Let's go ahead and start, if we might, and open in prayer. Father, thank you for this beautiful spring day, the warm day that you've given us. And I thank you for each of these brothers and sisters that are here tonight to study your Word. And I pray that you would be here in a special way in power through the Spirit to teach us who you are. Father, I pray that you give us a foretaste of our heavenly inheritance, our heavenly reward. We know that this is the unique ministry of the Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing that future full inheritance. We pray that he would stir in us and move in us and just take certain phrases from certain Bible passages and illuminate them to us. I pray that in every way we would be greatly encouraged by our contemplation as we study one last attribute and then get into the doctrine of the Trinity. Father, I pray that we would know you better as a result in Jesus name. Amen. So we have one last attribute and that is the glory of God. And, you know, it's the kind of thing that you're not a Christian very long and you start to realize you hear the word glory all the time. We do everything for the glory of God, you know, that God's glory is our ultimate motivation. And, you know, it's not necessarily an easy concept to get our minds around, to understand what do we mean by the glory of God. So I'd like to just take us through some scriptural meditation on that and then we'll be done with the attribute study and we'll go over to talk today about the doctrine of the Trinity. So let's start with the definitions of glory. Wayne Grudem says, God's glory is the created brightness that surrounds God's revelation of himself. So you have these concepts of brightness and himself. So I think that's where you're going to get the two aspects of glory. As I've meditated on glory, it frequently revealed in terms of brightness. You could also have a subset or connection with that, a sense of display. So you want a bright display or radiance, that kind of thing. And then of himself, what God really is like. And so it really is a kind of a summation attribute that, you know, the God that we've been studying, the God of all of these attributes that we've been looking at, when God puts himself on display, he's glorified. When you know who he is and he acts in space and time and does certain things, as the Bible says, he gains glory for himself. It really has to do then with a kind of a radiant or bright display of God's attributes to us. Herman Bavink put it this way, God's glory indicates the splendor and brilliancy, so there's that light aspect, that is inseparably connected with all of God's virtues, so there's Himself for the attributes, and with His self-revelation in nature and grace. So, same concepts again in that definition. A sense of radiance, a sense of brightness, a sense of shining display, of attributes or who God really is. So that's what we're looking at with the idea of glory. God's glory then is the radiant display of God's attributes, God's attributes put on display. Now, I don't have much in here, so I can just kind of, you know, go beyond my notes here. How then do we glorify God? You know, we're supposed to do everything for God's glory. How are we supposed to glorify God? How does that relate to us, our daily life behavior? I want to do everything for the glory of God. What does that mean, Margo? Well, some of these characteristics of God are communicable, so we are displaying those attributes of God. So that really fits into a communicable attitude. When you are compassionate like Christ would have been compassionate, you're glorifying God. You're really putting Christ on display at that point. That's very good. So if there's anything you do that causes people to know who God is better, you're glorifying God. That's really what it is. But there it's not so much a radiant, bright shiningness at that point. It's more, I think there's an aspect of the glory of the mind and the glory of the eye. Okay? Glory of the mind has to do with understanding what's happened and what is happening. Jesus' death on the cross glorifies God in a way that the unbelieving thief's death on the cross does not. You see? And so, you know, standing there, there's nothing to look at You just have to understand what's happening and then you get it. Then you see the glory of God in it. And so Jesus says, now is the Son of Man glorified. He's referring to His death. He's about to die. And so He's going to be glorified in the cross. But there's no radiant, bright, shining display there. There's more of a knowledge, a thinking display, a display in the mind by understanding, you know, we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So when you see grace and truth at work, that's glory. And so that's some of it there. But we can't ignore the radiant, bright, shining aspect as well. And so we'll talk about that. So there's scriptural support. Actually, in scripture, it seems that there's a glory in God's reputation through His mighty works, a glory perceived by faith, and a glory visible to the eye. So they're just different ways that God glorifies Himself. God's glory, the glory of reputation through His mighty works. All right, Isaiah 6, 3, they were calling to one another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. Well, how is that true? How is the whole earth full of the glory of God? You mean in the spring season? OK, so as you see flowers blooming, et cetera, how does that glorify God? the physical creation. So God is glorified by the various aspects of the things that we see around. That's what the angels are referring to when it says the whole earth is full of his glory. It means that God wove it into creation. You know, that God's invisible attributes, His divine power and nature are clearly seen from what has been made. So, I think the angels are meditating on this, that when you look at creation, that you see God, you see Him for who He is. And the angels are celebrating that, the whole earth is full of His glory. Exodus 14, 17 and 18, this is what God says, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they will go in after them. That is after the Israelites, of course. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Well, how did God gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen? Jim, what did he do to gain glory for himself? Well, he killed them all. Yeah, but how does he gain glory for himself there at the Red Sea? Yeah. Flynn? That's right. And I think what we could do is then just go backward. You know, you can look at the outline that I gave you and just start looking at some attributes. And just take those attributes to the Red Sea crossing. Do you see God's power there? Well, definitely. I mean, if you know anything about water, and if that really is a sea, an ocean, I don't think it could be done today. I don't care how powerful the civil engineers, they couldn't in one night make a corridor through the sea so that there's dry ground and a way for two million people or so to pass through and then have the thing crash back down so that it all disappeared the next day. I mean, only God can do that. That's something only God could do. I still say it's the most spectacular of all of God's miracles, the Red Sea Crossing. Because, I mean, so many of the other miracles, you kind of had to know what the story was. Like the man born blind, that's incredible, but you had to know him, you know? It's like, oh, do you see? I can see. It's like, yeah, so can I. Well, no, but I'm the man born blind. Oh, well, that's something. You know, but I mean, if you're his parents, it's like, it's incredible. But it's not really spectacular. For him it was, because he got to see the whole world at that point. I'm just saying the Red Sea crossing. I mean, only God could do that. So you see the power of God. Do you see his love there? I think you definitely see his love for the Israelites. God's love is an electing love, a choosing love. And so he clearly made a distinction. He protected them. You know how they commented, actually it was Yul Brenner, but I don't know, maybe it's in the Bible anyway. He said, you know, your God isn't a very good general. He's left you no way out. You're trapped against the sea. You know, it's like, eh, he's got a way out. He can do anything. So, you see, God's knowledge, He knows what He's doing. He knew exactly what He was doing. So, anyway, the glory of God. He gains glory for Himself by the Red Sea crossing and by what happened there. Isaiah 43, 7 says, Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made. That's a very important verse. It's the only verse I can find in the Bible in which it says definitely that God made us for His glory. There actually isn't another one. I've looked, I've done all the searches on all the word group for glory. This is the only one that openly, just directly says we were created for God's glory. But it does say it in one verse is enough for me, how about for you? At any rate, we were created for God's glory, we were created to put God on display. And there's a redemptive overtone here. It's not just that God created us for His glory, but in Christ, He's redeemed us, or recreated us, or remade us also for His glory. Because we're called by His name, it says there. Everyone who is called by my name. If you understand that, Isaiah is definitely the most New Testament of the Old Testament writers. I just take that in terms of being called as Christians, believing in Jesus, believing in the Messiah. And called by his name, we are created for his glory. Habakkuk 2.14, obviously one of my favorite verses, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Again, that's the kind of the knowledge aspect of glory, the kind of glory that isn't obvious unless you have the right kind of knowledge. You have to know what to look for, and then you can see what you're looking for, etc. Scientists can study all kinds of things and not glorify God. Their minds can be vacuous of the glory of God seen there. But Christians who are scientists and look at that same thing, they're seeing God all over the place. The biologists or chemists or physicists, they can just see the hand of God everywhere. And it's a beautiful thing. Isn't that right, Will? Can't you see? I mean, he works in a laboratory doing stuff with proteins. Do you see God's glory there? Yeah, you have to be born again, as you are, Will. I mean, as a brother in Christ, he studies proteins and sees the handiwork of God. Do all of your fellow scientists see the handiwork of God there? No, they don't. And so you have to have your eyes open to see it, okay? But it's still the glory of God. And then 2 Corinthians 3.18, And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. What he's saying here is a regenerate Christian who is growing in grace in the knowledge of Christ, glorifies God. And we can see the glory of God in other Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a display of God's glory. And there's an ever-increasing glory. It literally says, from glory to glory. So, from one degree of glory to the next. That's the increasing glory that comes from sanctification. So, there's the glory of God's reputation through His mighty works. And then there's a glory perceived by faith. The glory of the Incarnation, I've already quoted this, John 1.14, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only, or the only begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. So, in other words, you had to know what you were looking at. Did the scribes and Pharisees see the glory of God in Jesus? Well, they didn't. They saw Him as a deceiver of the people. They saw Him as a liar. They saw Him as possessed by the devil. Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed? So they saw him as a product of an illegitimate relationship that his mother had with a Samaritan father, and demon-possessed, possessed by Beelzebub. So they're not seeing the glory of God in him. But John did. We beheld his glory, he says. I saw the glory of God in him. And so Hebrews 1 3 says that the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. You want to see the Father, you look at Jesus. And so He says, anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. So that's the glory of the mind. But there is also the glory of the eye, too. Look at Revelation 1. And wasn't Jesus bright, shining, brilliant, like, you know, radiantly bright? to John when he saw him. I fell at his feet as one dead, he said. So he's shining. His head and hair were white like wool. His eyes were like blazing fire and his feet were like burnished bronze. I mean, there's this radiant brightness like the angel that displayed, that came when he announced the birth of Christ. The glory of the Lord shone all around. So there's this radiant brightness that comes. In Luke 2.9, you can see there. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. seen by the eye. By the way, in John 12, 23, Jesus says, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. What's he referring to there? He says, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself a single seed. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. So what does he mean when he says the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified? He's talking about His death on the cross. How does Jesus' death on the cross glorify Him? It brings Him to fulfillment. It finishes the work that God gave Him to do. Remember, what I'm saying here is that glorify means to put attributes on display. So how does the cross put Jesus' attributes on display? The fact that He could have walked away Okay, very important concept. So what attribute of Jesus is that put on display? Willingness. We could say obedience. Is obedience to the Fathers on display there? Yes. God demonstrates His love while we're still sinners. Christ died for us. You know, I've said before that when I preach the sermon, the cross is the prism of God's glory. What that prism is that triangular piece of light, a crystal, a glass that refracts the light at different angles And so you can see the rainbow. And all of that, those wavelengths are built into white light, but you have to have the prism to break them out and see and study each one of them individually, right? The red and the orange and the yellow, et cetera, you can study them. And Isaac Newton did that, did that experiment and just really worked with light and could see in his darkened room there in England, this vivid rainbow and he's studying it and did all this work on it. The cross is a prism. this stuff and just breaks it out and you can just see very clearly the power of God, the love of God, the wrath of God, the justice of God, the patience of God, the wisdom of God. All of these things are displayed in the cross and you don't have to work too hard to see them. The wisdom of God. How is the cross the wisdom of God? Because, you know, it was very wise for God to humble us like that and have us saved by the death of somebody in our place. The wisdom of God You could be hours and hours talking about how wise it was for Jesus to die on the cross for us and the wisdom of God, the power of God. We're not going to see it until we see that multitude from every tribe and nation and people and language. Just picture in your mind's eye hundreds and hundreds of millions of saved people. Just this vast sea of humanity from different places in the world, maybe wearing different clothes or whatever, from different eras of history. each of them wretched sinners who will tell you, you know, if you had time, all of the ways that God was gracious to them, that they would even be there forgiven of their sins. And you multiply that out, all of that work. And how long did it take Jesus to atone for their sins? One afternoon. That's powerful to me. And how long will they be benefiting from that? For eternity. That's a lot of power coming in one afternoon. You can't do that kind of work in one afternoon. I mean, that's a very good afternoon of work. And He did that for the sins of the whole world. I mean, for everybody all over the world. Every sin that's ever been atoned for was atoned for that afternoon. And so that's amazing when you think about it. So again, I think it's beneficial to do this, but we're not going to do it. Just take an attribute and say, how do I see it in the cross? And you'll find it there. But I also want to talk now about the attribute of the glory of the eye, because we have a future rendezvous with that glory. We'll get to that in a minute. But there is a glory that's around God. And the word generally is light. We're really talking about light. There's this brightness, the glory shining all around. And so it says in 1 Timothy 6.15 that God dwells in unapproachable light. What does that phrase mean to you? Unapproachable light. It's too bright, Margo? Can't get close to it. You know, I did some research. I wanted to know if NASA had ever done a solar probe. And they actually are working on it right now. I don't know that they've sent it yet, but they're going to send it, and it's going to get to five million miles from the sun. That's the closest they can get, friends. We just don't have any technology to get any closer. Five million miles is the closest we can get. It's 93 million miles away, so that's pretty close, all right? I mean, you know that the equator's a good deal hotter than it is up here, and that's that much closer to the sun, so, hmm, you know. Getting real close to the sun, you know, getting basically more than 90% of the way, it takes some technology. I mean, there's not a lot of materials that can handle it. And basically, the limits of our technology is 5 million miles and no closer. That's it. And after that, it just disappears into a vaporous nothingness, all right? And so, it stops sending information back to Houston or wherever the base is. So, that's it. They're happy with 5 million miles, all right? That's good enough. That's just, I mean, that's just the sun. God made that. God dwells in unapproachable light. If He doesn't want you close, you're not getting close. And the beauty of Jesus, He wants you close. That's the amazing thing, isn't it? He could just say, no, you're not getting close to me. But instead, He wants us very close to Him. And so we can come right in there. I don't think we should imagine that heaven's going to be like this, an unbelievably bright place. We're all like this all the time, just staggeringly bright. Still, I think there is something to do with this light, because it's the first thing that God made. God said, let there be light. I think it has to do with communication. He's getting himself across to us. So just like the sun sends the light across the 93 million miles to us, and we know the sun's out there because of the light. And so God sends himself through the word and through Jesus, communicates himself to us in the form of light. So it says, God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all. So that's what it communicates. You know, Exodus 33, Moses said, now show me your glory. And the Lord said, I'll cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, and I'll proclaim my name. Notice how God changes it. He says, show me your glory. He says, all right, I'll pass my goodness. No, I ask for your glory. They're synonymous. My glory is my goodness. My goodness is my glory. That's the whole thing. They're really woven together. All right, I'll pass all of my goodness, cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, and I'll proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. And I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and compassion on whom I have compassion. By the way, that's how we get close to God. That's the link here. You will not get close to God unless he has mercy and compassion on you. By showing you mercy and compassion, that's how you get to see God. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord said, there's a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen. So this is just what we call anthropomorphic language. It's human language. God doesn't have a back. He doesn't really have a face, but basically he's communicating in ways we can understand. You can't see my 100% glory because you can't see me and live. And I have plans for you still. So you have to write the Bible. He hadn't written anything yet. so that we would have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He needed Moses to live, and he said, if I show you my fullness, you're just going to die. So, I'll only show you a little part of me, just a small part, for no one can see. And this, I believe, is only explained fully in 1 Corinthians 15, where it says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We must be changed to go to heaven. We can't handle it. Just like the probe from NASA can't get any closer than five million miles from the sun, we can't handle heaven. where he will sit there on a throne right in front of us and we'll see his face. We can't handle that. So we've got to be changed. And we will be. Luke 2, 9, we already quoted. Matthew 17, 1, how Jesus took them up on a mountain and was transfigured and became very bright and shining and radiant and his clothes were whiter than anyone could make them. That's a foretaste, but again, you know that's not the full amount. That was just a little bit, just like Paul on the Damascus road. Who are you, Lord, with the blinding light That wasn't the full amount either. God dwells in unapproachable light, et cetera. All right. And then Jesus said in John 17, 24, Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you love me before the creation of the world. So what does that mean? This is an incredible thing. Let's start with the words I want. Now, who's speaking these words here? Jesus Christ. And Jesus is revealing his desire here. He's speaking to whom? To the Heavenly Father. He's praying for this. What does he want? What does he want here? In John 17, 24, what is he asking for? Father, I want those whom you have given me. Those are the elect, all right, the called, his believers. I want those whom you have given me to what? What does he want for us? to be with Him where He is and to see His glory. That's incredible. I want them to see me as I really am. I want to give them the full display. Now, I've said before, and I'll say it again, everything Jesus asks for, what? He gets. Why is that? Because He always asks in accordance with the will of the Father. The Father wants the same thing. Will Jesus get this? Do you factor in here at all in John 17, 24? Yes, you do. So what does that mean? What does John 17, 24 say to you? That someday what? You're going to be with Him where He is and you will see His glory. And Revelation 21 speaks of that. It says, The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb, Jesus, is its lamp. So we're going to be there and see His glory. And this is the thing, we're going to enjoy the new heaven, the new earth, we're going to enjoy the new creation, but we will not be idolaters. because we will see the radiance of Christ everywhere we look. And so every enjoyment we get will be an act of direct worship to Jesus. You'll see Jesus everywhere, and the glory of God. There's no controversy between the two. Yeah, Rick. Isn't that beautiful? Yeah, I'll tell you this. Thank you, Rick, for just pausing and saying that. If you're just feeling discouraged or down or just not feeling loved, just read John 17, 24 again, and put yourself right in there and say, Jesus wants me to be with him forever, and he wants me to see his glory. And in effect, you get from that, that's like the best thing he can do for me ever, is to show me himself fully, and he's going to do that. And the Father, he's praying to the Father, and the Father will give it to the Son, and the Son will give it to us, and we're going to be there forever and see it. And so whatever's going on in your life doesn't even compare with that. Paul said that. There's nothing you can go through in your life, no suffering you can go through, that even compares with what he's going to... It says the glory that will be revealed in us. So that's a beautiful thing. And we're going to be transformed by it. You know how Moses' face shone from his experience with God? That was just from seeing God's, like, hindquarters or back parts. How much more, then, will we be transformed by seeing Christ in His full glory? And we're going to shine like the sun, it says, in the kingdom of our fathers. We will ourselves be glorious. But it won't be our glory. So let's move on and talk about the Trinity, okay? I desire to do what I can in 32 minutes on the Trinity, to do the best we can. Any questions, though, about the glory of God? All right. Yes, sir? Moses never asked for that again. No, he didn't. But he's certainly experiencing it now, isn't he? He's seeing God's glory. Yeah, what an experience. All right, let's start with the doctrine of the Trinity, and let's begin just with the importance of this doctrine. Why is this an important doctrine? Go ahead, look right there on the outline. Why is this an important doctrine? See, there's nothing on there, is there? So I'm going to ask you. Why is this an important doctrine? Why is it important to believe in the triune nature of God? That God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Because that's who He is, that's the true God, and if we have any other view, we're idolaters. Yeah, okay. Thank you. All right. If you have a conception of God that does not include the Trinity, you're an idolater. because that's not the God that is. The God that is, and this is what just bothers me when politicians say that us and Muslims worship the same God. We do not worship the same God. Muslims don't worship a triune God. They don't believe that Jesus is God. Ask a Muslim, is Jesus Allah? What is he going to say? No, he's a prophet of Allah. But they don't believe in the Trinity. Therefore, we worship different gods. And one of those gods exists and one of them doesn't. Because there is no god except the true god. And every other god is a false god, an idol, created under demonic influence in the minds and hearts of human beings. That's what idols are. All false religions, all false gods are crafted in human imaginations under the influence of demons. And they're false gods. The true God has to reveal himself to us. We would never have come up with the doctrine of the Trinity. I mean, who would ever? It makes no sense. It almost like violates our reason. It violated Thomas Jefferson's reason. And so he threw it out. It's just nonsense to him. It makes no sense that there can be one God in three persons, three equal persons, not three gods, but one, and they're co-equal and co-eternal and all of that, that just, I don't get it. No one can understand the doctrine of the Trinity fully. We accept it by faith. We accept that this is what God's revealed. You know, as I've meditated on it, I continue to think about it. The reason we don't understand it is we don't understand unity. We don't know what oneness is. Because sin is explosive and dissolving in its nature. It just blows things apart. And Jesus is desiring to bring all things together under one head and make them one. So Jesus is reversing the explosive fragmentation of sin. But I'm just telling you, we don't understand unity. We don't know what unity is. All right. God is perfectly one and there is only one God. And so there's just we can't fathom it. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't study it. We should study. And this doctrine has the power to humble us. Flynn, why does the doctrine of the Trinity, studying this really, have the power to humble us? It's hard to know even use what grammar. Do you use the plural, like they? It's like, well, am I a heretic? I don't want to be a heretic. So basically, we theologians, we come along and we are taught how to speak about the Trinity in such a way that we don't get burned at the stake. That's what happens. We've learned this language and they hand it to us and use this language. And then we do, we talk about persons and we're not heretics. We don't talk about three gods, then we would be heretics. And so we just learn how to speak, but very quickly we reach the end of our ability to understand it. All right, so let's state the doctrine. God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And each person is fully God, and there is only one God. That's what Christians believe. This is what we teach. The Athanasian Creed, the Catholic faith is this, and by the way, don't let the word Catholic throw you here, that's basically meaning the universal faith. It's not Roman Catholic here, but there's a real history to this. Athanasius defended the deity of Christ, and therefore the Trinity. They're just absolutely linked. They really are linked. Denial of the deity of Christ is a denial of the Trinity, a denial of the Trinity is a denial of the deity of Christ. That's what's happening. So, you have to fight this battle. Basically, the battles on this are always the deity of Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit, but much more the deity of Christ than the personality of the Holy Spirit. Those are the battles you fight on the doctrine of the Trinity. Anyway, the Athanasian Creed is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance or essence. 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 co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity or truth to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three gods or three lords. So that's just language and basically this gives us boundaries in which we run and contemplate and talk about the doctrine of the Trinity. So three statements, God in three persons, each person is fully God and there is only one God. So look at the back of your handout and you have this diagram here. The diagram is not in any way a representation of the Trinity but really an organization of these doctrinal statements is all it is. You begin with the circle in the center. There is one God and only one God. Then you go up to the top, the apex of the triangle, the Father, and then you see the word is in the line connecting the circle. The Father is the one God. See that? And then you go down to the lower left-hand side and you see the word Son. The Son, Jesus Christ, is the one God. See, the word is there between Son and one God. And then look at the right-hand side, the Holy Spirit, and you go back up again to the center. The Holy Spirit is the one God. Then you look at the relationship between the Father and the Son. The Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father. So this is what Athanasius means when he says that we don't confuse the persons, we don't mix them up. The Father and the Son are distinct persons. You could say, what does distinct mean? I don't know. Let's put it this way. They're able to have a conversation. Should we put it that way? Like in John 12, when Jesus says, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. It was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And then the father answered, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. That's called a conversation. The son speaks to the father. And the Father answers and speaks back. They have a relationship like two persons would. They can relate. They can love each other. They can have conversations like that. So the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. The Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Son. Even though there's such an incredible close identity between the Spirit and Christ, so these are called the Spirit of Christ, etc. But there is a distinction between them. And then the Father is not the Holy Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father. This diagram doesn't get all the ideas, though, because this is true eternally. This isn't a new concept. This isn't a new thing that they evolved into. God has always been like this forever and always will be. And there are some known heresies that are denials of each of these. For example, a denial of the three persons. Go back to the first page of the doctrines. Modalism denies that there are three persons able to interact with each other. What does this mean? There is one God and only one God, period. Sometimes the father appears, the God appears as father. Sometimes he appears as son. And sometimes he appears as Holy Spirit. So this is when people give you analogies like, well, take me, for example, I am a son and I'm also a father and I'm also a husband. and I'm just one person. That's hideous. If you accept that as an analogy, you are a modalist, all right? I mean, it's bad when people use analogies that lead you quickly into heresy, all right? So throw that one out, okay? Out it goes. Basically, there is no physical or verbal analogy of the Trinity. We just have to work on these doctrines. That's what you have to do. So if they start giving you that, like the egg analogy or the different roles that I play analogy and all that, pretty much you're going to be heading toward a heresy pretty soon, all right? The name of this heresy is modalism. The problem with modalism is who is Jesus talking to there in John 12? Is he schizophrenic? Is he talking to himself? Father, glorify your name. I'll be right back. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. And then he comes back. That's a heresy, all right? And it doesn't make any sense. Who is the father talking to and who is the son talking to? Modalism. Then there's Arianism. Arianism denies that Jesus is the one God. What Arianism teaches, the Jehovah's Witnesses teach this, that Jesus is a created being, a mighty being. Sometimes the Bible uses God-like language for mighty beings. Like I said, they are gods or he is chief among the gods. So he's just a very powerful, mighty being, but he's not the one God. He's not the Jehovah God. Well, that's a heresy because it denies that Jesus is the one God. Jesus is God, fully God. And so any denial of that is a heresy, okay? Thirdly, tritheism. Basically that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and there are three gods. And you just... Anything else is ridiculous. There are three gods. Christians worship three gods. We worship Father God, and Jesus God, and Holy Spirit God. That's one plus one plus one, which I learned a long time ago, equals three. And so that's three gods. Well, that may work in mathematics, but it doesn't work in theology. And if that bothers you, then just go ahead and be bothered with the rest of the human race. We're all struggling with the same thing. Nobody understands this. But one plus one plus one equals one in this case. It's just the way it is. It's not tritheism. We don't worship three gods. The Bible is very clear about all these things. OK, so let's see. Do I give any scripture support for all of this? Would be nice if I did. But I didn't. Oh my goodness. What folly to think we would get through the doctrine of the Trinity in 33 minutes. I mean, who thought that could even be done? So let's see what we can do. I've already, I think, refuted modalism by John 12. Haven't we already kind of refuted that? Actually, I'm appalled at this outline. I don't know who did this. Anyway, let's just take a break and let's support the doctrine of the Trinity from some scriptures. Let's give, for example, the Great Commission, Matthew 28. All right? Matthew 28 says, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. So when someone gets baptized in this church, we baptize them into one name. And the singular of the word name is significant. into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The word name, you could really substitute name equals God. The name we're dealing with here is God. That one name is equally applicable to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So there's a Bible verse that teaches the Trinity. I'm baptizing you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Okay? One name, and, and, and. So, three persons, Father, Son, Spirit, one name. Singular so that teaches that there are other verses that show the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit at work For example that Jesus is baptism Jesus is baptized. He comes up out of the water and At that moment the Holy Spirit descends as Jesus As a dove on Jesus and a voice comes from from heaven saying this is my only son whom I love with him I am well pleased so you see the Father Son and Holy Spirit there We also have verses like this in 2 Corinthians, Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. And so we have that kind of activity. Or you have the same thing in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 says, We were chosen through the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood. So there you see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit at work in our redemption or our salvation. My mind is getting empty. Do you have any other verses on the Trinity, per se? It's an important verse because it teaches one of the key doctrines that makes up the doctrine of the Trinity, and that is that Jesus is fully God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Frankly, the battleground here primarily is the deity of Christ. You fight and win that battle, then you have the doctrine of the Trinity. It's the only thing you end up with, because once you believe that Jesus is is God and that He's not the Father, then you're really at that point. And you're like, well, what about the Holy Spirit? Once you expand to two, it's not hard to go to three. It really isn't that hard. And so the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. You know, in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira said that they, it was said of them that they lied to the Holy Spirit. You've not lied to men, but to God. And so clearly the deity of the Holy Spirit is obvious there. And we see that also in Genesis 1, 2, where it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And so the Spirit of God is mentioned in the second verse in the Bible. And so right from the very beginning you have the Spirit operative there. Yes. I and the Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Yes, Don. What does that say? Yeah. Yes, yes, that verse is useful again for proving the deity of Christ, that God was manifest in the flesh. So again, I think if you do any work at all to prove the deity of Christ, you really have the doctrine of the Trinity. Yes, go ahead. Right. Right. Yeah, I alluded to that a moment ago. Very good point. I alluded to that because we basically have Christ with us by the Spirit. And so, basically, it's by the Spirit. And that's why it says in Romans 8, it speaks of the Spirit of Christ. If the Spirit of Christ is in you, etc. It's by Christ, you know, and we shouldn't think that the Spirit of Christ is somehow different than the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is just the most common or popular name for the third person of the Trinity. That's all. Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, well, maybe instead of rebuking my outline, I should trust it and just keep going. At any rate, for all of that, though, you know, there are different responsibilities or roles that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit take. They're not identical beings in this regard concerning what they actually do. They have different responsibilities, different functions in relating to the world. These different functions have existed from eternity past, okay? And so basically, for example, you know, the Father generally is pictured as crafting the plan by which everything happens. So stuff happens by the will of the Father. I mentioned this in my Easter sermon this past week, that it was the Father that came up with the plan for our redemption. And Jesus came to do His Father's will. So when He says, I've not come down from heaven to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." Clearly then, Jesus is depicting the Father as the one who made the plan. The Father crafted the plan. It was the Father's idea to save us. It was His will to save us. The Son then carries the Father's plan out. He accomplishes the plan of the Father. Generally, then, we look at it this way. The Father planned redemption, the Son accomplished redemption, and the Holy Spirit applies the redemption to individual people. So when individual people are saved, it's the Holy Spirit who has taken Christ's work and applied it to you, and Christ did the work in submission to the Father. The Father told Him to go do it. So that's how it works. So they have different roles and different responsibilities, okay? All right, well, let's follow this outline as best we can, and then, you know, When we're done, we're done. But first of all, Hebrews 1.3, we've already seen that the sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being. We studied this a moment ago with glory. Now let's look at it again in terms of how the Son reveals the Father. Radiance of God's glory means that Jesus is the light shining from God. And so God's here, like the sun, 93 million miles away, and Jesus is the light beams that goes throughout those 93 million miles of space and gets to the earth. so that you feel the heat of the sun and the light and know that the sun exists. It's problematic in that the word S-U-N sounds like the word S-O-N and you get confused. But you know what I mean. The Father is like the S-U-N, the God out there, and Jesus is the light beams that brings God right to you. And so he's able to say this mysterious thing in John 14 right here. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my father as well." Ponder that statement. The better you know Jesus, the better you know the Father, right? He would go beyond that and say, you can't know the Father except through me. Jesus says that in another place. From now on, you do know him and you have seen him, Jesus said. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. I bet you Philip thought that was a really great request. I mean, it was in his heart anyway. It's like, hey, this makes perfect sense. Jesus, if you would just show us the Father, that would be wonderful. And he actually ends up getting a little bit rebuked. Don't you know me? Don't you know me, Philip, even after I've been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Is your mind stretching here? Is your mind breaking like a rubber band that's stretched too far? I don't know. All I'm saying is, Jesus is not the Father, but he can say, if you see me, you've seen the Father. So that's what Hebrews 1.3 is. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. He shows us who the Father is. That's what it's saying, okay? All right, no knowledge of the Father apart from the Son. Oh yes, here it is. All right, Matthew 11.27, no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Very important verse. Basically, you can't know the Father apart from the Son, and the Son has a choice in that matter. I find that interesting. He decides whether to reveal the Father to you or not. And if He decides to reveal the Father to you, He will. By the way, I think He does that now by sending the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Spirit comes at the bidding of the Son to reveal the Son to the individual so the Son can reveal the Father. So He sends the Spirit to you so that you can know who Jesus is, so that thereby you can know who the Father is. That's how it works. And so He's choosing to reveal. And it's not an accident. It's not like anyone knows the Father apart from the direct action of God. It's the only way you can know Him. And by the way, there's just no true knowledge of God apart from Revelation. No true knowledge of God. And so, we can know certain things about Him, but we can't know Him unless He reveals Himself and wills to do that. So, if you're a Christian today and you know God, you know Him truthfully, you know Him accurately, it's because God's chosen to do that for you. He's chosen to do that. It's not an accident. That's why we talk so much about the doctrine of election. It's not an accident. God knows exactly what He's doing. And He is able to communicate Himself to you. He's able, just like He did with the prophets in the Old Testament. Nobody gets up and says, my ambition, I want to be a prophet. You know, my great-grandfather was a prophet, I'm going to be a prophet. No, you're called by God to that. God chooses you and just the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And there it was, and you're a prophet now. I had other plans. Doesn't matter. You're going to be a prophet. And that's, you're going to be a Christian. That's how it works. God chooses you and shows himself to you. And there it is. And it's the same thing in Matthew 16, where, you know, Simon Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said, this was revealed to you by my Father in heaven. Nobody can make this up, okay? All right, let me see where else we have to go here. Subordination versus subordinationism, distinctions. What an interesting outline. This is the most interesting outline I've ever done. It's a product of a confused mind. So, we're going to spend time on subordination. That's fine. Subordinationism holds that the son is eternal, not created, but yet still inferior in being and essence from the father. That's subordinationism. It's a heresy. Subordination, however, holds that the son is eternally subordinate to the father, not in being or essence or attributes, but in role or function. Heresy, where did, heresy's origin I think, or origin's heresy, alright. The early church father, Origen, advocated a form of subordinationism by holding that the son was inferior to the father in being, and that the son eternally derives his being from the father. This doctrine was rejected at the Council of Nicaea. Alright, so what do we mean by biblical subordination? Well, first of all, in the Trinity, when we talk about the Trinity, we talk about this language of co-equal, co-eternal. So they're equally God. but that doesn't mean they carry out equal roles. That's what we're saying. All right, so, John 14, 28. You heard me say, I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you love me, you would be glad that I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now, that's a very problematic statement for us, except that we accept this doctrine of subordination. Subordination means that Jesus has taken a subordinate role to the Father. Though he is co-equal with him, he takes a lesser role. He does the Father's will. The Father doesn't do Jesus' will. You never see the Father obeying Jesus, but you do see Jesus obeying the Father. So, He takes that subordinate role. Now, some people teach, and I respect this, I don't consider it wrong teaching, that the subordination was functional just for the time that Jesus was our sin-bearer on earth while He walked on earth before He died on the cross. And once He was done atoning for our sin, that was over, and He returned to His place of co-equal glory. But I actually don't think that lines up with 1 Corinthians 15. I'll talk to you about that in a moment, but I think that the subordination is eternal. He is forever the Son. He's not just become the Son when He came into Mary's womb. He was the Son forever. He was eternally the Son. And so if you have Father-Son language, then you definitely have the Father is greater than I forever. That's, I think, what we have here. Alright, so there are certain things granted or entrusted to Christ by the Father. Look at this. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have life in himself. Can you imagine Jesus saying that he granted to the father to have life in himself? There's no such teaching. So clearly there's there's a sense in which the father gives things to Jesus. Jesus isn't giving things to the father. All right. Again, John 522. Moreover, the father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the son. Interestingly, the verse continues, that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. So co-equal honor, but different roles. And the Father entrusted judgment to the Son. Jesus would never say that He entrusted judgment to the Father to begin with, like it goes back and forth or something. Judgment belonged to the Father, He gave it to the Son. What does that mean for us personally? Someday we're going to stand before Jesus, is what that means. And so will every Buddhist and Muslim and atheist, they're all going to stand before Jesus. Well, I don't believe in Jesus. It doesn't matter. You'll be there. I don't want to be there. The angels will get you there. Read about it. He sends out his angels and they collect them all. And so you may not want to go there, but go ahead and try fighting the angel assigned to bring you there. You don't want to do that. It doesn't matter. You'll lose. So long story short, every single human being will stand before Jesus. But Jesus is saying, this role I got from the Father. The Father gave this role to me. All authority in heaven and earth. That's an incredible statement, isn't it? All authority in heaven and on earth. But what's the next thing? Has been given to me. Wow. So in effect, Jesus is saying, I am the top authority there is in the human race. Everything, and among the angels and archangels, infinitely above all of them, the Father gave me that authority. So again, you see the subordination. Do you see it? I mean, He takes these things from from the Father. The Father gave them to Him. Okay, how about the entire universe? Is that big enough? John 3.35, the Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Okay. All things have been committed to me by my Father, Matthew 11.27. Or the church, Ephesians 1.22 and 23, and God placed all things under His, Jesus' feet, and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His fullness or his body, sorry, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. I mean, there are actually a lot of verses like this, aren't there? The father giving things and trusting things, placing the son in a certain position, etc. So there's where you get the idea of subordination. OK, the father is the head of Christ. First Corinthians 11 3. Now, I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is man and the head of Christ is God. I mean, what do you do with that verse? Basically, I think the only way you can come up with an understanding is that there's a subordinate role, that Jesus is in some way subordinate to the Father. Not inferior to Him, not at all, but in some way functionally subordinate. Christ does only the will of the Father. I already quoted that. I've come down from heaven to do not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. Now, what about eschatological subordination? What do I mean by that? I mean like when we're all done. New heaven and new earth. Is there any subordination there? Any subordination in the future? Ephesians 1, 9 and 10. And He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. Now, remember I told you a few moments ago that sin has a fragmentation kind of effect, like a fragmentation grenade. Sin blew everything apart. The Father is putting everything back together under one head. And who is that one head? Christ. But who's doing the putting everything together? The Father. And so the Father puts everything together under one head, even Christ. But Ephesians 1, 9 and 10 doesn't tell the full story. 1 Corinthians 15 tells more of the story. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his turn, Christ the firstfruits, and then when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for He has put everything under His feet. Now, when it says that everything has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all. Friends, that's subordination. It's not subordinationism, but it is subordination. The Son subject to the Father. The Son is subject to the Father. That's in the future. That's in the new heaven and the new earth, okay? So that God may be all in all. So that's unity in everything. Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am, that they may be brought, He says, to complete unity. As the Father and the Son are one, so we are going to be one. There's going to be a unity that's going to be pervasive in the new heaven and the new earth. We're not all going to be God like within the Trinity, but the unity is going to be patterned after the Trinity. You see what I'm saying? As the Father and the Son are one. So therefore, I believe in the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son in that way. The Father has always been Father, the Son has always been Son, and always will be. And so the Father is always the Father of the Son. But there's no division, there's no jealousy, ever, in the Trinity. There's no wishing. The Son isn't wishing he could be the Father for a while. And the Father would be the Son never. But there's always that role. Any questions about that? Thoughts? Yeah. I guess when you began that section, it just reminded me of the struggle in our culture about the marriage relationship, the roles of the husband and wife being different from each other and less valued. Yeah, I mean clearly there's no sense of essentially what we call ontological or being inferiority. There's just different roles. We just play different roles. And I think that's really what we're looking at. The Father plays the role of the Father, and the Son plays the role of the Son. It is a heresy to say that the Father possesses more power than the Son. He doesn't. Jesus possesses equal power. He's equally omnipotent. Omni means all power, so He has all power. So, yeah, I mean, there's no division between them. I think meditation on the relationship between the Father and the Son is helpful for those marital roles as well. There's no inferiority at all. Maybe, Flynn, you should just keep going with this next week. It's up to you. Because I think these things are worthwhile. I think there's just a lot of benefits in studying this. For example, for me, just consideration of the possibility that we can have a relationship with each of the members of the Trinity. You should pursue that. Think about what it's like to have a relationship with the Father and with the Son and with the Holy Spirit. What does fellowship with the Father look like? What does fellowship with the Son look like? What does fellowship with the Holy Spirit look like? And the only way you can do that is in the scriptures. Study how they have different roles and how you can have a relationship with each of them. Anyway, we've gone as far as we can. We're out of time. We have certainly not exhausted the topic. So, Flynn was actually going to go on to Creation next week, but let's just keep going with Trinity and he'll teach. I'm going to be together for the Gospel next week with Andy and Eric, but Flynn will teach in my place. Flynn, would you close us in prayer, please? Thanks.