The Unity of God (03/13/2005)

We're going to be back in John chapter 14 in just a minute, so you can turn there if you like, but we're going to introduce this message with Mark chapter 12 verse 28.

Remember a lot of different Sundays sitting over here getting ready to bring the message and different things would inspire me.

Sometimes it would be the music, sometimes it might be someone's prayer. This morning

I think it was Sunday school. Sunday school was glorious. We were at the very throne of God in heaven today, and it was amazing really, and we've studied this before together, but this morning it just seemed different, and it's very fitting that we were there because that's what we've been studying in the last weeks is the nature of God, the way

God exists, and what he has revealed to us about himself, and it's a topic that I'm sure we will be studying the rest of our lives and gleaning more and more things about it as we live.

We will never fully understand it. I'm sure even when we get to heaven we will never fully understand

God. That's impossible for us as created beings, but we will be understanding him on and on as we go, not only in this life, but in the life to come, and a part of his name

Jehovah is the self -existent one who reveals himself, so he names himself that, letting us know that he is a

God who rejoices in revealing himself to us more and more, so we might know him better as we walk with him, and so we've talked about the doctrine of the trinity for some weeks.

This will be the last lesson on it in a while, so I should hear several hallelujahs on there.

One of my best encouragers is my mom, and she was telling me sometime this week, she said your message last

Sunday was just unbelievable, she said it was incredible, and she said when are we going to get to another topic?

No, she didn't really say it that way, I'm teasing. My wife said it that way though, and Diane so much has said it at school the other day, but it's not a topic that can be covered quickly, because you have so many passages of scripture that deal with the

Father, and so many that deal with the Son, and so many that deal with the Holy Spirit, and so many that deal with the unity of God, that it would be remiss to just trip through it lightly, and I know none of you meant that, and I do know that this is about the right timing, it's

God's perfect timing that this be the last message, for a while, I'm sure we'll come back to it, because you can't fathom it, and even if we took 12 more lessons, we wouldn't fathom this, but we can swim deeper, and so this brings us full circle, if you remember we started the lesson on the unity of God, the oneness of God, that he is one

God, I really believe as I have said in an earlier message that along these lines, that if the pendulum needs to swing at all in our day, it needs to swing back towards the unity of God, there's been too much misunderstanding about the

Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, as if it's almost three Gods, and that was never intended by the early church fathers, if you read very carefully even the passages where they write about the persons, where they say the person of Jesus, the person of the

Father, the person of the Holy Spirit, they come back in the same paragraph and say, but this is not a person like we are people, this does not mean a person that is an individual and totally different person like we are, so even when they speak of God as three persons, they don't mean person like we are three different persons, or several different persons in this room, they never meant that, and yet if you're not careful, when you just take a cursory look at it, and you hear people talk about the

Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, or even they say God the Father, God the Son, God the

Holy Spirit, we come off with the idea that he's three, and three

Gods, or even when we use the modern word person to say three persons, we think, well, he's three people, and he's not, he's one, so it brings us full circle, and let's look, we'll see the very words of Jesus himself as he describes

God in Mark, chapter 12, verse 28, let's pray and we'll begin, Father, we ask you to anoint the message by your

Holy Spirit today, it is truly your word, and without your presence teaching us, we can gain no understanding, we will just merely be further confused, because you are fathomless, and yet you have revealed yourself to us in many words and by your spirit as you interpret the words to us, so teach us this morning of all mornings, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen,

Mark, chapter 12, verse 28, and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all?

So a scribe asked Jesus the question, which is the greatest of all the commandments?

And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, hear, O Israel, the

Lord our God is one Lord. Now that's not the end of the sentence, but that is where he began, and it's where all

Jews begin, the Jewish mind can think of God only in one way, he is one

God, and there is none other, and he will not share his name with another, and he is the only

Savior, you have to study God with the Jewish mind sometimes, I had the privilege that my mentor was a

Jewish believer, and I praise God for that all the time, I look at his picture every day on my study desk at home, and think about Brother Rocky every single day of my life, but you have to try to think with the

Jewish mind now, God is one God, Jesus is asked what's the greatest commandment of all?

He begins it with this, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one

Lord, and thou shalt love this one God, thou shalt love the

Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, with all thy strength, this is the first commandment, how can you know him if you don't,

I mean how can you love him if you don't know him? So the more we know him, the more we love him, and so it behooves us to study how he exists, and thou shalt, then he gives the second commandment, thou shalt love the

Lord thy God with all your heart, and so forth, and the second is like namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, there is none other commandment greater than these two.

Now look at the answer that the young man, I don't know how young this man was, but this scribe answers this, and the scribe said unto him, well master, thou hast said the truth.

Perhaps this man was testing Jesus, as so many of them were, and when

Jesus gave this answer, this man's heart resonated with the same note, and he knew that Jesus was speaking none other than truth, and he says to him, well master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one

God, and there is none other but he.

Now this is coming from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and this Bible student who had asked him the question, echoes what

Jesus had said, and says this is the truth, there is one God, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, this

Jewish scribe says. So this man had been able to see beyond the rituals, beyond the religiosity, beyond all the things that God had given them, and was able to see

God himself. This young man was able to see that the important thing was not all the surrounding things, but the one who created them all, and so he understood what

Jesus had said, agreed with it, and even spoke these words that it's even greater than all of the systems that Israel had, even that God had given, but God himself is greater.

Knowing him and loving him is the most important thing, it is about relationship.

You know that even the modern church loses this, the modern church loses the fact that it's, that even salvation itself is a relationship, it is not a thing, it is not a ritual, it's not words you pray, it's not baptism, it is knowing

God, that you may know him, Jesus said, is part of the purpose that he was manifest into this world with regard to man, verse 34, and when

Jesus saw that he had answered discreetly, Jesus is in agreement with this man's answer, he said unto him, thou are not far from the kingdom of God.

Why was this man not far from the kingdom of God? Because he was standing next to the king, and his answer was right because he spoke of a relationship with God, and no man after that durst ask him any question, nobody felt, you know why

I think my theory is, because nobody thought they could answer better than this scribe had answered.

No one thought they could please the master more than this scribe had pleased him with that particular answer, and Jesus answered and said while he taught the temple, now look at this, now this is interesting that this is in the same passage, this young man had answered him and said, there is one

God, we worship him and none other, and right on the tail of that,

Jesus asked them an interesting question, how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?

For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, the Lord said to my

Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

David therefore himself called him Lord, and whence is he then his son?

And the common people heard him gladly, what an amazing question, how do you call him the son of David?

If in fact in the Old Testament scriptures, Jehovah said he is my son, so here we see

Jesus referring to himself as part of Godhead. Now let's go to John 14, where we began our study in the last two

Sundays, and we'll finish this passage, the end of it speaks of the Holy Spirit, and we have spent most of the time speaking of the father and of the eternal son of God.

In fact, most of the early church fathers, as you know, spent most of their time proving the deity of Jesus Christ, and the reason is because most of the heresies fought against that, so that's what they were answering, and that's why they spent so much time on it, but they did spend some time on the

Holy Spirit, we want to make sure that we do, and this passage of scripture ends with information, so John chapter 14 beginning along about verse 16,

I will pray the father, Jesus is speaking, he says I will ask the father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.

Now we're obviously speaking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus was a comforter when he was with them in the flesh, walking with them, he comforted them, he knows that he is about to bodily ascend into heaven and not be with them bodily on the earth, so he says that another comforter like me will be sent, in other words, like me in the sense that you will be comforted just as much as you were with me standing in your presence, he says this is called the spirit of truth, the

Holy Spirit is who we're speaking of, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, let me ask you this, did the world receive

Jesus? And they could see him, but they certainly, if they could not receive

God manifest in the flesh before all of their senses, how can they receive

God who comes before none of their senses in the form of the Holy Spirit? God, the

Holy Spirit comes into the heart of the Christian, of the believer, and merges with his spirit and the two become one, but the world has no such relationship, therefore the world cannot see with any of its senses and cannot sense the

Holy Spirit at all, and certainly because it cannot see him, so therefore the world cannot receive him because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and he shall be in you,

I will not leave you comfortless, now I want you to notice in this passage as we move from here on towards the end of it, you're going to see

Jesus Christ in two manners, you're going to see him as the son of God and you're going to see him as the son of man, and then you're going to see him as the son of God, and when

I say the son of God, I believe that refers to the eternal son who existed before all things were made and who proceeded forth and came out from God, you're going to see him as the son of God, but you then you'll see him again as the son of man, and when

I say the son of man I mean the one who was born in the manger, fully man and yet fully

God, and you'll see him as the son of God, and you'll see him as the son of man, back and forth in this passage, now see if you can see this with me, first of all he says that he is going to send the

Holy Spirit, he has been dwelling with them, but he shall be in them, it means he's been all around them in the sense of the omnipresent nature of God, but now he is even going to merge with their spirits, which that is not part of the omnipresent nature of God, God is everywhere with regard to the physical universe, but he's not everywhere with regard to the spiritual world, because he's not in Satan, you see, and therefore he's not in all men, he is with all men though, but he is not in them, he is around them and among them, but he is not in them, he is only in the heart of the believers, that's literally what it means if you want to picture what it means to be baptized into Christ, or to be baptized by the

Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, the word baptized, baptized meaning immersed or surrounded or engulfed, and so you had the

Holy Spirit around you, and when he came to live in you, now he's everywhere, he's both in you and without you, you're totally engulfed by him, by God himself, baptized, that's what it is, now we see that he's sending this one, the comforter who will come, he has been with them, and he shall be in you, now it speaks of this one called the

Holy Spirit, and it says he shall be in you, now the very next word,

Jesus says, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you, so who is coming to them, the

Holy Spirit or Jesus, you answer, God is one

God, you're seeing Jesus here speak as the Son of God, he is not speaking of himself as the

Son of Man in this verse, because he is picturing himself as the Son of Man, having already risen and being seated in that place we studied in Sunday school this morning, physically bodily on the throne in the third heaven, so physically bodily he is not here in you, but spiritually he is here in you by his

Spirit, the Holy Spirit, so is the Holy Spirit a third person in this place, or is he the second person, well you can't tell, if you want to speak of him as a third persona you may, but Jesus speaking of the same persona says he will be with you, and he says but I will be with you, so is it the third or the second person, why don't we just say this passage, we don't think of it as persons, we think of this as the one essence of God, God is with us, after all who was

Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, where's the first person in this verse, in this passage, he is here as well, you'll see that in a moment as we keep reading,

I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you, yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, that's speaking as the

Son of Man, the world will see, can only see him if he's here as the

Son of Man, because the world can only see with the eye, it cannot see with the heart like the Christian can, so the world will not see him in a little while because he is bodily going to be resurrected and ascended and go into heaven, so yet a little while the world seeth me no more but you will see me, now how will we see him when he's gone, he says we will, you see him by the

Holy Spirit that lives in your heart, yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live, ye shall live also, at that day you shall know that I am in the

Father and ye in me and I in you, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of or by my

Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him,

Judas said unto him, this is not Judas Iscariot but the other one,

Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not to the world, how can you do that because while you're standing here with me

I can see you but so can the world standing around us on the street corner, how are you going to manifest yourself to me and not have them see you,

Jesus answered and said to him if a man loved me he will keep my words and my

Father will love him, how can that be, how can a person be in this state, how can a person even be a person that loves

Jesus or loves the Father, does everyone walking around the world love

God, what does the Bible say about the world, they are his what, his enemies, there is enmity between man and God and yet there are people who love him, who are they, they're the born -again ones and Jesus answered and said to him if a man loved me he will keep my words and my

Father will love him and now look at this next word, we will come unto him and make our abode with him, now who are we talking about, who is the hour, well at least two that it's speaking of there, the

Father and the Son but it already spoke of the Holy Spirit earlier, he's the great Comforter that is coming, he is the omnipresent in this place of time and space, the omnipresence of God is in the form of the

Holy Spirit, he is here but as he comes in our life, who is he, he is also all of the fullness of the

Godhead but not bodily, in spiritual form, omnipresent everywhere at once form, in your heart and in my heart and in all places in the created universe, we the

Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, we will take up our abode in you, he's already said he will be in you, then he says

I will be in you, now he says we will be in you, you figure it out, I'm just reading the scriptures, it's not that we can figure it out totally,

I don't know that there is a physical example that perfectly describes this existence,

I don't, I know the fact there, well I can't say I know that there's not, I haven't found it, I know

Brother Bill hadn't found it because we talked about it one day, we both came up with some, some good illustrations,

Bill named at least a couple but they're not perfect, they fall apart but we do see what the

Word reveals to us is that when Jesus went into heaven, at that point he sent the

Comforter who was God in spiritual form, who can merge with your spirit and be invisible to the world and bring the full

Godhead with him, all of God, the one true God is in you, your body is now the temple of the living

God and the way that God maneuvered that, to put it in man's terms, with him not being able to be in the presence of sin is that he sent the

Holy Spirit which is him in space and time, it is the one true God in space and time but not in the form of Jesus, in a third form,

Jesus was God in space and time in a physical body, the

Holy Spirit is God in space and time in a non -physical, non -body but the same

God, so God has now clearly manifest himself in three different ways, as the

Father speaking from heaven, as the Son who was baptized in the Jordan and is the Holy Spirit who lit on him as a dove, note that the

Father was not represented as being in space and time but as speaking from what we perceive to be above, a different dimension, a different place but the

Holy Spirit and Jesus were both in time with us and at the same time, now somebody tell me what verse

I was at, let's see, a little further than that, 20, 25, okay, it's the one where it said we will come into him, 23, we will come unto him and make our abode with him, verse 24, he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the word which ye hear is not mine, now he's speaking as the

Son of Man, remember Jesus is the God -man, Jesus had his own spirit by the way, all men do, although that spirit comes from God and goes back to him at physical death but he had his spirit but he had the fullness of the

Holy Spirit without measure and the two spirits became one, one spirit, now what's interesting about this is that the

Holy Spirit and Jesus Spirit were one, they were merged, they were united, they were inseparable except for the time period on the cross when he was separated from God, that's the only exception was in spiritual death but in this life on this earth,

Jesus Spirit and the Holy Spirit never acted separately, they acted in unison as one spirit, now that makes it difficult for us to understand although you picture the two spirits merging,

Brother Bill helped me with science a little bit here, when you have, I get the some of those terms mixed up in chemistry where you have a solution, where you put two atoms together and they mix together, tell me a little bit about that terminology, is a solution where they merge together and become like one thing and then when you put them together, you have the solvent and the solute, you put them together, it creates a solution, it becomes one new thing more or less but it's really the two things but it's one thing and when you look at that technically, isn't it one thing at that point, maybe we have somewhat of an illustration here, it's interesting, all right, do they give new names to the new thing sometimes, but they may merge them together, very interesting, so we have the

Spirit of God in the form of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the man, Jesus Christ, merged and united as one thing, now so we see he loveth me, he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the word which he hear is not mine but the father's which sent me, you see the son of man speaking as a separate persona and this is one thing that is, it has to be covered in a different topic,

I'm not saying we're going to go to it next but the idea of the God -man is its own topic in theology but we see

Jesus speaking, he says the word that you hear is not mine, that's the man Jesus speaking, not the eternal son of God speaking, he's speaking as a man, the son of man, he's saying these words are not mine but the father's which sent me, these things have

I spoken unto you being yet present with you, he's speaking as the son of man while he's present with them but the comforter which is the

Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever

I have said unto you, that is a key verse, verse 26 you go into Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 where it says

God used to reveal himself through prophets and visions but not in these last days, now he does it through his son, this is how he does it through his son, he did it through the words and the works of Jesus but also through the

Holy Spirit coming after Jesus had already gone into heaven and bringing back to remembrance the things they had heard

Jesus say while he was with them and teaching them perhaps even new things as he did Paul out in the wilderness, this is where the

New Testament comes from right there in verse 26, so the Holy Spirit could be considered the author of the

Bible, peace I leave with you, my peace

I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid, you have heard how

I said unto you I go away and come again unto you, you see he goes away as the bodily

Jesus he comes back as the form of God the Holy Spirit, both being all of the fullness of the

Godhead, both being the one true God, he comes back to them in spiritual form if you love me you would rejoice because I said

I go unto the Father for my Father is greater than I, that little phrase caused a lot of trouble in the early years, the first four centuries, the

Aryans took phrases like that and began to teach that Jesus Christ the

Son of God was not co -equal with the Father because he said himself the Father is greater than I, the problem is they misinterpreted that verse because when

Jesus spoke that verse he was speaking as the Son of Man, that was his manishness talking and as the

Son of Man he was made lower than the angels so obviously he's made lower than the

Father but the eternal Son who came into that womb in the

Virgin Mary is not less than the Father, he is the same substance as the

Father, he is co -equal in every way, the church fathers did a great job of expressing it in so many different ways, three personas, one essence, one substance they would say but you see how verse 28 could cause someone to to take that one verse and create a whole group like the

Jehovah's Witnesses out of it, well it says right here Jesus is less than the Father so he can't be the same, he can't be

God, he must be created, well that's not what Jesus was saying, Jesus was speaking as a man, you have to remember when he was on this earth he didn't even know the day he was coming back again, so in that sense he had laid aside some of his omniscience and now

I have told you before it come to pass that when it has come to pass you might believe, hereafter

I will not talk much with you for the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me but that the world may know that I love the

Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do, speaking as the

Son of Man, so it goes back and forth, now I don't have a watch on what time is it?

5 till, okay then I'd like to use that five minutes if I could,

I want to point out something interesting to you, we haven't spoken much about the

Holy Spirit, some people think he is an energy force, the

Aryans tend to teach that, that the Holy Spirit is an energy force that comes from God, he is not

God, that is a lie, as I said he is all the fullness of the

Godhead in spiritual unseeable form, that's who the Holy Spirit is, well let me demonstrate that for you, we realize, now

I've mentioned many times in this study that Jesus is sometimes referred to as the

Old Testament Jehovah, now the Jews wouldn't like to hear that and a lot of Christians don't understand that, we talked about a little bit in Sunday school about that throne of God where the one as the

Son of Man sitting on it that is Jehovah, but that's also the one we know as Jesus, well in Zechariah 12 8 through 10 it literally speaks of Jehovah as being the one who was pierced and that those would look upon him whom they had pierced and shall mourn him as one mourneth for his only son, who do you think that's referring to?

So that proves Jesus is Jehovah in Zechariah chapter 12 8 through 10, in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 6, it says that in his days

Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely because they have a Savior, who would the

Jewish mind think the Savior is? Jehovah, and this is his name whereby he shall be called when he comes and saves his people and here's the name in the

Bible that's given this, Jehovah our righteousness, Jehovah our righteousness, that's who

Jesus is, Psalm chapter 68 shows that Jehovah is the

Lord Jesus, Isaiah chapter 6 verse 5 in conjunction with John chapter 12 verse 41 proves the same thing,

Isaiah 41 for in conjunction with Revelation chapter 1 verse 13 through 17, in one place in Isaiah it calls

Jehovah the first and the last, in Revelation it calls Jesus the first and the last, now

I don't know if you've ever noticed this but did you know there is at least one place where it calls or teaches that Jesus is

Elohim, now think about that Elohim is the first name of God given in the first verses of Genesis where God created everything that is,

Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 through 5 speaks of Jehovah as, let me find this, in chapter 40 verse 3

I think I said 5 but I meant verse 3 through 5, it says the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare you the way of the

Lord, now that word is Jehovah, make straight in the desert a pathway for our

God, that word is Elohim, now if you go into Luke chapter 3 verses 3 through 6 what does

John the Baptist do, he prepares a way for Jesus, so in Isaiah 40 verse 3 it calls

Jesus both Jehovah and Elohim, now we know the

Bible teaches Jesus made the world, I'm still talking about Jesus I'm supposed to be talking about the

Holy Spirit but I'm going to show you something interesting, John 1 10 says he was in the world and the world was made by him, that's

Jesus obviously, he came unto his own, his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave me the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name, if you're sitting here today and you're not born again then listen to verse 12,

I'm going to show you what the Bible says you do on your side if you want to know that you're born again, it says but as many as received him, you receive him, as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born of not of the blood of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God, Colossians 1 16 says all things were created by him and for him,

John 1 14 says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, the only begotten

Son which is in the bosom of the Father and he hath declared the Father, now we know all those things about Jesus but did you know that the

Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is Jehovah, Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1 and the

Spirit of Jehovah is upon me because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach the good tidings to the meek, now this is

Jesus, this is an amazing verse because it is Jesus who was anointed to preach the good tidings to the poor and it says the

Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, so now the

Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jehovah, we know from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 that the

Holy Spirit created everything that is and yet the other verses we alluded to in Colossians 1 and John chapter 1 say

Jesus created everything that is, Genesis 1 1 in the beginning

God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and the darkness was upon the face of the deep and the

Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the waters, that's the

Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Elohim, the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters and brought all the molecular structure together and so therefore made the worlds into the form of the cosmos,

Jesus is the one who did that but here he is called the Spirit of Elohim, Job chapter 26 verse 12 he divided the sea with his power and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud, by his spirit he hath garnished the heavens, his hand hath formed the crooked serpent,

Job 33 for the Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the

Almighty hath given me life, so the Holy Spirit is the creator, now our human mind would say not

Jesus wouldn't we, I mean if you spoke as a man you say okay now we see the Holy Spirit's the creator so not

Jesus but that can't be true because the Bible says Jesus created everything, everything is created by him and for him, so what does that tell us about this one called the

Holy Spirit and this one called Jesus and this one called the Father, he is one, he is one and the same,

Psalm 104 29 thou hidest thy face they are troubled, thou takest away their breath they die and return to the dust, thou sendest forth thy spirit and they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth, so the

Holy Spirit is the creative force of God, Jesus Christ is the creator of everything that is,

Isaiah chapter 42 verse 1 behold my servant whom

I upheld mine elect in whom my soul delighteth, that's Jesus Christ the man

Jesus, I have put my spirit upon him the Father said, I have put my spirit the

Spirit of Elohim the Spirit of Jehovah I have put upon the man Jesus Christ, he shall bring forth judgment to the

Gentiles, verse 5 says thus saith God Jehovah he that created the universes and the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people, now it's saying

God Jehovah says this, a few moments ago it said the Spirit of God created, then we saw in Colossians Jesus is the creator of all things, verse 6 says

I am Jehovah I have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light to the

Gentiles, who is that light, that's Jesus to open the blind eyes and then sit in darkness to bring them out of the prison house,

I am Jehovah that is my name and my glory will I not give to another therefore

Jesus cannot be another, he is not another God, he is the one true

God, neither my praise to graven images behold the former things are come to pass and new things do

I declare before they spring forth I tell you of them, now one last place

I want you to see Romans chapter 8 verse 9 Romans 8 9 but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the

Spirit of God dwelleth in you, now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his, he's called the

Spirit of God and then he's called the Spirit of Christ in the same sentence or in the same verse, so we see the

Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jehovah, he's called the Spirit of Elohim, he's called the Spirit of Christ, is he three different spirits or we learn in the

Sunday school he's seven but that doesn't mean he's seven different spirits, the word seven is

God's number of perfection, it just simply means he is the

Holy Spirit, so we've read you a lot of verses we know that Romans 8 chapter 9 says you're not in the flesh but you're in the spirit everyone would recognize that means you're filled with a

Holy Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, now if any man have not the

Spirit of Christ it's used as a synonym of the Spirit of God, if you have not the

Spirit of Christ he is none of his and if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness and so forth, so we come for full circle we see that there are

God manifest in the flesh 1st

Timothy 316 there is Jesus Christ, we see that there is one called the

Comforter who is sent once Jesus goes to be in heaven he says expedient for you if I go to be in heaven because then the

Holy Spirit can be sent, he has been with you but he shall be in you, one form in which the

Holy Spirit was with them by the way was because Jesus was walking right with them and the

Spirit of Christ was with them and then we know that the

Father spoke from heaven as Jesus was baptized so we see God exists as three distinct personas

I'll use the Latin term but one essence one substance one

God only, Genesis 6 3 is a very telling verse that may help explain why

God reveals himself this way to us and Jehovah said my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years the

Lord Jehovah said my spirit will not always strive with man you see

God the Father does not come in contact with sin he does not come in contact with this sinful world he comes only in the manifestation of Jesus Christ or the

Holy Spirit and this is why he has to reveal himself to us in this way because Jesus is

God in time and space seen and the Holy Spirit is God in time and space felt let's stand and have prayer together dear father we thank you for your word it is the only thing we have on this earth that can take us down this path of having some understanding of how you exist and how you manifest yourself to your people

Lord we thank you that you have a way that you commune with us your

Holy Spirit dwells within our bodies our bodies of flesh which still are among sin in this world and yet you have a way to have a personal relationship with us and to bring us comfort from the third heaven to this planet into our hearts by your spirit

Lord may you use the lessons that we've had in recent days for the main purpose of making it clear in our hearts that there is one true

God and there is none other and that when we look at Jesus we have seen the father we have heard the father's words we have seen the father's works and when we perceive the

Spirit of God within our hearts we perceive and see that he has brought all of you into us even in time and space we cannot perceive all of you but nevertheless you are all fully within us your presence is fully with us help us to rejoice in that understanding help us as we go out from here today if we find ourselves alone somewhere that we might stop and think for a moment that the