Message Notes                                                                                                                                                                                                                 June 19, 2005
The ABC’s of the Trinity                                                                                                                                                                                                             Tri God    

                 
A. THE WHAT OF THE TRINITY

1) The Word Trinity Means Tri-Unity Or Three-In-Oneness

 

2) God Is Three Persons. Each Is Fully God. There Is One God

 

3) God Is One In Essence And Three In Persons

 

B. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE TRINITY WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND OUR LIMITATIONS:

1) We Are Limited By Our Humanity

Isaiah 55:8-9 ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’

 

James White: “The Trinity is a truth that tests our dedication to the principle that God is smarter than we are.”

         

2) We Are Limited By Our Language

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 

3) Our Limitations Should Not Deter Our Explorations, because We Don’t Have To Understand Something To Experience It.

Matthew 28:19 “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…”

 

C. THE WHY OF THE TRINITY

1) It Refines Our Relationship with God

Jeremiah 9:23-24a “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me,”

 

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

 

2) It Aligns Our Understanding of The Gospel

John Piper: “Unless we begin with God in this way, when the Gospel comes to us, we will inevitably put ourselves at the center of the Gospel.

We will feel that our value, rather than God’s value, is the driving force in the Gospel.  We will trace the Gospel back to God’s need for us instead of tracing it back to the sovereign grace that rescues sinners in need of God.”

 

Colossians 1:16 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.

 

3) It Defines the Uniqueness of Christianity

1 Corinthians 1:20, 25 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar?  Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? …For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

 

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

“Dear God, I want a real relationship with you. I realize that I have sinned against you and been my own boss.  I turn from my sin to you, and ask you to forgive me.  Jesus, I know that you died for me and rose again.  So I ask you into my life, as my leader. I accept the forgiveness that you freely give. Thank you for dying for me.  Help me now to live for you. Amen.”