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Tonight I want to talk about an important foundational doctrine that we believe in which is the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and the fact that these three are one. Now in Matthew 28, the scripture that we just looked at, you'll see this laid out very clearly in verse 19 when the Bible reads, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. So this great commission involves first going and teaching all nations what's being taught. Well earlier he had sent them out soul winning and preaching just in Israel, but here he's saying go teach that to all nations now. And then he says baptize them, this is the second element of the great commission, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And then thirdly, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. So teaching any part of scripture is part of the great commission. It's the third part. So when he says here the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, flip over to 1 John chapter 5 toward the very end of the New Testament. It's very similar to what we read there. First John chapter 5, this is the strongest verse in the Bible that really lays down the Trinity. First John chapter 5 verse 13 says this, these things, I'm sorry verse 7 says, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now some people criticize the doctrine of the Trinity by saying, well the word Trinity is never found in the Bible. But what is found in the Bible is the phrase these three are one, and that's all Trinity means. The Y prefix there means three, and then unity would be one, so Trinity just is a more convenient way of saying three in one. So we could just say the three in one, but it just makes more sense to say the Trinity. This is a biblical doctrine. But it's a doctrine that's under attack today, and one of the reasons why this doctrine is under attack is because it's a doctrine that is distinctive to Christianity. You see, other religions today will try to be ecumenical in nature and say, hey we all worship the same God. They'll say the Muslims and the Jews and the Christians, all of the Abrahamic religions, we all are worshiping the same God. But the thing that separates Christianity from Islam is that we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and we believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one. This is something that Islam denies. Also this separates us from Judaism, who denies the Son, and the Bible says, whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son has the Father also. And so this thing of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and those three being one, is distinctive or unique to Christianity. So it separates us from these false religions. Why are the Muslims going to hell today? Because they do not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Why is it that the Jews are going to hell today? Whether they think they're chosen or elect or not, it's a lie, because they do not believe on Jesus Christ. They don't believe on the Son of God. And other eastern religions, like we talked about last week, Sikhism. They always like to emphasize the oneness of God, and Muslims will hammer on the oneness of God. Yes we believe that God is one Lord, but the Bible says these three are one. Now this doctrine is under attack also through modern Bible versions. Modern Bible versions make a lot of changes to weaken this doctrine of the Trinity. First of all, they remove this verse, 1 John 5-7. It's completely gone in the NIV. It's completely gone in the New Living Translation, the ESV, the New American Standard. And what they'll do in order to correct the numbering, what they'll do is they'll split verse 8 in half, and stick part of it in verse 7. So if you open up an NIV, it'll just say, for there are three that testify. That's the whole verse. Because they've basically chopped up verse 8 and just stick part of it in verse 7. So it's not even a complete thought in these modern Bibles. Just for there are three that testify, end of story. And people will say, oh that verse is a fraud. That verse was added in there. That's not really part of the Bible. Well then why is it that there are so many other verses in the Bible that talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? See if that were just the only place that it's mentioned, then they could say, oh that's a fraud. That's just one isolated verse. That was added in there. But what about in 2 Corinthians chapter 13? Flip over there. 2 Corinthians 13. I already showed you Matthew 28 where it talked about baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse number 14, the Bible reads, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, amen. So we see there the Trinity once again. We've got the Lord Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit mentioned. We also have the baptism of Christ where the Bible says, and Jesus when he was baptized came up straightway out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So we have the voice from heaven saying this is my beloved Son. We have Jesus himself, the Son, and then we have the Holy Ghost descending in bodily form like a dove and lighting upon him. So we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, all three present at that incident. The modern versions will attack this by removing 1 John 5.7. But not only that, go back to Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3 is an Old Testament mention of Jesus being the Son of God and this is something that they take out in the new versions and change to something completely different. And the reason that this is significant in Daniel 3.25 is because the Old Testament doesn't really explicitly mention the Son of God that many times. So every time it's mentioned it's precious to us as Christians and this would be something that we would show unto Jews to say look, you know, here in the Old Testament the Son of God, because there are certain mentions like that that are good to show that this doctrine of the Son of God is not a new doctrine in the New Testament, but that God has always been the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, even in the Old Testament. So we would point to something like this, but in the new versions it's gone. Look what it says in your King James Bible in Daniel 3.25, he answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. So this is when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the fiery furnace. They're bound up and when they get to the fire, the fire burns the ropes right off their hands and they are in the fire, loose and walking around, and the fire is not harming them at all. The men who threw them in died because it was such a hot furnace, but they are in there and they're walking around and they have no hurt and Nebuchadnezzar is startled by the fact that when he looks in there's a fourth man in the fire, not just Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but also a fourth man, and he says the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. And then he pulls them out of the fiery furnace, the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they don't even smell like smoke. They haven't even been singed the least bit, which is symbolic of the fact that Jesus Christ saves us completely from hell. Great salvation, not a partial salvation or a salvation where we have to spend a little time in purgatory and smell like smoke a little bit, no, I mean we're just completely spared that fiery punishment, it does not harm us whatsoever, and that salvation comes through the Son of God, and the Son of God was right there, their savior in the fiery furnace. He saved them right there from that physical fire, which is a picture of our salvation from the fires of hell through Jesus Christ. But in the modern versions, in the NIV for example, you look this up, it'll say the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods, a son of the gods. So now it's just a pagan man talking about his religion, or you know, oh yeah, it's a son of the gods. No, this one it's the Son of God, and that's a real big difference, wouldn't you say? But you say, oh well these new versions are easier to understand, but if they're making dramatic changes to the word, it doesn't matter how easy they are. Look if you want a book that's easy to understand, buy a book by Dr. Seuss, it's real easy to understand. But does that mean it's the word of God? This is hop on pop, it's easier to understand. Yeah but it's not the word of God. The word of God is found in the King James Bible. And so you say, whoa, it's hard to understand, then do something hard and read it. Quit being lazy. I mean look, if it's hard, then get smarter. And it's not even that hard anyway. Even a child can learn this book. And many children have learned it, and continue to learn it every single day. Go back to Genesis chapter 1, we're talking about the Trinity tonight, which the doctrine of the Trinity is the fact that God consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. So when we talk about God, we are talking about one single God that is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now some people will accuse us of worshipping three gods, but it isn't true. There's only one God who consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one. Now this plurality of the nature of God is found all the way in the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. You see, most Bible doctrines originate in the book of Genesis, because so much foundation is laid here, and then it's carried all the way throughout the Bible. But in Genesis 1-1, the Bible reads, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now is that God singular or plural? It's singular. There's only one God. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. That's singular. But when we look down at verse number 26, it says, and God said, that's singular, and God said, let us, is us singular or plural, plural, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, singular. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Go to chapter 3 of Genesis, chapter 3. It says in verse 22, this is after Adam and Eve have sinned and eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the Bible reads, and the Lord God said, behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. There's only one God, but yet he says, let us make man in our image. And when he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he says, the man has become like unto us. Genesis chapter 6, Genesis chapter 6, just a few pages to the right in your Bible. I'm sorry, not Genesis 6, go all the way to Genesis 11. Genesis chapter number 11. This is with the story of the Tower of Babel where they're building this tower that it might reach into heaven, trying to work their way to heaven symbolically there. But look what it says in verse number 5. It says, and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men build it. And the Lord said, behold, the people is one and they have all one language and this they begin to do. And now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. So this isn't just an isolated scripture, is it? I mean, it's laid out right away in chapter 1, the us aspect. Then we have it again in chapter 3. Then we have it again in chapter 11. Then we have scriptures throughout the Old Testament that mention the Son of God. Daniel 3.25, the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Psalm chapter 2, a prophecy about Jesus and it calls him the Son of God in chapter 2. Proverbs chapter 30 talks about God and says, what is his name and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell. So this is not a doctrine that's unique to the New Testament. It's also found in the Old Testament, if you're reading a King James Bible, it's found a whole bunch of places. Okay, now here's an objection that people will often bring up to this doctrine of the Trinity. They'll tell, okay, Jesus is the Son of God, but they say Jesus is not God. So they don't believe in the deity of Christ. We say the deity of Christ, deity means that he's God. If someone talks about a deity, they're talking about a God, okay? When we talk about the deity of Jesus Christ, we're talking about the fact that Jesus Christ is God. Now that means that he's God as opposed to just being man, as opposed to just being a good teacher or a created being. We actually believe that he is one and the same with God because of the fact that the three are one and that he is a part of that because he is the Son of God. But what a lot of people will say when you're talking about this subject of the deity of Christ or the Trinity, they'll say this, well, Jesus is the Son of God, but he's not God. Have you heard that objection? Or they'll say this, well, how could he be God if he's also the Son of God? They'll say, how can he be his own son? That doesn't make any sense. Have you heard them say that? Let me show you how this works in the Bible. We're going to look at two scriptures, Luke chapter 1 and John chapter 1, and these are going to show us how Jesus can be both God and the Son of God. First of all, in John chapter 1, the Bible reads, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now if somebody's going to say, well, how could he be both God and the Son of God? Well then I would just point to this verse and say, well, how could the Word be with God and be God? I mean it says in the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I mean that right there boggles our mind a little bit, just as much as saying he's God and he's the Son of God. It says in verse 2, the same was in the beginning with God, meaning the Word. All things were made by him, the Word, and without him was not anything made that was made. Verse number 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now look at Luke chapter 1, because the Bible tells us why Jesus is called the Son of God. Why is he called the Son of God? Because the Bible tells us that he is God, the Bible tells us he's God in the flesh, so why is he called the Son of God? Well the Bible tells us right here in Luke chapter 1 verse 35. Let's start in verse 34 when Mary says unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? So the angel's telling her, you're going to give birth to the Son, and she's saying, I'm a virgin. I've not known man by lying with him. How am I going to have this son? And the answer's given in verse 35, the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now this is a verse in the Bible that gives us the answer to the question, why is he called the Son of God? Because it says, therefore shall that holy thing which is born of thee be called the Son of God. So if you ask yourself the question, why is he called the Son of God, here's the answer in this verse. And the answer is that he had no earthly father, but that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. That's why he's called the Son of God. So it's not that he's not God. The reason that he's called the Son of God is because when he lived on this earth, he was born of a virgin woman. So because there was no earthly father, you know, who's the father? Well the Holy Ghost overshadowed her and therefore that child was called the Son of God. So the fact that he's called the Son of God, by virtue of the fact that he has no human father, does not take away from the fact that he was God himself, okay? If you look at those two scriptures together like that. Now a lot of people become confused by this doctrine and say, you know, I just don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to me. But let me just try to explain it to you in the best way that I know how. I think the best way to liken the Trinity is to liken it unto our human selves. Because we are three part beings in a sense. Because we are body, soul, and spirit. But yet we make up one person. You know we wouldn't say that I am three separate people. I am three separate individuals because I am a body, a soul, and a spirit. We know that there's only one Steven Anderson here. But there's Steven Anderson the body, Steven Anderson the soul, and Steven Anderson the spirit. Now when I die, the Bible says the body without the spirit is dead. So when the body dies, the spirit leaves the body. Which is why over and over again the Bible calls dying, giving up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. That's when the spirit leaves the body. So if I were to fall over dead right now, my spirit would depart my body and would be with the Lord in heaven. Because the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We are confident and willing, the Bible says, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. He's saying, you know, I want to stick around on this earth for your benefit, but I'd rather depart and be with Christ. See the spirit leaves the body and departs to be with Christ. The body remains on this earth. It's not like when a Christian dies, there's just a pile of clothes there. And you know the whole body, the spirit, the soul, everything went to heaven. It's still there. We look at it, it's there. I mean, when an unsaved person dies, they don't go to hell right then and there with their body, soul and spirit, do they? No, the body is still there. The spirit goes down into hell, but the body is left behind there. Okay. So if I were to die, my dead body would be laying here and if you walked up to that dead body and identified it to the police and they said, hey, you know, we need to identify this body, is this Steven Anderson? And you said, yes. Would that be accurate? Yeah, that, that's Steven Anderson, right? But what about if I walked up to someone in heaven in the spirit, in the soul, and someone walked up to me and said, you're Steven Anderson. Wouldn't that be accurate? Now are they two different people? No, it's the same person. But the body and the spirit, there's been a separation that has taken place geographically because one of them is in heaven and one of them is on this earth. That is the same way it is with God in the sense that God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and that there was a separation that took place in the sense that Jesus Christ was in bodily form on this earth, hanging on the cross, and said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me, right? So there's a separation there, okay, that took place between the Father and the Son. But that doesn't mean that Jesus is not divine. That doesn't mean that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not all equally God. It's just that they're separated at that time. So when we think about this doctrine, that's one way that could help you put this together and say, okay, I can kind of understand that. You could think of Jesus as the body and you could think of the Holy Spirit as the spirit and God the Father as the soul, as it were. That would be a way to liken it in our minds. But even lots of other things in nature, I've heard other illustrations. I think that's the best illustration. But other illustrations that people have given are, for example, with water, H2O. It can be in different forms. You can have it in a solid, a liquid, or a gas. Just coincidentally, three forms, just like what we're talking about with God. Water, ice, or steam, liquid, solid, or gas. But it's all the same thing, just in a different form. But it's all the same substance. Well, it's the same thing with God. So that's why he's called the Son of God. Now let me just go through some scriptures with you, just proving the fact that Jesus Christ is God and that he's not a created being. He's not somebody who came along later, and he's not just a human being who became the Son of God in the sense that he started out being an ordinary person. No. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is eternally God. Now first of all, go to Hebrews chapter number three. Hebrews chapter number three. And while you're turning there, I'll remind you, of course, of the famous verse in Micah chapter five, verse two. And this is another verse that is corrupted in the modern versions. And I'm telling you, there are a lot of attacks on the deity of Christ in these modern versions. A lot. And a lot of attacks on the Trinity itself. They take out the Son of God in Daniel 3.25, they take out 1 John 5.7, and then this verse in Micah 5.2 I'm going to read for you where it says, But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of these shall come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel, whose going forth have been from of old, from everlasting. So Jesus Christ's going forth have been from everlasting, meaning from the eternal past. But in the NIV it says that his origins, which an origin is a beginning, come from ancient times. So according to the NIV, he just come from a long time ago and had a beginning. But in the King James he's from everlasting, and he has no origin. Jesus said, I am the beginning and the end. In the beginning, God. And he was already there. The Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. So when it says in the beginning, God, Jesus is included in that. And it says here in Hebrews chapter 3, I think this is one of the most powerful scriptures on Jesus being God. You don't hear it as often, but it's very powerful proof right here in Hebrews 3. It says in verse 1, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Which man? Christ Jesus was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. That right there is just clearly telling us that Jesus is God. Because it flat out says, look, Jesus has more glory than Moses, as much as somebody who builds a house has more glory than the house. Because every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. And that's in the context of Jesus being the creator of Moses. He's saying this is how much better Jesus is than Moses. Jesus created Moses. Jesus created all things. While you're there, you can just glance right across the page to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8, where the Bible reads, But unto the Son he saith. Of course this is only going to read this way in a King James Bible, the modern versions have changed this. But it says, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Go to Colossians chapter number 1. So I think that Hebrews chapter 3 is one of the clearest scriptures that just flat out tells us, look, the creator of all things is God. And Jesus is the creator. Therefore Jesus is God. That's what's spelled out in that scripture. Now in Colossians chapter 1, it talks about Jesus and it goes through some of these same things. It says in verse 12 of Colossians 1, Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. So now we're talking about the Son. It says, In whom, meaning in the Son, we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. So there is an aspect of God that is invisible in the sense that no man hath seen the face of the Father, because God the Father in the Old Testament said, No man shall see my face and live. So Jesus Christ is that bodily manifestation of God that people could look upon and see. Like the Bible says, No man hath seen God at any time, referring to the Father, but the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So here it says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created. By who were all things created? Jesus. It says, For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. I mean, this is very clear here when it says, Look, he created everything. Everything was created for him. And then we go to Genesis 1, and what does it say in the beginning? God created the heaven and the earth. And then here it says, Look, all things were made by Jesus, and without him was not anything made that was made. So if it sits there and says, Well, God created the heaven and the earth. And then it says, Well, Jesus created everything. I mean, there you go. Case closed. Jesus Christ is God. He's not a man. He's not a created being. He's from everlasting. He was in the beginning with God. He was God. It's that simple, and there's scripture after scripture after scripture to teach that. Go to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter number 1. I mean, there's a lot of scripture about this. Of course, there's also the famous passage where a guy walks up to Jesus and says, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And what does Jesus say to him? Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. Now, he's either saying one of two things there. He's either saying, I'm not good. I'm not good. Or he's saying, I'm God. Because the guy says to him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And he says, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, and that's God. So either Jesus is good, and he's God, or else if he's not God, then he's not good. That's what he was telling that guy. And is there any question whether Jesus is good? Even when you talk to these cults like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses that deny that Jesus is God, they'll say, well, of course Jesus is good. Of course Jesus was good. And many times they'll even confess that he was sinless. Many times they'll even confess, yeah, he was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin. But then you show him that verse where he says there's none good but one, and that's God. And then they'll, well, no, he's not God, though, he's the son of God, you know. And then they'll believe in multiple gods is what it comes down to. You know, they'll try to separate this out and say, well, these three are not one. And you know, I was out soul winning yesterday, and this guy got real upset when I said that the Jehovah's Witnesses were a cult, but listen, the Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult, and the Mormons are a cult. You say, well, I don't know if you should say that because that offends people. But you know what, though? We need to attack false religion. I'm sick of this thing of just, hey, don't criticize anybody's religion. You know what, that's not biblical, and I'm sick of it. People get mad at you for criticizing the Buddhists or criticizing the Catholics or criticizing the Hindus or criticizing the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses because today we have this thing where Christianity just says this, hey, just teach the truth, but don't rebuke that which is false. But you know what, they didn't get that from the Bible because the Bible is filled with culture rebuking false religion. I mean, have you ever read the Old Testament? Because God goes on and on about how bad Baal is, and they're worshiping Baal, and they're offering, and he goes through all their religious practices and says, look, they're going in the groves, they're building idols, they're carving them out of wood, they're carving them out of stone, they're carving them out of precious metals, and they're using molten images and graven images, and they're sacrificing human beings to these false gods, and they're worshiping them, and they're doing this and that, and he goes on and on, and he lists off all these gods and all these false religions and all the nations that are worshiping them, and he calls them to repentance and says, hey, you need to turn from idols unto the true and living God. But now we've got this culture now amongst Christians in America where we don't want to criticize anybody's religion. No, somebody needs to get up and expose the Catholic Church for the fraud that it is. Somebody needs to get up and say, hey, look, these Hindus are worshiping the devil. We don't hate the people, we're not racist, we love the people of India, but somebody needs to tell them that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and somebody needs to tell the Buddhists you're worshiping a death cult, and somebody needs to tell the Mormons, look, you believe that there are other gods on other planets. That's not Christianity. You've been duped by this false prophet, Joseph Smith, and look, I'm all for being nice to people and speaking the truth in love, and I think we should be gentle and try to talk to people, and we want to talk to them in a way that's going to cause them to be receptive to the gospel. I want to go out and be nice to people and friendly to people, but you know what? When I get behind the pulpit of church and the house of God, hey, I'm going to condemn false religion, because that's what the prophets have always done in the Old Testament. I'm going to keep doing it, and if it's not cool, and if it's this, hear no evil, see no evil, don't tell me anything negative, you know, I'm not going down that road. I will continue to preach negative against false religion. Needs to be called out. And you guys say, well, that hurts their feelings if you tell them they're in a cult, but you know what? It's going to hurt more when they go to hell for falling in that cult, because nobody told them the difference, and if we coddle these people and tell them, hey, it's okay, we both love Jesus, you know what, how's that going to get them saved? You say, well, you're going to offend people, they're not going to get saved. Yeah, but they're not going to get saved if we act like they're already saved. We got to warn them and tell them, look, you're not saved. You know, your religion's false. And we want to do that as gently and nicely as possible, but you know what? If you don't tell them that, you're not doing them any favors by giving them a false sense of security like you think that they're saved. We got to warn people, and we need to expose false religion. You know what? I don't want any child in this service. I don't want any adult in this service to one day get sucked into a false religion, somebody who's not saved amongst us. You know, I want them to know the truth. First of all, I want everyone to be saved, okay? And I know that the vast majority of the people in our church are already saved. But you know what? I want to make sure that somebody doesn't just come to our church for weeks and months and not learn these doctrines and not get saved, and then go out and get sucked into one of these false religions. So I want to point out, hey, look, these religions are false. And here's what we believe. Here's the Bible teaching on the Trinity, the deity of Christ. Here's what these other people believe. Stay away from them. Don't listen to them. Don't follow them. They're lying to you, okay? And listen, by any definition, the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are cults. Now what is the definition of a cult? You know, cult's not really a Bible word. So it's kind of open to interpretation. But my definition of a cult would be when a man comes along with a very magnetic personality and people just follow that man and basically whatever he says, that's what they believe. And it doesn't matter what the scripture says, they're going to follow that guy. And he will teach strange doctrines that are new doctrines that have never been taught. He comes along and teaches new strange doctrine and people follow it. Everybody in the world before me has always been wrong. This is what cult leaders say. Everybody's wrong. Everybody's corrupt. And you know what? I've got the real doctrine right here. And people will listen to that man instead of listening to what the revealed Word of God says. So if you use that definition and think about it, well what did Joseph Smith do? Joseph Smith came along and said, every denomination of Christianity is corrupt, he said. Every branch of Christianity is false. Therefore he refused to be baptized by any of them. He would not be baptized in a Baptist church. He would not be baptized by the Methodists. Not that they baptized anybody, they just sprinkled people. But you know, he wouldn't be baptized by the Presbyterians, he wouldn't be baptized by the congregations. He said, everybody's wrong. And so he baptized himself. He literally baptized himself. Then later he lied about it and changed his story because the story keeps changing with them. Then he changed it to him and his buddy baptized each other. You know, I'll baptize you, you baptize me. But here's the thing, that's not real because the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ said unto Peter, you know, upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know, and the Bible teaches that there are always going to be that remnant of believers. Always. There's never been a time where there wasn't a remnant of people who believed the Bible and had sound doctrine and did soul winning and preached the Gospel and believed right. It's always been out there, period. It's always been there. There's always been 7,000 men who haven't bowed the knee to Baal. But the cult leader comes along and denies everybody. I mean Mohammed. Mohammed was a cult leader. He comes along and says, the Jews are wrong, the Christians are wrong, everybody's wrong. I'm bringing brand new teaching. Now look, is that what Jesus did? No. Jesus said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law of the prophets. I came not to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. So did Jesus come along and say, oh, Old Testament's corrupt, junk the Old Testament, here's the new revelation. Is that what Jesus did? No way. Jesus came building on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. That's what the Bible says. He built on that foundation and Jesus Christ came to confirm the words of the Old Testament, to confirm Genesis, Exodus, to fulfill Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He didn't come to destroy. He came to fulfill. And any right preacher today is going to be preaching the same doctrines that have always been preached on this planet since Abel was on this planet. Since Abel. I mean the Bible talks about all the prophets in the Old Testament from Abel to Zacharias, okay? The things that we believe and preach have always been believed and preached in this world all the way back to Adam and Eve, all the way back to Abel, okay? Now more and more has been revealed over time, but it's been the same Spirit of God that's been teaching through the prophets all the way back. And so here's the thing. People have often accused me of being a cult leader because this is something that gets thrown around, oh, I don't like your preaching, you're a cult leader or whatever. Or just anybody who tries to be a strong leader is a cult leader, okay? That's just an accusation that gets thrown around. But here's my response to that. What strange doctrine do I teach? Because every single doctrine that I teach, anything I teach, is believed by millions of other people in this world, millions. See I've never come along and said, you know what, everybody's wrong. Everybody's wrong on the nature of God. Here let me teach you about the Trinity. Although the Trinity's been believed by lots of people before I came along, right? I mean am I teaching some new strange doctrine tonight when I talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost being one? The Trinity, the three and one? No, this is the Christianity that the Bible has always taught in the New Testament and it's even found foreshadowed in the Old Testament. So I'm not teaching divers and strange doctrines tonight. And you could even point to the most radical quote unquote stuff that I preach and it's believed by millions of other people. Even if you picked just the most controversial, radical thing. I mean do you really think I'm the only person that thinks Bruce Jenner is sick and filthy? I mean do you really think I'm the only, oh it's like, doo doo doo doo, this just in, you know, Pastor Steven Andrews, you know, breaking news, a Baptist pastor hates Bruce Jenner. I mean look, is there any Baptist pastor in the world that has hair on his legs that doesn't hate Bruce Jenner and wish he would die? You know, I question, I either question the sanity, you know, or just, I don't know. I question the sanity of any Baptist pastor that doesn't want that idiot to die. Who doesn't look at it and just think it's filthy and sick. You know, and you say, oh, well, you know, you're, you, you know, you're, you're going against everybody by not being pre-trib. The majority of Christians are not pre-trib. Hello. Pre-trib is the minority. Now they're the loudest ones and they have Hollywood and Nicholas Cage, but you know, the majority of Christians have always rejected the pre-trib rapture, always. Just look at the numbers, friend. The pre-trib rapture didn't even exist until the late 1800s. Okay. Well, what we're talking about here with cults and cult leaders are people who bring in new, strange, crazy doctrines, talking about, hey, there are all these people living on other planets and hey, I've got this new book, the Book of Mormon, where Jesus is preaching to the Indians and hey, I'm going to marry a bunch of underage girls and stuff. That's a cult. And you know, the Jehovah's Witnesses come along and say, hey, hell isn't real. Hey, Jesus is Michael the Archangel. Jesus is a created being. Hey, every Bible's corrupt. Isn't that what the Jehovah's Witnesses said? Every Bible's corrupt. We need to make our own Bible the new world translation. See we don't believe every Bible's corrupt because we believe the King James is not corrupt and the King James is the most popular Bible that's ever existed on the planet. And not only that, but we believe that the Bibles that came before the King James were good Bibles. The Geneva Bible, the Bishop's Bible, we don't believe, oh, those are horrible corruptions. No, the Bishop's Bible is a good Bible. The Geneva Bible is a good Bible. The King James Bible is the Bible that was the culmination of all those rough drafts in the English language and this is the pure Word of God for us in the English language. Look it's an unbroken chain, my friend, from Jesus until now of people preaching salvation by faith. Is that a new teaching? Salvation by faith, yup. Pastor Anderson came up with this crazy idea that people are saved by faith. Good night. It's believed by millions of people all over the world. The Trinity, the deity of Christ, the Word of God, the King James Version, I mean these are things that people all over the world believe in because there's one God and one Holy Spirit and if we are all saved and have the same Holy Spirit and read the same Bible we're going to believe the same stuff. Eventually we're going to come to the same conclusion, so eventually we're all going to come in that unity, okay? So the Trinity is a traditional historic doctrine because of the fact that it is clearly taught in the Bible over and over again as we've seen. Now here are some components to this doctrine of the Trinity, okay? First of all we talked about the fact that God is a three-in-one God. There's only one God but he is a three-in-one, okay? He consists of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now go to 1 Corinthians 15, I'm going to show you another important aspect of this doctrine of the Trinity. So first of all I want to lay down that number one, the Trinity teaches that God consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. Number two is that the Trinity affirms the deity of Christ, the Trinity doctrine. If we say, hey I believe in the Trinity, we are affirming the fact that Jesus is God. We make him out to be God, divine. We're not saying that he is not God, we're saying that he is God. That's what the Trinity would affirm. So number one, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. Number two, God is, he's a three in one. Number two, we affirm the deity of Christ. And number three, we affirm that there is a distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, meaning that they are not identical to one another, there is a difference between them, okay? Because some people will say, well Jesus is God, they'll say I believe in the divinity of Christ, the deity of Christ, but they'll deny the Trinity. When this doctrine is getting really popular right now, it's called the oneness doctrine, okay? And a lot of times it would be oneness Pentecostalism, you'll hear it called. And they'll teach that the Trinity is a lie. And you know, on the internet there will be all kinds of people making videos and posting articles about, hey the Trinity is an evil doctrine and everything like that. They will basically try to say that there is no distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now when I first heard of this doctrine, I, you know, I was kind of fooled by it in a sense because I didn't think that they were denying the Trinity at first. Because I heard people that would talk about this oneness doctrine and say, you know, Jesus Christ, they'd say Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and I'd say amen, because the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3, 16, without controversy, great is the mystery of God is, God was manifest in the flesh, amen. And when I heard that part of it, I said yeah, that sounds great. And then they'd say, you know, Jesus, but then they'd say Jesus is the Father. And when you hear that, at first you're thinking like, well, yeah, I mean, you know, he's God, you know, Jesus said I and my Father are one. And he said if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And I'm thinking about, you know, verses that talk about the fact that Jesus shall be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father, in Isaiah 9, 6. But then I started realizing that these people are actually teaching that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son. And what they're basically teaching is what they call the oneness doctrine. And at first it sounds okay, like, oh, yeah, deity of Christ. But what you'll find out is that they're teaching this doctrine that there's no distinction and that the Father basically became the Son. Or it's some crazy thing, but whatever it is, it's not biblical. And let me show you why it's not biblical. Just look at 1 Corinthians 15. And maybe I'm not good at explaining the Pentecostal oneness doctrine, but that's okay because it's false anyway. I'd rather just be good at explaining, you know, the real stuff. But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and tell me, tell me how you can read this scripture and tell me that there's no distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming, then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. So it says that Jesus in the end is going to deliver up the kingdom to the Father. Let's keep reading. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Verse 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he has accepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Okay? Hopefully you can follow that teaching there as we read that, that it says that after Jesus Christ has reigned, and it's talking about his 1,000 year reign where Jesus reigns on this earth for 1,000 years, it says after that he's going to deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and it says that even at that point, even the Son himself will be subject unto the Father, meaning that the Father will be in authority and that Jesus will be subject unto the Father. So how could you say, hey, it's oneness in the sense that there's no distinction? It doesn't make any sense, does it? Because can you see here that there is a difference between the Father and the Son? Otherwise this verse would be crazy if there's no difference between the Father and the Son. Here we clearly see a difference because we see that there's a difference between the 1,000 year reign of Jesus and then after the 1,000 year reign of Jesus where the Father is ruling and reigning and the Son is subject unto him. See, that's when we'll see God's face. You know how he said, no man will see my face and live? But after the millennium, the Bible says that we shall see his face at that point, okay, in the very end, in the eternal state. So what we see in this scripture, and there's other places that we could go to make this same point, to show the distinction, but I think this is the clearest one that shows a real strong distinction between the Father and the Son. So what are we saying? We're saying that number one, God is the three in one. Number two, Jesus is God. Jesus is divine. And number three, we're saying that there is a distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They are not identical to one another. It'd be like saying this, my body is not identical to my soul. My soul is not identical to my spirit, right? Isn't there a difference between the body and the soul? Isn't there a difference between the soul and the spirit? The Bible says God's word will divide the soul and the spirit. So therefore, there's a distinction there. There's a difference. So what this Pentecostal oneness doctrine will teach, I think it's called modalism. Is that what it's called? Is there any theological geek out there that can tell me? Is that what it's called? All right. Thank you, geek. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, but anyway, you know, you know, modalism, this thing of the oneness. But here's the thing about that. They're basically saying, hey, the Father is the Holy Ghost, is the Son, and they're all the same, and there's no difference, no distinction. And the telltale sign of this doctrine is when they'll say you must be baptized in Jesus' name, which, what does the Bible say we should be baptized? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, right? And the Bible says baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And here's what these people will say, these oneness Pentecostals. They'll say if you have not been baptized in Jesus' name, you must get re-baptized. Because they say if you've been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that's not legitimate. That's what he said to do, baptize in the name of the Father. So then you, you obey that and say, okay, you know, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And they say, ah, not legitimate, because you must be baptized in the name of Jesus only. It's also known as the Jesus only movement. Have you heard that term before? Jesus only movement. Now this is false, because what they'll do is they'll go to the book of Acts, where it says, hey, he was baptized in the name of Jesus. And they'll say, hey, see right there, baptized in the name of Jesus. But here's the thing about that. Whenever we have a clear statement or command, and then when we have a story, which one do we trust? You know, you start with the statement and the command, and you use it to interpret the story. So if Jesus tells me, go baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and I say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, then I'm obeying a command. That's better than looking at a story and saying, OK, here's a story where they baptized the guy in the name of Jesus. Well, I'd rather follow the command than a story, because stories in the Bible are about imperfect people who are not always doing things exactly the way that they were told. Now is there anything wrong with being baptized in the name of Jesus? Of course not, OK? But God specifically said, baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Now why would God say that? Why would God say, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? Now isn't baptism something that every Christian should do? Every Christian is commanded to be baptized, aren't they? So isn't this a way for God to just guarantee that this doctrine would never get forgotten? I mean this must be an important doctrine, right? If God says, hey, every time you baptize somebody, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you know what you're not going to forget? The doctrine of the Trinity. Because every day or every week you're baptizing someone who's been saved in the church. You know, the Book of Acts, they were adding to the church daily such as should be saved. And you know, hopefully we baptize people every week, every month, as often as possible. Hopefully we're reaching people and people are getting saved and people are getting baptized. So how many hundreds and hundreds of times do we hear, if we grow up in church, right? If we grow up in church, what do we hear over and over again? I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Hundreds of times. And you know what we walk away knowing? The doctrine of the Trinity. It becomes ingrained in us. And God did that on purpose. He wanted this doctrine to be ingrained and it to be a key doctrine because once you associate it with baptism, now it becomes a doctrine that's going to be repeated millions of times. Millions and millions and millions of times people have uttered these words, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen. Millions and millions and millions of times on this planet. And so everybody knows about the doctrine of the Trinity because it's put in that formula right there. Now here's what they'll say. Well, name is singular. The name of the Father, and they'll say the name of the Father is Jesus. The name of the Son is Jesus. The name of the Holy Spirit is Jesus. But here's the thing. This is just a grammatical fail where they say, oh, name is singular. And when it says in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, that'd be like if I said, you know, I want you to give me the name of the pastor, the song leader, and the piano player of your church. Am I looking for one name or three names? Everybody would be able to understand that grammar if I said, hey, I need the name of your eldest son, and I need the name of your eldest daughter, right? I need the name of both of your children on this form. You know, we know we're looking for two names. Hey, the name of your pastor, your piano player, and your song leader needs to be filled in these three spaces. Okay, so that's just a grammatical fail to sit there and say, well, name is singular. Therefore, it's one name. No, because there's the Father, there's the Son, there's the Holy Ghost. These three are one, but listen to me. These three are one. So here's where you're into false doctrine. If you say that they're not three, that's a false doctrine because they are three. And if you say that they're not one, that's a false doctrine. The true doctrine says these three are one. And listen, when somebody is attacking the Trinity, we need to run screaming in the other direction. When somebody starts telling you that the Trinity is a lie, that is one of the biggest signs that they are a false prophet. Because look at all the cult leaders that I mentioned earlier. The Watchtower Society, we talked about the Mormons, these different cults that follow men like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and what, Charles Taze Russell or whatever that guy's name was with the Joe's Witnesses. People who follow these types of groups, Mohammed, for example, with Islam, what's the doctrine that they attack right away? The Trinity. They strike at this doctrine of the deity of Christ and the Trinity. So this modalism or oneness Pentecostalism or Jesus only is false, just as people who deny the deity of Christ are false. When we study scripture, we see very clearly that yes, there is a distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but they are all part of what the Bible calls the Godhead. And that term is used in the Bible for a reason, the Godhead. The Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, I just pray that you would help these doctrines to be clearly laid down in people's minds so that they will not be led astray, Lord, and that they will not be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, especially I know that Baptists could be susceptible to the errors of the Jesus only movement or the oneness Pentecostalism because it seems to affirm the deity of Christ, which sounds good on the surface, but Lord, help us to realize that we need to stick with the Trinity, stick with 1 John 5.7, stick with a King James Bible, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.