The Trinity in history has seen the error of the Trinity has seen many horrific deaths. Think only of the violent deaths of the great flood. Think of Sodom, the Trinity raining down fire from heaven upon the sins of homosexuality. Think of the Egyptian army, the 10 plagues and perishing with their whole military in the Red Sea. or Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Think of the first temple destroyed in 586 BC, where over a million were killed, half of the country. Think of the second temple destroyed, where over one million again were killed over half of the country. King Herod, who in his pride was giving a speech and he was struck down and eaten by worms as he even fell. But this morning then we are going to be talking about another man, a man, an evil man, a heretic, one who has distorted the Trinity and tried to teach men so. Now our scripture reading for this morning is about one of those horrific deaths, Arius's, recorded, not Arius's, but of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, recorded in scripture. Come, let us take the shoes from off our feet as we consider what a horrible thing it is to distort God's to present anything other than the gospel. Oh, let us tremble before his mighty power. For God says, to this man will I look, who readeth my word and trembleth therein. Yes, let us tremble before his almighty power this morning. Hear the word of God out of number 16, verse 26. And Moses rose up and went into Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation saying, depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their children and their little children. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open up her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertaineth unto them, and that they go down quickly into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass as he made an end of speaking all these words, at the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertaineth unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertaineth to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perish from among the congregation. And all Israel that was round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. Yes, thus far, the reading of God's holy and infallible word. As we see what a mockery it is to distort God's word. In our sermon this morning, we're going to look at the more than 60 distortions, 60 apostasies there has been in Christendom concerning the Trinity, that most important doctrine of Christianity. point is one of the great enemies of God and his horrific destruction. Our second point will be the scriptural understanding of how the Trinity is to be viewed, given to our forefathers from God's hand. Our third point will be That man was named Arius, who lived approximately 300 years after the birth of Christ. Arius called himself a Christian minister, but he was a false, counterfeit Christian minister of the gospel, preaching his own fables, preaching his own errors, following and promoting Yes, Arius began to preach and to teach that Jesus was not God. Jesus was not the only begotten Son of God, that Jesus was not the second person of the Trinity, but that Jesus was inferior to God, inferior to God the Father, add to his horrific error in preaching Christianity. He said that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was not the third person of the Godhead, but only a power of God. Oh, what could not have been a worse error? could not have been more of an assault against God's being, against his personhood. Yes, this vile man was very persuasive, and we see he has succeeded in preaching across all of Christendom of that day. This grope waiting almost all of Christianity to believe this error. Yes, so much so that only two churches out of all of Christendom of that day maintained a scriptural Trinitarian view of the Godhead, of orthodoxy, that God was one, in essence, in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Oh, how he, Arius, gained power, and how Arius and his huge number of false Christians mocked with the one minister who insisted against almost all of counterfeit Christendom that they were wrong, that God was one in essence, co-equal, co-eternal, co-omnipresent, co-omniscient, co-omnipotent. Yes, one God in essence. In three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That describes the person of God in his essence. Now, remember Korah, Dathan, and Aviram were Levites, what we read about in our scripture opening this morning. Levites, they were part of the tribe that God had set apart as ministers to preach to the people and the children of Israel of the full counsel of God, the holy word of God. And because they were Levites, they had a holy calling. and a strict commission to preach only, only the word of God in truth and in righteousness, and to watch for and warn against all heresies that might enter in from whatever part of Christianity was influenced by the satanic evil. Yes, those three evil Levites, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, which we read about in our scripture, were extremely jealous of Moses. And they had not only convinced themselves that they were greater than Moses, but that they served God better than Moses. Yes, in their outrageous heresy, they had convinced 250 of Israel's Levite elders to also believe in their heresy against God. And many of the people supported their rebellion against Moses. And most importantly, not only against Moses, but most importantly against Moses' God, Jehovah. cloud by day and the fire by night above the tabernacle that Moses had been instructed by God to build. Yet they built a counterfeit tabernacle next to it, pretending to worship Jehovah better. Oh, remember Moses and Aaron were also from the tribe of the Levites. God had chosen them specifically to lead Israel, not these 253 Christian heretics, Christian heretical leaders. Yes, these heretics, as we said, had already even built an alternate tabernacle right next to God's tabernacle. And in this counterfeit tabernacle, they build false furniture, duplicating that in the Ark, attempting to worship God, and not Moses' God, with a false sacrifice, a counterfeit religion, a syncretic God, a false fire, that Aaron's two sons were also was openly displayed by these 253 godless men, Levites, children of Israel, who were so influential that they had deceived almost all of the children of Israel into believing their lie, that Moses' God, the God of the Trinity, was not the proper God to worship, From this chapter we read that God appeared above his tabernacle in a more visible form, not just in the cloud, not just in the fire, but he made his presence known that his leader that he had chosen was Moses, that this tabernacle, the way of the Trinity, was the way he to go. Yes, God made a separation in that day between the precious and the vile, between the wheat and the tares, between the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. No, all Israel was not Israel. All Christians are not Christians. God does not value So many people say, oh, if I saw a miracle, then, then, then I would leave. But only the inspired word of God with a miracle does salvation. Few could have seen a greater miracle than what these children of Israel saw on that day of our scripture reading. As they saw, main leaders. The earth opened up and they disappeared alive into hell and the earth closed up again. As well as immediately fire came down from heaven and killed those 250 false elders, false Christian elders who had led them astray. Yes, such a dramatic revelation of the displeasure of God, who could not have bowed to the ground in trembling and fear at their rebellion against Jehovah. But most unfathomably, we read the most unbelievable thing. the most incomprehensible thing, that the very next day after they had seen those three leaders descend into hell physically, seen lightning strike from heaven, these 250 700 that were killed by the plague before Aaron and Moses's intercession stopped it Yes, the children had seen all of these things but the very next day they were Gathered together again in rebellion against Moses saying Yes You have killed God's children Yes, the very next day they gathered in rebellion again and blamed Moses for killing God's children. Oh, what could these people be thinking? Where was their mind? Did they not see that God had shown his displeasure? Did they not learn nothing? Oh, obviously. They had not. And it is a picture of you and me. They had just witnessed their three false leaders swallowed up by the earth and descend directly into hell. Again, they had just witnessed 250 of their rebellious leaders killed by fire from heaven. that would kill 14,700 of them. But instead of bowing to the ground in humility, in repentance, they rebelled against God, rebelled against Moses, and blamed Moses for killing God's children. Oh, they were not God's children. These were devils. men were evil, yet they dared to blame Moses for killing God's people? Oh, what is man? What is man? What is man? We are dead in sins and trespasses, and we can only speak and do evil unless the Lord enlightens us, even though we may see one of the Here now the Lord's wrath was kindled and He commanded Moses and Aaron and all the true elders of Israel to depart from the congregation from the children of Israel Because he was going to destroy all of Israel For all their rebellion against him Yes, the Lord said to Moses. I will make you a new people and leave these people that I can destroy them. But now, but now Moses falls upon his knees and pleads with the Lord as an intercessor that the Lord not destroy the children of Israel. Oh, Moses pleaded as an intercessor. Moses sees that God the whole congregation that would kill 14,700 of them. Yes, he sends Aaron and the true Levites with fire from the altar into the congregation to spread incense from God's sacred altar in the true tabernacle to scatter the ashes among the people plague may be stayed? And yes, Moses's prayer was answered. God did not destroy all the children of Israel in an instant, as he could have righteously did. He did not destroy all of them through the plague, which he could have righteously done. But only 14,700 of the children of Israel died from that plague only because of Moses and Aaron's intercession of the altar ashes that pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that was to come. That stopped the plague, yes, pleading the blood of Jesus Christ But their hearts, unfortunately, remained forfeited against God, alienated from God. For do not forget these same people, these children of Israel, a few months later, perished in unbelief over the next 40 years. in the wilderness when they refused to enter the promised land as the 10 spies had been instructed to investigate? No, obviously miracles without the word of God do not regenerate anyone. As we said again, only God's inspired word alone can regenerate. Yes, only a few months earlier, remember these same children of Israel, these same Christians, witnessed God giving his Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai. Oh, then they said to Moses, you speak You, Moses, intercede for us. And Moses did. Oh, it was then that they shouted with one voice when they saw the power and the majesty of the Lord giving the law off of the top of Mount Sinai. Oh, what did they shout? They shouted, we will serve the Lord alone. time and time and time again, they failed to serve the Lord alone. Now in our second point, we read what the Lord gave to our godly forefathers when the evil deeds of this man Arius, 300 years after Christ, when that evil rose up and almost destroyed all of God's Christian church. He wrote it down and we have it today. It's called the Athanasian Creed. Oh, listen to what the Athanasian Creed gave. It says, whosoever will be saved before all things, it is necessary that he hold that Catholic or scriptural faith, which faith except everyone do accept and keep undefiled without doubt. ye shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic or the scriptural faith in the Trinity is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither forsaking, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance, For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one. The glory equal, the majesty eternal. Such as the Father is, such the Son is, and such is the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Father create, the Son create, the Holy Spirit create. The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, the Holy Spirit is incomprehensible. the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal. Yet, they are not three eternals, but one eternal, as also they are not three uncreated, nor three incomprehensible. So likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty, And yet, they are not three almighties, but one Almighty. So that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and yet they are not three gods, but one God. So likewise, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is God. They are not three Lords, but one Lord. For just as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic or scriptural religion to say that there are three gods or three Lords. The Father made of nothing, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, not created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. One Son, not three Sons, one Holy three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity, none is before or after another. None is greater or less than another. But the whole three persons are called eternal, co-equal, essence of God. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the unity in Trinity and the Trinity in unity is to be worshipped. He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity?" Yes, that is the answer. Because of the error of Arius, our forefathers have received this from the Lord on what the Trinity was, what the Trinity remained. Oh, how little is spoken about that first recorded meeting of the Bible, the meeting of the Trinity in the Council of Peace. Yes, there the Trinity met together. And there they planned and designed and developed and implemented the universe which they would create in the future. No, this certainly is not the first time that the Trinity met together far from it. They were never separated from each other. The Trinity of three persons had no beginning and will have no end. They, the Trinity, delighted in themselves from the stillness of an ever begun eternity. They did not need humans to add to their glory, but they did decide to create first meeting of the Trinity which God records in the Bible. God records that great meeting for us in Hebrew 10 verse 5. Oh listen, Jesus says, the second person of the Trinity, a body thou hast prepared for me. Yes, here as he agrees to become such an important component of the plan of the salvation of mankind. He will shed his blood. He will take their sin upon himself, upon the cross. He will suffer and die in their place. Oh no, the deep fall of Adam did not. But we see from this grand meeting of the Trinity in the Council of Peace that salvation was incorporated into God's grand master blueprint long, long before God created the 15, where God says, I will put enmity between thy seed and Satan's seed. That is the promise of Jesus Christ, the covenant of grace. And God gave us a voice. God obviously created the voice box in every human. Yes, God designed perfectly the tongue, the mouth, and the mind with all the perfectly synchronized being of the soul to be able to have humans communicate with him who is a spirit, to praise Him, to glorify Him, to exalt Him, the Triune One. Oh yes, what a great gift is human speech. If you ever visited a school for the deaf, you can quickly see the great difference between a person having speech and one not. having speech. Oh, Arius had speech. He had false speech. He was a false prophet. He was an instrument of evil to preach against the Trinity. For in the Trinity, we see God's incalculable plan. He had provided not only the way of salvation But he had also in so doing and creating in having the second person of God be incorporated into the human nature born in Mary's womb. Yes, he established there a way for God to be able to pray to God? Yes, that could never be done before. God praying to God until the person of Jesus Christ in his human nature added to the divine second person occurred nearly 2,000 years ago. Yes, here was God's grand master blueprint. a divine way for human nature to communicate with God. Yes, Jesus Christ, that new and living way came about in his human nature. Yes, but we may not worship Jesus human nature in itself alone. Jesus Christ in his human nature was a created work. He was the first creation of God. We read about that, a body thou hast made for me. That new and living way was to worship Jesus Christ in both of his human natures, both of his natures, human and divine. But as God-men, Jesus in his human nature, conceived and born in the womb of Mary, was also able now to communicate with his Father the needs of his people, to make intercession for his people, and to apply us from sin, to cleanse us from the old nature that continues to live till we die. Oh, as Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, we read in his human nature during the 33 years of his life living on this earth, divine nature and the human nature strove mindedly to obey his father's will, to perfectly perform the purpose that God had sent him to earth to accomplish. Never once, even He was supported by his divine nature and fulfilled the assigned purpose perfectly. Yes, there we see Jesus, who was the God-man, praying all night to his Father and all day in constant communion with his Father. Yes, the Trinity. Yes, Jesus strove to and did perfectly not only obey the Trinity's grand master blueprint, which, remember, Jesus also jointly designed and implemented so that every word of Scripture could be fulfilled, so every component of God's master blueprint hand in a glove? Yes, all of this was possible for a lost sinner to be saved only because God is Trinity and each of the three persons performs a specific role in the salvation of a sinner. Yes, God is a But he is a jealous God who insists that we worship him as scripture defines him. And we see written in the word of God is that the mediatorship of Jesus Christ in his human nature and that created work will be absorbed into the Godhead. No, imagine that. Even Jesus' immediate family did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Yes, we read in Scripture that his own brothers did not believe in him, that he was the Son of God. It was an embarrassment to them. It appeared only Mary, continued to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, but his half-brothers and his half-sisters did not. Oh, what a struggle that must have been, even in Jesus' immediate earthly family. Separating the Trinity in any way, shape, or form is a most horrendous sin. Yes, Jesus never allowed anyone to worship him, only in his human nature. We see when the rich young man came to Jesus and fell down and said, Why do you call me Lord? Do you believe that I am the Son of God? And the rich young man, of course, did not go that far. He could not. And he went away weeping when Jesus told him what he had to give up everything on earth that he could not do, that he could not believe that God was Trinitarian and that is the God-man. Yes, we read that even they as a family of Jesus thought Jesus had grown insane and they tried to force him to return and be committed to an insane asylum where they said he is going crazy saying he is the Son of God. Yes, Jesus was attacked When he was preaching in the Christian church at Nazareth, they drug him down from the pulpit and tried to throw him off of a cliff. And we do not read of his own family, his half-brothers, standing up for him to defend him from the angry Christian members of Nazareth's Christian church. crown, and no man laid hands on him. Oh yes, what a strife, what a contention there must have been even within Jesus' earthly family. Remember, Jesus chose none of his half-brothers as his apostles. They did not believe he was the Son of God. And here was the reason Why, none became apostles, and we read only that his half-brother James was converted, regenerated after Jesus rose from the grave. Yes, obviously they were also mockers, along with the Pharisee Christians of Israel. Yes, they secretly or openly must have mocked Jesus and said, son of God? Why don't you go down to Jerusalem and convince the Sanhedrin, the Pharisee Christian leaders of Jesus' day? Go down and convince them that you are the son of God. Then we will believe you. Oh, Mary must have told them that story of the angel Gabriel visiting her. But their eyes were closed, their ears shut, their hearts hardened, their conscience seared, so they would not believe Jesus was the Son of God. And yes, we said only Mary, for it appears that Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, died early, leaving Mary a young widow. For after Jesus reached the age of 12, We read nothing more of Joseph in scripture. It does not appear that they were with Jesus, his family at Jerusalem in the last week of passion, or if so, they stood in the background. We read only of Mary standing at the foot of the cross. Yes, as we said, we read of James, Jesus' half-brother's regeneration only after Jesus rose from the grave in the resurrection. Jesus did not allow himself to be worshipped in his human nature. But all worship of Jesus must be because he is Trinitarian, because he is both human and divine. Yes, only the Trinity is to be worshiped. Only the Trinity is to be served. Only with the Trinity are we reconciled. And now in our third point, Arius's horrific death. Yes, we read in our scripture of the earth opening up, Choradacin and Abiram descending immediately into hell. 250 elders, false elders killed. But it was almost so horrific, to diminish the Trinity, who had tried to say that Jesus was not the Son of God, but that he was inferior. Oh, as we said, he had convinced so many people, so much of Christendom, only two churches of his essence. Only one minister, Athanasius, rebuked them and said, you are wrong. This is a great, great, great error. Yes, Athanasius stood against Arius, but the time came that the emperor of Rome demanded reconciliation between Arius and Athanasius and demanded that they have communion together in the main church of the Roman Empire. Oh, we see Athanasius praying that it might not be so, praying that his life might be taken have to hold communion with this arch-heretic Arius. Oh, and look, there is Arius with his whole crowd of false Christian followers. They are having a parade, marching up to this church where the emperor had decreed that Arius must be united with Athanasius. There is that proud Arius marching through the street to the crowds, through the cheering crowds of Christendom, believing that their lie had been victorious, that a Trinity was not the Trinity, that Jesus was inferior Yes, that mighty crowd along the streets was rejoicing as they marched with Arius to the church where Athanasius lay prostrate on the floor under the communion table, praying, Lord, take me or take Arius, that this great sin be not that the Roman emperor may not force this great error onto true Christendom. But now the church is in sight and Arius is dancing in the street, rejoicing in his white robe. He thought he was victorious. But now suddenly God spoke, and the crowd stood still. For God struck Arius down to the ground, and we read that his bowels gushed out, that it was such an obvious strike of died a few feet from the church, a few feet from the communion table where Athanasius was praying, take me Lord or take Arius. God took Arius and hell opened up for him. And there he is. There was all those who forsake the Trinity, who discredit the Trinity, who do not believe the Trinity. Yes, and now Athanasius is victorious, and all the people are shocked, shocked to see Arius, their hero, so obviously struck down Now there is a turning point within Christendom, and all of Christendom now reverses itself under the leadership of Athanasius. And that's where we have the Athanasian Creed that we read in our second point. That's where God has given the church freedom. from the error of Arius and the fear of the killing of Arius by a strike down from God has made Christians tremble for 1700 years until this generation, when again, the Trinity is being mocked Again, the Trinity is being divided. Again, the Trinity is being diminished. Oh, in Christendom today, especially amongst the millennial Christendom, we see that great error mounting high and spreading over the earth as a tidal wave, that Jesus is not gone. that the Holy Spirit is a power. Oh, you see it in every survey that has been conducted. Every survey reveals in full inerrancy, including the definition of God, one in essence, in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Oh, today we call to Christendom, do not make the error of areas. Do not mock with God. Do not mock and diminish his trinity. God is a jealous God. And when we mock with the trinity, when we diminish the trinity, then we shall and will arrive arouse God's wrath, and he will destroy us as he destroyed Arius. A few feet from the church where Athanasius lay praying, take me, Lord, or take Arius. Yes, what an example we have with Arius. Trinity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.