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Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this morning is, what does the Bible say about the Trinity? What does the Bible say about the Trinity? And the reason that I've titled my sermon so is that I've noticed that if you just start Googling stuff about the Trinity and look at all the different debates about the Trinity and all the people going back and forth, all these kind of theologically geeked out, reformed types, is that they barely use the Bible at all in this discussion. And in fact, they will point out things sometimes that the Bible just clearly and explicitly says and say that it's a heretical view or that that's heresy, that's wrong because of this council of blah, blah, blah and, you know, the church fathers and blah, blah, blah. Why do I care what a bunch of baby baptizers who lived 1700 years ago thought about anything that the Bible says? And they spend more time trying to prove that some church father agreed with them and fighting over. Here's what's funny. You've got these theologians from like the 4th century AD, like Saint Augustine or something, right? And everybody wants to claim him. The Roman Catholics are like, he's our guy. The Protestants are like, no, he's our guy. You know, the Orthodox, oh, he's our guy. Everyone's like fighting. You can have him. You can have that baby baptizing false prophet. And I'm a Baptist and I don't care what he said. He's wrong about almost everything. So who cares? Now I've been accused recently of believing in something called social Trinitarianism. So I looked this up online. I had to Google this because I didn't know what this is. And I looked it up and it just sounded totally biblical on every single thing that I read about it. I'm just like, yeah, that's what the Bible says. Yeah, yeah, that's in the Bible. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah. And I read like literally 15 articles debunking social Trinitarianism and they used virtually zero Bible. Most of the articles had no Bible. The one that did have a Bible verse was basically a wrong translation of Deuteronomy 6. The Lord our God, the Lord is one Lord, it says in the King James. And then remember that that's interpreted in Mark as that there only is one God. And they said, well, this violates the oneness of God found in Deuteronomy 6 about Yahweh being one. And it was some wrong version. And at the end of the day, if the Bible says something, it can't be heresy, okay? So what I'm going to do, I'm going to take just about five minutes real quick and just derive the basic doctrine of the Trinity from the Bible. And then I'm going to get into the nitty gritty of what I want to talk about in the sermon, some of the details of what the Bible says about the Trinity. So let me just start with just the basics. And if you're a mature believer that's been saved for a long time, you know, to write the same things unto you for me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. There's nothing wrong with having a quick review of the basics. Even if you're a seasoned Christian, it's not going to hurt you to just get this basic doctrine hammered. So don't tune out for the next five minutes, but I'm going to get into more interesting material later in the sermon. Okay, how do we derive the doctrine of the Trinity from the Bible? Well first of all, the Bible teaches that there's only one God, right? Go to Isaiah chapter 43, I'm just going to give you a couple verses on this. Jesus said in Mark 12 29, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And then the scribe said unto him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one God and there is none other but he. And then Jesus said to that scribe, You're not far from the kingdom of God. He said, You've answered wisely. Now look at Isaiah chapter 43 verse 10. The Bible says, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I've chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior. Notice he says, there was no God before me, there will never be another God after me. I am he and there's none else. He says elsewhere in the same passage, beside me there is no God. There's only one God, period. I think we're all clear on that. Number two, Jesus is God. Because the Bible says, if you would turn to John chapter 20, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8 says, Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So the Bible explicitly calls the Son God. Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. And if you look this up in original context back in the book of Psalms, speaking to the Son it says, Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. We're sure talking about the Son when we say, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Because then there's a reference made to the Father. So Jesus is God. Look at John chapter 20 verse 27. Then saith he, this is Jesus speaking, to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. So here we see Thomas is calling Jesus God and he says that he's blessed for believing that. Of course we know in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. I could show you a bunch of verses, I'm just showing you a couple. So number one, there's only one God. Number two, Jesus is God. And number three, Jesus is not God the Father. And God the Father is not Jesus. Now the only way for these three facts to work is called the Trinity. That there's one God who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Three persons, one God is how you can have one God, you can have Jesus be God, the Father be God, the Holy Spirit be God, but they're not each other because God is eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons. Here's some proof that Jesus is not God the Father. Go to John chapter 1, you're already in John chapter 20, let's just go through some stuff in the book of John. While you're in the book of John there, I'm going to read for you some verses from elsewhere that prove that Jesus and God the Father are not the same person. And in Matthew chapter 20 verse 23, Jesus said unto them, ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. Now, if Jesus and the Father are the same person, how could he say, well, that's not mine to give, the Father's the one who makes that decision. That would be disingenuous of him to say that if the disciples are saying, hey, can we sit at your right hand and left? He's like, well, that's not mine to give. The Father will give that to whom he has prepared that for. How about this, Mark 1332, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. So the Father knows the day and the hour of Christ's return and Jesus is saying, the Son does not know. That's Mark 1332, okay? Obviously they're not the same person. That's why God could say in Genesis one, let us make man in our image after our likeness. That's Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, okay? And then in chapter three, when they fall in the Garden of Eden, he says, the man has become unto like, he's become like unto one of us, right? Us, like one of us, okay? The Father and Jesus converse with one another. I and thou, that's first person, second person. That's how it's even called grammatically, okay? Look at John one, verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So nobody's ever seen the Father at any time, but did people see Jesus? Absolutely. Now, Jesus did say that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father because Jesus is the express image of the Father's person. So because Jesus is the express image of the Father, if you've seen Jesus, you've seen the Father because there is an exact likeness there. You see, we're all as humans made in the image of God, but we're not the express image. We don't look exactly like, whereas Jesus is the express image of his person. And so we understand, look at John chapter five. We understand that God the Father, nobody can look at God the Father's face and live, but yet thousands of people or even millions of people saw the face of Jesus while he was on this earth. Look at John chapter five, verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father, he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. So notice the distinction. The Father judges no man, he's committed all judgment to the Son. Look at John chapter eight, verse 16. John 8, 16, and yet if I judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Now if the Father and Jesus are the same person, that wouldn't really make sense, would it? To say, well, I'm not alone. The Father and I are both testifying and it's written in your law the testimony of two men is true. Well, I'm one and the Father's another. If they're both the same person, that would be a lie. And Jesus said, if I bear witness to myself, my record's not true. There's another that bears witness of me, the Father. Okay, so that's the basic deriving of the Trinity. Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of the Trinity. First of all, turn to Philippians chapter two, Philippians chapter number two. And as sort of a preface to this, I want to just lay down this fact real quick that the Father and the Son are equal. And obviously by extension, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are equal, okay? What do we mean when we say that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are equal? We are saying that they are equally divine. One is not more God than the other, okay? And by the way, they're all eternal. So Jesus is not a created being, the Holy Spirit's not a created being. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have always existed and always will exist, and they're all equally God. Jesus is not a lesser divinity, no. There's one God and there's an equality in that divinity, meaning that the Father's not better than Jesus or more divine than Jesus. They're equal. What does the Bible say? Now, you're turning to Philippians 2, but I'll read for you from John 5, 18. The Bible says, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he'd not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father making himself equal with God. So John chapter 5 is saying that he made himself equal with God. Look at Philippians 2 for an even clearer statement, verse 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, sought it not robbery to be equal with God. So it's not robbery, he's not stealing anything, he's not taking something that doesn't belong to him by being equal with God because he is equal with God. So he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. That's why we saw Hebrews 1, 8, he's called God. Thomas called him God, over and over, lots of scriptures on the deity of Christ. But it literally says that he's equal with God in John 5 and Philippians 2. Now, that being said, here are the points of my sermon this morning that I want to say about the Trinity. Point number one is that although Jesus and the Father are equal, there is a chain of command in the Trinity. This is a fact. Now, again, people will call this heresy. Well, you know what? I don't care what you call it, it's what the Bible says. Go to 1 Corinthians 11. Because if the Bible says it, it can't be wrong, it can't be heresy. And there are people out there that will try to claim that Jesus does not submit to the Father, is not subject to the Father, except only in his humanity, only in his human incarnation. So their claim would be that while Jesus is on this earth, he obeyed the Father, but that that's not an eternal situation. And so Jesus said things on this earth like, I do always those things which please him. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, the passage we just looked at, that Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Who was Jesus obeying? He's obeying the Father. But guess what? First Corinthians chapter 11 is being written long after Jesus has already risen from the dead and been glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father, which also, by the way, proves that the Father and Jesus are not the same person, because how do you sit at the right hand of yourself? That doesn't work. But look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, underline this verse, verse 3. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Now how in the world could anybody misunderstand this? What does it mean when it says the head of every man is Christ? It is saying that Christ has authority over every man. The headship here is talking about authority, okay? The head of the woman is the man. You see, a woman has her husband as an authority. The Bible teaches that wives are to submit to and obey their husbands. And so when it says the head of Christ is God, what does that mean? That is saying that the Father has authority over the Son. The head of Christ is God, just like the head of the woman is the man, just like the head of the man is Christ. Now here's the thing about that. I would submit to you that men and women are equal. Amen? Do you think that men are better than women? Do you think that men are more valuable than women? Do you think that men are superior to women, you bunch of MGTOW, Manosphere, Andrew Tate followers? No! Men and women are equal. But is there a chain of command between a man and a woman within the family, within a marriage? Now, the Bible does not teach that all women need to obey all men. But the Bible says that each woman should obey her own husband. The head of the woman is the man, right? Her husband is her head. He's the head of the household. He's the authority. He's the boss. Does that make him better than her? Does that make him superior or smarter? No! They're equal. The Bible says that in Christ there's neither male nor female. We're all one in Christ Jesus, but yet within the church, women are not supposed to be preaching. Women are not supposed to be leading the church. Why? It's not a matter of equality in the sense of value, but there is a chain of command. Now here's another explicit statement that Jesus made while he was on this earth. He said, my Father is greater than I. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. He said, my Father is greater than I. Now what did he mean by that? We've already seen other scripture where the Bible flat out tells us that Jesus and the Father are equal. So how can he on one hand say we're equal and on the other hand say my Father is greater than I? I'll tell you exactly how. It's the same reason why Joseph said to Potiphar's wife, no man is greater than me in this house. He's not talking about I'm the greatest. You know, what he's saying is that he has the most authority and so the Father has authority. The head of Christ is God. Does that mean that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are not co-equal? Of course they're co-equal in their divinity, in their value, but when it comes to an authority structure my Father is greater than I, he said. The head of Christ is God. Now again, you can twist scripture if you want or you can just believe what the Bible says because the Bible flat out says that the head of Christ is God. But what's funny is you don't really find, you don't tend to find these verses in these arguments by the people who deny these things except to just say, well, I know the Bible says that but, you know, this church father, if we go dig him up and see what he said, I don't care what he said. Me and the Holy Spirit and the Bible are doing just fine. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15 to just remove absolutely all doubt about this because 1 Corinthians 15 is even clearer than 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Corinthians 11 is pretty clear. Now the attack made on the Social Trinity is that, well, they're teaching that the Trinity is a model for human relationships like a husband and wife relationship. Didn't we literally just read that as the head of the woman is the man, so Christ, he has a head, right, the Father, sorry, I said that wrong, but the head of Christ is God, the head of the woman is God. But how dare you make a comparison between the Trinity and marriage? God literally made that exact comparison. Stop and think of it, just let that sink in for a minute. God flat out says in John 17, he says that he wants, we just read it as a church before the sermon started, that he's praying to the Father that his disciples may be one even as we are one. So he's talking to the Father and saying, I want them to be one the way that we are one. Where you use the Trinity as a model for unity in human relationships or unity within marriage or as an analogy for marriage, it's what the Bible literally does in 1 Corinthians 11 and John chapter 17. So how can it be false if the Bible does it or if the Bible says it? I'm just scratching my head like, what are these people talking about? But then again, I haven't read all the theological junk that they've read. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I need to go. Actually, no, I won't do it because I, let me just tell you something real quick. Here's a quick little rabbit trail. Theology is the most boring, stupid subject on the planet. It's boring and stupid. Okay. Calvinists love it. If you want to bore your brains out, go read a theology book. You want to have some excitement, read the Bible. I love the Bible. I can't get enough of the Bible. I just want to keep reading the Bible and reading the Bible and listening to preaching. I don't want to read theology because it's, you know what it, let me just tell you what theology is. Vain jangling, doting about questions and stripes of words, navel gazing. That's what it is. It is. I literally read this article of a guy attacking the social Trinitarian view saying this. He said, you know, I used to believe in this back when I was in Bible college and in seminary. I actually believe in this. He's like, I wrote my whole thesis about it, but he said, the problem is when I started going back and reading the church fathers and I started realizing that none of them believed in it, they didn't baptize people by immersion either because they're a bunch of Catholics. Here's what you have to understand. The Roman Catholic Church decides which books go in the fire and which books survive. So the church fathers are a bunch of Catholics. Any questions where do you think you're going to find sound biblical doctrine at Barnes and Noble? Do you think walking to Barnes and Noble, you're going to find all kinds of, of red hot Bible preaching, sound doctrine. No, you're going to find a bunch of garbage because the world always promotes garbage. The Roman Catholic Church is going to preserve and what do you think a bunch of beer drinking faggoty monks are going to spend the most time copying for theology? Church doctrine or Roman Catholic doctrine? And so at the end of the day, my friend, we need to, every generation needs to read the Bible for themselves and believe what the Bible says with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and leave these baby baptizing false teachers in the grave where they belong. All right, back to the sermon. First Corinthians 15, 23, let's see what the Bible says, but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christed is coming, then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so watch this, Christ is going to deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, meaning Jesus must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet, 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 he's saying, look, obviously it's manifest, it's obvious, it's clear that when we say that all things are under the feet of Jesus, we're not talking about the guy who put all things under the feet of Jesus, which is the Father. The Father is the one who put all things under the feet of Jesus and obviously we know that the Father is the exception to that. When the Bible says that all things are under his feet, there's a clear exception. The Father. What does the next verse say? And my friend, I don't understand how anybody can read verse 28 and not understand what this is saying. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, talking about Jesus, when all things are under his feet, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all. Case closed. Game over. That's done. What does the Bible say? I mean the Bible flat out says that at the end of the millennium, after Christ has reigned, when the last enemy that's been destroyed is death and we're in the eternal state, then Christ will be subject unto the Father. Your belief in the eternal subordination of the Son. What does the Bible say? The Bible literally says that Jesus in the eternal state after the millennium will be subject unto the Father. So am I supposed to believe that Jesus is the only subject of the Father while he's on this earth? It's not what 1 Corinthians 11 says. It's not what 1 Corinthians 15 says. 1 Corinthians 15 says that after the millennium, he will deliver up the kingdom to the Father and that he himself, the Son, will be subject to the Father. Look, if he's subject to the Father after the millennium, it sounds like he's just going to be subject to the Father the whole time. But again, you know, some people will say that this is heresy. Well, baptizing babies is heresy. How about that? Limited atonement is heresy, believing that Jesus didn't die for everybody's heresy. So how do you like that? Again another thing that the Bible explicitly says, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, that he died for all men. He's the savior of all men, especially those that believe. But then the Calvinist comes along and says Jesus didn't die for everybody. You're denying explicit, clear scripture. I don't care what theologians said. I don't need to read some theological book to know it's false because it goes against scripture. It's that simple. So number one, there is a chain of command in the Trinity. It's as plain as the nose on your face. 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 15, and elsewhere, but those are the two that are just a game over for the crowd that would deny this. Number two is that this is the other thing that these people with a watered down view of the Trinity say. They're claiming that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost don't have their own centers of consciousness. And so let me say this, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost each have their own center of consciousness. Now what do I mean by that? This seems kind of obvious. How can you have three persons without three centers of consciousness? How can you have the Father talking to the Son if there's just one center of consciousness? Let me just explain what consciousness means. Consciousness is the fact that I'm actually having an experience right now of standing up here and preaching to you, and so there's a meaningful answer to this question. What is it like to be Pastor Anderson? Being Pastor Anderson is a certain experience, right? And then you're having your own experience, like Fidel here, he's having a unique experience here. His experience is not the same as my experience. So we can ask this question, what's it like to be Fidel? Now is there a meaningful answer to that question? Yeah, there's a meaningful answer, like what is it like to be Fidel? He has a unique experience, he is conscious, he knows that he's here right now. He's seeing, he's hearing, he's feeling, he's experiencing, he knows where he is, he is living his own reality. I've got my reality over here, I'm conscious, he's conscious, right? Now what if I said, what is it like to be Pastor Anderson's pulpit? Is there a meaningful answer to this question, what is it like to be a pulpit? No, because pulpits don't have feelings, okay? You know, otherwise I owe my pulpit an apology, because I've been beating the fire out of it for the last 17 years, kicking it, punching it, yelling at it, you know, jumping on it. But I don't owe my pulpit an apology, because it's not conscious, okay? Who here thinks that plants are conscious, you know? Is there a meaningful answer to this question, what's it like to be a palm tree? There's no meaningful answer to that question, because palm trees aren't conscious, they're not experiencing anything, they're not feeling anything, they're not going through anything. Does everybody understand what consciousness means? What does it mean if I say he's unconscious, means he doesn't know what's going on around him. Conscious, oh, now he knows what's going on around him, whether that's through sight, or sound, or touch, or taste, or smell, he can feel things and it's like something to be him, okay? But these people claim that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost don't have their own centers of consciousness, which to me is just absurd, because then how do you even have a trinity anymore? To me it just sounds like, how is that even three persons anymore, if it's one center of consciousness? But let's prove it from the Bible, because I'm not like these theological bozos that don't talk about the Bible, let's go to the Bible. Turn if you would to, let me find my place here, let's go to Hebrews 4, Hebrews 4. And here's what they'll say, they'll say, you know, the three persons of the trinity, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, they don't have three centers of consciousness, they don't have three minds, they don't have three wills, you know, they all share one body. It's like, how is that three persons anymore? Like in what way is that even a person? You've literally just eliminated like every definition of a person, basically, at that point. But you give the lip service to being three persons, but then you just eliminate every biblical definition of what that even means. Now let's see what the Bible says, you're turning to Hebrews chapter 4, but the Bible says in Matthew 26 that Jesus went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Hey, Jesus is feeling the stress in that Garden of Eden, he's sweating great drops of sweat that are dripping like drops of blood, and he is going, the Bible says in great heaviness, he's in agony in the Garden, he's praying and saying, Father, if it be passable, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. How in the world do you get one center of consciousness out of that? You say, look, this is what I'm feeling, but I'm going to do your will. Not as I will, but as thou wilt. Oh, there's not two wills. Let's count. Not as I will, but as thou wilt. Now again, this is not some straw man argument that they would make of saying like that when we say the will of God, like the three are disagreeing or something, no, obviously the three are in one accord. The three have the same purpose, the same plan, the same will, the same overarching will. My wife and I, we have the same will or the same desire for our children, right? But here's the thing, does that mean that she's never going to submit to my will? No. Now obviously, I'm not saying that the husband-wife relationship is just like the Trinity, of course not, because no human beings have the level of unity that God has, because God is one God, one essence, and what does the Bible say? Great is the mystery of godliness. So I'm not claiming to fully understand the Trinity, and no one should claim to fully understand these things, because of the fact that great is the mystery of godliness. And here's what these people keep saying, you're violating the simplicity of God, the doctrine of simplicity. Well how long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge. Because you know, how can you sit there and say, well God's got to be simple, really? Because the Bible says great is the mystery of Godliness, if it's so simple, then what's the mystery? That's not what simplicity means, well take your simplicity and hang it if it violates clear scripture. Because the Bible clearly teaches that there's a chain of command in the Trinity, the Bible clearly teaches that there's three persons in the Trinity, the Bible clearly teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have their own centers of consciousness, otherwise how would this even make sense where Christ is in agony in the garden and he's praying to the Father saying not as I will but as thou wilt, okay? Also in Luke 22 42, Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will be done but thine. First Timothy 2 5, well let's look at Hebrews 4 first, look down at Hebrews 4 15. The Bible says, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. You see Christ does not just understand the human experience on an intellectual level but he actually knows what it feels like to be a human, amen? Jesus knows what it feels, I mean he has experienced it himself. He is not a high priest that can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. He has the actual experience of actually having lived on this earth. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he was tired, he went through all of the physical things, he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. This is why the Bible says there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now how can a mediator have the same center of consciousness as the guy that he's mediating for? It's just kind of stupid if you think about it. The whole point of Christ being our high priest, the whole point of having Christ as a mediator is that Christ can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities because he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Where does the Bible say that God the Father had all these experiences and that the Father's the mediator? It doesn't make any sense. There is a difference between Father and Son and Holy Ghost. If they are three persons, one God, to say that they have only one center of consciousness is another way of just saying, just kidding, they're not three persons. And what sense would it make for Christ to say on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me if he doesn't have a separate center of consciousness from God the Father? It's just, again, and where does the word center of consciousness even found in scripture? Can you show me the word center of consciousness? This is all man-made theological jargon. They have one center of consciousness. But if we actually know what consciousness means, that becomes absurd in light of what the Bible actually teaches, which is teaching that they're having a conversation with one another, Jesus feeling one thing, but he's deferring to the Father up in heaven and so forth. So let's move on for sake of time. I've got to hurry to the third point. Go if you would to Acts chapter 7. So point number one of the sermon was that there's a chain of command in the Trinity. Point number two, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have their own centers of consciousness. This one mind, one center of consciousness, one will is baloney. It's not what the Bible says. Now again, that's not to say that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in disagreement, that they have a different will in that sense, because Jesus Christ is subject unto the Father. And so therefore, he went with the Father's will when it came to dying on the cross. But number three, and again, just keep this in mind throughout the sermon, nothing that the Bible explicitly says can ever be heresy. Anybody who tries to tell you that something that the Bible states is wrong, they're just denying the Bible. What are they doing? You know, if the Bible says the head of Christ is God, well, you know, the Athanasius, shut up. Number three, Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit do not share a body. Now you'll hear them talk about this, they'll say, you know, well these people, they take persons too far, the social Trinitarians say, you know, three wills, three minds, three centers of consciousness, and three bodies. Well let me just come right out and say to you that Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit don't share a body. Jesus is on this earth in a body, that's Jesus' body. That's not the Father's body. That's not the Son's, and it's so easy to prove this stuff from scripture. So then what they'll say is, well the Father doesn't have a body, or the Holy Spirit doesn't have a body. Well, I will admit that of course, God the Father does not have a physical body. I'll grant you that. I don't believe that he has a flesh physical body. There's nothing in the Bible that would teach that he has a physical body. Or that the Holy Ghost has a physical body. But you don't want to know what the Bible does teach though? Where did I have eternal in Acts 7? I'm going to get to some really clear scriptures that prove that the Father does have a body, and the Holy Spirit as well, just not a physical body. But to try to tear down the walls between Father, Son, and Holy Ghost by saying they don't have separate bodies is just false, because Jesus has a separate body, sorry. But Jesus' body is not the Father's body, or the Holy Spirit's body. It's Jesus. It's that simple. But let's go to the scripture though, remember? Because the sermon's called what the Bible says about the Trinity. So you're turning to Acts 7.55, but while you're turning there, let me just read you some verses. Romans 8.34, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Colossians 3.1, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Hebrews 10.12, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. First Peter 3.22, who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Now is Christ seated at the right hand of God or what? Everybody hear that? So Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Well here's what some theologians will say, well that's just a metaphor. That's just like figuratively speaking he's sitting at the right hand of God. He's not literally in heaven sitting at the right hand of God. You know what I believe? I believe that he's literally in heaven sitting at the right hand of God, amen? Now let's look at what the Bible says. See if it's a metaphor or if it's really like that. Look at Acts chapter 7 verse 55, this is Stephen being stoned. So everybody put yourself in the story here, Stephen has rocks being thrown at him. Everybody understand? So he's being injured, he's being beaten, he's being hit with rocks, they're killing him. He's dying. And he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. So is Stephen looking at a metaphor? I mean he's being pummeled with stones like whoa I see heaven opened and I see Jesus standing on the right hand of God. So metaphorically speaking, figuratively speaking. And notice he's not seated, he's standing. And the way I always heard this preached growing up is that Jesus gets out of his chair while Stephen's being stoned because he cares about Stephen and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints and so he stands up to honor Stephen's sacrifice because he cares he's there to welcome Stephen. And did Stephen see that or not? I mean who here thinks that Stephen actually saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the glory of God? I mean he literally saw him. Not a metaphor, not figurative, it's what he saw as he's dying. So that whole metaphor thing just kind of goes out the window, doesn't it? So if they have the same body then how is Jesus sitting on the right hand of his own body? Can somebody explain to me how that would work? I would love for somebody to demonstrate that with a chair. Sit on your own right hand and you sit at your own right hand and don't just stick your hand under your backside because that's not going to work, okay? That's cheating. Go to Exodus 33. You say well God the Father just doesn't have a body. Okay well then riddle me this. If God the Father doesn't have a body then explain to me how God could say in the Old Testament no man can see my face and live. If God the Father doesn't have a face, what is it that we can't look at? And if seeing God's face is just metaphorical, why can't we look at it without dying? Like if we read the Bible we're metaphorically seeing God's face. Amen? Reading the Bible we see God figuratively speaking but literally seeing God, talking about the Father now, would kill you. That's why the Bible says no man has seen God in any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he had declared him. If God doesn't have a face there's nothing to not see. There's nothing to kill you. Now look what the Bible says in Exodus 33 20. And he said thou canst not see my face, Exodus 33 20, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said behold there's a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen. Now stop and think about this, God says you can't see my face, no one can see my face and live. If you see my face you'll die. But what I'll do, I'm going to put you on a rock, I'm going to put you in a cliff to the rock, I'm going to pass by you with my hand covering you, his what? His what? I mean we've all sung the song right? He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there. Just kidding, he doesn't have any body at all. So look, so he says you can't look at my face, what I'm going to do, I'm going to pass by you, I'm going to cover you there with my hand and I'm going to remove my hand as I'm leaving and then you will see my back parts. You're going to just catch a glimpse of me from the rear as I'm leaving because you can't, if you see my face you'll be so overwhelmed it'll just kill you, it'll just demolish you. You'll just be incinerated by my glory. So once he passes by he removes his hand and Moses sees his back parts. Oh wait, just kidding, he doesn't have any parts. He has no face, no hand, no parts. Now again if this is figurative then explain this to me. Why after seeing God's back parts did Moses come down from the mount with his face glowing so brightly, just from seeing the back parts of God, that his face is glowing so brightly that no one could look at Moses. No one could even look at him and they had to put a veil over his face in order to shield themselves because they could not look at Moses. Anybody explain that? If this is just a metaphor or figurative, no, God the Father literally passed by him and literally he saw his glory to the point where it made his face literally shine, where they had to literally put a veil over his face so that they would not hurt their eyes looking at Moses until the experience wore off from Moses. Okay now go to Luke chapter 3 and again what are we doing? We're looking at the Bible this morning, we're looking at Bible verses. Everything I'm saying I'm backing up with the Bible. If I'm saying something that hasn't been backed up by the Bible please let me know what it is because this is all in the Bible and you think this is the only place that talks about God as having things like a face or hand in a non-metaphorical way. Obviously some of it's metaphorical like the arm of God's deliverance or the arm of his salvation but when you have Moses you know on a literal rock in a literal cliff with his face literally shining we're talking about something that's literal. And by the way in Revelation 14 it talks about the 144,000 having the Father of Christ's name written in their foreheads. Then in Revelation 22 after death has been destroyed, after there is no more death in the new heaven and the new earth when the last enemy that has been destroyed is death, it says that his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. That's talking about that we will eventually see God the Father's face after the great white throne, after death has been destroyed we will see the face of God the Father and not die because death won't be a thing anymore. We will be able to look upon actually God the Father. But again what's there to look at if it's just the same face as Jesus' face? What's there to look at that kills you? I mean Jesus walked around on this earth, nobody died looking at him. Jesus wrestled a pre-incarnate Christ wrestled with Jacob and Jacob said I've seen God face to face and my life was preserved. Why? Because it was the Son of God and the Son of God is God because God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But you say what about the Holy Spirit? Surely the Holy Spirit has no body. Well let's see what the Bible says, Luke 3.22, and the Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape. The Holy Ghost descended in bodily shape like a dove upon him. Upon who? Jesus. Okay folks, so we have Jesus descending on Jesus here? No we have the Holy Ghost in bodily shape descending upon, like a dove upon Jesus and a voice came from heaven which said thou are my beloved Son and in thee I'm well pleased. So we have all three members of the Trinity here don't we? Because we have the Father speaking from heaven, we have the Holy Ghost descending in bodily shape like a dove upon him, and then we have Jesus physically, humanly here on this earth. So how do you descend in bodily shape if you don't have a body? Could somebody explain that? Okay and again I'm not saying a physical body, I'm not saying a flesh and bone body, but I will say this, Jesus flesh and bone body is just Jesus, that's not the Father, that's not the Holy Ghost. So it's like, ah you guys believe in three separate bodies. Well what do you believe in, one body? Because that makes no sense, and the Bible actually talks about a separate face for the Father and a separate face for the Son. Last time I checked, faces are attached to bodies, okay? So anyway, last point is this, number four. So number one we said there's a chain of command in the Trinity, very clear in Scripture. Number two, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have their own centers of consciousness. Jesus Christ had his own unique experience on the cross, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me, being tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin, which is what allows him to be the mediator between man and God because he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Number three is that Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit do not share a body, that is ridiculous. And number four is that the Trinity is a model for human relationships. Go to John 17 and we'll close with this. The Trinity is a model for human relationships. Now obviously this is not to drag God down to the level of being just like humans or something because obviously God is not like humans. God says that his thoughts are above our thoughts as much as the heaven is above the earth. I mean God is way beyond us mentally, spiritually, he transcends the whole physical universe. I mean God is someone that we can never even fully grasp or comprehend or understand. God's greatness is so much greater than man's greatness. God is on a whole other level. And part of the reason why Christ came to this earth, obviously primarily came to die for our sins, but he also came so that we could have that mediator of someone who has actually lived our experience. And I've heard preachers use this metaphor sometimes or this illustration I should say. They said, you know, it'd be sort of like, you know, it's almost like God would be becoming man is almost like if a human being like became like an insect or something because it's just like there's such a wide gulf there of just how much more powerful and intelligent that we are. Really no illustration is going to be perfect, but you know it just kind of gives you an idea of like just really condescending and coming down to another level. And he experienced what it is like to be human and so he lived on this earth and so therefore he's able to be that mediator because he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That's his conscious experience that he had, just like I'm having an experience, just like Fidel is having an experience right now. We're all having a unique experience. We're not sharing one center of consciousness here. That would be super weird if any two people shared the same consciousness. That wouldn't even work. But number four, the Trinity is a model for human relationships. Not to say that it's ever going to be perfect, just like we already talked about, husband and wife. The head of the woman is the man. The head of Christ is God. That means Christ and God are a model for the husband-wife relationship. Now elsewhere the Bible says that wives should submit themselves to their husbands even as the church is subject unto Christ. So there's another metaphor where Christ represents the husband and the church represents the wife, right? Just as the wife is to submit to her husband, the church is subject to Christ. That's Ephesians 5. But then elsewhere the Bible says the head of Christ is God and the head of the woman is the man. So here's what some bozo on the internet said. They said, well, you know, which one is it? Is the husband Christ or is the woman Christ? It's like, hello, is anybody home? That's like saying, what about leaven? In some parables, leaven is sin. In other places, the kingdom of the Gospel is leaven, remember? Because Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like leaven that a woman kneaded into two measures of dough and until the whole is leavened. So leaven spreads and spreads and you can keep adding flour and adding water and the leaven spreads into dough and you mix in fresh dough and then the fresh dough becomes leavened. And Jesus used that as an illustration about how the Gospel spreads. The Gospel spreads like leaven. But then elsewhere he said a little leaven leavens the whole lump and leaven is sin in the church. So which one is it? It's a different illustration. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? You're mixing two different metaphors, okay? The husband represents Christ if we're talking about the wife representing the church. But there's also another verse in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3, where the husband represents God the Father and the wife represents Jesus Christ. The head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God. Because look, Jesus Christ is the son of David but he's also the God of David. You know, which one is it? It's a silly question to ask because in every parable the seed and the ground, they can represent different things in different parables because each parable is self-contained. So that's kind of a silly question. But is the Trinity a model for human relationships? Well look what John chapter 17 verse 20 says. It says in verse 20 of chapter 17, neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. So Jesus is praying for the Christians that are already saved and for the Christians that they're going to go out and get saved. That they all may be one as thou fathered in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. And then look at the end of verse 24, thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So here's what the Bible teaches. Before this world was even created, forget the incarnation of Christ, we're talking about before the world was even created. In the beginning, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are in a loving relationship. The Father loved the Son before the world began. God is love. Intrinsically God is love. Love has an object. And even before any humans had been created, God was there as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in a loving relationship of three persons where the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and so forth. The Holy Spirit loves the Son, the Father loves the Holy Spirit. This is a loving relationship. So God is inherently a social being because he literally exists as three persons. Why did God create human beings in the first place? Why are we even here? Why even create the world? Why isn't God just creating galaxies and supernovas and just rings of Saturn and just getting all excited about that? What does God want from us? What does God want from you? What does God want from me? Why are we even here? Why did he even create us in the first place? Is it just so we could be like a human zoo that God could just watch us like we would watch an orangutan swinging from a tree and just think that's kind of cool? Is that why we exist? Is that why you exist? No. God created us so that God could have fellowship with us. So that God could have communion with us, fellowship with us, a relationship with us. That's why we exist. God's not going to have a relationship with animals or plants. He's not going to have a relationship with a black hole. He's having a relationship with human beings that are created in his image. And guess what? Human beings are inherently social creatures. If someone goes off and lives by themselves somewhere, is that the norm? That's very abnormal. It's very strange when someone becomes a hermit and just no human contact for ten years out in a cabin in the woods. It's extremely rare and you'd say there's something wrong with that person. Normal people crave human contact. Now look, in many ways I am a loner, like to be by myself at times, but I also crave human contact. And you know, I like being alone until I'm alone. You know what I mean? I really love being alone until I'm alone for a day or two and it's like, okay, I'm done being alone. That gets old fast. What does the Bible say? It's not good for the man to be alone. And guess what? This is something that we have in common with God because God is inherently social and so are we. We're social too. And so I hope that the sermon has been illuminating for you. I hope that you understand everything in the sermon because there's only one God. Jesus Christ is fully God. He is equal with God, but he is not the same person as God the Father. There are three different experiences going on there. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. There's a loving relationship between the three that has always existed and always will exist because God is inherently social and God's ultimate unity that obviously no humans could ever reach or achieve is a model for human relationships where God would say he wants us to have unity the way he has unity. That's what the Bible literally says in John 17 that they may be one as we are one. Obviously we're not going to become a Trinity. We're not going to become God. We're not going to become a being that exists of three persons, but just like the Father loves the Son, we can love our wife. Just as the Son loves the Father, the wife can love the husband. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in one accord, the church can be in one accord. Things like empathy and sacrifice and love and communion and fellowship, these things are all things that we strive for as humans and that we desire as humans because God, number one, has fellowship among Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but he also wants to have fellowship with us and we want to have fellowship, too. We want to have fellowship with God, amen? Who here wants to talk to God? I do. I would love to talk to God. I would love to talk to the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. I would love to be in heaven right now communing with God and someday I'll be there. It's going to be great, but you know what? Until then, you know who I'm going to commune with and have fellowship with? God's creatures and I want human contact. I don't want to be in solitary confinement. I want to talk to people. I want to spend time with people, not too much, but I want to spend time with people. Even Jesus had to go apart by himself and pray and get away from the multitude, amen? But then what did he do? He came right back. Why did Jesus assemble a team? Why did he have 12 disciples, 70 more apostles that he ordained? Why did he found a church? Because it's all about the team because even God himself is a team, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the church is a team. All throughout the Bible, you got people two by two. You got Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, Paul and Timothy. You got all these teams because that's how God is and that's how we are and guess where we got that? Guess where we got that love for other people and desire to be around other people? We got that straight from God because we're made in the image of God and we have that social nature in common with God. So it doesn't really matter what theologians tell you about the Trinity. You know why don't you just read the Bible and you'll see that everything I preached this morning is true according to the Bible and that's all that matters and most of these baby baptizers are in hell anyway so maybe someday we can call out to them across the great gulf and be like, so hey, so what did you guys believe about the Trinity anyway? Maybe while they're burning in hell, maybe while these stinking Catholic phony church fathers are all burning in hell, maybe we can like yell out to them while they're in hell and be like, hey guys, should you agree with Calvinists more or Roman Catholics because they're both trying to claim you. I see you're kind of burning closer to the Roman Catholics so I'm assuming you're burning with your posse there and I'm being facetious now but you know what, that's the truth, it's the reality. You know you think the Roman Catholic Church has preserved a lot of great Baptist literature over the years? No they didn't. You think Barnes and Nobles is going to be selling you know Pastor Jimenez a new book? You know, no, he didn't write a book but if he did they won't be selling it. As far as that word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word Lord and I pray that everyone would understand these important doctrines Lord and not only to intellectually understand the deity of Jesus Christ and the nature of the Trinity but Lord also to understand the application that there's a lesson to be learned about marriage here, there's a lesson to be learned about the church, there's a lesson to be learned about human nature here. Help us to be one as you are one, help us to love as you love and Lord help us as a church to yes stand for the right doctrine and stand for the truth but also to love our fellow man the way that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen.