Christian Monotheism

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Well, let's continue to stand and open our Bibles together.
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We're going to go to the Word.
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We're in the book of 1 Corinthians.
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We have been continuing a verse-by-verse study of this particular book for a while now.
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And we are in chapter 8.
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And this morning we're going to be looking at verses 4 through 6.
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The title of today's message is Christian Monotheism.
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Christian Monotheism.
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1 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 4 to 6.
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Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one.
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For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
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And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
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Father in heaven, I thank you for your Word.
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And now as I seek to give an understanding of it and speak on a subject which is often misunderstood both from within the church and outside the church, I pray, Lord, that you would keep me in the very palm of your hand.
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Keep me from straying to the left or to the right.
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Keep me centered and focused on what your Word says.
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And, Lord, by your grace and mercy, keep me from error.
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For, Lord, I know that I am capable of error and do not want to preach it for the sake of my conscience, for the sake of your people, for the sake of your great name.
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Father, I think about what this passage means.
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And, Lord, my heart is excited.
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And I pray that that zeal would come across in the message today.
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But, Lord, not my excitement that would be the focus, but, Lord, the very movement of your Spirit.
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And, Lord, if your Spirit so moves on us today, I pray that he would bring believers to a better understanding of your nature.
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And, Lord, for unbelievers, that they would be drawn by grace through faith and the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ, the only one who can save.
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And I pray that all of this would be done to the glory of you, O God.
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Through the name of your Son, by the power of your Spirit, we pray.
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Amen.
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Have you ever heard the question, If God made everything, who made God? If God made everything, well, who made God? Often that is one of the first questions that children have about God when they begin to understand the process of logic and things like cause and effect.
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Children begin to learn that very early on, that things that are effects are caused by other things.
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And the question itself, while it may seem simple in the way that it's asked, If God made everything, who made God? It's actually a very profound question because it's based on a very simple syllogism.
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Everything that exists is caused by something else.
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God exists.
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Therefore, God must be caused by something else.
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That's the logic that would lead somebody to ask the question, If God made everything, who made God? And the syllogism itself is logical.
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The problem is not with the conclusion.
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The problem is with the first premise.
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You see, an argument can be logical and still be wrong because it can be logically based on a false premise.
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In this case, the first premise is that everything that exists is caused by something else.
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If it were true then, that would mean that there would be an infinite regression of causes that go back eternally in history with no beginning.
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If everything is caused by something else, then that means there's an infinite amount of causes that go back and back and back and back and back and back and there was just always a cause.
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And that's what's called infinite regression.
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Instead of this, logic demands that there has to be at least one uncaused, self-existent, first cause of all other things in the universe.
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Something had to be first.
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The foundational starting point in understanding the existence of God is that He is that uncaused, self-existent, primary cause of all other things that do exist.
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In simple terms, God has always been.
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He was here first.
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Nothing preceded Him.
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He is.
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That's simply it.
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This is why when God describes Himself to Moses, He says, I am.
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That's a statement of self-existence.
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If you say, I am, you have to qualify that.
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I could say, I am, meaning I exist, but I have to qualify that with some kind of basis.
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I exist because there's the right amount of oxygen in the atmosphere to keep me alive.
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I exist because my body and muscles and tissues all work together to keep my blood flowing and keep oxygen moving throughout my body so that I'm able to continue to be.
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I am dependent.
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You know, last week we celebrated Independence Day.
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No one is truly independent.
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We're dependent on so many factors.
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Mercy got you out of bed this morning.
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Because justice would have killed you in your sleep.
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Mercy got you out of bed, right? We're dependent on so much.
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So when I say, I am, it's always followed by because.
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I am because He is.
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I am because He formed me.
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He made me in my mother's womb.
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He created me.
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But God can say, I am, and that would be the end of the story.
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God is absolutely independent.
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He's absolutely unique.
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He's absolutely uncaused.
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He has nothing upon which He depends.
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And rather, everything that is depends upon Him.
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He is absolutely independent within Himself.
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And in that way, God is absolutely unique.
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There is no other being in the universe who is like God.
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In fact, I want to show you just a few verses.
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In fact, if you are looking for verses to memorize, if you're looking for passages to put on your memorization list, I want to point you to a few from the writings of the prophet Isaiah.
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So look with me very quickly at Isaiah chapter 43.
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Isaiah 43.
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And once you get to Isaiah 43, go to verse 10.
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In Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 10, it says these words.
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You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.
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Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
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Jumping ahead of myself just a bit, but I want to point this out.
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Whenever the two guys with the nice bright white shirts and the name tags that say Elder so-and-so come to your door, this verse should be at least part of the conversation.
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Because Mormons believe that the God who is in our universe was once a man, that he became God because of his obedience to Mormon teachings, and that there was a God that preceded him, his God, that he had to obey, thereby becoming a God because of obedience.
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And that God had a God who preceded him, and that God had a God that preceded him, and they do believe in an infinite regression of gods.
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But this verse tells us before Yahweh, before the God of Scripture, there was no God formed, and there was no God formed after.
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Besides me, there is no God.
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Now you're in chapter 43, look over at chapter 44, you're there.
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We just had Brother Mike read this as our call to worship.
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In chapter 44, verses 6 to 8, we read these words.
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No, I'm sorry, he read chapter 46, didn't you? I'm sorry, chapter 44, verses 6 to 8.
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Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.
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Besides me, there is no God.
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Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
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Let him declare and set it before me.
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Since I appointed an ancient people, let them declare what it is to come and what will happen.
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Fear not, nor be afraid.
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Have I not told you of old and declared it, and you are my witnesses? Is there a God besides me? There is no rock, I know, not any.
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God is declaring here himself as absolutely unique.
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There is no other God.
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Besides me, there's no rock.
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That's referring to foundation.
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God is the foundation for everything.
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God is the creator of all things.
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He is the one who not only creates all things, but he sustains all things.
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By his divine decree, he appoints all things.
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God is the rock and there is no other.
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And then we go over to chapter 46.
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I got a little ahead of myself.
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Chapter 46, verses 8 to 11.
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In my Bible, I have this highlighted because this particular passage is so important.
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For many reasons.
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If we were talking about reformed theology, this passage would have value.
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Because it talks about the fact that God's counsel will stand and he will accomplish all that he purposes to do.
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You cannot thwart God.
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It's impossible.
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And this passage tells us that.
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He says, remember this and stand firm.
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Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
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Remember the former things of old.
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For I am God.
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There is no other.
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I am God and there is none like me.
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Declaring the end from the beginning.
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That means God determines the end from the beginning.
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He knows what's going to happen because he has decreed it to be so.
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He's declared it to be so.
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And from ancient times, things not yet done.
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Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.
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And then the next verse, he talks about the fact that he calls birds of prey from the east.
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And the man of his counsel from a far country.
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That he speaks and it happens.
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He purposes and he does it.
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This is the unique God.
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This is how God is unique.
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There is none like God.
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And so this morning, you say, well, what? How does this relate to our subject this morning? Well, this morning, as I was reading 1st Corinthians chapter 8, verses 6 to 8.
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Or verses 4 to 6 rather.
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It struck my heart that Paul is expressing a truth about the Christian faith.
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That every Christian should understand.
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We should all be able to articulate this.
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Whether this is the two boys on the ten speeds coming to our door.
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Whether this is the lady at the flea market.
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Who's handing out the witnesses for the Jehovah Witness in the watchtower.
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Whether this is the person who we're engaging with on the street corner.
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When we're out evangelizing and preaching.
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Or whether this is the person that we're handing the track to as we go out of the store.
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This is a subject and a truth that we should understand about our God.
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In these few verses here in verses 4 through 6 of 1st Corinthians 8.
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Now the context, if you remember.
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Because we have been going verse by verse to this.
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The context of this is Paul is dealing with the Corinthians.
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They've asked him the question.
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Or they've made an assumption rather.
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About eating meat offered to idols.
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And Paul is addressing the fact that eating meat offered to idols.
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Really isn't in itself dangerous.
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Because idols don't actually exist.
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But at the same time there are people who have come out of idolatry.
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That their consciences are still bound to that issue.
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And that the church should not be divided over what people are putting in their mouths.
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What people are putting in their stomachs.
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It should not divide us.
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We should operate in love and mercy toward one another.
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And if your brother cannot do something in faith.
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You ought not to encourage him to violate his conscience.
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That we talked about that last week.
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In fact we did an overview of chapter 8 last week.
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But I said last week.
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We are not going to just bypass verses 4 through 6.
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Because verses 4 through 6 say something about the nature of God.
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That we need to hear and understand.
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Because in verses 4 through 6.
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Paul makes a claim that you need to get.
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And every one of us needs to get.
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Christians are monotheists.
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Now what does that mean? Christians believe in only one God.
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Mono means one.
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Theism means God.
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Monotheism is one God.
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And some of you might say this is rudimentary pastor.
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This is simple.
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Let me tell you something.
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It's not as simple as you may think.
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Because I talk to Christians all the time.
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Who really haven't wrapped their mind around this.
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We'll talk about why in a minute.
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But just understand that my whole reason for doing this message.
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And writing this message based on this text.
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Is because I think so many people missed this.
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In fact I can argue from the text.
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That the people in Corinth were missing this.
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Some of the problems.
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Some of the reason why some of these pagans.
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Were having trouble with the meat offered to idols.
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Is some of them not yet understood that those gods don't exist.
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They were still tied to the ancient paganism that they had come out of.
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Monotheism is distinct from other forms of theism in the world.
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We have polytheism.
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Which means many gods.
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Or at least more than one.
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There is henotheism.
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Which I've done classes on henotheism.
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Henotheism is something people often think.
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There is only monotheism.
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And polytheism is one god or many gods.
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Henotheism is the belief that there are many gods.
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But only one that should be worshipped.
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It's the tribal view of God.
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You can have your gods.
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But only my God deserves to be worshipped.
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So there's multiple gods.
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But only one that deserves to be worshipped.
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That's called henotheism.
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It's very very popular in the Old Testament.
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Think about how the people who worshipped the gods of Egypt and the gods of the pagans.
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And the prophets of Baal and all this.
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How did they view Yahweh? As just another god, right? But their god is the god to be worshipped.
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And what was the always? Yahweh is better than Baal.
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Or Baal is better than Yahweh, right? And there's this battle among the gods.
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As to whose is the one who truly deserves to be worshipped.
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And of course there's the other theism which is atheism.
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Which is the rejection of the belief of any god.
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So you have monotheism, polytheism, henotheism and atheism.
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And among monotheists in the world there is a major distinction between three groups.
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The three major monotheistic groups in the world that would claim that.
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Are Christians, Muslims and Jews.
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Islam believes in one god.
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They call him Allah which is simply the Arabic word for God.
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Judaism believes Yahweh is God.
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And both of them believe themselves to be worshipping the god of Abraham.
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This is very important for history's sake.
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If you talk to a Jew about the god that he believes he is worshipping.
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He'll tell you that he's worshipping the god of Abraham.
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If you talk to a Muslim about the god he's worshipping.
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He will tell you he is worshipping the god of Abraham.
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The problem is they argue they're not worshipping the same gods.
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And guess what Christians will tell you? We are worshipping the god of Abraham.
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Do you agree? Do you believe that this morning when you come to worship.
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That you're worshipping the same god that Abraham worshipped.
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That you're worshipping the same god that told Abraham to take his son.
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His only son, the son whom he loved.
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Tie him up and take him to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him.
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And yet when he got to the top of the mountain.
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He replaced him with a substitute ram.
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Which represented the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Do you believe that that's the same god that you worshipped this morning? So you have three monotheistic religions.
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All of which believe that they're worshipping the god of Abraham.
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All of which also believe that the other ones are not.
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That's key.
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Because I'm not saying that Islam and Judaism and Christianity are worshipping the same god.
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You have to understand.
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I am making the point that there's a distinction to be made between the three.
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But they all three argue which one is right.
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Now some people do believe they're worshipping the same god.
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In fact I think there's a book, Three Religions, One God.
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And several books like that.
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That argue that Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all essentially the same religion.
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Just divided by culture and religious expression.
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The problem is the god of the Koran is not the god of the Bible.
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In fact the Koran says that cursed is he who says Allah has a son.
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What does the New Testament say? For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.
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So right there there's a distinction that has to be made between the god of Islam and the god of Christianity.
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And then you take another step.
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Well what about Judaism? Is Judaism not worshipping the same god as the god of the Bible? Or the god of Christianity? Well the question lies in the heart of one question.
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Or rather the answer lies at the heart of one question.
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Who is Jesus? Because this is where the Jews and the Christians would have their divide.
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See we understand what the divide is between the Christians and the Jews and the Muslims.
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But where do Christians and Jews divide? Over the question of who is Jesus.
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The understanding of the nature of Jesus is what separates Christianity from all other religions in the world.
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Christians are unique in their monotheism.
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I titled the message today Christian Monotheism.
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And I'm not going to be able to express every aspect of that.
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But the goal of today is simply to express what do we mean when we say we're monotheists.
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Because we do have to understand that Christian monotheism is unique when compared to other monotheistic faiths in the world.
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This is why I said this morning I really should have brought my whiteboard in.
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Because this is more of a theology lesson.
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And theology matters and we should have these lessons.
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This is why I said last week I can't go to 1 Corinthians 8 verses 4-6 and just skip it.
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This is a hugely important foundational truth in the life of the believer.
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Paul says we know our God is one.
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And there are people who say they have gods and there are so called gods in this world.
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But we know there is only one God.
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But how do we understand the oneness of God? How do we understand our monotheism? Is it the same as what is argued by the Muslims? Is it the same as what is argued by the Jews? I would argue it is not.
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Because Islam and Judaism are both Unitarian.
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You've heard that term before I'm sure right? You probably have seen Universalist Unitarian churches.
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In fact I think there's one over in Regency area.
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Unitarian church.
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What is Unitarian? Unitarian means that they believe that God is one being.
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And they reject the idea that there is any distinction to be made in his person.
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God is one being and that there is no distinction to be made in his person.
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Christians are not Unitarian.
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Did you know that? We are monotheists but we are not Unitarian.
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What are Christians? Trinitarian.
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Trinitarianism is the belief that God is one in being.
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But that he is three in person.
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God is one in being.
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Meaning that his nature is undivided.
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That his nature is perfectly one.
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And yet there are three persons who share that one being.
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The three persons are plural.
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And yet God is singular.
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The three persons are distinct.
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Yet God is undivided.
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Historically this is how Trinitarianism has been taught.
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If you were going to write something down this may be it.
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There is one God.
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There are three persons in the Bible who are called God.
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These three persons are all equal, eternal and distinct.
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That is the foundational definition of Trinitarianism.
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There is one God.
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There are three persons in the Bible who are called God.
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These three persons are equal, eternal and distinct.
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Islam and Judaism claim that because we make a distinction within the persons of the Godhead.
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That we worship three Gods.
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In fact historically Christians have been called polytheistic.
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By Islam and Jews.
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Why? Because they say you worship three Gods.
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They argue that you worship three Gods thus you are polytheistic.
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Which is actually interesting because in the ancient world Christians were called atheists.
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You know why? Because they didn't believe in all the Gods of the Romans and the Greeks.
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They only believed in one God.
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And because you denied Zeus and you denied Jupiter and you denied Saturn as being Gods.
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You were called anti-God or atheist.
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Make sense? Christians only believed in one God.
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But they understood that God as a Trinity not as Unitarians would argue and believe in God.
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In fact Christianity is the most unique form of monotheism in the world.
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I really honestly and you may argue with me at some point and we can have a conversation another day.
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I do not see a distinction between Judaism and Islam in regard to how they view monotheism.
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Now I'm not saying there's not a distinction between Judaism and Islam.
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There are many distinctions between Judaism and Islam.
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What I'm saying is how they view Unitarian oneness in the person of God.
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They both have a similar view.
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But it is absolutely distinct from Christianity.
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Christianity does not understand the nature of God the way that the Jews and the Muslims do.
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Christianity is unique.
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In fact the early church fathers spent a great deal of effort expressing the distinctions between Christian beliefs and that of other beliefs.
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At the heart of so much of their writing was a proper understanding of the nature of God in regard to the Trinity.
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How many of you ever heard the name Athanasius? Athanasius of Alexandria.
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He was a bishop.
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In 325 there was a council called the Council of Nicaea.
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Athanasius was one who argued for the Trinity as opposed to the Arians.
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There was a group of people called the Arians.
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And don't connect that with white supremacy.
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It's not the same.
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There's an Arian nation stuff.
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No.
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Arius was a teacher.
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And Arius was a false teacher.
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Considered the great heretic Arius.
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The arch heretic Arius.
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Because he denied the deity of Christ as being eternal.
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He believed that Jesus Christ was created by God.
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That he was the first creation of God.
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And that Jesus was the one through whom God created everything else.
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Very similar to modern Jehovah Witnesses.
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Who believe that Michael the Archangel was God's first creation.
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That he became Jesus Christ in the flesh.
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And then now continues to live on as the divine but not fully divine son of God.
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This was Arius' point.
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Arius argued that Jesus Christ is not fully divine.
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Athanasius came and he with the others.
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And in fact it was all of the other bishops against Arius and his false teaching.
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Later the teachings of Athanasius would be put into a creed.
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Now I can't read the entire Athanasius Creed to you.
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We'll be here for another hour.
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But I do want to read one short paragraph.
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Because this is a codification of the teachings of the early church.
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Regarding the nature of Christ and the nature of the Trinity.
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Can I read this to you? And I encourage you to go and read the Athanasius Creed.
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You say but that's not the Bible.
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I understand it's not the Bible.
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I'm not claiming that it's the Bible.
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But the ancient creeds and confessions were put together by holy men.
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Whose purpose it was to make clearly understood the teachings that the church was holding to.
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And has held to for 2,000 years.
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Jehovah Witnesses is a variant.
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Is a deviation of what the Bible has taught for 2,000 years.
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Mormonism is a deviation of what the Bible has taught for 2,000 years.
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This is what makes Christianity distinct.
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Is the Trinity.
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And this is what is written in the Athanasius Creed.
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We worship one God.
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In Trinity.
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And the Trinity in unity.
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Neither confusing the persons.
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Nor dividing the divine being.
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For the Father is one person.
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The Son is another and the Spirit is still another.
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But the deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one.
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Equal in glory.
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Co-eternal in majesty.
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What the Father is the Son is and so is the Holy Spirit.
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Uncreated is the Father.
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Uncreated is the Son.
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Uncreated is the Spirit.
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The Father is infinite.
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The Son is infinite.
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The Holy Spirit is infinite.
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Eternal is the Father.
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Eternal is the Son.
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Eternal is the Spirit.
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And yet there are not three eternal beings.
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But one who is eternal.
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As there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings.
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But one who is uncreated and unlimited.
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Almighty is the Father.
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Almighty is the Son.
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Almighty is the Spirit.
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And yet there are not three almighty beings.
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But one who is almighty.
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Thus the Father is God.
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The Son is God.
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And the Holy Spirit is God.
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And yet there are not three gods.
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But one God.
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Thus the Father is Lord.
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The Son is Lord.
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And the Holy Spirit is Lord.
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And yet there are not three Lords.
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But one Lord.
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I say I can't wrap my mind all around that.
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Let me ask you this.
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Can you wrap your mind around the fact that God is eternal? That he has no beginning and ending? But you believe it.
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Because it's what the Bible teaches.
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The Bible teaches this.
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We sing it in our hymn.
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We're going to sing it in just a little while.
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Holy, holy, holy.
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God in three persons.
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Blessed Trinity.
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Now for some of you this is rudimentary.
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If you've been here long you've probably heard me talk about this.
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It's one of my favorite subjects.
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But I believe it's important to revisit important theological principles.
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Especially when they're so apparent in our text.
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Notice what Paul says here.
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Go to chapter 8 verse 4 with me just for a minute.
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I just want to point out why this is the focus of this morning.
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He says he's talking about eating food offered to idols.
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And he says we know that an idol has no real existence.
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What is he saying there? Every other God is false.
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The figment of someone's imagination.
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An idol has no real existence.
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Last week I said I don't believe Allah exists.
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Do you realize that there's a large percentage of the world that would absolutely disagree with me.
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Some of which would absolutely disagree with me violently.
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For saying such a thing.
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That Allah does not exist.
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But what conclusion can I come to other than that when I read the scripture.
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When Paul clearly says an idol has no existence.
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It isn't real.
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I've told this story a bunch of times.
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I won't tell the whole story but the lady who came up to me in the Kmart.
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I'd given her a gospel track and she came and threw it at me.
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Because it offended her.
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And she said my goddess would never send anyone to hell.
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Because the track talked about hell and she threw it in my chest.
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And she said I want you to take this back.
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And she said my goddess would never send anyone to hell.
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I said that's true.
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I said because your goddess doesn't exist.
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She doesn't have the capacity to send anyone to hell because she's not there.
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You're right.
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And you're so wrong.
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An idol has no real existence.
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And he goes on to say.
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And that there is no god but one.
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This is why as a Christian don't ever let anyone challenge you on your monotheism.
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As we just read from the ancient creed.
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Christians have and always will be monotheists.
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We do not believe that there are three gods.
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We don't believe in some kind of tri-theism.
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Which is often espoused and blamed at Christians.
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He says this.
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He says there is no god but one.
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There is one god and one lord.
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Now I want to simply make this statement.
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In my ministry I've dealt with Jehovah's Witnesses many times.
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In fact Mike and I have been down there.
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We missed it this year.
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But we've been down there many times preaching to the Jehovah's Witnesses.
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And trying to engage them in conversation and things.
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Mike Ward's been with us a few times.
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Some of the ladies.
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We know the argument is.
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You've got God and you've got Jesus is not God.
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And they will use this verse.
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They'll say this verse teaches that Jesus isn't God.
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Look at verse 6.
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Yet for us there is one God the Father from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
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And one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
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And they say see there's a distinction.
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There's God who's the Father.
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And there's Jesus.
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And he's just Lord.
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He's not God.
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He's just Lord.
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You want to know what the problem with that is? The word Lord.
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In this particular usage.
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Is expressing the divinity of Christ.
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In a way that a lot of people wouldn't even recognize.
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If you didn't understand the distinction and the relationship.
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Between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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Because what is God's name in the Old Testament? Yahweh.
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He is called Yahweh.
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Which is the four letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
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What's called the Tetragrammaton or the four letter name of God.
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How is that word translated into Greek? Korios.
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Lord.
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Jesus is here being identified with the divine name.
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In fact this is Paul's favorite word to use of Jesus.
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That he is Lord.
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It's interesting in the book of Romans.
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There's a place where Jesus is called Lord.
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Every other place that word is used.
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Almost in the New World Translation.
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Which is Jehovah Witnesses translation.
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They translate it as Jehovah.
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Because they want to bring the word Jehovah into.
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Even though it's not in the Greek.
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They want to bring it in.
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But at that place where Jesus is called Lord.
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It's just Lord.
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They don't translate it Jehovah.
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Why? Because it would be identifying Jesus.
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As Jehovah or Yahweh.
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Beloved this isn't denying the deity of Christ.
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It says we exist through him.
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How could he be anything but divine.
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If we exist for him and through him.
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Beloved Jesus was present in creation.
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He didn't come along at Bethlehem.
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As a creation of God.
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He has always been.
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The Bible says in the beginning was the word.
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That's Jesus.
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In the beginning was the word.
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And the word was with God.
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And the word was God.
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And the word became flesh.
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And dwelt among us.
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You see God became a man.
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God the Son.
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The second person of the Trinity.
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Became a man.
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And dwelt with us.
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The doctrine of the Trinity.
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Is foundational in understanding that.
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It's foundational in understanding.
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How we define and defend the Christian faith.
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And I gotta tell you there's a lot of Christians out there.
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Who say they believe the Trinity.
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And yet they don't understand how to even describe it to someone.
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And they end up describing something ordinarily that's heresy.
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How many of you have ever heard the Trinity is like water.
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It comes in liquid, solid and gas.
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And that's how God he comes as the Father, the Son or the Spirit.
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That is not Trinitarianism.
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Did you know that? That's not a right way to describe the Trinity.
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Because you know the problem with that analogy.
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Is that something called modalism.
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Because guess what water can't do.
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It can't be ice.
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And gas.
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And liquid all at the same time.
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It changes form.
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And that's what some people believe.
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Some people believe that God was the Father.
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And then he became Jesus.
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And then he became the Spirit.
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But he's never all three.
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He becomes these things.
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How many of you have ever heard of oneness Pentecostalism? Now not all Pentecostals.
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It's oneness or what's called Jesus only Pentecostalism.
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You almost always you'll hear these people.
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Because when they baptize they don't baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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They baptize in the name of Jesus only.
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And the reason is because they believe in their Unitarians.
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They are modalistic Unitarians.
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They believe God is one and that he shows himself in different ways.
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It's like people who say well God is like a man who is a father, a son and a husband.
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He's three persons.
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And that's not the same.
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That's modalism.
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Because I'm not the father, husband and to my wife.
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I'm not both.
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You understand the problem how it breaks down.
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Here's the problem with all of these analogies.
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It's what I said at the very beginning.
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God is unique.
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You know the problem with something that's absolutely unique? There is no analogy.
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What did God say? There is none like me.
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That's Christian monotheism.
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Christian monotheism says there is one God eternally existent and three persons.
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And there is none like him.
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Now how do we apply this? How do we apply? I mean you probably came in this morning.
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Some of you may be first time here.
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And like wow this is different.
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I'm not preaching on how to have a better life.
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Or how to make your bank account better or whatever.
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It's so popular today in most Christian preaching.
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It's a lot of self-help.
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But I want to quote something from John MacArthur.
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I want you to listen to this closely.
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Because somebody said to John MacArthur that his preaching was too doctrinal.
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This is what he says.
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He says sometimes people say to me why so much doctrinal teaching? Can't you be more practical? No.
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The truth of the matter is your duties flow out of your doctrine.
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It's what you believe that essentially designs your behavior.
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There is no basis for right behavior except for right doctrine.
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End quote.
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Yeah boom.
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The basis for how we behave is in what we believe.
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Do you know why behavior it seems has become so wild in recent years among so many groups? Well as it has been said if you tell people that they are nothing but evolutionized monkeys for long enough.
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They're going to start acting like it.
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If you tell people they're not created in the image of God.
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There is no real dignity.
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There is no real value in human life.
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And then you see people acting like it.
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Why are we surprised? What you believe affects how you behave.
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There is no God but one.
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There is no God but one.
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And it is the God of the Bible.
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I don't know what you came in this morning believing.
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But I hope you understand this is what the Bible teaches.
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It teaches there is no God but this one.
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And I know and I have had people say this to my face.
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So I know it's been said.
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People say I cannot believe you would be so narrow minded.
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As to believe there's only one God and it's your God.
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But here's the reality.
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If what I've said is true.
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And it is but just for the sake of argument.
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If what I've said is true.
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And I didn't say it.
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And I lied and said there are many gods.
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Or there are many ways to God.
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I would be worse to you than an enemy.
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Because I would be giving you something that was not true.
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About the most important truth in the world.
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Consider this.
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Imagine if I told you.
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Humans can only breathe air.
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Humans can only breathe air.
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And one of you stood up and said you're such a bigot.
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You're so narrow minded.
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And they started a group.
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Of the official university of the water breathing people.
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We laugh.
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But the reality is that's what's happening when it comes to God.
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When someone says you're narrow minded.
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Why can't I just worship Allah? Because you can't breathe on Allah.
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Just like you trying to take a breath of air when you're six feet under water.
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You're going to drown.
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If I tell you all you can breathe is air.
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It's not narrow minded.
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It's just the truth.
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And when I tell you there is only one God.
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It's not because I'm narrow minded.
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It's because it is the truth.
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Truth is not dependent on what I believe.
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Truth is not dependent on what you believe.
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Truth stands with or without us.
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So.
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When the Bible says in the Old Testament.
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There is no God but one.
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There is none like him.
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When the Bible says in the New Testament.
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There is only one God.
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And there are three persons who are called God.
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The Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
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And these three are one.
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We can know that that's the God.
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That calls us to believe in him.
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That calls us to trust in him.
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To repent of our sins and follow after him.
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And there's only one.
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Theology matters folks.
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What we believe about God matters.
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What we believe about Jesus matters.
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And I will tell you this.
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It will change your life.
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Because when you realize that Jesus is more than you ever thought he could be.
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When you realize that Jesus is more than just a prophet.
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Which is what the Islamists say.
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When you realize that Jesus is more than just a man.
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Which is what the Jews say.
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When you realize and understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
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And is God the Son.
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Then you will understand that there is no other God in the universe worth serving.
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Because there's no other God who can save.
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Because there's no other God who is.
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Trust in him.
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There is no other name.
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Under heaven given among men.
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By which we must be saved.
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Father I thank you for your word.
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I thank you that.
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The truth of Paul's words is so permeating.
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There is only one God.
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And there is no God but one.
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There may be so many Gods and so many Lords that people call God.
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And people call Lord.
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But there is no God but one.
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Lord God may it be.
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That those under the sound of my voice would worship you.
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In unity and in trinity.
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In unity of nature.
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In trinity of persons.
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Understanding that you are absolutely unique.
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And there is none like you.
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In Jesus name.
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Amen.