SPEAKER_00: The title of my message today is What is the Godhead?
SPEAKER_00: What is the Godhead?
SPEAKER_00: We have been preaching through, or attempting to preach through, the Baptist Catechism.
SPEAKER_00: And those sound like very old and church words, and they are, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Catechism just simply means a series of questions and answers.
SPEAKER_00: And it was the habit of saints of old to catechize their children.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not for a moment telling y'all that y'all are children this morning, but I do selfishly, and I want to say it that way, I do selfishly want to make sure that our church, that uh you as believers, uh I as the under shepherd of the Lord am properly uh asking the right biblical questions and giving scriptural answers.
SPEAKER_00: Because, brothers and sisters, I want y'all to be strong.
SPEAKER_00: I want y'all to be knowledgeable.
SPEAKER_00: I want y'all to be the person in the grocery store when somebody asks you not only what is a primitive Baptist or what you believe, I want you to be able to answer that question.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be able to answer your children and your grandchildren and your wife and your friends.
SPEAKER_00: But I I want you to have that knowledge for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know some of the harder questions of the Bible for your own benefit, for your own edification, for your own strengthening, because I believe that you and I live in a world that when we talk about things like doctrine and we talk about these uh things like catechizing and things like that, that the world just kind of automatically just writes that off.
SPEAKER_00: That, you know, well, what are those things?
SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, you know, those, you know, we need to talk about Christ and the love of the Lord and practical living.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, when you and I look into the word of God and we see the beautiful truths of the word of God, I can't put it any other way, other than that the love of Christ constraineth us.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when you see the beautiful things of the Lord in his word and what God has done and how he has done them and why he has done them, that is our actual motivation to serve him.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want to serve this glorious and beautiful and all-powerful God who has uh benevolently sacrificed his son for us.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we want, and so in this doctrine and this practical Christian living, all these things are intertwined and they should be.
SPEAKER_00: But we can't just, let me write off all doctrine or, you know, Brother Josh, why are we talking about the quote-unquote Baptist catechism that was written back in the 1600s of all things?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is so old and antiquated.
SPEAKER_00: The King James Bible gets it right.
SPEAKER_00: The saints of old didn't get it wrong when they felt that they had an obligation to catechize their children.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you want to put that in modern terms, you know what that is?
SPEAKER_00: That literally means that the saints of old, as they would go through like line by line, week after week, and look at hard questions and answers out of the Bible, and they would train and teach their children in that.
SPEAKER_00: You know what they were actually doing?
SPEAKER_00: They were affecting the worldview of their children.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Like they were actually affecting how their children would spend money, how their children would think about marriage, how their children would think about uh being compassionate or loving or kind toward other people, about their children and training them up with a godly work ethic, and uh men to provide and protect their families, and ladies to love their husbands and their children, and so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: But but the point of these families that would like systematically catechize or train their children with questions and answers was to affect the way that their children thought about these things in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And the saints of old thought that was so very important hundreds of years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Well, brothers and sisters, I can tell you if it was important hundreds of years ago, it's even more important today.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the television and the radio and the internet and social media are catechizing our children.
SPEAKER_00: Like social media is telling young ladies that they should be pencil thin and gorgeous every time they walk out of their house, and if they're, you know, if they're one pound or two pounds overweight, that they need to starve themselves and look like the images of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The world is lying to our children, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: And it's lying to you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you need to sell your reliable vehicle that's 10 years old, that's got not given you a bit of problems because you need a brand new one because it comes up on every uh click news feed that you see on your phone?
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: You mean you can actually keep a vehicle longer than five years and pay it off and then it then actually it pays dividends back to you and you can just maintain it, and you don't have to buy a new vehicle and be indebted to the lender every five years, cycle after cycle after cycle.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm on a soapbox here, I won't get off of this, but I get really tired of subscriptions.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody now wants to not actually sell you a product for you to own, they want to sell you a subscription or that you're perpetually in debt to them and you just keep pumping money into them, the borrower or servant to the lender.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get off of that.
SPEAKER_00: But what's my point?
SPEAKER_00: My point is this.
SPEAKER_00: We have been preaching through this Baptist catechism, and all that means is a series of questions and answers.
SPEAKER_00: And it may sound old and antiquated, but it's not.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually absolutely beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And I selfishly want to preach through this for the church because I want y'all that are in the pew, I want it to be a reminder to me, but I want it to be of edification to you so that y'all know the answers to these questions.
SPEAKER_00: So it will affect your life and the way you think, and the way you approach life, and the way you approach money, and the way you approach family.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that these scriptures change me, and I hope they change you.
SPEAKER_00: And if you and I have been doing anything that's out of the way or not in accordance with God's word, I hope that you and I are convicted and then we repent and then we change and that we actually do different in mind your lives.
SPEAKER_00: That is my hope.
SPEAKER_00: You mean Brother Josh is a pastor?
SPEAKER_00: You want us to change and be like Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And do I want to uh do I want the Lord to affect me and to make me change and to be more like Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I do not get everything right.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to help you today.
SPEAKER_00: So the title of my sermon is What is the Godhead?
SPEAKER_00: What is the Godhead?
SPEAKER_00: The definition of the word Godhead is simply the character or quality of being God, the supreme being, divine.
SPEAKER_00: So the question in the catechism is actually this how many persons are there in the Godhead, in that person or that character of the one who is God?
SPEAKER_00: The answer to that is there are three persons in the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: These three are one singular God.
SPEAKER_00: They have the same substance.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: The same substance means that they have the same nature, they have the same core.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, there is no difference of mind between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: They are in unity in everything that they do, even though that uh even though that Father God, we know, is a spirit, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's not a physical form.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ is God made man.
SPEAKER_00: He literally became a man and came to this earth and suffered and bled and died and then rose again, and he now sits on the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: He took on physical form, and then the Holy Spirit is existing with you and I now.
SPEAKER_00: He literally lives in the side of every believer, and that is how you and I have communion and fellowship, and we meet with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But even though they exist in different persons, they have the same essence, they have the same nature, they have the same core, they have the same mind, they are in unison in all things that they do, and they're also equal in power and glory.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get into that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me talk about first.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, when people think about the Godhead or the Trinity, well, Brother Giovanni, isn't Father God the greatest, and Jesus Christ is, you know, a little bit less than that, and then the Holy Spirit is a little bit less than that?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: They're not.
SPEAKER_00: They are equal in power and glory.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why is Father God always mentioned first?
SPEAKER_00: And Christ mentioned second, and the Holy Spirit mentioned third.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's actually their order and time.
SPEAKER_00: Was that when they were created?
SPEAKER_00: No, because none of them were created.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you go all the way back to Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning God, and the word God there is plural.
SPEAKER_00: And we have made, and you read on through Genesis 1, we have made man in our plural image.
SPEAKER_00: And we read in the New Testament in Hebrews that, well, we also read back in Genesis that it was the Holy Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters in creation.
SPEAKER_00: We also read in John 1 and Hebrews 1 that there was not anything made that was made without the hand of Jesus Christ, so that we know that all three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, had a direct hand in the creation of all things.
SPEAKER_00: Even though most people in their minds almost automatically only attest creation to Father God.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the case biblically.
SPEAKER_00: Father God used the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ to make the worlds according to the Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they are equal in power and glory, but they were not, they did not all enter into this world in their direct form of ministry at the same time per se.
SPEAKER_00: Even though they all created the world, even though we see instances in the Old Testament where we see Jesus Christ, Christologies, or when Jesus actually appeared in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: But far as their ministries are concerned, you see Father God communicating with his people in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who first communicated and ministered in this world directly.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then we see in the New Testament that God condescended and became the Lord Jesus Christ and entered into this world and had a direct earthly ministry about 2,000 plus years ago and lived for 33 years in human form, and then he suffered, bled, and died, and then rose again and ascended to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Well, so Father God's ministry took place in time first.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ's direct ministry took place in time second.
SPEAKER_00: And now, brother sisters, and Jesus Christ said, and we're going to look at that, that unless he left and went back to the right hand of the Father, that the Holy Spirit would not come.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are now living under the direct ministry, as it were, of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That He lives inside of you and I, and the Comforter, as He's referred to in the Scriptures, was given after Christ ascended and went up to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So the reason why they are, they're not different in their glory and in their power, but the reason why they're listed the way they are in the scriptures is because the Father God's direct ministry took place first.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ's direct ministry took place second, and the Holy Spirit's ministry is continuing on right now.
SPEAKER_00: So it is their order of when they directly entered into time, is why they're ordered that way.
SPEAKER_00: It's not because this one is quote unquote greater than the other.
SPEAKER_00: No, they're all part of the same Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: They're of the same character, they're of the same substance, they're of the same mind, they're of the same will.
SPEAKER_00: They're never not in unison.
SPEAKER_00: But they're three different persons with three different distinct ministries, and they entered into this world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, they were all present all throughout all these times, and yes, at times they would appear, but each one of them's purposeful direct ministry came at different times.
SPEAKER_00: Now, 1 John chapter 5, 7 says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Capital W Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
SPEAKER_00: These three are one, one God, singular God.
SPEAKER_00: There's not three gods, there's only one God.
SPEAKER_00: But he has three different persons.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I also found this interesting.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna park on John chapter 10 for a few minutes, but I wanted to get 1 John 5, 7, and I want to get one more verse.
SPEAKER_00: It's found at the end of the book of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 28, and it's uh linked most often with the quote-unquote Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew chapter 28, uh, verse 19, we read, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there may be one little word in that verse that you and I, I know that I have overlooked this.
SPEAKER_00: There's one little word in that verse of this, that this is the uh Christ speaking to the apostles, and he's telling them to go ye therefore and teach all nations about him, his word, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: But the word that's overlooked oftentimes is the word name.
SPEAKER_00: It says, baptizing them in the name, the word name, brothers and sisters, here is singular.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_00: Because when it says, when Jesus said, told the apostles, go ye therefore in all the nations, go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the singular name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, Go ye therefore in all the world, baptizing them in the names plural of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, because they're not three different gods.
SPEAKER_00: They're one God in three persons, therefore they share the same singular name, the name of God.
SPEAKER_00: They are all part of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: So when we go all the way back to Genesis, when it says in the beginning, God plural created the heavens and the earth, and then spoke in the darkness and created the light, and then when it says that let us make man in our image plural, that's referring to all three persons of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then when you come here, and Jesus is speaking, and he tells the apostles, Go ye therefore into all nations, baptizing them in the name singular, in other words, one God, but this one God has three persons: the person of the Father, and the person of the Son, and the person of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Just wanted to point that out to you.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the Godhead?
SPEAKER_00: The Godhead is the character or quality of being God.
SPEAKER_00: The Godhead is made up of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: But these three persons are only one singular God, and they are one in their substance, in their nature, in their core, in their essence, and they're all equal in power and in glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's look at uh John chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: We'll begin in John chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin reading in verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: So in John 10 and 27, uh, these are the words of Jesus Christ, and I want to speak to the fact that according to the scriptures, that we always think about Father God as being the most preeminent, the most powerful, and Jesus Christ does honor him, he glorifies him, but in the Godhead they are equal in person, they are equal in power, they are equal in glory.
SPEAKER_00: But in John 10, 27, Jesus says, He says, My sheep hear my voice.
SPEAKER_00: And I know them, and they follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
SPEAKER_00: My sheep.
SPEAKER_00: The sheep that Father God gave him.
SPEAKER_00: Father God unconditionally elected and chose them, and then Christ particularly died for them, and then the Holy Spirit particularly borns them again and indwells them.
SPEAKER_00: They all have an operation involved in those sheep.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to notice that Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Mowles, did you know that Christ knows you?
SPEAKER_00: Brother Blake, Sister Dana, you know that Christ knows you.
unknown: Ms.
SPEAKER_00: Karen, you know that Christ knows you personally.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how is he able to know that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he has the power of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: He has all knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: He has all understanding.
SPEAKER_00: We don't typically think about Christ in those ways, right?
SPEAKER_00: We think about Father God as being the omnipotent one, the omnipresent one, the all-powerful one, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who has all of that knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: But here, Jesus Christ is my sheep, hear my voice, and I know them.
SPEAKER_00: How is he able to know them?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's part of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: He has that same power that God does.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and they follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and I give unto them eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, we know that Christ died for them to redeem them, but we know that God called them.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the Holy Spirit born them again, so how is it that I give unto them eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: Because when Jesus is speaking, I, he's not saying anything that is out of agreement with the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Father God gave us life, Christ gave us life, the Holy Spirit gave us life, amen.
SPEAKER_00: They are all in agreement.
SPEAKER_00: They are all in unison, they are all one, one God, but a trinity of persons.
SPEAKER_00: They are doing different operations, different ministries in the capacity of that.
SPEAKER_00: And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
SPEAKER_00: Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want y'all to see this.
SPEAKER_00: I want y'all to see the context of these verses.
SPEAKER_00: The context of these verses are what Jesus just said, and neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
SPEAKER_00: So he is talking about salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the fact that he has saved his children, his sheep.
SPEAKER_00: He's given them eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And that no one is able to pluck them out of his hand.
SPEAKER_00: So that speaks of his ability to retain them, right?
SPEAKER_00: It speaks to his strength and his authority and his power that no one, Satan, can't take them out of his hand.
SPEAKER_00: Satan can't steal salvation from a believer.
SPEAKER_00: The believer himself cannot overpower God and remove himself out of the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is impossible because you and I are not greater than God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and praise the Lord that you and I are not able to remove ourselves out of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody want to say amen to that?
SPEAKER_00: That you and I can't remove ourselves by our waywardness?
SPEAKER_00: King David, who was a murderer and adulterer.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Samson who messed up.
SPEAKER_00: So many Bible characters.
SPEAKER_00: That went astray at one time or another, you and I the same.
SPEAKER_00: But they didn't lose their salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're not able to pull themselves out of the hand of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's part of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: He is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: He is almighty.
SPEAKER_00: Satan himself, the dragon, can't tear you away from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is not able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have the strength or the authority or the ability to do that.
SPEAKER_00: You were in the hand of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's read on.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said, and I gave unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: My Father, which gave them me, these sheep, is greater than all.
SPEAKER_00: So Christ is honoring his Father.
SPEAKER_00: And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
SPEAKER_00: I and my Father are one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, whatever I'm doing is whatever the Father wants me to do.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm holding the sheep, my father is holding the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told a group of folks that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if Father God were to condescend and become a man and live in this world, and you were to observe and see his character and his words and his actions and his wisdom and his counsel and his miracles and his judgment and all the things that Father God would choose to do in this world, what would that look like?
SPEAKER_00: It would look exactly like the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because everything they did was in 100% unity.
SPEAKER_00: It was all in agreement.
SPEAKER_00: They did it all together.
SPEAKER_00: They did it all in agreement.
SPEAKER_00: Now, but what I wanted you to see is the fact that Jesus Christ said, nobody is able to pluck them out of my hand, and my Father is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
SPEAKER_00: I and my Father are one.
SPEAKER_00: What is that saying?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is saying that I am equal in power with my Father.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody can plug them out of my hand, nobody can plug them out of my Father's hand, they're in our hands, plural.
SPEAKER_00: But we're one God, singular.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, you'll remember that the Pharisees got really upset with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I believe it was in John 6 when he was talking to the woman at the will, when he basically told them that he was a Lord of the Sabbath day, and he said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm Lord of the Sabbath, I have authority to do this.
SPEAKER_00: And they got mad at him, they were ready to stone him.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they understood what he was saying, because he was saying that he had the authority of God.
SPEAKER_00: He had the same rights as God did.
SPEAKER_00: And they didn't like to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: They understood what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus is part of the God here.
SPEAKER_00: He's equal in power and glory.
SPEAKER_00: But they're different in their ministry and in their purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Even though it's all together.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I mentioned about John.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you a super quick summary.
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 15 and 16, we read a few things.
SPEAKER_00: John 15 and 16, those chapters in the book of John are basically Jesus' farewell address.
SPEAKER_00: It's his farewell sermon, as it were, to the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: He is giving them truth.
SPEAKER_00: He is counseling them.
SPEAKER_00: But he is also telling them, and most likely he did this at the close of the Last Supper when this quote-unquote sermon was actually delivered.
SPEAKER_00: And then he would, after he gave this address, after he counseled, after he gave truth to his apostles, then he would go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But he was preparing the apostles for what they would have to deal with in this world after he left, after he departed, and went to be at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to pick up in this in John chapter 16, and want to read a few of these verses, several of these verses in John 16.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to read it very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see something.
SPEAKER_00: So let's begin reading in John chapter 16 and verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said unto them, These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I'm preparing you for what's coming because basically the world, you know, he's already talked about this, but the world is going to hate you because it hated me.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to suffer persecution, you're going to be put out of the synagogues, you're going to deal with a lot of hardship, trial, pain, persecution because they dealt with me that way.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to deal with you that way.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I don't want you to be caught off guard because this is the reality, because you're serving me, the world is going to hate you, and I want to prepare you for this.
SPEAKER_00: So, John 16.
SPEAKER_00: These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended.
SPEAKER_00: They shall put you out of the synagogues.
SPEAKER_00: Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you a Christian will think that he doeth God's service.
SPEAKER_00: And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is saying the reason why the folks in the world do what they do, and they're opposed to you folks, the sheep, is because they don't know the Father and they don't know me.
SPEAKER_00: That's why they act like they act, because they're not born again.
SPEAKER_00: They have not been made spiritual in the Lord, and therefore they act like heathen, fallen, fleshly people, and they're opposed to you and your truth because it is opposed to them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: But these things have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them, and these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I didn't have to tell you this before, because I was walking with you, I was ministering with you, I was right there with you.
SPEAKER_00: You had me as your rock, you had me as your strength, I was with you.
SPEAKER_00: But now, verse 5, I go my way to him that sent me, that's to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And none of you asketh me whether goest thou.
SPEAKER_00: But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: I also never saw this before.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus, when he told the apostles, whom he had been walking with, that I'm leaving you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm fixing to go to be with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And after I told you that, sorrow entered your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles didn't want him to leave, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you can't leave us.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go away.
SPEAKER_00: And so he said, sorrow entered their heart.
SPEAKER_00: But look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: Seven.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It is expedient, that word means beneficial.
SPEAKER_00: It is good for you that I go away.
SPEAKER_00: Now stop.
SPEAKER_00: How is that possible?
SPEAKER_00: How is it good that Christ go away?
SPEAKER_00: Well, by the way, he had to go away.
SPEAKER_00: He had to suffer, bleed, die, be resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: Then he had to have victory over death and hell in order to purchase their salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He had to have the ultimate victory over that, so he had to finish his work.
SPEAKER_00: That was his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That was his work, the redemption of God's children that he was called to do.
SPEAKER_00: But let's read on to this verse.
SPEAKER_00: He said, So I must go away.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For if I go not away, the capital C, Comforter, will not come unto you.
SPEAKER_00: But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I've got to go away.
SPEAKER_00: I've done my ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I've done my job.
SPEAKER_00: I've fulfilled my role as Redeemer, as Savior, as champion of all of God's children.
SPEAKER_00: I've done that.
SPEAKER_00: Now I must leave and go be at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to do something else.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are sorrowful that I'm leaving, but I'm sending you a comforter.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all see that Jesus Christ directly met their need?
SPEAKER_00: And how did he meet their need?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to place the Holy Spirit of God, the comforter, the counselor, the one who knows the will of God, who knows the glory of God, that his purpose, his mission is 100% in unison with the Godhead, with Father, with Son, that knows us better than anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to place him inside of all the born-again sheep.
SPEAKER_00: So that as a righteous seed, as a deposit of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And that is what enables you to be able to see by the eye of faith and understand by a spiritual mind and hear by a spiritual ear the things that the world actually hates.
SPEAKER_00: The world hates the truth.
SPEAKER_00: The world hates God.
SPEAKER_00: The world doesn't understand.
SPEAKER_00: I might as well be up here speaking Russian to non-Russian speaking or understanding people that don't know about the gospel, the good news.
SPEAKER_00: It's only good news to those that are born again.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: It's because the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you says to my spirit and to your spirit, hey, little child of God, that may not be born again, that may not be following God right now.
SPEAKER_00: You hear that gospel with your ear, it's a beautiful sound.
SPEAKER_00: It's glorious.
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Christ died to save you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way, did y'all know that Jesus Christ's ministry didn't end on earth?
SPEAKER_00: He's gone and interceding at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: What else did he say?
SPEAKER_00: I go to prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_00: In my Father's house are many mansions.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wouldn't build you a house in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But you and I are most directly affected right now, here and now in time, by the ministry of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all know that?
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_00: The one part of a Godhead that you and I probably know about the least and think about the least, the Holy Ghost, is the one who directly affects mine and your everyday life more than anything else.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a wonderful thought?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's right there with us.
SPEAKER_00: He's right there in our soul, in our heart.
SPEAKER_00: He's in our chest.
SPEAKER_00: He directly pricks our minds, he pricks our hearts, he opens our minds to the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why y'all and I, you and I understand what we're talking about today is because of him.
SPEAKER_00: In because of Christ, in because of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Father chose us, Christ died for us to redeem us, and the Holy Spirit born us again.
SPEAKER_00: It all works together in unity because they're all part of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Not anything they do is separate.
SPEAKER_00: One God, trinity of persons, all doing different operations.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what I want to get to.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta hurry.
SPEAKER_00: I'm out of time.
SPEAKER_00: So, John 16.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if I go not away, this is verse 7, if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you.
SPEAKER_00: But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, and when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and righteousness and of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: This lowly, quote unquote, Holy Spirit that you and I don't talk about a lot, Jesus just said he's the one that is going to reprove or convict the world of sin, the world, the whole world, and of righteousness and of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: He's doing that.
SPEAKER_00: He has the power to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He has the authority to do that.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, of sin because they believe me not.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts you and I of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10, of righteousness because you and I go to the Father and ye see me no more.
SPEAKER_00: Who is it, brothers and sisters, that convinced you that Jesus Christ is our righteousness, that he is real and that he is your Savior?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the one that convicted me and you of our sin and also convinced you that Christ is real?
SPEAKER_00: It's the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who taught us that, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who wrote it in our hearts and in our minds by the commissioning of God and by the finished work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But he's the one who did that surgical operation of the heart in me and you in real time in this world throughout all the ages to all of God's children.
SPEAKER_00: Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
SPEAKER_00: Who's the one that convinces us of a Christian worldview that the Bible is true and it's right, and that Satan has been judged, and that Satan is a fallen angel?
SPEAKER_00: And who is the one who brings this truth to our mind?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ said that his worshipers are going to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: In spirit and in truth.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who teaches this to our hearts and our minds.
SPEAKER_00: This is how you and I know and understand the things that we do.
SPEAKER_00: It's by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the part of the Trinity that you and I least think about.
SPEAKER_00: The one who directly affects us the most here and now in time.
SPEAKER_00: So, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is saying, wait a minute, I want y'all to see this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I have more to tell you apostles, but I can't tell y'all now.
SPEAKER_00: Well, wait a minute, he was fixing to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't going to be able to tell them after this, but oh wait, he was.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, he says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
SPEAKER_00: Howbeit, when he, the capitalist spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Don't worry, apostles.
SPEAKER_00: I have more stuff I need to tell you, but I'm not going to tell you out of my mouthpiece.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to tell you out of the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: See that?
SPEAKER_00: Same God, teaching you the same thing, working to the same end, one God, but a trinity of persons.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say, verse 13, howbeit, when the capitalist, Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.
SPEAKER_00: Notice this, for he shall not speak of himself.
SPEAKER_00: But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is telling you and me the things that the Holy Spirit is hearing?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Well, where is he, where is this Holy Spirit hearing these things from?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: He, that's the Holy Spirit, shall glorify me.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.
SPEAKER_00: All things that the Father hath are mine.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you a little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is taking what I, Jesus Christ, hear from the Father, and then what I share with him, and then he is telling you in your heart and in your mind, that's what he's telling you.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all know that you and I have direct access to the Almighty God of the universe through the Holy Spirit and through Jesus Christ and to the Father because of all of what they've done?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: They're equal in glory, they're equal in the power, they're equal in knowledge, they're equal in authority, but they're three different persons, but only one God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's close this out.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 42, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: This is Father God speaking, and the reason why we know this is because in the Old Testament, you will see in your English Bibles that the word Lord is capital L-O-R-D in all caps.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the proper name of God, the personal name of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is in the original Hebrew, I believe it was spelled Y-H-W-H or Y-H-V-H.
SPEAKER_00: And we pronounce it Yahweh, but it's Jehovah.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the quote-unquote personal name of Father God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, so, and it's found all throughout the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And in Isaiah 42, 8, so this is Father God speaking.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the capital, L-O-R-D.
SPEAKER_00: That is my name.
SPEAKER_00: In my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
SPEAKER_00: Father God said that he will not give his glory to another.
SPEAKER_00: That's not going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you understand this is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is ironclad.
SPEAKER_00: This is, you know, God does not deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: God is saying, My glory is reserved for God, for me.
SPEAKER_00: It will not be given to another.
SPEAKER_00: This worship, this praise, it's only for me, nobody else.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Hebrews chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all turn me very quickly there.
SPEAKER_00: We're almost done.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta follow me here.
SPEAKER_00: This is so important.
SPEAKER_00: And it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: When I get in a hurry, I lose these chapters.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 1, beginning in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
SPEAKER_00: Christ, verse 3, who being the brightness of his glory, I thought God didn't give his glory to anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't, and he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: He's glorifying his son.
SPEAKER_00: His son is part of him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: He's the second person of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: So God is not denying his verse out of Isaiah 42.
SPEAKER_00: Christ, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he hath by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
SPEAKER_00: For unto which of the angels said he, That's Father God, at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
SPEAKER_00: And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
SPEAKER_00: And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten of the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God do what?
SPEAKER_00: Worship him, worship Christ, give glory to Christ, give praise to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And to the angels, he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: But unto the Son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever.
SPEAKER_00: Ever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Thou hast loved righteousness and hath iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you all to notice what did it say in verse 8?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 said, But unto the capital S Son, he saith, Father God said this about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Christ, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Father God called Christ God.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Your throne is forever.
SPEAKER_00: You are eternal.
SPEAKER_00: You are infinite like me because you're part of me.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't give his glory to another.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not.
SPEAKER_00: This is part of him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the second person of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 5, beginning in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: And let me summarize part of this for time's sake.
SPEAKER_00: We'll read a couple verses.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 5 1, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, land, and kept back a part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't that Ananias and Sapphira were doing a wrong thing by keeping back part of the money, but they told the apostles that they had given them all the money.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, if they sold the parcel of land for$1,000, and then they brought, let's say,$900 to the apostles, and you know, they said, oh yeah, this is all the land.
SPEAKER_00: This is all the money.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they could have just said that we sold a parcel of land and we kept back a little bit for ourselves and we're giving$900 to the church.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what they did.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they said that we're giving the Lord all the money.
SPEAKER_00: See, they just lied about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that it was wrong that they kept back part of the money to use for whatever needful thing that they were going to use it for.
SPEAKER_00: They just lied about the fact that they were giving God all the money.
SPEAKER_00: That was the point.
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, but Peter said, uh, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, verse 4, whilst it remaineth, was it not thine own?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you could do with your money what you wanted to do.
SPEAKER_00: And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in other words, you could have done with it whatever you wanted.
SPEAKER_00: Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine own heart that uh thou hast not lied unto men, but unto gods?
SPEAKER_00: Now stop unto God, stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was the fact that they fraudulently told the apostles and the church that they were giving them all the money of the sale of the possession, that was the sin part.
SPEAKER_00: You see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Peter totally acknowledged, he said, look, you could have sold that piece of land and gone and bought you another piece of land or another house.
SPEAKER_00: You could have done with it, whatever you wanted to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: But the fact that you lied about the fact that you told uh the church that you have given God all the money, notice Peter's language.
SPEAKER_00: He said that you've lied to the Holy Ghost, and then he comes down in verse 4 and says, But you've lied, but thou hast not lied unto men, but you've lied unto God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Peter's saying, by you lying in your heart to the Holy Ghost, you have by default lied to God because they're one and the same.
SPEAKER_00: And we know the story that Ananias was struck dead, and then his wife was also struck dead in this same instance.
SPEAKER_00: Father God is God, Jesus Christ is God, the Holy Spirit is God.
SPEAKER_00: Last verse, I promise we're closing in 2 Corinthians 13, 14.
SPEAKER_00: It is the last verse.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14, but this is beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: This is the last verse of the book of Corinthians, and this is Paul's uh closing uh statement.
SPEAKER_00: He says in 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that verse important?
SPEAKER_00: Not just because it mentions all three, but I want y'all to see this.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I think about Christ, and by the way, you notice in this instance, Paul mentioned Christ first.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he do that?
SPEAKER_00: If I were to ask y'all folks out here in the congregation today, let's be real honest.
SPEAKER_00: When you think about God and you think about Christianity and you think about your salvation, who is the what is the name that you love the most?
SPEAKER_00: Do you think about Father God or do you think about Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: You think about Jesus Christ, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: Paul knew that.
SPEAKER_00: But why do you think about Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you and I look at him, we see a man who sacrificed for us personally and directly, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's our high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so you and I have a, our heart is drawn to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Christ's love constraineth us, right?
SPEAKER_00: The sacrifice that Jesus made, our Redeemer, our champion, our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are motivated by him.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: But so when Paul closes, he said, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What is grace?
SPEAKER_00: It's a gift.
SPEAKER_00: It's a Christ's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul's saying the grace, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: That love of God, Father God, that agape love, that unconditional love, that love whereby a just, almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God looked down and saw grievous, sinful men who would break his law, who would hate him, who would, our minds are literally enmity against him, and God who actually sacrificed his son for us to redeem us, to save us, he elected us, he chose us.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I didn't deserve it, that was a very loving act.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So that grace, that gift, that sacrifice of Christ be with you, that agape, unconditional love of God, and finally, and the communion of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: Communion.
SPEAKER_00: We have communion in church, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: That's when we get together and actually physically share a meal, a small meal, the bread and wine that is a reminder of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, it is a time of fellowship?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the one of the Godhead that actually communes with you and I, that speaks with you and I, that counsels with you and I, that comforts you and I, that fellowships with you and I on a daily, weekly, monthly basis in our mind and in our heart as you and I read the word?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the one that is impressioning our minds and pricking our hearts and moving us toward God?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the person of the Godhead that is actually doing that work?
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: He communes with you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a beautiful thought?
SPEAKER_00: The one true and living God, who is a trinity of persons, that all have different ministries and operations.
SPEAKER_00: That all, all of which have done something for you and I, right?
SPEAKER_00: And without each one of them, it wouldn't be done.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I weren't born again, you and I couldn't hear the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: If Christ hadn't made the sacrifice, then you and I'd be going to hell.
SPEAKER_00: If Father God didn't make the choice, then we wouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_00: We would have been oblivioated by his justice.
SPEAKER_00: All three persons of the Godhead are operating on mine and your behalf and for his own glory.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't it beautiful?
SPEAKER_00: And doesn't it motivate us to want to serve him better?
SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been an encouragement to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you, Brother Donald, to come up and help us close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: The church doors are always open if you desire to unite with a membership of our church.