Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. As we consider this series of questions, we'd like to ask God, our question is: is God one? or three.
Someone says, does it really matter whether God is one or three? Yes, it does matter. We must worship God as He is, not as we would like, not as we feel, but as He exists, and God is triune. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. The Trinity is more than just a theological concept.
It's a marvelous mystery that describes the nature and identity of God. giving us insight into divine unity and community. Today, we're continuing a lesson about our triune God as we explore the question: is God one or three? Here's Pastor John Monroe to introduce today's lesson. Is God one or two?
Or is God three?
Now, that's a difficult question, but a very important one. Today in our study on God, And the questions we would ask God, we continue to consider the important subject of the Trinity. Orthodox historic Christianity has always asserted that God is one. But within the Godhead, there are three distinct persons: God the Father. Got the sun?
and God the Holy Spirit. The Athanasian Creed of AD 400 states We worship one God in the Trinity. and the Trinity in unity. It is important for us to know That we worship the one true God, and He is Trajun.
So let's continue today to learn about the Trinity. First And we want to describe the doctrine of the Trinity, secondly to look at the biblical proof. Let me ask you to open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians. Chapter thirteen, verse fourteen. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
and the love of God And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. What a wonderful Benediction. What do we mean by the Trinity? How would we describe or define the Trinity? When we say that God is triune, we mean that God is one being existing in three persons.
That is one substance in three persons. We're going to learn that God is one, that is, there is only one true God. Secondly, the Father is fully God, and the Son is fully God, and the Holy Spirit is fully God. Don't think of the Father as a third, and the Spirit as a third, and the Son as a third. No, the Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, and the Holy Spirit is fully God.
And the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons. They are co equal and they are co eternal.
So is God one or three? We can say that God is one in essence, God is one in substance. That is, that there is only one God. But within the Godhead there are three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Think with me of a few scriptures regarding the plurality in the Godhead in the New Testament.
Repeatedly in the New Testament, the Father is presented as God. That the Father is God is irrefutable. For example, Romans 1, verse 7: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Father. The Father is God.
But Jesus Christ is also God. Turn to John chapter 8. Let's look at a few scriptures in John to establish that Jesus Christ is God. We could think of his miracles, we could think of his resurrection from the dead, but let's think of his own words. John 8.
There's Fifty-six. Jesus is in a debate with some of the religious rulers. John eight, verse fifty six. Jesus says to them, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad.
Wait a minute. They said To him? You're not yet fifty years old. And have you seen Abraham? I mean, Abraham.
Existed hundreds of years ago. How could Abraham ever see your day? And how could he say that he rejoiced in your day when you're not yet 50 years old? And Abraham are great. Honored patriarch lived hundreds of years ago.
Notice Jesus' brilliant response, verse 58. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, Before Abraham was born, I am. Not before Abraham was born, I was. That's true, but it's a stronger statement. Jesus said to them, Before Abraham was born, I am.
Ego and me. Over and over again in John's Gospel, Jesus is saying, I am the light of the world, I'm the bread of life, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life, I'm the resurrection, and so on. Here he simply says, before Abraham was born, Um Does that expression, I am, sound familiar? If we know our Bibles, it does. What did Moses say in Exodus 3 to the Lord when the Lord is giving him this task of leading the people from slavery?
Moses is saying, look. You know, what am I going to say when people ask me about you? Who are you? What's your name? And the Lord says, I am.
Who I am. He is the eternal, self-existent one. He is Yahweh. He is the great. I am.
The one who is eternally existent. And so Jesus says to the Critics, before Abraham was born, I am. What's the reaction? Verse 59, therefore. They picked up stones to throw at him.
Of course they did, because they knew by making such a statement he was declaring himself to be. God. Go over a few pages to chapter ten, John ten, verse thirty. Another strong statement by Jesus. I and the Father are.
One. Reaction, verse 31. The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning me?
The Jews answered him, For a good work we don't stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you being a man, make yourself out to be. God, they got the point. Chapter twenty. John chapter 20, arguably the climax of the book of John. Why is John writing his gospel?
To demonstrate who Jesus Christ is, that he is the Christ, He's the Messiah, He's the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. And in John chapter 20, Jesus has risen from the dead, He's appeared to the disciples. And they rejoice, their hearts are glad when they see the Lord. Thomas the doubter is not there and said, Listen, I don't believe this. Unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails.
Unless I put my finger And the place Of the nails and put my hand on his side. I'm not going to believe. Jesus then graciously Appears to Thomas. What's Thomas's response? John 20, verse 28.
Jesus said. Thomas answered and said to them, My Lord, And My God. That's it. My Lord and my Gods. In Revelation 1, verses 17 through 18, Jesus Christ is described as, describes himself, in fact, as the first and the last He is the first and the last.
What's the point? He is the beginning and the end. You want to go back in time, as it were.
However far you go back, Jesus is there. He's the first. He's unique. You want to go forward.
However far Forward you go, Jesus is there. He's the first. And the last, the Alpha and the Omega. And in Isaiah 44, verse 6, we read of someone who says that he is the first and the last. Who would that person be?
The Lord God. Amazing, isn't it? that this Old Testament Title of God. As the first and the last is now applied by Jesus to Himself. Who is Jesus?
He is God. He is the first. And the last, the Lord God, beside him, there is no other God. You say, What about the Holy Spirit? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Just for one verse, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, Paul is writing to a church at Corinth. And there was a lot of disorder there, and he has to remind them. of who they are. 1 Corinthians 3.16, he says, Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Who's he talking to?
Not to an individual, he's talking to a church. By his Spirit, God not only dwells among his people, but is now present within them. Paul is writing to a local church, a local assembly, and he is saying to them, You are the temple of God. In what way are we the temple of God? Because the Spirit of God.
dwells in us, the Holy Spirit, is God But the father And the sun And the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. Listen to one verse, John 14, verse 26, by our Lord. He says this to his disciples, but the helper. The Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said. To you.
How wonderful. In one verse. We have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper. We have the Father. Sending The spirit.
And we have the Son saying, when the Spirit comes, he will teach you all things in remembrance of me, the Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, even within one verse. Or think of the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of his public ministry. What do we see there? Jesus is being baptized.
And as he's being baptised, the heavens open. And the Spirit of God in the form of a dove comes. and the nines God's Messiah. And we hear a voice from heaven. The heavens open and the Father speaks and says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Three distinct persons in the one Godhead. The Father speaking From heaven, the father sending his son to anoint the messiah, the messiah. being baptised. Father, Son. and Holy Spirit, or think of the Statement in the Great Commission: go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name, singular, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Spirit. An understanding of the Trinity helps us at the communion table, doesn't it? Because what are we remembering? We're remembering that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His unique Son. And the Trinity reminds us that God's Son becomes perfect man without reduction in his essential deity.
And the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and if you're here with unrepentant sin, Pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you of that sin. And also, we will open our eyes to see the loveliness and beauty of God's wonderful Son.
So that, as the Father says, this is my well. beloved son, in whom I am well. Please. And the Trinity helps us as we think of Two or three implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity helps us to understand.
that only gods is great. It helps us to understand the greatness of God, the wonder of the Triune God promotes in us a sense of awe, of worship and praise at such a great God. Who is greatly to be praised. And just think of it: this triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. Peter Toon writes, What greater joy can a theologian Let me correct the Anglican scholar.
What greater joy can a follower of Christ have? Not just theologians, but all of us. What greater joy Can a follower of Christ have than to contemplate the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, his Son, By the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that right? What greater joy can we have than to worship and to contemplate and to meditate on the glory of God revealed in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to do that supernaturally by the illumination Of the Holy Spirit, what a great God.
And reflecting on the Trinity helps us to understand the greatness of God, that God isn't some small God who's just there at our whim, like a genie out of the bottle, just to help us to get through life. He is the triune God, the eternal God, the Father, the Son. And the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the Trinity helps us to understand the love of God. This eternal God, who's always existed, is described as love.
The Bible says. With profound simplicity, God is love. That is, the essence of God's being from all of eternity is love. And if God would not try you Whom would he love? from all of eternity.
Love requires an object to be loved. But within the one Godhead, there are the three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who eternally love one another. Who eternally receive love from one another in this dynamic interrelationship. And so we're not surprised that at the heart of the gospel, is God's love. We're not surprised then when Jesus says, for God so loved the world, because this God, who is eternally love, reaches out to us, although we've rebelled against God, reaches out to us not in condemnation and judgment, although we deserve that, but reaches out to us.
In love. To save us, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, says John, for God is love. And the more we meditate on the love of the triune God, the more we will experience this divine love and so reflect that love and display that love to one another and to our lost world. And if you have your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 17 to reflect on this: that not only are we loved by God.
That is staggering, isn't it? That we are loved by God. Not only that you are loved by God. That you are loved. even as he loves his son.
Think of the eternal love between the Father and the Son. And listen to our Lord in John chapter 17, verse 22. And the glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that you did send me. And did love me.
Even as you did love Me. Think of that. Do you get that? And did love them. His followers, us.
Even As you the Father did love me the Son. Father, I desire that they may also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, in order that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you did love me. Before the foundation of the world, O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet have I known you. And these have known That you did send me, and I have made your name known to them, and will make it known. That the love Querway You did love me, maybe in them.
And I In Damn, isn't it staggering? Think of it. of your love for your spouse, your love for your children, your love for your parents. You say, well, you know, I love you, Pastor, but I don't love you in the same way as I love my children. I understand that.
But the Trinity helps us to understand. That this love That the Father has for his Son in His amazing, indescribable, unfathomable grace, that this love comes to us and God assures us not only that we're loved, But we're loved with this kind of love, the love that He had for His Son and has for His Son. For all. Of eternity. Mind-blowing.
No wonder we sometimes sing, my Lord, what love. Is this loved with this deep everlasting love, a love which will not go?
So Jesus says in John 15, verse 9: Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Get that? As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. Therefore, the outstanding characteristics of the people of God to our lost world is that we love one another.
Why? Because we've received God's love. and now, having received God's God's love from this one God. We are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And as we do that, We love.
a neighbour. as ourselves. The Trinity helps us to understand the love of God Lastly, the Trinity helps us to understand fellowship and unity. The Trinity explains that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit relate to one another in personal ways and live in eternal union and communion. Unity and community, and we are made in the image of God.
And God made us to relate to others. We're made to be part of a community to enjoy fellowship and friendship. We are not made to live isolated lives. It's not good for us to be alone.
So, if you are a recluse and you say, I really like living on my own. Let me challenge you that God did not make you. to live an isolated, little, lonely life. We are made for community. And while our Lord Jesus did spend a lot of time on his own, alone in prayer, praying to his father, he was frequently with people.
He took children in his arms, he drank. And partied, as it were, with the sinners and the outcasts of society to the great criticism of the religious establishment. He chose twelve men to be with him. And from those twelve, he had a special circle of three intimate friends. As we read the Gospels, we see that our Lord loved to be with people.
He loved to go, for example, to the home of Bethany. Where there was Mary and Martha and Lazarus. to enjoy their fellowship and warmth, I'm sure, and their food and their love. Our Lord loved being with people. And one of the great dangers of our modern world is that it's so easy, increasingly easy, to live isolated life.
Lives and our relationships are often casual and superficial and lacking commitment. And many families hardly exist as families, but as isolated individuals who happen to live under the same roof. How tragic. You're a father. A mother.
Make sure your family is different. Children, teens, don't just go into your own little room with your iPod and your cellphone and your T V and your computer and your video game and say, that's just me, I want to be left alone. No, healthy families, yes, they do spend time On our own, it's important that we have some solitude. But healthy families enjoy one another. They have shared experiences and privileges and commitments.
And so the Trinity is the perfect model of interpersonal relationships. It teaches us on love, fellowship, communion, and also On subordinating our will to the will of others in community.
So the Father sends the Son. The Son on Earth says, I've come not to do my own will. He's eternal God. Not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. Jesus said, When I go to His followers, I will send Him, the Comforter, to you.
The sun Submits himself to the will of the Father. The Spirit submits himself to the will of the Son and the Father. They are God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful example to us of humble submission and service, but we are naturally rebellious.
We don't submit to God. We try and do our own way, but we have to acknowledge the Trinity reminds us that we are to submit ourselves to this Lord and we're also to submit ourselves to one another. That God has ordained the government. He has authority in the church. He has authority in families.
He has authority in schools and so on. And we, the people of God, are to be humble. and submissive, and we see that model perfectly. In The Trinity. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? we've seen that the Trinity is not just doctrinal dogma. The Trinity is central to the essence and the character of God Peter Toon said that the Trinity gives the authentic follower of Jesus Christ great joy. Quote, in contemplating the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ His Son, by the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. End quote.
Next time we think of another intriguing question, is God infinite and eternal? Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. M
