Sermon Title: One God & The Trinity
Text: Various Verses
Speaker: Ed Grable
Date: 8.4.2024
Watch the sermon here
Takes notes here
Good morning! I’m so excited to be with you today! I want to welcome those of you at our Noth Main Campus. I will see you all tonight at our combined service. My hope is that everyone hearing my voice will leave here today encouraged and empowered to live a life guided by biblical truth and have an overflowing love for Jesus and those he has placed in your life.
Today I have the privilege today of continuing our series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. This year, we are looking at the questions and answers in the catechism. A few staff and elders are looking at each question and then explaining the biblical answers to show us why it is important that we know and understand them. So, if you missed any sermons from this series or any sermons from this last year, I will challenge you to go to gatewayepc.org and catch up.
Today, we’re going to be looking at questions five and six of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Yes, we are going to be looking at two questions. The reason for this is you can’t talk about one without talking about the other. They are intertwined. Once we bring things into focus, we will see one of the most beautiful and powerful things in all of scripture. What I have discovered in preparing for this message has deepened my love for the bible and my love for God. My desire is that you will be changed today as well. Because I believe once you see God for who he is and how much he loves you, you can't help but want to love and worship him in return.
So, let's start by looking at our first question. Question five in the Westminster shorter Catechism is:
Question five is: Is there more than one God?
And the answer is: Wait, let me take a quick poll. How many believe there is only one God? Very good! Yes, the answer in the shorter catechism is:
Answer: There is only one, the living and true God.
Now, right from the start, we have to keep in mind that there are some watching or listening to me right now who don’t believe there is only one god. There are those who believe there is no god. We call them atheists this simply means they don’t believe in God. They also believe that there is no heaven, no hell, and when we die, that is it, and we are all fools for wasting our time worshiping and believing in God. How depressing! I can’t imagine a life without faith in god. There are other religions that believe in one god similar to us, but they are not believers. The difference is that their salvation is based on what they can do to earn their salvation or a works based salvation. The other big difference is Jesus in their faith is not their savior he is just a good teacher or prophet, but that is another sermon. I don't know about you, but I am so thankful that God gave us his word because it reveals who he and is full of proof of his existence.
So if you have your bible, and I hope you do, turn to Deuteronomy chapter four, verse thirteen. It is the fifth book of the Old Testament. If you need to use the glossary to find it, that's ok. We are going to look at a few verses where God and others show us he is the only God and there are no others.
As you find our first verse for today, I have a confession to make. This was a challenging message to prepare for and I want to apologize because, at times, will feel like a lecture or bible study and not a sermon, but I promise the ending is encouraging. We are also going to be looking at some big church words and discussing one of the most complicated beliefs in our doctrine as Christians. See, I already used a big word and lost a few of you. Don't worry; I will give you the definition here soon.
As an adult, I love words and learning their meaning. But that has not always been the case. When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with a learning disability. I was hyperactive and struggled with reading and math. The doctors and teachers said I had dyslexia and had dyscalculia. This means words and numbers can twist on me while I am reading. It gets worse when I am stressed or nervous. So today should be awesome!
I am so thankful my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Grahm. She challenged me to memorize words and their meanings from a dictionary so that when I came to them when I was reading, I could read them with confidence. I have been doing this for years, and I don't struggle like I once did, but it still happens. If you ever hear me laugh during a sermon, it is usually because a word twisted on me.
I tell you this because my disability makes me sensitive to those who don't understand all the big terms and theological words pastors may use on any given Sunday. I mean, who am I kidding? I still have to look up most of those big words.
I had this fella in my first church who was from the foothills of Arkansas and would get a confused look on his face while I was preaching. We only had about nineteen people on Sundays, so I noticed. I would stop and say, “Did I lose you, Hillbilly?” By the way, he told me to call him that before anyone gets offended. He would say, “yes, you did, preacher man,” and I would back up, and explain things in a way he could understand. He would thank me, and we would move on.
Now, I will not be stopping if someone looks confused today. Sorry, but I promise I will do my best to share definitions and ideas that we all can understand so that when you leave today, you will be able to continue the conversation at lunch with confidence. Our first word to define that I have already thrown out there is Doctrine. The simplest definition I found was:
A doctrine is a set of beliefs. The word comes from the Latin doctor for “teacher,” so think of a doctrine as the teachings of a school, religion, or political group.
So, as a church, we believe, teach, and stand on the fact that there is only one God. This is also called a monotheistic view; again, simply put, we believe in one God.
As I stated earlier, the Bible is our ultimate authority on God and our best resource for getting a clear picture of who he is, what he has done, and what he will do in the future. It is the greatest book ever written with the best story ever recorded. Let's look at what it says about the God we worship. We are in Deuteronomy chapter four, verse thirty-five.
Moses is talking to the people of Israel and says this, talking about God.
Deuteronomy 4:35
35 He showed you these things so you would know that the Lord is God and there is no other.
Jumping over a couple of chapters, Moses says
Deuteronomy 6:4
4 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
Then, flipping a few pages to chapter thirty-two God is speaking on his own behalf when he proclaims:
Deuteronomy 32:39
39 “Look now; I myself am he! There is no other god but me!”
Moving to the book of Psalms chapter eighty six the Psalmist states that there is no God like our God when he says:
Psalm 86:8-10
8 No pagan god is like you, O Lord. None can do what you do! 9 All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name. 10 For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God.
The prophet Isaiah pens something very similar in chapter forty three were we read.
Isaiah 43:5-6
5 I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me,6 so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God.I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Dropping down to verse ten, God continues to speak to Israel, saying.
Isaiah 43:10
10 “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord. “You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God—
Jeremiah, another prophet, tells us our God is the only true God. In Jeremiah chapter ten we see there is only one true god. Jeremiah says
Jeremiah 10:10
10 But the Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that God stands alone among the gods because there were those who worshiped many gods. Listen to Paul's words.
1 Timothy 1:17
17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
It is pretty clear that there is one God, and he is the living and true God. We all agree that scripture clearly confirms our belief or doctrine that there is only one God.
But before jumping to question six, I want to share three divine attributes of our God that can be simply paraphrased by saying that God is “all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere.” Let’s look at these individually.
First, God is Omnipotent or all-powerful. We see this in Jeremiah chapter thirty two where we read.
Jeremiah 32:17
17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
So he is all-powerful. He can choose to do whatever he wants and wills. Next, he is omnipresent. He is everywhere; nothing escapes his sight. We see this just a few verses from where we left off in Jeremiah chapter twenty-three, starting in verse twenty-three we read.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the LORD. “No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the LORD.
God is everywhere and is not limited by time or space, and he sees all things. Side note: did you know angels, demons, and satan himself are bound by space and time because they are created things? But God is everywhere. Our final attribute is God is Omniscient or all-knowing the psalmist reminds us that God's understanding is beyond our understanding when he says
Psalm 147:5
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
So he knows all things, and we can't measure all he knows or understands. This also helps us see that we will never fully understand many things about God, but we can trust him and his ways. This leads us to the sixth question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and that is:
Q. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
The answer is: A. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
Now I know what you are thinking. I just told you we are to worship one God. Well, that statement is still true. Remember when I told you that I was going to look at one of the most complicated beliefs of the Christian faith that is very difficult to teach or explain easily? This is it. We call it the doctrine of the Trinity. Here at Gateway Church, we are monotheistic, which means we believe in one god, and also trinitarian, meaning we believe in the three distinct persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully and truly God.
So, our next natural question is, What does the Bible say about the Trinity?
While the Bible does not use the word “trinity,” the doctrine of the Trinity is built on the three foundational biblical truths:
1. There is one God.
2. He exists as three persons.
3. Each person is truly God.
So, the first foundational truth is that there is one God, and there is only one, the living and true God. I think we got that one nailed down.
Moving on to the second biblical truth, he being God exists as three persons. The Bible clearly teaches that there are distinct persons within the one God. God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We need to use a masculine pronoun for each. Like he is God the Father, he is God the Son, he is God the Holy Spirit. In a sermon, David Platt said we need to stop calling the holy spirit it because he the Spirit is fully God, and we need to address him as such.
Now, let's look at some places where we see the Trinity in scripture. Our first account is in the creation story in Genesis chapter one, which we read.
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
You see the Trinity working in unity in these verses. God the Father created the heavens and the earth, and God the Holy Spirit hovered over the water, and then God the Son spoke and said let there be light. We know this because when we see the word in scripture, it is in reference to God the Son. I will show you another scripture here soon that will make it clearer.
We see the trinity again in the creation of man.
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.
Now, this one is simply the word our that lets us know that the Trinity was once again unified in the creation of man. The clearest picture of the Trinity comes at the baptism of Jesus. The story is found in Matthew chapter 3:16-17.
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
So we hear the Father speak to the Son as the Spirit descends. This text clearly demonstrates that these three are not simply manifestations or essences but three distinct persons. The third foundational Bible truth about the trinity is that the Father, Son, and Spirit are each fully God.
For example, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, Peter claimed that they had lied to God. This account is in Acts chapter five starting in verse three.
Acts 5:3–4
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
We see that by lying to the Holy Spirit, they were lying to the Triune God. Now Jesus speaks of himself as fully God many times in scripture. In the Book of John, we see three references to his deity: first, in John chapter one, verse one. This is the verse where the word is referring to Jesus. John writes:
John 1:1
1 In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Did you see it? In the beginning, Jesus already existed, and he was with God, and he was God. Cool right! The second time Jesus reveals he is god is in John eight, where he says:
John 8:58
58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!”
Jesus tells them and us he was around long before Abraham was born. In other words, before anything existed, the triune god was present. The phrase I Am is also the same name God gave Moses at the burning bush to identify himself.
In John chapter ten, Jesus plainly says that he and his Father were one. He is speaking to the crowd that wants him to prove he is the Messiah. Listen to his reply.
John 10:25-30
25 Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. 26 But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else] No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
So now that we see the Trinity clearly in scripture, Let's look at the beauty of the Trinity in the beginning and was still struggling to find a way to explain it let alone do it in and uplifting and encouraging way. As I prepared for this message I listened to countless sermons, podcasts, and talks on the Trinity. David Platt calls it a mystery, the late Tim Keller called it a dance, and one pastor said we can’t understand the Trinity with our three-pound brains.
But a couple of weeks ago, Pastor Josh introduced me to Fred Sanders, the author of The Deep Things of God, who helped me clearly understand the connection between the Trinity and the gospel.
Have you ever worked on something so hard, and then it just clicked, and you got it? Like the first time you figured out the Rubik's cube, drove a stick shift without killing the motor, or threw a curve ball for a strike. And then you are like, “This is awesome,” and you have to show everyone. Well, it's time for show-and-tell.
Did you know the Christian faith is the only one that believes in the Trinity? And many people try to explain it with logic or symbolism, like is it an apple, is it like an egg, or ice cubes floating in steaming water. When it comes to the Trinity, there is no way to describe it in a way that can be easily understood, and there is nothing we can compare it to. Scripture tells us god has secrets in Deuteronomy 29:29, it says:
Deuteronomy 29:29
29 “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.
So this tells us we should spend our time on what we know of God and stop wasting time and energy trying to figure out some of these things that are only known by him. We don't need to know God's secrets; we just need to know and obey the ones he has given us and teach them to our children because we will be held accountable for all he has revealed to us.
Sanders states that when we think of the Trinity, we should think of the gospel. He goes on to say that to better understand this, we need to simplify how we describe God. God is one divine being. And when we refer to the three persons, we are talking about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Understanding that the Trinity is one being and three distinct persons can keep you from making lots of mistakes, and it should keep things clear. By doing this, we don’t confuse the being of God with the three persons in the godhead. Now, let's look at the Gospel in the Trinity. Turn to Galatians chapter four.
Galatians 4:4-6
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us, who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
So did you see it? Paul just laid out the Gospel. He is sharing the history of salvation as he tells that story. He mentions the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is not revealing the Trinity, he is making sure he is communicating the nature of the gospel, and as he does, he is sharing what is happening with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you want to, you can circle God, Spirit, and Son in your Bibles, which shows that it is a verse where we see the Trinity. I know it does not say God the Father, but theologians believe that in Paul and John's writings, when we see God, it is a reference to God the Father.
So again, when we look at Galatians chapter four, we see God the Father sent the Son, and then God the Father sent the Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are present in a description of the gospel because Paul had discovered what I hope we come to understand today: when we think trinity, we should think gospel, and when we think gospel, we should think trinity. All through Paul's writing, he mentions Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when explaining salvation. Now, I want to show you something else really cool in the Galatian verses. Let's look at it again.
Galatians 4:4-6
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
This time, I want to look at the word send. It says the Father sent the Son, and the Father sent the Spirit. Send here means mission. The Father is sending the Son on a mission, and then the Father is sending the Spirit on a mission. In today's world, we see missions as trips where we send people to spread the Gospel, but originally, it meant that in the fullness of time, God the Father sent the Son and the Spirit.
So the Son, Jesus, took on human nature, stepping in for mankind on our behalf to pay a price we could not pay, dying in our place and rising on the third day, saving us. The Spirit indwells and empowers us supernaturally based on what the Son has done on our behalf so we can respond to God in obedience. It's all from the Father and then back to the Father.
Because of God's love for us and his desire to have a relationship with us, he sent a rescue mission to save us from ourselves. Remember, he didn’t need us because he is God, but he chose to send his Son and Spirit to bring us to him. I want to show you one more verse where we see the Trinity in the gospel. It is found in Titus chapter three, starting in verse four we read:
Titus 3:4-7
4 But When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.
Again, did you see it? God the Father, in his love and kindness for us, poured out his spirit on us through Jesus, our Savior, making us right in his sight and giving us confidence that we would inherit eternal life. We did nothing to earn it, but because of his grace and mercy, we are rescued and saved! The Gospel and the Trinity it’s a beautiful and powerful thing once you see it.
It reminds me of a story I read years ago about a military mission to rescue Americans captured in a faraway place. A civil war trapped doctors, nurses, and medical personnel, and eventually, they became hostages with no chance of rescue. But little did they know a team was planning and preparing to bring them home. A little girl who they had helped somehow got a message to another American in country, who then made the call to the American embassy. It took weeks of planning and training. The American hostages started to doubt anyone was coming, and then, one night during a thunderstorm, one of the hostages heard a soldier say his name outside his cell, telling him he was there to get him home. The man who wrote the story said he had lost all hope of rescue, and when it finally happened, he felt like he had been holding his breath for three months and could finally exhale.
Can you imagine feeling utterly hopeless with no rescue in sight? You feel like you can't even breathe. Maybe that is you today, and you feel you are so far from God that you think there is no way he could love or accept you. Or maybe you think you have to be good enough before you can ask God to save you. How about those listening to my voice who are thinking I'm unlovable? I've done so many bad things there is no way god is going to forgive me.
Let me tell you the one and only living God loves you and set a rescue plan in place for you before the foundations of this world were laid, and we stand here at this very moment in time so that you can accept his free gift of salvation because it is not based on what you have done it is based on what he has done for you. Listen to this.
John 3:16
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
You see, he loves you so much and wants a relationship with you! All you have to do is believe and put your trust in Jesus. You can do that here today.
As I close, I want everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes at both campuses.
With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want you to raise your hand if you don't know Jesus and you need to be rescued today. You feel hopeless and far from God because of the choices you have made or because life has been hard. You believe you are unlovable, broken, and unsavable. I am here today to tell you that no matter what you are feeling, God loves you, and he wants a relationship with you. Raise your hand so I can see. Thank you!
If you raised your hand, I want you to say a prayer with me:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. Amen!
Now, If you said this prayer today for the first time, I want you to come see me upfront after service here and Matt Heft at North Main. If you're watching online, let us know via the website. We want to celebrate with you and set you on the path of discipleship. Now, let me pray as a faith family.
Father God, I am so thankful that you had a rescue plan in place before the foundations of the earth were laid. Thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to pay the price we could not. We are also thankful that he reigns and rules with you today, interceding on our behalf.
Jesus, thank you for stepping out of heaven, becoming a man, and revealing yourself to us. You humbled yourself by dying on a cross, a death you did not deserve. You rose from the dead, defeating sin and death. And you will return some day and make all things right, and every knee will bow, and every tongue confesses that you are Lord.
Holy Spirit, Thank you for being present in this place today and for being a part of the rescue story. Empower us to do the will of the Father. Help us worship the one true and living God while we share the beauty of the Trinity and the gospel with those in our lives. We pray all of this in Jesus's name Amen!
May you go worshiping the one, living, and true God. Making disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen
You are sent! See you tonight!
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