In the sermon 'The Doctrine of the Trinity,' Paul Carrington explores the foundational Christian belief of the Trinity, outlining its historical challenges, theological significance, and practical implications for believers. Carrington breaks the sermon into three sections: understanding the Trinity, its economic aspect, and its critical importance for believers. Historically, the Trinity has faced significant opposition, notably from figures like Arius of Alexandria, which led to the Council of Nicaea where the doctrine was defended and upheld. The speaker emphasizes that although the term 'Trinity' is not found in the Bible, the concept permeates Scripture and early Christian writings. Carrington explains the Trinity as one God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He addresses common misunderstandings, such as modalism and Arianism, and underscores the importance of monotheism in the Trinity doctrine. The sermon further distinguishes between the ontological Trinity (the being of God) and the economic Trinity (the roles of each person in creation and redemption), emphasizing that different functions do not imply inferiority. The personhood of the Holy Spirit is affirmed through biblical evidence of his will, actions, and personality. Ultimately, Carrington argues that understanding the Trinity is crucial for proper worship and comprehension of the gospel, as it reflects the eternal counsel of the Godhead in the salvation of humanity.

This afternoon we have the opportunity to take a look at the doctrine of God Revealed in the Trinity and we've we've spent a lot of time going through the attributes of God which has been such a blessing just to Study what God is like and to understand and expand our our thinking Around him understanding that we serve a mighty God. Well, this afternoon we have the opportunity to take a look at the doctrine of the Trinity. And I'm going to be just walking us through just three different sections, helping us understand what is the Trinity and then we're going to be talking about the economic aspect of the Trinity and if that sounds strange to you I'll explain it in a little bit as we get further on and then we'll finally end off with well why is this doctrine so critical for us to understand as believers. And so, by way of history, in terms of how this understanding of the Trinity came about, we don't have time to go into it in immense depth, but I do want to give us just a little bit of a background. But what's important to note is that historically, you probably will not find a doctrine that's more attacked and that's more maligned than the doctrine of God as it's represented in the Trinity.

And no other doctrine is found in the cross hairs more frequently, more often than that of the Trinity. Not only at the very inception of the church, but really all the way up, even until our present day. And the word Trinity, the word doesn't actually appear in the Bible, but a man by the name of Tertullian in the early 200s was credited with coming up with the term in Latin but really the concept that permeates all of the early church fathers way before Tertullian that was the early 200s but if you look at man like Clement of Rome or you have Ignatius of Antioch who happened to be a contemporary and friend of Polycarp writing in as early as 108 he was talking about the deity of Christ and of course we have the entire New Testament that reflects the deity of Christ and and the personhood of the Holy Spirit as well but what happened is that as persecution kind of began to wane in the Roman empire over the course of time it began to dissipate. Warfare, spiritual warfare took a bit of a different turn and what you found was strife coming up from within and so in the in the fourth century had a man by the name of Arius of Alexandria.

This man was a tremendous communicator and he happened to be well positioned in the church and he came onto the scene with these words, there was a time when Christ was not. And he posited this view that yes, God the Father exists, but he created the Son. And so there was a time when Christ was not. He saw Christ as highly exalted, right? But he was a created being.

It's much like Islam. Islam is willing to hold up Christ as a great, great prophet, one of the greatest, while at the same time taking away his most important aspect, which is the fact that he is actually deity. And so this really took on a lot of steam. And by the fourth century, around 325, we had this what you call the Council of Nicaea that was convened to debate whether Jesus is of the same substance as the Father. Well, at the end of the Council of Nicaea, things seemed to kind of settle out in favor of the Trinity.

But in the following decades, you had what would be called an Aryan resurgence, where Constantine, he died, his son came into power and he was kind of wooed by the Arian faction and before you know it, the Arian faction actually took on even more steam than those who had fallen on the side of the Trinity. And so things had gotten so heated that one of the greatest proponents of the Trinity, Athanasius, who you might have heard of, he was forced to leave his church about five times because things got so heated. He would be run out of town literally because of his position on standing for the truth of the Trinity even when it was really at a low ebb and when very very few people were willing to stand on it. Well what happened is over time truth prevailed over politics and over false doctrine and by the end of the fourth century, Arianism was reversed and banished as it were as a teaching. But of course we all know how it goes, right?

Teachings don't just go away but they resurface under different names and so today our modern-day Aryans would be what are known as say the Jehovah Jehovah Jehovah witnesses and you have all sorts of other teachings that have cropped up all throughout the years even before Aryan you had a man by the name of Sibelius who who came on the scene and was basically arguing for for modalism that yeah the father and the son are one person but they present themselves in different ways at different times based on on the need and of course that's the really the forerunner of modern-day oneness Pentecostalism that we see all over the place and of course even in our day today you you see a downturn in an understanding of the Trinity with with things like eternal subordination making its way on the scene where Men argue that somehow the son is subordinate to the father in nature and in being and of course they They also might have made that same argument for the Holy Spirit. It's it's kind of like a staging ground as it were for Arianism well, what is the Trinity after a little bit of a history there.

As I mentioned the word Trinity it doesn't show up in the Bible but that's because the Bible really isn't a book of systematic theology is it right? You're not going to find words like omniscience in the Bible in that in that particular word or omnipresence but these are used to describe the attributes of God but but rest assured that while the term isn't biblical the teaching the doctrine absolutely is And it would be so foolish to argue that unless I see the word in the Bible I won't believe that the actual concept that it represents is true We don't fall for that and we don't if someone debates you on that that's very easy to get around But but another thing to consider is that it's also very hard to comprehend the doctrine of the Trinity if we're honest and if we're fair. It doesn't mean that it's irrational or that it's contradictory, but it goes beyond the scope oftentimes of what a human mind can conceive of. Our three-pound brains kind of get to the end of their runway and we can't quite wrap our head around how there can be three persons in one being.

As we gaze at this infinite God, our minds stop short. And that to me is grounds for great confidence. That if my God were comprehensible, if I could understand every aspect about him, that wouldn't be a very impressive God, would it be? At the end of it all. And so it's interesting because oftentimes when we try to explain something that's complex, what do we do?

We use metaphor or we use analogy or we use illustration or we use Example if you want to describe what a place is like To someone who's never been there you're gonna use well it's like this if you want to say a food what a food tastes like you might say well it tastes like an apple or what does something feel like and you could say well it feels like sandpaper it feels like something else That's how we are used to speaking and used to thinking and it works a lot for human experience doesn't it but much of the created order can be described by analogy or metaphor or illustration or Example, but it doesn't work for everything And especially for the things that are most unique and the thing that is most unique Where every analogy where every illustration every example falls totally short is when we come To our God in Isaiah 40 verse 25. He asks to whom then will you liken me? Who is like our God? James White gives a definition of the Trinity and I'll use this kind of as a jumping off point to help us Across these three different categories as we go through it here, and I thought this is very very helpful very concise in one sentence It says he says this within the one being that is God There exists eternally three co-equal co-eternal persons namely the father the son and the Holy Spirit.

And so every heresy and every error of doctrine originates in the denial of one of these three premises that number one there's a monotheism that we're going to be arguing for today and then we're also going to be talking about the co-equal, co-eternality of God and then I'll talk a little bit about the different persons of the Godhead as we go through this. But I want to start off with the first one, with that first statement that he says, within the one being that is God. And right from the beginning argue for the point all of us would argue for is that there is only one God, right? There's one God. That's Orthodox, historic belief.

There's an uncompromised monotheism when we talk about the Bible. That's what we come away with. And if you look at the Shema in Deuteronomy chapter 6 you hear these words and this is what Jesus quotes when he's asked well what is the greatest commandment and he says this in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. This is a description of how we ought to attend in our worship to Yahweh. And in Isaiah, if you read the book of Isaiah and you focus on chapter 40 to verse 48, the entirety of those eight nine chapters is really pointing to this one God that we worship and that we serve and bringing out how glorious he is and so again This focus on monotheism and in chapter 45 of Isaiah verse 5 The Lord says this I am the Lord and there is no other.

There is no God beside me. In Isaiah 44 verse eight, is there a God beside me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one. Isaiah 43 verse 10 says, before me there was no God formed nor shall there be after me and so the Bible is very very clear that God alone is the creator of all things there are not multiple creators or not multiple gods there's but one God and this would be a totally think about this for a second a totally foreign concept in a world that's awash in polytheism.

Wouldn't it be that there's only one God and on top of that you don't even have an image for this God. That was what the Jews were experiencing, Israel was experiencing. And their argument was not that our God is a supreme God, but that there is no other God aside from our God, God alone. And this is why idolatry on the one hand is so foolish and on the other side is so offensive to the living God because there is no other God. And look what Paul says in Galatians chapter 4 verse 8 he says but then indeed when you did not know God he's speaking to these people in in Galatia who were at one time pagans but then indeed when you did not know God you serve those which by nature are not gods.

So a God other than Yahweh is a not God. It's a God that does not exist no matter what man may say. And so the Trinity, I just want to make very clear from the outside, in no way compromises the fundamental truth of monotheism. In fact, what it does is it actually brings it into full and proper realization. A lot of times, you know, people will look at the Old Testament and it's hard if all you have is the Old Testament to come up with the revealed doctrine of the Trinity.

B.B. Warfield said it like this he says that the Old Testament, think about it like this, may be likened to a chamber richly furnished by dimly, but dimly lighted. So imagine we turn off all the lights in here and close all the blinds and it's getting toward nighttime. You'll kind of make impressions, you'll see kind of some definition but it won't be very clear and it may not be very colorful. So he's starting off by saying that the introduction of light brings it, brings into it nothing which was not in it before.

But it brings out in clear view much of what is in it but was only dimly or not at all perceived before." So all of a sudden you turn on the light and all of a sudden everything becomes very very clear and as it actually is. The mystery of the Trinity is not revealed in the Old Testament, but the mystery of the Trinity underlies the Old Testament revelation, and here and there almost comes into view. Thus the Old Testament revelation of God is not corrected by the fuller revelation which follows it, but only perfected, extended, and enlarged. And so I think what he's arguing very very simply is that the Trinity has always been true. The question is when did it become knowable?

When was it that the the light switches that were were turned on and the darkened room all of a sudden became brightly lit and you could begin to understand God in his fullness? Well it was after the Old Testament was written But before the New Testament was written, well what happened in that period? You have the actual incarnation of the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ coming, as well as the baptism of the Holy Spirit coming. And so in this act of redemption and the actual act of redemption is where you see the Trinity in its greatest colors and of course that becomes the reflection and the meditation of all of the writers of the New Testament well that that hopefully settles the idea of God being a monotheistic one God. The other aspect I just want to deal with here is the idea of their existing eternally three co-equal, co-eternal persons.

And of course, there are not three beings. This is really important for us to understand, is that there are three divine persons, not three divine beings. Very, very important. There are not three persons that are one person, but three persons that make up one being that is our God. And how can we understand this?

It's again very difficult for us because as human beings we identify a person and a being as the same thing or you could look at an animal and say that's a cat and it's a being it's literally one and the same it's some people would say well it's kind of like three men kind of standing side by side but that does not describe the way the Bible describes the Trinity. God is entirely unique as I said earlier you're not going to find some sort of analogy or illustration to help you put this together and that's because we cannot in our in our finite minds envision a being being made up of three persons but but the limitation that we have we ought not to impose on a God who is absolutely infinite and eternal from before the foundation of the world. I love the way James White explains it and helps us understand it. He says the best way to grasp this is to understand that there is one what and three whos. There's one what, meaning the being of God, and then there are three whos, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

That's the best way I found to help understand it so they're distinguished from one another in their person yet this doesn't lead to any division in the being of God whatsoever. And so eternally, he uses this word eternally, and these persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they existed eternally in relation, relationship. Now sometimes when we think of eternal we're bound by time so we kind of think of eternity as like a really really really long time. But eternity is outside of time. There's no time marker that you can say it started here or it ends there.

It's simply without beginning and without end. And so it's not that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit have been in relationship for a great long time, but from all of eternity before time was even there. And so they they are kind of existing in a way of being that exists without the progression of events or time or dates or anything like that. And of course not only are they eternal but they're also co-equal And the idea here is that not that one-third, if you add up one-third, one-third, one-third, that all equals one, but each of them are each fully God. That's the way the Bible describes our God.

And of course, not only the Bible understands that, but the Jewish leaders, do you remember the time when in John chapter 5 they wanted to kill the Lord? We've covered that. Well, the Lord made a claim, and they understood that claim very, very well. And they took up stones to stone him. What was the claim?

That they understood him to say that he was making himself equal with God. And so they understood that in John chapter 5 which is what sent them into this rabid frenzy to want to actually pick up stones to kill him. There was no misunderstanding as to what they understood Jesus to actually be saying when he made his declarations. And of course this whole idea of co-eternality, just to think about it from this perspective, there was never a time when there was not the Father, when there was not the Son, when there was not the Holy Spirit. That simply doesn't exist.

And so we've talked about the idea of God being monotheistic and we've talked about the aspects of his co-eternality and co-equality among the persons of the Godhead. I thought it'd be helpful for us to go and take a look at the Son and the Holy Spirit. No one debates God the Father if he's actually a member of the Godhead or anything like that. People do begin to diminish the Son and the Holy Spirit. I actually heard Steve Lawson say something I think it was in October he said sometimes I think the Father is the forgotten person of the Trinity in the sense that there's a lot of focus can be placed on Christ or depending on what circles you run in on the Holy Spirit and almost forget the Father.

But I thought it'd be helpful to just help us understand the deity of Christ because this is probably again the most attacked aspect of the Trinity. Well, where else would we go for this then to John 1 verse 1 and if you have your Bibles there you can you can follow along with me there's a few passages in the entire Bible that are more clear and important as we study this this mine of deep truth which is found in John 1 And it starts off with these words. It says that 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 were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made well what we notice here is this is that the very first mention of the word word notice that logos it says The word here in the beginning was the word and that simply means that the word did not come into existence at the beginning. It's already there, isn't it? In the beginning was the word.

Well, not only was the Word already there, but actually responsible for the beginning. In Hebrews 1 verse 2, it says that through the Word or through Christ, God made the worlds. That's who Christ is. And so the word is eternal, not a creation or anything like that, but creation actually takes place through the word. That's what John is arguing for in John chapter 1, verse 1.

So we see that in that very first phrase, in the beginning was the word, but then it goes on to say that the word was with God. And that word with, it means face to face, and it means relationship. You know, you see the father and the son in face-to-face relationship from all eternity past. This is what that second phrase, and the word was with God actually means. This idea of being face-to-face.

And then notice this, as if there was any mistaking, John then says, and the word was God, deity, unapologetically. And so outside of a trinitarian understanding how can you make any sense of what John is saying it's total garbled nonsense unless you actually Understand God as he's being revealed to us right here in the very first verse of the first chapter of the book of John. And so later in John what do we see? We see Christ himself identified as Yahweh. We spent some time in John chapter 8 where Jesus says, I am before Abraham was, I am.

And of course again what did the Jews do? They understood that and they took up stones to stone him. He was saying, I am, meaning he's referring to himself as Yahweh. In John chapter 12, it's an amazing account. If you ever read John chapter 12, the first time you read it, if you've never read it before, and you begin to understand that Isaiah chapter 6, you mean the one who was high and lifted up and whose glory or the train of his robe filled the temple and these seraphim were surrounding him saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Do you mean that that was actually Christ? Well, that's what John 12 says. It says, these things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. In John 20, there was the disciple who was late to the party as it were and he comes in eight days later and who appears in the midst of them but the Lord Jesus Christ himself and there's Thomas and the Lord says put your put your hand in my side and put your finger in the imprints of the nails and what does Thomas declare When he when he finally comes to the realization that he's before the risen Christ He says these words my Lord and my God and the Lord doesn't turn around and say hold on a second He doesn't correct him. He says because you see you believe He doesn't rebuke him because he made a proper declaration, my Lord and my God.

And then in John chapter 5, again we talked about that aspect of what set these men into fits of rage was the fact that Jesus made himself equal with God. And so I just want us to consider Isaiah chapter 9 as well verse 6 because before Isaiah tells us what the Messiah will do in chapter 9 of Isaiah he tells us what will he be like, what will he be And so in chapter 9 it says this, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And that word, El Gabor, is what mighty God means. It's a mighty one, this mighty God. And it's used in the next chapter, if you look at 10 verse 21, to refer to Yahweh.

No one would argue in chapter 10 verse 21 that that's Yahweh, God the Father. And here it's used to describe Christ coming into this world. Well if Jesus is merely a creature, if you want to make that argument, you are then going to have to argue that he is a blasphemous creature. One that is not worthy of honor but of disdain. One that seeks to steal glory from God, who rightfully deserves it, because he takes upon himself titles that are reserved for Yahweh and Yahweh alone.

The Lord Jesus in Revelation, he quotes basically from Isaiah chapter 41 verse 4, which says, I the Lord am the first and with the last I am he. In Revelation 22 he says this ending off the whole testimony of Scripture, and behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." I mean, what else could you conclude other than he is God and he is declaring himself to be God. Well then we get to the Holy Spirit and this is very important as well because just as the the Son voluntarily chose to take the role of a suffering servant so as to redeem the likes of us and make us into his bride, in a similar way the Spirit has chosen the role of sanctifier and of advocate, of comforter, in the role of salvation and for the people of God. And so oftentimes people now take this, the role that the Holy Spirit has taken as a sign of some some sort of inferiority.

Or some have actually gone so far as to strip the Holy Spirit of even personhood. To say he's not a person but simply a force. It's amazing. In fact, if you go through the the New World Translation, which happens to be the Jehovah's Witness Bible, by the way, if you have one, just burn it. It's not accurate.

But what they do is they decapitalize Holy Spirit and they take away the definite article that's how adamant they are that the Holy Spirit is not a person but just simply a force Well the big question then becomes does the Spirit exhibit personality by speaking, using personal pronouns, doing things that only a person can actually do? Does the Spirit have a will? Can you insult or resist the Holy Spirit? Well, I mean, I had to cut the Scriptures because there's so many that give validation to the personhood of the Holy Spirit, but In Acts chapter 13 verse 2 it says, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. In Acts chapter 10, verse 19 and 20, while Peter thought about the vision the spirit said to him behold three men are seeking you arise therefore go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them In both instances you see the Holy Spirit speaking and the writer Luke is not making apology.

It's taken for granted that this is understood. Can impersonal forces send men? Have you seen that before? Or can they speak using personal pronouns? Does that make any sense?

Again you have to do all sorts of gymnastics and do damage and violence to the Word of God to come to these conclusions. But look at the sovereign power and rule of the Holy Spirit here when he's making these declarations in Acts 20. Look at this, therefore Paul is saying, take he to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Do you see that? The Holy Spirit has appointed these elders in Ephesus to be overseers of the church, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

In one verse, by the way, not only do you see the personhood of the Holy Spirit because he appointed men. But then he says that God has purchased the church with his own blood. Well who died for the church? Christ. And he's saying to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

It's so clear, it's taken for granted. Right here, Paul is just speaking it as though it was common knowledge, and that's because it was common knowledge. When that light switch went on and the light became clear in the room, everything kind of fell into place. So that now when you even look back on the Old Testament, you're like, oh that's perfectly clear. I can see all three persons of the Trinity and yet understand there's only one being.

Another thing just to point out is that Jesus declares blasphemy against himself can be forgiven, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Well that, I'd like to hear a proper explanation around that. That's identified as the unpardonable sin. The Holy Spirit can be grieved, he can be insulted, he can be lied to in Acts chapter 5, but Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? And keep back part of the price of the land for yourself while it remained was it not your own and after it was sold was it not in your own control why have you conceived this thing in your heart and now listen to this statement you have not lied to men but to God you lied to the Holy Spirit in the first part of the verse and then he equates the spirit with God at the end of this verse.

Well that's so clear to us. And the one who first came, if you go back even to Genesis 1.1 and we'll look at that just in a second, but the one who came and he moved upon the chaos, the formless void that was this earth darkened. He's the same one that moves upon your chaotic, darkened, sin-stained soul to bring life. That's the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. He gives life and then he comforts and he sanctifies and carries us all the way.

Well so far what we've done is we've concluded that there's one being that is God, monotheism. We've talked about the idea that they are co-equal, the persons of the Godhead are co-equal, they're co-eternal, and that these persons are specific. They're not modes, but they're individual persons as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What we've just described is what you know theologians would call the eminent Trinity or the ontological Trinity. An ontology simply is the study of being, that this is the being of God.

But as I said at the beginning I thought it'd be helpful just to kind of look at not the Ontological aspect of the Trinity alone, but to look at the economic aspect of the Trinity I'll explain what that is What what all that really means is that the three persons of the Trinity actually do things and the economic aspect describes what they do in terms of creation as well as redemption. It's that simple. How does it now work out is what the economic aspect of the Trinity focuses on. And James White says it like this, this is so important for us to understand and will help you not only be able to discuss it with others but also to understand it yourself. If you can understand these two categories of ontology as well as the economic aspect.

If all Christians would simply understand the following statement, I'll get to in a second, their task of explaining and defending the Trinity would be much easier. Here is a basic simple truth that is lost in the vast majority of discussions or arguments on this topic and here's the statement, difference in function does not indicate inferiority of nature. Very very simple. Different function doesn't mean inferiority in nature. And I want to just go back to Genesis 1 1, the very first words of the Bible.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. See if this becomes clear to you now. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God so we see God and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters then God said let there be light and there was light well I saw the Father God and I saw the Holy Spirit but where is the Son well remember the Son is responsible for creation and when God said the word let there be light and there was light there you see the sun also if you go just a few verses later in the very same chapter of the first book of the Bible it says this then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness in Genesis 1 26 and you see this plurality of persons doing different things. Let us, you see our image, our likeness. And this clarifies very much that there's a plurality and some people will try to make the argument, well what he's really speaking about, he's talking to the angels.

He's saying let us to his kind of bastion of angels that are behind him. But then how do you make sense of verse 27? The next verse says, so God created man in his image. In the image of God he created the him, male and female, he created them. It's very, very clear that God is basically consulting among the Trinity to define man and who he will be.

Well that's creation. How about redemption? The very last words of our Savior before He left this earth are found in Matthew 28, 18-20. And this is where the church receives its marching orders. Occupy till I come is what the Lord is basically saying.

And he says here in chapter 28 verse 18, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. Amen. No one denies the personhood of the Father, No one even denies the personhood of the Son. So again going back to the Holy Spirit, why would they do that to the Spirit when written right here there's a name, notice that the name is singular, baptizing them in the name, not names with an S, but in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And the question regarding the Holy Spirit is how could how could two persons share a single name with a non-personal or mere force? That would make absolutely no sense. It's totally illogical. And so what the Lord is doing here is amazing. B.B.

Warfield says it like this. He says, we are not witnessing here in the Great Commission the birth of the doctrine of the Trinity. That is presupposed. What we are witnessing is the authoritative announcement of the Trinity as the God of Christianity by its founder, in one of the most solemn of His recorded declarations. And so what we see here is the Father giving, the Son redeeming, the Spirit regenerating and indwelling.

And so economically speaking, in this whole what the theologian might call the eternal covenant of redemption, you see the different roles that the different persons of the Trinity undertake to bring about not only creation but also redemption and so there's that perfect equality of persons. Well why does any of this matter? I'll just conclude with some thoughts for us here. Well why does it matter? Because it's true.

That's number one. It's God's self-revelation to us because God matters. That's why it matters. And also it's so important because to worship Him in spirit And in truth, we want to know who God is. Remember what He said to the woman at the well, you worship, you know not what.

But we know what we worship. It's important to know who it is that you're worshiping. To grasp it, because to Understand the Trinity is to understand the gospel that saves us the crucifixion that that brought up brought about our our entire salvation Was part of the eternal councils of the Trinity and eternity past and this is really The Trinity is really the central doctrine in the recovering of fallen man, who God is, to bring man fallen back to God. It's beautiful. And so it's not just a doctrine, is it?

It's our life when you think about it. The Father chose us. And then He appointed the two great means of saving us. The giving of His Son on the one side who died for us, and then the giving of the Holy Spirit who blew upon us and regenerated us and woken, he quickened us. And then not only that, but he dwells within us, he comforts us, he guides us, so that at the end of it all we can say that as Christians we have a God above us, a God before us, and God within us.

All because of his great work in Salvation and this understanding of the Trinity. Well, let's pray Lord we give you thanks and praise for the clarification of your word. Oh lord I I pray that you would help us to comprehend a little that we can of the vastness this ocean that is you oh lord eternal there is no bottom at all Lord and and what we can understand we pray it would just lead us to worship you and and glorify your name more. Oh Lord help us as we undertake to to know you to dwell at your feet to worship you oh Lord that all these things that we've studied today would would be such an encouragement to our hearts Lord we do thank you for your goodness in Christ's name amen