Now, last week I said I wanted to start a study
in Bible doctrine. As I told you last week, doctrine
just means the teaching of God's Word, what His Word teaches us. That's what we base, and that's
where we find our doctrine, is the Word of God. And the first
doctrine that we looked at last Sunday was the being of God,
that God is. You have to start there. You
have to start with God is. We don't start with a fall. We
don't start down here with the redemption. You've got to start
with the fact that God is. And the second doctrine that
I want us to look at this morning, and Lord willing, The next time
I look at this, Frank said he may not be able to do it again
next week, so we'll pick up on who God is, his attributes. But this morning, I want us to
look at the second doctrine, and the second doctrine that
we find in the Word of God is the Trinity. The Word of God
teaches us, and I mean from Genesis, from the very first of Genesis,
right from the beginning. all the way through Revelation,
that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they are very real, and they
are very distinct persons. And we'll look at that this morning.
It's very clear on this. The Word of God is very clear
on this. I don't think, for the most part, that people who even
believe the Trinity could probably take the Word of God and show
you where it is and where the Scriptures teach this. And I
want us to be able to take the Word of God and turn to it and
say, this is what the Word of God teaches. This is what it
teaches. Now, in the worship of God, we
worship Him in the Trinity of His persons. We worship the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We worship one God. But we worship
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Over
in Hebrews chapter 1, it says, let all the angels of God worship
Him. Speaking of the Son, we worship
all three. Now, I'm not going to this morning,
I'm not going to explain the Trinity. I hope you don't expect
that. I'm not going to, you know, when
we start getting into explaining it, Trying to dissect it, we
mess it up. We mess it up. The Word of God
never, ever tries to explain the Trinity. The Word of God
declares that it is. And those who are born of God
believe Him. They believe God. And through
believing, you have some understanding. You have some understanding of
the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. You know, it says over in Hebrew chapter Over here in
Hebrews 11, let me read this to you. I was looking at it this
morning. It says, in Hebrews 11, faith
is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. It is through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God. It is through believing God,
through faith, that we understand that the world's... I don't understand
how. It doesn't say we understand
how. There's a lot of things we don't understand how. But
I know this. God spoke, and it was created. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. That's how it happened. That's how it happened. And through faith, we understand
that the world was framed by the Word of God. And through
faith, we have some understanding of the Trinity, but I hope you
don't expect me to stand here and explain that, because we're
not in the explaining business. We're in the proclaiming business,
declaring these things to be so. Now, in Genesis 1-1, I want you
to look. In the beginning, God. God. Another name for his name
God here is Elohim. Elohim. Elohim is plural. It's not singular. It's plural. More than one. So when he says
in the beginning God, and I believe it's 32 times that name is used
just in this first chapter. 500 times in the Book of Moses,
5,000 times throughout the Word of God. Elohim is used in the
plural. That's plural, Elohim. If you'll
notice here in verse 2, it says, And the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the
Spirit of God You see, in the beginning, God, that's Elohim,
plural, and then in verse 2, we had the Holy Spirit. We had
the Holy Spirit moving upon the face of the water. And then down
in verse 6, look here in verse 6, and God said, He spoke His
Word. That's His Word. And when He
spoke, When the Word spoke, things were created. And I know this
is Christ here. Look over at Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1, in verse 14 it says, In whom we
have redemption, that is Christ, through Him we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, 114, who is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created. And God said, that's the Word. The Spirit moving upon the face
of the water, that's the Holy Spirit. In the beginning, God,
that's God the Father. You've got God the Father, you've
got God the Son, you've got God the Holy Spirit. Look over in
John chapter 1. John chapter 1, once again speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. There are three distinct persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but there is not
three different gods. There's not three different gods.
There's only one. There's only one God. There's
not three different personalities. There are three divine persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and all three All
three of these are equal. Attributes. They're equal in
their attributes. They're equal in their person. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And yet there's just one God.
There's just one God. Look over at 1 Corinthians. Over in 1 Corinthians 8, look
in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. As concerning, therefore,
the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto
idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. And that
there is none other God but one. But one. There's only one. Look
in Mark chapter 12. In Mark chapter 12. See this from the Word of God.
This is where we get our doctrine, as I said. We get it from the
Word of God. Look in verse 29, ìAnd Jesus answered him, ìThe first
of all the commandments is, ìHear, O Israel.îî Thatís over in Deuteronomy
chapter 6. ìHear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord.î Thereís only one. We worship one God, but we realize through the through
the scriptures, that there are still three distinct persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now go back to Genesis,
chapter 1. You say, I know somebody's going
to say, that's complicated. You ought to try to teach it. You ought to try to stay here
and teach it. The only thing we can do is just go to the Word
of God and read the Word of God and this is where we establish
what we're talking about. Look in verse 26. And God said, let us, let us make man in our image
after our likeness and let them have dominion fish of the sea,
that foul the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. But
let us," who is he speaking to? The angels? Gabriel? Michael? They are a creative spree. God
has never looked to any part of his creation for help or for
assistance in any way, shape, or form, ever. This is the Father
speaking to the Son and the Holy Spirit. He's speaking to two
other persons, real living persons. The Father is speaking to the
Son and the Holy Spirit, and He's saying, let us make man
in our image. And I want you to note their
unity. I noticed this jumped out at me when I read this. God
said, let us make man in, does He say in my image? This shows their equality. This
shows their oneness. This shows there's only one God.
Now he's speaking, this is the Father speaking to the Son and
the Holy Spirit, but then here's what he says, let us make man
in our image. This shows their unity here.
This is so clear of their unity. Let us make man in our image
after our, our likeness, not mine. Christ said in John 17, I and
my Father are one. It's not that we just think alike. We are one. And they are. Is God the Father holy? So is
the Son. So is the Holy Spirit. Is God
the Father just? So is the Son. So is the Holy
Spirit. Is God the Father gracious? Is He the God of all grace? So
is the Son. So is the Spirit. They're one. They are one. Is He the God of all comfort?
Is God the Father the God of all comfort? So is the Son. And so is the Spirit. Christ
said, I'll send you another. He didn't say, I'll send you
the Comforter. I'll send you another one. I'll
send you one just like me. He's called the Comforter. Father's
a Comforter. He's God of all grace. He's holy. He's just. He's long-suffering. Well, so is the Son. And so is
the Holy Spirit. Christ said, He that has seen
me, has seen the Father. You're looking. Was it Philip who says, show
us the Father? One of his disciples says, show us the Father? And
that will suffice us. Over in John, I believe it was John 14,
he says, seen me. Has seen the Father. You're looking
at him. That's what he says. You're looking at him. What is he like? What's the Father
like? Well, learn the Son. Learn who
He is, what He's like, and you'll know the Father. Who He is, what
He's like. Now one, yet there's three. Someone
wrote this, the Father is all the fullness of the Godhead invisible. Invisible. No man has seen God
at any time, except the Son. The Son is all the fullness of
the Godhead manifested. He came to reveal, to declare
the Father. The Holy Spirit is all the fullness
of God acting immediately upon the creature. I thought that
was good. We have all three of them at
work in our salvation. Why are we baptized in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? All three are engaged
in saving us. All three are engaged in bringing
us home. All three. The Father chose us,
the Son redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit regenerates us. All
three active in our salvation. Now, look at the last verse over
in 1 John. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7. Well, there are three that bear
record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and I read
to you from the Gospel of John chapter 1, the Word was God. with God and was God, and the
Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Now, I want you to look at the
next verse. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the
Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three agree in one. But
this verse 7 says these three are one. It doesn't say they
just agree. It's not like they're just in
agreement. They are one. One God. One God. God the Father chose us, as I
said. God the Son redeemed us by His blood. He came into this
world. God was manifested in the flesh.
God the Son. Shed His blood. Blood of atonement. He redeemed us. And God the Holy
Spirit regenerates us. He calls those whom Christ died
for. He calls them by His grace. He
powerfully draws them, calls them, and brings them to Christ,
and reveals Christ in them, to them, the things of Christ. Christ
said He will take the things of mine and show them to you. The only way that you and I know
anything about God, God the Father, Christ, salvation, redemption.
This book is that the Holy Spirit takes us, regenerates us, and
reveals the truth to us. Outside of that, we'd never know. We would never know anything.
Not right. Not right. We wouldn't know it
right. And blessings come to us from
the Father. He's the fountain of all grace.
He's the God of all grace. They come to us through the Son.
He's the channel. He's the conduit. We don't have
one blessing. We have nothing from above. We
have nothing as far as God's favor, except it come to us through
Jesus Christ. the Son of God. All grace and all blessings come
to us through the Father, through the Son, and are applied. You know, I don't apply the blood. I look to the Christ, I look
to His blood, I look to His righteousness, I look to Him. But it's the Holy
Spirit who literally applies it. He applies it. He applies all the blessings, all that we have in Christ, the
comfort we have, the joy we have. If he didn't apply these things,
we wouldn't have them. And this is a great comfort.
This is a great comfort to God's people. The Son and the Holy Spirit are
engaged. I mean, absolutely engaged. Think
of this. Give thought to this. They are
engaged in saving sinners. If He's engaged in saving this
sinner, I'm saved. I'm saved. And nothing can destroy
that. Nothing can pluck me out of God's
hands. Scripture says a three-fold cord
cannot be quickly broken. Well, this three-fold cord can't
be broken. It cannot be broken. You want to talk about eternal
security? You know, where I used to go years ago, their take on
eternal security was that once a sinner accepted Christ as his
or her personal Savior, Then they were safe forever. They
couldn't be lost. That's not my eternal security. My eternal
security is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If God be for me, who can be
against me? If God's for me, if He chose
me, the Father chose me, gave me to Christ, Christ redeemed
me, and the Holy Spirit regenerates me, I assure you, He's not going
to lose me. He's not going to lose me. He
said, I will not lose one of my sheep. Not one. Not one. You find comfort in that? I find
great comfort. I find great comfort. If God
be for us, if the one God of heaven and
earth be for us, who could be against
us? How could we fail? We can't. We can't. So the second doctrine of the Word of God is that there
are three distinct persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, but there's only one God. We worship one God,
not three, one.