It's been a crazy week! I feel like I've preached three hard sermons. This is going to be my third hard sermon in a row.
On Sunday we preached about how God can hate the workers of iniquity.
Then on Thursday we preached on the reprobate doctrine which is very unpopular.
And then today it's difficult, not because the doctrine is difficult, but it's difficult because of the consequences this may have on churches that I love, people that I love.
I'm not sure how this will be taken by other people, but I believe this is important because if you know, there is a controversy brewing that unfortunately, I feel like I get dragged in every time it happens,
but it's the issue between the Trinity and oneness theology of how people view the Godhead, how people view the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
I really do not believe this doctrine is difficult, but the ramifications of taking a stand a certain way can be difficult.
Because it can break fellowship with brethren, it can cause separation and division and so on, but it's an important topic to preach on.
So if you're still in 1 John, 1 John 5, 1 John 5 verse 5, 1 John 5 verse 5 it says,
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
The title of the sermon this morning is Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God.
Now let me give you a quick summary of my experience with oneness theology. You may not even know what this is, okay?
And for the longest part of my life, I didn't know what this was.
But when I was attending Victory Baptist Church, I had a friend there that had a lot of unsaved oneness relatives, a lot of cousins and family members.
And obviously he cares for their soul, they're unsaved, and he would often ask me, hey, how do you address these arguments that they put forward, right?
And that's the first time I heard of this oneness Pentecostalism, because that's what they were, they were Pentecostals, oneness Pentecostals.
And I immediately recognized that their Jesus was a different Jesus to what I was familiar with, right?
And even those that are in the Trinitarian camp recognize that oneness theology is another Jesus.
And those in the oneness camp recognize that the Trinitarians have another Jesus.
This is not a dispute by those that take a strong stand either way.
But it wasn't so much the name that was my biggest issue at the time, it was because oneness Pentecostals, my biggest concern was their gospel.
Because their gospel isn't just faith on Christ, but the gospel was, well, you need to be baptized in the name of Jesus only,
you need to make sure that you live in a righteous and holy life, you need to make sure you persevere to the end.
And I can't remember what they all were, I remember there was like five things that there was.
So my main concern was, well, hold on, they need to understand, first of all, that salvation can never be earned by works, but by faith alone.
Now, that's my first exposure, and I recognized immediately they had another Jesus. That wasn't too difficult to understand.
Now, my next exposure to oneness Pentecostals was our door-to-door soul winning.
I remember knocking on someone's door, and there were a bunch of Maori islanders together.
There was about five or six of the guys, they invited me into the house.
You know, these big islanders, I was a bit nervous going into the house.
But anyway, I started to give them the gospel, they were agreeing with everything that I was saying.
And then when I got to the point that, well, salvation is just by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, just trusting his death, burial and resurrection, they stopped me.
And they asked me, have you been baptized? And I said, well, yeah.
And they said, well, don't you believe baptism is required for salvation?
At this point, I started to realize these guys are oneness Pentecostals.
And I said, well, no, I mean, I believe in baptism, I believe it's important, but baptism will never save you.
And they would say, no, no, you need to be baptized in the name of Jesus.
Were you baptized in the name of Jesus?
And I said, well, I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, which includes the name of Jesus, obviously, because that's the name of the Son.
That's why we saw him in 1 John 5.5.
Anyway, long story short, I got to understand a little bit more of their doctrine, understand why, what the issue was.
And they were trying to tell me that the Father's name was Jesus and that the Holy Spirit's name was Jesus.
And as I went and investigated and did some research on the differences between oneness and the Trinity, I started to understand what the key issue was.
Now, for me, it was never the fact that they baptized in the name of Jesus only.
Because when I did my research, I understood that there were Baptists that had done this as well.
And look, different churches and different pastors may draw that line of separation somewhere else different to me.
But I never saw that as the point of contention because it was really, what do you mean by baptizing in the name of Jesus only?
Now, for the Oneness Pentecostals, yes, the reason they baptized in the name of Jesus only is because they say the name of the Father is Jesus and the name of the Holy Spirit is Jesus, the name of the Son is Jesus.
So just the one name, Jesus.
Whereas the Baptists, who were Trinitarian, would baptize in the name of Jesus only, more as we're baptizing by the authority that Jesus gave us of baptism.
So even though they were kind of doing the same thing practically, they meant different things.
And if you want to be a Christian that's well-rounded, I encourage you, don't react to a phrase or a statement.
Try to understand what do you mean by that statement? What do you mean by that phrase?
You know, if someone says Jesus is the Father, don't jump down their throats, just what do you mean by that?
Always ask those questions because if you're talking to a fellow, I've seen two brethren, two saved brethren arguing one with another because of the phraseology they're using.
And I could stand back and I'm saying, you both believe the same thing, but because you're wording it differently, you're not understanding each other.
And you're saying, you know, you're wrong, you're wrong, they're both right.
It's just sometimes people struggle to try to understand what people are trying to convey, so never jump down someone's throat just because of the terminology they use.
You always want to understand what you mean by those words or that phrase that you use.
Okay, so that is my history of Oneness Pentecostalism.
So whenever I hear someone say, and I understood that the dividing line was the name of Jesus, who does that name belong to?
Does it belong to just the Son of God or does it belong to the Father and to the Holy Spirit as well?
And I recognize that was the line of division really that I felt between Trinitarianism and Oneness theology.
Now, I'm going to show you some slides. Yes, I did a PowerPoint, but I just want to illustrate something and then we're going to build off these slides a little bit.
Okay, so I can draw your attention over here.
Now, I'll get one of the kids to answer this question. What's that?
Number three.
Number three, alright. Now, is the number three difficult to understand?
Is that hard to understand?
No, okay, number three is not hard to understand.
You know what's even easier?
One.
Is that hard to understand?
Is three or one hard to understand?
No, it's not, okay.
I would say this is the milk of mathematics.
If you're going to teach anyone mathematics, you're going to get to one and three pretty quickly.
It's very basic things. Any little child can understand this.
One plus one plus one equals three, for example.
But what if I took those two numbers and did that?
Three equals one.
Now, is that hard to understand?
It is hard to understand.
Even though those numbers are very easy to understand,
that equation is not just hard to understand, but that equation is impossible
because the laws of mathematics does not allow that to be the case.
But let's pretend for a minute that I created the laws of mathematics
and I said to you, this is possible, but my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
You're limited to the laws of mathematics whereas I am not limited by those laws
because I created those laws.
So, for me, I can understand it and I can convey certain truths about that
which are true because I'm outside of those laws
but you will always have a finite understanding of this
and you can only accept what I tell you
because you know I'm above the laws of mathematics.
Now, what if someone said to me,
you know what, even though I'm limited in my knowledge
and I'm limited by the laws of mathematics,
I reckon I can work out an equation that makes three become one.
Not just become one, actually, but where three equals one.
I can come up with an equation.
So, someone tries to come up with some sort of equation
where three can equal something that equals one.
Now, first of all, three is never one in this world of ours.
In our limited, the laws of mathematics, it never equals.
You could spend every second of the rest of your life
trying to figure out a formula and you'll never figure it out.
Every second for the rest of your life, you'll never get to a point
where you figure out how three can equal some magic formula.
You've got the answer to this that equals one.
It will never happen. It's impossible.
Now, is three easy? Yes. Is one easy? Yes.
What about this bit in the middle? Is that easy?
No, it's not easy anymore, is it?
It's not easy anymore. In fact, it's impossible.
Now, let's talk about the Trinity now.
The Bible says that there's the Father, God the Father.
What did we read? There are three that bear record in heaven.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Is that hard to understand?
That there's the Father, the Word, or the Son, and the Holy Ghost?
That's not hard to understand, right?
That there's three.
Is that hard to understand?
That there's one God.
That there's one God. Is that hard to understand?
No. This is the milk of the Trinity.
The Trinity is a doctrine that is very light.
Three's not hard. One's not hard.
And yet the Bible says these three are one.
These three are one.
Now again, that's what the Bible says.
That's what God says who is not restricted by our limited knowledge and understanding.
Who He created the laws of the universe.
And He knows very well what His nature is.
And we just have to accept what He says.
But what if...
And I'm not against this, but what if you said to me,
I can work this out.
You know, I can work out the inner operations of everything about the Trinity.
I can make three equal one.
I can answer all the verses that there's an overlap between the persons of the Trinity.
You'll turn around and say, you should turn around and say,
first of all, it's impossible to fully understand God's nature.
Because we're limited, right? We're limited.
But what we can do is accept what God says in the Scripture
because we know He's above our thoughts.
And take that as the truth, right?
Now, look, again, this is the milk of the word.
There's one God and there's three persons.
But that formula, that magic formula that you think you can work out in your limited understanding
is impossible.
You're never going to figure it out, at least on this side of eternity.
Okay?
Now, I'm not saying that we should never endeavour to try to understand a little deeper.
I'm not against you doing that.
But you must understand, whatever you come out with when you enter into that middle ground,
that very meaty ground, could come out with error.
Okay?
You can find truth, but you're also going to come out with error.
I'll tell you why.
Because most people that enter into this area try to think of diagrams,
they try to think of analogies to come up with to describe this.
And then what I find is they use their diagrams and their analogies to build their doctrine from.
To build their doctrine from.
Now, for example, my favourite analogy of the Trinity is body, soul and spirit.
Okay?
If someone says, how can God be three persons?
I like to use that analogy of body, soul and spirit.
Okay?
But there's a problem with that as well.
I mean, if I was going to build my doctrine on that alone, then I would conclude that,
well, you know, this body is Kevin, the soul is Kevin and the spirit is Kevin.
While that's true, it's one person, okay, but the issue here is that my soul, for example,
is not the fullness of me, because it's just a part of me.
Okay?
So if that doesn't make sense, you know, I'm trying my best to explain this.
My point is there's no analogy that will perfectly describe the Trinity.
No analogy.
Now, we use analogies to help illustrate how three can be one or one can be three,
but we're not building our doctrine and creating the nature of God on some analogy.
We need to make sure we use the Word of God.
Okay?
We use the Word of God to teach people about the Trinity.
Now, let's understand a couple of things here.
Isaiah 9-6.
If you guys want to turn there, you can.
Isaiah 9-6, but I think most of you are pretty familiar with it.
Isaiah 9-6.
The Bible says, For unto us a child is born.
This is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, right?
A child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God.
Who's Jesus?
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Okay?
Now, I believe that reference of the Everlasting Father is a reference to God the Father.
Okay?
I do believe that.
But, when we read the Bible, we need to make sure that we understand which side of the equation is in view.
Okay?
What makes the most sense to us when we read a passage like that?
Because if we know the Word there is Jesus Christ, can we say that the Word there is actually the Father?
If we believe in the Trinity.
Can we say Jesus or the Word is the Father, literally, on this side of the understanding of the Trinity?
No, we can't.
Because if you make the Word the Father, you no longer have three.
Okay? You no longer have three.
So how do we read a passage like this, where there seems to be some overlap, how do we understand that?
Well, we understand that on the other side of the equation.
Because there's one God.
There's one God.
Okay?
This is the same understanding when Jesus says in John 10-30,
I and my Father are one.
Is he saying that I am the same person as the Father?
No, because then you don't have the three, right?
But is he saying he's the same?
Can we understand that in light of there being one God?
I and my Father are one in the sense that there is one God?
That makes perfect sense.
Right?
And so, I'm not going to rehash my sermon on the Trinity.
I've done that before.
But I just want to remind you guys, when you read the Bible,
sometimes it makes a little bit more sense on this side,
and sometimes it makes more sense on the other side.
But it doesn't matter which side makes more sense,
the other side of the equation is still true.
Okay?
So if Jesus says, I and my Father are one,
we're referring to the one God, yes,
but don't forget that still the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Okay? That hasn't gone away.
Or when we read about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
the other side hasn't gone away.
It's still the one God.
Okay?
Now, John 14, verse 9.
Please turn to John 14.
John 14, verse 9.
My question to you, please think about this.
Have we seen God the Father?
Think about it.
Have we seen God the Father?
Turn to John 14, verse 9.
John 14, verse 9.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you,
and yet thou hast not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.
And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
So what's Jesus saying?
You've seen the Father.
Isn't that what he's saying?
That's what he's saying, right?
We don't want to twist the scriptures.
You've seen the Father.
Verse 10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me?
Now pay attention to those words.
Is he saying I am the Father?
Or is he saying he's in the Father,
and the Father is in him?
See the difference there?
The words that I speak unto you,
I speak not of myself,
but the Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me,
or else believe me for the very word's sake.
So I can understand how someone can look at this
and say, well hold on, Jesus must be God the Father.
If he's seen, you've seen the Father,
because you've seen me.
Well hold on, hold your horses.
We can't just start there.
We need to understand all the scriptures.
Turn to John chapter 6.
John chapter 6, verse 46.
John 6, 46.
Because these are the words of Jesus as well.
John 6, 46.
He says,
Not that any man have seen the Father.
So has any man seen the Father?
No.
Save he, or except he,
which is of God,
he have seen the Father.
So he's saying, look, I've seen the Father,
but no man has seen the Father.
But hold on, Jesus, didn't you say you've seen the Father
if you've seen me?
How do we understand this apparent contradiction?
Well again,
you've seen the Father,
because we're talking about the one God.
That makes sense when we just think of one God.
You know, Jesus is as much God as the Father is God.
Jesus reflects who God the Father is
because they are the same deity.
Okay, there's one God.
But then we've not seen the Father either
because there's three.
And there's a distinction between the three.
Just because you've seen Jesus, the Son of God,
does not mean you have literally seen
the first person of the Trinity, which is the Father.
You see how something that has an apparent contradiction
can be understood when you shift your focus
on the other side of the equation,
yet whatever side of the equation you're on,
the other side is true.
This is how I've always understood the Trinity as a child,
and it serves me well.
I never find a passage that I just cannot understand
when I understand this equation.
These three are one.
Now, just the lesson there,
the lesson there that I want to show you basically is...
Yeah, so whenever you see an overlap
of the persons in the Trinity,
your mind just should go, well, why not?
It's one God.
There's one God, right? There's not three gods.
There's one God, and the Bible's very clear about that.
Now, please turn to Genesis 1,
Genesis 1, verse 26.
Genesis 1, 26.
Now, remember that middle area
where I'm not against people going there if they want,
you know, trying to work things out?
Okay?
But look at Genesis 1, 26,
and this is what I find people making a huge mistake.
They're trying to use their limited knowledge
and limited wisdom
rather than just taking what the Word of God says.
Okay, we're going to start building on these slides now.
Okay?
Now, the question might be,
well, which person of the Godhead said this?
Was it the first person, the Father, the second person,
the Son, or was it the third person of the Godhead,
the Holy Spirit?
I mean, that sounds like an innocent question.
I wonder who said that.
Now, you might have your thoughts,
but you might not.
You might not.
Now, you might have your thoughts.
I have my thoughts. I think it might be the Father,
because He has authority, okay?
And He's saying, let us do this.
But does the Bible tell us
which member of the Godhead said this?
No.
So when we read something like, and God said,
let us make man in our image,
and there's no reference, there's no context there
that tells us which member of the Godhead said this,
then your focus switches over here.
The one God said it.
And what I'm finding with this oneness theology
is that people are like, well, which member said it?
Because if I can get you to make that decision,
then I can show you some heresy, okay?
Well, here's the thing, the Bible doesn't say who said it.
You know, it's just God.
Why can't you just accept
that this is the information that God has given us?
It's God that said it, okay?
I could have my thoughts,
but I'm not gonna build my doctrine on my thoughts
or my wisdom.
We build it on the word of God, what the clear word of God says.
Okay?
Now, John 3.16, you don't need to turn there,
you all know it, I hope, John 3.16.
For God so loved the world.
Now, again, we have the singular nature of God referred there, right?
For God so loved the world.
Now, again, an innocent question,
well, who loved the world?
You know, was it the first member, the Father,
was it the Son, or was it the Holy Spirit?
Well, now, we have some context in this verse.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son.
Oh, now, okay, God's given us his Son,
so who's this God that so loved the world?
Anyone can answer that?
The Father, the Father, okay?
So, now, we can actually draw a clear conclusion there,
because if he's sending his Son, it must be the Father, right?
So, my point is this, just because it says God,
you can only determine who that person of the Trinity
is being referred to if the Bible gives us enough context
or just clearly spells it out for us.
Then we'll know that's the Father.
But if we don't have that clearly spelled out for us,
it's God.
It's the unity, the one God.
That's how we ought to conclude.
Don't start making up, oh, this must be this member,
and then you start building doctrine off that,
and then you're just building it on your wisdom
and on your understanding, which is limited.
It's limited, okay?
God's thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
You're not gonna be able to work it out
on this side of eternity
unless the Bible clearly spells that out.
That should be a rule for any doctrine
and for you that preach behind here,
you know, Callum and Jason and others,
you need to make sure whatever you preach,
you've got a clear statement.
You've got clear passages stating that truth, right?
I mean, look, I'm not against you giving your opinion,
but make sure you tell people that's my opinion, okay?
That's fine.
Make sure you distinguish between your wisdom,
which could be right,
and the wisdom of God,
which is clearly laid out to us in the Bible.
Now, on to the name of Jesus Christ.
On to the name of Jesus Christ,
because that's the topic that I want to talk about here, right?
I believe,
and this is what differentiates Trinitarians to oneness,
that the name of Jesus only is applicable to the Son of God,
to the second person of the Trinity, okay?
Now, let me explain this to you.
If I just bring back this,
I guess when we upload this sermon,
I'll have to put these slides in there, I guess,
to make more sense,
but there are attributes that the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit all share, like the name God.
That's an attribute they all share, right?
There's many, many attributes.
There's even names that they all share, okay?
But there are certain attributes
that only each person of the Godhead has,
just uniquely.
There are attributes that they have uniquely.
For example, the Father has the highest authority
in the Godhead, okay?
That's something that's unique to the Father, okay?
That's something that's unique to the Father.
Something that's unique to the Holy Spirit
is that the Holy Spirit came and moved men
to write the words of God.
That's something unique to the Holy Spirit, okay?
But the main focus of the Bible is always Christ.
It's always Jesus Christ,
and what we find in the Bible,
we'll find many, many attributes
that are unique just to the Son, okay?
And I believe one of those attributes
is the name of Jesus, okay?
Now, let me explain this to you.
Every attribute of the Father,
every attribute of the Word or the Son,
and every attribute of the Holy Ghost
is an attribute of God, okay?
So let's take the name of Jesus.
That is an attribute to the Son.
That's His name uniquely,
but it's true to say it is a name of God, okay?
It is true to say that,
but it's not true to turn around and say
that's the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, okay?
You've taken that too far now.
You're no longer creating that distinction
that the Word of God has,
and I'm gonna prove this to you now
that the name of Jesus Christ only applies to the Son, okay?
Please turn to the book of Matthew.
Book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 1.
Matthew chapter 1 verse 21.
Let's look at the first mention.
I've been doing a lot of first mention lately, haven't I?
The first mention of the name of Jesus.
Matthew 1 21.
And she, this is Mary,
and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shall call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins.
Who was born of Mary?
Was it the Father? Was it the Son?
Or was it the Holy Ghost?
It was the Son, right?
It was the Son of God that was born of Mary.
Okay, that's the first mention of the name of Jesus.
Now I'm gonna read to you the last mention of the name of Jesus.
You say in Matthew, because we're gonna go through Matthew a bit,
but that's Revelation 22 21, which says,
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Now what's a title that that gives to Jesus?
Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
What does Christ mean?
The Messiah.
Now, think about this.
Is God the Father, the Christ, or the Messiah?
Is the Son the Christ, the Messiah?
Or is the Holy Spirit the Christ?
I mean, this is basic.
I'm not making this complicated, right?
We know when we read about the Messiah,
the Bible says in the book of Daniel that Messiah will be cut off.
He'll be killed for His people.
Who was killed?
It was Jesus Christ, right?
It was the Son.
He was the second person of the Trinity.
The point I'm trying to show you there is
that the first mention of the name Jesus
is the second person of the Trinity being born of Mary.
The last mention of the name of Jesus
is referencing Him to the Christ, right?
Who died for the sins of His people.
And everywhere in between,
it is always a reference to the Son of God.
It is always a reference to the second person of the Trinity.
Now, that name of Jesus
only appears in the New Testament,
obviously not the Old Testament.
It wasn't revealed in the Old Testament.
But it appears in the New Testament 983 times.
983 times.
Almost a thousand times.
If you read through the New Testament once,
you're going to almost read the name of Jesus a thousand times.
And every time it applies to the Son of God,
to the second person of the Trinity.
You would think once you've read it a thousand times,
which doesn't take long to read through the New Testament,
it would be ingrained in you to understand
that this is the Son of God.
This is His name.
You will never find His name referenced to the Father.
You will never find the name of Jesus
given to the Holy Spirit.
I mean, any child should be able to read that
and just conclude whether consciously or subconsciously
that name is the Son's name and only the Son's name.
Because it's not used to be given to anybody else.
Right?
I mean, how many thousands of times do you need to read that
for that to get into your mind?
You know?
So, my first point,
my first reason why the name of Jesus is unique to the Son
is that every mention of the name is in reference to the Son.
I mean, look, I'm teaching right now the milk of the Word of God.
Okay?
This is very milky.
Okay?
So, I hope those that are a little bit more mature,
you stay awake.
Okay?
Pay attention.
Because I know you know this, you know, back to front.
Now, let me give you reason number two.
Go to Matthew 1, 21.
Matthew 1, 21, verse 21.
You're already in Matthew 1.
Verse 21.
The second reason why this is unique to the Son,
to the second person of the Trinity,
is because the name is used in conjunction with unique attributes to the Son.
The name is used in conjunction with unique attributes to the Son.
Not attributes that you can apply to the Father or to the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
So, Matthew 1, 21.
We already read that one.
That's the one we read.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins.
So, again, who was born of Mary?
God the Father?
God the Son?
Or God the Holy Spirit?
We know that was God the Holy...
Sorry, God the Holy Spirit.
God the Son.
Whoa.
Oneness.
Oneness is coming out.
God the Son.
We know that was God the Son, born of Mary.
Okay?
That's a unique attribute to the second person of the Godhead.
Okay?
Unique.
Mary did not give birth to the Father or to the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
Go to Matthew 3, 16.
Matthew 3, 16.
And Jesus...
Now, think about this.
When we say Jesus, you know, because the oneness will say,
well, that's a reference to the Father or the Holy Spirit.
Right?
And Jesus, when he was baptized.
Who was baptized?
Was it God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit?
God the Son.
Right?
And the Son was baptized.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water,
and lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightning upon him.
Verse 17.
And lo, a voice from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
So if that voice from heaven is saying,
This is my beloved Son, who is that voice from?
The Father.
Right?
The Father.
And we see the separation there of the Father and the Spirit,
but the Bible uses the name of Jesus to say it was Jesus that was baptized.
Well, hold on.
If Jesus is the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit,
that means they were baptized, but no.
That's a unique attribute to the Son, that here was baptized.
Okay?
So we see the name used in conjunction with unique attributes to the Son.
Matthew 27, go to Matthew 27, verse 26.
Matthew 27, verse 26.
Matthew 27, 26.
Then he released he Barabbas unto them,
and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
What does it mean to scourge, to whip?
Right?
Jesus was whipped and crucified.
Was the Father whipped and crucified?
Was the Son whipped and crucified?
Was the Holy Spirit whipped and crucified?
Jesus here is the one, the Son, that was whipped and crucified.
That's a unique attribute to the Son, and the Bible uses his name as Jesus as that unique attribute.
Okay?
We cannot apply that to the Father or to the Holy Spirit.
Now, Matthew 28, verse 5.
Matthew 28, verse 5.
And the angel answered and said unto the woman,
Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus.
Oh, maybe the Father.
Maybe that's who she's seeking.
Maybe the Holy Spirit is who she's seeking.
Seek Jesus, which was crucified.
Who was crucified?
The Son.
Was the Father crucified?
No.
Why would she need to seek Jesus because he had been risen from the dead?
The tomb was empty.
Right?
Who rose from the dead?
The Father or the Holy Spirit?
Neither.
This is a unique attribute to the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.
Okay?
So, reason number two why it's unique to the Son of God is because the name is used in conjunction with unique attributes to the Son that cannot be applied to the Father or the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
Turn to Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1.
Yeah, no, not that reason.
We've done Romans 1 already.
Romans chapter 1 verse 7.
The third reason that the name of Jesus is unique to the Son or to the second person of the Godhead is because the name is used to distinguish the Son from the Father.
Sebastian, come up here, quickly.
Come.
Come here.
We've got Sebastian here.
Let's pretend Sebastian was Kevin and I was Kevin.
We're both, you know, I named my son after myself and he's Kevin and I'm Kevin.
Now, if you wanted to distinguish between me and Sebastian, would you call us Kevin?
No, because if you call us both Kevin, we're both going to turn around and say, well, what do you want?
Right?
It wouldn't be a distinguishable name.
Okay?
But if only my name was Kevin and that wasn't his name, you could use my name to distinguish me from Sebastian.
Does that make sense?
Okay, sit down.
Now, let's look at the Bible here.
Romans 1 verse 7.
To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does it say God the Father and God the Son?
No.
He's calling Jesus Christ.
So if that name of Jesus Christ was actually the Father's name or the Holy Spirit's name, let's say it was the Holy Spirit.
That's the name of the Holy Spirit.
We could sort of think, well, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe that's the Holy Spirit that's been referred to here.
No.
It's distinguishing between the Father and the Son, and the distinguishable marker there isn't calling Him the Son, it's calling Him Jesus.
Okay?
It distinguishes Him from the Father.
Now, you don't need to turn all there unless you really want to, but 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3.
Because in many of these epistles of Paul, he always addresses this and always distinguishes the Son from the Father.
Well, not always, but in a lot of them, by using the name of Jesus to distinguish the Son from the Father.
1 Corinthians 1 verse 3.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why would he say that if the Father's name was Jesus?
Because he's distinguishing the Son using the name of Jesus.
Because it's only the Son's name.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be a distinguishable attribute to give to Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1 verse 3.
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't know which Jesus Christ has been referred to there.
Well, no, the Son.
Because you've read it almost a thousand times if you just read the New Testament once.
It's not meant to be a joke, but I guess it's funny. It kind of is funny.
1 Thessalonians 1.
Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So even in that one verse now, he uses the name Jesus Christ twice to distinguish the Son from the Father.
And 1 John 1-3 says,
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Why does it say the Father Jesus Christ and the Son Jesus Christ?
Because it's only the Son's name, and that distinguishes Him from the Father.
So the third reason why the name of the Son is unique to Jesus Christ is because it's used to distinguish Him from God the Father.
That the name is used to distinguish Him from God the Father.
The fourth reason why it's unique to the Son is because the name is also used to distinguish the Son from the Holy Spirit.
Turn to Matthew 4-1.
This is when Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The Bible says in Matthew 4-1,
Then Jesus...
Well, which Jesus?
Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Do you see how the name of Jesus there is used to distinguish from the Holy Spirit?
The Bible doesn't say here the Son was led by the Spirit.
It says Jesus was led by the Spirit.
Why? Because the name of Jesus has been used to distinguish the Son from the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6-11.
And such were some of you.
But ye are washed.
But ye are sanctified.
But ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, maybe this is the Holy Spirit.
And by the Spirit of our God.
Hold on now.
So the name of Jesus has been used to distinguish from the Spirit of God.
You see that?
So the fourth reason why the name is unique to Jesus Christ, sorry, the Son of God,
is because it's used to distinguish his name from the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
Now let me just give you a bonus one.
You might want to turn there.
1 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 the Son.
I mean, we got the Trinity here.
Okay, does the Bible call him the Son here?
Or does God want us to understand that it is the Son
by saying the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ?
Because the name is being used here to distinguish in the same verse
from the Father and from the Holy Spirit.
The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Grace be unto you and peace be multiplied.
And again, whose blood was spilt for us?
Was it the Father's blood? Was it the Holy Spirit's blood?
No, it was the blood of the Son.
Okay?
And he is God.
So you could say the blood of God was spilt for us,
but then you won't draw that logical conclusion and say,
well, it must be the Father because he distinguishes the Father
using the name of Jesus Christ.
Okay?
Now, let's deal with another thing here.
So that's four reasons, okay?
Number one, you read a thousand times, almost a thousand times in the New Testament
that that name is only given or attributed to the Son.
Number two, the name is given the unique attributes
that can only be applied to the Son.
Number three, the name is used to distinguish the Son from the Father.
And number four, the name is used to distinguish the Son from the Holy Spirit.
Okay?
Now, let's move on. Let's move on now.
What about human logic and reasoning?
Okay? Human logic and reasoning.
Now, I'm not against human logic.
God's given us a mind.
God wants us to use mind.
God wants us to reason with him.
God wants us to read the Bible and study it, right?
So there's nothing wrong with using human logic and reasoning.
But let me give you a statement of logic and reason.
Let me give you a statement.
The name of the Son is Jesus.
True?
Jesus is God.
True?
Yeah, true.
The Father is God.
True.
Therefore, the name of the Father is Jesus.
Now, is that logical?
It is.
Is it reasonable?
It is.
Okay?
If we use human wisdom and logic, it's very reasonable, isn't it?
Very reasonable.
The question isn't, is it logical?
The question is, is it scriptural?
Okay?
Let me give you another logical argument.
Jesus died on the cross.
True?
Jesus is God.
True?
The Holy Spirit is God.
True?
Therefore, the Holy Spirit died on the cross for our sins.
Is that logical?
Yeah, it's reasonable.
It's logical.
But it's not scriptural.
It's an error.
Okay?
It's because you've tried to bring your wisdom and understanding,
and now you're coming up with grave error even though it's logical.
You know why?
Because you will never work out that magic formula, no matter how much you try.
And whatever you come out from that magic formula,
you always need to make sure, does this line up with scripture?
And if it doesn't line up with scripture, I have to chuck it out.
If it lines up with scripture, great.
You've been able to discover some hidden gem, some great truth in the Bible,
and that's wonderful in refreshing.
It's wonderful when you find things in the Bible.
But it could be error.
You need to make sure that you're not so prideful
and think, man, my reasoning and logic must be so accurate,
and then just defy the scriptures when they're so clear.
Okay?
Let me give you another human logic and reasoning.
Now, that was a silly one.
I gave you a silly one on purpose, the Holy Spirit dying on the cross for our sins.
Okay?
Because the Spirit doesn't have flesh and blood.
Okay?
Now, let me give you another logical argument,
but this one is not so silly because people actually really believe this.
Okay?
Now, Mary is the mother of Jesus.
True?
Yeah?
Jesus is God.
True?
Yep.
Therefore, Mary is the mother of God.
Error.
Heresy.
Right?
But there are people that believe that.
The Roman Catholic Church.
You know?
They believe that Mary is the mother of God,
and they believe that Mary is a co-mediator.
You know, she pretty much does as much work as Jesus Christ has done
to redeem us from our sins.
You know, heresy.
Just total heresy.
And yet, that is a logical reason.
Reasoning, right?
I mean, there's a reason why Roman Catholics all over the world
think that's logical and understandable,
and they don't fight against it.
Because it is logical.
But it's not scriptural.
It's not scriptural.
It's not the wisdom of God.
It's the wisdom of man.
Okay?
So just because it's logical or reasonable
doesn't make it correct.
Whatever you come up with
doesn't line up with scripture.
If the scripture has a clear teaching on that,
yes, it's correct.
But if it's against scripture, it's an error.
It's an error.
Okay?
Now, again, let's do that again.
Let's go to that first one.
The name of the Son is Jesus.
Jesus is God.
The Father is God.
Therefore, the Father's name is Jesus.
That's what I'm dealing with right now, okay?
It's logical.
It's reasonable.
But it's an error.
It's not just an error.
You know, I would say that's heresy.
That's heretical teaching.
And I'll explain that to you in a minute, okay?
I'll explain that to you in a minute.
But I'll just quickly read to you
1 Corinthians 3.18.
You don't need to turn there.
1 Corinthians 3.18.
Let no man deceive himself
if any man among you
seemeth to be wise in this world.
Let him become a fool
that he may be wise.
So if you think you've got the world's wisdom,
you know what you're better off?
Just being a fool.
And then you can become wise
because you're accepting the wisdom
that comes from God.
Okay?
The wisdom of this world
is worse than foolishness
next to the wisdom that we get from God.
Okay?
I'm not a wise, super-intellectual man.
Okay?
But I know I'm right
if I'm just quoting the Bible
and teaching straight from the Bible.
We're teaching the wisdom of God
when we're doing that, okay?
It's not me.
It's the wisdom of God.
Okay?
Now, let me explain to you.
Now, I've said this before in another sermon.
Let me explain this.
This is important
because, again, this is an issue
with my sending church.
Okay?
And I have grave concerns
that they may be slipping
into the oneness doctrine,
the oneness heresy.
And I've said before,
and I wasn't even referring to that church.
I was just referring this in general,
that if someone teaches
that the name of the Father is Jesus
or the name of the Holy Spirit is Jesus,
that's where I draw the line
and I will separate myself
over people like that.
Separate myself
and I will disfellowship
with people over that.
This is why it's difficult for me
because there are ramifications, right,
for people that I love and care about
very deeply.
All right?
But I love and care about God a lot more.
Okay?
And I'm having a clear conscience
before God.
Okay?
Turn to 1 John 4.
1 John 4.
This is important.
Please turn there if you've got your Bibles.
1 John 4.
Because, listen,
it sounds innocent, right?
Well, the Father's name is Jesus
and the Holy Spirit's name is Jesus.
What's the big deal?
Is it really that,
you know, it's just a name.
I mean,
is it really that of a big deal, right?
It sounds innocent
and for someone that hasn't
really thought these through,
yeah, it sounds innocent
and you might be thinking,
what's the big deal?
Why create the division right there?
Okay?
First of all,
a Trinitarian,
someone that believes these three are one
and there are distinctions
between the Father, the Word
and the Holy Ghost,
cannot believe
cannot believe,
and I'll prove this in a minute,
cannot believe
that the Father's name
or the Holy Spirit's name is Jesus.
It cannot be believed.
Let's look at this.
1 John 4.
Beloved,
believe not every spirit
but try or test,
try the spirits
whether they are of God.
Why?
Why is this important
to test the spirits?
Because many false prophets
are gone out into the world.
So what is this saying?
There's a lot of preachers out there,
some teaching the truth
and some teaching falsehoods.
This is why you need to test
every preacher.
This is why you need to test me
and anyone else
that stands behind this pulpit.
Don't just take my word,
oh, Kevin seems like a great guy.
He seems to be,
every time he's preached,
it's been correct so far
so I'm just going to let him,
you know,
I'm just going to accept
everything he says now.
No, test it.
Test everything that you hear
from every prophet,
from every sermon,
because I'm not infallible.
At some point,
I'm going to make some sort of mistake
and I hope someone there
is wise enough to pick up on it
and correct me in love.
And vice versa.
I hope I can correct you
in love at some point.
Now, verse number two.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God.
This is how we know
that this teaching is from God.
Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is of God.
Think about that.
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is how we know
the teaching is of God.
Look at verse number three.
And every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God.
And this, look at these words,
and this is the spirit of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard
that it should come
and even now already
is it in the world.
So we've got to be careful
because there's a spirit of antichrist
teaching falsehoods,
teaching heresy.
Now, let's back up a little bit.
Verse number two.
Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is of God.
You've got three options here.
You've got three options.
And this is how I'm going to explain to you
that a Trinitarian cannot believe
the name of Jesus is the Father's name
or the Holy Spirit's name.
Number one.
If you maintain,
and I'm just going to read my notes here
so I don't get it mixed up.
If you maintain Trinitarian distinctions,
that these are distinct persons
in the Godhead,
you have a Jesus,
which is the Father and the Holy Spirit,
that didn't come in the flesh.
And that would make your doctrine
the spirit of antichrist.
Pay attention there.
Now, obviously,
if you're Trinitarian,
and we need to believe
that Jesus came in the flesh,
which person,
if we believe in the distinctions,
which person of the Godhead
came in the flesh?
The second person,
Jesus Christ,
came in the flesh.
Now, if you have a Jesus
that is the Father,
did he come in the flesh?
No.
If you have a Jesus that's the Holy Spirit,
did the Holy Spirit come in the flesh?
No.
Therefore,
what did we just read?
It's the spirit of antichrist.
It's the spirit of antichrist
because you have a Jesus,
in fact, you have two Jesuses
that did not come in the flesh.
Does that make sense?
That's option number one.
Option number two,
if you want to be adamant,
no,
it is the Father's name,
it is the Holy Spirit's name,
then in order to make this
line up with the scripture,
you must remove the distinctions
between the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost
and say no,
there's no distinction,
it's all the one person,
and again,
I don't have a problem
with that word person,
but again,
what do you mean by that?
All the one person
who is Jesus,
and so we can then say,
yeah,
that Jesus did come in the flesh,
but he came in the flesh
in the form of the Son.
But in order for that
to fit this scripture,
you must remove the distinctions
between the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost,
and once you remove
those distinctions,
guess what?
You're no longer Trinitarian.
You're now the oneness.
You're now teaching
oneness theology.
Do you see?
Or you can have option number three,
that the only way
to remain Trinitarian
with Trinitarian theology
is to keep those distinctions,
and if we're gonna believe
that Jesus came in the flesh,
then he was the second person
in the Trinity
that came in the flesh,
and that's why we know
the Spirit is of God,
because this is
the correct interpretation
if you're going
to remain a Trinitarian.
Otherwise,
you're of oneness.
You believe oneness theology,
and everyone
that's on the oneness crowd
recognizes this is another Jesus,
and the Trinitarians recognize
that the oneness
is another Jesus.
It's impossible
for you to maintain
a Trinitarian view
if you believe
the Father's name is Jesus,
the Son's name is Jesus,
and the Holy Spirit's
name is Jesus.
Impossible.
Now, turn to 1 John 5.5.
1 John 5.5.
Who is he
that overcometh the world?
Now, we won't go into it,
but the one that overcomes
is the one that's saved.
Born again, right?
Born again.
Who is he?
But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God.
Who is Jesus?
What do you need
to do to be saved?
You need to understand
that Jesus is the Son of God.
It's not that Jesus is the Father.
It's not that Jesus
is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the Son of God.
Now, you might say,
yeah, well, I do believe,
you know, the people
that are saying this stuff,
that the Father's name is Jesus
and the Holy Spirit,
I do, because, yeah,
I guess they do, you know,
that they believe
the Word became flesh
and that's Jesus as well.
So they'll say,
yeah, I do believe
that Jesus is the Son of God.
But look at verse number 6.
This is he
that came by water and blood.
He came in the flesh.
That's the second person
of the Trinity.
This is what you need
to believe,
that Jesus is the Son of God,
the one that came in the flesh.
The Father did not
come in the flesh.
The Spirit did not
come in the flesh.
This is the milk
of the Word of God.
And if you just go back
to the milk, you understand
why this oneness theology
is a waste of time
and it's a heresy.
This is why I cannot
accept this in our church
and I have to break ranks.
I have to break,
well, it's not ranks.
I have to break fellowship
and separate over people
that I love.
And I'm given enough room
for people to back away
from this, okay?
Because I do believe
any of us can get into heresy
because heresy is a work
of the flesh
and we all have the flesh, okay?
And I've been into,
I've gotten into heresy
because I've been a believer
most of my life.
I've gotten into weird
teachings and thoughts
and then had to snap out
of it at some point, okay?
So I'm not quick
to just turn around and say,
well, this person's unsaved,
okay, unless they double down,
dig in and they take
a strong stand,
they start teaching that.
At that point,
I just have major doubts, okay?
But I'm not quick
to just turn around
and say that everyone's unsaved
if they don't believe just like me
because I know I've gone through
different weird things.
The gap theory,
I believed in the gap theory
for a while, you know?
Now, my point is this,
without the right Jesus,
you will not win souls
because you need to have
the Jesus that is only the Son
that came in the flesh
for someone to be able
to overcome the world.
So if you want to be
a soul winner,
you want to see souls saved,
you need to maintain
the distinctions and understand
that when you're preaching
about Jesus Christ,
not only are you telling them
about the deity of Christ
that he is God,
but they need to understand
that Jesus was the Son of God,
made flesh that died
on the cross for their sins.
Okay, you need to have
the right Jesus to be saved.
You need to have the right Jesus
to overcome the world, okay?
I hope you understand
why this is important
and why I draw the line
where I draw, okay?
Because again,
it can sound innocent
if you don't think about it,
if you don't think it through, okay?
Now, in conclusion,
I'm done now.
In conclusion,
misapplying the name of Jesus
to me is the can opener
which opens the can
of worms of heresy.
This is why I draw the line here.
Now again,
other churches and other preachers
may draw the line elsewhere,
and as some of you know,
some have drawn the line
when you baptize
in Jesus' name only.
That's not my line, okay?
Because I can understand
you might do that
but not actually mean
what the oneness
Pentecostal crowd mean, okay?
So that wasn't my line,
but the line is
who is Jesus Christ?
Who do you apply that name to?
And you might say,
well, how does that open
the can of worms of heresy?
For those of you in the know,
those of you in the loop,
you've seen how it opens
cans of heresy.
You've seen how people
are now turning around
and denying the eternal sonship
of Jesus Christ.
Or turning around and saying,
well, God said,
let us make man in our image.
He's talking to the angels.
And so now the angels
are our co-creator
as well as God.
If we're worshipping our creator,
then I guess we can
worship the angels as well.
You can see how
once you open up this can,
which is that name of Jesus Christ,
you can get into
all bunch of heresies
and it's nonstop from there.
It's just going to be
one heresy after another heresy
after another heresy
after another heresy.
It's another Jesus.
This is why it leads you
into this downward spiral.
And I cannot fellowship,
I cannot associate with people
that believe and teach this stuff.
I can accept confusion
and trying to work out
that magic formula
and thinking about these things.
I can accept that.
But when you stand up
and you believe
and you teach that
and you support that,
I'm done with that.
I have to look after this church.
I have to have a clear
conscience before God.
I have to protect this church.
I've been made the overseer
of this church for a reason.
Even if it hurts me.
I have to protect this church.
That's my role.
If you guys have any questions,
please, please let me know.
Let's pray.