I would be thankful if everybody did, but everybody don't. We want to touch on two or three points. The first will be the present trinity. First John, chapter five, and verse seven will be our first scripture that we'll look at this morning. You can't go wrong if you start any study out in the Gospel of John or the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Epistle of John. But in 1st John chapter 5 and verse 7 will be our first scripture we'll look at. And I want you to see that if you have your Bibles. In 1st John chapter 5 and verse 7, God said, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And we always look at that and we misquote that verse, but we don't do it any harm when we say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but I believe they, that the Lord wanted us to see, that when we see the word, word, that is Jesus Christ. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And what we read in the original text would be no different than if we were talking to the Holy Spirit or to Jesus Christ ourself. But the Father declares that besides Him, there is no Savior. You know, and this morning, you know, if you really want to know how bad certain denominations are, I got up this morning and I checked my phone and there was this lady that looked like a man, but the Baptist church had called her to be their pastor. And, you know, and, She went through all of this rigmarole, which tells me whether it was a Methodist church, Christian, or Baptist church, when you do something like that, you certainly have never been saved, you've never been taught the word of God. Because you don't have to be a Bible scholar to know that God has never, not one time, has called a female to be a pastor. It just doesn't happen. But they were all excited and then you do a little checkup on this person and you find out that they have probably a female to be pastor, but they have probably a lesbian female to be their pastor. And any Methodist church that is associated with that organization, if they go along with that, God is gonna deal with that whole situation, you know, because that is going against God's Word. It is going against what anybody that has been in church at any time where the Word of God is preached, you know that they have not been taught that. And I don't, you know, don't wanna spend a lot of time on that. But the father declares that besides him, there is no savior. Now, in the book of Isaiah, which is a marvelous book just to read if you looking for something to read, that's a great portion of scripture. But in Isaiah chapter 43, And verse 11, we see here that God's word tells us very clearly here in the 11th verse of Isaiah 43, I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no savior. No savior, no way to get saved. You can't go to the pastor and pray through, you can't go to the priest and you can't say, well, I don't drink, I don't chew, I don't, none of those things. None of that, whether you do it or don't do it, is gonna save you. One way to be saved and that's through the finished work of Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what he's saying. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. In other words, there is no way to get from the lost condition to a saved condition except through the Lord Jesus Christ. So he comes to dwell with man in the person of the Son prior to Calvary. Prior to Calvary, you know. If you turn to Matthew and some of these I will quote, but I want you to see a few of them here, what I'm getting at. In Matthew chapter 1, you know, you will see that God is the only, only way to receive salvation. In Matthew 1, verse 18, he says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on the wives when, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child in the Holy Ghost. Some of the commentaries, if you get a commentary that is not based upon the Old Testament and on the New Testament, they will say that, you know, Joseph secretly dealt with Mary and got her pregnant, but that's not so. The Bible makes it clear that wasn't so. It says, now, the birth, the birth of Jesus Christ was on the wise when, as his mother Mary, was espoused to Joseph before they came together. Mary was a very young teenager. Don't know exactly her age, but she was not a full-grown woman as other scriptures will teach. But Mary got impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Joseph had nothing to do with it. And as you study that, you'll find Joseph was questioning that. And I think that is to show you that Joseph was a normal male figure, but God chose him and the Holy Spirit taught him that you will accept Mary and marry was a young virgin that got impregnated by the Holy Ghost. If she had got impregnated by a man, then Jesus could have not have been our Savior. That's how important that small tidbit of Scripture is. Mary was, you can get all the good points you want think about Mary, but she was still a virgin. And when Jesus was born, she remained a virgin until her and Joseph had the okay by the Lord Jesus Christ to join together. And in John chapter 14, verse 16 and 17, Notice here, John 14, verse 16 and 17, God said here, and I will pray thee the Father and he shall give you another comforter that ye may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And while I was writing, I made these outlines several years ago. But even when I was restudying it yesterday, you know, you think of what God had done. He had prepared Joseph. And he had prepared Mary. And so the spirit after Calvary, you know, it's just amazing what God did. And we see again in verse 17, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. A lost person can quote scripture. A lost person can memorize scripture. But a lost person that has never been touched by the Holy Spirit cannot be saved until the Spirit of God touches him. Because it's the Spirit of God that makes us alive. Not, I woke up one morning, I think I want to be saved. And I believe that God was dealing with me personally a long time because when I thought about the rest of my family attending that little old white building down there on Penn Street, I thought they had lost their mind. Why don't you pick a big church? Why don't you pick a building where there's some going on instead of 25 or 30 people down there listening to a man? But what happened to me happened to every one of you that are saved. The building won't save you. The crowd won't save you. Having recording, having all the latest equipment won't save you. You cannot be saved apart from the preaching of God's word. Now, if you believe that, Convicted of that, you won't have no trouble. You've got two ways to influence your friends, at either by telling them about your savior, or even better, living that life in front of them. So, that is the present trinity. Now, our second point is the purpose of this present trinity. Salvation is possible because God laid down his life for man. There would be no salvation if Christ, listen carefully, had not been willing to be the sacrifice. God can use us, but if you really want to be used by the Lord, you got to be willing to be used. You got to prepare yourself. You got to look at the community that you live in where more people know who you are. They may not know you, but they know who you are. and you're either going to be an influence on them by what you say to them or how you live in front of them. When we go back again to 1 John, 1 John, here in chapter 3, 1 John 3 verse 16, he said, Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we are to lay down our lives for him. You know, I do not understand as all of us there are certain things we do not understand. You know, children and parents sometimes disagree, but how can certain things that happen, happen within a family? And it's usually because they have not listened to the word of God, or it was not put before them, But you know, salvation, when you are saved, it's a complete change in your life. It's not certain things, it's a complete, you are a new creature. When God saved you, you became a new creature. What is new? Something you never had before. New is not, you know, you go to the, Salvation Army and you can find some good clothes there. How do I know? When my wife died, we took all the clothes up to Salvation Army. Why? Because she went to school on Salvation Army clothes. I don't know, 35, 40 dresses, and there was a number of those dresses she had never wore. So anybody that bought them bought new clothes at the second-hand store. What is the purpose of saying that? Well, the purpose is that salvation is possible because God laid down his life for you. He made the payment. He made the payment for man's transgressions, and we see that in Isaiah 53 and verse 1, I believe. God said, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant." This Savior grew up right among the people. Can you imagine that you played with Jesus, you worked with him, and now he's claiming, I'm the savior. But he was different than anybody else. He had no sin. We need to realize that. by burying them in his body. That's what 1 Peter 2.24 tells us. He died for me. He took my punishment that I should have been on the cross. You, if you're saved, should have been on the cross, but he took your place. And he's never, when you accept him, you may think you're all alone. You may think, well, I've been a Christian. I've got all this bad luck and all this here. Let me tell you something that'll change your life if you believe it. I mean, really believe it. There ain't nothing that happens to you that God doesn't know about. And second, you don't have to go through anything alone. You know, we believe that. When any of you sick, either myself or somebody else will put on the computer, pray for sister so-and-so. Pray for brother Steve. He's going to have to go back in surgery tomorrow. And we prayed because that request was made. But none of us could heal his body. None of us could take the pain away. Only one. and thankful, you know. He knew the one. He knew the one, and I believe that, as far as I know, Brother Steve never lied to me. So when he agrees with me, not because it's me, but if there's gonna be any healing, God's gotta do it. And the prayers is support. I'm behind you, Steve. I'm behind you, Sister Ellie. I'm behind you. But the only one that can make a difference in your life is the spirit of God when the great healer, the great physician touches you. So, you know, I've been doing this, you know, for a long, long time and, you know, When I pray for anybody that's having surgery, anybody that is sick, you pray that God will take the medicine that the doctor gave you and use that medicine. Now, you say, so you believe the healing is in the medicine, not in a moon. No, I, you may believe that way. God's got to use that medicine. If God don't use that medicine, ain't nothing going to happen. So, all I've said here, rambling here about 34 minutes, is that we need to realize that you walked in here, you want to be here, you came to church because you want to meet with God's people, it's because the Spirit of God touched you. But I personally believe that most people come to church simply out of habit. We go to birthday parties simply out of habit. I don't believe that you can be blessed until you've gotten to the point. God, what do you want me to do? And what does God want us to do? Tell others about Jesus. And that first answer I get when I say that to somebody, witness to them, they said, I can't talk to people. I understand that. I have no problem with that. but you can live before them. I would rather for a person, if I was lost, to show me what a Christian life is. Show me. And how do we do that? In the good times, the bad times, we never forget our Savior. That's what salvation does. I believe that when I made these outlines years ago, I didn't preach them because as I heard preachers preach and I heard people talk, you know, well, I'm so, you know, all you got to do to be saved is walk the aisle and get baptized That water didn't save you and that water won't keep you cool in hell. It takes the blood of Jesus Christ. What is the purpose of this present trinity? Salvation is possible because God laid down his life. And John 3, 16 says that plainly. He made the payment for man's transgressions. Therefore, the God who condemned man and pronounced death as a penalty for sin and died that death and paid that penalty, who? Himself. We can only be saved if we understand that salvation is possible because of what Jesus did. You're not saved because you gave up drinking, cursing, any sin, you name all the sins you want to. Should you do it? No. But giving them up won't save you without the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's what we have this reformation. And I guess why it's, you know, only one way to be saved, the only one way to live to the point where nothing can happen to me unless God permits it. Nothing. How do we know that? We take you back to the COVID era. Some people didn't take shots. They didn't get COVID. Some people got the COVID shots, they still got the COVID. And you don't have to read with this statement. Every morning I get up and I take six different medicines. I might as well take six of my favorite M&M's if God doesn't bless that medicine. He said, that's silly then. Leave me alone, because I'm perfectly satisfied believing that all good things, including the medicine I take, if it's helping me, it's because God is doing it. I decided two or three weeks ago, I'm going begin to give God all the credit for everything that happens in my life and this church, thank God for it. God will use you if you want to be used. God did not force Henrietta to accept Christ as her savior. That was a choice of Henrietta. Well, you say, but if she saved, she was one of God's elect. But she didn't know that. Well, the God who condemned man and pronounced death as the penalty for sin died that death and paid that penalty himself. You know, he suffered on that cross what every one of his elect. He felt the pain of every one of his elect. Notes with me in Acts 20. Acts 20, verse 28. God said here, Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer. Do what? To feed the church of God. Didn't say entertain them, didn't say anything, but feed them. And a Christian will only grow with one meal, and that's the word of God. I've read stories about the Bible as entertainment to get a different view. But God said, he said, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. He's talking to pastors, he's talking to preachers, but he's also talking to lay people. When you're witnessing to your family or you're witnessing to friends, you better go a little further than, why don't you come to church? Coming to church is the evidence that you are saved, that you want to learn. But he said, to the flock over thee which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. So stop a minute and think of how powerful Acts chapter 20, verse 28 is. I mean, how powerful is that verse? He's telling the pastor to take heed, therefore unto yourselves, because if I mislead you He's gonna deal with me. And I love every one of you, but I'm not gonna mislead you because God said he would deal with me if I did. Over with the Holy Ghost have made you overseer. That means that I am the overseer of this church. But notice what he said, I'm the overseer, which the Holy Ghost has made you overseer to feed the church of God. I'm not to waste my time servant after servant telling you what I think. If you ask me a question, I don't know the answer. I should tell you I will get back with you. I will spend some time in prayer and reading and studying, and I'll get back to you. But God has made the pastor the overseer to feed the church of God. I'm not your overseer that says, Steve, you shouldn't be doing this, or Steve, you shouldn't do this. That's not what my job is. That comes when I preach the whole Bible. But God has said, you're an overseer, and if you don't preach the gospel, if you don't lead those people in the right way, I'm going to deal with you, pastor. And he will. And believe me, God will never mislead you or me. And when God says, you want to leave this world real soon, start okaying what a church member does that is wrong. When you start okaying what a family member does that's wrong. See, because that's just natural. Because I've had people come to me and said, Do you realize what that family's children are doing? And I try to very simple and easily as I can, mind your own business. I don't say that because they would get mad. But that's what they need to do. If it's a church problem, if the church doesn't know about it and you know about it, it's your responsibility to tell me, not each other. So he said, my job is to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood. I don't know how many people have asked me, who runs Emory Road Baptist Church? Do y'all have a deacon board? Do you have elders that get together and decide what's going on? No. I've been preaching for 55 years and I've never had a deacon. But I've never been boss at this church either. The Holy Spirit is the leader and you can tell whether I am following the leadership as long as I preach what I preach and show you in the scriptures why I preach this. See, that's how salvation is provided. As the scriptures make clear, Christ died for all of his elect. Who is his elect, pastor? I don't have the fakest idea. So therefore, I just take the gospel to everybody. Right? I don't know who's God's elect and who isn't. That's his business. But I can tell you what, I can meet somebody and talk to them as I did a couple weeks ago, and then finally he said, I understand you are a Republican. I said, simply because I don't have nothing else to choose from. He said, but I'm an independent. Independent of what? You know, it's like saying, what church do you belong to? You told me you were saved. You believe Jesus died for you. What church are you a member of? Well, there ain't no difference in it. Come on out and just give me three services. They're not all alike. All church members are not alike. All wives are not alike. All husbands are not alike. But there's this one Christ. God, who condemned man and pronounced death as a penalty for sin, died that death and paid that penalty for us. And that's what we see in the Acts 20 and verse 28, as we just read, where he said, take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer. What is my job? To feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. Church don't belong to me, it don't belong to a group of men, a group of women, it belongs to God. And when I get promoted to glory, When you choose somebody else, you better have something except personality. You know, I heard somebody say, and they didn't even know I was listening, and that's, I'll never tell anybody who said, but you know, so-and-so, boy, we'd really like to have him if, when and if, Brother Vance ever, you know, dies and goes to heaven because he's got the nicest little old wife you've ever seen. You're going to choose a pastor because he's got a good wife? That's a good attribute. But does he stand for what this church stands for? If he doesn't, I don't care how good his wife is, I don't care how good his kids are, he is not fit to be pastor. So, the possession of the present trinity, the possession of the present trinity, when a person receives Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit places that believer into his body. Why are you here? The spirit of God led me there. That's the right answer. I'm asked at least once a year, if probably a lot more than that, why are you a Baptist? God made a Baptist out of me. He called the first Baptist and he's been calling Baptists ever since. You can be whatever you choose to be, but I tell you, God did not call anybody but Baptists. Two churches, the Catholics and the Protestants, you ever stop and think, why are they called Protestants? Protestants meant they protest the Pope. They came out, but they brought a little bit of, that they want. You know what I'm talking about. I'm going to close with this. I hadn't been over here a couple, three years, so I went down, you know, I was headed out of Auderville Avenue and that, whatever name that church is or building is, and they had all of these animals, you know, and they were taking their animals in there so that man could bless them. I said, I've missed that somewhere. I've missed that somewhere. I've read the Bible through many times. I've never seen that. He ought to be out knocking on doors instead of making a fool of himself trying to save animals. He said, well, why would you tell us that? I want you to know about that. I want you to know. I want you to leave this church sometime saying, thank God I'm a Baptist. I didn't choose to be a Baptist. I didn't even choose to be saved, Harold. I was perfectly contented, lost on my way to hell. And then last, The saved ones thus has a sure place in heaven for Christ is there. If you want to be where Christ is at, the first stop is heaven. I mean, you know, I still grow up to the grave site. I still look at the place where that body of my dear wife laid and sometimes I have no emotions, sometimes I'll cry all the way back home, but she's not there. And I'm glad she's not there. Because if you're going to die, make sure you got reservations in heaven. And let me tell you, you can know if you're saved or not. It ain't something you got to worry about. The saved one is accepted there by Father because he is in Christ Jesus. We need to thank God that You know, and when you know somebody who believes heresy and you know somebody that, you know, says they're saved but they lived like a lost person, you don't have to talk about it. Just thank God he saved you because if it wasn't from God, you'd be right out there with him. It's not you, church member, it's God. Give Him the glory. Give Him the glory. Father, we thank you for this time.