On January the 7th, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel in southward England, he opened his morning sermon as follows. It has been said by someone that the proper study of mankind is man. I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God. The proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in the contemplation of the divinity. It is a subject so vast that all of our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with, in them we feel a kind of self-content and we go our way with the thought, behold, I am wise. But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, We turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt, and with solemn exclamation, I am but of yesterday and know nothing. No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect. Nothing so magnified the whole soul of man as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the deity. And while it's tumbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is in contemplating Christ a balm for every womb. In musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief. And in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a bosom for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself into Godhead's deepest sea, be lost in his immensity, and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief, so speak peace to the winds of trial as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. And it is to that subject that I invite you, as he says, this morning. These words were spoken over a century ago by a 20 year old preacher by the name of C.H. Spurgeon. And those words that were true then are true now. But the human dilemma is that man does not want to engage in the most excellent study for expanding the soul. Nor does he want to contemplate Christ and Him crucified in the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. See, man's desire is that he wished that the God of the Bible did not exist at all. And he would rather have the God of his own making. Erwin Lutzer, in his book, Ten Lies About God, he writes this, I believe in God is perhaps one of the most meaningless statements we can make today. The word God has become a canvas on which each is free to paint his own portrait of the divine. Like the boy scribbling at his desk, we can draw God according to whatever specifications we please. For some, He is psychic energy. For others, He is whatever is stronger than I am, or an inner power to lead us to deeper consciousness. To say I believe in God might simply mean that we are seeing ourselves in a full-length mirror. Douglas McCullum, he adds, when the story gets told, whether in the partial light of historical perspective or in the perfect light of eternity, It may well be revealed that the worst sin of the church at the end of the 20th century has been a trivialization of God. We prefer the illusion of a safer deity, and so we have pared God down to more manageable proportions. How do you see God this evening? Do you see him as a safer deity? Or do you see Him as a God of more manageable proportions? Well, before you answer that question in your mind, listen to how He is viewed throughout society. Some people see God in several ways, and one of those ways is they see Him as an eager bellhop. He's always there when you need Him. He carries your baggage. He never argues with you because you're in charge. And His only responsibility is to make you happy. And when He gets All he gets from you is basically a smile, a thank you, and if he's lucky, he gets a tip. Some don't see him just as an eager bellhop. Some see him as a stern schoolteacher whose destiny, it seems, is to ruin a year of your life. He's the ultimate record keeper who monitors all your activities. He gives all the hard tests just to see his students suffer. And he wants and he demands, but he seemingly never gives or encourages. Well, maybe not a eager bellhop or a stern schoolteacher. Some see him as an impersonal scientist. He's intellectual, but he's not emotional. He spends all his time locked away in his heavenly laboratory working on unknowable wonders. But some even see him as a clever magician. They must always work through signs and miracles and wonders. And if there is no manifestation of power, they conclude that God is really not involved. You know what Jesus said about this, Matthew 16, for a wicked and a perverse generation seeks after a sign. Well, some see him as a heavenly grandfather. whose presence is acknowledged, who's visited occasionally, who smiles and tells them that he loves them when they misbehave. And then finally, there are those that see him as a Mr. Fix-It. And to view God merely as a Mr. Fix-It just makes him worthless for anything else. He's great when you're in a fix, but unnecessary when everything is going well. See, to view God in this way is painting your own portrait of the divine, as Erwin Lutzer says. And to do that is nothing short of idolatry. See, to view God in any way or any manner other than what is revealed in the Bible is idolatry. See, contrary to popular belief, idolatry is more than bowing down to a small figure or worshiping In a pagan temple, according to the Bible, idolatry is thinking anything about God that isn't true or attempting to transform him into something that he's not. That's idolatry. So for us to understand God. Who he is and what he is like, we have to come to the only source that reveals that the Bible. And yet again, many people don't want to come to the Bible. They want to try to figure that out on their own. And you can't even entertain, well, I think God is like and then our definition be other than what the Bible gives. We must come to the Bible to understand God, and I use the term understand only to mean that such is only possible with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Because the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. He can't understand them. He can't know them. You know, we're going to spend all eternity. Getting to know this great God that we serve. I've been reading a book and it's been a slow read, even though it's about 127 pages, because it's written by John Owen. If you know anything about John Owen, You know that reading any of his books is going to be a slow read because they're very deep. And sometimes, you know, we come to read something very deep, we find out just really how shallow our minds are. But as I was reading, I came across a section where he makes a comment on the attributes of God and he says this. He says there are some truths of God that he has taught us to speak of. He has even guided us in our expressions of them. But when we have done so, we do not really fully understand these things. All we can do is believe and admire. We profess as we are taught that God is infinite, omnipotent, eternal, and we know the discussions about his omnipresence, his immensity, his infinity, his eternity. We have, I say, words and notions about these things, but as to the things themselves, what do we really know? What do we comprehend of them? Can the mind of man do any more than be swallowed up in an infinite abyss and give itself up to what it cannot conceive or express? Is not our understanding brutish in the contemplation of such things? We are more perfect in our understanding when we realize that we cannot understand and we rest there. It is just the bad parts of eternity and infinity that we see. What shall we say of the Trinity or the existence of three persons in the same individual essence? This is such a mystery that it is denied by many because they cannot understand it. Is it not indeed a mystery whose every letter is mysterious? Who could declare the generation of the sun, the procession of the spirit or the difference of the one from the other? Thus, the infinite and inconceivable distance that is between him and us keeps us in the dark as to any sight of his face or clear apprehension of his perfections. We know him rather by what he does than by what he is. We understand his doing good, but not truly his essential goodness. How little a portion of Him, as Job says, is discovered in this way. Commenting on that last paragraph, John MacArthur writes, to define the infinite God in ways we can understand, we often have to state what He is not for a basis of comparison. For example, when we say that God is holy, we mean that He has no sin. We cannot conceive of absolute holiness since we're all too familiar with sin. So all we can do is turn to the only book that can assist our understanding of God, and that's the Bible. And we have to turn to the author of this great book in order to know him. Because knowing what God is like is foundational to knowing God and knowing God is the essence of being a Christian. The Apostle John said this in John 17 3, and this is eternal life. that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Well, having said all of that, I want to seek to accommodate our understanding by first examining the existence of God. Notice with me in Genesis chapter 1 what the Bible says about the existence of God. When we look here at Genesis as we begin, We first understand this in this statement about the entire Bible, is that the Bible does not seek to prove the existence of God. It merely assumes it. In Puritan John Preston, he said this, Now concerning God, two things are to be known. Number one, that He is. Number two, what He is. This is like Hebrews 11.6, that without faith, it's impossible to please Him. But him who comes to God must believe what? That He is. That's referring to His existence. And when we look at this, we must understand that the existence of God is assumed in the Scriptures. The Bible just doesn't seek to set out to prove it. It assumes it. Now, look at that in Genesis 1-1. Look how it begins. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. It's not seeking right there in that passage to prove who this God is. Doesn't really tell us a whole lot there until you continue to read on about the power of this Almighty God. And you could go into the term of Elohim, and we'll look at that in just a few moments, and learn more about this God. But the Bible simply starts out by saying, in the beginning, God. That's assumed. His existence is assumed in the Scriptures. Now, over in Psalm 90, that's written by Moses. Who wrote Genesis? Moses. And over in verse 2, he elaborates on that phrase in Genesis 1-1 when he says this, Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. What a beautiful verse. See, even the Apostle John makes an attempt at this in his gospel when he's speaking of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he says this, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And you must understand that when you hear the terms beginning in Genesis 1.1 and John 1.1 and 2, it's not saying that God had a beginning. See, when your children ask, Mommy, Where did God come from? You know, the answer is he's always been. It's not, I don't know. You have a Bible. In the beginning, God, he's always been. He has no beginning. He has no ending. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning. He is the end. Everything about him consists in him. Everything about us consists in him. See, even in John one, that takes us into the beginning, but it's not referring to the beginning of the word to assume that he was created or that he had a beginning. No, it's talking about a realm in which we are brought into where where our understanding ceases to exist. In other words, John is saying in John one one in the beginning, whenever there was a beginning, was the word. And this word was with God, and this word was God, explain that for me. You can't. Now, when you look in Genesis one, one, when it says in the beginning, God, that's taking us into the beginning of the creations of the heaven and earth, you just read the rest of the verse. See, some 90 in verse two, I think it states it appropriately. When it says, again, before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. No beginning, no ending. So we see there. That the existence of God is assumed in the scriptures, notice, secondly, is revealed in the creation. See, when you read verses like Psalm 19.1, which says, the heavens declared the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork, that right there is telling that the creation is revealing to us God. We're seeing the effects of this God that the Bible talks about. Or, as you read in Romans 1, verses 19 and 20, when it says, Because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them. Now, how did He show it to them? It says, For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. The creation itself is revealing God. How can you not look up into the sky or just look at creation around you and say, wow, this happened by some primeval puddle that decided to want to become more than a one celled thing. And there we are. I mean, it makes totally no sense. God has always existed. The Bible does not set out to prove it. It assumes it directly and it tells us it in the creation. William Temple, he gives us this warning. He says it's much worse to have a false idea of God than no idea at all. My fear is today the church has a false idea of God. They're not contemplating God. We come in here with with thoughts of the day, thoughts of the week. When we should be coming in here contemplating God. Everything that we do in here is to stimulate you to contemplate God. Expand your mind. Why do we study the word for an hour to expand your understanding? To expand your understanding of God in his word. We're not on an ego trip. So the existence of God is assumed in the Scriptures is revealed In the creation, notice third is proven theologically. I want to give you six arguments that theologians propose. The first one is this teleological. This comes from the Greek word teleos, which means perfection or result or end. See, when you look at something that has been finished or perfected, you're concluding that its resulting design must have had a designer. You can't take your watch out and take it apart and put in all these pieces and stick it in your pocket, shake your leg and then pull it back out. It's going to be all put back together again. That watch had a designer. And when we look around and we see the universe, it had a designer. Design implies a designer. That's the teleological argument. But notice another one, ontological. That comes from the word ointas. Ointas is a Greek participle from the verb translated to be. This argument reasons that man's ability to conceive of an absolutely perfect being implies the reality and the existence of that being. See, that's this is what stands out to me when you examine the Bible and you see the picture that the Bible paints of man and puts him in such hopeless despair that you can't say that this was postulated by man. This was someone outside of man who put this together. And when you think about God and you think about this perfect being that right there is proving the ontological argument. The third one. would be aesthetical. Because there's beauty, because there's truth in the world, it's logical to assume that somewhere in the universe is a standard upon which beauty and truth are based. Well, it doesn't stop there. Next is volitional. Because man faces a myriad of choices and exercises volition, it's logical to assume that there must be an infinite will somewhere. The world exists as an expression of that will. How about moral? That we know that there is a right and wrong suggests the necessity of an absolute standard. And the last one would be cosmological. Cosmology is the argument of cause and effect. The world and the universe exist, and we conclude that someone made it. That makes more sense than believing that everything came out of nothing, that at one point nothing equaled all things. And that's essentially what the theory of evolution is saying. See, as we carefully examine the world, we learn more about the one who made it. Think about it for a moment. The cause of limitless space must be infinite. The cause of endless time must be eternal. The cause of perpetual motion must be powerful. The cause of complexity must be omniscient. The cause of consciousness must be personal. The cause of feeling must be emotional. The cause of will must be volitional. The cause of ethical values must be moral. The cause of religious values must be spiritual. The cause of beauty must be aesthetic. The cause of righteousness must be holy. The cause of justice must be just. The cause of love must be loving. The cause of life must be living. See, our world gives evidence that there must be a God who is the cause of all those qualities. And all of those qualities are merely a reflection of His character in the Bible. The Bible substantiates every one of them. That's the existence of God. That's looking at it from the standpoint that the Bible assumes it in the Scriptures, reveals it in the creation. And we see it proven theologically. Now, before we move on to the next one, let me just say this. How are we to receive that? How are we to receive it? Well, it's Hebrews 11, 6. It's by faith. And it's not even a blind faith. Yes, there's many things that we can't understand, but by faith we accept those things. The Word of God will prove itself like a lion, let it out of the cage, it'll take care of itself. We don't have to prove it. It's got its own track record. People have tried to destroy the word. They did try it. They tried to destroy the God of the word by saying that he is dead. And they can't stop it. Nor can they stop him. Notice the nature of God. This is where we look more closely at what the Bible reveals about the person of God. Now, there are two ways to look at this. You can look at it according to man and you look at it according to the Bible. Let's just examine, first of all, according to man. And here's what you get, Voltaire. Voltaire was a French agnostic. You know what he said? God created man in his image. And man returned the favor. I agree. See, man sees God as. As we said, as an eager bellhop. a stern schoolteacher, an impersonal scientist, a clever magician, a heavenly grandfather, a Mr. Fix-It, or they see him, as Plato said, as the eternal mind, or as Albert Einstein had stated, a cosmic force in the universe that's unknowable. See, man does not see God as He is revealed in the Bible because he cannot. He's dead. He is blind. And aside from that, he refuses. He refuses to see him. That's the dilemma. Again, 1 Corinthians 2,14 says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Well, that's how man looks at the nature of God. What does the Bible say about the nature of God? Well, let me just show you a few things. First of all, the Bible tells us that God is a person. And how does it tell us this? Well, it describes it in several ways. First of all, he's described by personal titles. You remember the disciples prayer? Matthew 6, 9. And you remember how it begins? Our what? Father. That's a personal title. Or how about in Psalm 23? We know what that Psalm is talking about. It says, the Lord is my what? Shepard, again, another personal title, even in James two, twenty three, he's referred to as a friend. Romans 11, 34, he's referred to as a counselor, all of those describe personhood. He is a father, he is a shepherd, he is a friend, he is a counselor, personal titles. But it doesn't even stop there. Think about personal pronouns. Every time you read the Bible, you read he he he you don't read her. We're talking about God. You don't read it when talking about God, the Hebrew and Greek scriptures always refer to God as he rather than by it. And you have Bibles now that are out today, the TNIV, today's new international version, which is total blasphemy, because what it's trying to do is give you a gender neutral Bible. Now, God is it. Well, not only described by. personal titles and personal pronouns, but also personal characteristics. Think about that. Isaiah fifty five verse eight says that he thinks. When it says this, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways, my ways, says the Lord, my thoughts as thinking or Genesis six, seven, when we see him reacting. When it says that the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth of man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I'm sorry that I have made them. And we see him reacting. We see him acting. We see his volition, his will. Even in Genesis one, three, we see those personal characteristics when we hear him speaking, when he says, then God said, let there be light. All of these are personal characteristics to speak of personhood. Personal titles, personal pronouns, personal characteristics all reveal the personhood of God. Notice what else he is. Not only is he a person, but he is a spirit. Numbers 23, verse 19 says God is not a man. John 4.24 defines what that means when it says God is a spirit. And Jesus goes on and further elaborates that in Luke 24.39 by saying a spirit does not have flesh and bones. Now, what are you if you do not have flesh and bones? What are you, class? Nah, you all flunked that one. 1 Timothy 1.17. Turn to 1 Timothy 1.17. If you're not a man, you are a spirit, and a spirit has not flesh and bones, what are you? I'll read it. 1 Timothy 1.17. Now to the key, eternal, immortal, invisible. You don't have flesh and bones. We can't see you. Now that a king eternal, immortal, invisible to God, who alone is wise, be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen. Charles Hodge, he said this. It's impossible to ever estimate the importance of the truth contained in the simple proposition. God is a spirit. It is involved in that proposition that God is immaterial. None of the properties of matter can be predicated to Him. He is not extended or divisible or compounded or visible or tangible. He has neither bulk nor form. In revealing, therefore, that God is a spirit, the Bible reveals to us that no attribute of matter can be predicated of the divine essence. And even though God is not material, the Bible does describe Him in a material way. We have in Zechariah 4.10, it refers to the eyes of the Lord. Or Isaiah 50 verse 2 refers to the hand of the Lord. And what is being said by using those human terms? That is onomatopoetic expression. Anemonic poetic expression, it comes from a term, anthropos, which is the term where we get man, and then you have morpheus, the term which we get form. Anthropomorphism. That is, the Bible is describing God in human form in order to accommodate our finite understanding. When the Bible says, the wings of the Lord, that's not saying that God has wings. And even when it says the eyes or the hands of the Lord, it's not saying that he has an eye or a hand. The Bible says he's a spirit. A spirit has not flesh and bones. He's invisible. See, he's a person. He's a spirit. Let's go deeper. He's one. He's one. Although the Bible teaches that there is only one God, Even people in ancient times quickly developed a belief in large numbers of so-called gods and goddesses. In fact, the Hebrews had no word for goddesses. They just called it a god. Many nations were polytheistic. Our nation is polytheistic. At one time, they were monotheistic belief in one God. And now today, when you hear the phrase, God bless America, you have to say, which one? Which God? That's why people get so bent out of shape when we say Jesus Christ, because we are defining which one. See, eventually, every nation created and worshipped its own deities, usually more than one. Many of these, as 1 Samuel 7-3 calls them, foreign gods are named in the Bible, And in most cases, we're told to what nations that each belong. You had the list from Mesopotamia, which was a center of idol worship, and they had the longest list. Listen to this. These were the names of their gods. You had a drama like animal like you had bail, which was also known as Marduk. You had Kiwin, Nebo, Naboo, Nergal, Mishra. Riffin, Sakhoth, Shukoth-Dinoth, Talmuz and Tartak. That was the names of the gods from Mesopotamia. Then you had the Syrians, and the Syrians were devoted to Hishmah and to Raimon, and they also worshipped under the compound name Hadath-Raimon. And then you had Israel's eastern neighbors, which was Ammon and Moab. They worshipped Milcom and Molech and Chemish, respectively, although the Moabites also worshipped a local manifestation of Baal. The Philistine gods were Dagon and Beelzebub, which is the equivalent of the New Testament Beelzebul. Then there was one Canaanite god, Baal, and two Canaanite goddesses, Asherah and Ashtoreth. They're mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. Ashtoreth was the same as the Mesopotamian Ishtar, which was also known as the Queen of Heaven. The gods of Egypt, they're represented by only two names in the Bible. We had Ammon and Apis. Niphaz was probably an Elamite god. You had at least three Greco-Roman deities. They're mentioned in the New Testament. You had the Greek goddess Artemis, known as Diana by the Romans, and the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, known as Jupiter and Mercury, respectively, by the Romans. See, the Bible clearly teaches that the gods of the nations, they have no objective reality. Even though their worshippers sincerely believe that they actually exist, the Lord proclaims that they are no gods. or that the gods are not gods. See, the New Testament further declares of idols that an idol has no real existence and that gods made with hands are not gods. It's not surprising, then, that when the Israelites began to encounter other nations in significant ways, that is, as early as the time of the Exodus, you know what they were told? They were told repeatedly that the Lord is greater than all the gods. And that these so-called gods were not worthy of Israel's attention or their veneration, because there is only one God. And to believe that there were more than one God was blasphemy and idolatry against the one God. And that's how come when the Israelites bow down to the gods of the other nations, God severely chastened them. Well, listen to what the Bible says. Deuteronomy six, four, the Lord, our God is one Lord, one Lord. First Corinthians, eight, six, there is only one God. First Timothy, two, five, there is one God. Isaiah 44, six, I am the first, I am the last, and there is no God besides me. And just where Exodus 20 and verse 5 reveals that God is a jealous God, that means that He alone is to be worshipped. See, there can be but one infinite. Because Israel lived in the midst of a polytheistic society, it was vital that they gave their allegiance to the one God. See, beloved, that's the God of the Bible. And when you have somebody coming along postulating something different than this and you saying, listen, that's not the God of the Bible. Let me take this into another area. And that is God is three. He's a person, he's a spirit, he's one. And he's three, he said, oh, wait a minute, that that just makes totally no sense. You just said he's one. You gave me a good argument. Well, he's three. God is one, yet he exists as three distinct persons that is revealed in the Bible from the beginning to the end. You know, the Old Testament expresses the plurality of the Godhead in its very opening words, go back to Genesis one one. What's it say again? In the beginning, God. Let's look at a little bit of Hebrew, the Hebrew word for God in that verse is Elohim. You have a. A plural suffix at the end of that word is I am. That plural suffix is telling us that this word is plural, but the term itself is singular. So what that word is saying is presenting God as a singular God who is expressed in plurality. That's what you get in the very first verse of the Bible in the beginning, God and this God is expressed in plurality. Now, we see elsewhere in Genesis where we hear these terms of plural go to chapter one, verse twenty six. And what does it say? Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Who said this? God did. And now you're hearing plurality. He didn't say, then God said, let me make man in my image according to my likeness. No, he said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. That's plurality. Go to chapter three, verse twenty two. Also uses the plural. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil, and now lest he put out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever. Again, plurality. If you go into chapter 11 of Genesis, you find in verse seven when the Lord was about to destroy the Tower of Babel, he said this come. Let us go down in there and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech. So we see here from the very first verse of the Bible in the beginning, God, Elohim, singular God, singular term, but with a plural suffix at the end, the I am ending is plural. We have a singular God existing in a form of plurality. And then you see that following its pattern. As you hear him say, let us are Back and forth with those plural terms. Now, beloved, when you begin to follow the Bible, you begin to see distinctions between members of the Trinity, their parent in the Old Testament. For example, in Genesis 19, verse 24, it says, Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. There you're seeing a distinction in the Godhead. It starts with the Lord rain brimstone and then it says from the Lord out of the heavens. It's showing a distinction there again, Charles Hodge, he says this, we find throughout the Old Testament constant mission made of a person to him, though distinct from Jehovah as a person, the titles, attributes, the works of Jehovah are nevertheless ascribed. This person is called the angel of God, the angel of Jehovah, the angel of Adonai, the angel of Elohim. And he claims divine authority, he exercises divine prerogatives, he receives divine homage. Now, some time back, we did do a study on the angel of the Lord. And we saw that when you get into the New Testament, that the angel of the Lord ceases to exist. And what does that tell us there? Well, it tells us that the angel, the Lord. Was no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what you have in the Old Testament, you have a theophany or Christophany, you have a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ after the New Testament, you have no more appearance of this angel. No more appearance, no more reference, no more mention of him. What you have is the word becoming flesh. Hodges goes on to say, besides this, we have the express testimony of the inspired writers of the New Testament that the angel, the Lord, the manifested Jehovah, who led the Israelites through the wilderness and who dwelt in the temple was Christ. That is, the angel was the word who became flesh and fulfilled the work which it was predicted the Messiah should accomplish. Again, you see. Divine characteristics subscribed to this angel. Not just to any angel, but to the angel of Jehovah. Now, again, in the Old Testament, you find distinctions in the Trinity apparent all throughout the Old Testament. For example, number six, verse 22, it says, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and his son, saying, This is the way you should bless the children of Israel. Say this to them. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. What do you have? You have a distinction. You have the plurality. Plus, we also note in the Old Testament, you have the mission of the Spirit. Go back to Genesis 1.1. What do you have there? You have in the beginning God, Elohim, plural suffix at the end, singular term, speaking of a senior God existing in a form of plurality. And then you see, as you read on in verse two, that the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God. Now you're getting an identification in that plurality. Again, in the Old Testament, you have prophecy of a coming Messiah and this coming Messiah, according to Isaiah, chapter nine, would be the mighty God. So, again, there's your distinction. On his shoulders, he would be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, Prince of Peace. And all throughout the Bible, that's what you see. So, again, the Bible doesn't even seek to prove the Trinity assumes it. Just as it assumes the existence of God, it tells us that this God, this singular God, this one God is three. But not three gods. One God. Existing in this form of plurality, three distinct persons, father, son, Holy Spirit. You know, Jehovah's Witnesses attack this doctrine, this is one of the first major doctrines that they attack. As they're seeking to make converts. I remember spending some time with a gentleman at a last church who was being sucked into the Jehovah's Witnesses, and we sat down and argued over this doctrine of the Trinity. He'd walk out of there convinced that the Bible taught the Trinity and he'd spend some more time around them. And then he was unconvinced. And I kept telling you, you got to stay away from them. They're teaching heresy, they're teaching false doctrine, they're not bringing the doctrine of this book. If you meet someone that does not believe in the Trinity, can they be saved? No. Then guess what, folks? T.D. Jakes is not saved. He doesn't believe in the Trinity. Do you know that? Some of I hope you're not buying his stuff. And so I don't watch TV and praise the Lord, don't watch it. Best thing to do, stay away from it. It's the most confusing channel on the air. I was given a choice to listen to between something pagan and something like that, I'd rather listen to the pagan stuff. At least I know exactly where they stand. But yet, with the TVN kind of stuff, you don't know where in the world they stand. It's confusing every time you turn it on. So you see these distinctions. Notice also distinctions between the members of the Trinity that are apparent in the New Testament. Go with me to Matthew, chapter three. Here in Matthew, chapter three, as Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist there in verse 16, The Holy Spirit is descended on him like a dove. And then you have the father replying in verse 17, what's he say? This is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased. And you see right there, all three members, you see the father, the son and the Holy Spirit together in the same verse identified nothing confusing about that, nothing veiled. where you might think it's appearing veiled in the Old Testament. It's very clear right here. You have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit, and you have the Father, showing three distinctions. Go with me to John 14. And notice in John 14, verse 16, where Jesus said this, And I will pray the Father And he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. There you have Jesus speaking, he says, I'll pray to the father that he may give you the spirit of truth. There you have the distinction. You have them named Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You say, well, I need it to be a little bit more clearer than that. OK, in 1 John, chapter five. It says here, verse seven, for there are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. How about that? Three in one. Jesus said, John 10, 30, I and the father are one. They knew exactly what he said when Jesus said in John 8, 58, I am who I am. What was he claiming? He was claiming to be the I am of the Exodus there in Exodus three, when Moses said, Who shall I say is sending me? And God said, I am who I am. And Jesus used that very phrase to describe himself. And they said that was blasphemy and they sought to kill him. Remember, in first Corinthians 12, when it talks about the gifts. It says in verse four that there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. And there you have the spirit, the Lord and God distinction. Second Corinthians 1314 ends this way benediction, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Now, beloved. Can we get any clearer than that? I mean, even take first Peter one to elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the father in sanctification of the spirit for obedience of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Three in one, the God we serve is one God. We serve one God, we're monotheistic. If you believe in more than one God, you're polytheistic. Jehovah's Witnesses say, no, we believe in one God. But in John one, one, they say in the beginning was the word and the word was a God. What are you doing now? They throw in this indefinite article, you know what, folks in Greek, there is no such thing as an indefinite article, no such thing. They're making up articles. That verse says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The word always continually existed as God, and it always continually existed with God. You're even seeing that distinction right there in that verse. The word was with God. Who is the word? John the Apostle is the only one that uses that term to describe the Lord Jesus Christ, because he tells us in Revelation that the word is the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, you're seeing the distinction in John one, one, the word is the Lord Jesus Christ and you have God, the father, the word was with God, the father, prostrate on face to face with God. That's what he left. He left heaven's glory to come to earth in utter humiliation to bear our sin. Go with me over to John 17, just listen to his prayer. In John 17. It says in verse one, Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and he said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son, that your son also may glorify you. And as you have given him authority over all flesh, then he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life that they may know you. See, eternal life is not just the length of life, it's the quality of life. He says that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sinned. I have glorified you on Earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you. When? When? Before the world was. Jesus wasn't created. Jehovah's Witnesses want to say he was created. Mormons think he was created. Mormons say that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Do you know that? Mormons have a very fairy tale belief. They believe that that they'll become gods inhabiting their own planet and the wives will be eternally pregnant. Does that make you feel, ladies? I'm surprised that that that religion is popular at all among women. And if a woman is not willing to become a Mormon, The husbands are told to divorce him. And vice versa. That's idolatry, folks. To think anything other than what the Bible says about our triune God is idolatry. You know what, folks? Anytime you're sitting there and you're seeking to worship and an improper thought comes in your mind about God, that's idolatry. Or you're in a situation, you go, oh, I just can't believe God would do that. That's idolatry. May ask a simple question. Who can comprehend the Trinity? God is three in one. And one in three. That's an eternal mystery. I don't want to try to describe God as an egg where you have the shell, the yoke and. In the white there, you have three in one, God is more than an egg, OK? or where you have the breakdowns of water. I mean, God is more than that. I like what J.I. Packer wrote. He says, Here we face the most dizzying and unfathomable truth of all, the truth of the Trinity. What should we make of it? In itself, the divine triunity is a mystery, a transcendent fact which passes our understanding. How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son and Spirit are personally distinct, yet essentially one is more than we can know. And any attempt to explain it, to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture, is bound to falsify it. Here as elsewhere, our God is too big for His creature's little minds. See, I look at it this way, when you try to figure this out, this is when you have a lot of leakage. Because you cannot reduce the infinite mind of God to finite understanding. That's why, folks, we come at this with faith. By faith, and you read that there in Hebrews 11. And you see people ask, how were they saved in the Old Testament, the same way they're saved in the New Testament? They look to a coming Messiah who would come and take away their sin. We look back to the cross. They look forward to the cross. They're saved by grace through faith. Grace is evident all throughout the Old Testament. Grace was evident the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned, that God didn't destroy them right then. God said, in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Did they die immediately? Well, they died spiritually immediately, and that was pictured by them being forced out of the garden. But did they die physically 900 years later? That's grace. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. By faith. See, beloved, when I just even go back to that sermon. Of Spurgeon, age of 20, he had it right. To talk about the contemplation of the Godhead that is humbling and expanding. This doctrine, which expands the mind, also humbles the soul. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. We cannot comprehend this triune God. But we do know that he is a father who loves us. He's a son who died for us. And he is a spirit who comforts us. That's the triune God. And do you know him personally? We never take for granted that everybody in here saved. Because we know that you can be self deceived. Otherwise, you wouldn't hear like 2nd Corinthians 13, examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith, prove yourselves, he says, or like what it says in James. When it gives illustration after illustration after illustration of what is true living faith. See, 1 John 5, 13, it says, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. See, when we're given that much and we're given what is revealed from the Bible, the Bible is telling us we can know this God. We can't know all about this God that. We think we can know. There are secret things that belong to the Lord. There's things that he reveals to us from his word. And just like as Moses said to God, I want to see you, and so he puts him there in the cleft of the rock and he passes by and he says, the Lord is merciful, gracious, and he was showing him the back parts of God. And listen, folks, that's all we get. The back parts of God. But, you know, one day. As a child of God, the Bible says that we will see him. See, the only way that you can come to know this triune God is to repent of your sin and to place your trust in him. You trust him with all your life. That's an awesome God. Father, we just come to you right now. And we ask that you would grant us understanding tonight. of your Holy Word, Lord, that you would assist our finite minds in what we have talked about tonight. And seeing your personhood, seeing that you are a spirit, seeing that you are one, seeing that you are three. Lord, that's all our mind can handle. And Lord, we believe by faith That you do exist. And we believe your word. And Lord, we have tried and tested your word and your word has done exactly what it said it would do. It has totally transformed us. Your word says it's perfect converting the soul. Lord, tonight, I pray that there's a soul in here that hasn't been converted, that you would convert it right now. Show that one their sin and show them the Savior who came to take away their sin. We praise you for our time together tonight, Lord. May the response be from all your children, God, praise and worship and adoration. At what you have given to us tonight from your word. We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.