Blessed service so far. Strong service of reading of scripture and prayer in the office and out here. That special you just gave us, if God will enable me to preach to you, we will have an hour well spent. Very little, very little is more aggravating and annoying to me than to have people constantly asking meaningless insignificant questions, especially questions that simply can't be answered.

It is not the mark of spirituality, but of carnality. It is not a mark of intelligence, but of spiritual ignorance to ever be raising silly questions that have no bearing whatsoever on the glory of God and the souls of men. And yet people seem to think that somehow it is super spiritual and super pious and super intelligent to sit around and debate about things that are totally meaningless.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy and Titus repeatedly, repeatedly, avoid vain questions. Just avoid them. Don't have anything to do with them. And there's not much that will cause me to kind of Now cut off the conversation more quickly than just vain, silly, meaningless questions.

We're constantly warned to avoid those things and to mark those people who cause strife about words and would stir up strife and division in God's church. Bible study in the minds of most people, I fear, Bible study in the minds of most people is nothing but a game of trivial pursuit in the name of God, and that's not what Bible study is. Bible study is not examining and trying to find out trivial, meaningless things and prove who knows the most trivia about the Scriptures. Now, as much as I detest foolish questions, there is nothing that I more delight in than sitting with someone, sitting and talking with folks Trying to answer questions, serious questions, from serious people concerning the things of God, the glory of God, the truth of God, and those things that affect their souls. Nothing that I'm more delighted in than answering those questions, either personally or from the pulpit or in letter. And that's what I've been doing today.

I, as you know, write a lot of letters every week. But today I got a letter from a man, I presume he's a young man, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I've never met him. I don't think I've ever met him. But he asked three questions. Three very, very good questions.

Let me give them to you and then I'm going to try to answer them for you. this evening from the scriptures, and we will come back another time to Matthew 16. But I just felt that these were such good questions, and I wrote him a letter and gave him a brief answer, but when I get done preaching this, I'll send him the sermon, too. Maybe that'll be more help, and I hope they'll help you. The first question he asked me was this.

If Jesus didn't die for the all humans, what's the best way to approach someone with the gospel? That's a good question. Is there any way we can make an analogy of the Trinity without being sacrilegious? I thought that was good. Without being sacrilegious. He said, if so, what's the best analogy? And then his third question is a question that I'm certain comes from those who would teach like we used to here in Bible college, you know, formulas for everything.

He said, I pray, I pray to the Father through Jesus Christ. Is there something wrong with praying to the Holy Spirit rather than in the Spirit? Or praying to Jesus rather than in the name of Jesus? Now I think those are good, good questions. Let me, let me approach them one at a time and I pray that God the Holy Spirit will give you ears to hear and an interest in hearing what's said.

First, he raises this question. If Jesus didn't die for all humans, what is the best way to approach someone with the gospel? Now, if there's anything on this earth that I would want to encourage you to do in this assembly, because if there's one thing about which I fear we lack, it is the business of bearing faithful witness to others concerning the gospel. It is the business of being faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, seeking to bring the message of grace and redemption and life to centers in this world.

And I understand something of the reason for that. It gets to be a little bit annoying, a little bit tiresome, a little bit frustrating when Continually witness to folks, and you seek opportunities to witness to them, and so little response. Just so little response. I understand that, because I preach to folks that way. I do understand what that is. There's a tendency to give up and say, well, what's the use? But let us ever faithfully seek opportunities to communicate to sinners the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, what's the best way?

Let's begin back in John chapter 10. with this fellow's question. If Jesus didn't die for all men, I'm hoping that he's using that word if just in a sense of argument. I hope he has learned by now that the Lord Jesus Christ certainly did not die for all men, and I presume that he has. In John 10, if you'll just compare verses 11 and 26, it is obvious to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear that the Lord Jesus did not die for everyone. He says in John 10 verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Those are the folks for whom he died. And then down in verse 24, the Jews who were listening to this, they came up, they were gathered around him and said to him, how long do you make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly, as if he hadn't already. Jesus answered them I told you and you believe not the works that my father that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me but you believe not because you are not of my sheep as I said unto you now obviously there's some folks in this world called his sheep and some folks who are not his sheep His sheep are those people chosen of God, whom God purposed to save from eternity, for whom he laid down his life. And these who are not his sheep are those who themselves refuse to obey his voice, refuse to believe the gospel.

And the Lord Jesus did not die for them. He did not lay down his life for those for whom he refused to pray. He did not lay down his life for those who were already in hell when he died. He did not lay down his life for those to whom he has refused to send his word. And the scriptures speak plainly.

The Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 16 tells us of two different occasions when he would have gone over and preached the gospel, but the Holy Spirit forbade them and would not let them carry the gospel into those regions. There are some people to whom God will not send the word of grace and salvation. And our Lord Jesus did not die for those who shall never be saved by his grace. Now we stress that for these reasons.

To suggest that Christ died for and tried to redeem those who ultimately perish in hell is horribly damning heresy. It is a denial of God's immutability. For the doctrine of universal redemption suggests that God loves all men now, but the time will come when God will cease to love some men and will pour out upon them his wrath and the vengeance and hatred of his justice as he punishes them in hell. And such a denial of God's immutability cannot be tolerated. It is also a perversion of God's wisdom. For it is a declaration that the Lord God has planned a work of salvation and redemption which he will never carry through on, which will never be fulfilled by him. It is also a denial of Christ's deity.

For to say that Christ Jesus tried to redeem those whom he has failed to redeem is to say that Jesus Christ is a failure and thus to deny that he is God. And this doctrine of universal redemption is a matter of utter heresy. Because it is a declaration that salvation, after all, is not the result of what Christ has done for men, but rather is the result of what men do for Christ. It is not, according to the universal idea of redemption, it is not Christ's death that brings men to heaven, but it is man's faith in Christ's death that brings them to heaven.

Now we need to understand this also. Preaching the gospel is not button-holing books. It is not trying to get people to get saved. That's not the object of preaching, and that's not what preaching the gospel is. Preaching the gospel is not presenting sinners with the possibility of redemption, grace, and salvation, but rather it is a declaration of redemption accomplished by the grace of God which has secured the salvation of sinners.

Do you see the difference? Preaching the gospel is not just saying redemption, grace, and salvation may be accomplished, but rather it is a declaration that redemption has been accomplished, and as a result of redemption, grace, life, and everlasting salvation are made certain by what Jesus Christ the Lord has done.

To preach the gospel is to declare, explain, and show sinners how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And the word that is most important in that statement is that little three-letter word, how. H-O-W. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. It is not preaching the gospel simply to declare that Jesus died. It is not preaching the gospel simply to declare the historic facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I know of no form of what men call Christian religion. I know of no form of Christian religion that denies the death of Christ on the cross. I don't know of any form of religion that denies that. None whatsoever. Even the pagans recognize that. It's written in their history books. So simply to preach that Jesus died is not preaching the gospel. To preach the gospel is to declare H-O-W-HOW that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. In presenting people with the gospel, whether we're preaching publicly, as I am to you tonight, or whether you are witnessing, what we want to do is these five things.

We want to set forth the righteousness of God. That's what the gospel is. According to Romans chapter 3, turn over there if you will, Romans chapter 3. Now I'm not just drawing these things out of my head, I'm telling you what the scripture says. Preaching the gospel is a setting forth of God's righteousness. The whole religious world foolishly imagines that preaching the gospel is setting forth God's love. That's not what the scripture says. Now the love of God certainly is revealed in the gospel, and the love of God is that which calls the or moved him to provide us with salvation and grace. But the preaching of the gospel is given to set forth God's righteousness. Look here in Romans chapter 3 and verse 24.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, get it now, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, God's righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. So preaching the gospel is to show sinners how that God, through Christ the Substitute, can both be just and the justifier of their ungodliness.

And the way we do that is to show forth God's righteousness. And thirdly, to show the satisfaction of justice by a divinely appointed substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he died at Calvary, did a specific thing. He paid the ransom price for his people, satisfying divine justice, so that now God Almighty has not compromised his justice, but fully has maintained his justice when he forgives your sin and blots out your iniquities.

To preach the gospel, the object of it, is to bring glory to God by showing forth the divine attributes, demonstrating how that God Almighty is able through mercy and through truth, through grace and through justice, to save sinners, so that God maintains His glorious character and maintains and shows forth all the glory of His being through that one whom He has sacrificed for sinners. In preaching the gospel, we've tried by the grace of God to persuade sinners to come to Christ. That's our object. We want to glorify God and we want to persuade folks.

Many women who are on their road to eternity, many women whose souls must spend eternity either in the bliss of heaven or in the torments of the damned, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade you to reconcile to God. Come now to Jesus Christ. Believe on Him. Trust Him. Surrender your soul to Him and live forever. I've had the blessed privilege of speaking to some, to some of you, and watching God, by his grace, through the gospel, turn your heart from darkness to light. The dear lady who died last week, sometimes you wonder, what's the use? What's the use? I was saying, having dinner with the shark last time, I would stuff all of them.

Go down there and preach. Normally, there's, oh, somewhere between 10, 12 people there. And frequently, folks laugh and say, why you go down there, go all that way, drive all that ways, fly all that ways to preach to 10, 12 people? Because God gave the opportunity. And the 10 or 12 Eternity Bound Saints there, I believe I will preach to them. One of them.

Darlene started a few years back bringing Marcelle Cole to hear the gospel. Marcelle come sit down and listen. Raised in an Arminian Methodist church all her life, she'd come sit down and listen. And shortly before she found out she had cancer, before she knew she was sick, God revealed the gospel to her. And she rejoiced in the message of God's presence. Last time I was down there, She's just a bag of bone waiting to die. But she's, oh, how she rejoiced in the message of free grace. Preaching the gospel is declaring to such sinners as that dear lady Edith, who is now with Christ in glory, that Jesus Christ has put away sin, that he has accomplished redemption by the sacrifice of himself for every sinner in the world. Will you trust him? Will you trust him? I do. Trusting him, I know that my faith is the fruit of his death and he has put away my sin. Now secondly, my friend, that's this question.

Is there any way we can make an analogy of the Trinity without being sacrilegious? If so, what is that analogy? What is the best analogy? Now I like his attitude. in this day when most people have no reverence for God, and do not hesitate to take God's name in vain and compare him with anything under heaven, it's refreshing to find someone who is fearful of being sacrilegious by comparing God to something less than is worthy of being compared to him.

But having said that, understand that our great and glorious Lord God in his infinite goodness does condescend to accommodate our weakness so we can get some idea of who he is. The Lord comes down and bows himself to our puny brains so that we can get some idea of who he is. And I say that with all seriousness. Bob, we've just got some idea of who and what God is. Just some idea.

Now, he condescends to accommodate our puny brains by frequently comparing himself to earthly things. We're told in the scriptures that he loves and cares for us like a father. His strength is compared to the arm of a mighty man. His voice is compared to thunder.

So, it is perfectly lawful for you and I to use whatever analogy we made to show forth the character and work of God as well. So long as the analogy is made with reverence and brings honor to him. And yet at the same time, any analogy we make, I try to preach on the Trinity now and then, I'm going to talk to you about it here in a little bit, but I feel so lost, so utterly incapable of talking to you about the divine Trinity. Any analogy we make of the triune Godhead falls far, far, far short of what ought to be given concerning it. And yet, there is a need to try to illustrate truth so that we can somehow get a handle on it and understand something of what Scriptures teach.

I'm kind of reminded of something that happened with Augustine, a great theologian of the 4th century who lived in Africa He was one day walking along the beach and saw a little boy who was just playing in the sand like little boys do. He stopped and asked the boy, he said, son, what are you doing? And the little boy said, I'm digging a trench. And Augustine chatted with him a little bit, and he said, well, why are you doing that? He said, I'm going to put the ocean in my trench. And later on, as Augustine walked away smiling, he said, I thought of this. How like that boy we are.

Sometimes we propose to encompass the infinity of God within the limits of our puny brains. And it can't be done. It can't be done. God will not fit in our box. He just won't do it. You cannot grasp and comprehend all that God is in these puny brains.

All we can do is get some idea of who he is that is consistent with the revelation of Scripture. Now, though the Trinity, or the tri-unity of the Godhead, is an unfathomable mystery, it is nevertheless a fact of divine revelation. Let's look at some Scripture. It is a fact of divine revelation hinted at and revealed from the very beginning. In Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 1.

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. There's God the Father. God created the heaven and the earth. God made all things through the sun. That's what John said. But God the Father created all things, heaven and earth. And the earth was, or the earth became, without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Here's the second person of the trinity, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. Look in verse 26, and God said, the one God said, let us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, make man in our image and after our likeness. And who's the image of God? There's only one person in all the scriptures described as being the image of God. James Lee, the image of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So right here in the first chapter of Holy Scripture, we have a revelation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew chapter 3, when John the Baptist baptized the Lord Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven concerning the Son who was standing in the water. and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, so that all three persons of the Godhead were made manifest. When our Lord Jesus sent his church out to preach the gospel, and to baptize those who believe, he said for us to baptize men in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for all three persons in the Divine Trinity are themselves God Almighty.

The scripture gives us this apostolic form of benediction in 2nd Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 if you want to look at it. And verse 14. The apostle is writing, it says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.

And he speaks of all three persons in the Godhead as being entirely equal, and yet, though they are one, yet three distinct persons. And of course the passage in 1 John 5, 7 is the clearest of all statements concerning the Trinity. And there are three that by record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.

Now here is an amazing fact. I never realized this, never observed it until today. As I was preparing this message and trying to answer the questions this young man gave, I found out this. Throughout the Bible, every time, all three persons of the Godhead are mentioned together. Every time. No exceptions. There is a connection in the passage to redemption, grace, and salvation. There are no exceptions.

Now, frequently in the scriptures, God the Father is spoken of, and God the Son is spoken of, and God the Holy Spirit is spoken of in separate connections. But every time all three persons in the Godhead are spoken of, redemption, grace, and salvation is in the context. When the persons of the Godhead are spoken of alone, or individually, judgment's in the context.

Let me give you some examples. In Exodus chapter 20, when God spoke and gave his law on Sinai, God the Father thundered in judgment. Remember? God the Son falls upon men like a millstone in his wrath and grinds them to powder, according to Matthew 21. And God the Holy Spirit, when he is blasphemed, is that one who is blasphemed to such a measure that the blasphemer cannot be pardoned, according to Matthew 12, 31, and 32. But every time all three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are spoken of together, the connection is redemption, grace, and salvation.

I haven't found any exception. Let me read you a few passages. Turn to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 in verse 14. We read the first chapter of Genesis. I won't take the time to demonstrate it now, but I have shown you in the past how the first chapter of Genesis, while it is a declaration of creation, is a blessed picture of the new creation, the creation of grace by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Lord God is speaking about deliverance, and he says, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, the Holy One of Israel, the Spirit of God. Look in chapter 63 of Isaiah. Isaiah 63, just beyond where Rex led to us in the early part of the service.

I will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie, so he was their Savior.

Here's Jehovah, the Lord God. with all his love and kindness, and now here he is, Jehovah our Savior. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. Who's that? Why, that's Jesus Christ the Lord, the angel, the messenger of the covenant. Lindsay taught us about it Sunday morning.

In his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bared them and tarnished them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Godhead. You have it again in Ephesians 1 and in Revelation chapter 1. All three persons in the Godhead mentioned in connection with our redemption. And this is what the Scriptures declare.

God the Father claimed our everlasting salvation. From all eternity, he purposed to save us. He chose us and predestinated all things necessary for our salvation. God the Son purchased our salvation. By his blood he entered into heaven's holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us on the merit of his sacrifice. And God the Holy Spirit has performed salvation in us and will perform salvation in all believers at God's appointed time in all of God's love. He performs it in us He gives us life, he gives us faith, and he preserves in us the grace of God, and preserves us in grace by his power as well.

Now, when I try to find an analogy to the Trinity, something to which I can compare the Trinity, I'm simply at my wit's end. Nothing can really illustrate three persons in one Godhead. But here are three of the best analogies I've been able to find. The sun. You look out at the noonday sun, don't look directly at it, you can't stand to see it. And I'm telling you, you can't stand, you can't stand before the Lord God. He's holy, no man can approach him to him. But here is God in his glory, compared to the sun.

The sun is one substance, but three distinct qualities to that one substance. The substance of the sun is the gaseous fiery ball, that genre, that God planted in space in the beginning of time. From the sun come the rays of light, and with those rays of light, the heat and warmth and nourishment we gather from the sun.

And yet, just one son. Now, that's a weak, weak illustration. But it is an illustration. For we recognize that in the Divine Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not different qualities, but different persons. And each of the three persons possesses and is himself, God Almighty, in all the glory of his being. This morning for breakfast, I had two eggs. And as I was looking at those eggs, this thought ran through my mind before I got the letter, that's a pretty good illustration of the Trinity. Pretty good illustration of the Trinity. One substance, one egg, just one egg. It's got a shell, and it's got the meat of that white around the egg, and it's got the yolk in the middle. And that's a pretty good picture, though I grant, a faulty picture of the Trinity. Perhaps the best illustration is this. nature of man.

Sometimes in the scriptures, man is spoken of as a dichotomy, that is, a being with two parts, body and soul. But we often find man referred to, at least regenerate man, is referred to as a trichotomy, a being with three parts, a material body, a rational soul, a mind, what we call the psychic, and a spiritual nature.

We have been made partakers of the divine nature. And we cannot show any way in which the soul is connected to the body and the spirit, or in which the spirit is connected to the body and the soul, or in which the body is connected to the soul and spirit. And yet the three cannot be separated, and man still exists. Man must exist in a body, and the Lord God has prepared according to 2 Corinthians 5 even a body that shall be our house in that intermediate state between death and the resurrection. So that we exist coexist from eternity.

The father cannot be the father without the son, nor the son without the father, and the spirit of the father and son could not exist without the father and the son, and yet the three. are one blessed God here. Now, I say that, and your eyes get kind of glazed over, mine too. How are we going to fathom that? We can't. That's my point. But this is what the scripture says. There are three. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The very record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one God. One God. Now then, I plan to ask this question as well. He said, I pray to the Father through Jesus Christ. Is there something wrong with praying to the Holy Spirit rather than in the Spirit? Or praying to Jesus rather than in the name of Jesus?

Now, I would prefer that he hadn't asked the question with the word rather in there. because rather implies that you can't do both. And I think that he probably did not intend to imply that. It is a dreadful, dreadful mistake to make prayer a ritualistic, mechanical form. That's a horrible mistake.

Whenever the scriptures speak to us of praying to the Father through the Son and by the Holy We are simply being given instruction in the office works of the Holy Trinity and the persons of the Godhead as they operate officially on our behalf. The Word of God does not give a formula for prayer.

I recall when I was in school, they kept insisting you pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. To the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. You don't address your prayers to the Son, you don't address your prayers to the Spirit, you pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. And even when I was a young fellow, 18 years old, I thought, that sounds strange.

Now we do pray to God the Father as the source of all blessings and grace, the giver of every good and perfect gift. He is that. And we do pray in the name of Jesus Christ, that is, through God the Son. To pray through God the Son is simply to pray by faith in Him, trusting Jesus Christ as our only mediator by whom we have acceptance with the Father. And we pray in the Spirit. That is, if we pray, we pray for the power and grace and direction of God the Holy Spirit.

And yet, It is certainly proper to address yourself to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in prayer, just as it is to God the Father. After all, the Son and the Spirit are also God. John Gill put it this way, God in his three persons is the proper object of prayer. Father, Son, and Spirit, who are one true God, and it is lawful to address either of them in prayer. though not one to the exclusion of the others.

You say, well, can you give us some examples? Let me give them to you. You can read them at your leisure. Sometimes, according to 1 Peter 1, 17, Ephesians 1, 16 and 17, and Ephesians 3, 14, 15 and 16, sometimes it's perfectly proper to pray to God the Father. Perfectly proper. The Holy Spirit gives us examples of men doing so. Sometimes it is certainly proper to address God the Son in prayer.

When Stephen was being stoned, do you reckon he was behaving properly? I think maybe he was. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. I guess that'd be all right. He's God, isn't he? And God is a proper object of worship and prayer. When John concludes the book of Revelation and the book of the Word of God, He says, even so come, Lord Jesus. I suspect he knew what he was doing. It's perfectly all right to address the Sovereign, too.

And sometimes, God the Holy Spirit is addressed in prayer, as the Apostle Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 3.5. She did, in her song, as she was singing in preparation for the message, address God the Holy Spirit. the wind of heaven. That's perfectly alright.

He's God too. The Holy Spirit is not an emanation of God. He is not an influence of God. He's not a power of God. He is God! And as God is to be worshipped and called upon in prayer. The fact is our Heavenly Father doesn't care what form of prayer we use. He doesn't care. He only cares that we pray.

You understand that? My daughter calls me and I'm getting to be one of those old fellas in the old club whose house is empty now. The nest is empty. She calls. Shoot, I don't care when she calls. She can call in the middle of the night waking me up. It'd be all right. I don't pay one person who never aggravates me when they call her. She just never bothers me when she calls. Sometimes she calls with a A little bit of a laughter in her voice, and sometimes she calls with some seriousness. Sometimes she calls just to chat. But any way she calls, any way she addresses me, perfectly all right, just keep calling. Just keep calling, that's all I want. As long as you call with some reverence, recognizing I'm bad too. And I'm telling you that our Heavenly Father doesn't care how you call on Him, as long as you call on Him as your Father in Heaven, with reverence and with faith. and with purpose. Call on him honestly.

Don't ever, don't ever, don't ever make prayer a mechanical thing. And don't ever, ever, ever make prayer just an act you go through. We have time to pray. I don't know what to say concerning that. I guess when it's time to pray and there's no prayer in your heart, you can cry out to God because there's no prayer in your heart. But don't ever just pretend to pray. Don't play games with God. Don't play games with God. But do this.

Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. is come boldly, come freely, and speak to God your Father, and God your Savior, and God your Heavenly Comforter. Knowing that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, by fervent, James does not mean screaming at God, or beating yourself, or working yourself into a lather, that's not what he's talking about. He means serious, honest, persistent prayer of a righteous man prevails much. God will hear your cries. And if he hears you, if he hears you, you have his promise, you have what you desire.