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Alright, thank you everybody for coming to the midweek service of Preach the Word Ministry. We're going to go ahead and get right into the message. The title of this message this afternoon is The Truth of the Trinity. This is a core fundamental doctrine to our Christian faith. A lot of people don't realize as Christians there are two primary fundamental doctrines that separate us from the rest of the world and this is one of them, the Trinity. This doctrine is unique to us. Every other religion in the world either has a single God or a multiplicity of Gods. This is the difference between what is known as monotheism and polytheism, mono meaning one and poly meaning many. But here's the thing, this is how you can know that you believe and trust in the real true God because the doctrine of the Trinity is outside of human logic. And you think to yourself, what do you mean? How is it that the creator of the universe is three and one in the same time? This is a mystery that we will never, I believe, completely understand. Why? Because we are not God and anyone who tells you, this is something you need to be careful about. Anyone who tells you that they completely understand the doctrine of the Trinity is equating themselves to God because we were created, elsewhere in the Bible it says, how can the clay say to the potter, why hast thou made me thus? We can never completely, you know, the Bible teaches elsewhere that his ways are above our ways and his thoughts are above our thoughts. So as the heaven is far above the earth, so his thoughts are above our thoughts. So if I can fit a concept of God in my three-pound brain, he's not much of a God worth worshiping. And that's what I'm trying to get at. Other religions in the world, people who go around making up different gods will either create one God. They'll be like, this is our God, this one person, or they'll go up and say, well, this group of people is our gods. But no person has ever thought up, well, we have one God, but that one God is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That is one of the key fundamental doctrines to our Christian faith, the Trinity. Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to 1 John chapter 5. While you turn there, I'm going to read this passage from you that we just started off in verse 26. It says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So there, right there, we have the three members of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. And Jesus Christ constantly is talking about who He is, that He is truly the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh. Elsewhere in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, the Bible reads, you know, without controversy, meaning, this is not questionable, this is, there's no debate, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached on to the Gentiles. So the Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus Christ is God. He's not, you know, lesser than, He is completely God. And people don't understand that. You went to 1 John chapter 5 verse 7, right? This is a very controversial verse in the Bible, why? Because a lot of people, modern translations, modern scholars believe that this was added into the Bible, the ascribe in the past added this verse somewhere throughout history. But what's funny is you can find early church fathers, which we don't adhere to the Catholic faith, we don't adhere to these people as authoritative yet, what we can see is even in the second century, people quoting 1 John chapter 5 verse 7 and explaining the truth of who God is. And in modern translations of the Bible, they'll completely change this verse. But let's see what it clearly teaches. It says, for there are, I'm gonna stop right there, are in our English language is what's known as a state of being. So let's keep moving. For there are, how many, three, that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three, there's that word again, are, state of being, one. So let me give you an example of what I mean. If I were to say in reference to like, where it is David, or like if I were to say, you know, where is my friends? Well they are over there, they're a state of being, they're in a direction, they're in that direction. So that is what that word means. Now notice it says there are three. Notice it didn't say there are one that are three, it says these three are one. Now that's important because when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, this is non-negotiable. You have to believe in the orthodox view of the Trinity, let alone to be saved, but to be understanding the truths of what God, this attacks His very nature if you don't understand who God is. Now like I said a moment earlier, we will not completely understand Him, yet we can have some level of, you know, understanding. A lot of times throughout the Bible, Jesus uses parables to explain a heavenly truth and an earthly understanding. Let me give you an example. Jesus says, heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, that it is the smallest of all the seeds and of herbs, yet when it groweth up, it becomes the biggest of all the herbs. So Jesus Christ is using an earthly explanation to explain a heavenly truth. So we can go on and explain concepts of the Trinity, yet, you know, all of our analogies will fall short in some way, shape, or form. But you have to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity to even be saved because as we're going through our statement of faith, we're going through what's known as the Bible way to heaven or the plan of salvation. The first thing we explain, the first doctrine was the doctrine of sin. We've all sinned. The Bible says in Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Then we went into the doctrine of hell. There's a penalty for our sin. The Bible says in Revelation 21 8, but the fearful and unbelieving and the murderer and the sorcerer and the idolater and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So understanding those things, when we go and preach the gospel, the good news of salvation to people, we first lay the foundation that you, me, and everyone deserves to be punished for our sins because God is just and he wasn't playing games when he said he created hell. We're not preaching about those messages today. But after I go through those, I tend to ask someone, who do you think, or I ask this question to the person at the door, what do you think God did for us so that we don't have to go to hell? And what's funny is even on a subconscious level, a lot of people answer this question correctly, not even knowing a lot of times what they are saying. I asked them, what do you think God did for us so that we don't have to go to hell? And then a lot of times they'll say, well, he died for us. And then I asked the question, who? Who died for us? Cause I asked you the question, what did God do for us? And then you responded, he died for us. And that is true. And that's what I'm trying to get at. Even on a subconscious level, people know that Jesus Christ truly is God in the flesh. Now everyone knows he's the son of God, but maybe they never heard the doctrine that he also is God. He is divine. He is from the beginning. And this is a essential doctrine to our faith. First John chapter five, verse seven, notice what it says, right? It says for there are three that bear record in heaven. Now what does it mean to bear record? Well think of it like this. Imagine you were at a courtroom, right? And the judge said, I need someone to give a testimony or be a witness to a crime. And then you said, okay, judge, I have someone to bear record or to be a test or to explain a testimony. So you bring up your witness. Now here's the thing. There is a spectrum in which you are safe and understand the concepts of the Trinity. Because like I said, I can't sit here today and it clearly give you, you know, exactly everything that God is in a box. Because then I'd be saying I can control how and who God is. What God is is one thing, but who God is is another thing. So here's the spectrum that you can understand the doctrine of the Trinity and know that you fall under the Orthodox view, the true biblical concept of who God is. You either lean too far one way or the other. Now notice it says these three are one. So if you lean too far three and you come out and say these three are not one in nature, in divinity and godness, then you are outside of the Trinity camp. You are what's known as a tritheist. Muslims do not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. They accused Christians of being tritheists because they say you believe in three separate gods. We never said that. The Bible never said that. The Bible makes very clear these three are one. Well, what are they one in? They're one in divinity. So if you go too far over to the three and say these three are not one, you are outside of the Trinity camp, but let's say you go too far in the other direction and say, well, we get it. There's one God, but that one God is not three persons or three natures or three fill in the blank, but these actually just one person you fallen outside of the doctrine of the Trinity. This is what's known as modalism or oneness, Pentecostalism, because back to that analogy, which the Bible lays out right here, for there are three that bear record. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Let's imagine back in that courtroom, right? The judge says he had to call the witness to the stand and I came up to the stand and I said, I'm David, the husband. Do you have another witness? Yes. And I left and I put a new hat on. I said, I'm David, the son. And then he's like, do you have another witness? I walked away and I put a new hat on and I said, I'm David, the father. They would laugh you out of the courtroom. Why? Because you are one person. See, God is not just one person. He is three persons. Now that word kind of trips people out, the word persons, and they think it's unbiblical, but it's actually found in the Bible. The best way I give the doctrine of the Trinity to someone who has never heard of it or were at the door is the family analogy. I'll usually ask them, I say, you know, I point them to this passage because this is the most clear passage in the Bible that explains in one verse the concept of the Trinity. The modern translations of the Bible change this because they don't believe it was originally inspired. So they write right there, for there are three that testify, what are they testifying of? What are they one in? So they are tampering with this doctrine. But not only that, I usually ask them, or I explain to them, right? I have my wife most of the times coming with me when I saw one and I say, if you could imagine I had my son with me right here, right? I say, is my wife, my son, they're like, no, she's not your son. He's from your wife and they're similar, but she's her own person and he is his own person. I'm like, okay, is my son me? Well, no, I mean, he looks like you and he acts like you and he acts like both of you, but he's his own person. You're your own person. Okay. Am I my wife? Well, no, you guys are definitely not one person, but the Bible says, let these two be joined together and become one flesh. So the union between husband and wife is a symbolism between Christ and the church. Also it symbolizes concepts of the Trinity. Now truly the Bible does say that God is masculine. God is a man, the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. But the Holy Ghost was referenced in the earlier passage that we looked at and he says, I will leave the comforter in my name. He shall be called the Holy Spirit. He is the Holy Spirit. So obviously God is masculine. In the beginning God created he, them in the image of God created he, him. Man looks like God. So when we want to know what God looks like, we saw Jesus Christ. That is what we know of. But when I go through this analogy, right, notice they understand that I'm not my wife, my wife's not my son, my son is not me, but we are the keifers. If you were to look and say, there's the keifers, you'd be like, oh yeah, they're a family. That is what God is like. There are three that bear record in heaven, the father, the word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are what now it makes sense to go to that courtroom and say, do you have another witness? And I say, let me call my wife up, let me call my son up. We are separate witnesses, yet we are united in name. We are the keifers. God is the exact same way. Turn to your Bibles, if you would, to Hebrews chapter one, because some people think that that word person is not biblical. It doesn't say that there are three persons that bear record. It just says there are three that bear record. And you know what? They are right. It doesn't say three persons, yet we know that they are persons. How? Like we mentioned before, we need to use, you know, the Bible to tell us about the things of God. Now notice what it says in Hebrews chapter one, verse one. It says, starting the first word, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, who he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. So we'll pause really quickly. Notice we are now, God is talking about his son. So everything that comes next is in reference to the sun, because notice the ending punctuation is what's known as a semi colon. It's not the ending of the thought, it's continuing on. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, whose person? The father's person. Jesus Christ is a person and he looks like his father's person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now also, if you didn't believe or understand that Jesus Christ was truly God in the form of a man, notice what the father says about him in verse eight. But unto the son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. God is calling the son thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So we get it, David. The doctrine of the Trinity clearly teaches that there are three and they are one. There are three persons that make up one God. So if you at least understand this, I don't know if you've ever seen the Trinity shield, but it's a drawing analogy that explains what the Bible teaches. They'll usually be four circles, there'll be two circles on one side and two circles on top. The center circle will say God, the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. And then you draw lines that connect them all. There'll be is not, is not, is not, but then they are completely God. So the father is not the son. The son is not the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not the father, but they are God. So if you understand that, then you are in the Trinity camp. And that's important to our fundamental faith of who God is. You don't need to actually turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 13. You got to understand that the Trinity is a New Testament teaching. It's a New Testament doctrine. It's found in the Old Testament, Matthew chapter 13. It's found in the whole Bible. It's clearly taught throughout the whole Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity. But for those of you who like to read, think about a novel when there's a plot twist, right? Midway through the book, three quarters of the way through the book, or even something at the very end, the good guy becomes the bad guy or the bad guy becomes the good guy or some character gets revealed. Think about this plot twist that everyone can equate and understand is, you know, in the Star Wars film, Luke coming up to Darth Vader and he says, Luke, I am your father. That was a plot twist that threw everyone back and they were tripping out. But the, just like a novel, the Bible does this same exact thing throughout the whole Bible. It teaches the nature of God, but they saw through a glass darkly in the Old Testament. They didn't completely comprehend who, how God function. Now they did understand some things, what he allowed them to understand. Yeah.