Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 10, 2007 Edited : Sept 23, 2009
Date Preached: March 11, 2007 Repreached: Sept 27, 2009
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM) Repreached @ OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Back to School – Believers Edition
Sermon Title: Our Triune God
Sermon Text: Matthew 3:16-17 [NKJV]
Introduction:
The word “Trinity” has caused more controversy within the fellowship of the believers than almost any other word or subject.
And although the word ‘trinity’ does not appear anywhere in the Bible, we can find the Trinitarian or Triune nature of God being spoken of all throughout the pages of your Bibles!
For centuries Baptists have believed in the Triune nature of God and they do so NOT b/c it is something they “feel” is the right thing to do but it is something they know Scripture upholds as truth. Now as Southern Baptists we have a document called the Baptist Faith and Message
The Baptist Faith and Message is a statement of beliefs that has been made by the Southern Baptist Convention. It was originally written in 1925, and then restated in 1963 and again in 2000.
The BF&M can never be mistaken for Scripture by anyone but rather it MUST be viewed as a detailed view of Southern Baptist beliefs that emanate FROM the Scripture.
In the Baptist Faith and Message there are several basic statements of belief that Baptists have held for over 500 years, since the Protestant Reformation. But I want you to understand that these basic beliefs held by Southern Baptists are NOT original to Southern Baptist, but there are believers who have held to these beliefs since the birth of the church in the upper room in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost Sunday!
The very central core belief believed by those in the upper room and by a majority of Christianity today is the Triune nature and revelation of our God of Scripture. Contrary to what many others may say about this doctrine, it is NOT a belief in 3 separate Gods… but it is the belief in One God who’s nature is Triune and who has chosen to reveal Himself in that same Triune manner.
Now, the BF&M states that as Baptists we hold firm to the belief that there is only ONE living and true God. It states “The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence or being.”
But as I have stated already this morning, the BF&M is NOT Scripture and cannot be held up as Scripture but merely a listing of beliefs that come OUT of Scripture. So this morning I don’t want to dwell on what the BF&M states, but I want to share with you what God’s Word teaches us about God and His Triune nature…
Now as we look through Scripture we can see clearly that God’s Word reveals God’s Triune nature in the form of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Some Christians believe that the ‘Trinity’ or the Triune nature of God is a relatively recent idea or that at the earliest it started in the NT, but when we search the OT we find it reveals to us many passages that reveal the Triune nature of God. Let’s take a look at just a few of these passages this morning:
We don’t have to go far to get to the 1st reference to God’s Triune nature as Gen 1:26 [NKJV] reveals:
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Now some theologians look at this verse and say that this is God using royal speech. Royal speech is when a sovereign or a King or a Queen uses the 3rd person to speak about themselves.
This is because when the King or Queen spoke they represented the entire Kingdom … this sounds reasonable as we believe God to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! It seems as if this is a good answer,
BUT if this were the case, I cannot find any other passages within Scripture that give us an example of Kings using royal speech on a regular and common basis, So, based on the fact that it is NOT the normative behavior of Kings.
I believe that the “Royal Speech speculation” is NOT the correct interpretation in this instance. It is my contention that God did not use royal speech, but that there were more than one present at the Creation of humanity!
Let’s look further at Scripture:
Later in Gen we find God speaking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden saying: Gen 3:22 [NKJV]
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
When we read about the people of the tower of Babel and God’s reaction to them in Gen 11:7 [NKJV]
“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
In Isaiah 6:8 [NKJV] we find God speaking to Isaiah and saying,
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
In Psalm 110:1 [NKJV] David wrote:
1 The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
Jesus Himself quoted this psalm during His ministry and He knew that David was referring both God and Jesus… as 2 persons of the Triune nature of God Himself.
When we look at this verse we have to ask, “Who is David’s ‘Lord” if it is not God Himself?”…And then who could say to God ‘sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool…’ except someone else who is fully God as well…
And we can go all throughout OT Scripture and find so many other references that point to the Triune nature of our God, but I want to move on to the NT this morning…
Our passage of Scripture this morning is found in Matt 3:16-17 that depicts the Baptism of Jesus. Let’s read…
Matthew 3:16-17 [NKJV]
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
In this passage it is very obvious that Matthew is implying about the very TRIUNE nature of God Himself, as Matthew clearly represents all three persons of the Trinity in his depiction of the baptism of Jesus. We see 3 clear illustrations:
First we have God speaking from Heaven about Jesus whom He calls “My beloved Son…”
Second, we have Jesus in the flesh being baptized where all could see Him…
Finally we have the Holy Spirit revealing Himself in the form of a dove coming down from out of heaven and resting on Jesus, signifying that Jesus was now anointed to go into His ministry and do what God had sent Him to do…
Later In Matt 28:19 [NKJV] Jesus tells His disciples,
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
And we can find that there are other passages in the NT that give the very clear indication that the God of our Bible is the Triune God of the Universe. To list a few, let’s look at:
1 Cor 12:4-6 [NKJV] is very triune in its nature.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all…
In 2 Cor 13:14 [NKJV] Paul reveals the triune nature of God
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
as well as Eph 4:4-6 [NKJV]
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
When we study the book of 1st Peter we find it peppered with many references to all 3 persons within the Triune nature of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). And we can find this evident all throughout all other NT Scripture as well.
So as we look at the Bible, even though the word TRINITY is not mentioned, we can clearly see that Scripture does NOT deny the existence of the Trinity… we can see that Scripture actually AFFIRMS the Triune nature of God, and it upholds the view of a Triune God to be TRUTH!
But in searching the Scriptures we can not only see that it does not deny the Trinity but when we read the Bible we can see that it actually reveals to all readers the very Triune nature of God… and it does so in 3 very distinct ways:
God the Father
Jesus the Son
The Holy Spirit
1. God the Father
Now as we read within the OT we are not going to find any definitive Scriptures that literally link God as Father other than the fact that God is the Creator of all things, and that humanity is His ultimate creation.
In the OT we find that God chose Abram, changed his name to Abraham and made a covenant with him that he would make him into a nation of peoples and that nation would bless the world.
We find that later in God’s Word that nation father by Abraham, the nation we know as the Hebrew nation was enslaved in Egypt and God delivered them through the obedience of Moses.
In the wilderness, God made renewed His covenant with His people, and even though many times these people [as a nation] did not choose to live according to that covenant… Scripture tells us that there were some within the nation who loved God and continued lived in accordance to His will and covenant…. It was actually these people who could claim God as their spiritual father.
Now today the idea of God being our Father is somewhat misunderstood. In fact, the Mormons believe and teach that God was given a planet to fill, occupy, and rule over, and that He has actually ‘fathered’ your soul in heaven by virtue of his ‘spirit wife’ giving birth to your soul. They teach that once you are ‘fathered’ spiritually that God then wraps you in flesh and sends you to earth to live.
I believe I don’t’ have to say this out loud but I am going to anyway… Besides being totally CRAZY, this belief and view of God is ABSOLUTE heresy and you can find it NOWHERE in Scripture and must be rejected as the heresy it is!
When we look at what Scripture teaches we can find that the term ‘Father’ in reference to God is used more frequently in the NT and it is most prevalent within the four Gospels (it is used 107 times in John alone)
When Jesus uses the term ‘Father’ in reference to God the Father we can see 2 very specific points of connection for the believer:
First, Jesus never tied His disciples into the same relationship He had with the Father – His relationship with the Father was special and went far beyond what His human disciples could ever obtain or even comprehend.
And we also can find where Jesus proclaimed and taught to His disciples that He was co-existent with the Father from eternity past to eternity future, and that He had come to earth wrapped in flesh for the salvation of humanity at the pleasure of God the Father.
When Jesus refers to God as Father of humanity He specifically refers to His disciples and not all of humanity. Although God is creator of all humanity and creation leads us to see God as a father-type figure to humanity – but humanity has fallen away from the created order and sin has entered into the world.
We hear the term that we are all God’s children, when in fact that phrase is misleading at best, and at worst is terrific heresy. We are NOT all God’s children… we are all God’s creation, whom He created to commune with Him, but until we accept Christ as Savior and are adopted as sons into the Kingdom…we are on the outside looking in!
You see, Jesus was God the Father’s remedy to humanity’s rebellion and ultimate separation from God. Scripture teaches us that Jesus was sent by God the Father to reconcile humanity to God the Father… to reconcile the creation to the Creator! John 3:16 tells us that:
John 3:16 [NKJV]
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John also shares with us in 1 John that we can BECOME children of God… in John 1:12-13 [NKJV] tell us:
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Here we find that Scripture clearly lays out the FACT that God grants the right to become children of God… for God to become your Spiritual Father… but only for those who are willing to place full faith and trust in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.
In Matt 28:18-19 [NKJV] we find Jesus speaking from the Father and telling His disciples to go forth:
…18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
In the book of John we find Jesus speaking directly to the Father in His high priestly prayer of John 17. Jesus also speaks to the Father in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane where He is troubled over His death, and we also see Jesus crying out to the Father from the Cross at Calvary.
Also after the resurrection Jesus said in John 20:21 [NKJV], “…peace be with you, as the Father has sent Me, I also send you!”
Going back to John 3:16 the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His son… so we can know that God the Father is an integral and vital part or the Triune God of the Bible!
But another part of the Triune nature of God is revealed in John 3:16 and it is…
2. Jesus the Son… who is God!
When we stay here in John 3:16 we can see John expressing the fulfillment of thousands of prophetic statements from the OT, and even though there are many who would deny this fact, Jesus is found all throughout the OT!
He may not be mentioned by name as Jesus, but prophecy after prophecy tells of the One who is to come that will save His people – The OT is rich in prophecies about the coming Messiah… the Christ.
In Isaiah 53 we find Isaiah writing about the Suffering Servant – a man born of a virgin who suffers greatly for His people – a direct and accurate foretelling of the Christ that is revealed in the NT. Jesus came born of a virgin and suffered and died for the sin of the world… Jesus came to deliver humanity from the death grip of sin.
Another aspect from the NT that we can look at is that we have many passages proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. The first 4 books of the NT are called the Gospels… they are narratives of the life of Jesus from the perspective of eyewitnesses.
These books are filled with direct eyewitness accounts and stories of this man called Jesus and it is evident that they believed He was God’s Son. Peter acknowledges it in Matt 16:16 [NKJV]
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Also from our passage this morning we can see that when Jesus was baptized there was a voice from heaven telling all who were there, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”
When Jesus came to the Mount of Transfiguration and He was transfigured and His true identity was revealed to Peter, James and John… a voice from Heaven was heard saying, “This is my Son, listen to Him!”
Jesus Himself proclaimed His kinship with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit as well. In Mark 14:61-62 when the Chief priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God, Jesus said, “I am”
We know that even as a young child, Jesus knew and understood His role and His special relationship with the God of heaven. In Lk 2 :44 we see Him telling His earthly parents… that He was in the Temple because He was about doing His Father’s work.
In John 10:36 Jesus identified Himself by saying, “I am the Son of God.” And earlier in that chapter Jesus had indicated that His Divine Sonship with the Father was unique and special as He said, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father – I and the Father are One.”
In the book of Colossians, Paul writes about Jesus as God the Son. Let’s read Col 1:12-14 [HCSB]…
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
And moving onto the next few verses we can see Paul teaching more about Jesus as the Son of God… of Jesus as the 2nd part of the Trinity… the 2nd identity of the Triune nature of God…
Col 1:15-16 [HCSB]
15 He is the image of the invisible God. Or Jesus is what God has revealed to us about Himself, Jesus is the earthly representation of the God of Heaven…thus Jesus is ONE with the Father, Jesus is God.
16 by Him all things were created…all things were created thru Him and for Him.
The Bible says in Gen 1:1 that in the beginning GOD created, so is Paul in conflict with Scripture, absolutely NOT. Paul is revealing to us what Christ revealed when He was here on earth, Jesus was part of the creation process… Jesus was part of that process because He is God! And Paul demonstrates that in Col…
Col 1:18 [HCSB]
18 In Him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell… In other words, God was happy to reveal Himself in the manner in which Jesus revealed God to the world…
In the book of Phil 2:6-8 [HCSB], Paul reveals, “…Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but… humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross...”
Here we find Paul revealing once again Jesus’ equality to God and the very basis of the Triune nature of God. Jesus was equal with God but did not hold that up as something He could not let go of for a time so that He could come and die on the Cross for our sin…
John shares with us in his Gospel “…in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” Later on in that same chapter John wrote, “…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
In John’s own special way we find him revealing Christ as the Word of God clothed in flesh. Jesus Christ was God, wrapped in flesh, come down to His creation to offer Himself for the salvation of those who would accept Him. He was willing to become the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world…
It is clear and evident that in the teachings of Jesus and in the writings of His disciples that Jesus was Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the One who has come to save His people…
We find His disciples confessing that Jesus was this Messiah they had longed for and had been told to look for… Jesus was this Messiah… Jesus is the Son of the Living God!
We now can see that Jesus is a vital and integral part of the Triune God we worship, but finally today I want to speak to a part of the Triune God that many Southern Baptists are not sure about and in fact I find that they are afraid of Him and that is…
3. God the Holy Spirit
The final part of the Triune nature of the God of the Bible is known as God, the Holy Spirit. The Greek name for the Holy Spirit is pneuma kyriou which literally translates as Spirit of God. The Greek word pneuma can mean wind or breath and it is closely connected with an ‘unseen force’ this is why it is translated as ‘Spirit’
In the OT the Holy Spirit is generally expressed as a revelation of God’s power – an extension of God Himself… it is the ‘vehicle’ [if you will] by which God carries out His mighty works…
This is expressed in the OT in many forms…
The Hand of God…
Ps 19:1 [HCSB] “…1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands…
Ps 102:25 [HCSB] “…25 Long ago You established the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands…”
The Word of God…
Ps 33:6 [HCSB] “…6 The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth…” (HCSB)
Ps 147:15,18 [HCSB] “…15 He sends His command throughout the earth; His word runs swiftly…” “…18 He sends His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow…”
The Wisdom of God…
Ex 28:3 [HCSB] “…3 You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make Aaron’s garments for consecrating him to serve Me as priest…”
Job 32:8 [HCSB] “…8 But it is a spirit in man and the breath of the • Almighty that give him understanding…”
The creative word of God in Gen 1:3 is closely related to God’s creative breath in Gen 2:7 – both are identified with the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit was an active agent in the creation process.
However, the primary focus or function of God the Holy Spirit in the OT is as the spirit of prophecy. The Holy Spirit is God’s holy inspiration to the prophets, such as “Thus saith the Lord”
The prophets of the Bible are referred to as ‘men of God’ and in Hosea the prophets are referred to as ‘men of the Spirit’
The general implication throughout the OT is that the prophets were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, although the OT does NOT contain the idea of a semi-independent divine entity in the person of God the Holy Spirit… what we do see is a special and miraculous expression of God’s activity with and thru men willing to be used by Him… revealing the power and the presence of God thru the presence of the Holy Spirit…
In NT we see the Holy Spirit revealed as both the Spirit of prophecy AND the manifestation of God’s power, just as it was in the OT…BUT, Jesus attributes those things directly to the person of the Holy Spirit as led and instructed by God the Father…
When Mary is ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit (the power of the Most High) we get an echo of what happened in the wilderness when the presence of God overshadowed and enveloped the tabernacle with a cloud and the Tabernacle was filled with glory of God…
In LK 11:20 Jesus casts out demons by using the ‘finger of God’ which is an OT phrase that reveals the ‘power of God or the Spirit of God…
Again going back to our passage of Scripture for this morning we can see that at the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit of God descending down as a dove and landing on Jesus!
In parallel stories in Matthew the Holy Spirit descends as a dove just as in Mark, but in Luke it is described that Jesus came up from the Jordan filled with the Holy Spirit…
Jesus understood the Holy Spirit as a co-equal person within the Triune nature of God. He taught that the Holy Spirit would be the ‘paraclete’ or the ADVOCATE for the believer after He ascended into heaven.
The Holy Spirit here in this world IS the comforter, counselor, and Advocate for all believers. Jesus came into this world as the 1st comforter and when He ascended the Holy Spirit became our comforter…
Jesus described the Holy Spirit as ‘another’ counselor… this ‘other’ counselor that is the Holy Spirit will dwell within the heart of those who accept Christ as Savior. The Holy Spirit will guide these believers in all truth, teaching them all things and will testify of Jesus through each believer.
The disciples all carried out their ministries being filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 6 when deacons were first called into the service of the church, the church only called men filled with the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Cor 12 Paul reveals that the Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts to the believer and in Gal 5 we see that the Holy Spirit produces fruit within the life of the believer that is tangible and visible…to shape and mold them to God’s plan and purpose.
In reading Scripture, no man can know or understand the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit enlightens him – the Spirit of truth reveals all things to true believers.
Jesus told us that the ‘Comfortor’ … this ‘Paraclete’ that was coming, would be the active agent in this world that would reveals truth and convicts the heart of sin.
Paul reveals to us that it is at the Salvation moment that we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit seals the believer until the day of redemption…we are sealed by God’s Holy Spirit for God’s Kingdom. And whether you believe it or not the Holy Spirit is an integral and vital part of the Triune God of this universe…
Conclusion:
As a pastor I have studied and sought out the Scriptures for thousands of hours, and I have come to the conclusion that God will reveal many things to us when we submit to Him and study His word. However, I have also come to the conclusion that there are many things about God that we are NEVER going to fully understand or even come close to comprehending in this life. This is because our minds are finite in nature and ability and we simple cannot grasp all there is to know about a limitless and infinite God.
However, what is so wonderful is that God has reached down and God has revealed so very much to us about who He is and about His love for us. Our belief in the Triune God is founded on Scripture and our faith in our Savior.
But as a pastor, I see so many people in the church today who seem to struggle with this very basic biblical truth of a Triune God… or the 3 – 1 concept of the Godhead.
We need have faith in the God we serve, and rest assured in our faith in Scripture and that the Bible makes it as abundantly clear about who God is…and His nature! At least as clear as we will ever be able to see it or understand it here in this life!
It always amazes me how people of faith can believe God loves them, came to earth wrapped in flesh, died for their sin and raised from the dead and is now preparing a place for all who accept Him as Savior… but they struggle with and have great doubts about the nature of that God… even when Scripture is clearly evident in presenting the Triune nature of God.
The God of the Bible is a limitless and unbounded God. He is infinite in nature and He can be both ONE and THREE and still be God! Why is it SO difficult for us to see that our God can do ALL things – if you can accept that – then you can accept and know that the Triune nature of the God of the Bible is truth as revealed to you through the Holy Spirit.
The Triune God that is so clearly revealed in the Bible is the same God that today is with us and by His power we have victory over Satan, sin and the grave.
This Triune God, this all powerful God who is holy and separate from us… also desires a personal and intimate relationship with all humanity.
And this morning as hard as it may seem to believe, God is waiting for you! It does not matter what you have done…
Moses was a murderer and a liar…
David was an adulter, a murder and a liar…
Peter denied Christ 3 times…
Paul was a persecutor of the church…
God does not care what you HAVE done, but what He cares about is what you decide to do. He wants you to become part of His family. He wants this SO much that He has made a way for this to happen.
He is drawing you to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior this morning. Today He is drawing you to step out and come down this aisle and confess your sin and start your life anew in Christ…
As Bro Steven comes to lead our hymn of invitation I want you to know that God is a patient God and He is waiting but you may never have another chance to confess your sin and ask His forgiveness… don’t delay…
Jesus told His disciples that TODAY is the day of salvation, don’t put off knowing God today… come and get to know Him on a personal basis… I ask you to come as Bro Jerry leads and as God calls you in your heart!
