Our Triune God Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: March 10, 2007

Date Preached: March 11, 2007

Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: The Doctrines of the Faith

Sermon Title: Our Triune God

Sermon Text: Matthew 3:16-17

Introduction:

The word “Trinity” has caused more controversy within the fellowship of the believers than almost any other word or subject.

And although the word ‘trinity’ does not appear anywhere in the Bible, we can find the Trinitarian or Triune nature of God being spoken of all throughout the pages of your Bibles!

For centuries Baptists have believed in the Triune nature of God and they do so NOT b/c it is something they “feel” is the right thing to do but it is something they know Scripture upholds as truth. Now as Southern Baptists we have a document called the Baptist Faith and Message

The Baptist Faith and Message is a statement of beliefs that has been made by the Southern Baptist Convention. It was originally made in 1925, and restated in 1963 and then restated again in 2000.

The BF&M should never be mistaken for Scripture by anyone but rather it should be viewed as a detailed view of our Southern Baptist beliefs that are based solely on Scripture.

In the Baptist Faith and Message there are several basic statements of belief that Baptists have held for over 500 years, since the Protestant Reformation.

But there have also been believers who have held to these beliefs since the birth of the church in the upper room in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost Sunday!

The specific belief that I want to preach about this morning that we can find in the Baptist Faith and Message is the Triune God of Scripture. The BF&M says that Baptists hold firm to the belief that there is only one living and true God.

“The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence or being.”

This morning I want to share with you what God’s Word reveals and teaches about God and His Triune nature…

Now as we look through Scripture we can see clearly that God’s Word reveals God’s Triune nature in the form of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians believe that the ‘trinity’ or the triune nature of God is a recent idea or that it started in the New Testament, but in fact, the OT carries with it many implied passages that reveal the Triune nature of God.

And we don’t have to go far to get to the 1st reference to God’s Triune nature as Gen 1:26 reveals:

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (KJV)

There are some who say this is royal speech being used by God. Royal speech is when a sovereign or a King or a Queen uses the 3rd person to speak b/c when they spoke they represented the entire Kingdom.

However, if this was the case, we cannot find any other passages within the Bible that give us an example of Kings using royal speech on a regular and common basis, So we can determine that Royal Speech is NOT correct in this instance, but that there were more than one present at the Creation of humanity!

In Gen 3:22 we find God speaking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden saying:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Gen 3:22 (KJV)

In Gen 11:7 we read about the city of Babel and God’s reaction to them…

7 …let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

Gen 11:7 (KJV)

In Isaiah 6:8 we find God speaking to Isaiah and saying,

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)

In Psalm 110:1 David wrote:

1 The Lord declared to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.” (Psalm 110:1 HCSB)

Jesus quoted this psalm in His ministry and He knew that David was referring to 2 persons of the Triune nature of God Himself. Who is David’s ‘Lord” if it is not God Himself… and who could say to God ‘sit at My right hand’ except someone else who is fully God as well…