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Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201724A
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01:34 ♪♪ >> Dear friend, thank you for 01:39 choosing to watch "It Is Written Canada." 01:42 We are bringing to a conclusion our series on the Trinity. We've been talking about the 01:49 oneness of God, yet in His oneness, the three distinct persons of the Father, Son, and 01:56 Holy Spirit. Once again, joining me in studio to help wrap up this series of 02:02 programs, I want to welcome Dr. John Peckham. Dr. Peckham, welcome once again 02:07 to "It Is Written Canada." >> Thank you, Chris. It's a pleasure to be here. 02:11 >> Dr. Peckham, of course, is a professor of systematic theology at the Theological Seminary at 02:18 Andrews University. He's authored a number of books and is now writing an additional 02:25 book. If you're interested in any of those books, you can go to 02:29 Amazon or your local bookstore, and there you can find those books. 02:33 Dr. Peckham, as we are going to bring to a conclusion this series on the Trinity, we've 02:40 been talking about the Holy Spirit. We spent the last two shows 02:44 understanding that the Holy Spirit is divine, the Holy Spirit is a person, the 02:50 Holy Spirit has attributes, where the Holy Spirit is doing things that are of that hu-- I 02:58 was gonna say human -- that personal attributes. But here's the question. 03:06 How do we know -- or how do I know -- what spirit we're talking about? 03:13 >> Yeah. So, in Scripture, there's other 03:16 spirits, right? There is an enemy, there is a 03:19 devil, and the devil has his angels, and there is all kinds 03:22 of spiritual deceptions. And this is why we have counsel to be very careful in Scripture. 03:27 If we go to 1 John 4... 1 John 4, that same chapter where it says God is love... 03:40 >> As our viewers are turning to 1 John 4, I've often said that 1 John is almost, I feel, like 03:47 sometimes the Reader's Digest, condensed version of the entirety of the Scripture -- 03:53 just 1 John, those five chapters, just packed with an understanding of God, the plan 04:00 of salvation. 1 John 4. What verse are we going to go 04:03 to, Dr. Peckham? >> We'll actually start with the last verse of the previous 04:07 chapter. The chapter divisions are added later on, so this just, in the 04:11 original manuscript, would go straight through. Verse 24 of chapter 3. 04:14 >> Yes. >> "Now, he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and 04:18 He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom 04:22 He has given us." So it's already in the context of the Spirit who has been given 04:26 to us, through whom we may abide in God. And then verse one -- "Beloved, 04:31 do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God: because many false 04:39 prophets have gone out into the world." Then verse two -- "By this you 04:44 know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the 04:50 flesh is of God: and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in 04:56 the flesh is not of God: and this is of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and 05:02 is now already in the world." >> So, we see here clearly that there is the Holy Spirit, the 05:13 third person of the Godhead, fully divine -- attributes of a personal nature. 05:21 >> Yes. >> But then the Bible talks about other spirits. 05:24 >> Yes. >> So how do we understand whether we were being led by the 05:29 Holy Spirit or by one of these false spirits? >> So, the only way to know this 05:34 is to go back to testimony that we know comes from the Spirit of God. 05:39 We saw in an earlier program that the entirety of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 05:46 >> Yes. >> The Bible also says that God doesn't change. 05:50 God doesn't contradict himself. So if the Spirit is giving testimony in Scripture, it's not 05:56 going to be contradicted elsewhere. Now, some people might say, 06:00 "Well, what about additional revelation or new light?" Any additional revelation from 06:05 God, any new light, is going to agree with what God has already given to his people through his 06:10 prophets and the apostles. Let's look at one verse on this in John chapter 16. 06:15 >> Mm-hmm. >> John chapter 16. 06:22 >> John 16:13. >> John 16:13. Even starting in verse 12. 06:32 Jesus says, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 06:37 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he will 06:42 not speak on his own authority; but whatever he hears, he will speak: and he will tell you 06:47 things to come." Now, it is true that the Spirit leads us to understand other 06:54 things, but this verse is specifically addressed to the apostles, who were the ones who 06:58 were to write the New Testament. He leads them into all truth -- 07:01 not that he made them omniscient, that they know everything, but he leads them 07:03 into all truth that's sufficient for the Gospel and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 07:08 And at the end of Jesus' ministry, Jesus Himself is the one to whom the New Testament is 07:16 a testimony. It's the ultimate testimony of the one who is the Son of God, 07:21 who lived, died for us on a cross, and rose from the dead. If the New Testament witness is 07:28 the ultimate witness to Christ, it's by that witness, by the New Testament, that all other 07:35 teachings must be judged. And when people come to me and they say, "Well, the Spirit is 07:40 telling me something different," the question is, is that spirit telling you something that is in 07:46 harmony with the Word of God or not? If it's not in harmony with the 07:50 Word of God, it's of a different spirit. So that's why in the verse we 07:54 just read, in 1 John 4, it says, "If somebody comes to you and says, 'Jesus didn't really come 07:58 in the flesh,' that spirit is not from God." >> That's right. 08:01 >> Because the true testimony about Jesus from God is that He was fully God and fully human. 08:06 >> And it would seem from that text -- and I don't want to take this too far, Dr. Peckham, but 08:11 in 1 John 4, it would almost seem that what the principle there that John is teaching is, 08:18 if we teach false characteristics about God, that it is not of the Holy Spirit. 08:25 And so when we are trying to understand whether we're being led by the Holy Spirit or 08:34 whether we are being led by another spirit, it is clearly the testimony of Scriptures that 08:41 will guide us into that understanding. >> Which is itself inspired by 08:45 the Spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 2. And this is just one of the best 08:50 principles of interpretation, which we can find in Isaiah 8:20. 08:52 >> Yes. >> Let's go there together. So, this is the principle to 08:57 apply whenever we are wondering whether some teaching is of God or not. 09:05 Isaiah 8:20. And it says... "To the law and to the 09:14 testimony: if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in 09:21 them." What does that mean? It means you compare any claim 09:26 to any new prophecy or new revelation or new teaching based on the previous prophecies that 09:31 truly come from God -- to the law and the testimony, to the Scriptures. 09:35 >> Yes. >> If someone proclaims something, claiming to be a 09:38 prophet or otherwise that is not in harmony with Scripture, there's no light in them. 09:41 They are not from God. They are not speaking from the true Spirit of God. 09:45 >> And that is why it is fundamental that we must, as, I believe, the Apostle Paul 09:51 writes, "prove all things." >> That's right. >> We go to the Scriptures, and 09:55 the Scriptures demonstrate -- and you used this illustration. I've had it in my ministry, as 09:59 well, where individuals will come and say, "I believe the Spirit is leading me to do 10:03 this." >> Mm-hmm. >> But what the spirit is 10:06 leading them to do is completely contrary to the Scripture, to the revelation of God, and so we 10:13 must -- There is no real option to it in this society that is a politically correct society, in 10:19 this society where what's right for you is right for you and what's right for me is right for 10:23 me. >> Yes. >> The Scriptures are quite 10:25 clear that, if we are moving against the testimony of Scripture, we are not being led 10:30 by the Spirit of God. >> That's right. >> Now, as we try to understand 10:35 the Holy Spirit, there are unanswered questions, as there are unanswered questions about a 10:41 number of topics in the Bible. And, certainly, we can talk about that's where faith comes 10:48 and whatnot, but why, Dr. Peckham, do we not know more about the Holy Spirit? 10:54 >> Yeah. There is somewhat more of a mystery when it comes to the 10:59 Holy Spirit than the Father and the Son -- or at least it appears that way to us, 11:04 especially because Jesus became human. We identify with Jesus so 11:08 naturally, and we think we understand Jesus even when there's a lot of mystery there, 11:13 as well, because Jesus became a human, whereas the Holy Spirit does not take on a physical 11:18 form. And so there's more mysteries about what the Spirit is like 11:22 and who the Spirit is, but this is already hinted at by Jesus Himself, going back to the 11:27 Book of John -- John 3, this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3. 11:34 We remember that Nicodemus came to speak to Jesus at night, and Jesus teaches him about this 11:42 new-birth experience, within which He testifies about the Spirit. 11:48 So He says to Nicodemus, among other things, that you must be born again, and Nicodemus thinks 11:54 this is crazy. "How could anyone enter into their mother's womb and be born 11:58 a second time?" He's taking literally what Jesus means spiritually. 12:03 And so then Jesus comes out and tells him in verse five, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless 12:08 one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 12:12 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 12:16 Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again." And here's where this hint of 12:21 mystery is there, because in the next verse, Jesus is going to talk about the wind. 12:25 But the word for the wind in Greek is pneuma, which means "wind" or "spirit." 12:30 >> Yes. >> And the Holy Spirit is pneuma plus another word that 12:33 identifies him as the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus isn't saying that the 12:36 Holy Spirit is a wind. He's using the play on words to talk about this mysterious 12:40 nature of the Spirit's activities that are not predictable. 12:44 Verse eight. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, 12:48 but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of 12:53 the Spirit." >> Mm-hmm. >> So, you see the effects of 12:55 the wind, right? If you're looking at a tree and its branches, you see them 12:58 moving. You don't see the wind. >> That's right. 12:59 >> You see the effects of the wind. >> Yes. 13:01 >> And this is the way it seems to be with the Spirit. Now, another reason why we don't 13:06 know as much as we might like to is because the Spirit -- even though we've already seen 13:10 evidence of the Spirit in the Old Testament, more things about the Spirit are revealed later in 13:15 the New Testament, in the order of revelation, according to the plan of redemption. 13:20 So that there is a Son of God is most explicit once Jesus comes on the scene in the Incarnation. 13:26 >> Yes. >> He was already there, but He comes on the scene, and He's 13:30 explicitly revealed. The Spirit takes on a new role, once Jesus is going to ascend, 13:35 which he explains to His apostles in John 14 through 16, and that happens to be near the 13:39 end of the Canon of Scripture, right? There's not that much left. 13:42 >> No. >> So we enter into this age where the Spirit is acting in 13:47 this way, and it probably would've been confusing to say more about the Spirit than what 13:51 was said earlier. This is what some theologians call "progressive revelation." 13:55 God meets people where they are. He doesn't tell them everything. In fact, Jesus told the 13:58 disciples, "There's so many things I want to tell you, but you couldn't receive them now." 14:02 >> That's right. >> He gives us enough information, and He adds to that 14:06 information in a way that never contradicts what came before, but as much as we need. 14:11 So we understand God more as Scripture progresses. >> And, you know, the analogy 14:16 of the wind -- I fondly remember that my wife and I were in Newfoundland. 14:21 And there in Newfoundland, we were attending a Bible conference, meeting, and we were 14:28 sitting outside, and it was probably about 22 degrees Celsius. 14:32 And then, all of a sudden, the wind -- You could feel the wind shifting. 14:37 And as the wind shifted, all of a sudden, the temperature went from about 22 Celsius down to 11 14:42 Celsius in about less than 15 minutes. And, again, it uses that analogy 14:47 of, "You don't know where the wind is coming from, you don't know where it's going, but you 14:52 definitely can know the effects and what happened," and things of that nature. 14:56 And it's the same way with the Holy Spirit. We can see clearly from the 15:00 Scriptures the divine attributes of the Holy Spirit, the personal attributes of the Holy Spirit. 15:06 Just because we don't understand everything doesn't mean that we can't experience the benefits of 15:13 that belief. And we used the analogy earlier -- I don't understand 15:16 everything about my car, but I do know this -- when I put in the key and I turn the ignition, 15:21 it's supposed to start. When I go home and I turn on the light switch, I know that the 15:26 light is supposed to turn on. >> Mm-hmm. >> Just because I don't 15:31 understand everything about electricity doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the benefits of 15:37 electricity. >> Yeah, it's almost as if Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, you 15:41 know, "There's a lot of things you don't understand about God. The new birth -- you're thinking 15:45 just on human terms." >> That's right. >> Right? 15:47 But there's so much more! >> Yes. And, so, speaking of those 15:51 benefits, we do know some very clear things, and that is to be born of the Spirit. 15:59 So, Dr. Peckham, how can one be born of the Spirit? >> Well, let's go to John 16:04 chapter seven because I think Jesus Himself answers this question for us about what it 16:08 means to be born of the Spirit. Okay, John 7:37. "On the last day, that great day 16:19 of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and 16:26 drink.'" Then verse 38. "He who believes in me, as the 16:30 Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 16:35 So the condition there is to believe in Christ. Then verse 39. 16:39 "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive: for the 16:46 Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." 16:51 So the way for any believer now to receive the Holy Spirit is, according to the text, to 16:57 believe in and receive Christ. >> Mm-hmm. >> Then the Holy Spirit will 17:01 come in power. >> And what does that then mean? What does it mean when you're 17:05 born of the Spirit? What happens in your life? What are some of the things that 17:09 you're going to see manifest as you receive the Holy Spirit? >> Yeah, let's go to Galatians 17:14 for that, these fruits of the Spirit in the lives of the believer. 17:18 Galatians chapter five. Galatians chapter five. 17:30 Galatians 5, beginning in verse 22. "But the fruit of the Spirit is 17:37 love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 17:47 self-control: against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have 17:55 crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us 18:01 also walk in the Spirit." Those are what Christians call the fruits of the Spirit that 18:09 are promised to every believer. And they're wonderful fruits. >> And, so, as we make a 18:15 decision to follow Jesus Christ, as we receive the Holy Spirit into our life, the fruit that 18:21 will come forth will be that joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, love, goodness -- so 18:29 on and so forth. >> Yes. >> Anything else we want to say 18:33 about being born of the Spirit, Dr. Peckham? >> Well, in the church, among 18:37 Christians, the Spirit also gives gifts that are for the sake of ministry, for the sake 18:41 of the edification of the church, and we find those mentioned in a number of 18:44 passages. One of them is 1 Corinthians 12. 18:49 1 Corinthians 12. We have these gifts that are given by the Spirit for the 18:56 upbuilding of the church. So 1 Corinthians 12. Okay. 19:03 Beginning in verse three. "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the 19:10 Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed." That goes back to what we talked 19:13 about before. >> Yes. >> "And no one can say that 19:16 Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, 19:21 but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 19:25 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 19:30 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. 19:34 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit; to another the word of knowledge 19:39 through the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of 19:43 healings by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another 19:49 discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues," or languages, "to 19:53 another the interpretation of tongues: but one and the same Spirit works all these things, 19:59 distributing to each one individually as he wills." And then it goes on to talk 20:06 about unity in the body. The Spirit is the giver of these spiritual gifts for the 20:10 upbuilding of the church and for the mission of the church. >> Mm-hmm. 20:14 And so, as we have, in summary, talked about the Holy Spirit, we have seen that the 20:19 Holy Spirit is divine, the Holy Spirit is a person, the Holy Spirit is active, the 20:26 Holy Spirit gives gifts, the Holy Spirit brings the fruit of the Spirit. 20:34 And now, bringing this all together, I'm going to kind of circle back to where we began. 20:42 And where I will begin is just with this question. When we talk about the Trinity, 20:48 the Godhead, all that we've talked about over the last seven programs and now this being the 20:56 eighth program, we've answered the question, "What?" >> Mm-hmm. 21:01 >> So, let me ask you this question. So, what does this all mean? 21:05 >> Yeah. >> What's the importance of all of this? 21:07 >> Yeah. The importance is everything, right? 21:13 If God is the Creator of all that is, the only things that exist in the universe is God and 21:20 His creation. And God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 21:26 Some people, because they think of the Trinity only as a doctrine about all the things 21:31 we've discussed about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they don't realize that, anytime 21:36 you're talking about Jesus, you're dealing with the doctrine of the Trinity. 21:40 >> Yes. >> And it's so important in so many ways, but one of the ways 21:44 that it's very important for us to understand is at the root of salvation. 21:49 Jesus could only be a Savior to us if He was both God and human. >> Mm-hmm. 21:56 >> The sacrifice that He had made to atone for our sins is one that could only be made by 22:02 God, who alone can forgive sins. Only His atonement would be sufficient to save us. 22:08 And yet, to have solidarity with us, he had to become human, fully human. 22:14 This is at the center of what we believe about the doctrine of the Trinity. 22:19 In addition to that, if we think of the atonement apart from the Trinity, we might be tempted, as 22:24 some have thought, to think that the Father sacrificed His son as, say, a pagan sacrifice, 22:31 which would be horrible. But in the Trinity doctrine, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit 22:37 covenanted together. As we saw in John chapter 10, Jesus Himself laid down His life 22:42 of His own initiative. They decided that, together, they would reconcile the world 22:46 this way. So it's not that the Father sacrificed His Son in a way that 22:52 He just sacrifices His Son for us in kind of a pagan way. It's that God decides to take 22:58 upon his own shoulders all of the consequences of sin, all of the wages of sin, and He says, 23:04 "I'm going to become human, I'm going to take it, and I'm going to pay the price so that they 23:09 can be saved." And the second person is the one who takes on that role in the 23:13 plan of redemption for the entire Godhead. So it can very true, what Paul 23:18 says -- God was in Christ, reconciling us to Him. This is the work of the entire 23:24 Godhead. And we've seen many texts about the work of the Spirit, without 23:27 which we could not be born again, without which the church could not be built up, and many 23:31 other things. So the entire plan of redemption really is the work of the 23:36 Trinity. >> And so I'm gonna ask you the question that I began with. 23:43 Is the doctrine of the Trinity biblical? >> Yes, it is extremely 23:48 biblical. Now, here we need to step back and say that there are some 23:54 people who will say the Trinity is not in the Bible. Now, it's true that the word 24:00 "Trinity" is not in the Bible, but the concept, the teaching, the doctrine of the Trinity is 24:06 in the Bible, if, by that, we don't mean what later Christians said in systematic theologies, 24:12 necessarily, the very words they used, but the basic concept that there is one and only one God -- 24:19 we've seen many texts about that -- Deuteronomy 6:4, James 2:19 -- that the Father is 24:26 God, and the Son is God -- John 1:1-3, Colossians 2:9 -- and the Holy Spirit is God -- 24:35 Acts 5:3-4 and other texts. And yet the Father is not the Son. 24:40 The Son died on the Cross, not the Father. The Son prayed to the Father. 24:43 The Father didn't pray to Himself in Gethsemane, when He said in Matthew 26:39, "If it is 24:48 possible, let this cup pass from me," right? The Father is not the Son. 24:52 The Son's not the Father. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. 24:57 These are distinct persons with distinct activities in the plan of redemption, even though they 25:02 are all one in a way that we don't fully understand -- one being, one God working in three 25:08 persons. And we have seen texts that actually show evidence of each 25:14 of these points. So if there's only one God, the Father is God, the Son is God, 25:19 the Spirit is God, and those are three distinct persons. That just is the basic doctrine 25:26 of the Trinity. >> And then, in the last few minutes that we have together... 25:35 The doctrine of the Trinity is biblical. Why does this all matter? 25:41 Kind of bringing this to summary and bringing it together here, Dr. Peckham. 25:46 >> Yeah. If we think that the doctrine of the Trinity doesn't matter, the 25:51 question would be where would that kind of line of thought end. 25:56 If I was to say to my wife, "I want to be in relationship with you, but I don't know what to 26:03 know anything about you. I don't want to know what you're really like. 26:06 In fact, tell me some nice things, but don't tell me anything else." 26:09 Right? I want to know everything I can possibly know about my wife. 26:13 I want to know her in a way that is extremely intimate. God has revealed things about 26:18 Himself that tell us about His very character and His very nature. 26:21 We started at the very beginning of this series with a text that says, "God is love," in 26:26 1 John 4:8-16. We saw that, in order there for there to be love, there must be 26:33 a lover and a beloved. Before there was any world, there was a love relationship 26:38 between God and His Son, Jesus, according to John 17:24, that they already experienced love 26:44 relationship before there was any world. So you have this concept of the 26:49 Trinity, without which it couldn't be true that God is love apart from creating a 26:53 world. You'd have to say, "Before there was a world, God couldn't love." 26:57 That's not the case. God already loved. And the entire history of 27:01 Scripture, you can see it kind of bookended. In Genesis 1, you have the 27:05 creation. We've seen in John 1 that Christ is the agent through whom all 27:09 things are created, but the Spirit of God is there hovering over the waters in verse two. 27:13 At the very end, you have the consummation of the new creation, where the Father is 27:17 there, and Jesus is there, and the Spirit is the agent of new creation. 27:21 And everything in between is the testimony of God's love in the plan of redemption, where each 27:26 one of the persons is operating together with one purpose, to save as many as possible, to 27:32 defeat the kingdom of the enemy, which is a temporary kingdom, and re-establish the full reign 27:38 of God forever and evermore. Nothing could be more central to the Gospel if you really 27:45 understand what the Trinity is. It's not just an academic exercise in trying to understand 27:51 how one thing can be three in one respect and one in another. This is the living God, who 27:56 saves us through the activities of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for us. 28:02 >> With that, Dr. Peckham, we bring to a close this series on the Trinity. 28:08 Would you pray for our viewer, that they would accept this divine love that the Trinity has 28:15 for each and every one? >> Yes. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, we thank 28:21 You. We praise Your Name today for the fact that You have 28:24 condescended for us in the person of Jesus Christ, Your Son, whom You have sent, that 28:31 God has condescended to reconcile us to Himself. And now we ask that You will 28:36 open our hearts, that, through Your Holy Spirit who sheds Your love abroad, that You will shed 28:42 Your love abroad in our hearts, that we might be drawn to You to come into full communion with 28:48 You and, through that communion, to show Your love to others. We pray these things in Jesus' 28:54 name. Amen. >> Amen. 28:58 My dear friend, God loves you so much that, in the three persons, the Father, Son, and the 29:04 Holy Spirit, they're doing all they can to save you. I hope you've enjoyed this 29:09 series of programs. Today, I want to offer to you the DVD of this series. 29:14 Here's the information you need for today's offer. 29:18 >> To request today's offer, just log on to 29:21 www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca. If you prefer, you may call 29:26 toll-free at 1-888-CALL-IIW. And thank you for your prayer 29:32 requests and your generous financial support. >> Dr. Peckham, thank you so 29:37 much for this series on the Trinity. >> Thank you, Chris. 29:43 >> Dear friend, I hope you've found hope and courage in the plan of salvation and the divine 29:50 Trinity pursuing you with their divine love. Please join us again next week. 29:56 Until then, remember, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 30:02 every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 30:06 ♪♪ |
Revised 2018-07-11