TURN, TURN, TURN
John 1:1-5In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
INTRODUCTION: Last week, we started a new series on DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ biblical doctrine. Essential, foundational, and fundamental teachings in the Bible define us as believers. Our first message was about the Bible. Today, we will examine what the Bible reveals about God (John 1:1-5). The Scriptures are infallible, inspired, inerrant, authoritative truth. The Bible reveals that one God is eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible shows us that God is knowable and personal, that God has a nature, names, attributes, works, and triune. Why is this important?
In our modern world, the doctrine of God is under attack. Theologians are asking on behalf of misguided people. A published book pushes God as a non-gendered entity and asks if God should be addressed as Father, Mother, or Parent. Should Jesus be referred to primarily as the Son of God or the Child of God? Did God really reveal himself definitively in the person of his Son Jesus Christ? Friends, this is important! What we understand and communicate about God personifies the very core of Christianity and how we understand the biblical and historical meaning of the Trinity itself.
American Christianity is locked in a battle concerning the doctrine of God that could make the battle over the Bible look puny. The conflict encompasses theologians, pastors, and laypeople. The implications are enormous, touching every denomination, and no group that ignores this issue will survive with its ecclesiastical integrity and doctrinal purity unscathed.
What is at stake? The orthodox definition of God. For centuries, we have agreed on biblical concepts like sovereignty, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. We have assumed that other faith traditions believed that God does not change because He is inherently perfect and does not need to alter, evolve, or grow. Armenians, Calvinists, Wesleyans, and Pentecostals disagreed over particulars of doctrinal convictions but never abandoned the foundational elements of historic, Christian formulations of the doctrine of God.
The definitional battlelines have shifted. Some advocates of new concepts about the doctrine of God used to be evangelical. They left the traditional understanding. Process theologians, postmodernists, and free theists depict God as evolving into an even greater deity. Some deny that God knows the future, arguing that divine knowledge of contingent actions would make absolute human freedom impossible. Others conclude that salvation comes through other religions and not Jesus alone.
So, what do we mean when we say the doctrine of God? The Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of God; it simply accepts God’s existence. His existence is settled. Our Belief in the existence of God is foundational not only to the understanding of the bible but to life itself. Hebrews 11:6 ESV Without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
We need to turn back to God as people, as a nation. We know nothing about God without faith. Nothing can be received or known about God without believing God exists. The Bible is a book of faith. Faith is what connects the creator and the creature. God as a Spirit, invisible to the human eye but the human soul with faith, creates the platform of revelation. It is through faith in God that God’s existence is substantiated. Human wisdom is foolishness when it comes to knowing God.
Now for expectations. One sermon will never capture everything about God. Our statement of faith about God says: The one true God has revealed Himself as the eternally self-existent “I AM.” He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three who is one. One God. Eternally three persons. So, let’s break this statement down and see what the Bible says about each of these points. When people ask me what I will preach about, I always say, “God.” But what about just God as the subject, not the assumption? If you haven’t, buckle up, buttercup. It’s happening!
- TURN TO THE ONE GOD and DON’T STOP BELIEVING:
We believe in monotheism. Monotheism is a fancy word that means “we believe in one God.” One God, not no gods, not many gods.
Monotheism is the opposite of atheism, a belief that God doesn’t exist, or polytheism, which believes there are many gods. Historically, pagan cultures have been polytheistic, with many gods typically tied to nature. They had a god of wind, a god of the sky, a god of the water, a god of thunder, wait, that’s Marvel movies. Sometimes, people worship objects around them in nature, like the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Atheism is a recent phenomenon. With advances in science, technology, and how more about the universe works, people are now choosing to disbelieve in God. I don’t get it. The more I read about science and the detailed precision of the universe, the more I see the design of God in everything, including humans. Thankfully, atheism is a small minority. We will find out why that’s a good thing when discussing Hell in the future.
So, we believe in one God. That’s the foundational knowledge we need to develop faith in God. We start by believing God exists, unlike atheism, and that God is one, unlike polytheism.
So, what does God say about himself in the Bible about these things? Does the Bible reveal God as one God? Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
This was the most crucial verse in the Bible to the Israelites. It’s called the Shema, Hebrew for “hear.” It says God exists. God is one. Believing in one God was radical back then. Everyone worshiped gods, with emphasis on “s.” This passage of Scripture has damaged belief in many gods more than anything else: “The LORD is one.”
The New Testament affirms one God rather than many gods, or no god. 1 Timothy 2:5-6: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.These two verses in Deuteronomy and Timothy are essential, but they are not alone. The Bible has verse after verse confirming our belief that God exists. God is one.
One true God against many false gods. Just because we are monotheistic doesn’t mean that we don’t acknowledge that there are many false gods. That’s why we engage in spiritual warfare, but because God is one, He alone is the true and only God. John 17:3 shows us Jesus addressing God the Father as “the only true God.” And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 4:24 teaches God is Spirit. Jesus said: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. There are essential truths like God being Spirit, not having a physical body. He is infinite, unlimited by space or time, which are products of His creation, the universe.
This is why there is a problem with idol worship and the worship of nature. They are created, even if their substance is only known molecularly. Think air or wind, created, not God. Only God is uncreated. How can that be? Here’s where it gets real. My explanation of God as uncreated. I haven’t the foggiest idea. Ask me in Heaven.
- TURN TO THE GODHEAD
Christians aren’t exclusive to believing in one God. Judaism also does, and Islam. Judaism influenced our beliefs. But we uniquely accept: “the three who is one. One God. Eternally three persons.” Only Christianity teaches that God has always existed in three persons.
We see the of God as persons who are one in Creation. Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
We call this a Latin word, Trinity, that isn’t in the Bible. Latin wasn’t a defined language when the New Testament was written. God describes Himself as the godhead. Trinity is like shorthand for the godhead. Trinity comes from Latin Trinitas, three. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus commissions His disciples, telling them to: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. “Name” in Greek is singular, onoma, yet three persons.
This truth is hard to understand. It appears self-contradictory. How can one be three and three be one? Regardless of its complexity, the Trinity is crucial to our faith. Why? God has revealed Himself as three being one.
Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormons don’t accept the triune godhead. But we do, and it is a biblical foundation for our understanding. The Bible teaches three separate persons are God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father. The Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. We teach and believe that they are separate, distinct persons, who the Bible teaches are all three ONE God.
The Bible presents God as one and Jesus as God. John 1:1-2 says this about Christ: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John calls Jesus the Word. You could read this as, “In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.” In other passages, Jesus claimed to be God and accepted worship.
The Bible presents the Holy Spirit as God. Just like the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is identified as the creator, and He has divine names: Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, and Spirit of the Lord. When Peter confronts Ananias about lying to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:4, Peter says: While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. The Bible teaches only one God, who is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Godhead has always been three. One God three persons. This is who God is. This is who God has always been. There has never been a time of just the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Remember John 1. Jesus was with God in the beginning as God, the Word. And because God is perfect, He does not evolve. God has always existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in one God, eternally existent in three persons.
Are you clear about the Trinity now? No? That’s okay, it’s part of the mystery of who God is. It is beyond our ability to comprehend. Tertullian, an early Patristic Father, said the doctrine of the Godhead has to come from God because no human would ever invent such a hard-to-understand teaching. Incidentally, Tertullian is the person who borrowed a Latin term to describe the Godhead.
The Trinity is not a formula for dissection or analysis. Instead, it’s just part of the mystery of God. We aren’t supposed to understand the Trinity as much as we are supposed to worship the Triune God who reveals Himself to us as one God of three persons. Or as God told Moses, tell them, “I, the Lord, we is one has sent you.” Someone said, “Try to explain the Trinity, and you’ll lose your mind; but try to deny it, and you’ll lose your soul.” We will never exhaustively know the truth, but we can know it truly. We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- TURN TO YOUR PERSONAL GOD
Equally, God, equally personal, equally agreed. And then, finally, we should note that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equally God and equally personal. All three persons of the Trinity are equally God. This is important. Neither is more God than the others. If one was more God than the others, the other(s) would not be God. They would be subordinate. You cannot be less than God and remain God simultaneously.
This doesn’t mean that they don’t have different functions and roles. The Father sent the Son, not the Spirit. The Spirit didn’t die on the cross; Jesus did. The Holy Spirit lives in us, convicting us of sin, assuring us we are children of God, and empowering us to do the works of the Kingdom.
All three persons are equally personal eternally. I know, obvious. Persons, by definition, are personal. The Christian perspective is unique in world religions. The gods of ancient Greece and Roman mythology were personal beings, but they were far from infinite. They were finite gods, limited in power and ability. The gods of the East, Hinduism, or Taoism are considered infinite but not personal. They are infinite absolutes or principles, not a person. They believe God is similar to a “force,” as in Star Wars. The force isn’t personal and doesn’t determine right or wrong. It doesn’t have a will. It’s just there.
Friends, God is not an impersonal force. He is a person who is three persons! The God of the Bible is infinite and personal. He is the infinite, personal God who has revealed himself to us. What does Scripture reveal about God’s personality? Well, God has a name; I am who I am (Exodus 3:14) And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ A better translation is, I am who we is, but that doesn’t work in our language. God has intelligence, feelings, and actions, the essential elements of personality. And God relates to us personally. He walks with me and talks with me, and He tells me I am His own!
Here’s a fun thing. One of the most fantastic Christian doctrines in the Bible is that you are personal because God is personal. You were created to have a relationship with God. This is the answer to “Why am I here? Why do I exist?” You weren’t made for someone else, as romantic as that sounds. You were made for God, to know and love him through a relationship with Jesus.
CONCLUSION: I know I said a lot, but I just scratched the surface of who God is. You will never know everything there is to know about God. In 1 Corinthians 2:10, we are given a statement of confidence, But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. The Bible says that even the Spirit of God himself “searches the deep things of God.” What we know is true. God reveals to us truth through the Spirit as the Spirit superintended the writers of the Bible. We will never know God completely, exhaustively. But we can know him truly, for he has revealed himself to us truly in his Word. “We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
DON’T STOP BELIEVING IN GOD
TURN, TURN, TURN
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV Without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
1 Timothy 2:5-6: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
John 1:1-2 says this about Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
Acts 5:4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.