Well, before turning to the various scripture passages from the New Testament, we can use the Trinity Psalter hymnal, and I'll read the shorter catechism question and answer that we're considering this evening. We have sort of two aims with the sermon series and working through the catechism questions and answers. One is certainly to to teach the catechism and the fact that they're derived from God's word, from scripture, but also to hopefully build something of a worldview to remind everyone that, remind each of you that we're not in this place where we're left to our own devices. The Lord has informed us through his word. So by the 107 questions and answers in the shorter catechism, we have an outline Table of contents to all of life what is essential according to God and his word So hopefully not only the shorter catechism, but the worldview aspect of it begins to come through through tonight's sermon and the other ones preached and that will be preached and tonight we come to Number six This is page 968 in the Psalter hymnal if you want to read it you might know it already How many persons are there in the Godhead? 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 That comes from many many Scripture passages in the Old and New Testament But it is the sort of thing that is More explicitly and clearly revealed in the New Testament So for instance Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20 again words you might know by heart in which Jesus says He comes and he spokes to his just he speaks to his disciples after his resurrection and he says All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Then if you turn over. A few books to 2nd Corinthians. Last chapter of 2nd Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians Chapter 13. This is the verse where the benediction at the end of so many worship services comes from. The grace of the 2nd Corinthians 1314, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. We've seen the Great Commission that closes the book of Matthew, the benediction that closes the book of 2 Corinthians. Now let's turn to another book, 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1. We'll read the first two verses. the opening of yet another book in the New Testament, and by yet another human author. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Pause just one more moment for prayer together. Father in heaven, send your spirit. Draw us to yourself as we seek to glorify and enjoy you as the triune God that you are. We pray in your great and mighty name. Amen. We typically think of tools in terms of the sorts of things we can buy in certain aisles at hardware stores, Home Depot, or Lowe's. But you're always using tools. Always. I want to talk to you about three different tools that you use constantly and that we're going to use as an outline. for the sermon this evening. But you might not think of them as tools to begin with. But these tools are actually concepts. True, the good, and the beautiful. Let's just spend a little time thinking about these tools and how we are actually always using them. And then we'll use them as a trinity of an outline for a sermon on the Trinity. True. Here's a remarkable thought. Nobody claims that a deliberate lie is exactly the same thing as telling the truth. It connects with us on a fundamental level that there is some sort of a difference between intentional deceit, a deliberate lie, and striving to tell the truth or studying to tell the truth, trying to get your facts straight, trying to understand a matter so that you can speak truthfully about it. On a fundamental level, we operate in terms of true and false. It's a tool we are always using. This is also true of good, another transcendent tool that we always make use of. Here's a fascinating thing, at least to me. Stories that end with happily ever after are satisfying. So whether they use those words or just communicate it in some other way, we recognize that as something good. That's what we want is happily ever after. This is why this ending has really never taken root. And they lived for a half an hour and then all died. It doesn't work. It's not good. So there's a transcendent truth of true that we're always using that tool. And there's a transcendent tool of good. We recognize things as good and other things as bad. And then it's also true of beauty. You know, I think Calvin Klein still makes perfumes and colognes, and I can assure you that they will never, ever make a cologne or a perfume called rotten meat. Putrefaction is not beautiful, at least not when it comes to a scent or perhaps in any other way whatsoever. But the reality is when it comes to a perfume, a cologne, a scent, there's an ability to categorize it as beautiful or attractive or drawing and without it satisfying that transcendent tool of beauty, it's not going to happen. And we do recognize these things in a sort of universal way. It's a transcendent tools that we tap into, the true, the good, and the beautiful. And so much more could be said about those, but I think at the very least for right now, we can think in terms of worldview and the Trinity, it gives us a Trinity of points to consider when it comes to the Trinity itself. I don't know exactly why the Westminster Shorter Catechism uses this odd word, Godhead. It doesn't mean head as in the sense of like the head on your shoulders. It actually means Godhood. So the Godhood of God. And then through its definition is very clear. It's speaking about the Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, same in substance, equal in power and glory. And as we consider that trinity that is attested to and throughout scripture, especially the New Testament, we'll use these transcendent tools. We'll look at the true, the beautiful, then the good, and then within each of those three points will come, as you might have guessed, to three subpoints. So a trinity of subpoints to follow the true, the beautiful, and the good as a way to access and consider this concept all over again that we find revealed in scripture. So in considering how it's true, that the Trinity is true, it's just worthy of our attention and so much fun to even think about the uniqueness of the Trinity. The three subpoints for how this is true will be that it's unique, that it's mysterious, that it's attested to, and we'll begin by looking at the uniqueness of it. I find it so compelling. It's one of the most compelling things to me about the Christian faith. You consider all of the stories, philosophies, ideologies, false religions, myths, stories that go all the way back to the beginning of human history, and you do not get the Orthodox Trinity. But you come to the Christian faith, the exclusive one and only Christian faith, and in every Christian statement of faith, every confession, every creed, every catechism that in any way can be categorized as orthodox. It says here, God. He's one. He's three. Three persons and one God. It is a unique distinctive of the Christian faith. So we can begin there by assessing its truth because the uniqueness sort of verges right into its mystery. It's a difficult and complex thought. It's actually more than that. When you come to the Trinity, if you stop with its difficult and complex, it's like, no, no, calculus and physics. That's difficult. That's complex. The Trinity brings it to a whole nother level. You can start with difficult and complex. It's incomprehensible. You will never study the Trinity so much that you get to the point you're like, got it now. You can't get it because you're not one. Only God is. He's transcendent. You're made in his image. But as I love to think about, the reflection in a mirror cannot understand the image that it's reflecting. It's beyond the mirror's capability. It's beyond the image's capability to understand the person that it's reflecting, and that's how it is with God. It is a mystery, and here's why this is fascinating and compelling. Mysteries don't really communicate well. If you want to be writing a self-help book or becoming a guru or spiritual leader or starting a religion or a new philosophy, so much of it hinges on being able to communicate and being able to say things that make sense and connect with people in their headspace. And the Trinity does not do that. Over and over, we're sort of reaching and striving for language, godhood. Trinity, same in substance, equal in power and glory, without division, without confusion. So it's this truth that we are committed to, a unique truth that's mysterious and doesn't necessarily communicate well and is a bone of contention. It's one that so many different heresies deny, including Islam, for instance. And that mystery is attested to over and over in scripture, Old and New Testament, as we'll see in a moment, by different authors. And if that's not enough, they were writing from a Jewish monotheist background. Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, something still recited in temples and synagogues where Jewish people who don't believe in the Trinity meet for worship. So the fact that I could pick very easily three different verses that open and close significant books, all the books of the New Testament are significant, but Matthew, 2 Corinthians, 1 Peter, and they each refer to the different persons of the Trinity effortlessly, without qualification, without footnotes saying, I do believe in one God, but I also believe he's three people. There's just this effortless attestation to a complex, mysterious, ultimately incomprehensible Christian distinctive, even though the same authors are writing from a Jewish monotheistic background to people who have, in many cases, a Jewish monotheistic background. And it's not just scripture that attests to the Trinity amongst its different authors. Think about confessions and creeds and the catechism that we're looking at tonight. Just century upon century upon century of Christians coming together and saying, this Trinity thing, it's beyond us. It's not from our own imaginations. We wouldn't come up with it. It doesn't necessarily communicate well. But God says it's really important. He speaks about it in the Old and New Testament, over and over in the New Testament. And it has everything to do with what it means to be a Christian, an Orthodox Christian. So let's put it in the Apostles' Creed. Let's put it in the Nicene Creed. Let's take all of that language and the language from the Chalcedonian Creed as well. And let's make sure that's in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the larger catechism. Even the shorter catechism, while we want that shorter, let's at least include the fact that he is one Godhead, Three persons, same in substance, equal in power and glory. Attestation, mystery, unique, true. Now let's move on to the beautiful. Maybe this will be something of just an aha moment before we sort of apply the Trinity and speak about what it means for our lives. Let's move beyond the fact that it's what is in scripture. It's beyond what's revealed to us. It's beautiful. And if you think about glorifying, glorifying involves recognizing the beauty. It's more than that. I think glorifying includes obedience, but it's also a recognizing of the beauty of something. And for the sub points here, diversity, humanity, And then love. But let's begin with the diversity. Everywhere, everything, all the time, teaches you something about the Trinity. It's awesome. It's incomprehensible. But as we work to comprehend our very existence, we're constantly learning about what is ultimately incomprehensible. Everywhere you look, there's a mystery of sorts. And this is how Augustine summarized it. By this supremely, equally, immutably good trinity, all things are created so that the entire creation bears the stamp of the trinity. You might be thinking, how could that possibly be true? Incomprehensible, mysterious, not something we can relate to by experience. But take account for just a moment of the chair that you're sitting on. And then look in front of you and notice another chair very similar to the one that you're sitting on. And this is one of the most exciting things about watching children learn. And it's something you're realizing now probably all over again, maybe something you haven't thought about for a while. But your instinct at looking at the chair in front of you is to say, that's the same chair. But you know it is not the same chair. It is a distinctly different chair. In some ways, all of these chairs are the same. They're united. And they all participate, as it were, in chairness, though there is obviously a diversity enough to accomplish the diversity of people that came out tonight. And as I said, this is something children pick up on as they're learning. You don't have to take children out and say, that's a car, that's a car, that's a car, that's a Ford, but it's still a car. As soon as a child gets a toy car, they're out everywhere, car, car, car, car, even though each of those cars is different. And the same thing here, it's not as fun and exciting to children as cars, but I don't need to say that's a chair, and that's a chair, and that's a chair, and that's a chair, and that's a chair. Everywhere you go, there is unity and diversity, because creation bears the stamp of ultimate unity, God who is one, and ultimate diversity, God who is three. He is indeed a tri-unity, ultimate unity and diversity. And we even have pithy statements in life. Variety is the spice of life. Right? That's a sort of worldly way of saying, God is amazing. Look, everywhere you see, diversity, diversity, variety. It's what makes life wonderful. We don't want a meal cooked with one spice. We want all the right spices. Even a university, as upsetting as that concept can be in our day and age, think about the idea there. University. being versed in unity. What is studying except for saying, this thing over here has something to do with this thing over here? They share some sort of a unity, right? I mean, maybe the best example of this is what we call matter. All of matter shares a unity with other matter, but we know how diverse and variegated and different matter can be. And study is often just saying, what's the unity of this? How are these things similar? How are they identical? And what's unique? What's different? How is it a unity? How is it a diversity? Versed in unity. And as we think about God and who he is, that he's made all things with the stamp of his creative unity and diversity upon it, we begin to think about ourselves, humanity, man and woman, made in the image of God, so we can't really do justice to that idea that he made us in his image, that we reflect him. And at every point, we exist in some ways reflecting the triune God who made us. And maybe that's why in Genesis chapter 1, after we already read about God and his spirit, we come and hear him say us in reference to creating man and woman in his image, reflecting on his own triunity And what do we read there? First chapter of the Bible, so much great theology, so much practical thought. Not man and woman, and woman is less than man, and not man and woman, and man is less than, woman is less than man, or man is less than woman, but man, woman, both made in the image of God, and yet different, so different. We just think about our culture today. It's falling all over itself to try to even ask the right questions when it comes to man and woman. And it's even getting the questions wrong. It's on the first page of the Bible. You can't get one chapter into Revelation without God saying something absolutely profound. Man is made in the image of God. Woman is made in the image of God. Diverse, different, united in image bearing of God. Different persons. One image. And it teaches us so much just, you know, about, you know, to say it in the common tongue, like, human rights. And why are people significant? Why is there dignity and worth, even if you're born into a poor social class? regardless of what gender you are, whatever the case might be, because you reflect God and you reflect his unity and you reflect his diversity. And it brings us to something else that's so important for humanity, which is love. And Augustine and so many others, when you read about love, 1 John 4, which at two points says God is love, there's this understanding. The reason we can say God is love is because he's triune. Sure, there's a way to love yourself, right? Love others as you love yourself. But a decent definition of love is giving yourself for the good of another. The Christian concept of love, agape love, the way scripture refers to love over and over, it assumes there is another. It assumes there is someone else to love. So to have God who is love for all eternity sort of assumes the Trinity itself, the Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father to the Son and the Son back to the Father, an eternal community, Eternal unity and eternal diversity and eternity of persons and perfect love loving one another And again with this, you know, here's a whole nother New Testament author that we haven't even looked at yet so far We've had Matthew and Paul and Peter. Why don't we turn to John? chapter 16 Verse 14. This is. One of the verses where Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit. So verse 14 begins with he and that's referring to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will glorify me. for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. Now with that in mind, turn to the next chapter, chapter 17, verses four and five, where Jesus says, I glorified you to the father. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. You see in those three verses about the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son, the Son speaks about glorifying the Father, and then he speaks to the Father and says to the Father, glorify me. There's this exchange between the person, eternal love and action, glorifying the other, each for the other, putting the other in a sense before themselves. Unity and diversity, the stamp of the triune God on all things, the glory and beauty of humanity itself, man and woman, made in God's image. Love and its centrality, even the centrality of putting the other before self. Relationships. It's a cliche, but it's a helpful one that, you know, on their deathbed, right, like three or four days left to live, nobody's like, wow, I wish I spent so much more time in the office. Would have been great if I could have just done 70 hours a week more frequently. It's not where you're at. To the extent you're able to think and consider, you say, can I speak to this person? I don't want to leave this life without reconnecting, without maybe asking for forgiveness of this person, This other person or you know, is everything OK with my spouse or my children or whatever relationships? That's everything, right? Maybe not everything, but so much more than material and achievement. Well, it's because of the eternal relationship of God within himself that love from all eternity to all eternity into whose image we were made. So you have true, beautiful, And then good. Let's not leave it out there. Let's not say, well, we know our catechism question and answer, but it doesn't bear on our lives. Make this a part of your lives. Sing these hymns that we're singing tonight. Think about the different person of the Trinity and how it's one song that in itself demonstrates the unity of the Trinity. Consider this triad, creation, revelation, salvation. Let me read Old and New Testament some verses I read not too long ago. First, two verses of the Old Testament and the first three verses of the Gospel of John. In a sense, the first three verses of the New Testament. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. And God said. Well, we come to John chapter 1, the beginning of the New Testament, or at least one of the ways it begins. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. And apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. It's not just that creation bears the stamp of the triune God. If you just look at the three first verses of the Gospel of John and the first three verses of the book of Genesis, you see the Trinity at work bringing all things from nothing. God is there in the beginning. His spirit's hovering over the face of the deep. He speaks his word. And John clues us into that word actually being a person without whom nothing that was made was made. Revelation. Consider what goes on as we tune in to God's word. God's full, this is Herman Bovink, God's full revelation has been given in Christ. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ. You see that triunity right there in just a few short words. God's story of salvation comes to fulfillment and incarnation in Jesus Christ, the savior of creation. And the Holy Spirit is the glorifier, the illuminator of that Savior and story of salvation in your very life. Every time you study scripture, it's the Trinity. Alive and at work, not just saying I was doing all these things all the way long ago before anything is was made, but right now in you. The story that God plans, the redemption, Christ accomplished is being brought about in you through the restoration of the Holy Spirit. Now consider all of human history. We have creation. We have revelation. God's creation, ruined by sin, redeemed by God's Son, being restored by God's Holy Spirit. one heart at a time. That's the Christian story that picks all of us up. It begins ex nihilo, goes through the garden, continues through the Old Testament, results in the incarnation of Jesus Christ the Son, comes to the Holy Spirit being poured out at Pentecost where he hasn't ceased to build his church, to convert to restore, to bring to bear the redemption purchased by Christ through the revelation of God. Start tuning into these things. Where can you see the Trinity in Scripture? Where does it occur over and over in the Bible? Another line from Bavinck, the creation proceeds from the Father through the Son and the Spirit so that in the Spirit and through the Son, it may return to the Father. Think of something even like John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. I'm always glad when I get that right. You might hear that and say, well, that's the Father, God who so loved the world, and the Son that he gave his only begotten Son. Where's the Holy Spirit? Doesn't that verse occur in the chapter where Jesus is saying you must be born again, that that belief has to come by the Spirit who's like the wind? We don't see him, but we see the result of him because he works belief in even sinful, fallen, depraved hearts. John 3.16, it's all about the Trinity. It's good. Creation, revelation, salvation. We continue to work through these catechism questions, and in its own way, we realize at this point, you can't really do justice to Shorter Catechism I without making it to Shorter Catechism VI that we've looked at tonight. In order for us to glorify God and to really enjoy him, we have to have this triune understanding of who he is. And I hope we've covered some ways that we can do that just by assessing him as true and beautiful and good. But maybe it's this thought, if there's only one to consider. Maybe it's this in itself. When you think about all God has done to take ruin by sin creation and restore it through the redemption purchased by his son, Jesus Christ. Because God is love, because he's eternally community, eternally three persons, eternally in love with himself, and eternally glorifying himself, what's called Perichoresis, this eternal dance of the three persons of the Trinity. He was never in need of someone to love. In fact, the love he got was perfect because it was divine at every point, lacking nothing. That means he didn't create to have someone to love. He created because he wanted to share His love. At our best, isn't that exactly why we think in terms of family and children, we are so thankful to have love in the home that we want to bring others into that experience. It's not, you know, God all lonely from all eternity, wondering how he can solve that problem, but instead him delighting in himself, glorifying himself, rejoicing in himself. Forever loving himself. And saying I should bring others into this. I should create so that others can experience something of this too. Listen to these words from. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. High priestly prayer. John Chapter 17. Verses 20 to 23. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word. That they may all be one. Even as you father are in me. And I in you. That they also may be in us. so that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you have loved me. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, keep these thoughts from being cerebral head knowledge, as we say, without heart knowledge. Shape our lives through considering these things. Help us to glorify you and to enjoy you as the triune God who made us in his image saved us from our own sins, continues to work in us by the Spirit, and is even right now at work drawing us and the broad, wonderful diversity of our brothers and sisters in Christ to you yourself, that we might dwell forever in unity, diversity, and harmony. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.