Introduction to The Godhead: The Divine Procession | Steve Benson

Don't ask.

>> Yeah.

>> Well, at least our president's still

with us.

>> Keep praying for him.

Set a record.

>> Amazing country we're living in.

But uh

I guess we can say let not our hearts be

troubled with all the problems.

We can trust in God's word just like the

song says.

This morning we're going to look at uh

we've been got a series that

we're looking at um important sound

doctrines.

And this morning we're going to look at

a term called divine provision.

Divine provision.

Some of you probably know where that's

at.

Turn to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Where we're going to start out this

morning.

How did we get the New Testament?

and a lot of other things. Here we have

specifically in John 15 verse 26

John 15:26

referring

to the who here

in this verse is God the Holy Spirit

and we

don't need to struggle with the fact

that the Holy Spirit is a member of the

Trinity and the Godhead and he is

divine.

He has all the attributes that that God

has.

And you know there there's false

teaching on this. There's wrong teaching

on this that you know somehow God create

God the father created the Holy Spirit

or God the Son created the Holy Spirit

and the Holy Spirit's a creature.

Well, that's not true. The Holy Spirit

is God.

And we've looked at that

uh in numerous verses in the Old

Testament and in the New Testament.

And this verse here in John 15 26

uh says, "But when the comforter is

come, whom I will send unto you from the

father."

So here we have the trinity right here

in this one verse.

If you don't believe in a trinity, how

you how can you understand this? How can

you define this? How can you believe

this?

So we have the comforter who is the Holy

Spirit. We have Jesus who is speaking

and he says the Holy Spirit is going to

come forth from the father. Um and and

he's going to do many things.

And uh one of the things that he is

going to do is to bring us the new

testament.

The holy spirit that proceeds from the

father.

He is of truth and the truth comes from

god.

And that's what this verse says. But

when the comforter who is come whom I

will send unto you from the father and

remember Jesus said go and wait for the

promise from the father. That's how the

book of Luke ends.

And we've seen similar things about the

Holy Spirit. He is going to come and

he's even the spirit of truth. And

here's our word who proceeded. There's a

Greek word proceedth. So this is divine

procession

of this message. And it's about these

things that proceed

from the godhead.

And you guys are familiar with Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. That was we looked at that

when I talked to the young people up at

the retreat.

That's a really good chapter in Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. Don't turn there. But there

we have all of the of gods

of God. I don't know how many's there.

There's numerous ones there.

And it starts with the gospel of God.

So the the gospel is of God. It comes

from God. It proceeds from God. This is

what this verse says. Who proceeds from

the father? The gospel proceeded from

the father. You know the truth proceeded

from the father. The spirit here

proceeds from the father and is sent.

And he's going to do what? He's going to

testify of me. So Jesus even tells us

what his ministry is going to be. And

we've seen that as we've been studying

the Holy Spirit that God the Father has

a will. God the Son has a will and that

that will work together. And God the

Father says he's given everything over

to the Son to judge and the ownership

that he has with us now uh in these

verses that we're going to look at in a

minute. But here he says who proceeds

from the father. And this is the Holy

Spirit proceeds from the father. This is

this divine procession if you will. The

spirit of truth, the spirit of the

father, the spirit of the son. And then

Jesus qualifies this in verse 27.

And you also shall bear witness of me

because you have been with me from the

beginning. Who's that? That's the

apostles. They've been with Jesus since

the beginning. That was a qualification

to be an apostle to having been with

Jesus from the beginning. So the Holy

Spirit is not created. He is a he's

proceeding

um from the father. So this divine

procession if if you will it's similar

to the other words that we have. We have

words like regeneration.

You know, we'll probably have a me whole

message on the regeneration.

We have the atonement. You know, we'll

probably have a whole message on on the

atonement.

So, there are very important doctrines

here, you know, and salvation is by

faith, you know. So, those are great

sound doctrines that, you know, we're

going to look at. And this morning we're

going to look at this divine um

procession that comes from the father.

And uh he he's talking about that here.

And the spirit is the one who gives

life.

And that life we've looked at,

you know, the springtime we we got a lot

coming forth, don't we? There's there's

a lot of, you know, things coming up out

of the ground with life in them. But but

this life is a different life. This life

is is the spirit is eternal life. So God

gives us eternal life and the spirit is

the one who helps with these things and

he proceeds from the father and he's

going to be the gift that the father um

is given to us here. So you know God he

he doesn't have any you know

grandchildren. there's not, you know, a

second Jesus going to come or, you know,

or don't add Mary to the member of the

Godhead.

Um, she's a creature

and and God is a divine. God is the

great giver and of God come, you know,

many many of these things. So again,

from the Godhead, God is going to re

reveal himself and, you know, this is

before the cross. This is before the

ascension. But Jesus says here that he

is going to come. So this prediction is,

you know, what we see over there in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. Don't turn there, but turn

back to John chapter 8, we're still

John 8 · chapter mention

talking about proceeding from the

Godhead. And back in John chapter 8

John 8 · chapter mention

and in verse 42,

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees here,

you know, and this is where they failed.

You know, we we have to believe that

Jesus is divine. He's a member of the

Godhead. He's the son of God. We as well

have to believe that the Holy Spirit is

a member of the of the Trinity and the

Godhead. So we have the father, the son,

and the holy spirit all part of the

godhead.

And part of this is what they didn't get

when it come to Jesus. And he confirms

this deity here in John chapter 8 and in

John 8 · chapter mention

verse 42. If God were your father, you

would love me. For there's our word, I

proceedth forth and I came from God.

Neither did I come from myself, but he

sent me. So the son proceeds from the

father. The son proceeds from the

godhead just like uh the things that

Jesus told us back there in in John

John 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 about proceeding from the

father. You know he he uh you know John

the Baptist said you know he Jesus has

to increase and I have to decrease. Well

that's that's what this is. The godhead

is increasing. the Godhead is coming

forth with the Son and with the Holy

Spirit. And uh turn over to back to John

John 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 again where we were,

you know, that that's where a lot of

people got confused was is Jesus going

to set up a kingdom or or are we going

to have a church? And that was a lot of

the confusion that they had. And here in

John 15 verse 20 he says remember the

John 15:20

word that I said unto you the servants

not greater than his lord. If they

persecuted me and they have kept my

saying they will keep yours also. So

Jesus is specific to what this truth is

going to be. It's going to be what Jesus

said you know and what proceeds from him

and what proceeds from the father. And

then back in verse uh 22 here, if I had

not come and spoken unto them, they had

no sin. But now they have no cloak for

their sin. He that hateth me hateth my

father also. So the oneness of Jesus

with the father here proceeding. So we

have the trinity here. We have the the

son proceeding from the godhead. We have

the spirit proceeding from the godhead.

We have the truth proceeding from the

godhead. And uh you know all these are

very important things. Turn over to

chapter 16 verse 33.

He says these things have I spoken unto

you

um that you might have peace. The world

you're going to have tribulation but I

be of good cheer. I've overcome the

world. So the things that he spoke to

them, you know, they're going to

remember and they're going to pass those

on on to us.

And then he says in verse three, this is

eternal life that they may know thee.

The only true God and Jesus Christ whom

thou sent true God that proceeds from

the Godhead is Jesus. So um you know he

is our great apostle.

you know, he he's our great high priest.

Uh Jesus is. So, we have a we have a

member of the trinity now that's

speaking about these things that are

going to come and be for those who are

are the followers of him. We have the

deity of the father. We have the the

deity of the son. We have the deity of

the holy spirit. Uh we have all the I

ams in John that Jesus uh gives us here.

And uh you know he's our great apostle.

He is our great

inter intercessory

uh high priest and you know he's going

to go do those things you know so he's

going to send the spirit uh here to

witness to him and he's going to go and

accomplish great things for us and we

have all the I have here in John chapter

John 17 · chapter mention

17

uh there's one in verse 26 I have

declared unto them thy name. So Jesus

made some declarations

and and the Ihavves are all over John

John 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17 here. So these are great

things that he did. And uh if you will

look in chapter 18 verse 5

and here's one of those here's one of

those I ams.

Um and he he says unto them, "Whom whom

do you seek?" They said, "Jesus of

Nazareth." He said unto them, "I am him.

I am he."

And this is the one that Judas betrayed

and stood with them. And soon as they

heard these things, the I am, they went

backwards and fell on the ground. So

here we see uh Jesus deity

um here at the uh as he gets ready to go

to the cross. So he's definitely a

member of the godhead. So

he he is going to send them,

you know, after after the cross, you

know, after the resurrection and after

his ascension, you know, he's going to

send them forth to do what? To to not to

gather up a kingdom. That's what Jesus

says in verse 36. My kingdom is not of

this world. my my servants aren't going

to fight. You know, my kingdom is to

come and uh the truth uh is to come as

well. So, you know, these men became

witnesses of the truth. And just as

Jesus told them back there in in the

earlier chapters about, you know, them

being with him, having been with him in

order to be apostles,

uh those are all important things. And

that's what he says over in Acts chapter

Acts 1 · chapter mention

1 about being the witnesses for him.

And and there were specifically 12 of

them.

Now, if you will turn to Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8.

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And in verse n

here we see

where where Paul says the spirit of

Christ there. We looked at this before.

So here in Romans chapter 8 we have in

Romans 8 · chapter mention

verse 9 we have the spirit of the son

the spirit of Christ.

Um the spirit that comes from Christ.

And that's what the holy spirit did. He

proceeded from the godhead. Not in

create, you know, Jesus didn't create

the Holy Spirit, but this member of the

Godhead came forth for a specific uh

ministry on the earth with the with the

children of God. And here in Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, this, you know, maybe the

best chapter in the whole Bible for us

who are saved because it just really

gives us assurance that we are the

children of God.

And you know Jesus is fully God. The the

father is fully God. The Holy Spirit is

fully God. So Jesus sent forth the

spirit of Christ. And then he says if

you will look in verse 11, but if the

spirit of him that raised Jesus from the

dead, who's that?

Well, that's God the Father

that raised Jesus from the dead, he also

will give life to your mortal bodies by

the spirit that dwells in you. So the

spirit he's divine. He's he comes forth

from the father. He he's a giver of life

and uh he he's going to give life as it

says here to our mortal body. So our

resurrection is connected with this

divine being this one who proceeded from

the father and the son.

You know so these are things that god

wants us to believe about uh the holy

spirit. and and we want to walk by faith

and trust in him. And uh you know these

are all things that we should you know

we should praise God for and worship God

that he sent a divine being uh from the

trinity to dwell in us and to help us

um know that who we are

and the spirit as well it's called the

spirit of adoption.

So the spirit helps us understand our

adoption.

And that's right here in Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8 as well. Look in verse 15.

For you have not received the spirit of

bondage again to fear. You know that's

what we were before we were saved. We

were, you know, we didn't have the Holy

Spirit. You know, we didn't have the

truth. We didn't have the light. We

didn't have the gospel. There's a lot of

things that we didn't have, but we have

received

the spirit of adoption.

So, you know, it's nothing we ask for.

It's something that God did. He gave us

uh the Holy Spirit for a purpose. Uh

that we might cry, "Aba, Father." He

wants us to know God as our father.

and uh and we're hes and we have the

spirit bearing witness with our spirit.

Now look over in verse 23

he says and not only they but we

ourselves who have the first fruits of

the spirit.

So you know that's what God has done.

He's he has given us the first fruits

uh being the holy spirit. you know, the

the Jews would would offer their first

fruits to God, you know, and and and

just say, you know, thank God that, you

know, he's blessed us and, you know,

we're we're going to have food. So those

first fruits were, you know, and I, you

know, how they worshiped, you know,

praise God for what he has given. So the

first fruits that God has given us here

is the Holy Spirit and we grown within

ourselves waiting for the adoption of

the body. So only half our adoption has

been done. The first half is our soul

has been adopted. He's g God gave us

eternal life. That's the first fruits.

And then eventually the Lord's going to

come back and he's going to empty out

the graves. Right?

So he's now, you know, to the victor

goes the spoils.

You know, that's one of the rules of

war. You know, if you defeat somebody,

then you know, their their stuff is

yours. That's one of the rules of war.

And here Jesus has, you know, he's won

everything for us. He's the victor.

And you know, this victory is is

We receive. That's what it says. We

receive. We don't ask for. We don't

merit.

You know, we receive

uh the spirit. We receive these things.

The spirit of Christ and the spirit of

the father and and these uh and this

dual purpose here then of of him

redeeming our souls and he's going to

redeem our body.

Are we going to have to say, "God, will

you redeem my body?" Hang on.

No, these things just come to us because

of the work of Christ

and we're to walk in them. I go to

Colossians 1.

Colossian

you know that's that's the wonderful

thing about about God's word is that you

know it's the truth it's so practical

you know and uh we children can

understand this

and the Colossians they were you know

they were seeking other things they

weren't content to be in Christ

you know so Paul starts out here in

verse 9 he says for this call since the

day we heard of it to not cease to pray

for you and desire what's Paul's desire.

He's an apostle. This is what Jesus

desires for his church that you might be

filled with the knowledge of his will

and all wisdom and spiritual

understanding

and then do something with it. Walk

worthy of the Lord to all pleasing and

being fruitful in every good work,

increasing in the knowledge

of God.

uh strengthened with all might according

to his glorious power unto all patience

and longsuffering with joyful being

filled with joy

and giving thanks to the father

worshiping God for this and God thank

you for what you've done you've you know

you've given me everything in Christ

you've freely given me the holy spirit

you've freely given me the uh the

salvation that I I have so you know the

The whole trinity has been involved in

our salvation and still is. And you

know, Jesus is at the right hand of the

father and uh we're benefiting greatly

from his uh from his work

on our behalf. So this is what Jesus

meant back there in John 15:26 when he

John 15:26

said you know the the the these things

are going to proceed

uh this divine provision

uh is going to proceed

from the father. So you know the spirit

of Christ, the spirit of the father, you

know that he proceeds from the godhead

and he comes along beside us and bible

says he's our great comforter

to walk with us. And then Jesus, you

know, he he's taken complete ownership

of us. You know, he didn't just buy half

of us or just buy our, you know, our

souls and he's going to leave our bodies

on the earth.

No, this redemption

includes our old sinful bodies. You

know, we need a new one, don't we? You

know, and we're going to get a new one

someday. So, these things have all been

poured out on us by God the Father, by

God, God the Son, and by God the Holy

Spirit.

And this is what Jesus said back in John

in chapter 3 and verse 8 there where he

said, you know, the spirit blows where

he wills. It's, you know, he's

sovereign. So, you know, he's going to

bring people in uh through the gospel

and he's going to add them to the church

as he see fit.

So when Jesus told Nicodemus,

except you be born again, you know, and

it it's an it's and except and it's a

must.

We must be born again. And except we be

born again, we won't see the kingdom of

God. And that's what the Holy Spirit

does. He comes to help us with the

gospel. when when those you know share

us the gospel with us. He he he has

taken on the the sanctification of us

you know that's that's his job. Uh he's

he's he's helping us to to become more

and more like Jesus.

Second Timothy,

remember to second Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

I when Jesus said, "We can't see the

kingdom of God unless we've been born

again." Paul said it like this, "Flesh

and blood

will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Well, if those things are true, then you

know, we want to make sure we understand

what the new birth is and what

regeneration is and what it is that

proceeds from the father.

And and it's like uh the Old Testament

prophet said, salvation is of the Lord.

You know, so God is is doing something.

God has done something

and he's done it through his son. And

here

we are in First Timothy. I'm sorry,

second. I keep saying

first. It's second Timothy chapter 1, a

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

verse you're all familiar with.

But you know, God

gets all the credit for for our

salvation because he's, you know, we're

dead in trespasses and sins. We can't

save ourselves.

We can't even offer one good work. You

know that Spurgeon said that. He said,

"There's two reasons I can't go to

heaven. One is God won't accept any good

works. And secondly, I can't do any good

works."

So trust in Christ. give rid of all this

other uh activity trying to climb up to

God some other way come God's way

and and Paul says now is made manifest

by the peering of our savior so I mean

everything that was in the old testament

years and years and years and centuries

and centuries and you know and 400 years

between the last prophet and and John

the Baptist coming on the scene and

again John was the last prophet But John

said, you know, he everything's he here

he is.

Here he is our savior,

perfect savior.

And that's what verse 10 says here. But

now it's made manifest by the appearing

of our savior. God is doing something.

When God does something, it's done

right.

And Jesus Christ, what? Look what he

did.

He abolished death

and he has brought life

and immortality to light through the

gospel. So God can give us life.

And God can give us light now, not

through something that we've done or

could do. We're dead in trespasses and

sins. Salvation is of the Lord. He did

this.

And then Paul says,"I appointed a

preacher and an apostle and a teacher to

the Gentiles." Paul says, "It's all

right here. Don't add to it. Don't add

anything to it. Don't take anything away

from it.

The salvation is of the Lord. Salvation

is is in Jesus Christ. God has abolished

death and brought life and immortality

to light through one person and one act,

his son."

And then what are we to do? Well, Paul

says, "Hold fast verse 13,

the form of sound words which you heard

from me in faith and love which is in

Christ Jesus." So we want to we want to

hang on to that and hang on to this.

This is from God. This proceeds from

God. The gospel does. And the abolishing

of death and and the giving of life and

the bringing of life. All these things

are what God has promised

and that's what the apostles said. This

God promised us remember

and they crucified

their Messiah.

But the Gentiles,

we've been grafted in. That's Paul says,

"Teacher to the Gentiles." So now we

understand what happened. Wow. God did

all this for me through his son giving

me life and and and now I should I

should uh worship this great God.

I should praise this great God. I should

thank this great God. I should stick to

what this great God has to say about

these eternal things.

And how did God do it?

How did God do it? He did it through

those things that proceed from him.

Verse nine

who saved us. That's what we need. We

need to be saved. We need a savior. We

need this redemption.

And then he says, and he's called us

with a holy calling,

not according to our works.

God didn't say, "Well, you know, well,

so and so, he's a pretty good guy, so

I'm going to save him because I know

he'll do a good job with Christianity."

That's not the way this works at all.

Everything is a gift of God to us in his

son.

our election, our calling, our

justification, our sanctification, our

glorification.

All those things are a free gift

that God has given to us in his son. And

now hold fast to this, you know, hold

here's where it's at. It's in the word

and and the ministry of the word and the

power of the word and the living word

comes and does a great work in our

hearts and in our lives. That's what he

says to Timothy here in at the end of

chapter 13 about the scripture.

And you know these are you know that

God's commandments are divine.

You know God's gospel is divine. When we

take God at his word when we read a

promise it's a promise of God. It's not

a promise of Ben.

It's a promise of God. That's why Paul

said to the Corinthians that he wanted

their faith to stand in the power of

God, not in the wisdom of men.

People who aren't sure about whether

they're saved or aren't sure whether

about anything, you know, they need the

word of God. They need this sound

doctrine. They need to hear from God.

They need to know the promises of God

who can't lie

so our faith can rest in him.

And then here here's the here's how we

face death. You say, "Is this going to

change or what about when I get ready to

die there?" Nope. We have it all. We're

ready to die. We're ready to go to the

to the next life. Yeah, flesh and blood

cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But

guess what? Those who have been born

again can.

And that's why Paul fought

the fight and preached the word as he

told Timothy to do. And then he says, I

fought a good fight. Verse 7, finished

my course and I've kept the faith.

There's not more.

This is it. We don't need anything else.

We have God's word and we have God the

God behind his word and the promises

that he has given to us. So that's what

the scripture tells us, you know, and um

these are the very things that people

wanted to leave,

you know, they they don't like it. They

don't like sound doctrine. They don't

like God's promises. They don't like God

salvation being a free gift. And that

was the battle that Timothy fought. You

know, he says here in the last times,

all these things are going to happen.

People just just walk away from sound

doctrine and the truth.

And we're in a fight. And Timothy was in

a fight. Paul was in a fight for these

things.

So that's that's the power that indwells

that dwells within us is this the the

things that have proceeded from God. The

the Holy Spirit indwells us. Turn over

to Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 1. So how do we get into

Acts 1 · chapter mention

God's kingdom?

Um we have to come through Christ.

And if any man be in Christ, he is a new

creation. You there's countless verses

on this. But that's God's here. Here's

the deal with God.

He says, "You come to me through my son

and and I'll give you a gift, a gift of

eternal life

and and prepare us for heaven."

And that's the new birth. That's

regeneration.

Someday we'll look at that. And then

here we have the birth of the church.

You know the

you know the law

Jesus put an end to the law.

Now it's there to for a school master to

bring us to Christ. Don't take that too

far. But now we have Christ. We have all

this freedom in Christ. So

uh we're born again.

And here the church

uh in Acts chapter 2, here's the birth

Acts 2 · chapter mention

of the church. I'm getting ahead of

myself. Start back in chapter 1

in verse three.

He says, "And he showed himself alive

after his passion by many infallible

proofs, being seen of them 40 days." So

from the time that Jesus rose from the

dead until he ascended, he spent 40 days

with them

specific thing, you know, and we can go

back and look at what he did and why he

did it and all those things are are

extremely important.

But after 40 days, the time come. Jesus

is leaving.

And he's going to send the promise of

the father. Here

in verse four, the promise of the father

and he and he says he likens it to in

verse five, John baptized with water. He

says, "Now the Holy Spirit's going to

baptize you with water." No, that's not

what he said.

These are two different things.

And we're baptized into the body of

Christ when we're born again.

We're raised from the dead spiritually

and we're imputed into the body of

Christ by God, the Holy Spirit. That's

what this says.

And then uh and the power of it, verse

eight, we've looked at this numerous

times um in our study of the Holy

Spirit. But but the church has a birth

date and the birth date of the church is

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 is on the day of Pentecost.

So,

you know, there there's a reason for the

timing of this, and we'll look at that

in a different time and in a different

message. But what I want to zero in

today is there in verse three and in

verse four, he says at the end of verse

two or excuse me, end of verse three,

and sat upon each one of them.

And then he says, "And they all

were filled with the Holy Spirit."

Everyone,

you know, not just uh the apostles, not

just you know, the the Steven who was

going to be a martyr

um or or you know, it was everyone. So

now everybody who is born again is born

again by the spirit of God and our our

that that's our new birth date and

that's regeneration. That's when the

spirit puts us in to the body of Christ

that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians

chapters uh 12 through13.

So this is how the spirit begin and

builds the church. You know, it wasn't a

building. It was people. It says here,

each one of them. It says here, all of

them, not just the apostles. So, the

gift of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of

the Holy Spirit come upon every believer

individually,

not to a select

few. It's each and all. And we have no

second generation of the apostles.

You know, Paul never said to Timothy,

"Well, you're going to be the next

apostle." No, he said, "I'm I'm I'm the

last of the apostles."

You know, and God used these apostles

and these men to accomplish these great

things. Um, that's what Paul says back

there in Corinthians about

all the people that seen Jesus. He was

seen by above 500.

And you know, all these things, you

know, were taking place in the early

church. They were like, you know, there

were people that really did see Jesus

raised from the dead, not just the

apostles, but numerous ones.

And then many come along and tried to

mislead the church. Many came along and

tried to malign the gospel and do away

with the gospel. And, you know, Jesus

wondered if that was going to happen.

So, you know, they they sort of were

ready for that and dealt with that. But,

uh,

you know, there were a lot of stuff in

the early church,

you know, that were handed on,

handed down, you know, by the

eyewitnesses

that were there. And that's what the

that's what the New Testament is.

It's not just, you know, what Paul

thinks. It's not just what Peter thinks,

it's what God told them to write.

And you know, we have the whole New

Testament here. And what an interesting

and wonderful thing it is.

You know, we had we had uh the apostles

and

as well we had James, the Lord's

brother. We had Jude the Lord's brother,

you know, and people knew that, you

know, they didn't they didn't come along

and say, "Well, you know what? The

people that knew then said, "Yo, yeah,

James, he was the Lord's brother." And

uh Jude, yeah, yeah, he was the Lord's

brother.

And Acts tells us about other men that

were mighty in the scriptures.

Um the book of Corinthians talks about

Apollos

and and uh we have men like Mark, we

have men like Luke, we have Barnabas,

you know, we have all these men who who

uh God used to help to bring forth this

uh this New Testament

and the oldest book and then excuse me

the the well I guess it is the oldest

book because it was the first book

written

Acts wasn't written until way way later

on, you know. So, people get all hung up

on, you know, the stuff that happened

here and and we'll deal with this stuff

here, the tongues and the gifts and all

these things. But, you know, by the time

these things, they had faded out.

You know, the apo Paul's an old man. You

know, he's writing to the Corinthians.

So, you know, he he's writing back and

all the things that he's telling them.

And that's the oldest, one of the oldest

letters is the letter to Corinthians.

That's why Paul deals with tongues and

the other things uh there. But the

emphasis, if you will, turn to 1

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1,

you know, and I guess may maybe here's

where we fail

today trying to do what they wanted us

to do here in verse 10.

Or maybe we don't fail.

What what's the Bible say about the

Bible? What's the Bible say about the

apostles? What's the Bible say about

Jesus? What's the Bible say about the

Holy Spirit? What's the Bible say about

the church?

Well,

we have verses

to help with these things. And Paul says

here,

he says, "Now I beseech you, brethren,

by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."

That's Paul's authority.

He's not there as the Apostle Paul.

You know, he doesn't write these New

Testament letters

with his information and what he thought

and, you know, how he thought things

were going to go. You those are all

human thoughts. Those are all human

opinions. Those are all, you know, human

things.

He says that you all speak the same

thing.

Well, what is it that we're were to

speak and that no division be among you?

You be perfectly joined together in the

same mind and in the same judgment.

Well, how can we do that? The only way

we can do that is with the word of God,

with the New Testament.

So God wants every church whether it's

the church in Corinth or the church in

Athens or the church around the world

wherever the church may be God wants us

united in the name of the Lord speaking

the same things from his word that there

be no division among you don't don't

you know cause that

and the the word of God brings unity the

word of God sound doctrine brings unity

And he says, "You be perfectly

joined together in the same mind." How

can we be of the same mind? We need the

word of God.

And uh we need to know what it says. And

Paul says the same thing, the same

thing, the same thing.

And then he says, "It's been declared

unto me, brethren, that there are

contentions." and he goes into these

things and says, "Is Christ divided?"

So, it's important for us to see that,

you know, God gave us the New Testament

uh through the apostles and through the

Holy Spirit and through these men uh

that we all might be of the same mind

and of the same judgment and uh there be

no division among us. Now look over in

chapter 3,

1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Now here he talks about Apollos and you

know all the planners and all the

teachers. But we should all all the

teachers we should be teaching you know

from the from the same himnel except

this isn't himnel.

This is the word of God.

And Paul says, "According to the grace

of God which is given me unto you as a

wise master builder." That that's what

Paul was.

You know, God used him in a great way

to build a church

and and to deal with these problems and

these issues in the church and to say,

"Well, what's God say we ought to do?"

You know, we don't want to get weighed

down on what men say. We want to do what

God says. It's after all it's his

church. After all, you know, the son of

God came forth, the word of God came

forth, the spirit of God came forth, the

truth came forth. All these things are

ours now that we might all be one

and united

around sound doctrine. Verse 11, for

other foundation can no man lay. Oh, it

doesn't matter who you are. Paul says uh

you know even he says toward the

Galatians if anyone even an angel from

heaven preach any other gospel let him

be accured.

So we want to stick with what Paul gave

us. We want to stick with what Peter

gave us here in the New Testament. So

now we strive to do what the early

church did and they they uh got together

and they they uh broke bread and and and

uh talked about the apostles doctrine.

And that's what we need to do. We need

to be talking about the apostles

doctrine. Everything in here is is of

God and from God um to us. This is why

it's so important. Turn over to

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And by the way, that the whole book of

Ephesians is about the church, gentile

church.

Paul wrote it to the Ephesians. He wrote

another letter to Timothy while he was

in Ephesus.

And you know, here's the sound doctrine.

Here's the things that God wants us to

have. And God wants us to know.

And in chapter 2

verse 19, he says, "You're no more

strangers and sojourners, but fellow

citizen with the saints in the household

of God." That's who we are. Well, how'd

we get that? Well, it's what Jesus did

for us back there in chapter one.

So, now we're uh we're not citizens of

the earth. We're citizens of heaven

and the household of of God. And we are

built upon the foundation. It's already

there. Don't try to go back and lay a

different foundation or take this

foundation out and try to add to it or

try to, you know, come up with something

else. God has given us the foundation

and he brought it to us through the

apostles and the prophets

and Jesus Christ himself being the chief

cornerstone. So you want to we want to

come to him and be born again

whom all the building fitly joins

together growing into a holy temple in

the Lord. That's what God wants. In whom

also you were built together for a

habitation of God through his spirit. So

that's who we are now. You old Gentiles,

you know, us Gentiles, we have the

spirit of God and God inhabits us now

because of the new birth because of the

Holy Spirit. You know, this is why this

is so important,

you know. So, the apostles brought these

things to us and that's what verse 20

says. So, um these these truths are

important.

You know, it's it's like the book of

Hebrews. We don't have an we don't have

a writer. We just have the book. And you

read that book and you're like, man,

this this is it, man. This is the word

of God. This is the living word of God.

It it does exactly what it says it's

going to do,

you know, and and God has gifted us with

the New Testament, whether it's Hebrews

or Ephesians or First Timothy or Second

Timothy. This is our guide, you know,

this is our uh himno. This is we don't

have another one.

And that's what the that's why Paul

said, you know, about the angels coming

along. How many of the cults have done

that very thing? Some man said, you

know, he saw a vision and wrote this

down. I mean, there are numerous ones.

So nothing, you know, the Mormons, the

Jehovah Witnesses, the Muslims, they all

have tried to add to this. They all come

along and said, "It's not enough or it's

wrong." And we say bologoney to them.

This is the truth. And God has brought

it forth

from his son, brought it forth from the

Godhead for us to see. And it's just

countless book after book. And uh these

things are all so important. And here's

God's organizational chart. Turn to 1

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 11.

You guys have an organizational part at

work. Company, most companies do, but

they don't follow it.

Well, maybe some do.

But God follows his organizational

chart.

And here it is.

in 1 Corinthians chap 11 verse one.

You know, if Paul wasn't an apostle, how

could he say follow me?

If Paul wasn't there, if if he didn't

wasn't doing what God said to do, God

said, "Go to the Gentiles." Paul, here's

Paul of the Gentiles.

And he says this, "Follow me even as I

also am of Christ." So Paul

is a human being, a fallen man like the

rest of us. And he says over there in

Romans chapter 7, "Oh wretched man that

Romans 7 · chapter mention

I am." And we can all say, "Amen." Paul,

I'm getting there. I am there.

He says, "I praise you, brethren, that

you remember me in all things." So Paul,

you know, he he he hears connects

himself to Jesus and to the Godhead, to

what he wants the church to do and to

follow.

to remember what I've told you

as I've delivered it unto you. So that's

what God did. He's delivered to us the

New Testament

through the apostles.

And Paul here being one. And then Paul

says, "I'm an inspired apostle and by

the inspired word of God, I tell you

these things. And I would have you know

verse three

at the head of every man is Christ

and at the head of the woman is a man

and at the head of Christ is God. So

these things proceed from God. You know

Jesus, you know, he he he was a man,

yes, but he's also God, you know, and

and and these things proceed from him.

The truth proceeds from him. The Holy

Spirit proceeds from him. The sound

doctrine of the New Testament proceeds

from him.

Even though he used men like Paul and

Peter and these other men uh to help

write all these things down.

And uh I'm out of time.

Let's close in a word of prayer. Father,

we thank you for your word

and amazing how we got it.

You use these men, these fishermen,

these tax collectors, these murderers

like Paul,

you use them in a great way

uh to bring forth this New Testament

that we might know it and we might

understand it, we might believe it. And

we thank you for these gifts. Faith is a

gift.

And we're not saved by works,

lest any man should boast.

We're saved by the precious gift of

eternal life that only the spirit can

bring us and only the word of God can

bring us through regeneration.

Thank you for regenerating us dead

sinners and blind sinners to you and to

your will and to your word. And we thank

you and we praise you and we worship

you. We can't wait to get together in

glory with this one who loved us and

died for us. We thank you for the spirit

that indwells all of us

uh that believe and help us to walk by

faith. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.