I want to spend time on just one more false doctrine that I get at the Pentecostal movement,
and that is what's called the oneness doctrine, or the Jesus only doctrine.
Who's ever been confronted with this?
Now you may have been confronted with this and you just didn't know it.
You'll run into people and here's what they'll say to you, and this is a sign that they're
mixed up in this, okay?
This is a sign that you're dealing with Pentecostals who believe that you can lose your salvation
and that you have to be baptized to be saved, okay?
Here's a sign.
They'll ask you this question.
Now, have you been baptized in the name of Jesus, or were you baptized in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost?
Who's ever been asked that question before?
Yeah, see, more hands are going up now.
Yeah, I've been asked that question.
That's what this doctrine is, and let me tell you, in turn, if you would, let's turn to
Matthew chapter 28, first of all, Matthew 28.
Now, again, there are so many different denominations of Pentecostals, I can't keep them all straight,
but this is a pretty prevalent doctrine.
Not all Pentecostals believe this, but there are a lot of Pentecostals that I run into
believe this.
This is something that I run into when I'm not talking to people, and it seems like increasingly
lately more people have been hitting me with this.
I don't know if this is a doctrine that's spreading, but basically it's a false doctrine
that denies the Trinity.
They basically deny the Trinity, and you say, "Well, what's the Trinity?"
And let me teach you biblically what the Trinity means and why we believe in it.
And you say, "Well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible," but this word is in the Bible,
"three in one," and that's what Trinity means, "three in one."
And I believe that, okay, and let me expose this doctrine to you because it's very important
that we believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, okay?
And this Jesus-only doctrine, or the oneness doctrine, is a false doctrine, okay?
Let me show you, first of all, in Matthew 28, verse number 17, the Bible says, "And
when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted."
Matthew 28, 18, "And Jesus came with faith unto them, saying, 'All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth; go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'"
Now that seems pretty clear to me, that seems pretty simple to me, right?
Baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
But this one, this Pentecost movement, this is what they'll say, "Well, if you got baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you weren't even really baptized."
And many of them will even take it a step further and say, "You're not even saved."
Because to be saved, you got to be baptized in the name of Jesus, only, only Jesus.
Isn't that kind of bizarre that the Bible tells us to do something, and then we go out
and do it, and then someone tells us that we're doing it wrong?
Like, who's ever been here when we baptize people?
Put up your hand.
You know, when we baptize people.
Yeah.
You know, because thank God, you're sitting in a church where people actually get saved,
where we actually go out and get people saved, and we baptize people every chance we get.
And we baptize them in the swimming pool, and dunk them under water, okay?
It's like they did in the Bible, they used a swimming pool, but they used a river, a lake, or whatever they had.
Okay, so, have you noticed that when we baptize people, we say, "I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen." We baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
This is why we do that, okay? Because that's what God said to do.
He told us, "Go do this, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost."
And they'll say, "No, that's wrong. You must baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus,
because Act 238 says, 'Be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.'"
Now, let me ask you something. If you're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
are you baptized in the name of Jesus? Is it? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong.
Isn't He the Son? Okay, so wouldn't that include the Lord Jesus?
So, does that mean so that Peter's just baptized in the name of Jesus, but not the Father, and not the Holy Ghost?
Amen. No, this is nonsense. This is crazy.
Say, "Best question, why are you just spending time on your servant on this?"
There are a lot of people who believe this, but the main reason I'm spending time on it, though, is because I want to talk about the root of where that comes from.
See, that is crazy to say, "Well, you're wrong if you obey Matthew 28, what Jesus said."
We should follow what Peter did, not what Jesus said. Well, that doesn't make any sense.
I'm going to go with what Jesus told us to do, then just an example of what someone did.
You know, there were other people in the Bible who had two wives. I'm not going to go have two wives because Jesus said one wife.
Ok, now, was Peter wrong to baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus?
But I'm just saying if there were a difference, which there isn't, but if there were a difference then I would go with what Jesus clearly said than just what someone did.
But there's not a difference anyway, because if you're baptizing in the name of the Lord Jesus, guess what? That's the name of the Son.
So there's no issue there. We don't see an instance of what Peter said while he dunked him under the law.
He's just telling people, "Hey, you baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus, the guy you just crucified.
Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
He's not saying, you know, that, you know, so that's what I have to say as I dunked you.
And if you didn't, if they didn't say in the name of Jesus when they dunked you, you're not really baptized.
It's in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Now, let me tell you something. These oneness, if somebody asks you that question, be aware.
You may just think, "Oh, this is silly. It doesn't even matter."
Well, you're right. It is very silly. I'll be the first one to admit that, okay?
But the reason it matters is because you're talking to somebody who doesn't believe in the Trinity,
because they actually believe that the Trinity does not exist.
They believe that basically there's just Jesus, and He is the Father, and He is the Holy Ghost.
And frankly, that's just a false doctrine. That just isn't true.
Jesus is the Son. Now, is Jesus God? Yes, of course. Amen.
Now, here's the doctrine that we need to go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1.
And while you're in John chapter 1, I'm going to read for you for the sake of time from 1 John 5-7.
In 1 John 5-7, the Bible says, "For there are three," how many? Three, "that bear record in heaven."
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and watch this, "and these three are one."
Now, I believe that there are three that are one. You say, "Well, that doesn't make any sense."
Okay, that's what the Bible says. I believe it. Whether my T-brain can comprehend it fully or not is not the point.
I believe that these three are one. I believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost represent one God in three parts there.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's what I believe. I don't believe in three gods.
The Bible clearly says in 1 Timothy 2.5 there is one God.
But the Bible is also clear that there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one.
Now, there are two false doctors. False doctor number one is the Mormons of the Jehovah's Witnesses
who will say, "These three are not one." Right?
They'll say that Jesus Christ is a separate, created being, created by God.
Except separate, not one.
So there's the one that says, "These three are not one."
That's the Mormons of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Then there's the Pentecostals that say, "This one is not three."
And guess what? They're both wrong.
To say that there's not three is a lie.
And to say that there's not one is a lie. It's three in one.
And I don't think that that's really that complicated of a doctrine to understand.
Now let me make it in a way where it might help you understand it if you're trying to wrap your mind around this.
We're made of three parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit, right?
But that all makes up one person.
We're not talking about three different people up here.
We're not talking about three different Stephen Andersons.
We're talking one Stephen Anderson, a body, a soul, and a spirit.
All three parts making up one person.
Now, can the body and the soul be separated?
That's called dying, right?
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
So when my body dies, my spirit departs the body.
So are these two separate things, or are they the same?
Just a one, a oneness, body only.
I believe in body only. I don't believe in the soul, I don't believe in the spirit, it's just body.
Well that doesn't make sense because when somebody dies, there's a believer in Christ, their body is buried.
But is their soul buried? No, their soul is in heaven.
Their spirit is in heaven. And so there's obviously two separate things going on here.
Yeh 3, because there's the soul, the spirit, and the body.
Part of that is in heaven, part of that is buried in the earth.
Would it be accurate to say Stephen Anderson is buried in the earth if I were? Yes.
Because that's where my body is, and that body represents Stephen Anderson.
I mean it's not anyone else.
You know, my wife, I come and identify the body, not to be morbid or anything, but you know,
pull back the seat and say, "Yes, this is my husband." Okay?
That's me. But it's not all of me. It's just the body.
The soul and spirit are up in heaven. Same thing with God.
God is in three, just like the three are one.
Spirit, soul, and body make up one person. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost make up one God.
And there was even a separation that took place where the Father is up in heaven, right?
The body is down here on earth. Jesus Christ.
He was down here physically on this earth. There was a time when Jesus Christ's soul was in hell.
His body was in the tomb. The Father is up in heaven.
It's all the same person. So I don't think anybody
has a problem understanding the separation
of soul and body, Spirit, at death. Everybody understand that?
So how can we not understand that God is made up in a similar format of
basically a Father, Son, and Holy Ghost that made up one person?
Okay. So, you know, again, we may not fully comprehend it,
but that's just because we're human, and God's on a different level than us. But we still
believe it, don't we? Okay. So let's look at some proof on this. Let's see some
proof that the Trinity is real. First of all, we saw in
verse 5-7, these three are one. Look at John 1-1. The Bible says,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." Now down in verse 14, it says, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
It tells us clearly that the Word is Jesus Christ. So the Bible says, "In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now, heresy number one over
here, the Mormons that John was with us, they say, "The Word was not God." Heresy number
two over here, the Pentecostals say, "The Word was not with God.
It just was God." Okay? We believe that the Word was
with God and was God. Are you getting this? Okay. Because it's the Trinity.
It's three in one. Okay. Let me give you just a ton of scriptures on this. First of all,
defeating this heresy is pretty easy. The one that says that Jesus is not God.
That's pretty easy. Hebrews 1, 8. "But unto the Son he said, "Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever." Calling Jesus God.
Great is the mystery of God. This is 1 Timothy 3, 16. God was manifested in the
flesh. Okay? The Word was God. The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ said, you know, "Hey,
before Abraham was, I am." You know, he's basically calling himself by
that name that God called himself in the burning bush. "I am." He's saying,
you know, they said, "Well, you're not even 50 years old and hast thou seen Abraham?" He says, "Hey,
before Abraham was, I am." We see in the Old Testament, clearly, where it
says, you know, that in Bethlehem, his goings forth were of old from everlasting.
Jesus Christ has always existed. Hebrews 7, 3.
He had no beginning of days nor end of life. Okay? So, I'm not
going to spend a lot of time proving to you that Jesus is God. I've done all the sermons where I show all
the scriptures that show that Jesus is God. Not just the Son of God
as in a created being, a separate being, totally separate. No. He
is God. Thomas fell down before him and said, "My Lord and my
God." And Jesus looked at him and said, "Blessed art thou Thomas, because thou
has believed." Okay? But over here, how do we defeat this doctrine that says,
"Well, there's no such thing as the Trinity," because here's what they say. Jesus is the
Father. Now, Jesus Christ is the Son. Okay?
There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They're all one. They're all God.
But there is still the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, just as the body and the soul are not
the same thing. Father and the Son are not the same thing. Let me prove it to you. And don't turn to these,
because I just want to blow through these. Genesis 1.26 is the first place we see this.
The oneness, this oneness, Jesus-only doctrine
goes out the window in Genesis 1. I mean, you don't even have to get that far
reading before you see that this isn't true. Genesis 1.26 says,
"And God said..." Now, "And God said..." Is that singular or plural?
"And God said..." Singular, right? "God said..."
It doesn't say God with an S, right? It's just singular. "And God said,
'Let us make man in our image after our likeness.'"
Now, is "us" our "our"? Is that singular or plural?
Yeah, because you got the 1, you got the 3 and 1. Okay, because he's talking
plural. "Let us make man in our image." He says a little bit later in Genesis 11.
Just 10 chapters later. "Go to, let us go down."
And there confound their language that they may not understand when another
speech. Isaiah 6, 8, "Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
'Whom shall I send and who will go for us?' Then said I,
'Here am I, send me.'" And so the Bible uses a plural. There's another
verse in Hosea where he uses a plural about himself. "God said, let
us make man in our image." So that's clear, but let me give you some New Testament verses
that prove, basically these are verses where we see all
three parts of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in one verse.
Now we saw it in Matthew 28 where he said, "Baptizing the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost." We saw it in 1 John 5, 7. Sit back and listen to these.
Bible verses that show all three members of the Godhead in a single verse.
So if the oneness doctrine were true, these verses wouldn't make any sense. It says,
"And Jesus, when he was baptized," Matthew 3, 16, "went up straight
way out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the
Spirit of God, now your Holy Spirit, descending like a dove
and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, 'This is my beloved
Son, and whom I have well pleased.'" So we see Jesus being baptized, the Holy Ghost
descending upon him, and the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son." So we see all three
in that one passage. Matthew 28, we already talked about, Luke chapter 1, verse 35,
"And the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." So there
we see the Holy Ghost, the highest, and His Son, Jesus Christ. We see
John 3.34, "For he whom God hath sent beget the words of God; for God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him." That's talking about Jesus Christ being
given the Holy Spirit by the Father, three distinct persons.
John 14.26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you of all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have sent unto you." John 14.26.
John 14.16, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth." So we see Jesus
saying that the Father is going to send the Holy Ghost. We see all three in one
verse, in all these verses I'm reading here. Acts 2.32, "This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses, therefore by the right hand of God,
exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath
shed forth this which ye now see in here." Romans 8.11, "But if the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you."
2nd Corinthians 13.14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen." Galatians 4.6, "And because
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, "Abba, Father." 1st Peter 1.2, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." So right there we have Father, Spirit,
Jesus Christ. I mean this doctrine goes on and on and on and on throughout the
Bible. So you're wrong to say, "Jesus is the Father. There is no Father. It's just
Jesus is his own Father." No. Jesus Christ is the Son. There's the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. So saying that the Father does not exist or
that the Holy Ghost is just Jesus, the Holy Ghost is not Jesus, except for that
they're both God. And you say, "Well this is just a word game. This is just a
semantic." Then why did God have so many verses explaining it to us? Why did I just
read 20 verses telling us about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? It doesn't
matter. Apparently it does matter that these three are one. And so beware of the
doctrine of attacking the Trinity. Beware of those who say Jesus Christ is not God.
That's blasphemy. That's denying the Lord. Beware of those who say, "Well there is no
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It's just Jesus only." And you have to be, if you're
baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that's wrong. It has to be
Jesus only. That's a false doctrine.