Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL170001A
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend and sit back
00:03 as we explore God's word together 00:04 on this edition of House Calls. 00:25 Hello, and welcome to another House Calls program. 00:28 My name is John Lomacang. 00:29 I like to thank you for tuning in to join me, 00:33 and my protege, John Stanton. 00:36 Good to have you here, John. Good to be here. 00:38 It's always good to be able to sit in the saddle together 00:40 with you and to talk about the Word of God, 00:43 and we are going to really enjoy this program today. 00:46 We would like to encourage you to get your Bibles, 00:49 get your pens, invite your family, 00:51 and your friends if you're joining us from home. 00:54 You know, it's a wonderful opportunity. 00:56 And we have a lot to present in this program. 00:58 We're gonna talk about a topic that has been 01:01 and is probably still controversial 01:04 in the minds of many. 01:05 The divinity of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Godhead, 01:08 the Trinity, all of those coupled together. 01:11 And we're gonna deal with that 01:12 over the course of a number of programs, 01:14 but we are gonna talk about that today 01:16 because it's important. 01:18 If we are in a saving relationship with Jesus, 01:21 we need to understand all that pertains 01:24 to the plan of salvation. 01:25 And surely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 01:28 are involved in our saving relationship. 01:32 But before we do anything, we'll let you know 01:33 in just a moment how to get a copy of the lesson 01:36 or how to get a copy, 01:37 or to send your emails that is, to follow along with us, 01:41 but before we do anything, 01:42 we always ask for the Lord's blessing. 01:44 So, John, would you have prayer for us? 01:45 Let's do that. 01:47 Father in heaven, we're covering a subject today 01:50 that is beyond our minds, so we need Your Spirit. 01:53 And we ask that You would guide and direct us here today, 01:56 be with the program, all that we talk about. 01:58 And, Lord, we just pray that You would touch the lives 02:01 of those that are listening, 02:03 those that are watching this program 02:05 that they might also draw close to you 02:07 and to know you better in Jesus' name. 02:09 Amen. Amen. 02:11 Now if you like a copy 02:12 or you like to send your emails, that is... 02:14 We get emails, John. 02:16 We also get snail mail because this program 02:19 is not just about us talking to you, 02:22 but about you sharing with us. 02:24 And we like to always begin our program, John, 02:26 with Bible questions. 02:27 The Bible questions are very important. 02:29 If you have any Bible questions you would like to send to us, 02:31 send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org. 02:35 That's housecalls@3abn.org. 02:38 And we will download those questions 02:40 and respond to them as quickly as we can 02:42 but we cannot get to all of those. 02:44 So really be patient with us because sometimes 02:47 some of you tend to get little frustrated 02:49 if you don't hear your questions. 02:51 You may have missed it on the program 02:52 or we can't entertain 02:54 but so many of them in each program. 02:56 Ain't that right, John? Right. That's right. 02:58 And so what's our first question for today 03:00 and what do you have? 03:02 Well, I got a question that's along the lines 03:04 of what our topic is gonna be about today. 03:05 Okay. 03:06 And it comes from Bermona and she says, I've been asking, 03:10 praying, crying out to God 03:12 to fill me with His Holy Spirit. 03:15 How do I know or how do you know 03:17 if the Holy Spirit dwells within you? 03:21 Let's go to John 14. 03:23 One of my favorite passages in scripture is found 03:26 in John 14 and so, in fact, 03:29 as I preach on Personal Ministries, 03:33 this is my go-to text often for that ministry. 03:39 And I'm gonna read starting in verse 12, 03:41 because verse 12 helps establish context 03:44 to what Jesus is talking about here. 03:47 So in John 14:12, it says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, 03:50 he who believes in Me, the works that I do 03:54 he will do also. 03:55 And greater works than these he will do, 03:58 because I go to My Father." 04:00 And then here is a wonderful text 04:01 that really gives us an assurance, 04:04 "And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, 04:07 that the Father may be glorified in the Son." 04:10 If you ask anything in my name, I'll do it. 04:13 And I love that, although often it's taken out of context, 04:17 you refer to the name and claim it, kind of, 04:19 just speak it and it will happen, 04:20 and God has to do a thing. 04:22 And in context though what Jesus is talking about 04:25 here is in your efforts to glorify God 04:27 and do the works of Christ for His Kingdom, 04:31 ask Him and He'll do it. 04:32 That's right. 04:34 And we can be assured of that, 04:35 that when we go out to do His work, 04:36 that when He calls us to go somewhere 04:38 to do something to speak a word, 04:39 He is going to be with us to give us strength. 04:42 And then He transitions here to how that will happen. 04:46 Let's look at verse 16. 04:48 "And I will pray the Father, 04:49 and He will give you another Helper." 04:51 I like the New King James version in this 04:53 because contextually, the word "Helper" 04:56 is a little better rendition for the context here 04:58 than comforter, than counselor, 05:00 some of the others that we see in scripture. 05:04 "He'll give us another Helper, 05:05 that He may abide with you forever, 05:07 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive 05:09 because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, 05:11 but you know Him, 05:13 for He dwells with you and will be in you." 05:16 That's right. 05:17 And in this wonderful promise, verse 18, 05:19 Christ brings it back to Himself now, 05:21 back to the first person, he says, 05:22 "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." 05:25 Okay. 05:27 So we know clearly that 05:28 when we ask for the Holy Spirit, 05:29 what God has promised to do, He will do it. 05:31 He will send us the Holy Spirit, 05:33 if we're asking for His presence in our life. 05:36 But more than that, the Holy Spirit brings 05:38 the presence of Jesus into our life. 05:40 That's right. 05:42 So, I don't think Jesus in any way wants us 05:45 to be left unsure of His presence in us. 05:51 So when you've asked, as you've been praying, 05:54 it says, asking, praying, and crying out to God 05:56 to fill you with the Spirit, we need to by faith. 05:58 There is an element of faith here of stepping up, 06:00 from that prayer and knowing that Christ 06:02 will respond to that prayer, 06:05 and He will fill you with the Spirit. 06:07 Now as you move on from that, 06:08 as you transition throughout the day, 06:10 and you begin to live with Christ in you, 06:14 He does speak and He does guide, 06:16 He directs your thoughts, your life. 06:19 As a disciple of His, 06:21 and He wants you to live in harmony with Him. 06:23 And so Paul, we find in Paul's writings, 06:26 he has a very short statement at the end of, what is it? 06:29 1 Thessalonians or 2 Thessalonians, he says, 06:31 "Do not quench the Spirit." 06:33 Right. 06:35 So there is a possibility in our lives 06:36 that once we're filled with the Spirit 06:38 that we might quench the Spirit. 06:39 And the quenching of the Spirit happens well, 06:43 to use an old text, Isaiah 8:20. 06:46 What does that say, John? 06:48 "To the law and to the testimony." 06:49 Yeah. 06:51 "To the law and to the testimony" 06:52 if they speak not according to this word, 06:53 this is because there is no light in them. 06:56 So clearly, there are conditions 06:59 for living the life that God wants you to live 07:01 and allowing Him to continue to fill you with His Spirit. 07:04 But I think if you're praying for the Spirit to be in you, 07:07 if you're praying for Christ to dwell in you more fully, 07:11 have faith that that happens, but then know this that 07:14 throughout your life, day by day, 07:16 live in harmony with His principles. 07:18 Read His Word, pray, seek His will, 07:20 and He will never depart from you. 07:23 Now, I'm so glad that you brought those text out and, 07:27 you know, the Bible also points out 07:28 about the asking part, I like that you can ask. 07:32 When we ask, the Father will do what is not only in harmony 07:36 with His will, but what will empower us 07:39 to live in harmony with His will. 07:42 Now there are some individuals that say, "Okay, well then, 07:44 how could I live in harmony with the will of God 07:46 if the Spirit of God is not active in my life?" 07:50 The Holy Spirit works in a number of ways. 07:51 One to convict us, then to convert us, 07:56 then to empower us. 07:58 So He works on us, then He works in us, 08:02 then He works through us, 08:04 but at no time is the Lord going to say, 08:08 well, I don't want to give you my Spirit, 08:10 but I want to also point out 08:11 that the working on us is every one. 08:15 I mean, He works on those who eventually accept Him, 08:18 He works on those who reject Him up 08:22 until the point where they ultimately reject as, 08:24 I think Genesis 6 where it says, 08:27 "My Spirit will not always strive with man." 08:30 So the Holy Spirit strives with man to bring him 08:33 into relationship with God. 08:36 And then when we are brought into relationship with God, 08:39 as we accept Christ as our savior, 08:41 then He works to manifest Himself in us 08:43 the fruit of the Spirit. 08:45 Right. 08:46 And then He works to equip us, 08:48 prepare us for the gift of the Spirit. 08:49 So the Spirit is always at work but Luke 11:13, 08:53 I love the way that Luke writes this here. 08:56 "If you then being evil know how to give good gifts 09:01 to your children, how much more will 09:03 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 09:06 to those who ask Him!" 09:08 So when a person says, "Lord Jesus, come into my life, 09:11 send the Holy Spirit into my life." 09:13 Send the Holy Spirit into my life, 09:16 then He does that but he looks at the conditions. 09:19 Now having said that, 09:21 the Holy Spirit is the power of God, you see. 09:25 When the Lord Jesus was in ministry, 09:26 we're gonna talk about this in our program. 09:28 When the Lord Jesus was in His earthly ministry, 09:31 the Spirit of God descended upon Him at His baptism, 09:34 the Father spoke in behalf of His Son, "I'm well pleased." 09:39 But there was a condition and the apostles recognized 09:42 the condition to receiving the Holy Spirit. 09:45 Look at Acts 5, I want you to see this verse 32, 09:49 while verse 29 and 32 09:50 are working in concert together. 09:54 Verse 29, "Then Peter and the other apostles answered 09:59 and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men.'" 10:04 What's the benefit of obeying God? 10:06 Verse 32, "And we are His witnesses to these things, 10:10 and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given 10:15 to those who obey Him." 10:18 Right? 10:19 So you find here the Holy Spirit, 10:21 that power that is available is given to those 10:24 who obey in order to be its relationship. 10:27 We know that very well because in the New Testament 10:30 there's an example where one of the locals, 10:33 and I use that word loosely, saw the power 10:36 of the Spirit of God working through the apostles, 10:39 and he said, "Can I buy it?" 10:43 And Peter said, "Away with you and your money. 10:47 You'll both be condemned." 10:49 You can't buy the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit also 10:52 is not this ethereal force that makes you jump up 10:55 and scream and make, you know, babbling sounds. 10:58 Yeah. The Holy Spirit is holy. 11:02 And I think that this is implied in John 14 11:04 'cause Jesus in leading up to the passage 11:06 about the Gift of the Holy Spirit, He says, 11:09 "The works that I do, you will do also." 11:11 That's right. 11:13 And He's talking future tense here, 11:14 but then He must send the helpers 11:16 to empower them to do those works. 11:19 You know, we talk and we speak frequently 11:22 about the topic of salvation in the context of justification 11:26 and sanctification, 11:28 and there's no going straight to sanctification. 11:31 No. 11:33 You've got to spend time accepting Christ, 11:36 His finished work in your behalf 11:38 as a gift of eternal life given to you. 11:41 And payment... 11:42 that His death as payment for the penalty, 11:45 taking care of the penalty of your sins. 11:46 That's right. 11:48 And so once that happens, then begins 11:50 the work of sanctification, 11:52 that is Christ in us, growing us, and changing us, 11:55 but never are we to just remain stagnant. 11:58 And I think a lot of times we have here there is a... 12:01 We sometimes get emails, we're talking about, you know, 12:04 some of this morning. 12:06 And the body of those emails sometimes is well, 12:09 Christ has done everything and I say, "Amen." 12:13 But then they say, 12:15 "Well, you don't have to do anything out, 12:16 there is nothing afterward that that is required of us. 12:20 And that's where we have an issue, 12:22 that's where we diverge 12:23 from a lot of Christianity today, 12:24 where we see that if you look up the word 12:28 "good works" in scripture... 12:30 Right. 12:32 You'll find that Paul encourages the church 12:34 to stir it up. 12:35 That's right. Maintain it. 12:37 Do it. 12:38 Ephesians 2:10, "We are his workmanship, 12:41 created in Christ for good works." 12:43 So good works don't save us but once we're saved, 12:46 once we're justified, the sanctifying process 12:48 is the process of working like you said, 12:50 "Not only in us but through us." 12:52 That's right. 12:53 And works is the evidence of the Spirit of God. 12:54 He doesn't call us to just sit down, 12:57 Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, 13:01 created in Christ Jesus for good works, 13:04 which God prepared beforehand." 13:07 So when He calls us 13:08 through His grace through faith, 13:11 when He calls us into that saving relationship, now, 13:14 He calls us to good works. 13:16 He doesn't save us by our works but by His works, 13:19 but He calls us to good works. 13:23 There is one other passage I was thinking of a moment ago, 13:28 that the point is well taken that, 13:30 I'll just kind of leave it there, 13:31 because James talks about that. 13:33 Here it is, "Faith without works is dead." 13:35 Right. 13:37 Show me your faith without your works 13:39 and I'll show you my faith by my works. 13:42 But it's God who works in us. That's right. 13:45 Both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 13:47 Yeah. 13:48 I have a question here from a lady by the name of Anna 13:54 and she says, "What will happen to the people that have died 13:57 before Jesus is coming without having heard the gospel 14:01 and accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior? 14:04 Does it matter if they heard it and did not receive it? 14:08 Or let's start with the first part. 14:10 When you hear the gospel and reject it, you know, 14:14 you have sealed your fate, because you've heard it 14:17 and you've rejected it. 14:19 That's why we are told, harden not your heart, 14:23 harden not your heart. 14:25 I believe that's in the Book of Hebrews. 14:26 Let's go there. 14:28 And one of the reasons why the Hebrews 14:30 did not make it into the Promised Land, 14:33 did not make it into Canaan 14:35 is because once again you find the text, 14:41 "If they willfully sin, if they willfully sin..." 14:48 Hebrews 10:26, 14:54 "For if we sin willfully 14:57 after we have received the knowledge of the truth, 15:00 there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." 15:05 And, John, there was a time I thought to myself, 15:08 well, what does that mean? 15:11 If we stumble, does that mean 15:13 that we are no longer gonna be forgiven? 15:15 Well, the word "sin" is understood in three ways, 15:19 because in the English language, 15:21 like the word "love", we just have one word 15:24 but it has different applications 15:26 and a different broader meaning in the actual language, 15:28 which is Greek and Hebrew and in some cases Aramaic. 15:31 Now the word "sin" means, the first example of sin 15:34 is you see the mark and you aim for it 15:41 and you miss. 15:42 That's missing the mark. 15:43 We have all sinned and fallen short 15:46 of the glory of God. 15:48 We miss the mark, but at least you aimed. 15:50 Right. So that's not intentional. 15:52 You're aiming. Your direction was correct. 15:55 Your direction is correct. 15:56 You've aimed but you've missed the mark, 15:58 that's where Jesus comes, 15:59 and He through His righteousness, 16:02 aims and hits it and imputes to us 16:05 daily His righteousness. 16:07 That's not intentional sin. 16:09 You're aiming, you're moving in the right direction 16:12 but because of your nature, you cannot close up the gap, 16:14 Jesus comes and does that. 16:16 And then there is the... 16:20 Then the other one is you see the... 16:26 There was three categories, I want to make sure 16:28 I got it really clearly. 16:29 You see the mark and you don't even aim for it. 16:36 That in fact, is where transgression or sin 16:40 turns into inequity. 16:42 I don't even want to aim that way. 16:44 I just want to remain in sin. 16:46 I'm comfortable there. 16:48 That kind of sin the Lord cannot forgive 16:51 because you're not even interested 16:54 in aiming toward the mark, 16:55 that's why Paul says, "Press toward the mark." 16:58 Right. 17:00 And there is one other one 17:01 that will come to me in a moment, 17:03 but there were three in particular 17:04 and one is called sin, one is called trespass, 17:07 one is called inequity. 17:09 Sin is the nature we all have. 17:12 Trespass is aiming and missing. 17:14 Inequity is not even wanting to aim. 17:18 I don't really care. 17:19 And that the Lord can't save us from. 17:21 So the question is what will happen to people 17:24 that die before Jesus comes 17:26 without having heard the gospel? 17:27 I have some good news. 17:28 No one has... 17:30 Let me just rephrase this in a positive way. 17:32 Everyone has heard the gospel in some form. 17:35 Romans 1:20, Romans 1:20, 17:39 "For since the creation of the world 17:41 His invisible attributes are clearly seen, 17:46 being understood by the things that are made, 17:52 even His eternal power and Godhead, 17:55 so that they are without excuse." 17:58 Yeah. 17:59 And along with the attributes that are clearly seen 18:01 is the evidence of His character. 18:03 The evidence of His character. 18:04 So there are many who see that and respond to that, and God, 18:11 I think responds to them accordingly as well 18:14 because they had no opportunity to hear the gospel. 18:16 I like what John says in chapter 12. 18:21 Jesus says, "I came to bring the light into the world," 18:23 That's right. This is 46. 18:25 But then He says in verse 47, "If anyone hears my words 18:29 and does not believe, I do not judge him. 18:33 For I did not come to judge the world, 18:34 but to save the world." 18:36 That's right. 18:37 "He who rejects me and does not receive my words 18:39 has thou which judges him. 18:42 The word that I have spoken 18:43 will judge him in the last day." 18:44 Right. 18:46 So in effect, we judge ourselves. 18:48 The decision we make in response to the gospel, 18:50 in response to the call of God is what judges us. 18:54 I think probably, maybe the correct way of saying 18:57 that is God only metes out the judgment 19:01 that's already made, 19:03 that we've already made about ourselves. 19:05 He doesn't harshly judge against what we don't deserve, 19:09 He simply rewards according to what we've chosen. 19:13 That's right. 19:14 And that's what Jesus is saying. 19:16 "I didn't come to judge anybody, 19:17 but I'm bringing light into the world 19:18 and if you receive it, wonderful. 19:22 And I will come in and change your life. 19:25 But if you don't, I'm not gonna do 19:27 anything to force you." 19:30 God doesn't force us and so He allows us 19:33 to make the decision ourselves. 19:35 And the reality is all of us is born, 19:39 everyone of us is born in a condemned place. 19:42 That's why when Jesus came, He says, 19:44 "For God sent not his Son into the world 19:46 to condemn the world, but that the world 19:47 through him might be saved." 19:48 John 3:17. 19:50 John also 3:18, he says, "He who believes in Him 19:54 is not condemned, but he who does not believe 19:58 is condemned already." 20:00 You know, I think, John, if you relate it 20:02 to what we see today going on in, 20:05 not just the world but specifically in America, 20:08 politics and the parties and the different sides 20:11 and the intensity that's come about. 20:15 The difficult part for us who are preachers of the gospel 20:20 is that people more and more are entrenched 20:22 in their own views, they're not open... 20:25 No. 20:26 To ideas or thoughts about other things. 20:30 If it fits within their view, that's what they stick to, 20:33 and if you're against it, if you're sharing something, 20:35 they said, they will come after you for that. 20:38 And we're seeing more and more of that polarization 20:40 that's taking place 20:41 and that's not conducive to gospel work. 20:44 No. 20:45 It really is difficult and makes our hearts 20:47 as pastors really cry out to God 20:50 to do something to shake us up, 20:52 so that we are receptive to the gospel. 20:53 But yeah, I think he has... 20:56 that's a good question 20:58 and something that we need to be answering. 20:59 And lastly, everyone has received the gospel, 21:02 at least been exposed to the truth of God's Word, 21:06 Titus 2:11 "For the grace of God that brings salvation 21:10 has appeared to all men, has appeared to all men." 21:13 Yeah. 21:15 Everyone has had an opportunity. 21:16 The Lord will not judge someone based on what they have 21:20 not had an opportunity to receive. 21:22 So He works in unusual ways, in different ways 21:25 of which we know not of, but no one, as Romans 1 says, 21:30 nobody was gonna have an excuse. 21:32 You see, you know, the parable of the... 21:34 Excuse my voice here. 21:36 You know the parable of the wedding feast. 21:39 When the examination was taking place 21:43 and the Lord saw a man without a wedding garment, 21:45 and He asked him, 21:47 "How can you come in here without a wedding garment?" 21:49 What did the man say? 21:50 Nothing. He is speechless. 21:52 No excuse. Yeah. 21:53 No excuse. Yeah. 21:55 So we don't need excuses, we need Jesus. 21:57 That's the most beautiful thing. 21:58 Do you have another one? 22:00 Yeah, I have a question that is a little related 22:01 to the first one that I gave 22:03 and I put both of them here for this program 22:07 just because they are comparable. 22:09 Question is whenever I'm home 22:12 I enjoy your Bible study, thank you very much. 22:14 This is Sister Alison. 22:16 She says, "My question today is how do you know 22:18 that the Holy Spirit is still with you when you disobey Him?" 22:22 See how, there is a different angle here now. 22:23 Okay. 22:25 So she recognizes 22:26 the Holy Spirit dwelling in her, 22:27 but what about when she disobeys. 22:29 How do we know whether or not the Holy Spirit is still there? 22:33 I want to go to a text that some may not go to here, 22:37 it's a little, maybe it's a little unorthodox, 22:39 or maybe not, maybe I just haven't heard it. 22:42 But we're going to go to 1 John 2, 22:46 1 John 2 and we are gonna look at right around 22:48 verse 27, 28, 29. 22:51 1 John 2? 1 John 2. 22:58 Okay. 23:00 And let's start with 28. 23:06 "And now, little children, abide in Him." 23:09 So the question here then is how do we know the Holy Spirit 23:12 is still with us when we disobey. 23:14 So he is covering this topic about abiding. 23:17 Right. That is remaining. 23:20 "And when He appears, that when He appears, 23:22 we may have confidence and not be ashamed 23:25 before Him at His coming. 23:27 If you know that He is righteous, 23:29 you know that everyone who practices righteousness 23:33 is born of Him." 23:35 And then he goes on if you look at chapter 3, 23:37 there is this whole thing on practicing righteousness. 23:40 "Little children..." Verse 7, chapter 3, verse 7. 23:43 "Let no one deceive you. 23:44 He who practices righteousness is righteous, 23:47 just as He is righteous. 23:48 He who sins is of the devil." 23:50 The word practices and sins, these are words 23:54 that involve plural action, not just one act. 23:57 Right. 23:59 So there are many that have this idea, John, 24:02 that when I sin I'm lost, 24:04 and then when I confess I'm back, saved again. 24:06 And they go from save to lost, to save to lost, 24:09 to save to lost and that's not the gospel. 24:12 No. 24:14 Because we're told in the gospel 24:16 and 1 John also explains this 24:18 that when we sin we have an advocate. 24:21 There you go. Jesus Christ the righteous. 24:23 He mediates the benefits of His sacrifice for us 24:29 in our behalf, so when you sin, 24:31 blood is applied on that sin because you're in Him. 24:34 Right. 24:35 He doesn't wait for you to confess. 24:38 In fact, when Nathan came to David, 24:41 and David was convicted of that sin, 24:44 do you remember what Nathan's response was 24:45 after the conviction came to David? 24:47 He says, "The Lord knows and basically, 24:50 He's already forgiven you. 24:51 He already is aware of your heart. 24:55 Not that David didn't have to confess. 24:57 Right. 24:58 What Nathan wanted to assure David out there is 25:00 that you're not lost forever, God is with you. 25:05 Right. 25:07 And the repentance showed that, demonstrated that. 25:08 So the word "practices" 25:10 there is the trend of your life. 25:12 How are you, like you said, you shoot 25:15 but you missed the mark, 25:17 but you're shooting in that direction. 25:18 What is the aim in life? What is your focus? 25:21 We will miss, we will make mistakes at times, 25:24 but God doesn't cast you off. 25:26 He covers your sin and He keeps walking with you. 25:28 Now that doesn't mean that if you were to return 25:31 to a life of sin, in other words, 25:33 the trend of walking away from God that 25:35 there aren't some consequences to that 25:37 which could be losing eternal life. 25:40 That's right. 25:41 And so, I think the way that we know the Holy Spirit 25:44 is still with us when we disobey Him 25:45 is to confess sin and continue to walk with Him. 25:49 Then you're not in any danger of losing the Holy Spirit 25:52 and Christ who lives in you. 25:54 We were reading this, my wife and I were reading 25:58 our devotions and we read Psalm 103 together, 26:02 and it was sharing that wonderful message. 26:07 It says, in Psalms 103:6, 26:11 "The Lord executes righteousness 26:15 and justice for all who are oppressed." 26:18 And verse 8, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, 26:22 slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 26:25 He will not always strive with us, 26:28 nor will He keep his anger forever. 26:31 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, 26:34 nor punished us according to our inequities." 26:38 Ain't that powerful? Interesting. 26:40 You know, we were reading that that this morning, 26:41 actually last night before we went to sleep 26:43 and that's so beautiful. 26:45 And why does he do that? 26:47 "As a Father," Let me continue. 26:50 "For as the heavens are high above the earth, 26:53 so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. 26:56 As far as the east is from the west, 26:58 so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 27:03 As the father pities His children, 27:05 so the Lord pities those who fear Him. 27:08 For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." 27:12 He says, I understand, you're weak, you're dust. 27:16 I understand that. 27:18 Where we are weak, He is strong, 27:20 in our weakness His strength is made perfect. 27:23 Right. It's so beautiful. 27:24 So... And that's the way 27:26 that Jesus worked with His disciples. 27:28 He was very patient with them. Yeah. 27:29 They made all kinds of mistakes, 27:31 yet He didn't say, "I'm done with you guys." 27:33 I must infuse my favorite text 27:35 before we transition to the topic. 27:36 Please. 1 John 3, 1 John 3. 27:41 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 27:45 that we should be called the children of God. 27:48 Therefore the world does not know Him, 27:51 therefore the world does not know us, 27:52 because it did not know Him. 27:55 Beloved..." 27:56 The verse I just love. 27:58 "Beloved, now we are children of God." 28:01 When are we children of God, John? 28:02 Now. Now. 28:04 But look at the process. 28:05 The Lord is saying, "I understand 28:06 where you gonna be but you're not there yet 28:08 and I'm not even gonna show you what you're gonna be yet." 28:11 He says, "And it has not yet been revealed 28:13 what we shall be, 28:15 but we know that when He is revealed, 28:17 we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 28:22 So he says, I understand, you're My child now, 28:27 I'm working on you, you're not sure 28:28 what you're gonna look like. 28:30 When I'm done, you can be just like Me. 28:32 Somehow, I have that underlined in my Bible. 28:34 It's a powerful text. It's a powerful text. 28:37 That's a little bit of a joke 'cause this is actually a Bible 28:39 that I borrowed from John, so. 28:40 Oh. 28:42 That's why I underlined it. Exactly. 28:44 I like that. I got to hit this real quick. 28:45 Yeah. 28:47 Somebody asked about the description of Jesus. 28:49 How the Bible refers to the wool of his hair 28:53 and why is it that we... 28:58 It is said in the Bible, 28:59 a description of how Jesus looks. 29:01 Hair like wool, Revelation 1:13-16. 29:05 It is known as, is it known as to 29:07 why the images are not portrayed 29:09 as such even on 3ABN. 29:11 While the most common pictures that you see of Jesus 29:13 are pictures that were painted by Michelangelo. 29:16 And it was actually, the face was the face of his brother. 29:19 So that's why, however having said that and I know, 29:23 you know this, but I just want to say this for the record. 29:26 Life eternal is that we know the only true God 29:29 and Jesus Christ whom He sent rather than knowing 29:32 what He looks like, 29:34 we must know who He is and know Him for salvation. 29:37 Amen. 29:38 So if you have any more questions, 29:40 you can send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org. 29:43 That's housecalls@3abn.org. 29:45 And we surely do appreciate all that you do. 29:48 Thank you so much. 29:49 John, take us into our topic today, 29:51 which I have just given introduction to it, 29:53 or what you want to do? 29:54 Yeah. 29:55 Go ahead, I think we both kind of know 29:57 what we're talking about here today, 29:58 at least the topic we want to address 29:59 on the Trinity, on the Godhead, 30:01 there are lot of different terms 30:02 that people use, the Triune God, 30:03 sometimes some people use that term. 30:06 There is some confusion about that out there today, 30:08 and so we thought it probably would be good to cover that 30:10 in one of our programs. 30:12 And so we're gonna do that beginning today 30:14 and maybe part one, part two, part three we don't know. 30:18 However, the Lord leads, but to open it, 30:21 I think you and I talked about, 30:23 let's look at what scripture has to say 30:25 about the Triune nature of the Godhead, 30:30 the three-in-one. 30:31 And it is throughout, it's replete through scripture, 30:34 and so we will point to that. 30:37 And then I think in the next couple of programs 30:38 we'll get to defining it a little bit more, 30:41 the death of Christ as deity, the word "begotten." 30:48 We'll look at the Holy Spirit in another program 30:50 and so those are some of the things 30:52 we'll cover over the next few. 30:53 Well, you know, we would begin with the undisputed fact. 30:55 The undisputed fact is the Bible reveals the Father, 30:58 the Bible reveals the Son, 31:00 and the Bible reveals the Holy Spirit. 31:02 So that's an undisputed fact, but depending on 31:05 how they put together, some people say, 31:07 well, that's the Godhead. 31:08 Some people say, that's the Triune God. 31:11 Some people say, that's the Trinity, 31:12 some people say Trinitarianism. 31:14 And we have to also keep in mind 31:16 that sometimes words are used 31:18 and it has a whole host of different meanings 31:20 based on how that field of denomination defines it. 31:27 So what we're gonna talk about today is the Godhead, 31:30 the Trinity in the framework 31:33 of how the Seventh-day Adventist Church 31:36 believes this as supported by scripture. 31:39 But let me give you the official statement, 31:40 I think this is where we begin. 31:43 The official statement 31:44 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church 31:46 which we have come to the conclusion 31:47 based on the Word of God is this as follows: 31:50 "There is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 31:54 a unity of three coeternal Persons. 31:59 God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, 32:03 and ever present. 32:05 He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, 32:09 yet known through His self-revelation. 32:13 God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, 32:18 and service by the whole creation." 32:22 The other thing I want to point out, John, 32:24 is we are stepping into a room 32:30 that has no bottom to it. 32:33 Which means, in fact we are attempting 32:36 to explain the infinitesimal... 32:40 Let me create a new word. 32:43 The infinitesimal God, the God that is infinite, 32:47 that is from everlasting to everlasting. 32:49 That is beyond comprehension by created beings. 32:53 And said very well. Yeah. 32:55 Beyond our human comprehension. 32:57 So this program is not going to remove all doubt 33:00 because in fact, Hebrews 11:6, 33:05 "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, 33:09 for he who comes to God must believe that He is, 33:13 and that He is a rewarder of those 33:14 who diligently seek Him." 33:16 So we have no problem there, we believe that God is. 33:21 We have no issues here at all. Yeah. 33:23 But the challenge has come in the area of the Trinity. 33:28 Yeah. 33:30 The divinity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. 33:32 Some people have a problem with the word "Trinity". 33:36 And part of the reasoning 33:37 is because it has Catholic origins, 33:40 that perceived as having Catholic origins 33:42 and somehow then if we use the word, 33:45 we mean the exact same thing as what Catholics 33:48 or what other Protestant or non-denominations believe. 33:53 Just an interesting piece of insight into that 33:56 in doing some research, I discovered this. 33:58 One of the objections, this whole thing of, 34:01 it's a Catholic doctrine. 34:03 It doesn't really line up with history. 34:05 History shows that at the Council of Nicaea, 34:08 that was summoned by Emperor Constantine 34:11 to deal with the Arian controversy. 34:12 This was the controversy of the deity of Christ. 34:14 Right. Okay. 34:17 Of the 318 bishops that attended, 34:19 only 8 came from the west. 34:23 So only 8 of the 318 came 34:26 from the western Rome tradition. 34:29 Okay. 34:31 The others were from the east, where the bishop of Rome 34:34 had very little influence over the churches. 34:37 So you have to ignore these facts to conclude 34:40 first of all that it's an official doctrine. 34:42 This doctrine began with just the Church of Rome. 34:47 Right. It's not true. 34:49 There were a lot of hands in this. 34:51 And sure, yes, Emperor Constantine 34:53 did call the Council of Nicaea and he was dealing 34:56 with the initiative that was slightly different, 34:59 it was an Arian controversy 35:00 but just the fact that Catholics put this together, 35:03 therefore we had it, that's not true. 35:05 Right. That doesn't follow history. 35:09 And so every church deals 35:10 with the terminology a little differently. 35:14 And so I think what I want to emphasize 35:15 why I brought that up was that 35:17 when we're talking about the Trinity, 35:19 or the Godhead, or the Triune God. 35:21 What we say, we are trying to drop the baggage. 35:24 What we're trying to say is what's in here, 35:26 in the Word of God. 35:28 All we have to go by is what's here. 35:31 That's it. Okay. 35:33 And so I think that's what 35:34 the emphasis today is going to be. 35:36 "What does the Bible say about the Trinity, 35:39 about the Godhead, as far as the number of persons 35:42 and how they relate to each other?" 35:45 Okay. And so let's focus on that. 35:47 I don't know if you have anything else 35:49 you want to say about it, 35:50 but I think it's at least an important thing 35:52 to look at history sometimes and dispel some of these rumors 35:56 or errors that people have. 35:59 And also the other thing I want to point out 36:00 is the evolution of the understanding 36:03 some individuals and I think this may happen 36:05 in different faith communities. 36:06 Some individuals go back to the formation 36:08 or the inception of their denomination. 36:11 With a creed. Right. 36:13 Some believe in the creed. 36:16 You know, we have the Apostles' Creed. 36:17 I believe in the God, the Father and that's a creed, 36:20 that's a solid document that is changeless. 36:24 Yeah. 36:25 It makes the church that accepts that unchangeable... 36:28 Right. In its growth in truth. 36:30 It's hard to grow in a truth when you have a creed 36:32 because you're fixed. 36:34 And we don't set any of our teachings in a creed... 36:37 That's right. 36:38 But we set them in fundamental beliefs. 36:40 Fundamental belief one all the way to 28, 36:42 we set them in fundamental beliefs. 36:44 Which means as understanding and what many people 36:48 don't understand about the evolution 36:50 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is it began 36:52 as a multi-denominational movement. 36:55 It was only given the name for recognition simply meaning, 36:59 that was a movement not a church. 37:01 Right. 37:02 Because people from every class, 37:04 every race were invited into his fellowship. 37:06 You had Methodist, you had Baptist, 37:09 you had Presbyterian, 37:12 you had so many different faiths 37:13 that got together and simply said, 37:15 "Let us put aside our pre-understandings 37:18 and let the Bible be our teacher. 37:20 And, you know, John, and we know as pastors 37:22 that the understanding continued to increase 37:27 in areas of health, 37:29 some of the things that were practiced at the time 37:30 the church was formed were completely unhealthy. 37:34 People believed somehow that, you know, 37:36 sunlight wasn't good for you, 37:37 so they kept their shades closed 37:39 and they would put on heavy clothing 37:40 to prevent themselves from being, 37:42 from sun hitting their skin, well, lack of vitamin D. 37:45 That's right. 37:47 Some people will bathe once or maybe the most twice a week, 37:50 because they were taught, while too much exposure 37:52 to water was not good for you. 37:54 But then they came to discover hygiene 37:56 is very important and what we ate. 37:58 So the evolution of the beliefs and if we believe 38:01 that the pioneers, if we believe 38:04 that the pioneers in America had all the answers, 38:06 then we ought to get rid of all the internet, 38:08 get rid of all costs. 38:09 It's critical thinking. Right, exactly. 38:11 It is. 38:12 If we believe that our forefathers, 38:15 all four of them, 38:16 no pun intended, if we believe that 38:18 that was it way back in 1700s, then let's go back there 38:21 and there are some people that have create a mentality, 38:23 no electricity, no digital, nothing that is modern, 38:27 because it was perfect way in the past. 38:29 Yeah. 38:31 And there are some other problems with that too. 38:32 You know, just because some of those coming into the church 38:35 early on were anti-Trinitarian. 38:37 Right. 38:39 Doesn't mean that they stayed that way. 38:41 No. 38:42 Nor it doesn't mean that there wasn't room 38:44 to continue to grow in our understanding of God 38:47 and who He is in His personality. 38:50 In fact, one of our founders, Ellen White, 38:51 here's what she writes. 38:53 "The Word of the Lord..." And this is in 1907, 38:56 this is eight years before her death, 38:57 so this is at the end. 38:59 "The word of the Lord has guided our steps 39:02 since the passing of time in 1844. 39:05 We have searched the Scriptures, 39:07 we have built solidly, but we have not had to tear up 39:11 our foundations and put in new timbers." 39:15 This was at a time where the church 39:17 had already begun to move steadily away from 39:20 the anti-Trinitarian doctrine to a Trinitarian one. 39:23 And she is saying, we haven't moved, 39:25 hadn't had to change build or change one of the timbers. 39:28 This is not... 39:30 This truth is not actually a pillar truth of our faith. 39:34 When I say pillar, as in one of the founding major pillars 39:38 that we were organized on. 39:39 Okay. 39:41 It was one of the truths that we recognized 39:43 and hold tightly to, still to this day, 39:46 but that grew overtime. 39:47 Right. 39:49 And so she can say that knowing that 39:51 there has been growth in our understanding 39:53 of the Trinity, but yet look back and say, 39:55 we haven't had to change one thing. 39:58 So an interesting perspective, I think sometimes 40:00 we have this neo, what do you call, 40:02 neo re-visioning. 40:06 Some people are neo-restorationist, 40:09 I think is the word, where they try to restore 40:12 or put into place history 40:14 that is not really the way the history was. 40:17 And so sometimes you'll hear that, 40:19 I shared that because what is out there 40:21 in this anti-Trinitarian stuff is often that. 40:24 We got to go back to the way we believed 40:26 as early Adventists in everyway, 40:29 but there are some strong 40:30 or some real problematic things in doing that. 40:34 And we'll talk about those in the next coming programs. 40:37 So now as we establish couple of very important facts, 40:42 or very important points is that, there... 40:46 The other thing we want to emphasize is the Godhead 40:50 that the Trinity is eternal. 40:52 Mm-hmm. 40:53 You cannot have divinity without eternity. 40:59 That's right. It's not possible. 41:01 No man is divine, why? Because we are finite. 41:05 When you speak about the Holy Spirit, 41:07 when you speak about Jesus 41:09 who condescended, and by the way, 41:11 another fact is His name was not called Jesus 41:14 until He came in human flesh, 41:17 until He was born into the world through Mary. 41:20 Call His name Jesus. 41:22 That was His birth name in the incarnation. 41:26 Right. 41:28 That was not the name He had in eternity, 41:30 that was not the name He had in eternity. 41:32 And so you'll find in the Old Testament, 41:34 now the word "Lord" or "Our God" or "Jehovah", 41:38 you find these names in the Old Testament. 41:41 You find Redeemer, Savior all of the functions 41:44 that Jesus undertook in His earthly ministry, 41:47 but you don't find the word "Jesus", 41:48 you find Michael, the archangel. 41:51 You find Michael in the New Testament, 41:52 Michael in the Old Testament. 41:54 Michael, the highest, the one above all the angels. 41:57 Yeah. 41:58 And so you find this pre-existence, 42:00 and Jesus didn't allude to that, He made it clear. 42:03 Father, glorify Me with the glory that we had 42:06 before the world was. 42:07 Mm-hmm. 42:08 So He didn't come into existence. 42:11 If Jesus, and this is the point 42:12 we're gonna emphasize over and over, 42:14 we're gonna get to the divinity of Jesus later on. 42:16 But Jesus did not come into existence, 42:20 Jesus didn't come from the Father. 42:25 Only time you find that spoken of is when it says, 42:30 "For God so loved the world 42:31 that He gave His only begotten Son." 42:35 The one who was begotten of the Father. 42:38 The word "begotten" there and here is a very, 42:40 and this is the point I want to make with extreme caution, 42:44 but at the same time firmly establish on scripture, 42:46 and we will give you the verses for that. 42:48 Begotten doesn't mean born. 42:50 Doesn't mean created. Doesn't mean created. 42:52 Because if at any point Jesus was created, 42:56 then He is just like us. 42:59 However, let's go to 1 John. 43:01 And by the way, do you have passage you wanna go, 43:03 before we go there? 43:04 No. 43:06 I don't, I just, I think we've got kind of a path 43:07 laid out for us here for the rest of this. 43:09 I don't wanna get too deeply into the divinity of Christ 43:11 because we're gonna cover that in a program. 43:13 Right. 43:14 But, yes, let's go into the scripture 43:17 that you have there. 43:19 Why don't we start with Genesis? 43:20 Let's start with Genesis 1. Okay. 43:22 And now I'd like you to read that, John, 43:23 where we find at the inception of the creation of our universe 43:30 the Godhead is mentioned there. 43:32 Genesis 1:1 and 2. 43:38 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 43:42 The earth was without form, and void, 43:44 and darkness was on the face of the deep. 43:46 And the Spirit of God was hovering 43:48 over the face of the waters." 43:50 Okay. And then verse 26. 43:52 Let's talk about, we're gonna build on that. 43:55 Verse 26 says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, 44:00 according to Our likeness. 44:02 Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 44:04 over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 44:06 over all the earth and over every creeping thing 44:08 that creeps on the earth.'" 44:10 And I wanna look at a passage here 44:11 that I highlighted. 44:13 I wanna make sure that I made reference to that... 44:21 Yeah, and so the "us" factor that's talked about here. 44:26 And you read verse 27 also, correct. 44:29 "So God created man in His own image. 44:33 In the image of God He created Him, 44:35 male and female He created them." 44:37 Now I want to point something out here. 44:39 Verse 26 says, "And God said, 'Let us...'" 44:43 And then you go to verse 27. 44:45 "So God created man in His own image." 44:50 Us and Him. 44:52 And when we get to this, when we get to this point here 44:55 of looking at the "Us" and the "Him" of the Godhead, 45:00 of the Trinity, Us created a man in His own image. 45:08 You have to come to the conclusion, 45:10 where the Israelites said, "The Lord our God is one God." 45:15 However, not taken away from that statement at all, 45:20 but adding to that, the oneness of God is something 45:23 we would not fully understand until the eternity, 45:27 because the oneness of God includes the Father, 45:30 the Son and the Holy Spirit, though our God is one God. 45:34 I think one of the illustrations 45:35 that was used many years ago when I was growing up. 45:38 One of the evangelists used an egg 45:41 to illustrate that it says, 45:42 "Well, how many eggs do I have?" 45:44 And he held up one egg. 45:46 They said, "Well, one." 45:48 He said, "Actually, 45:49 how many parts does this egg have?" 45:51 And he said, "Shell, yolk, and the amniotic fluid." 45:58 Three in one. 46:00 And so you find clearly 46:02 the Holy Spirit was not excluded, 46:04 although the Holy Spirit was not the one 46:07 that was talked about repetitiously 46:09 in the Old Testament as it relates to redemption 46:12 and saving and stepping in behalf of the people of God. 46:17 Yet, the Holy Spirit was mentioned firmly 46:21 not striving with the antediluvians. 46:23 Mm-hmm. 46:25 When Elijah was just about ready 46:27 to be swept away in the chariot of fire, 46:30 Elisha prayed for a double portion of the Spirit 46:35 to be poured out on Him, and that exactly occurred. 46:40 So those are some of the things I just want to touch on, 46:42 before we start going on to the scripture. 46:43 Oh, yeah, until you have "Us", 46:44 I think the question you'd ask is, 46:46 "Okay, 'Us' has to be at least two." 46:48 Right. 46:50 And according to verse 2... Right. 46:51 Which we already read from Genesis 1. 46:54 God and His Spirit are mentioned there. 46:57 It's true. That's right. 46:59 And so you find that, I think the other connection 47:04 we have here to the Godhead, to the Trinity is that Jesus 47:12 who is questioned in regard to His authority. 47:17 He speaks of Himself as the, "I am." 47:20 A clear reference and the Jews knew this... 47:23 That's right. 47:24 A clear reference to Moses encounter with the "I am" 47:27 at the burning bush. 47:29 That's right. 47:30 And so if Jesus is saying, "I am the one that met Moses 47:33 at the burning bush," we know then Christ 47:36 is also part of the Godhead. 47:38 That's right. 47:39 So then you have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 47:44 clearly evident in Old Testament. 47:46 That's right. 47:47 And even more clearly evident, especially with regard 47:49 to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. 47:50 Mm-hmm. Okay. 47:51 So now we're beginning to unfold them here. 47:53 That's right. 47:54 The three that are found in the scripture 47:56 that make up the Godhead or the Trinity, yeah. 47:59 And the biggest, one of the biggest things 48:01 that we wanna also go ahead and start chiseling away at. 48:04 There's some beautiful passages in the Old Testament 48:06 that shows, now, who is our redeemer? 48:09 Jesus. Jesus. 48:10 Yeah. Who is our savior? 48:12 Jesus is. 48:13 And there's some passages, and by the way, 48:15 I know we keep saying, we don't wanna deal 48:17 with the divinity of Christ yet, 48:19 we wanna talk about the Holy Spirit. 48:21 But there's some passages in the Bible 48:24 that I wanna point out really carefully 48:27 as we've established some of these. 48:28 Let's go to, you mentioned the "I am." 48:31 Mm-hmm. 48:32 Let's go to Revelation 1:8, the "I am." 48:35 And then Revelation 1:11, if you can read those for us. 48:39 Revelation 1:8, Revelation 1:11. 48:49 Got that there. 48:51 Yes, but it's not my Bible, so it's always hard 48:54 to find the testament structured Bible. 48:57 Okay, Revelation 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, 49:03 the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, 49:06 who is and who was and who is to come, 49:09 the Almighty." 49:11 So this is in red letters, this is referring to the words 49:14 of Christ Himself, 49:16 who self proclaims His eternal nature. 49:20 He is the beginning and the end, 49:23 which doesn't mean that 49:24 He had a beginning and He has an end. 49:26 It simply means that He's always existed. 49:27 That's right. 49:28 So who is the "I am" that is spoken of here? 49:32 "I am" is Jesus. 49:34 Because Revelation is the revelation of Jesus. 49:36 Jesus. That's right. 49:38 So when you find this phrase in a Bible, when you find this, 49:41 and I use the word "phrase" because it's two words, "I am". 49:45 I am the light of the world, I am the bread of life. 49:49 Those weren't just words? No. 49:50 They start with a sentence they were... 49:52 So instead of saying, I am tired, that's different, 49:55 I'm leaving to tell you I am tired. 49:57 I am personally not tired, but when the Bible says "I am", 50:03 it says, the "I am" is the bread of life, 50:06 the "I am" is the water of life, 50:09 the "I am" is the light of the world. 50:11 That's the better context of that, it's not saying, 50:14 "I am tired, I am hungry, I am, 50:17 personally I'm not hunger personified, 50:20 I am not light personified, I am not water personified." 50:23 But when it comes to speaking of Jesus, 50:26 the "I am" is the light of the world, 50:29 the "I am" is the bread of life, 50:31 the "I am" is the water of life, the "I am"... 50:35 In Exodus, it says, "For I am the Lord 50:39 who led you out of Egypt." 50:41 The "I am" led them out. 50:44 I'm not just a leader like Moses, you see... 50:46 That separates our humanity from His divinity. 50:51 And this was a challenge for those that were early 50:56 in the church. 50:57 The anti-Trinitarians early on in Adventism didn't agree. 51:03 They didn't agree on the divinity of Christ. 51:06 That's right. 51:07 They didn't even agree on how we came about, 51:09 what its origin was. 51:10 And so you had a lot of different writings 51:12 at that time as they grew in their understanding of that. 51:15 That's right. 51:16 And I think just to say, "Okay, let's go back 51:18 to anti-Trinitarian view is taking on a lot more baggage 51:22 than you really intend to take on 51:25 if you want to go back. 51:28 I wish we had time to go into all of these statements, 51:30 we don't have that time. 51:31 But I think it's important to recognize what scripture says, 51:35 not only about Jesus 51:37 but on the nature of God Himself. 51:38 That's right. 51:39 All three that are make up the Godhead 51:42 are eternal in nature, 51:43 and that's kind of where we began. 51:45 Let's look at Isaiah, I think... 51:48 Do you want to... 51:49 You mean, Isaiah 44? 51:50 Isaiah 44, because that speaks of... 51:52 Okay. Again the Old Testament. 51:54 And it talks about the two. 51:57 Do you wanna read that, you wanna read that? 51:59 Okay. 52:00 Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, 52:03 and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts. 52:07 'I am the First and I am the Last, 52:08 besides Me there is no God.'" 52:10 So a proper transition from Revelation, probably, 52:14 in fact a reference to that very passage. 52:17 Very passage. 52:18 He's the King of Israel and God the Father 52:24 who is also standing along with His redeemer, 52:27 the Lord of hosts. 52:28 That's right. 52:30 And so you have obviously two there of the three 52:33 speaking in that, in that context. 52:36 And so you have here, who is the first and the last? 52:40 Obviously, Jesus and He is referred to here 52:43 as the redeemer, the redeemer, 52:47 the one who comes to redeem humanity. 52:49 He's referred to as the first and the last. 52:52 Now, I wanna say this the third time 52:54 because in the minds of many Jesus cannot be the first. 52:57 They say, well, the Father must be the first 52:59 and Jesus came after that. 53:01 In this idea that Jesus was a begotten being 53:04 or being that came forth from the Father. 53:07 Any allusion to the fact that the Father created, 53:11 or and some people say, "Well, we didn't say create, 53:15 but we said begotten." 53:16 The word "begotten" in the Greek and in the Hebrew, 53:21 if you look at that and tear it apart, 53:24 it is talking about the unity of the Father and the Son. 53:27 And when it refers to begotten of the Father, 53:30 it's talking about Him in His incarnation. 53:33 It's talking about Him in His incarnation. 53:37 "For God so loved the world that He gave 53:38 His only begotten Son" in the sense of preeminence, 53:43 but not in the sense of birth because John 1, 53:46 you cannot get rid of John 1, it says... 53:49 Let's go to John 1. 53:50 You have something, John, you want to share, 53:52 as I'm turning there? 53:53 Well, I was trying to stay on the Trinity piece 53:54 because in the New Testament there are 40 references, 53:58 where all three in the Godhead 54:00 are mentioned in that one passage. 54:01 Very good point. 54:02 So that's what I was thinking, 54:04 we kind of finish with that then we'll hit... 54:06 Hit the divinity of Christ. Hit the divinity of Christ. 54:07 Okay. 54:09 And this is I can't give them all but 54:13 and I won't take credit for this either, 54:15 Dr. Tom Shepherd from Andrews University, 54:18 he compiled this list and he gave it to me. 54:20 So these are all the texts that 40 different ones 54:26 in the New Testament were Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 54:30 are all mentioned in the same passage. 54:33 Most of the time in the same verse. 54:35 And when you have that kind of overwhelming evidence, John, 54:38 of three, three, three everywhere, 54:41 you start realizing this is a Trinity. 54:44 This is not dual... 54:46 No. A duality. 54:48 This is the Trinity of the Godhead. 54:52 Do you want me to read Luke 1:35? 54:55 Go ahead. 54:56 It says, "And the angel answered 54:57 and said to her..." 54:59 This is one of the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. 55:02 "The Holy Spirit," one, "Will come upon you, 55:07 and the power of the Highest, the Father will overshadow you. 55:12 Therefore, also, that Holy One, Jesus, 55:17 who is to be born will be called the Son of God." 55:22 So you the Holy Spirit, you have God, the Highest, 55:26 and then you have the Holy One to be born is the Son of God. 55:31 Three right there, I mentioned at the time 55:33 with Gabriel giving this news to Mary 55:35 that she's about to have a child. 55:37 And she says, "How shall this be, 55:40 seeing that I do not know a man." 55:42 Yeah. 55:43 He said, this is how this is gonna happen. 55:44 The incarnation. 55:46 And to clarify, so that's one case. 55:48 To clarify, look at verse like Romans 5:5 and 6. 55:51 Okay. You have that? 55:52 Yes. So turn to Romans 5:5 and 6. 55:55 And we'll find all three mentioned 55:56 in this passage. 55:58 So could you read those two? Okay, I have that right here. 55:59 Okay. 56:02 "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God 56:05 has been poured out in our hearts 56:08 by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." 56:13 And verse 6, "For when we were still without strength, 56:16 in due time Christ died for the ungodly." 56:19 Okay, so you have God's love. 56:21 That's right. 56:23 The love of God. Father mentioned there. 56:24 You have the Holy Spirit 56:26 who is the agent pouring into us the love of God. 56:29 That's right. 56:30 And then you have that Christ died for the ungodly, 56:33 so in this passage just two texts... 56:34 Right. You've all three mentioned. 56:36 That's right. 56:37 So when I say in this reference here 40 different passages, 56:42 this happens repeatedly... 56:44 That's right. Throughout the New Testament. 56:46 God is mentioned, Christ is mentioned, 56:48 His Spirit is mentioned over and over and over again. 56:52 And so we can't deny the prevalence of the Trinity 56:56 in the New Testament. 56:58 Where it maybe a little disguised 57:00 in the Old Testament, 57:01 it is very prevalent and very overt 57:03 in the New Testament. 57:05 And you find also that the passage there, 57:09 the Father didn't die, the Son did. 57:13 That's right. 57:14 The Holy Spirit didn't die, the Son did. 57:18 And when Jesus left, and we're gonna talk about this 57:19 in an upcoming program. 57:21 When Jesus left, He said, "It is necessary and expedient 57:25 that I go, if I don't go, he cannot come. 57:29 What do you say about that before we wind up our program? 57:31 It's necessary I go 57:32 and if I don't go, he cannot come. 57:34 Yeah. 57:35 And then there is clearly a departing as the being, 57:39 Christ departing to sit to the right of His Father 57:41 and there's clearly a coming in of the Holy Spirit 57:44 to represent Him to the world in the hearts of men. 57:47 That's right. 57:48 And the reality of it is the Father, the Son, 57:50 and the Holy Spirit are involved 57:52 in the creation of man and in the redemption of man. 57:56 Continue studying this because the Lord 57:57 one day is gonna bring your eyes open 58:00 to understand His love for every one of us. 58:02 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-07-14