Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000051
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00:11 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 "Unknown God" with David Asscherick. 00:21 Good evening and welcome to year number two of Anchors Of Truth. 00:27 And I'm so happy to say that. 00:28 We are in our second year and time has gone so very very fast. 00:32 We have heard some powerful and stirring messages 00:36 through year number one of this wonderful series. 00:39 And we expect no less this coming year. 00:41 We have chosen for our lead-off speaker 00:46 none other than David Asscherick. 00:49 But he has changed titles in the time 00:51 that we've come to know him. 00:52 He use to be the president, the director, of Arise. 00:56 He still carries that title, but in addition, he is now the 00:59 co-director with Ty and James of Light Bearers Ministries. 01:05 So Light Bearers and Arise have fused their energies 01:10 and their calling and are working together. 01:12 And so now you've got Ty, James, and David. 01:15 That is a dynamic trio that is serving the Lord. 01:19 And so we're very, very happy to have him here. 01:21 We're going to be talking about, during the next several nights, 01:23 the mystery of godliness. 01:25 And tonight in particular, David is going to deal with 01:29 the subject, "Singularity or Plurality." 01:32 And this is a timely topic, and one that has 01:36 sort of floated to the surface as we work our way to heaven. 01:42 The Trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit, is again a subject 01:47 of question in the minds of some. 01:49 And perhaps David will do much to put that to rest 01:51 this very evening. 01:52 We are happy to have him here. 01:53 He is the husband of one wife and the father of two children. 01:58 And we're glad that it's in that order. 02:00 But God has blessed him, along with his ministry, 02:05 to be a wonderful family man, a powerful preacher of the Word. 02:08 And I do rather suspect that this night will prove a blessing 02:11 to those of you here and those of us watching 02:14 from around the world. 02:16 So we're glad you're here. 02:17 And before we go on much further, let's have a 02:20 word of prayer, we'll have some music, and then 02:22 we'll call our speaker forward. 02:23 Shall we pray. 02:24 Father God, we do praise You and thank You for Jesus; 02:30 our Savior, our Friend, our Redeemer, our Lord. 02:36 We are thankful, Lord, for the call that brought us out of 02:39 darkness to light, error to truth. 02:44 And we are thankful that You have given us a small part 02:47 to play in the finishing of the work. 02:49 And so we ask, for those who sit in this house on this night, 02:54 a special blessing. 02:56 And for those who are listening on radio, 02:59 watching on television or computer screens, 03:01 wherever they might be receiving the Word of God, 03:04 may Your Spirit and power attend to them. 03:07 Open up their hearts, their minds, their ears, 03:10 that they may not be just hearers of the Word, 03:14 but doers thereof so that our lives may be better 03:18 as we seek to walk this road that leads to glory. 03:22 Bless the speaker. 03:23 Give him truths for this time. 03:26 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 03:31 The song I want to sing came to me about three or four years ago 03:35 when I was going through a rough patch. 03:38 And it is like the Lord, sometimes when we're 03:41 going through rough stages in our life, we get maybe a 03:46 negative diagnosis or something happens that tends to 03:48 set us back a little bit, for God to give you a text. 03:53 Sometimes He'll give you a song. 03:55 He'll give you just what you need to sort of see you through. 04:00 I have a good friend who is a shower singer. 04:04 And he says, "I get some of my best inspiration in the shower. 04:07 I turn up the water, close the door, and I sing to Jesus. 04:10 No one else would want to hear me but Jesus." 04:12 So he sings to Jesus. 04:13 But it gets him through those tough times. 04:15 So the Lord gave me a song three years ago when we got the 04:18 diagnosis of cancer. 04:20 And every now and then I bring it out and sort of dust it off 04:23 because it cheers me. 04:25 Basically it says, when I lift the name of Jesus, 04:27 Jesus lifts me. 04:28 That's what Christ does. 04:30 When you lift Him up, He will lift you. 04:32 And so we'll sing this just now and then we'll have our 04:34 speaker come out and give us the Word of God. 04:55 He lifts my burden whenever I'm down. 05:04 He gives me joy when I'm wearing a frown. 05:13 He is my hope in the midst of despair. 05:22 And He is my comfort for He's always there. 05:37 So I sing not because I feel like singing. 05:47 And I praise Him though the end I may not see. 05:57 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus, 06:04 Jesus reaches down 06:09 and He lifts me. 06:20 He is the music that makes my heart glad. 06:29 He whispers peace whenever I'm sad. 06:39 He is the sunshine that brightens my day. 06:47 And He is the lighthouse to show me the way. 06:58 So I sing not because I feel like singing. 07:07 And I praise Him though the end I may not see. 07:17 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus, 07:24 Jesus reaches down 07:29 and He lifts me. 07:35 So I sing not because I just like singing. 07:44 And I praise Him though the end I may not see. 07:54 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus, 08:01 Jesus reaches down, 08:06 turns me around, 08:09 and He plants my feet on higher ground. 08:15 He reaches down 08:20 and He lifts me. 08:43 Thank you, C.A. 08:44 I can sing just like that. 08:48 Good evening everyone. 08:49 I was expecting something to put my stuff on. 08:53 Huh. Alright. 08:54 Well, I guess I'll set it on the ground. 08:59 Our presentation over the course of the next five meetings 09:03 is going to be on the unknown God. 09:07 And can you think of a passage in Scripture that comes to mind 09:11 when I say that phrase, "the unknown God." 09:14 Is there anything that, does that ring a passage for you? 09:17 Acts chapter 17, very good. 09:19 Of course in Acts chapter 17, Paul is there in what city? 09:23 Does anyone remember? 09:24 It was in the city of Athens, I heard someone say. 09:27 And he was wondering around and he saw the various 09:30 idols that were constructed. 09:32 And his heart was pained within him as he thought about these 09:35 very intelligent, very sophisticated people. 09:38 But in their sophistication and in their intelligence, 09:41 they came to believe that somehow their constructions 09:47 and their idols and their buildings actually 09:49 contained God, and in some senses were gods. 09:53 Or at least were representations of God. 09:55 And in Paul's wonderings there around the Athenian area, 10:00 he saw this phrase that said, "To the unknown God," 10:05 on one of the idols, "To the unknown God." 10:08 And so when Paul stood there before the Areopagus 10:11 at Mars Hill, he stood up and he said, "I have a message 10:14 from the unknown God for you." 10:19 Is it possible that for those of us even within Christendom... 10:23 We're not Greeks, we're not pagans. 10:24 We believe the Bible. Amen? 10:26 Is it possible that even for us, there is a sense in which God 10:31 is unknown, one of the members of the Godhead? 10:36 Well, I am persuaded that this is the case. 10:38 And I'll just sort of start with a brief word of prayer 10:41 and then I'll do a simple little illustration that will sort of 10:43 help us to get our minds wrapped around this idea 10:45 of the unknown God. 10:46 Let's just pray briefly. 10:48 Father in heaven, what a privilege to be here 10:50 this evening with these dear people 10:53 and, Father, with those that are viewing through the 10:55 television or computer screen or listening in on the radio. 11:00 We would ask that You will be with us now. 11:03 As we open Scripture, we would ask that You would open us. 11:07 And we thank You for Your love and mercy. 11:10 And we claim the promise that Your Spirit will guide us 11:14 into all truth. 11:15 In Jesus' name, amen. 11:18 Ta-dah. 11:19 You see how that works? 11:21 It reminds me, one time... 11:22 I probably shouldn't even tell you this story. 11:23 I have two little boys ages 9 and 10. 11:27 And one time, we were at the table. 11:29 This was years ago. 11:30 And I think I have repented of it sense. 11:32 And there was a pizza sitting on the table. 11:35 And I said, "Okay boys, let's pray and 11:37 thank Jesus for this pizza." 11:38 And I really wanted to, like, make it clear to them 11:40 that we were thanking God for the food that He had provided. 11:44 So while they were praying, I secretly grabbed the pizza 11:47 and I moved it off the table and I set it on 11:48 the chair right beside me. 11:50 And they opened up their eyes and the pizza was gone. 11:53 And I said, "Boys, where's the pizza?" 11:54 And they said, "Papa..." They were quite young. 11:56 "Papa, papa, where's the pizza?" 11:58 I said, "I don't know, let's pray that it will come back." 12:00 So they prayed. 12:02 They were like, "Lord Jesus, please bring back our pizza." 12:05 We're really hungry." 12:06 And while they were praying, I put the pizza back. 12:08 When they opened their eyes, they were like, "Papa, 12:10 the pizza is here." 12:11 So look, the pizza is here. 12:13 So anyway, great. 12:15 Thank you guys for bringing that out. 12:16 I didn't want to put all my stuff on the floor. 12:18 So let's start with this very simple exercise. 12:20 We've got a lot of information to cover tonight 12:22 and in subsequence nights and on Sabbath. 12:25 So I want to get right into this. 12:28 Okay, we're going to do just a very simple game. 12:30 Or maybe a game is the wrong word. 12:31 An illustration where I'm going to say a word 12:33 and then you're going to get a mental picture. 12:36 Okay, simple. 12:37 So if I say "school bus," do you have something that 12:41 comes into your mind? 12:43 What color is it? 12:44 Okay. Of course it's yellow. 12:46 If I say "baseball game," does something come into your mind? 12:50 Okay, if I say... 12:52 Let's try something even a little more abstract. 12:54 If I say, "warm," do you get a picture in your mind? 12:57 Just a picture, a mental picture? 12:59 Okay, so you're getting how this is working. 13:01 Now let's try this one. "Father." 13:04 When I say, "father," does something come into your minds? 13:07 Do you have a mental picture? 13:08 Okay let's try this one. "Son." 13:12 Do you have a mental picture when I say "son"? 13:14 Okay, so when I say "baseball game," when I say "bus," 13:17 when I say "warm," when I say "father," when I say "son," 13:19 you're able to grab a mental picture that you can associate 13:23 reasonable with that thing, right? 13:25 So try this one, "Holy Spirit." 13:30 Do you have a mental picture? 13:33 If you're anything like me, you really don't. 13:35 Maybe you see some sort of vapor. 13:37 What... Holy Spirit... what? 13:40 It's very much unlike a yellow school bus or a 13:43 baseball diamond or a fireplace that would keep us warm. 13:47 When Paul stood before the Athenians there and said, 13:50 "I bring to you a message from the unknown God," 13:52 he of course wasn't referring just to the Holy Spirit. 13:54 He was talking about the transcendence 13:57 or the unknowability of God. 13:59 Another word for this is the ineffability of God, 14:01 the incommunicability of God. 14:03 And there is a very real sense, even for those of us that are 14:06 believers in Scripture, there's a very real sense in which we 14:11 know who the Father is. 14:12 We have a mental idea, a mental conception, 14:15 a picture of the Father. 14:16 We've got that. 14:17 We can understand the idea of a Son. 14:19 I was just telling you a moment ago that I have two sons; 14:22 Landon and Jabel, 10 and 9. 14:24 So when you say "son," I see their faces. 14:26 I see their... They just come into my mind. 14:29 But when we say and when we think and when talk about 14:33 the Holy Spirit, do you find that it's difficult to know 14:37 exactly what we're talking about? 14:39 How many of you have had that experience before where 14:41 you thought, "Okay, so who exactly is the Holy Spirit, 14:44 and what exactly does do, and what does He even look like?" 14:50 There are some in our ranks and there are some in the world, 14:55 a great many, in fact, who are what we would call, 14:59 non-Trinitarian monotheists. 15:03 Now let's just sort of unpack that a little bit. 15:05 What do you think the word "monotheist" means? 15:08 What does that mean? 15:10 They believe in one God. Mono theos. 15:13 So they believe in one God. 15:14 So people that are monotheists are people like, 15:16 the Muslims are monotheistic, and the Jews are monotheistic, 15:20 and Christians are monotheistic, and there are others. 15:23 These are the primary monotheistic religions. 15:25 But there are other instances of monotheism. 15:28 But when we talk about non-Trinitarian monotheists, 15:31 we're talking about people who believe... 15:33 Okay, now follow this carefully here. 15:35 ...that God; the God of the universe, the Creator God, 15:41 the God that is out there, is rigidly singular. 15:47 Okay? They're Unitarians. 15:49 That would be one way of saying it. 15:50 In fact, this is the central tenet of Islam. 15:52 That there is only one God; Allah. 15:56 Right? And Muhammad is his prophet. 15:58 So this idea that God is rigidly singular in the most emphatic 16:03 sense of oneness, God is one. 16:10 Do Christians believe in one God? 16:14 Absolutely, no question. 16:15 Christians affirm that God is one. 16:18 And so in that sense we are monotheistic. 16:21 But we do diverge very significantly from our 16:24 non-Trinitarian monotheistic brothers and sisters. 16:27 Because we say, yes there is one God, but He is not 16:32 rigidly singular in the absolute sense of oneness. 16:36 God is three Persons that comprise one God. 16:42 Three Persons, one God. 16:44 Now many of us, the moment we hear that, it's not easy 16:48 to get our minds wrapped around the idea of three and one, 16:53 one and three. 16:54 And there's a word that we sometimes us to communicate 16:58 this singularity and yet plurality. 17:01 What's the word? 17:03 The word is Trinity. 17:04 And there are people that I have met all over the world 17:07 who have a very serious, very significant objection 17:14 to the use of the word "Trinity." 17:16 They'll say things like, "The word 'Trinity' 17:20 does not occur in the Bible." 17:22 I have a question for you. 17:24 Is that true? 17:26 It is true. It's absolutely true. 17:27 So they'll say, "I'm not going to use the word 'Trinity' 17:29 because it doesn't occur in the Bible." 17:30 So I have a simple question for you here. 17:32 Is there anything particularly special or anything essential 17:38 about the word 'Trinity?'" 17:40 Yes or no? 17:42 Are we married to that word? 17:44 Do we have to use that word? 17:45 No, we don't have to use that word at all. 17:47 The word simply is a word that is trying to communicate 17:51 what we were just discussing a moment ago; 17:53 that God is singular in one sense and plural in another. 17:58 It comes from tri, like a tricycle or a tripod, 18:00 meaning three, and unity and divinity. 18:03 So three in one. 18:06 Now, what we're going to do in our time here today, 18:10 and especially tomorrow, is we're going to try and unpack 18:14 the Biblical foundation for this idea that God is singular 18:20 and yet plural. 18:21 Are you with me on that? 18:22 What is this whole series called? 18:24 What does that say back there? 18:26 Anchors Of... What? ...Truth. 18:28 And where would we get truth from? 18:30 What is our definition of truth? 18:33 Very good. "Thy Word is truth." 18:36 "Sanctify them through Thy word. Thy word is truth." 18:38 And so, we arrive at truth by a study of Scripture 18:42 as Bible believing Christians. 18:43 Are you comfortable with that? Yes or no? 18:45 Now just a word on that. 18:47 Some people say, "We reject the idea of the Trinity 18:52 and we reject the use of the word 'Trinity' 18:54 because the word 'Trinity' is Catholic. 18:56 The idea of the Trinity is Catholic." 18:58 And they say, "If the Catholics believe it, it must be false. 19:01 And therefore, we don't believe it." 19:03 But I want to ask you a very simple question. 19:05 At first, that sounds maybe mildly persuasive. 19:09 I'll ask you a very simple question. 19:11 Do we arrive at truth by a rejection of Catholicism 19:15 or by an acceptance of Scripture? 19:19 By an acceptance of Scripture. 19:20 Because our friends, the Catholics, teach many things 19:22 that are absolutely true. 19:24 For example, they teach that there is a God. 19:30 Do you believe there is a God? 19:32 Okay, so if we're going to reject everything that's 19:35 Catholic wholesale, or everything that's Orthodox, 19:38 or everything that's Protestant, if we're going to reject 19:40 something wholesale, we're going to find ourselves 19:42 in a bit of a pickle. 19:44 We do not arrive at truth by a rejection of what someone else 19:48 teaches, but by an acceptance of what Scripture teaches. 19:51 Amen? 19:52 So over the course of our time together, what we're going to 19:54 try and do, especially in our first two presentations here, 19:56 is we're going to try and lay a broad Biblical foundation. 20:01 A broad... What, everyone? 20:02 A broad Biblical foundation for this idea that God is one 20:08 and yet is also plural. 20:11 In one sense He is a singularity, 20:13 and in another sense He is a plurality. 20:16 In fact, I think that's the title of our 20:17 presentation tonight. 20:18 The Mystery of God: Singularity and Plurality. 20:23 Now for ease of communication... 20:27 What words did I say, everyone? 20:29 For ease of communication we are going to use, 20:34 probably sparingly, but we'll employ the word 'Trinity'. 20:37 But let's be very clear. 20:38 Let me be very clear with you what I mean 20:41 when I say that word. 20:42 When I use the word, it means what I define it as meaning, 20:47 not what somebody else defines it as meaning. 20:49 Make sense? 20:50 In fact, a friend of mine recently wrote a book... 20:52 It's a small book. Only about 900 pages. 20:57 I'll show it to you tomorrow night. 20:58 ...on the Trinity. 21:00 And his name is Glyn Parfitt. He's an Australian, a scientist. 21:04 And really a wonderful, wonderful man. 21:06 The book only took him 12 years to research and write. 21:09 Okay, so just a quick little book he wrote. 21:13 900 short pages. 21:15 And at the very beginning of that book, when Glyn is writing, 21:19 he has to defend his use of the word 'Trinity'. 21:23 He has to defend his use. 21:25 How else are we going to communicate this idea of 21:27 God's singularity and yet God's plurality 21:30 if we don't use some word, whatever that nomenclature, 21:33 whatever that language is. 21:34 And I want to just say tonight what Glyn says right in the 21:38 opening page of his book. 21:39 So listen to this and tell me if you think this is 21:40 the better part of wisdom. 21:42 He writes, "I would be happy not to use the word 'Trinity' 21:48 at all, as it does not occur in the Bible. 21:51 Moreover, the word 'Trinity' means different things 21:54 to different people. 21:55 And there are some statements made by Trinitarians 21:57 with which I could not agree. 21:59 I could, therefore, give the wrong impression by saying, 22:02 'I am a Trinitarian.' 22:05 On the other hand, because my beliefs fall within the range 22:09 of beliefs generally regarded as Trinitarian, I would certainly 22:14 give the wrong impression if I were to say, 22:15 'I am not a Trinitarian.' 22:19 For this reason, when I am asked, I have to confess 22:22 that, 'Yes, I am a Trinitarian,' and then do any 22:25 explaining necessary." 22:27 Do that sound reasonable to you, everyone? 22:29 Very simple. 22:30 So we will be using the term as we define it. 22:34 What that basically protects us from then is somebody coming up 22:37 with some strange odd weird unbiblical definition 22:42 that they find on the internet. 22:43 Because, you know, everything on the internet is true. 22:47 Some strange odd weird definition on the internet 22:50 of the Trinity, and then coming to me and saying, 22:52 "Do you believe in the Trinity?" And I say, "Yes." 22:53 They say, "Well, you believe this." 22:55 "No, no, no, no, no. 22:56 That's not my definition. 22:58 That might be someone's definition, 23:00 but let me tell you what I believe." 23:03 Now I happen to be a member of a community of faith 23:06 called, Seventh-day Adventists. 23:08 And Seventh-day Adventists have a single creed. 23:11 And that creed is the Bible; the Bible and the Bible only, 23:14 sola scriptura. 23:15 Can you say amen to that? 23:16 Very reasonable. 23:18 What the Adventists have done... 23:20 And I think it was the better part of wisdom, 23:22 and I totally support this. 23:23 ...is, rather than having a creed, they have a series 23:27 of statements that are called, fundamental beliefs. 23:30 It comes from the Latin word, fundament. 23:32 Which just means, foundation. 23:33 Okay, a series of foundational beliefs. 23:36 These things are not set in stone in a creedal sense 23:40 where you have to say it just like we say it, 23:42 or you're not a member of our club. 23:44 There are simply ways of articulating how we 23:47 understand scripture, what we think Scripture is teaching, 23:50 and this is where we're at now. 23:52 These are our beliefs. 23:54 All that's inspired is Scripture. 23:57 Amen? 23:58 In fact, here's a very simple rule of thumb for all of us 24:01 to always bear in mind. 24:03 There are only two kinds of words in the universe 24:06 when it comes to these kinds of things. 24:08 You have God's words which are contained in Scripture, 24:11 and then we have word's about God's words. 24:15 Right? The words of theologians and expositors 24:18 and preachers like myself. 24:20 So two kinds of words; God's words and 24:22 words about God's words. 24:24 Okay, now which is absolutely authoritative? 24:28 God's words. 24:29 And are these words authoritative? 24:32 The answer is, yes, in as much as they are in harmony with... 24:36 What? 24:37 ...these words. 24:38 We together, everyone, on that? 24:39 Okay, so I going to read you this very simple statement that 24:42 my community of faith has said, "This is what we believe." 24:45 I think they've done a very good job. 24:47 And it's going to sort of lay out for us, as we start tonight, 24:51 definitionally, the direction that we're going. 24:54 Okay, and this is what's regarded as, or called, 24:57 fundamental belief number two for the Adventist community. 25:02 Anchors Of Truth. 25:05 Now again, this is not an authoritative creedal statement. 25:10 It's simply an articulation of what my community of faith 25:14 believes the Bible is teaching. 25:16 Are we together on that, everyone? 25:17 Here we go. 25:19 "There is one God." 25:22 Are we comfortable with that? 25:23 We're going to be looking at that in just a moment. 25:24 "There is one God..." There is the singularity. 25:28 "...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." 25:30 There is the... What? 25:32 ...plurality. Very good. 25:33 "There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 25:35 a unity of three co-eternal Persons. 25:40 God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, 25:45 and ever present. 25:47 He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known 25:51 through His self-revelation. 25:54 He is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service 25:58 by the whole creation." 26:00 That's the end. 26:01 Now, when I read Scripture... 26:03 And I've had the privilege of being a 26:05 Christian now for 15 years. 26:06 I've read the Bible many times. 26:08 Where I'm at right now today... 26:09 What is today? January whatever, 2012. 26:12 Where I'm at right now, I think that this is a very 26:16 accurate and very good articulation of what 26:19 Scripture teaches. 26:20 Are you with me on that? 26:21 But the authority resides here, not in any words that any man 26:26 says about Scripture. 26:28 So far so good? 26:29 Okay, so now let's get into Scripture. 26:33 The first thing that we're going to do, even before we get 26:35 into the discussion on God's singularity 26:39 and yet plurality, which is going to set the table for us 26:42 to get into the unknown God, the Holy Spirit. 26:45 Which is going to be nights or sessions 3, 4, and 5. 26:49 So we've got to deal with this before we can deal with this. 26:51 But before we can deal with this, the triune nature of God 26:54 as singular and plural, we have to deal with something 26:58 very fundamental right at the outset. 27:01 And that is, we have to recognize 27:03 the limits of language. 27:06 Let's all say that together. 27:07 We have to recognize the limits of language. Right? 27:12 Everyone of us in this room has had the experience before 27:14 of trying to communicate something and it's not 27:17 coming across to our listener. 27:19 Is that true? 27:20 And you do your very... In fact, it's so funny. 27:22 Just last night, I was having a conversation with my wife 27:25 and we got into a bit of an argument. 27:27 Is that okay sometimes? 27:29 I mean, occasionally it happens. 27:32 The sign of a good marriage is not whether or not 27:36 you get into arguments, but how you deal with those arguments. 27:38 Amen. 27:39 So we were just... Here's what happened. 27:41 Short version, she got a speeding ticket. 27:43 A speeding ticket. 27:46 Just when our record was clear. 27:48 Since September of last year, all tickets were in the past. 27:51 It was like the Jubilee. Right? 27:54 And then my lovely wife was driving a little bit too fast. 27:56 And I, rather than being the gracious understanding husband 28:00 that I could have been and should have been, 28:02 I got a little upset. 28:03 And then she got a little defensive. 28:06 But then I tried to say, "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. 28:08 And I was trying to communicate, and she felt like I had 28:11 attacked her and she was upset, and she felt 28:13 like I wasn't understanding. 28:14 And we had a lack of communication. 28:16 Does that ever happen with you? 28:18 Now we made up and we kissed and everything was great. 28:21 Because I said, "Sweetheart, we can't leave on this note 28:23 because what happens if I die? 28:25 What happens if my plane crashes? 28:26 We can't leave like this." 28:27 And so, "Yea, I know." 28:28 Okay, and then we... Everything was great. 28:31 But the point is this. 28:33 Communication is a tricky thing. 28:36 To really get another human being to actually understand 28:40 what it is you're saying is not an easy thing. 28:43 And as a public communicator, I tell you, to get hundreds or 28:46 thousands of people to try and understand what you're saying 28:49 is no easy feat. 28:51 Now, if I'm describing to you chocolate chip cookies, 28:55 or a baseball game, or a school bus, language is going to 29:00 do pretty well. 29:01 So if I say, "yellow," you've got a picture. 29:04 If I say, "tires," you've got a picture. 29:06 If I say, "baseball mitt," you've got a picture. 29:08 If I say, "baseball bat," you've got a picture. 29:12 But when we start talking about God, 29:15 language begins to show its limitations. 29:19 It begins to show its not perfect ability, the inability, 29:25 to communicate things that are eternal, 29:27 things that are ineffable, things that are incommunicable, 29:30 very quickly. 29:32 So what we have to do any time that we talk about God 29:35 is recognize that there are very serious and very significant 29:39 limitations that language has when it comes to describing 29:43 God and the things of God. 29:45 Are we together on that, everyone? 29:46 Okay. 29:48 The temptation... 29:49 To go back to Paul standing before the Greeks 29:52 who had crafted all of their statues and they had 29:54 their pantheon of deities. 29:57 The Greek temptation, in Greek mythology, was to... 30:01 I'm going to give you a big word here. 30:03 ...anthropomorphize. 30:06 Have you ever heard that word before, 30:08 anthropomorphize or an anthropomorphism? 30:11 Okay, it comes from two words. Very simple. 30:13 The word "morph," which means to change. 30:15 Right? 30:16 And "anthropos" which mean, mankind. 30:21 So an anthropomorphism is making something like man. 30:26 Are you tracking with me? 30:28 And we do this with our pets. 30:29 You know, our little dog will come and we say, 30:30 "Oh, he's so sad." 30:33 No, he's not sad. 30:34 I don't know what he is, but he's probably not sad. 30:37 You see characteristics in that dog that look to you like 30:42 human characteristics. 30:43 And so you anthropomorphize and you say, oh if that was a 30:47 human being, that would be called sadness 30:49 or that would be called gladness. 30:50 I'm not saying that dogs can't experience 30:51 some level of emotion. 30:53 I think they can. But we do this. 30:54 We give human characteristics to things that are not human. 30:59 Now sometimes that's appropriate. 31:00 But when it comes to God, there's a slippery slope. 31:04 What our Greek friends did is, they imagined that 31:06 God was like themselves. 31:10 And so they made gods who sought revenge and who had 31:14 malice and who had jealousy and envy and anger and etc. 31:18 They made gods in their own image. 31:21 These were anthropomorphisms where they basically turned God 31:24 into something like themselves. 31:26 Now there are certainly passages in Scripture where God is, 31:30 in His own language, communicating to us 31:32 so that we can understand who and what He is 31:36 in language that sounds very human. 31:38 Are you with me? 31:39 For example, the Bible says that God wrote the Ten Commandments 31:43 on tablets of stone with His own finger. 31:47 Okay, so we get the idea here. 31:49 We get the idea. A finger. 31:50 This is a human entity; a finger. 31:54 Part of a hand, part of an arm, part of a body. 31:57 And God wrote with His own finger. 31:58 It's not to say that He didn't do that. 32:00 He may well have done that. 32:02 But this is taking God and using human language to try and 32:06 communicate what He's doing. 32:09 These anthropomorphisms can be appropriate up to a point. 32:14 Okay, now I want you to imagine that up here on our platform... 32:17 We'll be using this over and over again. 32:19 I want you to imagine that there's a line right here. 32:22 Okay what is there, everyone? 32:24 Actually, we'll do it even better. 32:25 We'll just say there's a line right here because, in fact, 32:27 there is a line right here. 32:29 So you see how this stage ends right here, 32:32 and beyond there is no stage. 32:34 Are we together on that? 32:35 Okay. 32:37 For those of you that have been to the ocean, 32:38 you've stood on the shore and you've looked out. 32:41 And the ocean looks big or small? 32:43 It looks huge, doesn't it. 32:45 You're standing here and you look out at the 32:46 vastness of the ocean. 32:48 Okay, I want you to have that picture in your mind. 32:50 We're standing here at the edge of human language. 32:54 Okay, this is the very edge of the very best and clearest 32:58 articulation that human language can give us, 33:01 English can give us. 33:02 That's the only language that I speak. 33:04 So I'm going to speak in English tonight. 33:06 The very closest and best articulation of who and what 33:09 God is gets us here. 33:11 But the point is this. 33:13 There is still an infinity beyond, an eternity beyond 33:17 of what God actually is. 33:21 This is just really getting us headed in the right direction. 33:24 But at some point, we come up to the sea and we say, "Wow." 33:29 God is all of that beyond. 33:33 Are you with me on that, everyone? 33:35 Now there are many passages in Scripture that demonstrate this. 33:37 Let's just look at a few of them. 33:39 Come with me to Deuteronomy. 33:42 That's the fifth book of Scripture. 33:44 Deuteronomy chapter 29. 33:45 I'm going to go through these very quickly, 33:46 so hopefully your fingers are feeling dexterous and quick. 33:50 Deuteronomy chapter 29. 33:52 And I'm going to read the very last verse of that chapter. 33:55 Deuteronomy 29 verse 29. 33:59 Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong 34:04 to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed 34:08 belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do 34:13 all the words of this law." 34:14 Moses here demarcates between two things; 34:16 the secret things and the revealed things. 34:19 The revealed things are the things that God has shown us. 34:22 That's what the word means. 34:23 He has revealed them, he has disclosed them. 34:26 Those things belong to us. 34:27 And they take place within the limits of human language. 34:31 Right here, all of this, Moses is saying, has been revealed. 34:36 But there is an infinity beyond, there is an ocean beyond 34:40 that we don't understand. 34:42 The secret things have not been revealed to us. 34:45 Who and what God is in His actual essence; 34:49 impenetrable, ineffable, incommunicable. 34:53 So we need to just be clear right up front that all of the 34:56 language that we're going to use, all of the analogies 34:58 that we're going to use, they have limitations, 35:01 inherent limitations, because human language has limitations. 35:05 Amen, everyone? 35:06 Okay, another passage of Scripture, just a couple more 35:08 to this effect, notice with me the book of Job. 35:12 Join me in Job 11. 35:14 Let's stay in the Old Testament here for just a moment. 35:17 Job 11 and verse 7. 35:21 Job 11:7 35:28 Job 11 verse 7 says, "Can you search out 35:32 the deep things of God?" 35:34 That's very much in keeping with our ocean metaphor here. 35:37 "Can you search out the deep things of God? 35:40 Can you find out..." 35:42 Now what does your Bible say? 35:44 "...the limits of the Almighty?" 35:46 And obviously the question is asked in a rhetorical sense. 35:49 "Can you.." And the implied answer is what? 35:53 Of course not. 35:54 Verse 8, "They are higher than heaven; what can you do? 35:57 Deeper than Sheol; what can you know? 36:00 Their measure is longer than the earth..." 36:02 And here's our metaphor again. 36:04 "...broader than the sea." 36:06 Okay, so we need to understand that 36:09 we are like little children. 36:12 "Boo boo didi boo. Gaga juju. Gigi boja boo." 36:16 That's us... Right? 36:18 ...trying to communicate quantum cosmology. 36:23 Right? 36:24 That's us with all of our sophisticated 36:27 theological language, is the equivalent of, 36:30 "Gigi boo gigi. Oh, gigi boo gigi boo." 36:33 Right? With an infinity beyond, with an eternity beyond. 36:38 Are there things that we can know about God, yes or no? 36:41 Are there things that He has revealed, yes or no? 36:43 But are there limits to what that can actually reveal? 36:47 Of course it can, and we need to be very clear right up front 36:51 that in a very real sense God is the unknown God. 36:56 He is known to us. 36:57 Of course, the fullest disclosure of who and what 37:00 God is was revealed to us in the life, death, 37:02 and resurrection of Jesus. 37:04 Amen? 37:05 But language, words; they're clumsy. 37:09 They have their limitations. 37:10 They begin to stretch and they begin to break. 37:13 One more passage from the Old Testament, 37:14 then we'll look at another one from the New Testament. 37:15 This is a favorite. 37:17 It's from Psalm 145. Psalm 145. 37:26 And verse 3. Psalm 145 verse 3. 37:31 It says, "Great is the Lord..." 37:34 Can you say amen to that? 37:35 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." 37:38 God deserves our praise. Amen? 37:40 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." 37:42 But notice this, notice what the psalmist follows up with here. 37:45 "And His greatness is..." 37:48 What does your Bible say? 37:50 "...unsearchable." 37:53 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." 37:56 And here we're praising Him. 37:57 "And His greatness is..." 37:58 Here we are standing on the sea of the shore. 38:01 The shore of the sea. 38:02 His greatness is unsearchable. 38:05 Right? 38:06 Can we fully apprehend the limitlessness, 38:09 the illimitability of God, the eternality of God? 38:13 No, no. Absolutely not. 38:16 So when we come to the New Testament, Paul... 38:20 You've heard of him, right? 38:21 He wrote a letter to a young man named Timothy. 38:25 Okay, let's read the first of those letters. 38:27 1 Timothy chapter 3, join me there. 38:29 This will be our sort of final passage here to underscore this 38:33 introductory point. 38:36 1 Timothy chapter 3 and we're going to read verse 16. 38:44 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. 38:48 The Bible says, "And without controversy 38:53 great is the mystery of..." 38:56 What does your Bible say? 38:58 "... great is the mystery of godliness." 38:59 Now when Paul employs this phrase here, 39:01 "without controversy," what he's saying is, 39:04 this cannot be disputed. 39:06 "Without disputation," some translations say. 39:09 No one can argue with the fact that the mystery of God 39:14 and of godliness is awesome. 39:18 He then begins to give an articulation of the 39:20 central feature of that mystery, which is the incarnation. 39:23 Namely, God becoming a man. 39:25 He continues, "God was manifested in the flesh, 39:27 justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, 39:30 preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, 39:33 received up in glory." 39:36 So the first thing that we want to lay down here as we... 39:39 We have five presentations together. 39:42 We're going to be talking about God as a Trinity. 39:45 Is there one God? Yes or no? 39:49 Okay, is He singular in His Godness? 39:52 Yes, He alone is God. 39:55 But God, we're going to see, is also revealed to us 39:57 as a plurality; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 40:01 We want to spend most of our time on the Holy Spirit. 40:03 Because, for the most part, we have a mental picture of God. 40:06 Yeah, we've got God. 40:07 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." 40:10 We've got a pretty good picture of the Son. 40:12 We know the Father, we know the Son. 40:13 We understand these roles and relationships. 40:15 But who is this Spirit? 40:17 Who and what is this? 40:20 What's He about? What's His job? 40:22 What does He look like? What's His role? 40:24 But before we can spend too much time diving right into what 40:28 the Spirit is and who the Spirit is and what the Spirit is, 40:30 we first need to establish what does Scripture reveal about 40:33 God in His nature and God in His character. 40:36 Okay? And before we can do that, we need to recognize 40:39 that there are very significant, very serious, and very real 40:43 limits of... 40:45 What word am I going to say here? 40:46 ...limits of language. 40:49 Okay, so language has its limits. 40:51 So we've looked at many passages here that basically say that. 40:54 The secret things? They're for God. 40:57 The things that are revealed? They're for us and our children. 40:59 "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." 41:02 Right? "Can you search out the limits of God?" 41:06 Of course not. 41:07 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; 41:09 how unsearchable is His greatness." 41:12 So far so good, everyone? 41:14 So a very appropriate place for us to start in trying to 41:18 put together our picture of who and what God is... 41:21 And by the way, that's what the word theology means; 41:24 the study of God. 41:26 Of God's revelation, of God's nature, of God's character. 41:29 A very good place for us to start in a brief but systematic 41:35 study of who and what God is, would be in what book? 41:38 If you were just going to start, where would you start? 41:41 Let's start in Genesis. 41:43 What chapter do you think we should start in? 41:45 Let's just start in Genesis chapter 1. 41:46 Go there with me if you would. 41:48 Genesis chapter 1. 41:51 And of course, we know these words right out of the gates. 41:54 "In the beginning..." What? 41:56 So we're introduced to God in the very first phrase of the 41:59 very first verse of the very first chapter in Scripture, 42:03 first book in Scripture. 42:05 "In the beginning,..." What did God do? 42:06 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 42:09 And what we have here is a very wonderful, very beautiful, 42:12 very poetic chronological laying out of God's creative acts. 42:18 Day one He did this, and day two He did this, 42:21 and day three He did this, and day four He did this. 42:23 And as Moses is moving through, as God has shown him this in 42:26 cinematic vision, as Moses is moving through in this beautiful 42:30 passage of God's creative acts, he gets to the 42:36 crowning act of God's creation. 42:38 The top, the most important thing. 42:41 It wasn't the hippopotamus, it wasn't the river, 42:43 it wasn't the ocean, it wasn't the meadow, 42:45 it wasn't the sea anemone. 42:46 The crowning act of God's creation is that which 42:50 was in His own image; mankind. 42:53 And so we're going to look at that here in verse 26. 42:56 Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. 43:00 It says, "Then God said, 'Let...'" 43:05 And what does your Bible say there? 43:08 That's a very interesting thing, isn't it? 43:11 Now, "us" is a pronoun. Right? 43:13 And is that a plural or a singular pronoun? 43:17 That's a plural pronoun. 43:18 "Let Us..." 43:19 Now this is a little confusing in the English because "God", 43:23 which is the antecedent noun to "Us", is singular. 43:27 Right? I can see it right there. 43:28 "Then God said..." 43:29 God is in the singular. There's no "s" at the end. 43:32 So there's my antecedent noun. 43:34 It says, "Then God said, 'Let...'" 43:36 And here comes my pronoun. 43:38 But it's not in the singular. It's in the... 43:40 Now why might that be? 43:43 Well, the answer is that what appears singular to us 43:47 in the English, "God said," in the Hebrew is 43:50 actually the word, "Elohim," which is in the plural. 43:54 Elohim, plural. 43:57 It would be the functional equivalent of our "Gods." 44:01 Right? 44:02 But Moses, of course, is writing from a monotheistic perspective. 44:05 We're going to get to that in just a moment. 44:07 And so, the singular in the English 44:09 is retained appropriately. 44:11 "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in...'" 44:15 Here comes another pronoun; plural possessive. 44:18 "...Our image, according to Our likeness." 44:21 So three pronouns there. 44:22 "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; 44:24 let..." 44:26 What does your Bible say? "Let them..." 44:29 Is that plural or singular? 44:31 That's plural, referring to Adam and Eve; mankind. 44:33 "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 44:35 over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 44:38 over all the earth and over every creeping 44:40 thing that creeps on the earth. 44:41 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God 44:44 He created him; male and female He created..." 44:46 What's our word there? "...them." 44:48 "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 44:50 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" 44:51 The very first command that God gives to the couple 44:54 is to be fruitful and multiply. 44:57 To make others. 44:59 Now let's just try here to appreciate the 45:01 significance of this. 45:02 This is the first introduction that we have to God. 45:05 I mean, right at the very beginning. 45:06 In Genesis chapter 1, we're introduced to God as Creator. 45:09 And we're introduced to God as not only creating the mountains 45:12 and the meadows and the streams and the forests 45:14 and the hippopotamus and the giraffes, 45:17 and the solar systems and the stars, 45:19 He creates man, mankind. 45:22 But when He creates mankind, He says, "Let Us make man 45:26 in Our image. 45:29 Let them have dominion." 45:32 When He creates a "them," He creates a male and a female. 45:36 That is to say, two. 45:38 How many, everyone? Two. 45:39 And what's the first thing that He says to both of them? 45:41 What's the first command He give to them? 45:43 Make another. 45:45 Make another. "Be fruitful and multiply." 45:46 Make a family. 45:48 Now I want you just to imagine a very simple thing here. 45:51 Imagine that this is a mirror. 45:53 It's not, it's a book. 45:54 But just imagine it's a mirror. 45:55 Okay? 45:56 Now, if I have a mirror right here and I'm looking 46:01 in the mirror just like this. 46:02 Now let's say there is another person 46:03 that's standing right here. 46:04 Okay? 46:06 There standing right here and they're looking 46:07 sort of at an angle here at the mirror. 46:09 But I'm standing directly in front of the mirror. 46:11 When that person looks at the mirror, this person here, 46:15 what are they going to see in that mirror? 46:18 Okay, okay, now be very careful what you say here. 46:20 What are they going to see in the mirror? 46:23 Let me ask a simpler question. 46:24 Okay, you're correct when you say they see me. 46:26 Okay, so here's the question. 46:28 It that me? 46:30 Okay, what is that? 46:32 That's a reflection or an image of me. 46:36 Now here's something very interesting about 46:37 mirrors and images. 46:39 That isn't me. 46:41 But whatever is there is a very accurate picture of this. 46:45 Because this is an image of this. 46:48 Are you with me on that? 46:49 So I want to ask you a simple question. 46:52 According to Genesis 1, right here in the very beginning... 46:54 We're just being systematic as we begin our study, 46:57 five part study. 47:00 ...what was it that was in the image of God? 47:07 Be more precise. 47:09 Ahhh. 47:11 Male and female. 47:12 And what is the first command that God gives to them? 47:15 Make another. 47:16 So I'm going to say it this way. 47:17 What God made in His image was a family. 47:23 God made a family in His image. 47:25 Now let's go back to our illustration here. 47:27 If I'm looking in the mirror here and there's a person 47:30 standing right here, is that image a very 47:33 accurate reflection of me? 47:35 Yes or no? 47:36 Is the image me? 47:38 No, but it's a reflection of me. 47:40 So what do we see when we look in the image that 47:44 God made of Himself in Genesis 1. 47:47 What do we see there? 47:49 We see a man and a... 47:52 And God saying to them, "Make another." 47:55 We see a family in the image of God. 47:59 Very interesting. 48:01 "Let us," plural, "make man in Our image," plural possessive. 48:07 "Let them..." 48:08 I'm going to say something here that I think you'll get. 48:11 Only a "them" could represent an "us." 48:17 Right? 48:18 How could a "he," singular, or just a "she," singular, 48:23 represent an "us?" 48:27 No, no, no, no, no. 48:28 "Let Us make man in Our image." 48:30 "Let..." What's the word? "Let them..." 48:32 A plural represents a plural. 48:35 Okay, that's Genesis 1. 48:36 But things get very interesting in Genesis 2. 48:39 Join me there, Genesis 2. 48:42 Just starting very slowly here, laying the ground work. 48:45 Are we going too fast? 48:47 No, nice and slow. Genesis chapter 2. 48:49 By the way, tomorrow night... 48:53 I'll be here tomorrow night. 48:54 Are you going to here tomorrow night? 48:55 I will be here tomorrow night. 48:56 I give you a solemn promise that as long as I'm still alive, 49:00 I will be here tomorrow night. 49:02 This program starts at... What time did we start tonight? 49:04 Okay, you've got it. 49:06 Tomorrow night after this program, there is 49:08 another live program. 49:09 Because 3ABN does their live programs on Thursdays. 49:12 And tomorrow night, it's my friend from the seminary 49:16 at Berrien Springs. 49:18 Dr. Ranko Stefanovic is doing a two hour live program. 49:23 And guess what his topic is. 49:26 The Holy Spirit. Good guess. 49:27 In a sense it is. 49:28 He's doing a two hour live program on 49:31 the Trinity tomorrow night. 49:33 I'll be sitting there live. 49:34 I'm going to go in there and make faces at him 49:35 and try to get him to... 49:37 No, but anyway the point is this. 49:39 To me it's such a... I didn't know that. 49:40 He just stopped by my room today with Dr. Russell 49:42 and they had prayer with me, and they said, "Oh, we're here. 49:44 We're recording some programs on the book of Matthew. 49:46 And tomorrow night," he said, "tomorrow night 49:48 I'm doing a program on the Trinity." 49:49 I said, "Ranko, I'm speaking about the Trinity tonight." 49:53 He said, "Well, this must be very necessary." 49:56 And let me tell you something. 49:57 It is. 49:59 And let me say it this way. 50:01 It is important that we understand the Trinity 50:03 and that we understand the nature of God. 50:05 Not because it's unclear. 50:08 But because many of our own people and many well meaning 50:11 Christians out there just don't know what Scripture teaches. 50:15 So when someone comes, perhaps a well meaning person, 50:17 perhaps even a sincere person, and puts a pamphlet or 50:20 puts a tract or puts a CD in their hand that says, 50:23 "Oh, this is pagan." "Oh, this is Catholic." 50:26 "Oh, we can't believe this." 50:27 And they don't know what Scripture actually teaches, 50:30 they're led away by the nose into something that 50:33 seems plausible and seems realistic. 50:35 But what we want to do here and tomorrow night in 50:38 Dr Stefanovic's program, we want to look at anchors of truth. 50:42 So that's what we're doing. 50:43 We're just going through a very simple, very methodical, 50:46 study of Scripture. 50:47 First understanding God and His nature. 50:50 And then looking specifically at the Holy Spirit. 50:54 Are we together, everyone? 50:56 Genesis chapter 2. 50:58 Genesis chapter 2 verse 7. 51:02 Actually, we'll pick it up in verse 24. 51:04 I was going to read verse 7, let's just do this. 51:06 Verse 24 of Genesis 2. 51:08 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother 51:11 and shall be joined to his wife..." 51:14 Now watch this. 51:15 "...and they..." 51:17 "...they..." That's plural. 51:19 "...shall become..." What does your Bible say? 51:22 "...one flesh." 51:24 Okay now, this is a very important point here. 51:27 The two become... What? 51:30 Okay, now I want to ask you a question. 51:32 Is that a contradiction? 51:34 Wait, I thought we were talking about two. 51:36 Are we talking about two? 51:38 But I thought we were talking about one. 51:40 Are we talking about one? 51:41 Well which is it, one or two? 51:44 Yes, is the answer. Right? 51:46 Are we talking about two? Yes. 51:47 We're talking about Adam and Eve; male and female. 51:50 Two individuals, one family. 51:54 The two, one flesh. 51:56 And in that procreative union, that sexual union, 51:59 another is created. 52:01 Which is the first thing that God had said to them. 52:03 "Be fruitful and multiply." 52:06 Now the word here for "one"... 52:07 This is an important word and we're going to come back to it 52:09 tomorrow, but this is something for you to remember. 52:13 The word here is the Hebrew word, echad. 52:16 Echad. 52:18 And it means, one. 52:20 But it doesn't mean "one" necessarily in the 52:23 rigidly singular sense. 52:26 Okay that word is, yachid. 52:27 Yachid. 52:28 This is the word "echad", which means "one" in terms of unity. 52:35 In terms of... What word did I say, everyone? 52:37 Unity. 52:38 Okay, because we have the man, we have the woman. 52:40 How many is that? One plus one is... 52:42 But when they come together, they become what? 52:45 One flesh. 52:46 So the two become... 52:49 Do we see plurality there? 52:51 Do we see singularity there? 52:53 We sure do. 52:54 Genesis chapter 3. Join me. 52:57 We're just going to walk through this. 52:59 Genesis chapter 3. 53:02 We might get one more passage in tonight. 53:05 And then we will have set the ground work very nicely, 53:08 set the table very nicely for tomorrow night. 53:10 Genesis chapter 3 verse 22. 53:12 This is after Adam has partaken of the fruit. 53:16 The wife, Eve, has partaken of the fruit. 53:19 They have fallen into sin and rebellion. 53:21 Verse 22, "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man 53:25 has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. 53:31 And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the 53:33 tree of life, and eat, and live forever;' 53:34 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden." 53:38 So, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us." 53:41 Okay, so here's a fascinating thing. 53:45 We are introduced to God right at the very beginning, 53:48 I mean, at the very outset of Scripture, 53:52 as one God who is also an Us. 53:58 Do we singularity? "God said..." 54:01 Yes. 54:02 But do we also see plurality? 54:03 Yes. 54:05 And we see it most strikingly in the thing that 54:09 God makes in His image. 54:11 This is the mirror. 54:12 God is essentially saying, "Hey, this is what I'm like." 54:15 "Do you want to know what I'm like?" 54:16 And we're going to pick that up tomorrow night. 54:17 This is the most beautiful, glorious, life transforming 54:22 picture of who and what God is. 54:23 Because when we get to the New Testament, 54:26 John the apostle is going to say three of the most 54:31 phenomenally beautiful words in all of the English language 54:36 when put in juxtaposition. 54:37 He's going to say... 54:39 That's many thousands of years future yet. 54:41 But this is where Scripture is headed. 54:42 "God is love." 54:50 Not merely loving. 54:52 Which would be an adjective describing a behavior. 54:54 God is; in His very nature, in His very essence. 54:58 God is... What's our word? 55:00 ...love. 55:01 But wait a minute. 55:04 Love, by definition, is the principle of 55:07 putting others first. 55:10 Yeah? 55:11 That's love. Right? 55:13 "Love seeketh not its own," 1 Corinthians 13 verse 5. 55:16 "Greater love hath no man than this; 55:17 that a man would lay down his life for his..." 55:20 So love, by definition, has others. 55:23 Are you with me on that? 55:24 Now hear it again. 55:26 "God is..." What? "...love." 55:30 If love is the principle of putting others first, 55:32 then what, by definition, do we have to have 55:35 in order to have love? 55:37 Got to have others. 55:38 And that's where we're headed with this. 55:40 So right here at the outset in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 55:44 we're introduced to God. 55:46 Right? God the Creator, God the Sovereign. 55:49 And He says, "Let Us make man in Our image." 55:52 Here's a mirror that God can show to the angels, 55:55 and God can show to the other planets in the other universe, 55:58 "Hey, this is what I'm like." 55:59 Now why would God have to create something in His image? 56:01 I don't have time to unpack this, but the short version is, 56:03 because of the limits of language. 56:06 Because of the limits of language and of analogy. 56:10 Because God is so totally awesome, so totally different, 56:14 so totally amazing, He creates a thing and says, 56:18 "Well, this is what I'm like. This is what I'm like." 56:22 The question is, what was that which He made in His image? 56:28 What was that thing that He made in His image? 56:30 Was it just males? 56:33 Are males in the image of God and not females? No. 56:36 Are females also in the image of God? 56:38 So what is it that God made in His image? 56:41 He made a family. 56:43 He made a man, He made a woman. 56:44 And the very first thing He said to them was, 56:46 "Make another." 56:50 Are we beginning to lay the ground work here 56:51 for our time together? 56:53 We're talking tonight about the mystery of God; 56:55 singularity and plurality. 56:57 We have effectively set the table. 56:59 All the pieces are on the table. 57:00 The silverware is there, the plates are there. 57:02 And tomorrow, we're going to continue to set the table, 57:05 and then we'll start eating the meal. 57:06 But let me tell you, the picture that emerges, 57:09 the picture of God is so beautiful, so stirring, 57:12 and so uniquely Christian that it will just melt your heart. 57:17 It is so profoundly beautiful. 57:20 And what's more than that, it's not only beautiful, 57:24 it's true. |
Revised 2014-12-17