 2:8 says that it is by ______through faith that we are saved. This faith includes knowledge of what Christ has done for us. However knowledge alone cannot save us. We must trust in Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life and the only means of grace, forgiveness of sins and salvation. Jesus saves us; faith is the way that we receive the gift.
What is repentance? 2 Corinthians 7:10; Acts 2:38
“Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for ______, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.” Wayne Grudem
Faith and repentance go hand in hand during salvation. When we turn to Christ in faith we are turning away from the sin that we were in bondage to.
4) Regeneration
Regeneration is God making us a new ______in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23
Why do we need to be regenerated? Ephesians 2:1
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
Salvation
The particulars of what actually happens in salvation.
Part 2 of 3
1) The Work of God before Time
2) The Gospel Call
3) Conversion (Faith and Repentance)
4) Regeneration
5) Justification
To be justified is to be declared ______, not because of any personal merit on our part, but only by Christ’s righteousness covering us. A good analogy is that it is like being declared not guilty before a court of law. Romans 3:21-24
Is there any other way to be declared righteous? ______
Romans 8:28-30
6) Adoption
It is God’s pleasure to adopt us into His ______. When we are saved we become His children; He is our Heavenly Father. All other Christians are our brothers and sisters. Ephesians 1:4-5; 1 John 3:1
SO WHAT? Why is this important to you?
If you are in Christ you are justified, you have been counted righteous with Christ and found not guilty by His blood.
Does this inspire you to live like God wants you to live? 1 John 3:3
How should we be living?
As children of God how are we treating our brothers and sisters in Christ? Ephesians 4:29
As children of God are we showing our Father the proper respect?
Salvation
The particulars of what actually happens in salvation.