1 John 5, verse 7, the memory verse, we shouldn't have to read it because everyone memorises it, right?
Verse 1, verse 7,
For there are three that bear record in heaven,
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
And these three are one.
Title of the sermon tonight, just the beginning there,
For there are three.
That's the title of the sermon.
For there are three.
When we're dealing with God, our one God by the way,
There are three.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
What I'm doing right now, I've been pretty much preaching through the fundamental doctrines that our church believes in.
If you go to our website, you go to our statement of faith,
I'm basically preaching through our statement of faith, one by one.
I know you guys know a lot of these things, but these are the fundamental truths, and we need to know them very well.
Now when it comes to the topic of the Trinity, I never thought there was a controversy.
Growing up as a child, reading my Bible, I understood that God was one,
And yet somehow, I didn't have to work it out, but I knew that it was God the Father,
It was God the Son, it was God the Holy Ghost.
And it wasn't three gods.
They are just the one God, the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The one true God of the Bible.
I had no idea that there was a controversy.
Now this verse, in modern Bibles, verse 157 doesn't exist.
Most of them remove this verse completely.
And a lot of people that are attacking the Trinity say that this verse of the Bible was added by the Roman Catholic Church.
And look, they've got some strong points.
Those strong points are that there's very limited Greek manuscripts that have this verse contained in them.
So because of that, they take the idea, or the Roman Catholic Church has asked whoever was translating the Bible to add this to the Bible.
Now, that could sound true, with the evidence at hand,
But the truth is this verse was quoted by the early church fathers, by a lot of the documentation that were even earlier than some of these Greek manuscripts that they talk about.
And it was quoted by more than one person.
Now you find this actually written in numerous documentation before the Roman Catholic Church even existed.
And so it looks right, because we believe, well my belief, is that the King James Bible is the perfect, preserved Word of God.
If I'm going to start with that as my foundation, then I know that 1 John 5.7 belongs in the Bible.
But if I wanted further truth to combat those that say the Roman Catholic Church added it, well we can see writings earlier than the Roman Catholic Church even existed, speaking of this verse.
Quoting this verse basically word for word.
So we can see that it existed before that time.
So I just wanted to run that by you. The doctrine of the Trinity is being attacked.
And I felt uneasy having to preach this to you guys, because a lot of you came out of the church in Punchbowl, and obviously we understand the controversy that has brewed about this doctrine.
So I wanted to be very mindful about the way I preached this sermon to you guys.
So there are basically three clear passages in the Bible that talk about the Trinity. Very clear passages.
Now when you go to establish a doctrine, you always need to have your clear passages.
Now there are probably hundreds of verses that support the doctrine of the Trinity, but you always need just your black and white passages or scriptures about the Trinity.
This is one of them.
Now I've got a lot of verses, I've got a lot of notes here, so I'm not going to stop and give you all the time to turn to these passages.
If you're quick enough, quick enough you can keep up with me, otherwise just take down the references and you guys can study this out at home in your own time.
But let me give you another reference, a reference very familiar to most people, Matthew 28 verse 19, which is the Great Commission, Matthew 28 19.
Jesus says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
So here we have Jesus Christ teaching the Trinity, teaching of the Father, teaching of the Son who is himself.
We have the Bible reading from 1 John 5, that's very clear over and over again, speaking of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Holy Ghost.
That's another clear reference of there being three that make up the one God.
The other one also is when Jesus Christ got baptized himself, I'm just going to read to you from Luke 3 21 and 22.
Luke 3 21 and 22, which says, Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.
And a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.
So what do we have in this passage? We have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, going down to get baptized.
We have the Holy Ghost descending bodily as a dove.
And we have the voice of God the Father, speaking down to Jesus Christ, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Or in thee I am well pleased it says here.
These are for me the three main passages that are just black and white.
Everybody can read these passages and see the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
And I was going to talk to my church on Sunday that when you're going to build a doctrine, we need to have at least two or three witnesses, two or three clear witnesses.
And here we have three clear witnesses referring us to the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
This shouldn't be a doctrine that is attacked or doubted.
These are the three clear passages and then we have other passages that help support this doctrine.
Now, one question that comes up, and I've got an analogy and I'm going to show you what the analogy is, just to make you curious.
This is my analogy for later on. This is where you're at the end of the sermon.
So you've got to stay awake to understand what this is about.
I've just thought about this in the last couple of weeks, but anyway.
A lot of people say, Well, where's the Trinity in the Old Testament?
Now, one thing you need to understand about the Trinity, the Trinity is primarily a New Testament doctrine.
I say primarily, meaning that when Jesus Christ came Himself in the flesh, He was the One that taught first this doctrine of the Trinity.
In its clarity, in its full revelation, in its full understanding, a lot of the New Testament clarifies for us things that are in the Old Testament.
Now, I'm not saying the Trinity is not in the Old Testament.
All I'm saying is, when Jesus Christ came and the New Testament was established, He made it crystal clear and made it understandable to all of us.
The Trinity is still found in the Old Testament, but it wasn't a crystal clear doctrine like it is for us today.
We, as New Testament believers, have a lot of advantages.
We have all 66 books of the Bible canonized in our hands.
In this day, they were copying scriptures by hand, and they couldn't have necessarily copies in their own house.
They had to go into the synagogue, like a church, and have the scriptures read to them.
A lot of people didn't have the ability to just have the scriptures in their hands.
One of the advantages that the Old Testament saints did have, though, were prophets of God.
God would send them out prophets, preach in the Word of God, and expand on the truth.
Just like we have pastors and preachers and teachers today, in the same way.
So that was one advantage that they had back then.
But Isaiah 63 verse 16, I'll get you to turn there if you've got time. I'll give you time for this one.
Isaiah 63 verse 16.
Because the Father, that title, God the Father, that name God the Father, is not found all that much in the Old Testament.
There's just a couple of passages, and this is one of them.
Isaiah 63 verse 16.
The Bible reads,
Doubtless thou art, our Father.
Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not, thou, O Lord, art our Father.
Our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting.
This is one of the few passages that actually refers to God as the Father, or as our Father.
Here we have an Old Testament revelation of God the Father in the Bible.
Now, the Son, there's a lot more references to the Son, to Jesus Christ the Son.
I'm just going to read some to you from Psalm chapter 2 verse 7.
Psalm 2 verse 7.
I will declare the decree, the Lord have said unto me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Now, it was King David that wrote this psalm.
If you're thinking, when the Lord says thou art my Son, this is a reference to King David,
and yes it is, but it's not only a reference to King David.
It's actually a reference to Jesus Christ.
Look at verse number 12 in the same chapter.
The Bible says, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.
Do you notice how King David is now referring to the Son in the third person?
He says, lest he be angry, speak to someone else,
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little,
blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Do you see how King David says, in a way speaking of himself, thou art my Son,
speaking of him, God speaking to him, this day have I begotten thee,
that's actually, if you look at the New Testament, we won't go into that now,
it's a reference to Jesus Christ.
And King David acknowledges this as well, in verse number 12,
because he uses that third person pronoun to refer to Jesus Christ.
Not to himself, I should say.
And of course we know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
when they were cast into the fire, and King Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire,
and he saw how many people? Did he see three? No, he saw four, he saw one other.
And King Nebuchadnezzar says, he answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose,
walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt,
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
So there was four men in the fire, one man was protecting them,
that was the Son of God, that was Jesus Christ there, appearing in the Old Testament.
And then we have Proverbs chapter 30 verse 4,
which says, or asks the question here, these rhetorical questions,
who have ascended up into heaven, or descended, who have gathered the wind in his fists,
who have bound the waters in a garment, who have established all the ends of the earth,
what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?
So we see these questions, these rhetorical questions, obviously referring to God,
and then it references God's Son, what is his name?
Obviously in the New Testament we know that name, that name is Jesus Christ.
So we do see the Son, we do see the Father, and the Holy Ghost is a much easier one to find in the Bible,
straight in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, I'll just give you one reference, I've got a few references,
but I'll just give you that one.
And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Immediately, verse number 2 of your Bible, you've got the Holy Spirit of God moving upon that new creation,
that new earth that God had just created.
And yeah, I won't read all the references otherwise, we'll be here for a long time.
But what I wanted to explain to you is that Jesus Christ and the New Testament writers
make the Trinity crystal clear for us.
We understand, especially Jesus, he puts a lot of effort explaining this to us in his teaching.
But if you were reading through the Old Testament, and you just find these random references to the Father,
sometimes to the Son, it'd be harder for you to put this all together.
And again, just pay attention, this is coming.
Now, there are attributes to who God is.
There is something about God's nature that is far beyond the nature of a human being.
Now those three things, three things that make up who God is, that we can't possibly be,
is that he is omnipotent, meaning that he's all-powerful.
There's omniscient, meaning that he's all-knowing.
Omniscient is like omni-science, and science means knowledge, means he's all-knowing.
And then he's omnipresent as well, meaning that he's all-present.
He can be at all places at once.
This is something about God, all-powerful, all-knowing, can be everywhere at once.
He's not stuck to one place like we are.
These are attributes to God.
Now let me just give you some reference to this.
Mark 14, 36 says,
And he said,
Jesus Christ is saying to God the Father, all things are possible, meaning that he's all-powerful.
Matthew 24, verse 36, all-knowing.
Jesus says of the Father,
But of that day an hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
So the Father knows all things, he's all-knowing.
And the Father is omnipresent as well.
His presence can be everywhere at once.
Ephesians 4, 6, it says,
It says one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Somehow God the Father is above all, through all, and in you all.
He's everywhere at once.
These are attributes to God the Father.
Now, when I think of the Trinity, I think of there being the one God, one true God,
but at the same time we know there's a Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Now, one thing I want to say to you about this is that all the attributes of the Father are attributes to God.
All the attributes of the Son are attributes of God.
And all the attributes of the Holy Spirit are attributes of God.
So, for example, when Jesus Christ, the second person in the Trinity, shed his blood for our sins,
we could say, and the Bible does say, that it was the blood of God.
We can say that God died for our sins.
We can say that God paid the penalty for our sins, and that he's our Saviour.
All the attributes of the three belong to God.
But there are some attributes that are unique to each person of the Trinity that they don't share.
We spoke about the crucifixion.
Who, within that Trinity, was crucified?
It was God the Son.
It wasn't God the Father that was crucified.
It wasn't God the Holy Spirit that was born of Mary.
There are certain attributes within that triune nature of God that are unique to each person of the Trinity.
But all those attributes are true of the one God.
This is a great mystery, but we understand it by faith.
It's what the Bible teaches.
Now, let's talk about Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.
Jesus says in Revelation 1.8,
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
He has all might. He has all power.
Meaning that he, too, is omnipotent.
He has all power.
John 21, verse 17, Jesus asks a question to Simon Peter.
He says,
He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me?
Peter was grieved because he saith unto him the third time, loveth thou me.
And he saith unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
So what's Peter acknowledging?
That Jesus Christ is all known. He knows all things.
So even Jesus Christ is omniscient, all known.
And of course, he's omnipresent.
Now, there are some discussions.
Some people don't believe that Jesus Christ is omnipresent.
Some people believe that Jesus Christ can only be in one location at a time.
And for example, right now, he's on the right-hand side of the Father.
Because he became a man, became flesh, he can only be in one place.
That's not my personal belief.
And I'll show you why.
Matthew 28, verse 20, this is the Great Commission.
Again, Jesus Christ is saying this,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
He's talking to all his disciples.
He says, whatever way you go throughout the whole world preaching the gospel,
I am with you alway.
Okay, yes, Jesus Christ is seated at the right-hand side of the Father,
but somehow, he said, explain it to me, I can't explain it to you.
Somehow, he can be with us as well, Jesus Christ.
And even in the midst today in church,
where there's two or three gathered in his name,
Jesus Christ said, I'll be in the midst of them.
Somehow, Jesus Christ is here.
Now, it doesn't have to be here in his body,
but what we see in the scriptures is that Jesus Christ can be in more places than once.
In fact, when he was speaking to the Pharisees,
I don't have this in my notes, but he said,
the Son of Man referring to himself, which is in heaven.
And he's saying, look, I'm on the earth, but I'm also in heaven.
And so, Jesus Christ can definitely be in more places than once.
Now, these are attributes to God that he shares with the Father as well.
They have the same attributes.
But there are some attributes that are different.
So John 17, 25, Jesus speaking, he says,
Old righteous Father, speaking to God the Father,
the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Jesus Christ was sent by the Father.
If you sent someone, it means they were in one location,
and now they're being sent elsewhere.
Jesus Christ did not come into existence in Bethlehem's manger.
He was sent, meaning that he was with the Father,
and then sent to the earth.
So he existed before Abraham's manger.
He's God.
And John 1, 1, for those of you that have memorised that,
you know that Jesus Christ is God and was with God at the same time.
At creation, that is.
And then in Matthew 10, 40, Jesus says,
He that receiveth you receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Who sent Jesus? The Father.
So we see a clear distinction of God the Father sending the Son.
Sending God the Son.
So Jesus Christ was sent by the Father.
Now the question is,
and some people think this is like heretical or something,
but look, it's not.
Jesus Christ is subject to the Father.
When it comes to the triune nature of God,
there is a chain of command.
There is an authority structure.
Now in your homes, there ought to be an authority structure.
Husbands, you are the head of your wife.
And husband and wife, you are the head of your children.
You're in charge of your children.
Now does that mean, just because the husband's the head of the wife,
does that mean the wife is like any less valuable?
No.
Just as much valuable, just as much valuable to God,
but God had put an authority structure in place.
It doesn't mean someone's less valuable.
It just means there's an authority structure.
Now, Jesus Christ was subject to the Father.
John 6, 38 says, Jesus speaking,
For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will,
but the will of him that sent me.
So when Jesus Christ came, he was not seeking his own will.
He was seeking the will of the Father.
What does that mean?
He's seeking to be obedient to the Father.
The Father gave him a job and mission to do,
and Jesus Christ wanted to carry it out.
So it's not just being sent,
but the Father gave him a mission to do,
and he was obedient and subject to that.
Luke 22, verse 42.
This is Jesus suffering at the Garden of Gethsemane.
He says, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Jesus Christ knew what he was about to go through,
in his body, taking on the sins of the whole world,
being tortured and being beaten, whipped,
crown of thorns upon him, and the shedding of blood.
He says, look, if there's some other way,
but then he goes, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
See, Jesus Christ was subject to the Father.
Even though Jesus Christ had his own will,
he was still aligned with the Father's will,
because he was in complete obedience to God the Father.
Just because he had his own will
doesn't mean he was rebellious to the Father.
Just because he was asking a request
doesn't mean he was rebelling.
He still aligned his will to the will of God the Father.
And by the way, that's how our kids ought to be with us, parents.
Our kids have their own wills.
Sometimes they want to do their own thing,
but they need to be subject to their parents,
to the will of their parents.
That's something we need to train them to be.
And you might say, well, hold on.
He was subject to the Father when he became a man,
when he was born of Mary.
That's when he was under subjection.
It's not like he's always under subjection of the Father.
Always. Always.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 27.
The Bible reads,
For he hath put all things,
this is by speaking of the Father, of the Son,
the Father hath put all things under his feet,
under the feet of Jesus.
Everything in this world, all of creation,
is actually subject to Jesus Christ.
And one day it's all going to be under the feet of Jesus,
meaning he's going to have all authority over all things.
And that time will come in the millennial reign of Christ,
when he comes back and establishes his kingdom.
He's going to rule with a rod of iron.
And then it says this,
But when he saith, All things are put under him,
it is manifest that he is accepted,
which did put all things under him.
So the only exception to that
is that the Father's not going to be put under Jesus Christ,
is what that's saying.
Okay? Why? Verse 28.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him,
that put all things under him,
and that God may be all in all.
So they say, look, once Christ has all authority put under him,
that millennial reign of Christ,
he says then he's going to be still subjected under the Father.
Even into eternity, okay?
The Son is subject to the Father.
It's a chain of command, okay?
That doesn't mean Jesus Christ is any less God.
It just means there's an authority structure within the Trinity.
Now let's talk about the Holy Ghost,
the third person of the Trinity.
He's omnipotent, he's all powerful.
Luke 1 35,
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 what's the power of the Holy Ghost?
When the Holy Ghost came upon Mary,
it says it's the power of the highest.
The highest power means that he's all powerful,
because he's God.
The Holy Ghost is God.
He's also all-knowing, omniscient.
1 Corinthians 2 11 says,
For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him?
So it's saying here,
look, a man can understand another man
because they have the same spirit, okay?
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man.
So there's no way that we can know the things of God.
We know God is all-knowing.
But then it says, but the spirit of God.
So the reason why we can know the things of God
is because we have the Holy Spirit of God
indwelling in us, okay?
And it says that spirit of God knows the things of God.
So that means he's all-knowing as well, the Holy Ghost,
because he's God, okay?
And he's omnipresent.
This one's easier to prove, you know?
I'll just read to you Psalm 139 verse 7.
It says,
Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
You know, the Psalmist is saying,
hey, where can I run away from you, God?
Where can I get away from your spirit?
You know, then it says in verse 8,
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.
If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
You know, the spirit of God is in heaven,
he's in hell, he's on this earth,
he's omnipresent, he's everywhere at once,
the Holy Spirit as well, okay?
Now, the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father
and sent by the Son, okay?
The Father sent the Son,
but the Holy Ghost was sent by the Son and the Father, okay?
We have this sort of, this chain of command
that operates within the Trinity.
And I'll just quickly read to you John 14, 16.
Jesus is saying,
I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not,
neither know of him, but ye know him,
for he dwelleth in you, and shall be in you.
Okay?
Then he says, in two chapters later,
in John 16, verse 7,
so he just finished saying,
the Father will send the Spirit,
and then in John 16, 7, he says,
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth,
it is expedient for you that I go away,
for if I go not away,
the comforter will not come unto you,
but if I depart,
I will send him unto you.
Okay?
So the Father sends the Son,
and the Son sends the Holy Ghost,
and the Father sends the Holy Ghost as well.
Okay?
Now,
the main purpose
of us understanding the trine nature of God
is to point us to Jesus Christ.
Jesus said,
I am the way,
the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father,
except by me.
Okay?
The Bible,
when you read the Bible,
once you understand who Jesus Christ is,
and then you go back to the Old Testament,
you'll start to understand
that the Bible is Christ-centric.
Okay?
When it comes to the trine nature of God,
yes, the Father has the highest authority,
but the Father is the one that sent the Son,
and it's through the Son
that we can come to the Father.
Okay?
And even with the Holy Ghost,
the whole reason the Holy Ghost came here
is not so we would be pointed
so much to the Holy Ghost,
but that the Holy Ghost would teach us
all things that Christ taught us,
and the Holy Ghost would teach us
about Jesus Christ.
Okay?
It's all Christ-centric.
Father sends the Son,
the Holy Ghost points us to Christ,
because Christ is the door.
He is the way.
Okay?
I'll just quickly show you this
in John 16, 13.
I'll just read this to you quickly.
John 16, 13.
Howbeit when He,
the Spirit of truth, is come,
He will guide you into all truth.
Look at this.
For He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak,
and He will show you things to come.
Okay?
So you can see the Holy Spirit
is to guide us into all truth.
He is there not to speak of Himself.
And this is why you know the Pentecostals
and the charismatic churches are wrong.
How much emphasis do they have on the Holy Ghost
and Holy Spirit?
It's crazy how much, right?
They're constantly speaking of the Holy Ghost,
and yet the Holy Ghost has not come
to speak of Himself,
but to point us to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ truly is the central figure
of the Bible.
Okay?
Now, John 16, verse 13.
John 16, verse 13.
I just read that to you.
Sorry, I should have made this more of a point.
But some people say,
well, no, the Holy Spirit is not a person.
The Holy Spirit is just the power of God.
Okay?
Now, if you got John 16,
you might want to look at this.
John 16, verse 13.
I just want you to see
how often Jesus Christ
refers to the Holy Spirit as a person.
Okay?
Just in this one verse,
John 16, verse 13.
Jesus Christ speaking,
He says,
Now, before we keep reading, guys,
what's He?
It's a personal pronoun.
Okay?
It's a personal pronoun.
If I'm talking about Michael,
and I might say to you,
He is Michael.
Okay?
I'm talking about a person.
Okay?
So, we look at this.
He says,
For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come.
I counted seven times
a personal pronoun
being used for the Holy Ghost
from Jesus Christ in that one verse.
Okay?
So, we can see truly,
you know, Jesus Christ is teaching us here
that the Holy Spirit is not just some power,
though He is powerful,
He is actually a person of the Trinity.
Okay?
A person of the Trinity.
The Holy Ghost also has its own will.
I'll just quickly read to you
from 1 Corinthians 12-11.
It says,
This is speaking about spiritual gifts.
We all have gifts that we can use
to serve the church.
God has all given us different abilities
and different gifts.
And the Bible says here,
it's the will of the Holy Ghost
that gives us those gifts.
Okay?
It's the will of the Holy Ghost
that does that.
Now, we spoke about the three.
Let's quickly refer to our one God,
and I'm not going to read out so many verses.
I'm not going to read them all.
But I just want to show you
a couple of them here.
Deuteronomy 4-35,
There is none else beside Him.
Are there any other gods
than the God of the Bible?
No.
There's only one true God.
Deuteronomy 4-39.
Know therefore this day,
and consider it in thine heart,
that the Lord He is God in heaven above,
and upon the earth beneath
there is none else.
That's clear.
Alright?
Now, let me just say a couple of words to you
just because of who this church is.
And obviously you've been familiar
with the oneness and the molders.
These are things you've probably
never heard of before,
but now you're probably more familiar
about them than ever.
Okay?
Now, the big mistake
some of these people make
that teach oneness
is they'll read a verse like this,
there is none else.
And they'll attribute that to the Father.
Okay?
They'll say, well, this must be God the Father.
And so if there's no other gods
but God the Father,
and we know that Jesus is God
and the Holy Spirit is God,
that would mean
that they're all the one person.
Okay?
That the Father
also becomes the Son,
or is the Son,
however they want,
you know, different people
teach in different ways,
and also becomes the Holy Spirit,
or is the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
This is not teaching that.
This is just teaching
that there is one God.
Okay?
And I'm going to show you later,
well, we've already seen it,
that the one God is the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
Okay?
It's not that the Father is the Son
and the Holy Ghost.
It's not that Jesus is the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
It's that there's one God
that is the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
And these things
are difficult for us to understand.
It's difficult for us to grasp.
But if we're going to be faithful believers
in the Word of God,
we can't ignore these two truths,
that there's one God
and yet three persons
that make up that one God.
Okay?
Now,
I'll quickly read to you
another verse.
Just a random one here.
1 Kings 8.60.
That all the people of the earth
may know that the Lord is God
and that there is none else.
Okay?
Very clear.
I'm going to read to you
from 2 Kings 19.15.
And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord
and said,
O Lord God of Israel,
which dwells between
the cherubims,
Thou art the God,
even Thou alone,
for all the kingdoms of the earth,
Thou hast made heaven and earth.
Thou alone.
Okay?
And God also says this.
Ye are my witnesses.
You know,
Isaiah 43.10.
Sorry.
Isaiah 43.10 says,
Ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord,
and my servants
whom I have chosen,
that ye may know and believe me
and understand that I am He,
before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me.
One God.
You know?
For all eternity.
There were no other gods before,
there were no other gods after.
There is the one true God.
Now,
this is also a teaching
in the New Testament.
I'm not saying that the New Testament
denies this.
Okay?
The New Testament affirms
that there is one God.
In Mark 12.29,
And Jesus answered him,
The first in all the commandments is,
Hear of Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord.
Okay?
And Romans 3.30,
Seeing it is one God,
which shall justify the circumcision by faith,
and uncircumcision through faith.
By the way,
circumcision,
the Jews,
uncircumcision,
the Gentiles,
all justified the same way,
through faith.
And that's a side note, okay?
That's a teaching for another day.
Those that teach that the Jews
get saved some other way.
It's not true.
Anyway.
Um,
and then like 1 Corinthians 8.4,
this is New Testament guys,
New Testament teaching,
As concerning therefore the eating
of those things that are often
in sacrifice unto idols,
we know that an idol is nothing
in the world,
and that there is none other God
but one.
None other God but one.
One God.
Okay?
Now,
there's a debate over the use
of the word persons.
Okay?
Now,
I'm gonna say something that's
probably unpopular,
but I'm gonna say it anyway
because I believe
the word of God is true.
I just,
I'm fine with it.
I don't feel like I need to
struggle with this idea.
Okay?
And it's with the word persons.
You know,
some people say,
well yes,
you know,
the Father is a person,
and the Son is a person,
and I agree with that.
But then they say,
but you can't say
God is one person.
Well,
I'll show you soon
that he is one person,
not according to me,
but according to Job.
Okay?
And I understand the concern.
Okay?
Because when you preach
the word of God,
when you're a pastor
or a preacher,
and you're preaching
to God's people,
you ought to have
a healthy fear of God.
Not a fear of man,
but a fear of God,
and you want to teach things
as accurately as possible.
So you don't want
to confuse people.
Because just this idea
of saying three persons
is okay,
and saying one person
is okay,
can be confusing.
Okay?
I fully understand that,
but I think
we're mature enough
to sort of understand,
instead of just jumping off
one word,
and making some accusations
or false ideas,
you know,
we can just see
what the word of God says.
Now,
Hebrews chapter one,
verse one.
Hebrews chapter one,
verse one.
And I'm going to read
verses one, two, and three.
It says,
God,
who at sundry times
and in diverse manners,
spake in time past
unto the fathers
by the prophets,
have in these last days
spoken unto us
by his son.
So who are we talking about?
If it's his son,
we're then talking about
God the Father, right?
Okay.
Whom he have appointed
heir of all things,
by whom he also made the worlds,
who being the brightness
of his glory,
talking to Jesus,
Jesus is the brightness
of his glory,
the father's glory,
and the express image
of his person.
So what is God the Father
here being called?
A person.
Okay.
Jesus Christ is the express image
of the person of God the Father.
Just like my son.
My sons,
you might say,
boy, you know,
Nicholas is an express image
of you, Kevin.
You know,
he looks just like you.
Maybe not by looks,
maybe characteristics,
certain things that he does.
You might say he's very much
like his father.
Same kind of concept.
Jesus Christ was that express image
of God the Father.
And let's look at
2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10.
2 Corinthians chapter 2.
I just want to show you
that the Bible is comfortable
referring to God the Father
as a person.
Okay.
2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10.
The Bible says,
to whom you forgive anything,
I forgive also,
for if I forgave anything,
to whom I forgave it,
for your sakes forgave it
in the person of Christ.
Now I shouldn't have to tell you that.
That's obvious
that Jesus Christ is a person.
I just wanted to show you
a scripture that uses that word
to describe Jesus Christ.
Now,
is there a passage
that calls the Holy Spirit a person?
No, there isn't.
It's just straight out
calling him a person.
But I showed you that one verse
that Jesus Christ himself
used seven personal pronouns
personal pronouns
to describe the Holy Spirit.
Meaning that Jesus Christ
acknowledges him as a person.
Okay.
So are there three persons?
Yes.
Definitely three persons.
All having their own wills.
We saw that as well.
Okay.
Now those wills are aligned
to the Father's will
because he has the highest quality.
Okay.
Now,
can we say,
and I want you to turn here,
please turn to Job 13.
Job chapter 13 verse 7.
And we need to be careful
with the book of Job
when we build our doctrine.
Okay.
Because like literally
half the book of Job
you know,
it could be God's words
or Job's words.
And when we read that,
when we read God's words
or Job's words,
we know that it's true.
We know that it's faithful.
God acknowledges
that what Job says is correct.
Okay.
But half the book
are Job's friends.
And Job's friends
are constantly wrong.
Okay.
So you need to be careful
when you read the book of Job
that you don't build your doctrine
on the words of Job's friends.
Okay.
So my point is
these are Job's words.
Okay.
And they're true
and they're correct.
Job 13 verse 7.
This is what Job says.
And remember in the Old Testament,
the teaching of the Trinity
was not revealed in the same way
that it is in the New Testament.
Okay.
Job chapter 13 verse 7.
It says,
He spoke wickedly for God
and took deceitfully for him.
Verse 8.
Will ye accept his person?
Will ye contend for God?
So we see
when Job is just referring to God alone,
the one God,
is not there trying to break up
the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost,
just the one God,
Job is comfortable
referring to him as a person.
Okay.
Now I'm fine with that.
I don't feel like I'm getting into a fight,
but some people don't like saying that.
They'd rather say essence or nature.
I'm happy with all those terms.
Okay.
I'm happy with whatever terms they are.
My point is
if we were to use the word persons,
I'm happy to say that God is one person
and that one person of God is three persons.
I'm happy to use that.
Okay.
Now the reason why a lot of people argue about this
is because when you say person,
they think automatically a human being.
And obviously I'm not free human.
I'm not free people as well.
Okay.
I'm just one person.
Okay.
But the person of God
and God is far beyond what a human being is
has three persons.
Okay.
If we can understand that,
I don't fully comprehend the whole
but just accept it by faith.
Okay.
There is one God
and three that make up that one God,
the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
So I don't panic
when I hear someone use person on this side
or person on that side.
As long as what they're teaching is clear
and understandable
and aligned with what the scriptures teach.
Okay.
If you have any questions about that,
you can ask me later on.
Now,
let me just think about where I want to go.
Okay.
Genesis chapter 1 verse 26.
So I hope you've understood now
that there's a plurality when it comes to God
but there's also a singularity.
Somehow.
It just is.
Okay.
And again,
that doesn't make sense to the laws of our universe
but it's God that created the laws of our universe.
So he's above those laws.
Okay.
He's above those laws
that he's created in our universe.
Now, look at Genesis 1 verse 26.
And you guys,
I'm sure you guys know this one.
And God said,
Let us,
let us
make man in our image
after our likeness,
our, our image,
our likeness.
Okay.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the fowl of the air
and over the cattle
and over all the earth
and over every creepy thing
that creep upon the earth.
I just want to show you there how when God speaks,
you say,
is that the Father?
Is that the Son?
Is that the Holy Ghost?
I don't know.
The Bible doesn't tell us.
Okay.
I'm happy with that.
I don't know if you guys are,
but I'm happy with that.
I don't feel like I have to wrap my brains
and try to work out
every little piece of detail,
especially the scriptures don't tell us.
All the scriptures tell us
is that this is what God said.
And he speaks in a plurality sense, right?
Let us make,
let us make man in our image,
us and our plurality of God.
Now, you don't have to turn there.
I'll just quickly read to you
from Isaiah 43 verse 10.
Isaiah 43 verse 10.
Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord,
and my servants whom I have chosen,
sorry, yeah,
that ye may know and believe me
and understand that I am He.
I think I read this before.
Anyway,
it just says this,
before me there was no good forms,
neither shall there be after me.
So God here in this verse is speaking,
I,
I in the singular form,
okay,
is that Father, the Son, the Holy,
you know,
the Bible doesn't tell us.
We don't have to start creating doctrines
on what the scriptures don't tell us.
We just build it on what it does tell us.
That there's a plurality
in the nature of God
and there's a singularity as well.
We have to accept these two truths.
Now,
Isaiah,
we have to go to Isaiah.
We're going to look at Isaiah 9-6,
but I'll get you guys to go to
Isaiah 6-8 first.
Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8.
Because I want to,
put what I just showed you together.
Okay,
this plurality and singularity of God
and how God speaks of himself.
Okay,
Isaiah 6-8.
The Bible says,
also I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
so who's going to say these words?
The Lord, right?
Look at this.
Whom shall I send?
Singular, right?
And who will go for us?
Plural.
Okay,
then said I, here am I, send me.
So we see,
in the same verse,
in the same literal sentence there,
God speaks of I in the singular form
and then he says,
who will go for us in the plural form.
This is all Old Testament, okay?
If you didn't have New Testament,
you might read this and be a little confused
what's going on here.
You know, thank God we have New Testament,
Jesus Christ come in and explain how this works,
how the Trinity works, okay?
Now while you're there,
Isaiah 9-6.
The most controversial verse it seems
about the topic of the Trinity.
Isaiah 9-6.
I'm sure you guys have been hearing this non-stop
from an hour off my heart.
It's a good memory verse.
Maybe we'll memorize it one day.
We'll put it down as a memory verse.
Isaiah 9-6.
For unto us a child is born.
There's no doubt that this child we're talking about
is Jesus Christ.
It's a prophecy of Jesus Christ.
And unto us a son is given.
Jesus Christ being the Son of God,
also called the Son of Man.
And the government shall be upon his shoulder
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God.
It's proving his deity here.
The Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.
I can't believe how controversial this is.
Now, I'm going to backtrack over a year ago
before this was a controversy in our circles, okay?
And I'm just going to tell you,
when I read Isaiah 9-6,
the Everlasting Father for me always referred
to God the Father.
It was always a reference to God the Father.
And even after this controversy,
I've not changed on that view.
I don't feel there's a need to change that view, okay?
Now, some people say, and I don't know,
maybe you can share your views later on
with me in the service.
If you accept that this is a reference to God the Father,
then essentially what you're saying here
is that Jesus Christ is God the Father.
Now, the reason I say to you that,
that's what I believed before the controversy
and even now still,
is that just my whole life,
anytime a preacher,
I've been in churches again my whole life,
anytime a preacher would try to teach
on the deity of Christ,
Isaiah 9-6 is one that they always bring up, okay?
Because it just flatly calls him here
the mighty God and the everlasting Father, okay?
And I can think of pastors after pastors
after pastors from my whole life,
even when I heard this term,
the everlasting Father,
I was fine with it
because here's how I understood it.
And again, I'm going to use this example later on,
it's coming,
is that yes, Christ is God
and is the same God as God the Father.
There is no difference.
It's not that the Father is one God
and Jesus Christ is some other God.
No, it's the same one true God
and so we'll see soon
because I'm tempted to use it but not yet, okay?
The Trinity was not a clear teaching of the Bible, okay?
But this is not an error.
This is actually correct if we take it this way.
Now, I looked up some commentaries.
Now, I don't look up commentaries to preach a sermon, okay?
But I looked up some commentaries
because I just wanted to show you
how these commentaries talk about this verse, okay?
And I'm not even going to give you the names
of the people that wrote
because I'm not trying to promote these commentaries.
I just want you to have some understanding
of other people, okay?
Now, most commentaries that you turn to
because they struggle with this
thinking that we can't reference this as God the Father
because then we get into doctrinal problems.
They often say, well, this actually means
that Jesus is the Father of everlasting
or the Father of eternity.
That's kind of what they mean, right?
But when we read this, it says the everlasting Father
meaning that everlasting is an adjective.
It's a describing word for Father, okay?
Jesus Christ, or this reference here,
is the attribute or the adjective
is that he's everlasting, he's forever, he's eternal.
But when you change it to Father of everlasting,
maybe life or everlasting, I don't know,
testament or everlasting, I don't know,
Father of eternity,
you turn that from an adjective into a noun, okay?
And that's why I reject this attempt
to say this is just Jesus as some father
or some everlasting noun,
whatever you wanna fill that in.
But most commentaries actually explain it that way.
But not all of them.
Many commentaries do acknowledge
that this is a reference to God the Father
and the way they acknowledge it is the same way
that growing up in Baptist churches my whole life,
they've explained it.
And I'm just gonna read three of them to you.
And again, I'm not promoting commentaries, okay?
Read the word of God, ask the Holy Ghost to guide you,
to teach you, and I'm not giving you the names
because I don't want you to think,
oh man, Kevin's endorsing this.
I'm not endorsing any of these commentaries.
I just wanted to prove a point here.
One commentary says this about this verse.
The deity of Christ is clear.
At the same time, he is called the everlasting Father.
Look at this.
The unity of the Godhead is in you.
Okay, so this commentary doesn't say,
this means Jesus is God the Father.
He says what's in view is the unity of the Godhead,
the fact that they are one God.
That's how I always understand this verse,
understand this verse.
That's how the pastors in the past
that have preached on this have explained it,
that the one God is in you, okay?
And then it says Christ and the Father are one,
the Father is in him, and he is in the Father,
though their certainty is a distinction
between the Father and the Son.
We do not err to refer to the Son as the Father.
One is found in the other.
Christ says I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
and yet this commentator, for example, says
though there's still a distinction between the two, okay?
Another commentary says this.
The everlasting Father, which does not design
any relation of Christ in the Godhead,
and there is but one Father in the Godhead,
and that is the first person, indeed Christ
and the Father are one, and the Father is in him,
and he is in the Father, and he that has seen the one
has seen the other, and yet they are distinct.
Christ is not the Father.
So this is another commentator that accepts that
to be referring to God the Father,
but again says there's a distinction.
It's the fact that Christ is in the Father
and the Father is in Christ,
but they're not the same person in the Trinity.
And one more commentary.
I kind of laughed when I heard this
because this is what I can relate to this one.
It says, but here again there is a singularity in the idea
by the one God, singularity,
which makes the omission of the article unimportant.
I'm not even sure what that means.
Anyway, for how could there be one more,
sorry, for how could there be,
for how could there be more than one everlasting Father,
one creator, preserver, protector of mankind
who is absolutely eternal?
If the term Father applied to our Lord
grates on our ears,
we must remember that the distinction of persons
in the Godhead had not yet been revealed.
So if this grates in your ears
to surround, and I won't accept this as a reference
to God the Father,
he says it's because the teaching of the Trinity
was not yet revealed.
That's basically what I'm telling you guys,
that the teaching of the Trinity was not yet revealed
until the New Testament times.
I'm sorry if I'm going to be long on this sermon,
like I said, I've got a lot to cover,
but I think it's an important topic
in light of past events, okay?
Now, please turn to John 17, John 17.
I would encourage you, I'm going to give you homework.
I want you to read John 17 at home all by yourselves
and study it out.
Just read it on your own, okay?
And I'm just going to read the last three verses,
and I'm going to tell you,
because John 17 is one of the best chapters,
but it's throughout all of Jesus' life,
teaching on the Trinity,
teaching on the Father
and his relation to the Son and the Holy Spirit.
But this is a passage that people that believe in oneness
or I guess, I don't know, maybe lean toward it,
will interpret it one way,
and I'm going to show you another way how to interpret it.
Verse 24, John 17, 24.
Jesus speaking, of course.
Father, I will let they also, whom thou hast given me,
be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me.
So we're seeing here, Jesus Christ is elaborating,
teaching how the Father had given the Son glory.
For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
Guys, Christ did not come into existence at some point.
The Father loved him before the foundation of the world,
before creation.
There was a love there between the Father and the Son.
Verse 25, O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee,
but I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Do you see how the Son is talking about how the Father had given him glory,
how the Father had sent him,
and that the world at large did not know the Father?
Because the world at large did not understand this doctrine of the Trinity.
It was being taught by Jesus Christ.
Verse 26,
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it,
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.
So those that lean toward one another, or teach one another,
will look at verse 26,
and Jesus says,
And I have declared unto them thy name.
So Jesus is saying to the disciples,
to those that have followed Christ and those that have been saved,
that Christ has declared the name of the Father to them.
And the question is, well, what's that name?
What's the name that we learnt in the New Testament?
I'm not saying this is the right teacher, I'm saying this is what they teach.
Well, that name must be Jesus.
Because they didn't know the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.
That was revealed in the New Testament.
So if Jesus is declaring the name of the Father, they say,
then that name is Jesus.
And so Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Son, Jesus is the Holy Ghost.
Okay?
Now, and this is why we need to read the whole chapter,
so you don't take my word alone,
but you'll notice this in the whole chapter if you read it in your own time.
Name does not only mean personal name.
Name can mean authority.
Name can be power.
Just like when someone says,
stop in the name of the Lord.
The Lord doesn't have a personal name,
it's the authority of that name.
When Christ says, I came in the name of the Father,
he's not saying I came because the Father named Jesus,
he's given me Jesus Junior, the name, right?
He's saying I came in his authority, I came in his power.
That's what he's teaching. The name can mean that.
And so when he says in verse 26,
and I have declared unto them thy name,
what he's actually saying there is I've declared unto them your power,
your authority.
He's explaining to them that the Father has sent the Son,
and that you only go to the Father through the Son.
And he's teaching his disciples throughout the whole Bible,
but especially this one, that authority structure will be in the Trinity.
And so,
stake this out, go home,
John 17,
specifically, and pay attention
to how much Jesus Christ speaks of
being sent, or being given things of the Father,
doing the Father's will, and then him,
then passing that authority,
those instructions, those words,
those words to his disciples
so they can continue on the work.
There's a chain of command from the Father,
to the Son, to the disciples.
That's what Jesus Christ is teaching them.
They didn't know these things before.
Now they do. Now they understand
who God truly is.
This chain of command within the Godhead.
So, go away, study that out.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Now,
let me just think where I'm going to go with that.
Okay, I'm going to skip a little bit here.
One thing that I will acknowledge
when it comes to the Trinity,
and again, I'm going to explain with this,
is that in the Bible,
both Old Testament and New Testament,
there is overlap.
Okay, there are passages
where there's a blur.
There's a blur and overlap.
It's not like there's always these
crystal clear distinctions between
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Now, what happens is,
a lot of people have different opinions
as to what this blurring is.
Okay, and again,
those that have the oneness
or modeless way of interpreting
will say, well, the blurring
or the merging is because
Jesus is all of them.
You know, Jesus is the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
And, um,
a lot of people have different ways
of explaining this blurring.
And for me, you say, well, how do you explain it?
There's one God.
Okay, so,
I just feel like if there's one God,
there's going to be passages
where just naturally there's a blurring of lines.
Similar to Isaiah 9-6.
Okay, Jesus says,
I am the Father of one. They are one.
Okay, because there's one God.
Okay, that's why I believe the blurring.
Some of us have opinions,
well, sometimes maybe the Father is speaking on behalf of the Son,
or the Son is speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit.
You know, some might have that interpretation.
Or they just interpret things different ways.
I'm not so worried about how people
try to explain some of this blurring.
Because if somebody could explain
everything,
then they're basically telling that
they can comprehend
the nature of God in their puny, limited
minds. Okay?
And we can already see
it would be impossible to
fully understand how there can be
one God and yet three.
And yet that's what the Bible teaches, if we trust that it's true.
Okay?
Now, um,
let me explain this to you.
Well, actually not yet.
One last thing that I want to cover.
I spoke about all the attributes
of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost,
being all attributes of God.
There are certain attributes that are unique
to each person.
What's unique about the Father?
The Father sent the Son.
That's unique to the Father.
You can't say the Son sent the Son.
The Holy Spirit sent the Son.
No, it was the Father that sent the Son.
Okay? Another unique attribute, let's say,
of the Holy Ghost, it was the Holy Ghost
that moved men, you know,
to write the Scriptures.
It was the Holy Ghost that worked through men
to write the Bible. Okay?
That's unique to the Holy Ghost.
And we know plenty of things that are unique
to Jesus Christ. Being born of Mary.
You know?
Being crucified.
Dead for three days, three nights. Rising again
Lots of things that are unique to the Son.
And one of those things that are unique
to the Son, and I'm going to go into this
next week, okay,
is the name of Jesus Christ.
The name of Jesus Christ
is unique to the Son.
It does not belong to the Father
and the Holy Spirit.
Now the reason I bring this up
is because I'm a pretty relaxed person.
If you guys know me,
I'm pretty easy going.
I don't try to argue and fight
about things that
to me aren't really major issues.
So, when it comes to the Trinity,
yes it's important, yes it's fundamental.
Okay?
But I don't really get upset with someone like
Isaiah 9-6. You know, they say,
well that's a reference to Jesus being an everlasting
something. Alright.
You have a different way of viewing that.
I'm not going to fight you over it.
You know, we can agree to disagree.
Or again, some of that blurring within the Trinity.
Some have a different way to explain it.
I find that perfectly with the way I would explain it.
I'm fine with that. Okay?
I'm fine with that.
But the Bible warns us
about another Gospel,
another Spirit, another Jesus.
When we're dealing with Jesus Christ,
we need to make sure
that we align ourselves perfectly
with what the Word of God says about Jesus Christ.
Perfectly.
I'm going to go into more into this next week.
More into this next week.
But I just want to...
I'm going to go into Philippians 2.
Philippians 2 verse 5.
I just want to read this passage
to you because I want you to see...
and if you guys were paying attention to
1 John 5 during the Bible reading, you would see
crystal clear who Jesus Christ is.
Philippians 2 verse 5.
It says,
Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
and that's referring to God the Father,
but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him
the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion
as a man,
he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Wherefore,
God also
have highly exalted him.
Look at this. Look at this. Pay attention to verse 9.
I know when we read the Bible,
we just read it. We don't really pay attention.
Wherefore, God have also highly exalted him.
How did God the Father
exalt the Son, and given
him a name which is
above every name,
that at the name
of Jesus, every knee
should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth,
and that every tongue
should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God
the Father.
Let me ask you this question.
Last words there. To the glory of God the Father.
We obviously want to
glorify God the Father.
He's the highest.
There's
nothing above God the Father.
He's the highest, and we
ought to be able to give him
the highest glory.
But how do we glorify
God the Father?
Verse 11, that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
God the Father
gave his Son
the name of Jesus.
Even though the Father has the highest authority,
he has given his Son
the name that is above
every name.
And you might say, well that's not right.
Because how can Jesus have a name
higher than every name
and God the Father
is the one that's in highest authority in the Trinity.
Think about
yourself as a Father.
Don't you want your Son to do
greater things?
Don't you want the best for your sons?
Don't you want them to succeed
in all ways possible?
It's the same way
the Father gave the Son
the name of Jesus.
Why? Because it glorifies
God the Father.
If we start taking that name of Jesus
and applying it to the Holy Spirit
or applying it to God the Father
you're no longer glorifying
God the Father.
It's the name that he gave
to his Son for that purpose.
Because he loves his Son
as we saw even before the foundations
and creation of the world.
So I'm going to go into this
more next week.
Why? This is an important issue.
There are a lot of people having different ways
because it's hard to understand
but when you start changing who Jesus Christ is
then for me
you go into a territory that's dangerous
that's heretical
and I will disfellowship over that.
Because the Bible warns us
about other Jesuses
and there are many, many other Jesuses
being taught by all kinds of religions.
Now I just want to end on this
and I'll pull this out.
Because a lot of people have different analogies
or diagrams
to describe the Trinity.
And I've used all of these in the past
and I'm not against
using analogies. I'm not.
Some people use time.
They'll say time has a past
present and future.
But it's all time.
You know, you're knocking someone's door. How can God be three in one?
People use all kinds of things.
They might use space.
Space, we live in a three dimensional world.
There's length, breadth and height.
But it's all space.
It's all material.
And then you've got matter.
Matter can be solid, liquid or gas.
The sun.
You've got the star
and then it's the heat.
And the light.
These are three things all from the one body.
Or man.
Man has a soul and spirit and flesh.
But there's one man.
There's all these analogies that people use.
Some people use the three leaf clover.
But there's three leaves to it.
They make up that three leaf clover.
Or an egg.
The egg has the shell, the white
and the yolk.
And I'm not against this. I'm not against using analogies.
But what I find
and I'm going to use an analogy.
What I find is that people
will dig into their analogy
and actually build their doctrine from an analogy.
Look, analogies are good and helpful
and can illustrate some truth.
But don't build your doctrine from an analogy
because any physical analogy
is going to fall short.
Because God is not limited
by the physical analogies
that are you.
There's no perfect way.
And
I'll just read to you Acts 17, 29.
It says,
For as much then as we are the offspring of God
we ought not to think that the Godhead
is like unto gold or silver or stone
graven by art and man's device.
There's no picture you're going to
at all that's perfect.
Someone once said, God is like
three circles.
You've got the Father and then you've got one.
And they kind of like chain up together.
So you've got paths that overlap
and then you've got other paths that are separate.
Three circles.
There's no art. It's okay.
I understand the concept.
I understand what's being taught. I'm not against it.
But you're not going to be able to build.
There's no art or man's device that you can use
of the Godhead, of his nature.
There's nothing.
So with this jar, I'm not going to teach you
about the Trinity.
But I want you to understand
the difference between
how they understood God in the Old Testament
and how Jesus Christ
taught us in the New Testament.
So I've got a jar.
Let's say this jar represents God.
The nature of God, if you will.
Now
if I'm pointing it to you this way
this is kind of the way
that the Old Testament
saints understood God.
Okay.
This is all God.
But they understood him
this front end.
When Jesus Christ came
and the teaching of the New Testament
we got a much deeper understanding of God.
A much deeper understanding of God.
We've got a lot more to understand.
We can understand this way.
Now, one thing we understand
and a much deeper understanding of God
is that God is three persons.
Let's pretend there were divisions here.
God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit.
And yet, they are all the one God.
Now the Old Testament saints
they did not have the knowledge that we have.
So they viewed God like this.
They viewed God like this.
So when you're looking at God
through this lens
it's not any less God
but you don't have the deep understanding
but through this lens
yes, as we saw in the Old Testament
talking about the Father
talking about the Son
talking about the Holy Spirit
one God.
And sometimes a blurring
and a lack of seeing the clarity
if you look through there
you will see elements of the Father
elements of the Son and elements of the Holy Ghost.
And so that is pretty much
the teaching of the Old Testament.
But when Jesus Christ comes
and he turns it
and explains to us a deeper understanding
and appreciation of God
so we can then clearly see those divisions
the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost.
But if we turn it that way
the divisions are still there.
The divisions are still there
it's just not clear.
I hope that kind of helps you understand
this concept.
This is how I understand
the overlap.
In both the Old Testament
and the New Testament.
Sometimes the scriptures are crystal clear
and then when there's overlap
it's like the scriptures have pointed this way.
And when looking at God through this lens
it's not any less God
it's just that the divisions are not
important to that text.
But those divisions are there.
Those distinctions are there.
They haven't gone away.
And when it comes to oneness
or modalism
it's kind of like
they recognize there's a three
but they want to stay here.
They want to stay here and say
well see, there's a merging
so we need to maybe rest
on the fact that
Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Son
and Jesus is the Holy Ghost.
But you're undoing all the revelation
that Jesus Christ has left us.
And when they do it that way, they sort of
end up thinking, well there's no distinctions.
No, the distinctions are always there.
It's not clear when you look at it this way
but it's definitely clear when you look at it that way.
Now, there's no perfect analogy
but I hope that's given you
a better understanding of the Trinity.
Alright guys, let's pray.