I don't know. Jude chapter 1, verse 1. I mentioned to you all last week
that this is kind of where my mind was at the beginning, and
we ended up going to 1 Peter. And we're probably going to go
to 1 Peter briefly today. The Lord will bring you to remember
some of the things has led me through in this. You know, one of the things that
really has over the last several years, and I don't know exactly
how far back it began, but as the Lord has taught me, and I
do hope the Lord has taught me, that God is one, that he is the only
God, there is no other God besides him. And that there is such a
great unity in the Godhead that can't be divided. However, modern Christianity
today, they try to separate God out so far that it's just much castigated for a lot of
the views that I hold as far as that's concerned. But they
try to separate God so distinctly and separately and individually
that to me that while they would say we don't serve three gods,
we only serve one, it's hard to deny that that is what that
implication is. Whenever you have first person, second person,
third person, when all are considered God, when all are considered
the one true God. To say that there is three separate
and distinct individual persons, and then to say that there's
one God and they all have the same nature, the same essence.
Well the scriptures really doesn't give the clarity on they are
three distinct individual separate persons but they are one in nature
and essence. That is things that the theology
has taught people. That's what the Nicene Creed
has taught people. That is what Athanasius has taught
people. The Catholic Church has taught
people. But the scriptures overwhelmingly teach that God is one, and that
there is a unity within that Godhead that is so, so much so,
that I really am uncomfortable separating these out. And I'm
not saying modalism, I'm not saying Arianism, I'm not saying
Sabellianism, I'm not saying any of that stuff. I'm saying
that I think that there's such a great mystery of who God is. Who can find out God by searching?
We surely can't. Nobody knows that. But the Bible is clear that there
is such a unity in the Godhead that to separate them so far
out and make it such distinct where everything is cut and dry,
I think is actually underwhelming the very nature of who God is.
I mean, it is so great and unfathomable, and I know I don't know it all.
I know that I haven't comprehended it all, and I only want to say
and I only want to speak the terminology that the scriptures
uses, the things that the scriptures say, and only put forth what
God says about himself, and whether or not men, creeds, and all that
stuff say other things, that's irregardless, because all those
have to stand in comparison to and up to the standard of what
God's word says. So, I'm not afraid to be castigated
as this or that or the other. to be disfellowshipped or anything
like that. I'll just say that at the outset. I know you guys
know that and most of y'all are in agreement with that notion
that we don't care if nobody else loves us as long as the
Lord does, you know, right? We're not worried about men's
applause or men's acceptance. We're worried about being faithful
to the Scriptures. And I said all that Because I
find that within salvation, within our redemption, I see the great
work of unity of God on our behalf and how that every aspect of
our salvation is attributed to the Godhead. It's attributed to Father. It's attributed to the Son. It's
attributed to the Spirit. In every aspect, I know some
people say, well, the Father did this, the Son did this, the
Spirit did this. But almost in every area of this
is what was done, this is what was done, this is what was done,
there is interlaced throughout Scriptures portions of the Holy
Bible that give credence and clarity of all three that bear
record in heaven being participants in every aspect of redemption,
whether it's sanctification, whether it's justification, whether
it's glorification, whether it's perseverance, whether it's whatever,
calling. In everything that revolves around
that, all of the Godhead is involved in every one of those aspects.
And then to be cut and dry and say, well, the Father, this was
His job, boom, He did that. This is the Son's job, boom,
He did that. This is the Spirit's job, boom,
He did that. And none of them separate or
intertwine together. No, you can't separate God out
like that. Everything is working together. Everything is done as one God,
one salvation. There's only one Lord. one faith,
one baptism. There is only one redemption. There is only one Redeemer. There
is only one God, one Creator. And so many people want to say,
well, the Father created, the Son created, the Holy Spirit
created. Well, all three of them are set
to create. Well, did they have different
aspects of creation? The Father chose to create, the
Son told to create, and the Holy Spirit floated among the whole
atmosphere and created. No, how about, let's just say,
God created. But primarily, brethren, what
I would like to posit is that whether we are revealed the work
done as the Father, by the Father, or whether we're revealed the
work done through Christ, or the work done through the Spirit,
it's all one salvation by one God. And that salvation in all
of that is to the exaltation of one person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All of the Godhead finds its
fullness in Christ Jesus. All of redemption and salvation
finds its pinnacle, finds its paramount, finds its importance, finds its glory in
Christ Jesus. And so everything that involves
Father, Word, Holy Spirit, those three that bear record in heaven,
find it in one, the man Christ Jesus. And this first passage,
or this first verse in Jude, I find this just extremely, extremely
overwhelming because of the depth of how much throughout scripture
we see that even though how it's laid out here as we begin to
ponder other passages of scripture we see that this is not just
a black and white cut and dried way that God has done things.
God has in his infinitude, God has in his grandioseness, if you would allow
me that. God in his immenseness, in his
mystery, in his person that he is as the three in one has brought
salvation to his elect. And how full and how great, how
deep, how majestic is this salvation that all these things are tied
together, and the further you dig, the more you're going to
find, and the more you find, the further you want to dig,
and the more you keep digging, the more you keep finding, and
you can't exhaust it. So let's look here at some of
this stuff. Now, before we get started in
a lot of that, one of the things that really impressed me, and
I got to thinking about here, it says, Jew, the servant of
Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called."
Now, I've always read that in that diction, like that. The servant of Jesus Christ and
brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Christ Jesus. You know, a lot of times Paul
would introduce himself and then he would to greet them with a
greeting, right? But it seems that the structure
of this verse isn't necessarily that. Now, the brother of James
is this little parenthesis. He's making sure that you know
who this Jude is because the word Jude actually, and in other
places in Scripture, his name is Judas. His name is also Thaddeus. His name is also Lebeus. I think that's how you pronounce
it. So, this Jude had other ways that his name was presented in
the scriptures. But particularly here, the name
Jude, as it was often called Judas, he didn't want people
to think that he was the other Judas, right? Matter of fact,
there's one scripture in there where the Bible speaks of Jude,
and it calls him Judas, and it says, Jude, not Iscariot, right? So they're making that distinction,
not Iscariot. We don't want to read a book
in our Bible that's written by the one who was the chariot of Christ, right? So
the brother of James is a little parenthesis just to distinguish
who he is. But the verse would read, the
servant of Jesus Christ to them that are sanctified by God. Thank you. that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. So
here we see, first of all, Jude is declaring that he is a servant
of Jesus Christ, but we find, how is he serving Christ? The way that he is serving Christ
is he is ministering the Gospel, he is ministering the Word, he
is ministering the doctrine of salvation to who? Them that are sanctified
by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called.
Brethren, our service to Jesus Christ is to the church. Our service to Jesus Christ is
to the elect of God. Gathered wherever they may be,
that's where our service to Christ comes in. You know, whenever
Jesus prayed, He prayed not for the world, but for His people,
right? The work that He did, He did
for His people, not for the world. Whenever He calls us as the church
to come in, it's to come in and we worship with the brethren,
not with the world. That's one of the reasons why
we don't participate in any worship, quote-unquote worship, with those
who believe another gospel. with another Jesus. So you see the service that we
are called in as it pertains to the ministry of the gospel
is a service to the people of God. And Jude here is saying
that my service is to them who are the people of God And that
service is the ministry of the declaration or the gospel of
salvation. Notice, if you would, in verse
three, he said, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write
unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend
for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Now, I want to
make a confession here. In times past, I have preached
this, back when I was an Armenian, especially, but I may have even
preached it like this after that, but I have preached that as Jude
originally had this intent, but then changed directions and decided
to write this way. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write to you of the common salvation, that was my intent,
but then God redirected me And now I have to earnestly write
to you and exhort you that you earnestly contend for the faith
that was once delivered to the saint. Well, I've come to realize
that that was erroneous, my thinking. Now, whether you believe that
or not, I'm not, you know, you've probably thought of it the right
way all along, but I thought of it wrong and I was preaching
it wrong. Rather, listen, whenever we are
writing or whether we're preaching, of the common salvation, that
is exhorting people to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered
to the saints. If you contend for the faith
once delivered to the saints, you're contending for the common
salvation that God has done for His people. You cannot separate
the faith from the gospel. The faith, and whenever we're
saying the faith, we're not talking about our trust in God or our
belief in Christ or anything like that. We're talking about
the body of doctrine. The faith that was once delivered
to the saints is the body of doctrine that Christ taught His
disciples and apostles and commissioned them to, in turn, teach all men
whatsoever I've commanded you. And that reciprocity has happened
ever since that first church that Jesus gathered, that New
Testament church that Jesus gathered and began to teach them these
things and laid down His doctrine for them to share. Then those
men taught that doctrine to everyone that they made disciples. And
from there on and from there on and from there on and that
New Testament church and with this New Testament doctrine has
never ceased to come out of existence through all time since then. In every age, in every generation,
there has always been a witness for Christ Jesus with the doctrine
of Christ. Servants to God in the Gospel. Now a lot of people think that,
well, that all went underground. The church went out of existence.
Then the Gospel was lost through all the dark ages. Then all of
a sudden, these wonderful Catholics out of nowhere just up and was
given the Gospel. And now they were going to come
out and champion the cause for the gospel and save God's message
out of the Catholic Church. And now we have the Great Reformation,
and out of the Reformation we have the wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful Protestant movement. Brethren, God's gospel never
did go anywhere. It has always been. The Bible
says that His gospel is everlasting. The Bible says that his gospel,
that his word, that his testimony would be forever. And the church
that Jesus built, the church that Jesus began and instituted,
he said the gates of hell is never going to prevail against
that. Now I'm not talking about, and think about this, and I'm
getting a little bit off the subject, but think about this.
The gates of hell will never prevail about that. A lot of
times people are thinking that, oh, So whenever we're attacked
by Satan and Satan tries to shut us down, it's never going to
happen. That's not what that's saying.
It says the gates of hell. Whenever you go and attack the
gates of hell, that is not going to prevail over you. That means
that the gospel is always going to prevail. There is no bulwark. There is no moat and castle and
fort or whatever of Satan that is going to be able to prevail
against the advancement of the gospel. That's what tells me
that the gospel never did cease to be and went out of existence
and was hidden through all those years. It continued to advance. However, it continued to advance
exactly as God intended for it to advance. Matter of fact, the
gospel advanced at the speed, at the breadth, at the length,
at the depth that God intended it to be spread. The gates of hell will not prevail
against the church. And you look through every age. They have tried to quench it
out. They have tried to destroy it. They have tried to ridicule
it. They've tried to lie against
it and to discredit it, but it has never ceased to be. It is
always here and it always will be. Matter of fact, it will never
go out of existence because whenever we go to be with the Lord and
He comes back, it will still be. It will be forever. And so,
whenever we see the magnitude of Service, because a lot of
times people think, well, I don't want to be a servant. I don't
want to be a servant. You know, I want to be king.
And listen, I've been in a lot of churches where people, they
want to be the king, especially pastors. There's a lot of pastors
that they want to be the king. They want to be the authoritarian.
They want to be the one who is in charge over everything. Matter
of fact, I knew my uncle told me there was this church over
in southern Kansas, and they had a preacher there. that they
had come in and he was the pastor there. And literally, nobody
could make any decision whatsoever in that church to do anything
without his authority to say so. And everything in that whole
entire church, as far as the ownership of the building, whatever
they did, everything had to have his name on it. And the church
voted against something and the preacher said, I overrule what
you say. Now that's not biblical at all. Matter of fact, that
is exactly against what Christ said whenever he told his pastors
not to lord over his heritage. But to be a servant, nobody wants
to be a servant. And Jude here is saying almost
as if this is his crowning joy, is that I am a servant to the
people of God. I'm a servant to Christ, but
in serving Christ, how do I do that? By serving His people.
It reminds me of, if you want to turn with me, you can. It
reminds me of what is said back in Psalms, in Psalms 84, in verse 10, we used to sing
a song based out of this verse. It says, for a day in thy courts
is better than a thousand. Now, what's a court? Everybody
know what a court is? We're not talking about, you
know, going down to the county seat and going down to Newton
County here. You know, where the where the
sheriffs and all that stuff reside. That's not what we're talking
about. We're talking about this is the this is the place of the
king. Where the king sits on the throne.
And then he has his subjects around him and in that court
they serve the king. Whether it's to get his food,
whether it's to get whatever, to take a message here and bring
a message from afar. The court is the one who presides
over all the bidding that the king has to be done in his kingdom. That's what the court is. And
it says right here, for a day, in thy courts is better than
a thousand. And that implication there is
a thousand outside of your courts. It's better that I might serve
one day in your court than a thousand anywhere else. And he says here,
he says, I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to
dwell in the tents of the wicked. That means I'd rather stand outside
and just be the welcoming guy. Hey, welcome in. and be on the
outside of your courts than to actually get to live and dwell
in the tents with the wicked. So you see there was an excitement
about the fact of being considered a servant of the Lord God. And Jude here is saying that
he was a servant of Jesus Christ to them that are sanctified by
God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and called. And
I pray that that would be how the Lord brings our hearts along. That we would be excited about
our service to each other. Whenever you minister to me,
the common salvation, whenever you exhort me in the faith, whenever
you do those things and I do you, And everybody together,
what's coming to my mind is what Paul said in the letter to the
Corinthians. He said where each member is
edifying each other, right? That the gifts that God has given
us is for the edification of the brethren, for the edification
of the church. It's not ever for self-edification,
it's for the edification of the church. There's a lot of preachers
that are out there preaching for their own position. for their
own popularity, for their own rise within the denominational
ranks. But has our heart truly been given by God to be a servant
to the people of God, first and foremost for the glory of God
and then for the exhortation and edification of the brethren? What's our motive there? What's
our motive? Are we doing that for our own
benefit? Are we doing that to, you know,
am I videoing this so that I might get more likes on YouTube or
Facebook? No. My prayer is that the Lord
might feed His sheep, exhort one another, that He might encourage. There may be a brother or sister
out there that's a lot like us in a place where there ain't
very many that believe. And they're lonely. They're not
hearing. There may be a famine of hearing
where they're at. And the Lord encourages them
through these things. See, that's what I pray the Lord
brings our heart to. Now, the fleshly man, he's going
to want to do it for popularity. You know, he's going to want
to do it for everything else. But Jude here, he says, listen,
I am glad to be a servant nothing else, a servant of Jesus Christ. Now, the person that he's a servant
to is to them and them alone. Do we have a call to be good to our friends
and neighbors outside of here? Absolutely. Absolutely. But the
ministry of the gospel are to them, who are the called. To them who are of Christ, that's
where the ministry of the gospel is. And so, who are these them? That kind of sounds weird. Who
are the them? Maybe that sounds better. Who
are the them that I've talked about? Well, we see here, that
are, and you notice that it says that are, Not that we'll be sanctified. How many people here have heard
a lot of preaching on TV and radio and around the internet
and all like that, that sanctification is this ongoing thing that the
Lord does and making you more and more holy and we are being
sanctified on and on and on and on. Here it is. The ones that
we are to serve are those who are sanctified already. Now this word sanctified here,
This word sanctified means to be consecrated, to be set apart, to be called out. Could be another way of saying
it, although it's separate from being called. But it's to be
sectioned out. To be sanctified is to be made
holy, not in the fact that we in our own person become holy,
but that we become consecrated to Him for His purpose. That
we become an instrument for His purpose. If you remember in Romans,
God said that He made two groups of people. He made vessels for
this and vessels for that. Vessels for glory and vessels
for destruction. He made vessels that would be
to the glory of His grace He made vessels for destruction,
for His wrath and His power to be made known. And so He set
these people apart for this purpose, that's being sanctified. We have
been set apart for God's purpose and for God's use, for a specific
instrument of His using, that every person is set apart for
Him in His church, for His purpose, for His using, for the glory
of His mercy and for His grace. And so those who are sanctified,
they have been set apart by God. They have been also before God
purified in the person of Jesus Christ. They stand before Him
holy and without blame, not in themselves and not because of
some progression of holiness, but they stand before God sanctified
or made pure or made holy through the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. His imputed righteousness is
what causes us to be purified before God. That's why God in
love blessed us with all those spiritual blessings that we could
be before Him, blameless, spotless, sanctified. So no matter what
connotation that you put, upon sanctification or sanctified. And primarily throughout the
Scriptures, if you look and you just trace down however many
times that it's used in the Scripture, you'll see the overwhelming use
of the word sanctification or sanctify is means to be set apart
or to be consecrated for God. But it says here that we are
sanctified by God the Father. Now one, as I go back to what
I began speaking about as far as the Godhead is concerned,
one would say, so there we go, we're sanctified or set apart.
That's talking about election. We're talking about election
here. So we are elected by God the Father. And I'd say that's
true. We are elected by the Father.
The Father has elected, in His love, has elected a people for
Himself and has given them. to Christ. I agree with that
wholeheartedly. God has elected a people and
given them to Christ for Him to be the surety and the substitute
for. But is there other places in
Scripture that attributes sanctification to more than just the Father?
Well, if you'll look with me at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
14, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14 we read this, For
by one offering He, and who is He talking about here? Christ. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So here's sanctification. is
attributed to the Son, to Christ. Look if you would at verse 10. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. So it's
through the offering of the body of Christ that we are sanctified. We are sanctified by Christ. So the Bible says the Father
has sanctified us. The Bible says that Christ has
sanctified us. What about the Spirit? Are we
sanctified by the Spirit? Well, look with me, if you would,
at Romans. Romans chapter 15, look at verse
16. Paul writes here, he says, that
I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. So here we see now that
the Holy Ghost is attributed in our sanctification. Remember what we learned last
week in 1 Peter? Look back with me if you would
at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Look if you would at verse 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit. We were elect, called out, We were sanctified
by God the Father through His foreknowledge. According to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, whenever we talk about foreknowledge,
what are we talking about? Premonition? No, we're talking
about love, right? We are elect according to the
love of God. God loved us with an everlasting
love. Therefore, He chose us. He elected
us. He sanctified us. He called us. He consecrated us. All those
words are so tightly knit together, if not completely synonymous.
God did all these things together. And it says God the Father did
that, but He did that through the Spirit. sanctification of
the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ. Now notice, Peter is actually saying the same thing
Jude is. Peter, an apostle or a messenger of Jesus Christ to
whom? The elect. Who was the ministry
that Peter had here to Christ? To the elect. Who did Jude say
the ministry was to? to them who are sanctified by
God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus and called. It's
to the people of God. It's to those who have been separated
by God. That's another word for sanctification
is separated, to be separated. How were we separated? We were
separated in the fact of who seed we would be, right? We were
either going to be the seed of Christ or the seed of Satan. We were either going to be the
seed of Christ and be His generation or we would be the generation
of vipers. We were going to be either the
generation or the people of God or the people of Satan. God was either going to be our
Father or Satan was going to be our Father. Now, just to make
clear, we don't believe in Satan procreating with Mary. and creating
a whole race of children, right? That was some
erroneous teaching that went on in the 1800s that we don't
necessarily agree with, we shouldn't agree with. If you do, you need
to re-look at some things. That's something that was taught
and often times, whenever we talk about two seeds, that's
often what we are blamed as being guilty of believing. there's
two seeds. The Bible's clear about that.
But we don't believe that Satan ever procreated with anybody. But we see that the sanctification
here is of the Spirit. So we can't disconnect the Father
and the Spirit and the Son in such grandiose separation whenever
we see the Bible completely preaches the unity of this Godhead, this
record, the ones who bear witness, the ones who are the witnesses
in heaven, they all bear witness and they bear witness in one
which is Christ Jesus. They are bearing witness to everything
about the salvation of God Whether it's in, here we see sanctification,
preservation, and calling, but we see that in other places,
and I hope we'll get there in a minute, in other things. Look with me if you would at
2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13. It says, "...but we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation..."
There it is again. There's the separation. There's
the choosing. "...hath chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth."
There again, you cannot separate these works from each other,
for one, because they're all tied together. And you can't separate the works
of the Godhead because they're all tied together. And not tied
together as each individual person does their individual jobs. You
can't separate them because they are so tied together because
the Godhead is attributed in all three witnesses to be a part
of all parts of redemption. One more on the Spirit and we'll
move along. How about 1 Corinthians chapter
6? 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 11. It says, And such were some of
you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
Well, here we even see that the Spirit is the one who washed
us and sanctified us and justified us. Now, you don't hear too many
people preaching about being sanctified by the Spirit, much
less being justified by the Spirit. But here it says that we were
justified by the Spirit of God. The Bible says that we are justified
by God. Most of the time, whenever the
Scriptures say, by God, it's referring to Jehovah in the proper
sense, God the Father. But then we're also told that
we're justified by Christ, through His blood, through His righteousness. See the unity of the Godhead
in our salvation? Unity not in the fact that everybody
did their duty, but unity in the fact that all was involved
in all aspects of our salvation. Sanctified by God the Father. But don't just stop there. Sanctified
by Christ Jesus. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit. But look what it says there.
And preserved in Christ Jesus. Well there, that's definitely
Jesus' job is to preserve us because it says there that we're
preserved in Christ Jesus. Well, brethren, I can definitely
tell you the overarching doctrine of the scripture is the fact
that we have been elected and we've been elected in Christ
Jesus. We have been chosen in Christ
Jesus. We have been united to Christ
Jesus. Our life is hidden in Christ
Jesus, that we are in Him. And that being in Him, we definitely
can never be put out of Him. That preservation is surely in
Christ Jesus. What does Romans 1 and 7 say? To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be His saints, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that's the wrong one. That wasn't the one I intended.
I don't know where I was wanting
to go. That's not the one I was wanting to read. Sorry guys, my mind just kind
of went away on that one. But anyway, we see that we are
preserved in Christ Jesus. But we also learn that in preserving,
that it is the Spirit that works in us to convict us of sin. It is the Spirit that is to keep
us preserved and to persevere by the Spirit of God. And that
the Father has preserved us through the work of Christ Jesus. So
all of the Godhead is found in this. Now, lastly, we see and
called, and now most would say and assume because we see sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called, the
assumption or the insinuation here would be that
we are called by the Spirit. And I would agree that definitely
can be added there and I don't think it would do any damage
to what is being said here because the Bible clearly says in other
places that the Spirit is the one who sheds light of the glory
of the face of Jesus Christ in our heart. Okay? The Spirit is
the one who bears record with our spirit that we are His. The
Spirit is the one who continues to give us hope. The Spirit is
the one who continues to strengthen us in the faith. The Spirit is
the one who is at work in us to will and to do. So it is the
Spirit of God that is in us that is persevering, causing us to
persevere and preserving us. But the Bible says that we are
preserved in Christ Jesus. And we are called. Well, what
about the calling? It just says the called. Well,
we know that we are called by God. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 8, it says, Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God, who have saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So here we see and we
know that the purpose or the predestination, the decree, the
declaration of God is usually always attributed to God the
Father. So whatever it says here, that we are saved and called
with the holy calling, but according to His own purpose, it's speaking
of the power of God, of God. It's speaking of God, God the
Father. But yet we are also called. The
Bible says, Jesus said, you know, you did not choose me, but I
chose you. It says many are called, but few
are chosen. That was Jesus' doing. He was the one doing that. So
we see, brethren, and I hope this hasn't been as convoluted
as it seems to have been in my own mind here, but we see how
even the very intricacies of salvation is attributed to all
of the Godhead. In Romans chapter 8, I believe
it is, It says in Romans 8, verse 24,
it says, For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is
not hope. For what a man sees, why does
he get hope for? But if we hope for what we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."
And here it is, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purposes. So there's a reference there
to the Father as far as it pertains to the purpose of God. for whom
He did foreknow." There's the love of God. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son. So God is involved,
the Father is involved in the conforming, but it's also the
Spirit who conforms us. The Spirit is the One who is
working in us. The Spirit is the One who is
the One preserving us. The Spirit is the One, but so
is Jesus, is the One who works in you. to will and to do of
His good pleasure." It says, "...that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified." So we see here that calling is attributed to
God the Father, but we also see that Jesus is the one who also
called. The Spirit is also the one Who
calls us? He calls us by His Spirit. I
mean, God the Father hasn't spoken audibly out of heaven. Christ
Jesus hasn't appeared to me in the flesh. But who is the One
who called me? Well, it was the Holy Spirit.
Who is the One who leads us into truth? Or calls us into truth? The Holy Spirit. Who is the One
who has called us unto salvation? Holy Spirit. And when I mean
called us unto salvation, meaning called us into the experience
of salvation. That's the Holy Spirit. He's
the one who quickens us, makes us alive. And in so doing that,
He calls us then by the Gospel into the experiential knowledge
of our salvation. He calls us. That inward call
that we talk about, you know, there's the outer call and there's
the inward call. That inward call is the call
of the Holy Spirit. But who is the one that sends
the Spirit to call us? It is Jesus Christ. Therefore,
it's His Spirit that calls us. Therefore, it's Jesus that calls
us. But that Spirit is the Spirit of God. You see how in refinement
it is? You see now, and I hope, I haven't
brought confusion to the issue, but I hope that you see now why
I have trepidation about making such a great distinction within
the Godhead is because names of all the Godhead are attributed
to Jesus Christ. All the works of redemption are
attributed to every part of the Godhead. All the witnesses of
the Godhead and them are all found in Jesus Christ. All of
it is wrapped up in The man, Jesus Christ, and I believe that's
exactly why. That God said, if you want to
turn with me over to Colossians. In verse 17, first of all, we
see, "...and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist." In Christ Jesus, all things consist. It doesn't say in the Father.
It doesn't say in the Word. It doesn't say in the Holy Spirit
all things consist. However, we truly know that the
Father is the Creator We know that the Father is also the sustainer. That the Father is the one who
has purposed all things. By His providence, all things
are being worked according to His will. But yet, Christ is
the one who is bringing about the providence, and He does it
through His Spirit. I can't disconnect the Godhead
from all the works of God. I can't separate them out so
far apart. But it says, all things consist
by Him. Verse 19 says, for it pleased
the Father that in Him, Christ Jesus, should all fullness dwell. It didn't say in the Father should
all fullness dwell or in the Word all fullness dwell or in
the Spirit, but in Christ Jesus, God who is manifested in the
flesh. Now, I'm not trying to say that
Jesus is someone different than God. He is God. So don't claim
me to be an Arian or claim me to be some other heretic holding
some position that Jesus was, there was two different persons,
that there's God and there's Jesus who was a lesser God or
anything like that. No, Jesus is fully God. I'm just
saying that all three witnesses, all three record bearers, all
three that are in heaven are in Christ Jesus. He has been
embodied in the person of Christ Jesus. And it didn't start in
Bethlehem. It started before the foundation
of the world. Before the mountains were laid. It was brought forth
and God took on flesh. God took on manhood before the
foundation of the world and all the fullness of the Godhead and
dwelt Him bodily. Whether it's His glorified body
or whether He came in flesh and blood in the likeness of sinful
flesh, that was God in body, all of God, every bit of God,
not a third of God, but all of God, the Father, the Word, the
Holy Spirit, or Christ Jesus manifested, or as God manifested
in Christ Jesus. He says also in Colossians, he
says, verse 8, chapter 2, verse 8, He says, beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. And there's
a lot of that out there, even amongst quote unquote Calvinist
sovereign grace people. There's a lot of tradition. There's
a lot of philosophy, vain deceit. After the tradition of man, after
the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. Remember, Christ
is the sum of all things. The Bible says that the whole
Volume is written of Him. Everything is about Him. Our
center point is Him. Our exaltation is in Him. Our
glory is to Him. Everything is centered in Christ. Everything is wrapped up in Christ.
It will all be consummated in Him. And if I'm not mistaken,
when all things are done and consummated, there will only
be one on the throne. And the only one that we see
throughout all of Scripture ever seated on that throne is Christ. The image of the Invisible God. Well, who's the Invisible God? The Father, the Word, the Holy
Spirit. That's the Invisible God. Those
three are one. How are they one? They are one
in Christ Jesus. They are one visibly in the man
Christ Jesus. And that man has secured all
of our salvation. From beginning to end. Every
aspect all goes in, by, and through as we talked about the other
day. In Romans chapter 11. For all things are by Him, and
through Him, and to Him be glory forever. Amen. Jesus is seated
as the one to be exalted. He is seated as the one to be
given glory. He is seated as the one to be
given all power and dominion and rule and judgment and salvation
is in His hands. And you can't say salvation is
in Jesus' hand without saying the Father, the Word, the Holy
Spirit, because all those are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, if
Christ Jesus has brought salvation to His people, it is because
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are in Him because
they are all the ones who are the witnesses and the testimony
of the work of God in redeeming His people. Brethren, there is
far more speak of God's unity than there is in His separation
so distinctly and individually. To say that Christ was something
less, to say that Christ was given. Now, surely the Bible
says that whenever He came, He came and He took on the role
of a servant. He took on the role of a servant.
But He never did lay aside His deity. He never did. cease being
all the fullness of God. He never did do that, but he
did lay down and become a servant. He never did strike a bargain
with God the Father. He never struck a bargain with
God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Word. They were all God. They are all
God. They are one God. They're not
three gods. They're not two people, three
people making interchangeable striking of... No, one God made
covenant, and the covenant wasn't with man, and it wasn't with
somebody else within the Godhead. The covenant was with Himself. God covenanted with Himself. You know that a covenant, most
of the time we think of that, we think a covenant is whenever
there is a a bargain or there is an agreement between two parties. If you do this, I will do that. There was no if you do, I will
do with God. Because if Jesus would have said,
OK, well, if you do that, then I will do this, that would make
him subservient to the first person. The first person will be the
one governing all the things of the second person, and then
the third person will be the one being governed by the first
and second person. No, when the covenant was made,
and a covenant can also be made unilaterally. It's God saying,
this is what I will do. And I think it will bear witness
if you truly search the Scriptures, brethren, You'll see that this
will be true, and I pray that you do that. Don't take my word
for it. That God, in the everlasting covenant, in that new covenant,
that was a unilateral covenant. It's God saying, I will do this.
He didn't say, I will do this, and the Son will do that, and
the Holy Spirit will do that. No, He said, I will do this.
I will take out of their heart the heart of stone and will put
in their heart a heart of flesh. I will cause them to put in My
Spirit in them and cause them to walk in My statues. I will
do this. The covenant is God promising
what He will do. It's a statement of fact. It
is God's covenant with them. I will do this. It's not God saying, there's
this iffy thing going on here between me and the second person
and the third person. And I've done all this, now the
second person has to carry up with his part of the bargain,
and then the third person has to finish his part of the bargain.
No, it was all of God together in Christ Jesus, fulfilling the
covenant that that one God made with His people. Sorry, son, there's a way to
go. Glad you were able to join us. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power." Well, someone would
say, well, isn't the Father a principality and power? Isn't the Spirit a
principality and power? Is the Word a principality and
power? Well, here it says Jesus Christ is the head over all principalities
and power. So if you put Christ ahead of
all principalities and powers, then that would have to put the
Father and the Spirit, if they are separate and distinct individuals,
as I hear the Nicenas say, then Jesus is over them. Then there
are some of the Nicenes that will say, well, wait a minute.
After it's all said and done, Jesus is going to give up the
kingdom unto God. And then in God, everything will, you know,
all things will be in Him and all things will be for Him and
all like that. So now God the Father takes the preeminence
again and the Son is lower than the Father and the Spirit is
lower than the Father. Now there's subservience. Well, wait a minute.
This tells me Jesus's overall principality and power. See what
happens when you start dividing the Godhead up so distinctly?
Somebody has to be over somebody else. Somebody has to be dependent
on somebody else for the completion of something that was purposed
by somebody else. But whenever you look at the
Scriptures and the Godhead, as the Bible clearly shows, that
there is one God revealed in three. Not necessarily in three
distinct individual separate persons, One person, two persons,
three persons, separate, distinct individuals. I even read something the other
day, this week somewhere, I was reading through and a guy was
making a plea for Nicenism and he said, each with, oh it was
a statement of faith, I was looking at somebody we know who goes
to another church, looking at their statement of faith, and
it says, individual distinct persons with three distinct wills. See, just whenever you say, well,
God the Father has a will, God the Son has the will, God the
Holy Spirit has the will, each individual has their own will.
No, no, no, no, no. The biblical view of that is
three individual distinct persons, but one nature, one essence,
one will, There is one God, and that one
God is revealed in three. But all three witnesses, all
three record bearers that are in heaven are in Christ Jesus,
who is the fullness, who is the image, who is the direct representation
of those things. Jesus Christ is said to be the
everlasting Father. Jesus Christ is said to be the
Word. Jesus Christ is said to be the
Comforter. Brethren, I don't know how much
clearer the Bible has to be that the unity of God and the work
of our salvation is so knitted together in all of its aspects,
in all of its witnesses and testimonies. that we surely, surely can find
that it is such a mystery that we can never explore to the bottom
of it. It truly is such a thing that
it is not something that we're going to find out. But it is
truly something that we can stand in awe of, that we can rejoice
in, that we can ask for more light upon if God would be so
gracious to give us that. More than anything that we speak
not further than God has revealed. And definitely not speak less
than what God has revealed. Anyway, that's my thoughts this
morning. Anybody have any questions or
comments or corrections, reviews? Anything to add to that? Or anything
else? Great is the mystery of Godliness. God was what? Manifested in the
flesh. Great is the mystery. There's
a lot of people out there that think that they know the mystery,
and they want to detail it out in some systematic theology.
But I'll tell you, I don't know how it all works, and I tell
you what, I surely get scrambled eggs for burnings whenever I
try to. So, anyway, and let me say, I
surely don't want to lie about God. I don't want to be a heretic,
and I don't want to present something even more to make me more of
an outcast than I already am. That's not my intent. Again,
it comes from a desire and a prayer to be biblical, to be faithful
to God's Word, and to preach what light has been given to
me. I can't preach, I can't preach light that has not been given
to me. And I can't know things that I don't know. I only can
know what I do know. And so I pray that what I say
is not in error and not bring shame upon our Lord. So with
that, if anybody does have anything, I would be glad to hear your
descriptions. Father, we do thank You today
for Your mercy and Your grace. We thank You for all that You
are. We thank You for all that You have done on behalf of Your
people. And truly, Lord, what a mysterious
but wonderful, miraculous, marvelous, divine thing that has been done
in the saving of Your people. Natural man could never have
come up with the salvation that You have put forth for Your people.
that You have accomplished for Your people. Father, we're thankful
that You have sent Your Spirit into our hearts, whereby we cry
out with Father, whereby we look to Christ Jesus. And by the Spirit,
we are led and moved. And in Him, we have our being.
Lord, we just thank You so much for all that You do, for all
that You have done. And Lord, we look forward to
the day of what You will do Lord, we just thank You for this time
together once again as the church together here and to speak on
these things. I thank You for these brethren
as always, Lord, that You have kept them and that You have preserved
them, that You have called them. And Lord, that we have opportunity
to fellowship one with another. We thank You for the Word of
God that You have given to us to study and to be taught of
by the Holy Spirit. to be brought into the truth
of the things that pertain to Christ. All three witnesses in
heaven and on earth bear witness of Christ Jesus, and we desire
for you to enable us to exalt Him, to glorify Him. Oh, Father,
help us. We are a needy people. We truly
would mess up every doctrine, every line of every verse in
every scripture of every book in our Bible if it were not for
the inward work the teaching that Christ has given to his
church and for you who have given us all things for the one God
revealed in three for his people so father again your relation
to us is a magnanimous thing and a mysterious thing and we
just pray lord that we have glorified you in the preaching of Jesus
name we pray