The Holy Spirit Is the Power of God, Not the Person of God

Well, it was nice hearing from Mr. Cleb. That was really well done. Mr. Cleb has been attending down there in Toledo for, what, since the 60s, I believe? Early 60s or mid-60s, and really does very well. I can hear his wonderful voice from where I was sitting over there. I'm glad Pam is there with him. Brethren, over the last number of weeks, as I've sent you my mid-week little pick-me-up, we've been going through a number of items regarding the Holy Spirit.

Every week, I've been wanting to go a little bit into what the Holy Spirit means to us as we prepare for the upcoming Feast of Pentecost. Over the last number of weeks, the things I've emailed you would include what the coming of the Holy Spirit means to we as Christians. It would include the Holy Spirit and what it did in the Old Testament.

It would include the Holy Spirit giving the Christian power to become Christ-like. It would include the Holy Spirit aids the Christian in doing God's work. In this last week, this last Wednesday, I sent out something about what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit. So, as you and I have looked at those emails, as you've gotten that information, as we've looked at those emails and got that information, we've seen quite a bit about what the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does.

But just as important is what the Holy Spirit is not. Today, we want to take a look at what the Holy Spirit is not. There are billions of people on this planet calling themselves Christians who believe in a Trinity. You don't. There are reasons you don't. I think from time to time, it's good for us to go and take a look at why it is we believe what we believe. We are having these Kingdom of God seminars. We are hoping for a number of people to be coming. This is an issue that you and I hardly ever think about. We almost never think about the Trinity.

But in Christendom, this is a big thing. I think I mentioned over the years I've been here that when I used to live in North Carolina, I wanted to be a part of a prison ministry there. I contacted Chuck Colson of Watergate fame. He had become a fairly well-known evangelist in his own right. I said, I'm visiting a lot of people in the Raleigh, Durham area anyway. Could I be used in your prison outreach program? He wrote back and said, I see that you're with Worldwide Church of God.

I said, yes. You folks don't believe in a Trinity. It began to scold me. It was a letter, but he began to scold me as to how can you even call yourself a Christian, much less a minister, if you don't believe in a Trinity? So today, what I'd like to do is go through some information. Chances are you're not going to be talking to too many ministers about this subject, but there may be an ex-door neighbor.

There may be somebody at work. There may be somebody you come in contact with and some other regard that would want to ask you, why is it you don't believe in a Trinity? And what I'm about to give you, brethren, we've got a lot of literature on this. As a matter of fact, we are about to put out a brand new booklet on this subject. So don't feel as though you've got to take a lot of notes. As a matter of fact, the first portion of the sermon is largely a lot of my reading. The second portion we get into the scripture is a lot more heavily. But what I wanted to do is make this relatively easy for our minds to get so we can have a conversation with somebody.

Now, to get us going, I was taking a look at the Holman Bible dictionary's definition of a Trinity, and I thought it was quite interesting. Let me quote from the Holman Bible dictionary. It says, the theological term used to define God as an undivided unity expressed in the threefold nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As a distinctive Christian doctrine, the Trinity is considered as a divine mystery beyond human comprehension.

A divine mystery beyond human comprehension. Interesting. Is that the way God reveals things to His people? Is that the way Jesus Christ? Did Jesus Christ come to say, well, you know, you really can't comprehend this. I'm going to give you a little bit of a heads up, but, you know, don't take too many notes because you just can't give it. I don't see Jesus Christ doing that. Later on in the Holman Bible dictionary, it does say they give four statements to summarize the teaching. I thought it was interesting, point number four.

I don't want to go through all of this, but point number four was that the doctrine of the Trinity is an absolute mystery. The doctrine of the Trinity is an absolute mystery. That's their fourth point, and then they just have one sentence after that where they say, it's primarily known not through speculation, but through experiencing the act of grace through personal faith.

Well, you know, I think everybody in this room has experienced the act of grace through personal faith. I've experienced that, and you've experienced that, but I don't believe in a Trinity, and neither do you. So my point today is this. My theme for the whole sermon is this.

The Holy Spirit is the power of God, not the person of God. The Holy Spirit is the power of God, not the person of God. Let's look at historical evidence. People come to you and they say, how can you call yourself a Christian? You don't believe. Well, I know you're not going to remember all what I'm about to quote you, but there are some salient things that I think that you we can't put into our memory banks, but we'll get to that in just a couple of months.

Let me read you a few of what worldly scholars say about the Trinity. What a quote from the Oxford Companion to the Bible. In their article, Trinity, they say this, because the Trinity is such an important part of latter Christian doctrine, it is striking the term does not appear in the New Testament.

Likewise, the developed concept of three co-equal partners in the God had found in the latter creedal formulations cannot be clearly detected within the confines of the New Testament canon.

Brethren, that is a tremendous statement.

They basically are saying, you know, we simply can't find evidence of the Trinity in the New Testament. They talk about later creedal formulations. Now, what do they mean later? They're talking about John, the last apostle who lived. What are they talking about when they say later? Well, hang on. We'll get to that. In the New Bible Dictionary under their article entitled Trinity, it says the term Trinity is not itself found in the Bible. It was first used by Tertullian, who was one of the early Catholic Church theologians, at the close of the second century, but received wide currency and formal elucidation only in the fourth and fifth centuries.

So, the original apostles are dead. They're buried. They are turned to dust. And hundreds of years later, we're talking about this doctrine. The New Bible Dictionary goes on to say that the formal doctrine of the Trinity was a result of several inadequate attempts to explain who and what the Christian God really is. I don't know that any of us in this room would consider ourselves scholars, but I don't think that you would be inadequate trying to describe God. They felt that way, though. The formal doctrine of the Trinity was a result of several inadequate attempts to explain who and what the Christian God really is. To deal with these problems, the Church Fathers met in 325 at the Council of Nicaea to set out an Orthodox biblical definition concerning divine identity. However, it was until 381 at the Council of Constantinople that the divinity of the Spirit was affirmed. Now, that's something we can stick in our memory banks. I'm not asking you to remember all these books and all these quotes, but if somebody comes to you, one of your co-workers, why don't you believe in the Trinity? Oh, well, did you realize that your own people, whether you be Protestant or Catholic, your own people didn't really expound on that and call that official until almost 400 A.D. Well, that should show us something.

From a dictionary of Christian theology, it states, an impression of binitarianism that is to in unity the Father and the Son, given by much second and third century thought, maintained the full co-presence of the two distinct entities within the Godhead. So even at the time, there were people in the Roman Church and later the Church that came out of that, the cello, you know, it looks to us as just two beings there, God, the Father, and Jesus Christ. So even among themselves, it wasn't one of these things where it's just so obvious. So one of the first things we see, brethren, is the fact that if we're talking about the Trinity, which is a huge subject in the Protestant and Catholic world, they were fighting about this themselves for a long, long time. It wasn't codified in their own literature until almost 400 A.D. So history shows there's really no evidence. You know, you don't see the Apostle Paul writing about it. We'll get to that in a little bit. You don't see John or Peter. You know, you do not see Jesus Christ teaching this subject. Now, that should tell us something. You know, if we were to be Christians, if we were to be followers of Christ, then we should, I would think, check in with what our Savior has to say. Now, there's something else, and let's turn on to 1 John 5. Because here in 1 John 5 is a couple of verses. There are a couple of verses here that I don't think any scholar would come to you and begin to discuss this. But some of those who are not as schooled, would come to you and say, this proves the Trinity. These two verses prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the Trinity. Let's take a look at these two verses. 1 John 5, verses 7 and 8.

For there are three that, and I'm reading from the New King James, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree as one. Now, before I get into this myself, let's, you know, so people don't think, well, you know, you're just talking your own theology, you've got your own blind spot, and so on and so forth.

Let's take a look at what the worldly scholars, biblical scholars, have to say about those two verses. Because the bottom line, as we're going to see in a moment, half of what's in verse 7 and verse 8, half of what's there, is not in the original. Half of what's in those two verses were added by some copyist or some monk somewhere down the road. They added their own commentary. And we don't need to say, well, isn't it the Bible? The Bible is an errant? Yes, the Bible is an errant. We were talking about the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. This is something that was put into the English with somebody who had a preconceived idea. But let's take a look at what the world commentators say. The new Bible commentary by says this. It says, notice that the A.V., the King James, the venerable King James, notice that the King James includes additional material at this point. But the words are clearly a gloss and are rightfully excluded from the Revised Standard Version. So it's not just our own inspik that says some of that shouldn't be there.

Now, here's what the new Revised Standard Version says. Here is their translation of 1 John 5, verse 7 and 8. Here it is. There are three that testify, the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. That's it. Now, let me walk you through this. I've got a new King James up here with me.

Let me walk you through this because in my Bible, I've actually taken a pencil and crossed out the words that are not inspired by God. Here in verse 7, verse 8, almost the first half of verse 8, I've got a line through. What is inspired by God in verse 8? It starts, the spirit, the water, and the blood. These three agree as one.

Everything before the words, the spirit, in verse 8, you can draw a line through.

So it's almost fully half of those two verses are not in the inspired word of God.

Now, let me go to another source, a biblical, not a, it's not from the Bible, but it's a man who writes about the Bible, a scholarly source, Dr. Neil Lightfoot, how he got the Bible. He comments on these two verses. He says, of all the Greek manuscripts, only two contain, only two contain what you had there before you put a line through it. Only two contain it. These two manuscripts are of a very late date. How late? One from the 14th or 15th century or more than a thousand years after the death of the original apostles. The other is from the 16th century. Two other manuscripts have the verse written in the margin. All four manuscripts show that this verse was apparently translated from a late form of the Latin Vulgate.

So people come to you and say, well, you know, 1 John 5, 7, 8, that proves the Trinity. No, not when you look at what's really inspired by God. The expositor's Bible commentary also dismisses the King James and New King James Version as saying, it's obviously a late gloss with no merit. A late gloss with no merit. So I've quoted, what, three or four different Bible scholars, reputable works, who say that somebody tinkered with those verses. And we understand that Mr. Armstrong taught this. This is nothing new, but for people who may come to you, I think it's refreshing for you to understand that and to know that. Let's launch off into something else, and that is why, you know, if the Holy Spirit is not a person, why in the Bible, as you refer to, is He and Him? Why do we have these masculine pronouns when it comes to the Holy Spirit? Well, let me take just a couple minutes. I want to be, you know, too bit botanic about this, but the Greek, as the Roman languages do, whether we're talking about Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, all of those invoke a specific gender for every noun. Every object, animate, or inanimate animate is designated either masculine, feminine, or neuter. As an example, in French, the word for book is an emasculine gender. Now, we know that a book is not anything masculine. It's an it, but in terms of language, that's the way it is. But, and here again, we see some prejudices, but because, you know, it may be correct in the Greek to use emasculine, like paracletus, can be, which at one point refers to Jesus Christ, and obviously he was masculine. There may be proper in Greek, but when you're translating it into English, let's go back to our French example. If we were translating something from French into English, talking about a book, would you say, I'm looking for my book so I can read him? No, you wouldn't do that. You would translate it, so I'm looking for my book so I can read it. And that's what should have happened in the pages of our Bibles, in the English versions of our Bibles, but they didn't do that. The reputable members of the group that put together the King James, the authorized version in 1611, the doctrine that Trinity was so ingrained, they just automatically, instead of putting it as they should have done, they put he and him and that sort of thing. So we see some prejudice there. Let's move on to something else, and here's a Bible verse that people, maybe you have not really understood how to explain this. Let's go to Matthew 28. Now here we've got a commission by Jesus Christ, and some people say, well, here again, just like 1 John, this really points to a Trinity.

1 John, or, let's make Matthew 28, verse 19, Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

There you go, three of them. There's a Trinity right there. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Well, let's remember something about the Scriptures.

We have to take the whole of the Bible as context. Some of the Scriptures discuss the nature of God. Some of the Scriptures discuss various doctrinal issues. Some will discuss various historical issues. This section of Scripture is not trying to discuss the nature of God at all. That's not the point of this Scripture. The point of this Scripture is to show that in the process of baptism and entering into God's family, it involves the Father, because who is it that calls us?

God the Father. It involves Jesus Christ, by whose shed blood are sins forgiven. Well, Christ shed blood. And yet, in the book of Romans, it says, if we don't have what, we're not a Christian. If we don't have God's Holy Spirit, we're not a Christian. Now, that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is a person. It just means we need to have that power within us. And that's all verse 19 here is trying to show. Let's take a look at Acts chapter 2 and get a little more background here. Acts 2 and verse 38. Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let everyone be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for their emission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, a couple of things here. First of all, do we refer to people as gifts?

I guess if I was a slave and somebody gave me away, I guess that could be considered a gift. But generally, we don't talk about people as gifts. But here we see, if we want to be a part of the family of God, we must receive that gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is great, but we need something else in addition to baptism. We need the receipt of God's Holy Spirit. Second Peter chapter 1.

Second Peter chapter 1.

Second Peter chapter 1 and verse 4.

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is the world through lust. The divine nature. For us to partake of that divine nature, we've got to be baptized. We've got to first be begotten of the Father by the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit imparts the divine nature of God.

Christ's instruction there in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19 presumes that before being baptized, believers will learn of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. At baptism, you and I will enter into a personal family relationship with God the Father, and the Son through the Holy Spirit, thereby receiving the name of God. We're God's kids. We're God's children. Look at Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 and 15. Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if there is a trinity, why isn't he in there? Why isn't he in those two verses? Why is he always given such short notice or no notice of there is really no notice at all? Just totally ignored! Well, the answer to that is because there isn't a trinity. Now, we are taught when we're studying the Scriptures to look at all the context. Let's go back to Matthew 28 for a moment. Let's take a look at that last verse in Matthew 28. Matthew 28 verse 20. The very last verse of the book. Matthew 28.

If verse 19 is actually talking about a trinity, then why don't we see the people of the New Testament saying something about that as we see the information there in verse 20?

Teaching them, these are the words of Christ, they're in red, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you. Teaching them to observe, to understand, to know all the things I've commanded and taught you. Did Jesus Christ teach a trinity? Is that something that we see in the writings of Paul or Peter or John or James? No, we don't see that at all. But it says there, they are commanded to observe all things and teach all things. Let me take a few moments and go through a very important principle as to how God has established his New Testament church, how we are to teach. I'm going to take a few minutes of this. Let's go to Colossians chapter 2.

Obviously, we're going through many more scriptures. This portion of the sermon, Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 verse 7.

Well, let's start here in verse 6. Colossians 2.6. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established into faith, as you have been taught. They were to be guardians, the ministry, the members were guardians of the truth of God, just as you are today. You and I don't have a right to go to our next-door neighbors and just say, well, here's what the church teaches when the church actually does not teach that.

We are to go to people and to teach as we have been taught. Christ came and he established the New Testament church. He taught his men what was necessary to teach Paul. He knocked him down on the road to Damascus. And we believe that Paul was taken, well, the scriptures say Paul was taken to Arabia, maybe Petra, but taken to Arabia someplace. And Jesus Christ personally taught him. Then Christ, then Paul and Peter and John and all the rest, they began to teach others what they themselves had been taught by Christ. And we've handed those teachings down from generation to generation from the time of Jesus Christ till today.

Titus, perhaps, makes this a little clearer. Let's go to the book of Titus.

Titus chapter 1.

Again, here we're talking to Paul's talking to the ministry.

Let's start here in verse 5. Titus chapter 1 verse 5. For this reason I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as a commandeau. Now, part of the job for any elder is to teach the doctrine of God. Verse 6, you know, here are some of the qualifications of the elder. Verse 7, some more qualifications. Verse 8, some more qualifications. But now notice verse 9. That the elder is to hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. Mr. Wreckerly can't just say whatever he wants. I can't just say whatever I want and not be true to the Scripture. I mean, I can say whatever I want. But I would be being true to what I'm supposed to be as God's minister. I've got to teach what I have been taught and give that to the next generation.

That's the way God has designed it. 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2.

Now, the reason I'm taking my time to kind of slug through all of this is if Jesus Christ taught his disciples about the Trinity, why was that not taught from that point, 31 AD to 381 AD? Why was there all this waffling period where people are arguing, fighting, and fussing, and fuming? It wasn't something that was clearly taught from generation to generation because it was never a doctrine of the New Testament Church. 2 Thessalonians 2.15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle.

Those traditions would be the traditions of the truth. It would include that. The traditions of the scriptures and the doctrines that we teach. Hold fast to those.

Go back a book or two to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3.

As I urged you, when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. That's 1 Timothy 1.3. Teach no other doctrine. What you receive from Christ, what you receive from me, Peter or Paul or James or John or whoever, that you teach to other faithful people. Don't teach some other doctrine. That is the way God has established His New Testament Church. That is why we can't just simply say, well, we are going to say whatever we want to. That's okay.

Now, we do understand, and I mean no disrespect, but we do understand there is one very large church in the world, the universal church, who does teach, that their teachings are on par with Scripture. We don't accept that. We accept that the only thing that is on par with Scripture is Scripture. The head of the United Church of God or Church of God International or any of our Church of God fellowships or Church of God families, we can't just stand up and say, okay, here's a ruling, and this is as good as what we see in the writings of Paul or the words of Jesus. We can't do that. This has got to be the foundation for everything. From this, everything springs.

And so when people say, well, you know, it really wasn't a doctrine. It wasn't really ratified or codified or official until 381. That should ring some bells in some people's minds.

Okay, so we're the teachers we've been taught. We don't see the teaching. Remember the one secular source? It was a Bible commentary source, a Bible scholar who said, we just simply don't see the teachings of the Trinity in the New Testament canon. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 5. We've got the giving of the law, second time here, Deuteronomy chapter 5, or restatement of the law, I should say.

What are God's feelings? Now, we can talk all day long about what your feelings are, what my feelings are. What are God's feelings? That's what really matters. What God's feelings are. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 32. Therefore, you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you, you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

You know, it's very explicit. We're, you know, God in one sense gives us a lot of latitude, but that latitude is within the confines of His instruction, within the confines of His beautiful law of liberty. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You know, don't go off into a ditch. Don't go off into the outfield someplace. So we just can't add what we, like one fellow did there in 1 John chapter 5 verse 7 and 8. Can't do that. Now, there's another scripture that you might be thinking of here in Revelation. Let's go over to Revelation chapter 22.

Now, Revelation chapter 22 is an explicit scripture, excuse me, talking about the book of Revelation.

But the principle is true for any of God's writings, found from Genesis to Revelation.

Revelation chapter 22 verse 18. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in His book. Explicitly, yes, talking about Revelation. But by principle, it's true for any part of the Bible. We are not to just go ahead and add whatever we want to add.

In discussing the doctrine of the Trinity, one of the things that people will come to you most frequently with, and you need to be able to handle this, this, this objection. Let's take a look at John chapter 14 and John 16 first. Let's go look at John chapter 14.

Probably the best thing to do is just kind of point to the scripture here they would use.

John chapter 14.

Verse 26.

John 14.26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he – improper, they really should be translated to it – but he will teach you all things.

Well, isn't the Holy Spirit an individual? Isn't it a personality? Because the Holy Spirit teaches! It takes a person to be a teacher. Well, I guess maybe we could have a dog that teaches us things, but generally speaking, we think people teach us. He will teach you all things. So, the Holy Spirit there is looked upon as a person. John chapter 16, verse 13.

John 16.13. However, when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.

So here we see where the Holy Spirit is talked about not only as a teacher, but a guide.

So obviously, the Holy Spirit must be a person. He's doing people things. He's teaching and guiding.

You know, at first glance, that might seem to be a decent argument, but it really isn't. Not when you take a look at the whole of the body of the Bible. Let's take a look at a few verses that you might, if people come to you with that thought, something you might want to turn the table and say, well, what do you say about this? Let's go to Genesis chapter 4. You know, toward the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter 4. A story about Cain and Abel. Genesis chapter 4 in verse 10. And he said, what have you done? What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now, are we going to say that that blood is a person? Or is that a literary technique? Is that something to help us understand something? Is that just a way of writing? I don't think anybody in this room thinks that the blood is a person, but the blood is being personified. And that is something we see over and over in the scriptures.

Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs is an excellent example of this. Proverbs chapter 1.

Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20 and 21. Proverbs 1, 20 and 21. Where it says, Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city. She speaks her words.

Now, are we going to say wisdom is a person? Of course not. But again, here we see wisdom being personified, much like God's Holy Spirit is personified. But none of them are people. It's a literary device. I'm not going to turn over to Proverbs chapter 8. You might want to write that in your notes, but in Proverbs chapter 8, you see wisdom spoken up as crying out, spoken up as standing on a high hill, calling to men, speaking, having lips in a mouth, loving and being loved, having children, having a company that rejoiced with God.

That's all discussed in the subject of wisdom. And yet, again, is wisdom a person? Well, of course not. But it's personified in that way. The book of Habakkuk. We're going to take some time with this because you will be approached by people with this. And we have been approached. You can see it in some of the Q&A that we have online. Book of Habakkuk.

Just after the book of Nehu, which is just after Micah. Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 11. Habakkuk 2.11. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the bean from the timbers will answer it. Again, are stones and beams, are they really people? Do they really talk? Well, of course not. Brethren, you get the point. People come to you and say, well, the Bible says it sure sounds like the Holy Spirit is a person. Well, are all these other things people? Is blood, is wisdom, are stones and timbers? Of course not. It's a matter of the way things can be written. It's not a matter that that's what they really are. It's a literary technique. And the Bible, besides being the unerring word of God, which you believe and I believe, it's also tremendous literature. Every word of God being true. Now, there are places in the scriptures that show very much that God's Holy Spirit is an it. We've already read there in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 where it talks about the Holy Spirit as a gift. People aren't gifts. Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19. 1 Thessalonians 5, 19.

Do not quench the spirit. People aren't quenched. A spirit can be.

Acts chapter 2. We're thinking about Pentecost coming up, not tomorrow, but a week from tomorrow. Acts chapter 2 and verse 17. Here we have the day of Pentecost, Acts 2, 17.

And it shall come to pass, and the last day says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Pour out my spirit.

Are people really poured out?

But in our cases where the Holy Spirit is described in a personal, doing a personal activity, we need to understand that God is using the Holy Spirit as His power, the agency through which He acts. Just because God's spirit does something doesn't make it a person. What am I doing right now? My hand and my arm are lifting up this Bible. Now, am I Randy and that's John? Is this another person here? No. I'm using my power to do something. That doesn't make my arm another person. When God uses His spirit to do something, that doesn't mean the spirit's another person.

We need to understand that. I think we can understand those kinds of concepts. That's why when people come to you and they want to, poo-poo your beliefs. Brother, your beliefs are based on bedrock. How many times does Mary come home from work? She says, boy, here's something else that they believe. It's just something that when people say, they think we've got weird beliefs. We believe in the Sabbath and the Holy Days and what we should eat and how to eat and how we should use our money.

And yet they say, well, if you really want to sell your house, you've got to get this image. You've got to go bury it in your front yard or back yard. I forget what the scene was. Bury it in your backyard and do various other things and you will sell your house. And we're the weird ones? You know, some little statue of somebody in the New Testament? I won't get into all that.

Let's look at yet another issue here over in Matthew chapter 1. We're coming close to the end of the sermon. We're going to be finishing early today. But I want to, I would be remiss if I didn't bring this point up. Yet another reason why we don't believe in a trinity. Matthew chapter 1 verse 20, talking about Joseph, Matthew 1.20, but while he, while Joseph thought about these things, the condition he found his beloved Marian, but when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Now, we've got a number of mothers in this room, right?

The one, you know, it takes two to have a kid, right? You've got mama, and you've got daddy.

Now, who's the daddy here? Do we go through the pages of the New Testament and see the Holy Spirit referred to as Christ's Father? Can anyone in this room think of any scripture that shows that the Holy Spirit is Christ's Father, and yet the Holy Spirit is the one who's helping doing the conceiving here? Jesus Christ, whenever he spoke about his Father, let's go to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Verse 32. Matthew 10.32. Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, him I will confess before the Holy Spirit who is in heaven. No?

Therefore, whoever confesses before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Over and over, Jesus Christ shows that the Father is God, and the Father is His Father, not the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit were a person, then the Holy Spirit would be the Father of Jesus Christ, and yet we know, and frankly, those who would come to you, if they thought about it, they would know how to respond to what you would say when you bring up this point. Because it is just a fact of the Bible. God the Father is the Father of Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit. When Jesus Christ is talking about the Holy Spirit, He's always talking about that in terms of, you know, a power that God is going to be using. Yes, the power will teach. Yes, the power will guide. Just like wisdom cries out. But Jesus Christ never refers to the Holy Spirit as a personal entity. There's another way of approaching this. There are sections in the Bible that show the throne room of God. How many times do we hear the idea, Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God? Oh, well, do we see the Holy Spirit sitting on the left hand of God? Do we see that? No. We don't see that because it's not there. In your notes, I'm not going to turn to these, but in your notes you might want to put down Acts 7. You know, Stephen, in the process of being stoned, he's looking up into heaven. You know, God is wanting to encourage him. Instead of Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God, Jesus Christ is standing. He stands up, he realizes one of his beloved brothers is about to die. But we don't see a picture there of the Holy Spirit. We see God the Father and Jesus Christ. Daniel 7. Much the same thing. In Revelation 4 and Revelation 5, we see a beautiful picture of the throne room of God. I'm sure most all of us, when we've gone to God in our prayers, have opened up our Bibles in front of us to Revelation 4 and 5, or both, and we're thinking, right now, my prayers are going into this setting. My prayers are going into this setting. And do we see the Holy Spirit in that setting as a person? No. We see God the Father at his throne. We see Jesus Christ at his right hand. The last book of the Bible. Let's go back to Revelation. This time, Revelation 21. For the very end of the Bible, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So here we've got a mention of God.

I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. And he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them, and be their God. We drop down to verse 22. Verse 22 of Revelation 21. But I saw no temple, and for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. So once again, you have a discussion about the new Jerusalem. You see God the Father. You see Jesus Christ. It's the Holy Spirit as a person. Why don't we see him here, discussed as a person? Just isn't the case. Just isn't the case. One last item before we wrap up. And that is the Apostle Paul's writings. Now, it's really interesting when you study various theologians, in how in some cases, you know, they will go on and on about Jesus Christ being their personal Savior and so forth. But when it comes to some doctrines, they say, well, you know, we really have to lean on what Paul said. What Paul said was much later on. You know, Christ had to keep the law and all those sorts of things, because Christ was a Jew. It was a cultural thing. If he didn't follow his own culture, you know, then he would sin, and that would be the end of all of us. That's the reason. So we've got to go to, you know, somebody, of course, now Paul was a Benjamite. So it doesn't make any sense, but that's what they go to. They say, well, we'll have to look at the Paul's writings.

Now, Paul wrote, what was it, 13 epistles? And in all the epistles, it was a greeting.

And pretty much, they're the same. There's a little bit of a difference in the wording here and there. But if I were to kind of put it as a general statement, here's what it would say. "'Grace to you in peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.'" Period.

Now, if the Trinity was true as a doctrine, why doesn't Paul say, "'Grace to you in peace from God the Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ, and fellow brother the Holy Spirit?'" Why doesn't he say that? Because it's not the case. Over and over, 13 epistles, Paul says over and over, he talks about God the Father and Jesus Christ. Not once in those readings does he mention the Holy Spirit. Not once.

That's pretty tough. How would you like to be treated that way? You're a person. If everyone's talking about the family, and there's three in your family, and there's person A and person B, but you're never mentioned, what do you want to do?

Well, it goes with that. Right? Two more scriptures before we conclude today. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 8.

1 Corinthians 8.

And verse 6. 1 Corinthians 8.6. Now here is what Paul taught. 1 Corinthians 8.6. No further discussion about, oh yeah, there's this Holy Spirit guy. No, no. Don't see that there. Not there. God the Father, Jesus Christ. Brethren, you do not believe in a Trinity. There are good reasons you don't. But I thought it would be good, just prior to Pentecost, for us to understand what the Holy Spirit is not. The Holy Spirit is the power of God, not the person of God. Today we've looked at a number of different proofs. We've seen from history, from the, you know, basically Protestant and Catholic writings all, that the New Testament canon simply doesn't teach the doctrine. They talk about later Christian writers. They're talking about 3rd, 4th, or 15th, or 16th century people, long removed from the early New Testament church. We've taken a look at 1 John 5, verses 7 and 8. No cleric worth his salt would come to you and try to show that being the, to prove the Trinity. But, you know, various rank and file people that you know and love would come to you might use that. It's good that you have an answer for that. You understand about the use of He and Him. You understand what happened there in Matthew, chapter 28, verse 19. Matthew 28, 19 is not a discussion about the nature of God, but how we come into the church, how it takes the calling from God, how it takes the blood of Jesus Christ, and how it takes God's Holy Spirit to place us into the family. We've seen how personification of the Holy Spirit does not equal the Holy Spirit being a person. And that's one that will come to you over and over. Believe me, when I was in your shoes before I was a church pastor, you know, in some cases when you're a church pastor, people know that they don't ask you too many questions. But when I was working in the world, it's like you are now working in the world and people will come up to me, hey, Randy! You're a Bible guy. What do you think about X, Y, and Z? And I got this all the time. That, you know, this personification of the Holy Spirit equals, in our mind, the Holy Spirit being a person. Well, we've given you some ammunition there. And certainly when you take a look at the Apostle Paul's writings, whom Jesus Christ himself taught for three years, we see an absence of the Holy Spirit being described as a person. So hopefully, rather than this, it has helped us to understand what the Holy Spirit is not. If it's not clear, if you have other questions, please see me afterwards.