His Uniqueness, Part 2

The Bible is very clear that God is one and God is the only God. Turn with me in your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy chapter 6. If you weren't here last week, I'd encourage you to get the tapes so that you'll understand more of the uniqueness of God. And as you talk about these theological implications, we come to understand the personality of God and who He is. It helps us understand how we need to worship Him. As his children. But Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, it's quoted every Saturday in the synagogues by the Jewish people: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Now that's to understand. When we talk about the oneness of God, the singularity of God, we're talking about the fact that there is no competition for God.

There is no other God. There are not a myriad of gods that have been created over the process of time. No, there is only one God, and that is the Lord God, the King of the universe. And the Bible is very clear. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Now it's very interesting to note that the word used here is the same word used in Genesis 2:2, where it says that a man and woman, because One flesh. Now, there is some likeness between how the man and the woman become one flesh and how God Himself One.

There is some sense in which two can become one flesh because the Bible says that when the man and woman marry, they become one.

So because God is one, it does not necessarily demand that he cannot be three in one. You follow me? So the Bible is very clear. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. In the New Testament, in Mark chapter 12, verse number 29, Christ quotes Deuteronomy 6:4. He quotes what Moses states when the lawyer came to him and said, What's the greatest commandment? And he said, The greatest commandment is. Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Now that's very important because you see, Christ claimed to be God.

And because he claimed to be God, he emphasized the fact that man needs to worship God. He didn't set himself up as another God, he set himself up to demonstrate the fact that he is. The only God, and He is the one that is to be worshipped. If you have your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 5.

Now, we're going to go through a lot of verses tonight. Maybe you might not be able to keep up with me, and that's okay. Write them down. This is very important. In fact, this tape is so important, you're going to want to purchase this tape. And you're going to want to purchase this tape for all your Jehovah's Witnesses friends and all your Mormon friends. Okay? Because this is going to help refute what they believe about who Jesus Christ is and who God is, in their op. Their opinion doesn't make any difference.

It's God's opinion that counts. John 5:4 says, How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one? Only God. So Christ says there's only one God.

In John chapter 10, verse number 30, turn there if you would for a moment. Christ says this: John 10, verse number 30: I and the Father.

Are one now? Read verse number 31. The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the F. For which of them are you stoning me? And the Jews answered him, For good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you being a man, make yourself out to be God. So here is Jesus Christ claiming equality with God. He's saying, I and my Father are one. Meaning, I am God in the flesh. Because God is one, there is not a separate mode of salvation for the Jew and another separate mode of salvation for the Gentile.

Why? Because 2 Timothy 2:15 says what? that there is one God and one mediator also between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Now, you're asking, why are we spending time on this? Turn with me to John 17.

Christ's prayer is that we would be one as God the Father and God the Son are one. Now, read the rest of verse number 21, and you'll see how far-reaching the implications of the singularity of God go. That the world may believe that thou did send me. Here's the point. I am convinced that the reason the world doesn't understand or believe in the singularity of God, the personality of God, the spirituality of God, and the tri The un of God is because we as a body are not separate from sin and love one another uncond.

Because you see, that's what Christ prayed for. And in order for the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, the picture they have is the picture that we give them, right? We are that photograph of oneness. And if we don't separate ourselves from sin and we don't reach out to one another uncond to love one another. Then we mar the oneness of God to a world and they are totally confused about the tri-unity of God and the singularity of God, the personality of God and the spirituality of God.

And partly to blame Are the people who claim to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? You see that? We can illustrate this mathematically: 1 plus 1 plus 1 is 3. That illustrates a Trinity. One times one times one is one. That illustrates a tri-un. So the tri-un is a more accurate term to describe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is three in one or he is one in three res Now we have tried to explain that in all kinds of ways. We've tried to use an illustration of an egg There's the shell of the egg, there's the egg white of the egg, and then there's the yolk of the egg.

Saying that they're all three, yet one. Yet that's an inadequ illustration because the shell is not the yoke, and the yoke is not the egg white, and the egg white is not the shell. But it's sort of a human illustration that we try to use. Some people try to use the triangle to explain. The tri-un of God. Others have used water, H2O. Water is consisting of gas, liquid, and solid. Using those three aspects of what H2O consists of to try to explain the tri-unity of God. I give those to you just to help you understand that you'll never fully understand the tri-un of God.

I don't understand it to this day. My middle son has asked me to explain this to him on no less than 10 separate occasions. And every time I sit down to try to explain it to him, he is more confused than when he asked the question. So, I'm putting everything on tape so that he can keep listening to the tape over and over and over again and hopefully come to some kind of grips as to what the Bible teaches. You see, there's a part of us that has to take what the Bible says by faith.

We don't understand it. Our finite minds will never understand the infinite mind of God. And every time we try to understand it, we get really dizzy. We get really confused sometimes. God doesn't expect us to understand his tri. He expects us to believe. That he is three pers in one. There 's only one God. So what I'm going to try to do for you is give you five principles to help you understand the tri of God. To help you understand that God is three in one. Five principles. The tri-unity of God, number one, is defined.

By the use of plural pronouns. The tri of God is defined in Scripture by the use of plural pronouns. Go all the way back to Genesis chapter 1. Verse number one Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth.

The word God, Elohim, is in the plural. The plural suffix he presents a singular God who is expressed as plurality. So, in the beginning, God, not God, but God. If you go over to Genesis chapter 1, verse number 26, it says this: Then God said, Let us. Make man in our image. Now, the cults will come back and they'll say, Well, that's God talking to the angels. Because the angels were created before man was. You read the book of Job and you realize that the angels praised the Lord, praised God when the earth was created and when a man was created, okay?

So they'll say, the coast will say, well, that's God talking to the angels, but the angels were not created in God's image. Only man was created in God's image. That's why God says that man is very good.

Everything else is good. Only one thing was very good, and that was the Creation of man because man was made in the likeness of God. So the tri-unity of God, number one, is defined by the use of plural pronouns.

Number two, the tri-unity of God is declared when each person is called God. And the scripture teaches that they are all called God at one time or another. Turn your Bible to John chapter 6. In John chapter 6, verse number 27, it says this: Do not work. For the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you. For on him the Father, even God, has set his seal. So there you have the Father. Being called God over in John chapter 5, verse number 18, it says this: For this cause, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the board to kill him.

Because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own F, making himself equal with God. So here you have Jesus Christ calling God Father. So you have two verses, at least two, there's many more, where God is called Father. Now, The S is also called God over in John chapter 1, verse number 1. Just turn back a couple of pages. What does it say? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was not a God, as Jehovah's Witnesses say.

The article is not there. The Word was God. God is called the word. How about the Holy Spirit? You know the verse? Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5, you have the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, and Peter comes to them, confronts them. And it says this in verse number 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? And then it says in verse number four: you have not lied to men, but to God. So, the Holy Spirit is called God. He lied to the Holy Spirit, He lied to God.

He lied to the Holy Spirit, who is God. And the people always ask the question: and here's Is this the only place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called God? Now that's important. Why? How many times does God have to tell you that the Holy Spirit's called God for you to believe it? How many times does God have to say something to make it true? Just one time, right? So if he says it once, it must be true. But for those of you who need another verse, turn with me over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

Because there's always somebody who needs another verse. 1 Corinthians 3, verse number 16. Do you not know that you are a temple of God? And that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 6, verse number 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of what? The Holy Spirit. So, your body is a temple of God, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is God. There, you with me? Yeah, we're all together now.

See? Number three. The tri of God is described when divine attributes are given to each person. Psalm 90, verse number 2, it says that God is from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art. God. So we understand that God the Father is eternal. Turn with me over to John chapter 8.

Are you with me? Are you hanging in there? I'm not losing you. I don want to lose you. I want you to stay with me now.

So don't get sidetracked. John chapter 8, verses 56 to 59. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. The Jews, therefore, said to him, You are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born. I am. Now he didn't say I was. But note: if he would have said I was, that would have been an incredible statement. Because that would have made Jesus 2,000 years old, right? But he didn't say I was. He said, I am.

And they know the name. I am. They know that that describes the great God, Jehovah. See? And Christ was saying that He Himself is God, the all-powerful one. The God of the universe, that He is eternal. God is not bound by time, He dwells in all eternity at once. And Christ was saying, I am. The Holy Spirit, Hebrews 9, verse number 14, is called the eternal spirit. So you know and understand the tri-un of God by simply understanding that. It's described when the divine attributes are given to each person.

God is eternal. Number four, the tri-unity of God is demonstrated by the exercise of their power. And I'm not going to go any further into this, but just to help you understand that the creation. The world was brought about by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1: speaks of God the Father, John 1:3 speaks of God the Son, and Job 33, verse number 4 speaks of the Spirit of God involved in the creation. Of the world, also in the resurrection. If I ask you the question, who raised Jesus from the dead?

Some would say, Well, God raised him from the dead. Would you be right? Yes, you would. If you said, The Spirit raised him from the dead, Would you be right? Yes, you would. If you said that Jesus raised Himself from the dead, would you be right? Yes, you would. Why? Because Ephesians 1:1 and 20 says that God raised Jesus. John 10, 17 and 18 says that Jesus raised himself. And Romans 8, 11 says that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus. So the whole triunity was involved in raising Jesus Christ from the dead because God is one.

See that? And lastly, you understand the tri-un of God because it is displayed by their presence in the believer. It is displayed by the presence in the belie. And we must hurry. John chapter 14, it says this. In verse number 16, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, and he may be with you forever. That is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not be. Hold him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. And then it says in verse number 23: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him and will come to him and.

And make our abod with him. So the Bible says that the Spirit comes into your heart, Jesus comes into your heart, and God the Father comes into your heart.

Now, can you imagine that? The whole tri is in your heart: God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Son. That's an amazing thing. I mean, I'm not sure I got all the room in there for all those guys, man, but they're there because God is one. That leads me to point number five. It's perplexity. And we've got to really fly through this. So bear with me. Three questions. It's this. How can Jesus be the Son of God and also be called God at the same time? There's a word to describe the Son of God. And there's a word that describes son by natural birth.

The word to describe son by natural birth is never used of Jesus Christ. That word is huy. Okay? It's always used of Christ the Son. That word means specifically. An heir or one who will receive the inheritance of the Father, it does not imply birth. The word used to describe the physical birth is tech. That is never used of Jesus Christ. A son, who yas, an heir, can be an adopted son, even a servant of the household, whom the father will desire to honor. He could be a son. So you see, when Christ was born, unto us a child was born, unto us a son is given.

The son wasn't born, the son was given. The child was born. See the difference? One describes the humanity of God. The other describes the deity and royalty of God. Question number two.

How can Jesus be called the only begotten Son of God if he is really God? How can he be called the only begotten Son of God if he is really God? The phrase only begotten is used by the Apostle John on five occasions. John 1. 18, John 3. John 1. John 3 Eighteen and first John four, verse number nine.

So if Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son, how can he be God too? For the answer, Hebrews chapter 11. Verse number 17, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. Was Isaac the only son of Abraham? Answer: No, he wasn't. In fact, Ishmael was born before Isaac. So, what does it mean? It means this. That Isaac was a unique son of Abraham, not the only child born of Abraham. Why? Verse number 18 tells us: it was he to whom it was said, In Isaac, your descendants shall be called.

That is. Through Isaac, the Messiah would come, and God would fulfill his promise to Abraham. You see, Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God. There is no one like him. There is no one equal to him. Number three: if Jesus is God, why did he submit to the will of his Father?

If Jesus is God, why did he submit to the will of the Father? Simply this: is that there was no other way to redeem your soul. No other way. Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 11. Explain the voluntary submission and subordination. That Jesus Christ Himself displayed when He set aside, when He emptied Himself the kenosis of Christ, when He came to earth, set aside His divine attributes. That he somehow might be able to redeem the lost soul of man. That's why Jesus Christ submitted him. Which leads me to this.

You can go through the Bible and read a myriad of verses about how the Father loves the Son. It says in John chapter 10 and verse number 17, Therefore my father loves me. It says in John 3:3, the father loves the son. John 17, 24. You, Father, loved me before the foundation of the world. Mark chapter 1: At the baptism of Christ, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mark chapter 9, it says at the trans, This is my beloved Son. Hear him. It always speaks of the Father loving the Son. But try to find a verse that speaks of the Son's love for the F.

The verse John chapter 14 There is a verse Listen to what it says. John 14, verse number 30. As he spoke to his men the night before his crucifixion. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father. There's your verse. That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here. The whole world is going to know that I love the Father by this act that I'm going to do.

That one phrase at this one time demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ for God the Father more so than anything he would have said prior to this, that he would have voluntarily sacrificed his life. For you, let me ask you this question: Does anybody know that you love the Father?

What are you willing to sacrifice to demonstrate your love to the world? For the Father. And I close with this. And that is the applicability of all that we've talked about with the tri-un of God. Because God is Father, He cares for your soul, He cares for your life. Maybe here tonight and you're living in sin. You've got to read the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15. It says, when he came to his senses and repented of his ways, that he went to His home? No. His town? No. He went to his father. The son didn't run to a place, he ran to a person.

He ran to his father. And if you're here tonight and you've been living in sin, You need to go back to your Father, the God of the universe, and throw yourself upon him for his mercy. And if you read the story, you realize the Father never listened to what the Son said. The son spoke, but as he was speaking, the father was hugging him and kissing him because the father already knew the heart of the son. He cares so much that he adopted us into his family. As father, he cares. As son, He was crucified for you.

If you're here tonight and never given your life to Christ, you need to do so that you might experience the righteousness of God. And last, as Spirit, He comforts us. He is the divine comforter, the Parak, the one called alongside of. He indwells you that He might comfort your life. And that's what's so great about the tri-un of God in all of its perplexity and all the things you never understand. You need to know that God the Father cares for your life. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 13, verse number 14.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.