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 It was originally made in 1925, and restated in 1963 and then restated again in 2000.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…
There are many other references in the OT that give wonderful pointers and implications to the Triune nature of God, but let’s move to the NT at this time…
Our passage of Scripture this morning is the first one we run into in the Gospels as it appears in Matt 3:16-17 during the Baptism of Jesus.
16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him.
17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!
Matt 3:16-17 (HCSB)
Here in this passage we can see the Triune nature of God clearly represented in three clear illustrations. First we have God speaking from Heaven about Jesus whom He calls “My beloved Son…”
2nd we have Jesus in the flesh being baptized where all could see Him…
Finally we have the Holy Spirit revealing Himself in the form of a dove coming down from out of heaven and resting on Jesus, signifying that Jesus was now anointed to go into His ministry and do what God had sent Him to do…
In Matt 28:19 Jesus tells His disciples,
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matt 28:19 (HCSB)
There are other passages in the NT that give clear indication that the God of our Bible is the Triune God of the Universe. 1 Cor 12:4-6 is very triune in its nature. 2 Cor 13:14 reveals the triune nature of God as well as Eph 4:4-6
The entire book of 1st Peter references all three persons within the Triune nature of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and many other passages of Scripture as well.
So we can see that Scripture does NOT deny the existence of the Trinity or the Triune nature of God, but it actually upholds this view of God as truth.
The Bible reveals the Triune nature of God in 3 very distinct manners:
1) God the Father
2) Jesus the Son
3) The Holy Spirit
Let’s look at God the Father first…
1. God the Father
In the OT there are no definitive Scriptures that literally link God as the ‘father’ of humanity other than the fact that God is the creator of all things, and humanity is His ultimate creation.
In the OT we find that God chose Abram, changed his name to Abraham and made a covenant with him that he would make him into a nation of peoples and that nation would bless the world.
We find that later in God’s Word that nation father by Abraham, the nation we know as the Hebrew nation was enslaved in Egypt and God delivered them through the obedience of Moses.
In the wilderness, God made another covenant with His people, and even though God’s chosen nation did not choose to live according to the covenant there were some within the nation who loved God and lived in accordance to His will and covenant…. It was actually these people who could claim God as their spiritual father.
There are some religions today that teach that God actually ‘fathered’ your soul in heaven by virtue of his ‘spirit wife’ giving birth to your soul and then he wrapped you in flesh and sent you to earth. This is heresy and is NOT taught in Scripture and should be rejected as the heresy it is!
The term ‘Father’ in reference to God is used quite a bit more frequently in the NT and is most prevalent within the four Gospels (it is used 107 times in John alone)
When Jesus uses the term ‘Father’ in reference to God the Father we can see 2 very specific points of connection for the believer:
a) Jesus never tied His disciples into the same relationship he had with the Father – His relationship with the Father was special and went far beyond what his human disciples could obtain or even comprehend.
And we also can find where Jesus proclaimed and taught to His disciples that He was co-existent with the Father from eternity past to eternity future, and that He had come to earth wrapped in flesh for the salvation of humanity at the pleasure of God the Father.
b) When Jesus refers to God as Father of humanity He specifically refers to His disciples and not all of humanity. Although God is creator of all humanity and creation leads us to see God as a father-type figure to humanity – but humanity has fallen away from the created order and sin has entered into the world.
Jesus was the Father’s remedy to humanity’s rebellion and separation from God. Jesus was sent by God the Father to reconcile humanity to God the Father… to reconcile the creation to the Creator!
The Bible is clear that God grants the right to become children of God… for God to become your Spiritual Father… but only for those who are willing to place full faith and trust in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.
In Matt 28 Jesus speaks from the Father telling His disciples to go forth preaching and teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus speaks to the Father in His high priestly prayer in John 17, He speaks to the Father in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus cries out to the Father from the Cross at Calvary.
Also after the resurrection Jesus said in John 20:21, “…peace be with you, as the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you!”
In John 3:16 the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His son… so we can know that God the Father is an integral and vital part or the Triune God of the Bible!
But another part of the Triune nature of God is revealed in John 3:16 and it is…
2. God the Son
In John 3:16 John expresses the fulfillment of thousands of prophetic statements from the OT.
Although many would deny this fact, Jesus is found all throughout the OT, even though He is not mentioned by the name Jesus. We can find prophecy after prophecy that tell of One who is to come that will save His people – The OT is rich in prophecies about the coming Messiah.
In Isaiah 53 we find Isaiah writing about the Suffering Servant – a man born of a virgin who suffers greatly for His people – this is a direct and accurate foretelling of the Christ that is revealed in the NT. Jesus came born of a virgin and suffered and died for the sin of the world… Jesus came to deliver humanity from the death grip of sin.
Another thing we can look at in the NT is that we have many passages proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. The first 4 books of the NT are called the Gospels… they are narratives of the life of Jesus from the perspective of the disciples.
These books are filled with direct eyewitness accounts and stories of the One called Jesus and that they believed He was God’s Son.
As in our passage of Scripture this morning, when Jesus was baptized a voice from heaven was heard telling all who were there, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”
When Jesus came to the Mount of Transfiguration and He was transfigured and His true identity was revealed to Peter, James and John… a voice from Heaven was heard saying, “This is my Son, listen to Him!”
Jesus Himself proclaimed His kinship with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit as well. In Mark 14:61-62 when the Chief priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God, Jesus said, “I am”
Earlier in Mark in chapter 8 Jesus identifies God as the Father of the Son of Man… a term Jesus used for Himself on a frequent basis.
We know that even as a young child, Jesus knew and understood His role and His special relationship with the God of heaven. In Lk 2 :44 we see Him telling His earthly parents… that He was in the Temple because He was about doing His Father’s work.
In John 10:36 Jesus identified Himself by saying, “I am the Son of God.” And earlier in that chapter Jesus had indicated that His Divine Sonship with the Father was unique and special as He said, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father – I and the Father are One.”
In the book of Colossians, Paul writes about Jesus as God the Son. Let’s read 1:12-14…
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (HCSB)
And moving onto the next few verses we can see Paul teaching more about Jesus as the Son of God… of Jesus as the 2nd part of the Trinity… the 2nd identity of the Triune nature of God…
• V.15 – He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God. Or Jesus is what God has revealed to us about Himself, Jesus is the earthly representation of the God of Heaven… thus Jesus is ONE with the Father, Jesus is God.
• V. 16 – by Him (Jesus) all things were created…all things were created thru Him and for Him. The Bible says in Gen 1:1 that in the beginning GOD created, so is Paul in conflict with Scripture, absolutely NOT. Paul is revealing to us what Christ revealed when He was here on earth, Jesus was part of the creation process… Jesus was because Jesus is God!
• V. 18 – In Him (Jesus) all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell… In other words, God was happy to reveal Himself in the manner in which Jesus revealed God to the world…
In the book of Philippians Paul reveals in chapter 2, “…Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but… humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross...”
Here we find Paul revealing once again Jesus’ equality to God and the very basis of the Triune nature of God. Jesus was equal with God but did not hold that up as something He could not let go of for a time so that He could come and die on the Cross for our sin…
In John 1 we read…
“…in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” Later on in that same chapter John wrote, “…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
In John’s own special way we find him revealing Christ as the flesh covered… flesh clothed Word of God. Jesus Christ was God, wrapped in flesh, come down to His creation to offer Himself for the sin of the world.
It is clear and evident that in the teachings of Jesus and in the writings of His disciples that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the One who has come to save His people…
We find His disciples confessing that Jesus was this Messiah they had longed for and had been told to look for… Jesus was this Messiah… Jesus is the Son of the Living God!
We now can see that Jesus is a vital and integral part of the Triune God we worship, but finally today I want to speak to a part of the Triune God that many Baptists are not sure about and that is…
3. God the Holy Spirit
The final part of the Triune nature of the God of the Bible is known as God, the Holy Spirit. The Greek name for the Holy Spirit is pneuma kyriou which literally translates as Spirit of God.
The Greek word pneuma can mean wind or breath and it is closely connected with an ‘unseen force’ this is why it is translated as ‘Spirit’
In the OT the Holy Spirit is generally expressed as a revelation of God’s power – an extension of God Himself by which He carries out His mighty works…
We can see this expressed in the OT in many forms such as…
• The Hand of God…
o in Ps 19:1, “…1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands… (HCSB)
o in Ps 102:25, “…25 Long ago You established the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands…” (HCSB)
• The Word of God…
o In Ps 33:6, “…6 The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth…” (HCSB)
o In Ps 147:15,18, “…15 He sends His command throughout the earth; His word runs swiftly…” “…18 He sends His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow…”(HCSB)
• The Wisdom of God…
o In Ex 28:3, “…3 You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make Aaron’s garments for consecrating him to serve Me as priest…”(HCSB)
o In Job 32:8, “…8 But it is a spirit in man and the breath of the • Almighty that give him nderstanding…”(HCSB)
The creative word of God in Gen 1:3 is closely related to God’s creative breath in Gen 2:7 – both are identified with the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit was an active agent in the creation process.
However, the primary focus or function of God the Holy Spirit in the OT is as the spirit of prophecy. The Holy Spirit is God’s holy inspiration to the prophets, such as “Thus saith the Lord”
The prophets of the Bible are referred to as ‘men of God’ and in Hosea 9:7 the prophets are referred to as ‘men of the Spirit’
The general implication throughout the OT is that the prophets were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.
Now, although the OT does NOT contain the idea of a semi-independent divine entity in the person of God the Holy Spirit… what we do see is a special and miraculous expression of God’s activity with and thru men willing to be used by Him… revealing the power and the presence of God the Holy Spirit…
Now in the NT we find the Holy Spirit revealed as both the Spirit of prophecy AND the manifestation of God’s power, just as it was in the OT…
However, Jesus attributes those things directly to the person of the Holy Spirit as led and instructed by God the Father…
When Mary is ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit (the power of the Most High) we get an echo of what happened in the wilderness when the presence of God overshadowed and enveloped the tabernacle with a cloud and the Tabernacle was filled with glory of God…
In lk 11:20 Jesus casts out demons by using the ‘finger of God’ which is an OT phrase that reveals the ‘power of God or the Spirit of God…
Again at the baptism of Jesus in the Gospels we find the Spirit of God descending down as a dove and landing on Jesus in Mark… in Matthew the Holy Spirit descends as a dove… in Luke Jesus came up from the Jordan filled with the Holy Spirit…
Jesus understood the Holy Spirit as a co-equal person within the Triune nature of God. He taught that the Holy Spirit would be the ‘paraclete’ for the believer after He ascended into heaven.
The Holy Spirit will be a comforter, a counselor, an Advocate for all believers. Jesus came into this world as the 1st comforter and when He ascended the Holy Spirit became another comforter…
This ‘other’ counselor that is designated as the Holy Spirit will dwell within the heart of those who accept Christ as Savior. The H.S. will guide these believers into all truth, teach them all things and will testify of Jesus through each believer.
The disciples all carried out their ministries being filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 6 when deacons were first called into the service of the church, the church only called men who were filled with the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Cor 12, the Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts to the believer and in Gal 5 we see that the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer produces fruit that is tangible and visible…
In reading Scripture, no man can know or understand the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit enlightens him – the Spirit of truth reveals all things to true believers.
Now we know the Holy Spirit to be the active agent present in this world that reveals truth and convicts the heart of sin. It is the Holy Spirit that enters into the heart and soul of the believer – sealing them until the day of redemption…
And whether you believe it or not the Holy Spirit is an integral and vital part of the Triune God of this universe…
Conclusion:
There are so many things about God that we are NEVER going to understand or even come close to comprehending and this is b/c our minds are finite in nature and ability and we simple cannot grasp all there is to know about a limitless and infinite God.
But God has reached down and God has revealed much to us about who He is and about His love for us. There are so many people in the church today who seem to struggle with this solidly biblical teaching of a Triune God… or the 3 – 1 concept of the Godhead.
But to me the Bible makes it as abundantly clear as we will ever see it and it always amazes me how people of faith can believe God loves them, came to earth wrapped in flesh, died for their sin and raised from the dead and is now preparing a place for all who accept Him as Savior…
How a person of faith can – on faith – believe all that and still have doubts about the clearly evident Triune nature of the God we serve.
Many believers will answer YES when asked if God was all powerful and could do anything… but yet they simply refuse to believe what the Word of God teaches about the Triune nature of our God.
The God of the Bible is a limitless and unbounded God. He is infinite in nature and He can be both ONE and THREE and still be God!
Why is it SO difficult for us to see that our God can do ALL things – if you can accept that – then you can accept and know that the Triune nature of the God of the Bible is truth as revealed to you through the Holy Spirit.
The Triune God that is so clearly revealed in the Bible is the same God that today is with us and by His power we have victory over Satan, sin and the grave.
This Triune God, this all powerful God who is holy and separate from us… also desires a personal and intimate relationship with all humanity.
And this morning as hard as it may seem to believe, God is waiting for you! It does not matter what you have done…
• Moses was a murderer and a liar…
• David was an adultery, a murder and a liar…
• Peter denied Christ 3 times…
• Paul was a persecutor of the church…
God does not care what you HAVE done, but what He cares about is what you decide to do. He wants you to become part of His family. He wants this SO much that He has made a way for this to happen.
He is drawing you to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior this morning. Today He is drawing you to step out and come down this aisle and confess your sin and start your life anew in Christ…
As Bro Jerry comes to lead our hymn of invitation I want you to know that God is a patient God and He is waiting but you may never have another chance to confess your sin and ask His forgiveness… don’t delay…
Jesus told His disciples that TODAY is the day of salvation, don’t put off knowing God today… come and get to know Him on a personal basis… I ask you to come as Bro Jerry leads and as God calls you in your heart!
