"...and of the Son...", pt. 1 (03/28/2024)
The Trinity: Truth or Trap? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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(you can consider this an Easter teaching lol)
We will look at both sides of the Trinity debate, but first, considering Good Friday is tomorrow and Easter is Sunday, we will begin by looking at the possibility in which Jesus is God. This is the second third of the second point of the Trinity, though it could also be considered third out of these five:
There is only one God.
The Father is fully God
The Son is fully God
The Holy Spirit is fully God.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons.
A Psalm of David. 1 Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; 4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
None of us have fulfilled Psalms 15.
Which one of you can say for yourselves that you work righteousness? And if so, can you say that you speak the truth? Every time? If so, have you ever spoken badly about someone? You’re disqualified. Have you ever done something wrong to a neighbor or a friend? You lose. If you’ve qualified even after all this, you have to not only love God, but hate evil.
No one can enter God’s Holy Place without fulfilling all these requirements.
Then, is God unfair? In no way. Who are we to talk back to the One who created us? Paul uses the analogy of a clay talking back to its potter: it’s illogical, considering the potter has full control over the clay.
Even if one man did it? Cool, but how about the rest of us? Do we just cheer on that man like we’re not heading towards our impending doom? One man’s achievement can’t cancel out all humanity’s failure. Unless He’s God or something…
But, how did we get here? It was all perfect before, wasn’t it? A human could sleep next to a lion with no problem and play around with a venomous snake. God saw it…and it was good.
But man was not. There was only one rule and man denied it. Remember the clay talking back to its potter? Now imagine a human talking back to its Creator. And not only that, but said Creator is infinite, existing outside of time and space. And not only that, this Creator loves His creation and gave them a beautiful world. And the chance to make a choice. God not only loved humanity, but wanted to have them decide if they and all their generations wanted to live with Him in joy and wonder.
But they said no. This was more than talking back; this was spitting in His face.
And now, as they had chosen, they were now on their own. And they could not sustain themselves; they needed God.
And God, in His mercy, still sustained them. But things would never be the same.
In Genesis 3, when the first sin occurred and humanity had fallen, God still made a promise. One of Eve’s descendants was to “bruise [the serpent’s] head” and incur a bruise himself, on his heel.
Someone was coming who would save humanity of their sins, but not without suffering pain Himself.
So, who was to come? Isaiah spoke of One:
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
But how would God be a child? A Son?
Would God Himself have to stoop down to our level? If so, why?
And here’s where Psalms 15 comes back into the scene.
A Psalm of David. 1 Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; 4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
This Man is the one who fulfilled this all because He is God Himself.
Christ is the one who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. He did not backbite with his tongue, nor did evil to his neighbor, nor took up a reproach against his friend; he spoke out against evil, yet honored those who feared the Lord; he never lied nor took a false oath, never bribed, never committed usury (which is giving unreasonably high interest rates).
Jesus was the sinless Man. He paid the price that we couldn’t.
And the people of Israel celebrated Him. On Palm Sunday, they raised up palm branches, saying, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, King of Israel!”
Yet this was a humble king. While most sat on chariots of horses, Christ sat on a lowly donkey.
Four days later, what we celebrate today as Maundy Thursday, He sat with his disciples around a table,
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Today, we want to remember Jesus for what he did. And here’s what He did:
That night, Jesus went to pray at the garden of Gethsemane, and prayed for an hour, being immensely troubled,
36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
It was difficult for Christ to undergo this suffering: a cross for sins He never committed, preparing to pay the price for all.
He said His “soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death”.
And after that hour, His captors arrived with Judas, one of His own disciples.
50 But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.
Jesus was brought before many authorities, where the people, being given one choice of who to release between Jesus and a notorious criminal named Barabbas
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God became man so that there might be one who fulfilled all of that psalm
“God became man that man might come to God”