The Unity of God

Temple Baptist Church - 8-9-2023

John 10:30

 

Introduction:

 

A.  One of the most effective of Satan’s devices is division and confusion.  Our Lord spoke of the destruction of a house divided against itself and it was recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

 

Matthew 12:25  And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

 

I find it of interest that there was no mention of this device of division in John’s Gospel as that Book of the Bible expresses the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.  THERE IS NO DIVISION IN GOD!

 

B.  In our context, Jesus spoke exhaustively about who He was and His relation ship with the believers (sheep) and the Father in verse 30.  In verse 31, they took up stones once again to kill our Lord because of His claim to be the Son of God and oneness with God the Father.  “I and the Father are one!”

 

John 10:31-33  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.  (32)  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?  (33)  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

 

C.  As 21^st Century believers, we face the same problem of division.  “Divide and Conquer” is a saying that has been used over the years. 

 

1.  There is a movement within the Pentecostal movement that are referred to themselves as “Jesus Only.”  They deny God the Father and disregard the Holy Spirit in both their Theology and baptism.  The are baptized in the name of Jesus while the Bible commands us to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!

 

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

 

2.  During the Transition Period, as God was moving the Jew from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, Peter command that these New Testament Jews be baptized in the name of “Jesus” because of their national rejection and their crucifixion of the Messiah.  It was part of their confession of faith. 

 

3.  There are both preachers and people on the pews of Baptist churches who also separate and divide the Trinity.

 

a)  There are those who ignorantly claim that God either allowed to do something or gave them something that is against the truth found in the Bible.  Jesus is the Word, equated with the Scriptures, and the Scriptures cannot be broken.

 

b)  God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit will never violate the Word of God!  The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth as only the truth will make us free.

 

4.  The Bible teaches Monotheism, that there is one God—not many,  and Trinitarianism, that God manifests Himself in three distinct person who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united.

 

5.  I often use a Theological statement that goes like this.  “God is one God, manifesting Himself in three Persons, God the Father—God the Son—and God the Holy Spirit.  These Three are all co-equal in all power and attributes.”

 

6.  I will probably spend several services one the subject “The Unity of God.”

 

D.  In our text for tonight, we find the words “I and the Father are One”.

 

1.  For this cause, the Jews took up stones once again because Jesus equated Himself with God the Father. 

 

2.  Their rejection of Christ, their spiritual blindness, and their hatred concerning the doctrinal truth of the Trinity, of the Unity and Oneness of God is expressed here in verse 31.

 

E.  Now, let us see what the Bible says about the Unity of God. 

 

1.  The Unity of God in Creation.

 

a.  We understand that Jesus Christ, Jehovah God in the Old Testament, was the Creator of all things. 

 

John 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 

John 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

 

Ephesians 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

 

Colossians 1:15-17  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  (16)  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (17)  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

 

b.  “In the beginning God” – The name for God is “Elohim,” which is a plural word.  Though Jesus Christ alone was the Creator of all things, we find that the Trinity was together in full agreement.

 

Genesis 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 

c.  After the Creation was finished, God made Adam of the dust of the earth, so now we find the plural word “us” found.  Not let Us create but lets us make!  Make out of what was already created.

 

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

 

The word “God” used here is Elohim, the plural name of God with the personal pronouns also being plural: “us” and “our”.

 

Genesis 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

 

Here, we find a compound name of God: LORD (Jehovah) and God (Elohim) used for the first time.  LORD or Jehovah was Jesus Christ and God was the unity of the Godhead together.  “LORD God” is used 545 times in the Bible expressing the complete oneness and unity of the Godhead or Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.