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THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE Introduction GOD CAN ONLY BE KNOWN
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
By Jay Wegter
C R E A T O R Provider, Sustainer, Comprehensive Owner
of all, God’s wisdom and attributes are clearly seen in
nature, God’s absolute claim rests upon mankind,
man- kind made in God’s image is under
covenant obligation to fulfill its created
purpose. LAW-GIVER Moral Governor, Judge, Ruler in posses- sion of absolute moral authority, God’s Law reveals His righteousness, God’s Law is written upon the conscience of man. MERCIFUL REDEEMER God in His love and mercy takes on our nature that He might be the sinner’s Substitute. H U M A N H I S T O R Y Scripture says
that the natural man studiously suppresses the knowledge of God (Rom.
1:18-23). The natural man may try to
conceive of a god. Since his efforts
involve reasoning that rejects God’s authoritative revelation, his conclusions
are nothing more than futility, darkness and speculation (Rom. 1:21; Eph.
4:17-19). God can only be known through Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 3:13; 2 Cor.
4:6). WHY? Because – Outside of Jesus Christ, God is
mysterious, unknowable, distant, detached from human suffering and
tragedy. Man peers through the fog of
sin, despair, injustice, loss and catastrophe and cannot see the glory of God.
Outside of Christ, men will only have enmity and hostility for God’s holiness,
wrath and justice. (Wrath is God’s settled anger and determination to justly
punish sin). As long as a
person has “a bad heart and a bad record in heaven,” he will respond with
enmity to the condemnation of God’s Law.
That rebellion often takes the form of religious and moral efforts to
protect oneself from God. How can a person come to know God? PROVERBS 1:7 –
“The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” The fear of God is to regard His authoritative Word (the Holy
Scriptures) as infinitely above one’s own futile speculations. The answer to man’s problem must come from
outside man (Prov. 16:25). The natural
“religion” of the heart is contrary to the gospel. The true
knowledge and glory of God floods the hearts and minds of those who believe the
gospel (2 Cor. 4:6). “For in the good
news God’s Way of man’s right standing with Him is uncovered, the Way of faith
that leads to greater faith…” (Rom. 1:17a, Wms transl.). Salvation deals
with the righteousness of God and the guilt of the creature. There can be no reconciliation between God
and the creature until both say the same thing about sin. (Precisely that all sin is against God, that
the creature cannot change his own sinful nature, that sin is so serious that
each person deserves to be eternally miserable). There can be no reconciliation until the creature consents to be
represented by the divinely appointed Merciful Redeemer. Faith in Christ
as Lord and Savior is the reception of God’s righteousness as a gift of His
grace. In the hands of
the Holy Spirit, the Law of God is a tutor that leads a person to Christ (Gal.
3:24; Rom. 10:1-4). A person’s
bondage to sin is not broken by the Law of God. The sinner’s nature must be changed, his guilt must be pardoned
and he must find his right-standing before God in Christ alone. This is all accomplished through the Person
and work of Christ (1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18). God has made the
greatest overturning of justice in human history (the murder of the Son of God)
to be the infinite satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all those who
believe (2 Cor. 5:21). WHY? Because – What Christ accomplished was a completely
voluntary act (Jn. 10:18). What Christ did in His life and death He
did as a Substitute (1 Pe. 3:18) What
Christ accomplished on Calvary was a public display of justice ordained by God
(Rom. 3:25,26). God can only be
known by way of our sinnership and His dealing decisively with it!
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