One God and One Gospel

John 14:1-31

Athanasius- 4th century saint who stood firm on the doctrine of the Trinity when it was under attack

Exiled 5 times for his stand

Firmly declared that an outright rejection of the Trinity of God was a heresy and would result in the heretic to be anathama (damned)

What does Jesus mean?

Jesus has made a alot of claims about He and the Father

I am in the Father and the Father is in me (14:11)

I and my Father are one (10:30)

I have come to do the will of Him who sent me (6:38)

I am going to the Father (14:28)

If you see me you see the Father (14:9)

I will send you the Helper… I will come to you (14:16-18)

We will come to him and make our home with him (14:23)

How do we make sense of them?

Are they one person who shows up in different ways?

Are they three Gods who make up one entity?

The truth of the Trinity

Three persons with distinct roles

We do not believe in three Gods

Deuteronomy 6:4-5- Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Other religions think that we do

We believe in One God who exists in 3 distinct persons

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

The Father is not the Son or the Spirit, the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Son or the Father

But each person is fully God

Analogy

Universe

Made up of time, space, and matter

Biblical teaching of God

1 Corinthians 8:6- yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

2 Corinthians 13:14- The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Matthew 28:19-20- 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 3:16-17- And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Father

First person of the Trinity

Son

Second person of the Trinity

Eternally begotten of the Father

Holy Spirit

Third person of the Trinity

Eternally preceding from the Father and the Son

Each person is equal in infinite glory and power, and distinct in personhood and Divine role

Why it matters

It is who God has revealed Himself to be

If God has revealed Himself to us, then we better not play games with what He has said

What we do on Sunday mornings is not an intellectual exercise or a fun experience

It is the heralding of the revealed Truth of God in His Word

Therefore, if He has revealed something about Himself to us, then it really matters that we be a precise as possible

If we are confronted with the Truth of who the God of the Bible is, and then walk away openly rejecting perhaps the most central teaching of who He is, then we have rejected the God of the Bible and have fashioned one of our own making

This is why the Holy Spirit is so important

If He dwells in His people to guide them in Truth, then surely He will not allow them to be led astray on an essential truth of who He is

Apart from the Trinity, there is no Gospel

To deny the Trinity is heresy

Heresy is not just a belief that is disagreeable

It is possible to disagree on certain doctrines in genuine faith

Example: baptism, eschatology, church structure

Heresy is a belief which denies a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith

Example: denying the deity of Christ

The work of the Trinity

Example one

The doctrine of predestination

The Father foreknew

The Spirit

1 Peter 1:1-2- Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Example 2

Salvation

The Father sent the Son

1 John 4:9- In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

The Son lives to intercede for us

Hebrews 7:25- Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

The Holy Spirit keeps us firm until the end

Ephesians 1:13-14- In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Christmas Connection

Luke 1:35- And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

How it changes us

We are motivated to seek to know Him more

We easily become complacent in seeking to know God more

We can begin to think that we have arrived at a full-orbed knowledge of God

Let the unfathomably great truth of the Trinity of the Godhead draw you into the bottomless riches of the truth of God’s Word

We are moved to love Him more

When we see the work of each person of the Trinity in our lives, let it cause your heart to soar in love for Him

We are compelled to trust Him more

If the father has sent His Son in love to provide sinners a Savior

And if the Son came in perfect obedience to be a perfect sacrifice

And if the Holy Spirit has been sent to dwell in us in power

Then we will surely trust Him in what He has promised to be and do for us