Sermon
# 145 Series: Isaiah
Title: Grace From The Triune God
Text: Isaiah 48: 16-17
Subject: Grace In The Holy Trinity
Date: Sunday Evening – March 28, 1993
Introduction:
In this chapter the Lord God promised his captive people that he would destroy Babylon, deliver them from bondage, and bring them again into their own land. He told them what he would do hundreds of years before it was done, and urged them to remember that the whole work was his, so that they might praise him for it. But all of this was ordained of God to be a type and picture of the redemption and salvation of his elect by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of his Holy Spirit.
Read the text with me – Isaiah 48: 16-17. The person speaking in this text is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, of whom Cyrus was but a type.
Proposition: In these two verses the saving operations of grace
are traced to all three Persons in the Holy Trinity.
What
do you know about the biblical doctrine of the Trinity? You have all heard the doctrine. You know that we are supposed to be
Trinitarians. But do you have a
comfortable understanding of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as it is set
forth in the Word of God?
The
title of my message tonight is Grace From The Triune
God. We worship one God in the Trinity, or Tri-Unity, of
his Sacred Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and adore each as the God of
all grace by whom we are saved.
Divisions: As we open the word of God and seek to worship him, I
want to show you three things clearly taught in this Book about Grace From The Triune God.
1. The Bible clearly Teaches The Doctrine of The Trinity.
2. All Three Persons In The Godhead Are Equally Gracious.
3. No Doctrine In The Bible More Inspires Unity Among Believers Than The Doctrine of The Trinity.
I. The Bible Clearly and Emphatically Teaches
The Doctrine of The Trinity.
I once heard Bro. Mahan say, “That man is a fool who denies the doctrine of the Trinity; and that man is a fool who tries to explain it.” So, lest I be numbered among foolish men, I will make no effort to explain the Trinity. Let me simply give you some definitions of the doctrine and show you that the word of God clearly teaches it.
A. When we say, We believe in the Trinity of
The Divine Persons, What Do We Mean?
· We do not mean that there are three equal, but separate Gods!
· We do not mean that there is One God manifest in three Personalities!
· We mean that we worship One God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
1. Noah Webster-
I have yet to read a better definition of the term “Trinity” than the one given in Webster’s dictionary- The Trinity is “The union of three Persons (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit) in one Godhead, so that all three are one God as to substance, but three Persons as to individuality.”
· “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4).
· “And God said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
2. Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary-
Though it long ago forsook its principles, the principles of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky states the doctrine of the Trinity in these words,- “God is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct Personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
3. A. H. Strong-
In
his systematic theology, A. H. Strong says, “In the nature of the one God there
are three eternal distinctions of the one God there are three eternal
distinctions which are represented to us under the figure of persons, and those
three are equal.”
Did
you notice how that in each of these definitions of the Trinity the one writing
seemed to be reaching for words, as though he could not find words to properly
express what he wanted to say? That is
because God is so infinitely and mysteriously greater than us that there is
nothing in creation to compare to him!
Yet,
we must strive to get some idea of the greatness and glory of his holy
Being. Well might we pray with Moses,
“I beseech Thee, Show me thy glory. We
worship one God who subsists in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
equal in all things. The Father is
God. The Son is God. And the Holy Spirit is God. This is the doctrine we teach. This is the
doctrine that all christians believe.
But…
B. Is This The Doctrine of The
Bible?
Does the Word of God itself teach the doctrine of the Trinity? It matters not what the opinions of men are. What does God himself say? That alone must be the basis of our faith.
1. There is one plain, crystal clear statement
of the doctrine of the Trinity in the New Testament (I John 5:7).
2. In addition to this definitive statement
there are numerous examples in which the Trinity is set before us.
The
New Testament declares that…
Someone
accurately stated it this way – “The Faith is all the fulness of the Godhead
invisible (John 1:18). The Son is all
the fulness of the Godhead manifested (John 1:14-18): The Spirit is all the
fulness of the Godhead acting immediately upon the creature (I Cor. 2:9-10).”
I
frankly confess my inability to produce a single argument drawn from nature or
logic to prove the doctrine of the Trinity.
It is a mystery filled with such grandeur that it defies the
comprehension of every finite mind. But
faith does not stand upon nature or logic.
Faith stands upon the Word of God Alone! I believe this doctrine because it is revealed in the Scriptures;
and I see it clearly because I believe it.
Without
question, the Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. Now, secondly, I want you to see that…
II. All Three Persons In The
Godhead Are Equally Gracious.
This is what Paul teaches us in Ephesians 1:3-14. As the Three Persons of the Godhead are equal in divinity but distinct in personality, so all three persons in the Godhead are equal in divinity but distinct in personality, so all three persons in the Godhead are equal in grace but distinct in the operations of grace.
A. God The Father is set before
us as The Fountain Of All Grace (Eph. 1:3-6).
It
was God the Father who, in the covenant of grace, proposed redemption, devised
the plan, and chose the people whom he would save by his almighty grace. He found a way whereby his banished ones
could be rightfully returned to him.
Then, in the fulness of time, he sent his Son into the world to be the
Medium, or Mediator of grace (Gal. 4:4-6).
B. God The Son, The Lord Jesus
Christ, is the Channel of All Grace (Eph. 1: 7:12).
“The
Lord Jesus Christ has come to procure salvation for us. As Mediator, God and man, he was the
Father’s Servant, sent to effect for us this great salvation”- (Charles
Simeon).
All
grace comes to sinners through Christ the Mediator. In this first chapter of Ephesians Paul tells us fourteen times
that everything God does for sinners and gives to sinners is “in Christ.” Apart from Christ there is no
grace!
1. Am I chose of God? I am chosen in Christ!
2. Am I blessed of God? I am blessed in Christ!
3. Am I predestinated by God? I am predestinated to be conformed to the
image of Christ!
4. Am I adopted? I am adopted in Christ!
5. Am I accepted? I am accepted in Christ!
6. Am I redeemed? I am redeemed in Christ!
7. Am I forgiven? I am forgiven in Christ!
8. Do I know the living God? I know him in Christ!
9. Do I have an inheritance in heaven? I have it in Christ!
10. Am I called of God? I am called in Christ!
Do
you see what I am saying? All grace
came to us through Christ! There is no
other way the grace of God can reach a sinner.
Let no rejecter of God’s Son vainly imagine that he shall be the
beneficiary of God’s grace! It was the
work of Christ upon the cross that brought grace and justice together in the
salvation of sinners. Through his blood
“mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peach have kissed each
other” ( Ps. 85: 10).
Blissfully
lost in the contemplation of God’s matchless grace in Christ, John Bunyan
penned these rapturous words- “O Thou Son of the Blessed! Grace stripped Thee of Thy glory; grace
brought Thee down from heaven’s grace made Thee bear such burdens of sin, such
burden of curse as are unspeakable; grace was in Thy heart; grace came bubbling
up from Thy bleeding side; grace was in Thy tears; grace was in Thy prayers;
grace streamed from Thy thorn-crowned brow!
Grace came forth with the nails that pierced Thee, with the thorns,
which pricked Thee! Oh, here are
unsearchable riches of grace! Grace to
make devils astonished!”
The
Fountain of all grace is God the Father- The Channel of all grace is God the
Son, and…
C. God the Holy Spirit is the
Administration of all Grace (Eph. 1: 13-14).
It is God the Holy Spirit who effectually applies the blood of Christ to God’s elect, with irresistible grace and power.
Illus: Hebrews 9: 12-14- Redemption Accomplished and
Applied!
Without the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit in conversion no sinner would ever become the beneficiary of grace. He takes the things of Christ and shows them to his people. He quickens these the Father election in eternity and reclaims those the Son redeemed at Calvary. He leads to the Good Shepherd all those sheep for whom the Shepherd laid down his life (John 10:3, 11, 27). “He conquers the stoutest hearts and cleanses the foulest spiritual leper. He opens the sin-blinded eyes and unstops the sin-closed ears. The blessed Holy Spirit reveals the grace of the Father and applies the work of the Son”- (C. D. Cole).
All
three Persons in the Godhead are equally gracious; and all three must be praised!
“Praise God from whom all
blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here
below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly
hosts!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost!”
III. Thirdly, No Doctrine of
The Bible More Forcibly Inspires Unity Among Believers Than The Doctrine of The
Trinity.
I have not been talking to you about some abstract point of theological speculation, or some profitless point of more doctrinal refinement. I am talking about a subject so far above our comprehension that it should inspire the deepest reverence and humility as well as the most circumspect consecration and unity.
A. In Our Baptism you and I have
Publicly Avowed Our Consecration to God (Rom. 6:4-6).
Being
baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we
publicly declared our consecration and commitment to…
B. Let every thought about the Holy Trinity Stimulate In Us A
Desire That We May Be One even as God The Father, God The Son, and God The Holy
Spirit Are One (John 17: 20-22).
As
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are united, so let us be
united in…
Application:
This is the doctrine of the Trinity.
Songs
of Grace- #85 Praise To The Sovereign Trinity.