Monotheism

Pastor Martin begins the section on 'The God Whom We Worship and Confess' by laying down the fundamental proposition that there is but one true and living God. He then develops the first of four major assertions about Him: that this God is the God of absolute perfection, perfect in Himself (self-sufficient and needing nothing), perfect in all His attributes (every attribute infinite and held in perfect balance with the others), and perfect in all His ways and works as testified by Moses, David, and the redeemed in heaven.

The fourth and final assertion about God in the Here We Stand series: He is the God of inscrutable tri-personality. Pastor Martin gives a simple statement of the doctrine from the Shorter Catechism, lays out the four biblical categories that force Trinitarian belief upon the church (monotheism, the Godhood of Father/Son/Spirit, their distinct personhood, and their unity in the one divine essence), traces the doctrine's history as latent in the Old Testament, patent in the New, and articulated in controversy, and draws out two practical implications: the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and of all our comfortable dependence on Him.

Pastor Martin brings in a fifth group of witnesses to Christ's deity: the fact that divine worship is directed to Him and received by Him without rebuke. Beginning with the strict monotheism of the Old Testament and Peter's and Paul's refusal to receive worship, he traces how calling on Christ's name, being baptized into His name, looking to Him for grace, and the worship of heaven itself all demonstrate that Christ is truly God. The sermon closes with searching questions: Is this the Christ you worship? And a lament over the cheap, flippant "Jesus" of much modern preaching.