Questions About the Oneness - Eli Lopez - January 13, 2021

b [Music] praise the lord christian life center family amen we want to welcome you all to another wednesday evening service i want to invite you in your home if you would just i want you to just imagine hey man i know it's been going on a year since we've had a wednesday night service in person and i'm sure at the beginning we did our best to interact with the service but i want to encourage you again would you just imagine you were standing in this building right now and act the way you would act if you were standing here if you were to shout if you were to dance or to clap your hands and interact with what god is going to do i believe the lord is going to move in a special way so right now could we invite the lord into our homes and give him an opportunity to move hallelujah lord jesus we invite you in this place even right now god asking you that you would move on us lord god we are hungry for you god we need you more than we need air in our lungs jesus more than i need water more than i need sleep or food in my body i need a touch from the presence of god i need my mind to be realigned i need my thought process to be put back in place i need your spirit to touch my body even right now i pray you would touch the saints of this church pray for the backslider tuning in tonight i pray for those that haven't been faithful to church that are watching uh god that you would touch them that there would be a special move of the holy ghost i pray for our song leader i pray for the worship team anoint them as they sing let the anointing go forward into houses let it break the yoke of bondage god oh we need you more than we need anything else god and touch the preacher as he ministers the word of the lord let it go forward lord and let there be a change that takes place lord we love you god oh we believe in it god hallelujah hallelujah right now in your home would you clap your hands to the lord would you offer up a shout of praise to him hallelujah [Music] god bless you all as the music team comes amen [Music] praise the lord [Music] on your face tonight [Music] [Music] renew restore revive your church and make us whole ignite transform take us to a place [Music] is [Music] know that you are willing to receive [Music] [Applause] [Music] restore revive your church and make us fall ignite transform take us to a place you've never seen before you've done the [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] we [Music] [Music] oh come on right where you're at i don't know what kind of day you had what kind of week you had will we serve a great god a mighty god and a powerful god and he has great things and soul for your life if you believe it can you sing this foundations are shaking and every curse is breaking strongholds are falling and greater things are coming foundations are shaking and every curse is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] we are standing [Music] oh [Music] standing [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] can you lift up your voice and praise him tonight [Music] come all right can you lift up your horse and just make that place an atmosphere of worship and atmosphere of praise tonight lord we love you jesus we bless you tonight sing us together worthy of every song worthy of every song we could ever sing worthy of all the praise worthy of all the praise we could ever bring he [Music] of every is we could ever breathe he's the only one jesus [Music] right where you're at wherever you find yourself sing us together holy holy there is you there is none beside you open up my eyes [Music] [Music] lord we bless you tonight sin against thing worthy [Music] worthy of every song we could ever see worthy of all the praise we the name above every other name declare it tonight jesus he's the only one jesus [Music] there is show me who you are [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] whatever the situation may be whatever the circumstance whatever the trial we serve a faithful god he's a firm foundation he's steadfast whatever you need i wonder if you can take a moment right now and just call upon the name of the lord he is worthy of all the faith hallelujah come on sing us together sing i will will build mine upon yourself it is [Music] i [Music] [Applause] is [Music] i [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] open up my eyes there who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh come on right where you're at lift your praise lift up worship and thanksgiving to a holy and almighty god hallelujah lord we bless you tonight [Music] hallelujah he's a worthy god amen he's worth every time we come to this service amen all the practicing we do all the instruments that get ready people put dozens of hours the media team and you you spent time to log in tonight i'm telling he's worth every bit of it amen all the praise that we could ever give to him every hallelujah you could lift up to him every hour you could spend in prayer every day you could spend pushing away the plate he's worthy of it you're never going to get to heaven and say i gave too much worship to the lord you're never going to say i thanked him too much but you're going to get there and say every time i went into prayer it was worth it amen i'm so thankful that every time i lift up his name i feel his presence come on me could you lift up your hands in your home right now would you lift up that holy name one more time thank you lord thank you lord you're worthy of it god you're worthy of it lord worthy is the lamb that was slain hallelujah thank you jesus thank you jesus amen praise god and now we're going to pray a prayer we've been so faithful to praise so many times we're going to pray for our community and i believe now more than ever the saints need to pray now more than ever we need to push back against the spirit of antichrist and the forces of darkness that are trying to encroach into our society that already are encroaching and are really trying to run rampant amen but as long as there's a church that's praying under the power of the holy ghost amen i'm not talking about our father out in heaven i'm talking about getting in and knowing the spirit of the prayer amen so could we go before the lord right now could we intercede for our city our state in our nation one more time in the name of the lord jesus god we pray for stockton california god i'm just believing that revival that has been prophesied over this church so many times god by so many great men and women i believe it's going to be poured out in this season lord i pray you're raising up the thousand intercessors that pastor haney's been praying for god let those intercessors be brought forth god let us pray prayers we've never prayed before let us pray hours we've never prayed before and god send laborers into the harvest oh god i pray for a revival of righteousness in these last days a revival of right doing a revival of living by the word of god a revival of living holy lord give our give our government give them wisdom lord give our president wisdom lord jesus and we're just believing you're going to do it god we've got faith lord jesus that every word you've spoken to this church is going to come to pass jesus do you hallelujah that would you clap your hands and say thank you jesus hallelujah hallelujah amen it feels good in the house of god i know it feels good in that home you're at right now i want to i want to say thank you so much for being faithful we're going to take our wednesday evening tithe and offering amen god bless you [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] good evening everyone it's so good to have you joining with us again tonight and i am thankful to have the opportunity as we continue our study we have been studying the oneness of god and we are now into the sixth part of this series and uh so grateful for all the feedback that i've received from people just letting me know that it has helped answer some questions and helped just with their understanding of the biblical message the divine identity of jesus the oneness of god so so thankful to my pastor submitted to my pastor as i stand in his pulpit tonight so thankful for him giving me the opportunity to continue this bible study series let's pray lord jesus we love you tonight we love you tonight we cannot say thank you enough for all of your blessings for all of your goodness for your mercy your grace your kindness your love thank you thank you that you don't give up on us but you keep working you keep helping your grace it is sufficient and your mercy it endures forever we love you tonight in jesus name we pray amen tonight uh to give a little little preface you're gonna probably see more of the the slides than you will see of my face tonight just because of the nature of the material that we're going to be going to i'm going to be directing attention to a lot of the slides the material in the slides because tonight what we're going to do is we're going to answer some common questions about the oneness of god and you're going to ask well brother lopez where do these questions come from they're questions that i have been asked when i've been asked to explain the oneness of god from other christians people of other persuasions not one that's apostolic wanting to have better understanding the question that i've been asked of apostolics of people in the church wanting more and greater understanding of the the bible's message of the oneness of god so these are some common questions that may come our way and we want to be equipped to answer those questions so if our media team is ready we'll begin to go through our notes and our slides tonight so answering common questions about the oneness of god and if you notice we begin to answer some questions already last week we answered the question we asked and answered if there is only one god and jesus is god why does the bible call him the son of god and not last week two weeks ago i'm sorry last week brother morgan ellis ministered and did such a wonderful job ministering in this pulpit but two weeks ago we asked and answered this question um and then another question we asked and answered was if there's only one god and jesus is god why did jesus pray and we talked about in answering both those questions understanding uh what the term son of god means how it is the union of divinity and humanity it refers specifically to the incarnation and uh that that phrase the son of god refers to god becoming a man the the union of divinity and humanity and then we looked at why did jesus pray and we talked about the genuine flesh of jesus he was a genuine human being living out the genuine human experience and so that flesh with a survival instinct had to be submitted to the will of god for the cross the mission had to be fulfilled and so we asked and answered both those questions and we saw how the bible aligns with the oneness presentation the oneness message it is the bible truth it is the biblical message that there is only one god well we're going to ask some more questions and we're going to endeavor to answer these questions another question we're going to ask tonight is if there's only one god and jesus is god what is the significance of the voice and dove at his baptism i've been asked that i've been asked that in seminary i've been asked that among trinitarians wanting to know how could i explain this how could i see that story of jesus baptism the dove the voice and still believe that there's only one god another question that we're going to ask and endeavor to answer is is is if there is only one god and jesus is god why does the bible say he is on the right hand of god and the bible says that in several places about jesus at the right hand of god or at the right hand of power and we're going to look what the bible has to say about that another question we're going to ask and endeavor to answer if there is only one god and jesus is god why does god say us several times in the bible why do why does god speak with that that that plural pronoun us why does god use that word and several times in the bible god says us when he is about to endeavor or about to take an action and so we're going to look at at these tonight and we're going to answer these and how are we going to answer these we're going to answer these by building our belief system on the bible alone we've made this case over and over again we are going to look to the bible what does the bible say we are going to allow scripture to interpret scripture if we come across something we don't understand we're going to look for the answer first and foremost in the bible we will allow scripture to interpret scripture and we will look at the bible from the lens of the jewish perspective and we've already established this in previous weeks i'm just using this as a just kind of maybe a refresher for when we walk into it today the bible is an eastern document we know that it's not an american document it's not a western document it's not a greek document the bible is an eastern document even though the new testament is written in koine greek it is written from the eastern jewish perspective and the church was born this is very important to note the church was born in the radical monotheism of second temple judaism so the church in its first 10 years of existence was comprised completely of jews or converts to judaism and and not only what was you know would we say just jews or conference to judaism the entire culture the second temple judaism held the shema the the radical monotheism at such a high ideal and that absolute impact the formation of the church the formation of the belief system of the church and so we're going to look at the bible from the lens of the jewish perspective and when we do that so much becomes clear okay so let's jump right into this let's let's not delay let's get into the first question we ask if i believe there's only one god what do i do with jesus baptism and the voice and the dove and it appears that i've got all these different things going on and how can you say there's one when there's a voice and then there's a dove and then there's jesus in the water surely uh you you can't be so simplistic as to believe that there's only one god after reading that story but let's just stick to the bible let's just stay in the word and i think as we stay in the word we're gonna see that there's no compromise with us declaring that there is only one god and yet at the same time looking at the events surrounding his baptism mark chapter one verse nine and it came to pass in those days that jesus came from nazareth of galilee and was baptized by john in the jordan okay verse 10 and immediately coming up from the water he saw the heavens parting and the spirit descending upon him like a dove i have the he there in orange it's a little lighter in text hopefully you can see that on your screen as you're watching because you'll notice that it's capitalized and oftentimes we will read a verse in the bible with a capital letter a capital s for spirit or capital h for he and we will assume that that definitely means that god is in view or jesus is in view there but what we must be aware of is that in the greek the koine greek in which the new testament was written there are no capital letters so whenever you see a capital letter it is supplied by a translator because they think that maybe this is should be ascribed to deity and so it will capitalize the pronoun like it does here in mark 1 10 in the new king james but if you um we'll just leave that there let's read verse 11. then a voice came from heaven saying you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased okay so we have uh the heavens open opening the spirit descending and then we have this voice that speaks and it appears that jesus is the one who sees all this happening to him and people will look to this and say look it's clear that there are three entities you've got the dove you've got the voice and you have jesus in the water but i'm gonna actually re-read this from the king james version because you'll notice in the king james version that the pronoun is not capitalized what we read in verse 10 so we're going to read the same account you know i like the new king james i use that primarily for my teaching but tonight i'm going to take us to the king james because i think it helps us understand that just because you see a capital letter that is not there in the original that is supplied later by someone using their their judgment and usually good judgment um to signify that that a divine being is in view here and you're not going to see this though in the king james look what it says in the king james and it came to pass in those days that jesus came from nazareth of galilee and was baptized of john in jordan verse 10 and straightaway coming up out of the water he now notice it's not capitalizing the king james the king james does not capitalize the pronouns when they may or may not refer to god it's just it's it's when you read the king james you will not see those pronouns capitalized he saw the heavens open and the spirit like a dove descending upon him many times people will read this passage in a modern rendering and because they see the capital letter they assume that the he has to be referring to jesus they assume that if we can discover who the he is the antecedent who the he is connected to what who that he is talking about who that pronoun belongs to we can absolutely answer this story and you will see that there is absolutely no conflict with our oneness view and this story that we read here in the book of mark okay and so we we see this in verse 11 of the king james again and there came a voice from heaven saying thou art my beloved son and who i am well pleased okay so what we did last week is we would go through an account in the bible like last week we looked at jesus praying right in the garden and we came up with three possible conclusions and we came up with three conclusions based on the most common interpretation of god that is around christianity first is tritheism that there are three separate divine beings there are basically three gods you have god the father god the son and god the holy spirit these are separate beings they have um you know separate you can almost say it this way but separate bodies or or separate presentations um if your eyes could be opened in the spirit you could see all three of them so there's three different beans that's tritheism now we know that the bible absolutely rejects tritheism over and over again and we've already dealt with that but uh the tritheist would say that this shows three separate divine beings in action you've got the sun in the water right you've got the father speaking over the balcony of heaven and then you've got the holy spirit in dove form that descends upon jesus so this clearly shows three divine beings three separate gods or three separate divine beings the trinitarian and one thing we we must note is that the trinitarian will say that there is one god they just don't always understand how to say well there's three and one and many times the it's very confusing in the way they present it um and we've looked at how many times a doctor in the trinity will collapse on itself uh because of some of the tenets of the doctrine do not uh hold up under under any type of um inquiry or any type of of examination but the trinitarian view says this two parts of the godhead are giving witness to jesus identity so you've got this one god but but you've got these three separate personalities that comprise this one god and so two parts of the godhead or two of the personalities of are are somehow giving witness to the third personality and and that would be the trinitarian understanding of this passage well what does the oneness perspective say how do we as one as people read about this story of jesus being baptized the dove and the voice how do we look at that and say there's only one god and jesus is god and we've looked at verse after verse after verse that clearly establishes the fact that jesus is god so how do we reconcile all of this well the oneness view simply says this number one the incarnation does not limit god the incarnation does not limit god while being incarnate god never stopped being omnipresent okay and i let me use this little example here and and i i think all of us will be able to wrap our heads around this okay um and if you want to take the slide off for a few moments while i use this example you're welcome to is in this building right now i'm gonna guess there are with the media and with our deaf ministry and the different people that are here we might have 15 people right now in the building before me and maybe my account might be off by one or two but in this large building i believe that right now as i'm standing in the pulpit right now that god could speak a message to me right now god could speak to me and i also believe that god could speak to all 15 of people in this room a completely different message at the exact same moment in time i believe while god is speaking to me god could speak to brother ellis i believe god could speak to brother lions i believe god could speak to to brother jay i believe god could speak to brother renee i believe god could speak to each of us individually a different message at the exact same moment in time in fact while god is speaking to all 15 of us in here 15 different messages at the exact same moment in time i believe god could speak to someone on the east coast at the exact same moment and i believe while he's speaking to that person on the east coast and speaking to us 15 here in this sanctuary he could speak to somebody in europe and another person in africa and another person in south america and another person up in the north pole and another person stationed in antarctica all over the world and someone down under in australia i believe god could speak to all of us at the exact same moment in time and have a different unique message for every single one of us why do i believe that because i i know that god is everywhere and i know just as god is here in the sanctuary right now god has is doing a work in australia and god's doing a work in new york and god's doing a work on the continent of africa and god is doing a work wherever you look and there are people expressing faith towards him god is doing a work and so while god is doing a work here i believe that god is also doing a work at the exact same moment in all kinds of places with all kinds of individuals around this world and all of us whenever i use that example people always say well of course of course that's that's that's easy to grasp i believe that god can speak to me and be speaking to somebody else a completely different message at the exact same moment because we understand god doesn't have the limitations we have absolutely god can do that he is everywhere his divine presence can be manifest in that way well if i believe that if i believe god could speak to a thousand people spread all over the world at the exact same moment in time and speak a thousand unique messages a message for each individual because i i know my god doesn't have the limitations that i have my god is omnipresent he is there and he can do that then why do i think because the bible says that that that in jesus the fullness of the godhead was manifest bodily in him dwells all the forms of the godhead body why do i think that somehow limits god why do i think that just because jesus is the image of the invisible god that somehow god is now limited and god can't still be god and anywhere he wants in the world and god still can't speak anywhere he wants to speak and god still can't move anywhere he wants to move it is a fallacy to say that the incarnation limits god that somehow the flesh where god was incarnate in flesh and we saw him in the person of jesus christ that somehow meant that god stopped being god on the far end of the universe that's not true so we we we we claim just boldly the incarnation does not limit god while being incarnate god never stopped being omnipresent so the very fact that i see jesus in the water and i see a voice speaking that does nothing to diminish my understanding of god because i understand that god can can manifest himself in multiple ways in many ways at the same moment at the same instant because he's god and he's omnipotent and he's omnipresent he is everywhere and he is unlimited in his power and his ability to manifest himself so the incarnation does not limit god the incarnation reveals god jesus is the ultimate manifestation of god jesus is the image of the invisible god in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily all these verses we've already looked at jesus said you've seen me you've seen the father before abraham was i am all these verses that clearly identify jesus as the one true god of the bible and yet god never stopped being god on the far side of the universe at the same time his image was manifest in the flesh and became visible in the person of jesus christ and so the fact that there's a voice and jesus in the water does nothing to diminish my understanding of the oneness of god and some people will say well what do you do with it what do you do with the dove surely the dove stands out well why was this vision given and the second answer we'll put the slide back up this is given as a sign of jesus identity and remember we wanted to understand who is the he referring to there who is the he referring to who saw this vision well the bible gives us the answer who saw this vision let's turn to the book of john chapter 1 and it will answer who the he should be attached to who that pronoun belongs to in john chapter 1 verse 32 and john john the baptist bear record saying i saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it about upon him verse 33 and i knew him not he said i didn't know who the messiah was i didn't know who the savior was but he that sent me to baptize with water in other words god spoke to him one day and said the same said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizes with the holy ghost this vision of the dove this was given to john the he there is referring to john john saw this and this was a witness for john that john would recognize that this jesus is the messiah this jesus is the savior and now why did john have to have this vision to understand who the messiah was well let's just stop and think about it jesus and john are cousins they're cousins what if your cousin showed up some of you thinking brother lopez you don't know my cousins we all have cousins right what if one of your cousins showed up and claimed to be the savior claimed to be the mustang the messiah right he'd be like bro i know you i know you cuz and it would be very difficult to wrap your head around the fact that your cousin a member of your family is the long-awaited messiah is the savior of your people and john was given a sign from god that the one that you have this vision of the one where where you will see a vision this this does not mean that the holy spirit is a dove that that does not mean that it does not mean that that that the holy spirit touched jesus for the first time and and this when this vision took place that's not what this means what this means is that this is a sign given to john so john would know that jesus is in fact the messiah yes he is your cousin yes there have been rumors about his birth and there's been accusations about his mother uh getting pregnant before she was married and there's been all the these rumors that have gone around but but god wants john to know you have a mission you are to prepare the way for the coming messiah and this is the one who is the messiah when you baptize him you will see a vision and john is the one that had this vision it does not mean that the holy spirit is a dove what it means is that john had a vision that made clear to him that jesus is the messiah so when i just stay in the word there's nothing here that somehow forces me to say well there has to be more than one god because one the holy spirit is not a dove this was a visible sign given to john so he would recognize who the messiah would be and and it would be foolish to say well this is the first time that the spirit ever touched jesus the bible says jesus was given the spirit without measure he's god in the flesh he he is he is a could we talk about his humanity he is a human being that was completely filled with the spirit of god the godhead the fullness of the god had dwelt in him bodily he had the spirit the bible says with not without measure and so it would be foolish to say well this is the first time that the spirit touched the life of jesus that that would completely underdo undo and undermine the teaching of the bible as to the divine identity of jesus and we reject dynamic monarchianism dynamic monarchism teaches that jesus did not become a divine being until his baptism we reject that we absolutely reject that we believe that when he came into the world when he was born and born of a virgin we believe he came in fulfillment of isaiah 9 6 that the son is the everlasting father that the the son is the mighty god we don't believe that happened at a at a later point in time we believe that this is jesus divine identity when he came into the world and so don't think that the this holy spirit is is trapped in the form of a dove this was a visible sign given to john it was a vision so john would recognize who the messiah is because there were many claiming to be the messiah and john had this understanding yes he's my cousin yes i've known him all my life i'm about six months older than him but you know what he is the one i have a clear witness from god that he is the one who is the savior of the world so there's nothing in that story that in any way undermines my my understanding that there's only one god well let's talk about god's god's right hand in hebrews chapter 10 verse 12 it says but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of god people will read this and and they will throw these verses at us and say see it it's clear that you've got god and then jesus standing next to him and they have to be separate they can't be the same hebrews 12 2 looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of god first peter 3 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of god angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him let's do one more acts 7 55-56 and this is talking about when stephen was being stoned but he being full of the holy spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of god and jesus standing at the right hand of god and said look i see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of god and here we are in america in 2021 and we read these verses and it would appear at the outset at the initial glance of these verses that we would see god and jesus being separate because it taught it's talking about jesus being on the right hand of god or jesus being at the right hand of the throne of power and it's talking about a position like you know geographic location he god's here and jesus is here or the throne is here and jesus is here and at first glance we would look at this and we say well it's it sure does seem like there's more than one there because it's talking about location so let's look at the conclusions here the way we've been kind of doing this the tritheist would look at these verses and say well jesus is a separate divine being who is physically placed on the right side of a greater god the father is the greatest of the three the most prominent with the most power and jesus as like junior and i'm not being belittling but but as junior is on his right hand he he is god but but really almost a a lesser god he does not have the prominence of the father and if you read some of the uh the statements of tertullian that that's kind of the the conclusion tertullian came to he's that uh jesus is in the second place and the the spirit is in the third place so there was a ranking in tertullian's mind of how we should separate out uh these divine beings okay then you you have the trinitarian now i have an asterisk here because um if you talk to the uh the when i say the everyday trinitarian you know just the the typical trinitarian believer they will most often because i've had in you know engagement and conversations with with many people as we're trying to uh understand what we believe as we look to the bible what we believe about god what we believe about jesus i've had many of these conversations most trinitarians think this is showing jesus as a unique person who is an ex in an exalted place they will they will say and i will go back to one of my friends in seminary we were going to seminary together and he obviously not of our our persuasion and he made it very clear that that he you know in his view of the trinity you've got to believe that there are three and and they're separate really he tended towards tritheism but he says when you look at verses like this it's very clear that you need to see that they're not the same that they're not uh they're two different beings or two different persons and you've got to see them this way and that was his rendering of the trinity because he would look at verses like this now i put the asterisks there because that's maybe kind of the the common everyday trinitarian response but if you talk to trinitarian scholars people that that that have given themselves to the study of scripture they usually don't give that response they usually give a different response and i'm gonna give you that response now that that that is a trinitarian scholar the trinitarian scholars i've interacted with have given this third response not the typical response but this third response that i'm about to share with you and the response that they usually give is the response that aligns with oneness doctrine because they understand the bible and they understand that if you start saying these other things you now are walking towards tritheism and you are leaving the message of the bible where there is only one god and so they recognize we can't go there and so a scholar is going to be very careful and not to make some of these claims that others would make and not realizing that what they're saying is actually leading them to the conclusion that there's more than one god and and a scholar who is faithful to the word or endeavoring to be is going to work hard to still affirm that there's only one god even if they're going to explain him in a way that is really doesn't always align with scripture they're going to try to endeavor to hold on to that and so the oneness interpretation or the oneness conclusion is this the terminology of scripture speaks of jesus supremacy over all and and and i've talked with with you know some teachers and some scholars and that's their view as well is that no it doesn't mean that that that there's there's two or three or four or five you know different beings walking around in heaven that language is biblical language that talks about jesus supremacy overall and in matthew 28 18 jesus said all power is given unto me in heaven and earth jesus said i have all power if if jesus was a a separate being from god the father jesus there's been some type of coup there's been some type of insurrection and and the son has overthrown the father and taken all power from him well we know that's that's just not the bible jesus could say that all powers can be in heaven earth because that's his true identity he is fully god he has all power colossians 1 18 says that jesus is to have the preeminence that with that our worship our praise our love our devotion it is to jesus he has the preeminence he is the ultimate manifestation of god to us okay and so there's a man by the name of ff bruce and i have several of his books in my library i i like to fill my library with the books of scholars who have a very high view of scripture who believe this is the inspired infallible and inerrant word of god and ff bruce has a very very the late ff bruce he passed away in 1990 he has a very high view of scripture in fact ff bruce had such a high view of scripture he in many ways he's a historian he argued that the gospels should be considered historical documents and what do you mean by that he said just like you read a history book if you read some ancient journal from ancient rome or ancient greece and you would read that journal and you would understand that it actually represents the history of that day the gospels accurately represent the history of their day they are historical documents and they are they are accurate and he showed for example the census of the caesar where where joseph and mary had to go back and to to uh for the census that took place there in bethlehem and he talks about how this is historically accurate you read the gospels and the events surrounding the gospels and the gospels should be considered historically reliable they are historical documents he made that argument and he's he as an evangelical scholar really just with his high view of scripture says that what we read in the bible is true it is right it is accurate so these are the scholars i like to have in my library that have such a high view of the bible and this is what f brew says when he he sees the language in the new testament about the right hand of god and you have to again we allow the bible to interpret the bible we allow scripture to interpret scripture this is what ff bruce says he says that no literal location is intended was as well understood by christians in the apostolic age as it is by us they knew that god has no physical right hand or material throne where the ascended christ sits beside him to them the language denoted the exaltation and supremacy of christ as it does to us so what is he saying there he's saying that whenever you read in the new testament about jesus being at the right hand of god you need to understand that through the lens of the jewish perspective because in the hebrew scriptures the right hand of god is significant the right hand of god is actually it many times it's poetic language and it refers to the ultimate place of power the ultimate place of authority when it talks about and we're going to look at some verses in a few moments about god's right hand and and the activities of god's right hand so it's a very jewish concept to talk about the right hand of god and so when bruce looks at these these um statements in the new testament he says he says it is foolish or it is unwise to think it's talking about a physical location that's not what the bible is doing in the apostolic age when these jews spoke these words or wrote these words and they're now recorded in our new testament these words are not talking about a physical location where there's different beings you're seated here and you're standing here and your position here that's not what's going on and i'm going to read the quote again he said they knew that god has no physical right hand or mature throne where the ascended christ sits beside him to them the language denoted the exaltation and supremacy of christ as it does to us he's saying whenever you see the right hand of god mention the new testament you need to understand that is a jewish concept talking about the ultimate place of power and authority and that last passage we looked at in acts chapter 7 about stephen when he's being stoned to death and he makes this statement that he saw jesus at uh let me go back and so that i don't misquote it he said look i see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of god um so on and so forth so let's continue that story because as we continue that story we will see something interesting develop in acts chapter 7 verse 59 and they stoned stephen as he was calling on god and saying lord jesus received my spirit did you see that when he called upon god he said lord jesus he didn't speak to two people even though he just spoke that i see the heavens open and i see jesus at this this right hand right and he just used that language when he speaks and praises prayer and calls upon god look at what he says lord jesus he doesn't speak to two beans or three beans or four beans he speaks to god because they understood in the apostolic age this is the jewish language that that denotes or speaks of the ultimate place of power and as the story unfolds we realize that he's not seeing two or three or four or five he has seen one he's just using jewish poetic descriptive terminology to to to claim or to declare that jesus is in the ultimate place of power verse 60. then he knelt down and cried out with the loud voice saying lord do not charge him with the sin and when he said this he fell asleep his words he never addresses multiple beings he only speaks to god and when he calls god by his name he says lord jesus so i think that's very clear that we must understand the poetic nature and and really the the hebraism or or the jewish concept that is behind this this presentation of jesus being on the right hand of god and let's go back to ff bruce again that no literal location is intended was as well understood by christians in the apostolic age as it is by us they knew he said he said everyone living in the apostolic age this is when the apostles were alive and writing the new testament we have now they knew that god has no physical right hand or material throne where the ascended christ sits beside him to them the language denoted the exaltation and supremacy of christ as it does to us and so let's look at remember the new testament the church was birthed in the radical monotheism of second temple judaism the church was comprised for its first decade of existence of of jews or converts to judaism everybody in the church up until the family of cornelius had some type of connection some type of jewish heritage or it somehow converted was a proselyte to the jewish faith everyone up until we get to cornelius and cornelius um was a gentile and he was not circumcised so he is considered the first even though he had a relationship with israel he had a relationship with jewish individuals he was not a convert to judaism he had not undergone the right of circumcision to um to come into the jewish religion and so that is the first outsider who comes in so this church its foundation is jewish so they're going to use jewish concepts they're going to use jewish language they're going to use jewish poetic phraseology when they're talking about god and this right hand this is a jewish concept because let's look at psalm 98 verse 1. o sing to the lord a new song for he has done marvelous things his right hand and his holy arm have gained him the victory is this saying that we've got god in heaven and there was a battle one day so god's right arm somehow detached from his body went down and fought the battle and won the victory his right hand and his holy arm have gained him the victory is this language saying that somehow god's right hand detached from his body right and went down and won the victory and after the right hand won the victory it came up and reattached to his body well just as i'm saying that you're like brother lopez that's ridiculous of course it is because you understand when you read that that this is this is a song so this is poetic language and when talking about god's right hand it's talking about his power his might his glory his majesty this is a jewish concept whenever you talk about the right hand of god you're talking about god's power and his glory psalm 118 15-16 again you can see this is what is coloring the language of the new testament we talked about intertextuality a few weeks ago psalm 118 15-16 the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous the right hand of the lord does valiantly the right hand of the lord is exalted the right hand of the lord does valiantly again does this mean that that god's right hand is detached from the rest of him and only his right hand is doing these great things no it's this poetic language whenever you talk about the right hand of god you are talking about about god's ultimate power and god's ultimate authority it's the manifestation of god's power and glory and authority and so when we see jesus and the bible says he's at the right hand of god it's not talking about a physical location ff bruce is so clear he said that's they that never crossed their minds when they spoke those words or wrote those words or read those words because they're bringing the jewish concept of the right hand of god into the conversation they they're they are are speaking from the jewish perspective and we're talking about the right hand they're talking about the place of power and authority so when you say say jesus at the right hand of god you are saying now that jesus is the one with ultimate power ultimate authority so we pray to jesus we worship jesus we call upon jesus jesus is the ultimate manifestation of god and whatever you need you will find it in jesus to him he said in matthew 28 18 that he had all power in heaven and an earth why does he have all power because he's god he's fully god and when you call upon jesus the all of heaven everything that god can do for you can now take place in your life because in jesus is the ultimate manifestation of god everyone said amen so let's let's keep going we're we're moving a little quick today but we're answering some of these questions that get thrown to us about the baptism and the dove and the voice and and and then we get asked about what about him being on on the right hand of god and this that and you see that when we just stay in the bible when we look at it from the jewish perspective how the bible is so clear that when you see jesus you see the father but why does god say us why does god say us i remember when this was first thrown my way i didn't know how to respond to this i didn't know how to to answer this this oh my goodness wow i didn't you know and sometimes we may not even know that's there in the bible but let's look at this genesis 1 26 and god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth oh my goodness what do we do with this god is speaking and he speaks in the first person plural let us make man in our image so a couple questions to whom is god talking because he's having a conversation he's speaking let us make man in our image he's speaking words to whom is god talking i need to answer that question to figure out what's going on here does this show the trinity at work because there are people that will put it out there that this is evidence of the trinity way back in the book of genesis and that this is one of those kind of hidden little clues that would later be revealed later in time after the close of new testament that there is a trinity and they will look to this and say well look it said us an hour clearly there's more than one divine being in heaven does this show the trinity at work how does a jew interpret this verse because remember this this is part of the book of genesis which is a part of of the hebrew scriptures the tanakh it's part of torah so this is this is what we call the pentateuch the first five books uh you know the writings of moses so so this is in a a jewish document how does a jew interpret this verse because the jews had this verse for hundreds and in fact even thousands of years before there was a church how did they interpret this verse that entire time how do they interpret that verse today when the jews are radical monotheists when the jews declare there's only one god how do they handle a verse where god speaks and he speaks in the first person plural how do jews interpret this verse well the answer is actually a very very easy answer it's a simple answer the answer is found in the grammar it's found in the grammar and this is why i tell college students make sure you pay attention in english class because god has communicated in a book and this book is comprised of words sentences and it's given to us and it follows the rules of grammar god has spoken in a way that people can understand what he's saying this book is given to us so we could understand the will of god and so and when you go into the original languages the the ancient hebrew or the koine greek there are rules to those languages just like there are rules to the english language the the grammar rules that we learn and we understand when we're going through school there are rules and this is in the hebrew this is uh i'm going to give you the english rendering so we'll just kind of make it simple this is what is we would call an imperative statement and if you learned in english you learned that there's you know declarative statements there's interrogative statements you know questions there's exclamatory statements you know you end it with an exclamation point right um but then you get imperative statements and what are imperative statements imperative statements are commands they're commands and this is an imperative statement it's it's a command okay that's important to know so let's look at the conclusions that we might come up with as we look at this passage where god says us so the tritheist would say well this shows one divine being commanding another divine being because remember it's a command it's an imperative statement so you've got one divine being that must have more power than the rest and he's commanding the other divine beings to get to work the trinitarian perspective will say one part of the godhead is commanding another part of the godhead and again remember we talked about when you begin to examine the doctrine of the trinity it apps it actually collapses on itself because one of the main tenets of the doctrine of the trinity is that they are co-equal how can you have co-equal beings equal in authority equal and status equal in power how can you have co-equal persons and one is able to command the others it doesn't work it doesn't work just like it failed when we talked about jesus prayer in the garden it fails here as well they cannot be co-equal if one is able to command the others okay so what does the oneness perspective say well we believe that god is speaking to the angelic host that was present at creation and this is the jewish viewpoint from this verse as well as in 322 and 11 7 because those are other places in genesis where god speaks in the first person plural and in each of these cases we believe the jewish perspective is that god is speaking to the angelic host okay so i'm going to read to you i have in the pulpit with me tonight uh the jerusalem targum and i have several of the targums in my library and somebody's saying well what's a target brother lopez a targum uh when israel went into captivity obviously israel they spoke the the hebrew language but through their their time of captivity uh babylon and persia and then returning and then you've got you know greece uh conquering the world and then you've got the roman empire coming on the scene and and in time we see where the hebrew language began to diminish in usage among the people of israel even those that came back and and those that returned they the hebrew language was going to be used in the religious documents right the uh the law and the writings of the prophets those were going to be in hebrew so on and so forth but the everyday language spoken was going to be aramaic and the common documents of the day were going to be in aramaic and so when they were in synagogue they would read from the jewish scriptures and then they would give a paraphrase into the aramaic so people could understand what was being said and this is because the hebrew language itself its you should really begin to diminish among the jewish people as they return from exile and as all these world events are happening and these world powers are dominating the region and so uh at first these these renderings or these paraphrases if the aramaic were were strictly oral they they were actually forbidden at first to be written down it was strictly oral but in time they began to be recorded and out of these recordings we have what's referred to now as the aramaic bible and what is interesting is it gives us insight into the jewish understanding of their own scriptures because as the scribes would paraphrase the hebrew into the aramaic they would oftentimes give an explanation of what's happening in the hebrew they would give an explanation of what's going on so one reason i like having the and i have three targums for the book of genesis in my office i have the jerusalem targum i have targum neofiti and then i also have uh targum ankylos and i just i'll look through and kind of see how each of these targets will handle particular verses in the book of genesis i love the book of genesis and i'll i will look there well in the jerusalem targum this is how it reads in the aramaic bible of the jerusalem targum this is what it says and god said to the angels who minister before him who are created on the second day of the creation of the world let us make man in our image in our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds that are in the air of the heavens and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth now i'm not going to stand in the pulpit and bring one of the targums and on a sunday morning open the target and preach from the target i'm not going to do that but i will absolutely use it in my studies to get an understanding of how the jews perceive and understand and interpret these passages because here i am as an american all these thousands of years removed and if i'm not careful i will bring western modern concepts and i will overlay those over the bible and i'll end up coming up with an interpretation that is so far from the original uh meaning of the text so i want to go back and see how did the jews who received this first this came to them first how did they understand this passage when they see the first person plural god said let us make man in our image and they understood that this is god speaking to the angelic host that is present working with him during creation i came across a a a blog called excavator and it's written by dr robert cargill and robert cargill wrote an article how not to read targum neofiti and it's one of the targets that i referenced a few moments ago he said how not to read targum neofiti and he wrote this article actually in response to a man by the name of mark driscoll now you don't know who mark driscoll is you can google him i have some feelings about the way brother mark driscoll has handled scripture and is handled he is not friendly to oneness apostolics in any way shape or form and he's very very very harsh towards those that hold our apostolic views and and he um he would almost call him a a trinitarian fundamentalist he is hardcore like if you have to believe the trinity or there's no hope for you that that just very very extreme and so he is going mark driscoll's going to the book of genesis saying look you can find the trinity in the book of genesis and dr robert cargill's like wait wait wait wait wait dr robert cargill he's the assistant professor of classics and religious studies at the university of iowa and so this is this is what he wrote when he said wait wait you if you're going to do that you are you are mishandling scripture and he this is what he said i'm going to give you two quotes from this article he said trinitarian apologists have looked to the old testament for trinitarian evidence for millennia and pointed to genesis 1 for evidence of the trinity is easily refuted he said the trinity is not there you're not going to find the trinity in the hebrew scriptures especially in genesis chapter one and then the next quote from this this article he said another tactic used by trinitarian apologists is claiming that the us in genesis 1 26 let us create man in our image can only be explained by the trinity this view is either ignorant or dismissive of the more widely accepted scholarly interpretation of this verse as employing the royal we that is god speaking to his royal court of angels etc think of the book of job and we already talked about job in the throne room in heaven so on and so forth in a previous lesson so we have this scholar who's not an apostolic he's not one of ours but he has said you you are misguided if you're going to go to genesis 1 and think that this language somehow supports or proves that there's a trinity it's not there the jews don't interpret it that way and we shouldn't either genesis 1 26 let's go back and look at this and then god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air over the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth then look at verse 27 so god created man in his not their own image if there are multiple beings that work here if god is commanding members of the divine committee hey you know and again i'm not i'm i don't want to be disrespectful but but you know he's commanding this this you know son you've got to do this and and holy spirit you've got to do this and i'm going to do this then the language would not be in in the singular form here it would be in the plural form it would say god created man in their own image that's not the language of the bible so god created man in his own image why does it say his because there is only one god there is only one creator god created man in his own image in the image of god he not they he created him male and female he created them if we just stay in the word if we just stay in the word the truth of the bible is going to speak to us let's look at another case where we see this first person plural uh isaiah 6 verse 8 also i heard the voice the lord saying and the lord there is adonai i heard the voice of adonai of the lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us then i said here am i send me and again people will look at this and say oh look look uh you know there's god's speaking in the plurality there but let's go back let's start with verse one in the year that king uzziah died i saw the lord singular not lords lord singular okay he said i looked up and this is what i saw the lord one lord not multiple i saw the lord singular sitting on a throne not thrones there's not multiple thrones there's one lord on one throne high and lifted up and the train of his singular again his robe filled the temple verse two above it stood seraphim now i have that in that that orange color there because i want you to note the presence of angels in this vision or in this this this whatever's happening to isaiah if he's transported into the throne room or if it's a vision of the throne room whatever he's encountering there are angels that are a part of this the seraphim these angelic beings above it stood seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet with two he flew verse three and one cried to another holy holy holy is the lord now that is the covenant name of god the tetragrammaton yahweh or jehovah holy holy holy is yahweh of host the whole earth is full of his glory there's only one god verse four and the post of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke verse five so i said woe is me for i am undone because i'm a man of unclean lips and i do in the midst of a people of unclean lips he recognized his sinfulness for my eyes have seen the king singular look at this every way god is described in this passage it's singular one lord one throne yahweh the king his it's all singular my eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts then we get to verse six then one of the seraphim there's these angels these angelic beings again involved in this this this occurrence that isaiah is experiencing then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a life coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar verse 7 and he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged verse 8 also i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us i think it's very clear just like we saw in genesis here in isaiah that when god is speaking and he speaks in that first person plural he's not talking about members of the divine committee that comprise the godhead he is referring to the angelic host that is with him that is present with him in that heavenly throne room so when he says us it doesn't mean there's multiple gods he is including the angels in the conversation it's clear here in the book of isaiah and it's clear in the book of genesis when god says us he is including the angels in his conversation so it is clear that god involves the angels in his interactions with humanity job 38 3-7 shows the angels present and active at creation now it's not in the slide but i'm going to read these verses to you real fast just so you'll know that we're in the bible this is job 38 3-7 now prepare yourself like a man i will question you and you shall answer me where were you when i laid the foundations of the earth tell me if you have understanding who determined its measurements surely you know or who stretched the line upon it to what were its foundations fastened or who laid its cornerstone verse seven when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of god shouted for joy job this passage in job where god himself is speaking makes it very clear that the angels were present and were involved with the act of creation so we see what we read in genesis 1 is god speaking to the angelic host and when we stay in the word if truth his truth becomes so clear in genesis and in isaiah god is speaking to the angels both the grammar and the context show god is not speaking to an equal he is addressing his celestial host he is speaking to the angels who minister before him and all these passages we looked at today whether it was the story of jesus baptism was passage that talked about jesus being at the right hand of the throne of power or it was the passage where we see god speaking and it's in the first person plural none of these passages contradicts the monotheistic message of the bible not one of them if we stay in the word we get the right answer because we allow scripture to interpret scripture we allow the bible to explain itself and it does and when you look at it through the lens of the jewish perspective it becomes so clear the message that is being conveyed in the words of this book the bible presents the unique role of jesus we talked about last week him being the son of god he is the union of humanity and divinity that's what it means when we talk about him being the son of god that's the unique role of jesus and whenever the bible refers to him as being the son it's referring to that unique role of the union of divinity and humanity accomplishing redemption for mankind the language of the bible must be understood in light of the jewish mindset and i hope you've picked that up this is the sixth week of this study series i hope you picked it up that when you look at the bible through the lens of the jewish perspective for example the right hand of god becomes so clear that there's only one god and there's nothing in this bible that contradicts the message that there is only one god the incarnation does not limit god i made that point last week i'm going to make it again right now the incarnation does not let me god it reveals god but the incarnation does not limit god so to summarize everything we've looked at today there is one lord god who is at once god the father the lord jesus christ known in scripture as the son of god and the holy spirit god the father the lord jesus christ and the holy spirit are all expressions of god in the roles he fills in our lives and this is what we've looked at the past five weeks and including this lesson today there is only one god whether i see him as father that god transcended that god above him i see him as god incarnate jesus christ my savior or i see him as god imminent god's presence that comes to live in my life and i'm filled with the holy ghost filled the holy spirit there is only one god first corinthians 12 4 this will be the last verse we look at tonight first corinthians 12 4 and you'll see what paul will do and many new testament many biblical writers will do this they will state the same thing but they'll state it in multiple ways it's a feature that you find uh in psalms especially you find it sometimes in proverbs you'll find that that where they the exact idea or concept will be repeated it'll just be stated in different ways and look what we have here in first corinthians 1 4 there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of ministries but the same lord and there are diversities of activities but is the same god who works all in all if i'm going to look at this from a western perspective i'm going to say well there there are three and the holy spirit takes care of the gifts the lord takes care of ministries and god takes care of activities but if you understand what paul's doing he is saying the same thing three different ways and he is using these terms spirit the lord and god interchangeably he is saying the same thing three different ways there are diversities of gifts or or how god wants to work in your life we we might operate in the spirit in different ways but it's it's the same spirit there's not multiple gods that work in our lives and we might have different ministries brother ellis has a different ministry from brother lopez and and i have a different ministry from pastor haney and go but it's the same lord the same spirit that's at work and there are differences of activities we might go about doing different things to advance the kingdom of god but it's the same spirit it's the same lord it's the same god at work in our lives so however the bible describes god whether it describes him as the holy spirit at work in our midst or describes god in the incarnation in jesus christ or describes god in his transcendence and his act of creator as father we need to recognize that the bible clearly presents that there is only one god even if the bible describes god with various expressions or in multiple ways or shows him filling multiple roles there is only one god one god in his roles of interaction is working in our lives and so tonight i hope i was able to answer some questions and if you ever are asked some of these questions and sometimes it's difficult right it's difficult to always have a good answer and and uh you know you think well let me get back to you on that i my goal is to give you some tools that you could do some further research on your own and if anything i put in any of these slides could be a resource to you i want to give you tools so that you can confidently open this bible and number one know for yourself that there's only one god but number two as you begin to teach and you begin to share this apostolic message with others you could do it with confidence with boldness knowing this is the message of the bible there is only one god and jesus jesus is god manifest in flesh jesus is the image of the invisible god jesus is god who became a man to save us to reach us to love us and to help us as the musicians and and the music team prepares tonight as we close this service i want to pray and invite you to pray with me whatever you need whatever you need the answer is found in jesus you need healing jesus is your healer you need blessings jesus is your blesser you need provision you've got bills you can't pay you've got situations and it feels overwhelming he wants he wants to be your provider you need a miracle he wants to be your miracle worker you need him to open doors he's your waymaker whatever you need and stephen showed us in his last few words here on earth the bible said he called upon god and he said lord jesus when you call upon god call him by his name lord jesus my jesus my king my lord my god my jesus and whatever you need jesus is the answer jesus is the source jesus is the one that can meet that need in your life would you pray with me tonight lord jesus we love you and we love the truth of your word your word nourishes us your word feeds us your word strengthens us your word encourages us and god your word reveals you reveals your glory it reveals your power your word reveals your love and your care for us and i pray tonight that everyone listening everyone watching god that you would do a great work in their lives do a great work in their families do a great work in their homes god i pray that you would heal those who are sick god those that are facing storms and trials that you would manifest your glory in that trial today god those are facing obstacles that you would be the one that would cause the mountain to be removed and cast into the sea you are that god you have that power you could do all things and we call you by your name today jesus we call you by your revealed name we call you o god and we call upon the name that is above every name jesus do this for your people do this for your people tonight in jesus name we pray in jesus name god bless you i pray that you have a great evening tonight and stay in this word stay in this word the words of this book they are spirit and they are life and this word will will nourish you it will feed your soul stay in the word of god we're going to sing and we're going to have a time of consecration and devotion join with us tonight as we sing and we pray in closing out this service god bless you soul my save your god how great thou art [Music] to thee how great thou art how great [Music] [Music] your god see how great how great thou art [Music] your dance [Music] [Music] [Music] my soul [Music] declare it how great thou art [Music] my soul my save your god how great [Applause] you sing it one last time then sings then [Music] if you know what can you sing how great [Music] [Applause] [Music] sing it again sings my soul my savior god great how great thou art how great one last time can we sing it [Music] to together if you know he's great can you sing that to him how great thou art [Music] my soul my your god how great [Music] you

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Id: OJnIUOXkOgo

Length: 102min 10sec (6130 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021