08-18-2024 – “The Tri-unity Unity of Christianity”

Bible Text: Luke 24:44-53 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: book study of Luke |

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August 18, 2024
“The Tri-unity Unity of Christianity”
Luke 24:44-53
 

       Our last time together, July 28, we studied Luke 24:44-53, concerning how Jesus fulfilled all things written about the Christ, Messiah, God in human flesh.

See Luke 24:44-53…  The human author of the Gospel According to Luke is also the author of The Acts of the Apostles, where he continues his narrative of the birth of the Church of God, which occurred ten days after Jesus, God the Son, ascended back into heaven to be at the right hand of God the Father, from where He would send God the Holy Spirit to mark and to indwell each and every genuine believer and follower of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord and Savior.

Please turn to Acts 1:4, 8-9…  Jesus tells the Apostles that they are to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit, the very presence and power of God, so that  they shall then be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the most far off parts of the earth.  After He had said these things, He was lifted up into heaven.

Please turn to John 14:1-10…  Jesus tells the Apostles that He is soon going to leave them to go to the Father, that He has made the Father known to them; and in fact, He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.

Please turn to John 14:16-20…  Jesus had been with His disciples for 3+ years, therefore God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, was living with them.  Jesus would ask the Father to send another Helper [Paracletos = one who comes alongside to bring comfort, advocacy, and intercession], and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be in them.

Notice the word “another” in verse 16, that specific Greek word means another of the same kind, i.e., one equal to God the Son, who said (John 10:30), “I and the Father are one.”  The “other helper” is the Holy Sprit of God who would come to live in all true believers and followers of Christ, “forever.”

See again John 14:18-20…  This is complex, Jesus is going to be taken from the disciples and put to death, i.e., He is going to leave them; but He is not going to leave them as orphans, alone, without a divine caregiver.

Jesus had just told them that He would send another One (God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, cf. John 14:17), a member of the Godhead, the Trinity, who is just like Him (God’s Son, who is the Truth, cf. John 14:6), God the Father, is called the God of Truth (cf. Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 65:16).

This is so cool!  In Ephesians 1:13-14, we are told that everyone who hears and believes the message of Christ, is immediately indwelled by God’s Spirit, making them a child of God’.

1Corinthians 6:19 says, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God.”  1Corinthians 12:13 tells us that it is God’s Spirit who lives in us and places us in the Body of Christ.

In 2Corinthians 13:5, we are commanded, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

Romans 8:9, tells us that anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of God living in them, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, that person is not a child of God.

Look again at John 14:20, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

John 4:24, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God has personal and effectual characteristics, e.g., He thinks, acts, feels, and speaks; and yet, the only “body” in which God lives, according to the Scriptures, is that of Jesus Christ.

John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” 14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

Colossians 1:15-20, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Hebrews 1:1-3, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son [Jesus], whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

When God freed Israel from Egypt, He said: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).  Later Moses told the Israelites (Deuteronomy 4:35), “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 45:5), “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God.”

In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”

Jesus said (John 10:30), “I and the Father are one,” and (John 14:7), “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

Paul writes (1Corinthians 8:4-6), “We know … that there is no God but one.  For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

How can all things be from God the Father whom we exist for, and and all things be from Jesus Christ, for whom we exist through? Because God the Father and God the Son in Jesus Christ, are One!

Though there is only one God, He exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  We call this the Trinity, a contraction of the word “tri-unity,” meaning “three in one.”  The word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, but God’s existence as three persons in one God is clearly taught in Scripture.

Old Testament evidence of God’s plurality can be found in the very first verse: “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1).  The Hebrew word used for God is Elohim, which is a plural noun.  Isaiah 42:1 speaks of the Messiah: “Behold, My Servant whom I uphold; My chosen One in whom My soul delights.  I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.”  The Messiah says (Isaiah 48:16), “The Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

The New Testament declares fulfillment of the above verses:  After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are together in the same place yet three representations of them.

Paul writes (Romans 1:1-4), “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Paul offers a triune benediction (2Corinthians 13:14), “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

Peter declares (1Peter 1:2) we are chosen, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of [God] the Spirit, that you may obey [God the Son] Jesus Christ.”

Jude writes, (Jude 20-21), “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.  Keep yourselves in [God the Father’s] love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

Those born of God, through belief in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, will remain true to God’s Word; for we have received God’s Spirit, who indwells, guides, empowers, protects and preserves us (see 1Corinthians 2:6-16; 2Timothy 3:16-17; John 14:26).

Yahweh, Jehovah, the Great I Am of the Old Testament is GOD!

Exodus 20:2, ”I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt…”

God the Father of the New Testament is GOD!

Matthew 6:9-13, “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]”

Jesus Christ, Immanuel, The Messiah, the Holy One, Lord and Savior, is GOD!

John 20:28, “Thomas said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”

The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Christ, is GOD!

“God the Father” is often used as the most comprehensive and inclusive divine title for God, though it is clear from Scripture that God the Father is never separated in nature or power from God the Son or God the Holy Spirit.

In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus declares God’s TRI-UNITY: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God is spirit, yet God put on flesh; God is one, yet He is expressed in three person; God is eternal, yet He died!  This is a profound mystery that no human illustration or explanation can adequately describe; and no scientific explanation or investigation can prove or disprove.  The Trinity is something we believe by faith, as revealed, demonstrated, and taught, in His Word.

       True Biblical Christian unity is exemplified as we allow the Word of God, through the Spirit’s power, to rule our hearts and minds, actions and words, as we Love God and love others on God’s behalf, obeying, honoring, and proclaiming the Word of God, as revealed in the 66 Books of the Bible, concerning Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord and Savior: Crucified, Resurrected, and Coming Again.

 

 
Pastor Mike Hale
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