Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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OMG: God in Three Persons

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Introduction

Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 1. Now ordinarily when I preach the Word we take a verse or a brief passage and we kind of expound it. But today is going to be a little different because I want to look at a series of Scriptures. So we’re going to run through a lot of Scriptures and then I’m going to do some comments. The heart of the sermon today is very simple. The God of the Bible is different than any other god. Now, if you’ve been paying attention for the past few months, as I’ve been talking about God’s character and His attributes, I’ve said many things. We’ve talked about God being love. There’s one thing that’s not been mentioned. It’s actually the one thing that makes the God of the Bible uniquely different than all other gods. Can you think of what it might be? He’s real? I think I said that, didn’t I? Well, think about our worship today. We were worshiping Jesus. I want you to think about this. We were worshiping Jesus, weren’t we? But in some of the songs we were worshiping God. Are they the same? So what’s unique about our God? He is a triune God.

Now I know as soon as I say the word Trinity, I know what’s going to happen to you. For some of you, you’ll get that glazed look. Oh no. Theology. Oh no. And here’s one of the reasons I think this happens is because when we talk about the Trinity or God’s triune nature, we say we can’t understand it. What happens is, I think some of us, well since I can’t understand it, then what’s the point of thinking about something I can’t really understand? So we kind of just check out. And so we say, yeah, God’s one, God is three, yeah. [audio unclear] What do you say to that? Well, here’s what we say to that. And I want to look at [audio unclear] and look at Scriptures which either [audio unclear] You’re not going to go through. [audio unclear]

The Trinity in Scripture

How can these things be? In other words, how can I give birth to the Messiah? Since I do not know a man, then the angel answered and said to her:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

(Luke 1:35)

There they are right there. Look at, go to Luke chapter—we’re just going to go through some Scriptures here. The baptism of Jesus, Luke 3:21:

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

(Luke 3:21–22)

Son—all in one little verse here. Now look at what I call the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry in Luke chapter 4. Jesus stands up in the temple in Luke 4 verse 18. He opens, He quotes from the Old Testament, but Jesus is speaking:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

(Luke 4:18–19)

Jesus is speaking, the Messiah. He says He is anointed by the Holy Spirit, there’s the other Person, and then He speaks of the day of the Lord, or Jehovah—there’s all three right there.

Look at John 14. Jesus gives an extensive teaching here in John 14 about God’s relationship with His people. In John 14, He says, in verse 15 of chapter 14:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”

(John 14:15–17)

So we have the Son talking about praying to the Father to receive the Holy Spirit. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And this whole chapter here is an exposition of the fact that Jesus is leaving, but the Father will send the Spirit—another Comforter or Teacher or Advocate will come to God’s people. Father, Son, and we have the Spirit.

Look at Matthew 28. Matthew 28 is called the Great Commission, right? In verse 19 of Matthew 28, He says, and make disciples. [audio unclear] A sweep here of these verses.

Now there’s many verses in Acts. We don’t have time to read Acts 2, but if you read the whole chapter of Acts 2, what’s striking is this is the first Christian sermon, if you will. The Holy Ghost is poured out. Peter gets up and preaches and he talks about Jesus dying, coming back from the dead. Jesus goes to the throne, then the Father poured out the Holy Spirit. So the very first Christian sermon to Jews—you’ve got to think of Jews who are monotheists, right? We see the exposition of salvation, and we have the teaching of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Go to Romans chapter 1. And all throughout the epistles, we see the same kind of thing where the Trinity is interwoven with so many different topics. Here with the gospel. Paul says in Romans 1 verse 1:

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness.

(Romans 1:1–4)

So we have God, we have the Son, and we have the Spirit, right?

Romans chapter 8, we see the Trinity in the process of sanctification. In Romans 8 verse 1 it says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. KJV. Amen. None. Why?

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(Romans 8:2–4)

So we see God—God sends His Son, and God sends His Holy Spirit. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Go on in chapter 8 of Romans, it says this in verse 14:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

(Romans 8:14–17)

So we have the Spirit, we have the Father, right? So we have the Father, we have the Son, we have Christ, all in just these couple verses.

Go to—man, there’s so many, what did I say, 39? Just a few more. Look at 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is talking about body life and ministry amongst the many members, and after saying that in verse 3, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. He then goes on and says this:

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

(1 Corinthians 12:4–6)

Notice the Spirit in verse 4, the Lord in verse 5, and God in verse 6.

2 Corinthians chapter 13. Now we’re just, like I said, we’re skipping a whole bunch of verses here. In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul is concluding his epistle. He’s giving what’s called a benediction, a final blessing or prayer. And he says in verse 14:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

(2 Corinthians 13:14)

So here we have the Lord Jesus, we have the Spirit, and we have God or the Father. All three right here in one little verse.

Go to the book of Ephesians. I didn’t realize until I did this little exercise how often the Trinity is talked about in the book of Ephesians. I just for some reason didn’t realize it. But it’s amazing. Now we won’t take time to read all of chapter 1, but if you read it what you see is that God the Father had an eternal counsel or plan, and then He sends the Son to redeem His people, and then it talks about the sealing of the Holy Spirit. So the plan of salvation is wrapped up in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But then he goes on and he says this in chapter 2. He’s talking about how Jesus has taken Jew and Gentile and made one body, right? It’s called the church. And then he says this, and he says verse 18:

For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

(Ephesians 2:18)

Well there’s the Trinity in one verse, right? Jesus, the Spirit, and the Father. Through Jesus we have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, this is us, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Through Jesus’ work, we’re in Jesus, and in Him we’re being built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit—of the Son, the Father, and the Spirit.

Look at chapter 3 of this book. Paul prays for them, and he prays in verse 16 that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. So we have him praying to the Father regarding our relationship with Christ and our experience of the Holy Spirit. We have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I mean, it’s astounding. It’s interwoven through so many Scriptures.

Look at chapter 4, verse 4. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. So we have the Spirit in verse 4. We have Lord in verse 5, and we have God in verse 6.

Now I can give one more. Look at chapter 5 of this book. This is just an amazing book, in verse 18: Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here we see the Spirit, we see God the Father, and we see the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is pervasive. It is everywhere throughout Scripture, and it is interwoven with so many topics that the Scripture addresses. Let me look at one more. Titus chapter 3. I keep on saying one more, but you know better. You know better. Titus 3—Timothy, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus. In verse 4 it says:

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

(Titus 3:4–6)

So we see the mercy of God, we see the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and we see Jesus Christ our Savior. This is about our salvation, our conversion experience, and we have the Trinity wrapped up in this. I could give many, many, many, many more examples of lines. And if we had time, we would do this. But as you look through the sweep of Scripture, and this is just the New Testament, we’re not talking about the Old, right? Now the Old’s got its own things. As you look through the sweep of the New Testament, here’s what you see. You see that this notion of a triune God, a Father, a Son, and a Spirit, is interwoven through the entire New Testament. In other words, and this is why, one of the reasons why this is so important, this doctrine is so important, because if we take God’s triune nature, if we take the Trinity and rip it out of the Bible, we are going to destroy the whole fabric of New Testament revelation. That’s really what happens. That’s what happens. And so it’s not a coincidence that very often those who deny God’s triune nature often end up denying other fundamental doctrines. Why? Because one doctrine is connected to another.

You Cannot Pull the Thread

It’s kind of like the proverbial thread in the sweater. And my daughter called me the other day and said, you know, I was at work and I had a thread on my sweater. This is a true story. She said I started pulling it. She said, before I knew it, my whole sleeve was falling off. But that’s what happens. Don’t you start pulling on this thread. You start pulling on a doctrine like the Trinity, you start to pull on that thread? Oh, we want to get that out of there because we don’t understand that. Let’s pull that out. And all of a sudden the whole sleeve falls off. All sorts of other doctrines are so wrapped up with this that you can’t pull it out without doing violence to the entire New Testament revelation. That’s one of the reasons this is important.

The Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Another reason, go back to Matthew 28 for a moment, another reason this is important—and if we had time we could get in and we could talk about how the Trinity affects various doctrines, but we don’t have time. But another reason this is important is because of this commission that Jesus gave us, and I think we can read this and not appreciate what’s really happening here, because this passage in Matthew 28, the Great Commission, is often read as an evangelistic thing. Go, go, go, right? Well, we should go. But we need to appreciate how striking it is what Jesus said here. Because Jesus was a Jew. Jesus had a Jewish band of men, and these men were monotheists. They believed in one God. And the Trinity, as we understand it, was not revealed in the Old Testament like that was His name. But here, He mentions a different name. So He says to them in verse 19, and when He says to go make disciples, He says to baptize those who [audio unclear]

Warfield, he says this, he says, the nearest approach to a formal pronouncement of the doctrine is recorded right here, right here. He points out the importance of the phrasing. He says Jesus does not say—now try to pay attention—He does not say in the names of the Father, right, but in the name, so it’s singular, nor does He say in the name of the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost, as if He had to deal with three separate beings. Nor does He say in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as if the Father, Son and Holy Ghost might be taken as merely three designations of a single person. He says, with stately impressiveness, He asserts the unity of the three by combining them all within the bounds of the single name, and then throws up into emphasis the distinctiveness of each by introducing them in turn with the repeated article: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Now I love to read this whole thing because he says it better than I ever will, but the point he goes on to make is that the idea of a name was not just a symbol. In the Old Testament, you can find numerous Scriptures where God talks about His name and His name is who He is. Because in the Hebrew mind, the name wasn’t just a designation or a symbol. The name was the character. The name was the nature of the thing or person. That’s why in Scripture we see these cases where God renamed somebody, calls Abram, then He renames him Abraham, right? Jacob gets renamed Israel, and we see this, you know, Sarai is renamed Sarah, because the name meant something about who that person really is. So Jehovah is really the name I AM, as God revealed Himself to Moses. So Jesus says, okay, now go baptize, and you would think He would say go baptize in the name of Jehovah. He’s the one true God. He’s the only one. But He doesn’t do that. Rather, He says, go and baptize in a different name, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So here’s what Warfield says: He, Jesus, could not have been understood otherwise than as substituting for the name of Jehovah this other name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He says the only alternative to that, excuse me, is that Jesus was supplanting Jehovah with a new God, which he says is monstrous. So what Jesus is doing is He is saying that Jehovah, the only true God, who was His Father—this God’s name now for us, the Christian community, is the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. That is His name. It is a threefold name.

And Warfield goes on to point out that this is a direct enunciation of the doctrine of the Trinity. But he goes on to say this, we’re not witnessing the introduction of the doctrine, it’s presupposed. It’s presupposed here. What we’re witnessing is the authoritative announcement of the Trinity as the God of Christianity by its Founder. Let this sink in. The authoritative announcement of the Trinity as the God of Christianity by its Founder. This is the distinguishing characteristic of Christians. And that is as much as to say that the doctrine of the Trinity is, according to our Lord’s own apprehension of it, the distinctive mark of the religion which He founded.

The Distinctive Mark of Christianity

That’s why this is important. Because when Jesus said to baptize into the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, it means that when we make a profession of faith in Jesus, we are really saying we believe in the God of Jesus, that we will follow Jesus, but we will follow Jesus’ God, right? And who was His God? He says the name of His God was Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That is His name. And this is what makes Christianity of the Bible distinct from any other god. Many of the things that we have said about God in this series on God’s attributes could have been said about the gods of other religions. But not this. This is the distinctive mark. Therefore, what this really means is that in order to be a Christian, one must profess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. They must profess it. And that is why it is wrong to say Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians, and a vast number of groups. And I know some of you think, oh, how can you say that, you’re being judgmental? I’m not being judgmental. This is what Jesus said. Okay, Jesus said that the name that we are baptized into is not just the name of Jesus. It’s the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And anybody—we don’t understand, no, but we do have to believe what’s been revealed, right? And so it is not true to say, well, you know, this doctrine, this Trinity thing isn’t that important. Because if this is the distinctive mark, then Jesus is saying that we need to embrace God as the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Not just as a Father and not just as a Savior and not just as a Spirit, but as a Father and a Son and a Spirit. Three in one. Not three gods, one God, because there’s one name in three distinct persons. And that is a mystery. But that is the distinctive mark of Christianity laid down by Jesus.

Follow the Jesus of the Bible

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m getting fed up with something. You know what it is? You want to hear? I won’t vent on you, but I just want to say this. I’m really getting tired of people saying they love Jesus, but they don’t follow what He says. Oh yeah, I love Jesus, but you know, that Trinity stuff’s not important. Or, I love Jesus, but—and I don’t mean just follow like obey. I mean follow like—people say crazy things that are clearly contradicted by the Bible. Say, oh, but I love Jesus. If you’re going to follow Jesus, man, follow Jesus. But follow the Jesus of the Bible. Right? Not the Starbucks Jesus. Not the hip Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible. What did He say? What if He had said right here that God was 25 persons? I would believe it. Why? Because Jesus said it. And I’m following Jesus. So you know, there’s not a whole bunch of different Jesuses. Well there are actually a whole bunch of different Jesuses out there. But the Jesus I get it. I don’t like some of this stuff, like I don’t understand that. Okay. Jesus is my Lord. Right. He’s my Master. I’m His disciple. I’m following Him. And so following Jesus means that we believe, embrace, and profess what He taught. Because this is what He says. After He gives this enunciation of the threefold name of God, He says, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, all things.

You know, one of the most unpopular doctrines in the Bible, it’s always been really, but especially in our very tolerant age, is this idea of hell. Is it not very unpopular? And so some Christians want to say, well, you know, I don’t think I believe that. Well, my answer is, you don’t have that option. Now I understand it’s not popular. I don’t actually, if I take the time to think about the destiny of the lost, I don’t like this. I mean, I don’t like to think what this is going to be like for those who die without Jesus. I don’t like this. But I don’t have the prerogative to say, because I don’t like it, or it makes me uncomfortable, therefore, I’m going to say it’s not there. And that’s just one example of something that Jesus taught. He talked more about that than anybody else in the New Testament. That’s an example where we’ve got to decide, okay, if we’re going to follow Jesus, we take the Jesus of the Bible with the good sayings, the wonderful sayings, the blessing sayings, and the hard sayings, the difficult sayings. Because this is the Jesus that has been revealed. Amen? We follow Him. And He has told us that God’s name is Father, Son, and Spirit. And that in a truly inscrutable way, each Person is God, but there’s not three gods, there’s only one. We don’t understand it, but we can believe it, we can embrace it by faith.

Who We Worship

My last point, and we’re going to wrap it up, is why this is important. First, it’s important because if we take God’s triune nature out of Scripture, [audio unclear] Father, Son, and Spirit passages. What you see is that many of them are in the context of worship. Now, the reason this is important, and I’ve said this repeatedly throughout this series, is that the most important thing about us is who we worship. This is the most important thing. And this is why the doctrine of God, which includes this discussion of the Trinity, is the foundation of everything. It’s the foundation. I’m not a home builder, but a home builder is telling me that if you lay the foundation wrong, the whole building is going to collapse. The foundation is everything. I’m saying everything. The foundation of the revelation of the Bible is who God is. And who we think He is, is the most important thing about our entire worldview. It truly is. It shapes everything, whether we realize it or not. So to say, oh well, you know, some Christians believe in the Trinity and some don’t. It’s not that important. That is a phenomenal fallacy. Because truly the most important doctrine in the Bible is simply the doctrine of God. Because we have to understand, in our worship, if we’re worshiping Jesus, and He’s not God, then what are we doing? We’re committing idolatry. If we sing a song or a hymn and it refers to the Lord, the Spirit, and that Spirit is not truly a divine Person, then what are we doing? We’re committing idolatry. God forbid, amen? God forbid. So when we think about the practical relevance of something like the Trinity, it’s profoundly relevant because what we think about God shapes everything about who we are and is at the center, the focal point of our worship. It does matter if God is simply one or if God is one and three. It does matter. Because in our worship, we are professing as Christians that each Person is a divine Person, yet there’s not three gods, there’s one. We say this in our worship. It’s all throughout the old hymns. It’s even in many contemporary worship songs. It’s everywhere if you stop to think about it. We’re worshiping a triune God. Amen.

This is why it’s important. Because who we worship shapes us, and if we worship the wrong God we have violated the very first commandment. The very first. So we must embrace the biblical revelation of God. Difficult as it may be at times, beyond our comprehension at times, this is the God who has revealed Himself to us. He’s revealed Himself as He is, as He is. You know, as I was thinking about this, I was thinking, you know, Lord, this Trinity thing is kind of hard to understand. And I’m not going to say the Lord spoke to me, but the thought came to me. You ain’t seen nothing yet. The Lord gave us just enough revelation of the true God. When we get into glory, I think we’re just going to be like holy, holy, holy, holy. I mean you read Revelation, right? You read it recently? I exhorted you recently. Read chapters 4 and 5 every Saturday night before you come to church. You’ll be ready to worship. It talks about the seven spirits before the throne. What the heck? I thought there was only one Holy Spirit. Now there’s seven? What’s going on there? It’s going to be awesome, but it’s going to blow our minds. The Lord gave us just enough so that we have to walk by faith. We have to believe.

And I know I need to wrap it up, because I’ve got to go somewhere far away. No, I’m not getting raptured, but I do need to drive an hour and a half to Illinois for a Christmas thing. Oh man, I forgot what I was going to say. I guess it wasn’t. Yeah, amen. Holy, holy, holy. It’s not coming. It’s not coming back. Yes, just enough. Amen, brother. It’s not coming back. The train is off the track, so I just trust the Lord. I wasn’t supposed to share that. All right, let’s stand together. We’re going to bless God, the triune God, amen. And next week we’re going to look at the birth of Jesus and we’re going to see how the birth of Jesus is inexplicable if God is not a Father, Son, and Spirit God.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that we can call You our Father because of the work of Your Son Jesus. We thank You He died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and He has arisen from the dead. And Lord we thank You that now that He’s ascended You have given us Your Holy Spirit. And I thank You, Lord God, that You have revealed Yourself to us through Your Word. And I pray for myself and really all of us, Lord, that we would really take the time to meditate on Your Word, meditate on who You are. Lord Jesus, I think of when You told Your disciples that blessed are your eyes because of the things you see and blessed are your ears for the things that you hear. Remind us how blessed we are that we have Your Word and that through Your Word we can know the true God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. How we pray in His name. Amen.