The Trinity (Part 3)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. Hopefully today we won�t have a lot of mowing and stuff outside. It�s so distracting. We are talking about the Triune God and the Covenant of Redemption. God as Triune.

Most theologians in the Covenant of Redemption discussion talk about the Father and the Son and the promise there, right? Remember, we�re in Titus 1, the non-lying, never-lying, unlying God who promised before ages began.

To whom did He make the promise? It�s within the Godhead. That�s what we�re talking about. Most of the time they talk about the Father and the Son because of some Psalms that will talk about those two, but obviously the eternal Holy Spirit, He was there.

He was there as part of the agreement, as a witness. He certainly assisted the Lord Jesus, the human Jesus on earth, and then He�s human Jesus, of course, God-man on earth, and then He applies the work of the Son who was sent by the Father.

He applies that work to us, right, as He justifies, sanctifies, et cetera. Lewis Berkoff,. �The Covenant of Redemption may be defined as the agreement between the Father giving the Son as head and Redeemer of the elect and the Son voluntarily taking the place of those whom the Father had given Him.

Charles Hodge,. �When one person assigns a stipulated work to another person with the promise of a reward upon the condition of performance of that work, there is a covenant. Nothing can be plainer than that all this is true in relation to the Father and the Son.

The Father gave the Son a work to do. He sent Him into the world to perform it and promised Him a great reward when the work was accomplished. So in this little mini-series on the Trinity, we�re talking about the one God, right?

�Father Almighty, who is the Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible Nicene Creed says, �and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light we�re talking about the Son, �very God of very God, begotten so we don�t think of only in human terms, �not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.

Later it talks about the Holy Spirit, and I believe in the Holy Spirit, �the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.

This is important because God is important, and He has shown us in Scripture how we are to think about Him, right? So if I say God, what comes to your mind? I hope eventually, at the top of the list maybe even, Triune, right?

You think to yourself, all right, we can understand God only as He reveals Himself. We can�t make it up, have an idol, or anything else. And for Paul, he said elsewhere in Ephesians 1, �Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us as adoptionist sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. God, the Triune God, before the foundation of the world, freely decrees out of love, independent of human influence, not looking down the corridors of time, chooses, not seed.

Now, that�s praise-inducing. A woman told John Newton she was sure that God chose her before she was born, for He never would have chosen her after. Sweet, but He knew all about everything before and still chose us.

God�s not looking down a corridor of time. That doesn�t even exist. Of course, God knows all things, doesn�t learn anything. He doesn�t see anything if He were to look down the corridor of time, except we�re just dead in trespasses and sins.

This is �chosen you from the beginning for salvation 2 Thessalonians 2 .13. The language could not be more explicit. And for Paul, this is a fireworks of praise. This is going back for Paul, a trip through the Psalms and memory lane in the Psalms.

In Psalm 2, �Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance. Whom ask whom for whom? Who ask whom for whom? In Psalm 89, �I made a covenant with my chosen one. The Father gives the Son a work to do.

He sends that Son into the world to do it. The Spirit, He is an equal member of the eternal trinity. He has a crucial role in this eternal decree, certainly a witness. Some call Him the great public notary of heaven.

That�s interesting. Thomas Brooks said, �Who, being a third person of the glorious trinity, of the same divine essence, and of equal power and of glory, makes up the third legal witness with the Father and the Son.

Well, God decrees. He freely decrees. He decrees because He is loving, and He decrees our salvation. And you say, �Okay, so what �So what We should just close the show right now if you say that.

�So what No biggie. I just need like four steps. I just need 40 days of purpose. Whatever happened to 40 days of purpose? I mean, if that sold more books than the Bible almost, or at least that sold more books than Pilgrim�s Progress, they say, where did they all go?

I mean, there have got to be millions of those things. I don�t know. I don�t know. I�m skeptical that there�s how many millions, 25 million sold? Where would they all go? Shouldn�t you attend a garage sale and find one of those books?

I mean, like every possible place you go. I mean, did they burn them? They just like evaporate over time? 20 years later, they�re just gone? Where are they at? Where are they, rather? Sorry. Did you know I went to an elementary school?

It was called Laura Dodge. I don�t know who Laura Dodge is. Probably some liberal educator, right? Horace Mann or something like that, or who are some of the other famous school names? Foster Grant, Horace Mann, and then they built a new school in town because we were in the suburbs.

I mean, basically, where I grew up now is a tougher part of town. It�s more inner city, but in those days, it was out in the middle of nowhere, one road kind of thing, northwest Omaha, and they started a new school, so I didn�t have to go to Laura Dodge anymore.

There were so many kids at Laura Dodge. They were putting us in modular mobile homes for certain classes. And then they opened up this new school, and it was called Master�s, and we were the Master�s monarchs.

It was K through 6, I think. Junior high was 7th through 9th, and then senior high was 10th through 12th. That was how it worked in Omaha, Nebraska. I can�t get away from Master�s, right? I can�t get away from Master�s.

I even went to elementary school, not in California, but there, so anyway, Master�s monarch. What kind of, I mean, couldn�t it be like a Master�s Marauder, Master�s, what�s the university called, Mustangs, Master�s, I don�t know what, but there�s got to be something better than a monarch.

Maybe they were on the cutting edge back in those days in 1965, �66, who knows? Who knows what the school is like now? I should drive by it sometime, the Master�s monarchs. So what? God�s triune, His decrees are eternal from love, and they include us.

Well, you ought to be saying to yourself, I am so thankful I�m saved. I�m forgiven. I�m justified. My eternity, in eternity I didn�t have free will then, and therefore I didn�t, none of this was something that I did.

It was done to me, and by the way, I can�t lose in time what happened in eternity past. There are no angels there, no people, no stars, just the Trinity, and He decided to save me and to rescue me, the triune God, determined in eternity past, caused by God�s will.

For God�s glory, and for us, the only thing we have to do is praise God. We just praise Him. It�s amazing. It�s amazing that His purpose included us. Well, what�s another takeaway? This is implied in the first, God loves you.

God loves you. You should have comfort and assurance knowing that God loves you. This is not an abstract, impractical doctrine only set for seminary classrooms and speculative conversations for professional theologians, Keele and Brown said, no.

We learn about God�s love. We learn about the Father�s love for the Son, the Son�s love for the Spirit, the Spirit�s love for the Father, etc. And we think, three persons, one God, a loving God, for God so loved the world.

This should really help us so we don�t think that God the Father is mad and the only way He loves is if the Son assuages His anger. You have to be thinking John 3, 16, for God so, He�s talking about the Father, for God so what?

In this particular way, He loved the world. This is a decree of love, right? This is the decree of love in eternity past. This is not something where now the Father loves because of what the Son has done.

No, no. The Father loves, the Son loves, and the Spirit loves in eternity past, on earth, etc. Gerhardus Vos said, the best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began. The best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began.

We�re talking about eternity. I mean, this just blows my mind, does it not, you? We are united to Christ and we get to enjoy this love? It�s amazing. How did I influence God to love me? No. The only way we know God loves is through Scripture and He loves because He sovereignly chose to love.

It�s like Israel, right? Deuteronomy 7, the Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more a number than any of the peoples, for you were fewest of all the peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of King Pharaoh, our Pharaoh, King of Egypt.

True or false? We love because He first loved us. Of course, the answer is true. This is the eternal love of God because God is eternal. God is love. God�s love is eternal. �I have loved you with an everlasting love the Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, Jeremiah 31, 3.

�I have drawn you with loving kindness. This holy God loves people. He loved us before time began. And therefore, since that�s true, not only can you not lose your salvation, that God loves you, is that you can rest.

You can rest. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit covenanted together in eternity past to save you. �Well, I was smarter than the other person. That�s why I�m going to go to heaven. No, He just did it all.

It is finished. Jesus, the last Adam, you think about Him on earth like the first Adam, covenant of works, do this and live, and actually Jesus did that. Jesus loves me. Jesus cares for me, and I can rest.

And you say, �Well, I still sin. Yes, Heidelberg 60. �Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God and have never kept any of them and am still prone always to do evil, yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sins and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if I only accept such benefit with a believing heart.

Well, so what? How about humbling? That is to say, the doctrine of the Trinity and His covenant of redemption is very, very humbling. Luther said, �It is God who handles us and not we who handle God.

McGrath said, �Everyone loves simple religions, and there's always a temptation to make Christianity as easy as it is possible to do. No, no. We have God revealed, and that's how we have to deal with God.

One man said something, and I can say this now because my taste buds are kind of slowly coming back. If human words cannot adequately describe the aroma of coffee, how much less can they describe God?

I'll drink to that. Okay, it's getting better as it's cooling down some. This Starbucks is a little bit better. On the side of this Starbucks cup, it says, �We just have the cups here. I didn't go. That first sip feeling.

�Let us add a little joy to your day. Join Starbucks Rewards. I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my Starbucks app. Where? In the Starbucks app. Where? I think my birthday's coming up. I get a free Starbucks.

Athanasius, �Man can perceive only the hem of the garment of God, and the cherubim cover the rest with their wings. Grider said, �Off with your shoes, please, for the Holy Trinity is holy ground. Away with your finely figured syllogisms and ordinary arithmetic.

Here logic and mathematics do not suffice. The need is rather for a listening ear, an obedient heart, rapt adoration, careful engagement with the Holy Scriptures. Don't you like things that are mentally challenging, yet still true?

Doesn't that remind you that we're just creatures, finite creatures? �Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man Wesley said, �and I'll show you a man that can comprehend the triune God. And while he is not mentally, we are not mentally able to put him in a box and wrap our brains around everything.

We can some things, like the Father, Son begotten, the Son is begotten, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. One man said we have to distinguish between apprehension and comprehension. I think that's fair.

Zephaniah 2, �Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who have carried out His ordinances. Seek righteousness, seek humility. Five, what's the fifth takeaway? Well, I don't know how to phrase this in a word or two, but people get wrapped up in some of the nuances and the whys, pourquoi, pourquoi, of predestination.

Okay, what are we going to do? How can we figure it out? Michael Horton said, �God's predestination is hidden to us, but Christ is not. The unveiling of the mystery hidden in past ages, the person and work of Christ, becomes the only reliable testimony to our election.

Those who trust in Christ, belong to Christ, are elect in Christ. And so, if you have a hard time with the doctrine of election, why don't you just study the person of Christ? Why was He on earth? What was His work to do?

How did He do the work? Did He do it well? Was He living a life of federal headship or representation? Did He die a penalty substitutionary death? That's kind of what I'm after here. Well, what else? Well, this God that saves you, also is going to sanctify you, right?

He's purifying, renewing, enabling you to say no to sin and yes to righteousness. John Colquhoun said, �To sanctify a sinner is the work of God and is a greater work than to create the world. It is the work of the whole trinity of divine persons.

This, as Westminster Shorter Catechism 35 says, �Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, where we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness.

If you're involved in the covenant of redemption, you're a Christian, Jesus has been sent to die for you, the Spirit of God has applied that death to you, God is going to what? God is going to equip you with every good that you may do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight.

That's Hebrews chapter 13, right? And we just trust, and we trust that He's doing that. And we'd want to say no to sin, no to evil things, yes to righteousness. By the way, there's another so what here.

Your pastor doesn't have to be perfect. You say, �Where did that come from Well, that came from the studios of No Compromise Radio, a quiet studio without any trucks in the parking lot. Pastors don't have to do it alone.

Pastors are not on their own when it comes to members of the local church. The weight should not be on the pastor's shoulders. The weight should be on the pastor's shoulder, preach the Word, show us Christ, graces of God involved in the pastor's life where he's a one-woman man, et cetera.

But this undershepherd, your pastor, is just pointing to the ultimate shepherd because who's adequate for these things? Who's adequate for these things? �But thanks be to God 2 Corinthians 2, �who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

Who's sufficient for these things, Paul goes on to say. I mean, we have the ultimate shepherd, the Lord God Himself as the shepherd. We have the ultimate shepherd, the good shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep.

He's not a hired hand. He, the Lord Jesus, would never do that. God uses pastors, that's true, to give us the means of grace, both the sacraments and the preached Word. But when we think about the covenant of redemption, all eyes should be upwardly.

And when you think about that and related to pastors, pastors don't need to therefore only whack people with scolding. Do they give them the law? Yes. Do pastors want lawless people? No. But the law comes from a father, a father that so loves the Son and loves the Holy Spirit and loves the elect that we would make it clear with our lives that this is a law from the hand of God, third use kind of thing.

I know many pastors, they want their congregation to obey, so they hold the Damocles. Are you really sure you're a Christian? There's a false faith. There's a spiritist faith. Of course, that's true, but there are other ways to motivate a congregation.

How about the triune love of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in a pact in eternity past that had individual Christians' names on it, right? It's amazing. Christ is going to come back and we don't have to be afraid of judgment day.

We're to look for it, right? We're to look with eager anticipation as the judge from heaven, the very same person, Heidelberg 52, who before has submitted himself to the judgment of God for my sake and has removed all the curse from me.

He will cast all his and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but he will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into heavenly joy and glory. We don't have to worry about that, the last judgment.

We're going to appear before the Lord, but when that summons happens, when that archangel calls us with God's trumpet, and when those books are opened, we don't have to give an account for anything because Jesus paid for all those.

Yes, great comfort, total redemption. We see it face to face. That is vindication. What God said in Romans 8 is actually true. And what happens? Our innocence will be, Belgic said, recognized by all openly.

They will see the terrible vengeance of God. God will bring on the evil ones. And then what? The faithful and the elect will be crowned with glory and honor. The Son of God will profess their names before God as Father and the holy angels and the elect angels.

All tears will be wiped from their eyes. And their cause, at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers, will be acknowledged as the cause of the Son of God. And as a gracious reward, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the human heart could never imagine.

So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Doesn't that sound good? Doesn't that sound really good? Oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

Confessional Comfort, Humility, and the Christian Life

Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. We've tried to talk about the Trinity today in the last two shows. I hope you're encouraged. Hope your mind's blown a little bit. Hope you think I should probably get a book on the Trinity and study it.

Best place you could start, pick up a confession. And if you're a Baptist, pick up the 1689. If you're congregational, pick up the Savoy. If you're Presbyterian and Reform, pick up Heidelberg, Belgic, Westminster, Shorter, Longer, Catechism.

God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.