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1)  06/03/09

Two very important questions recently came to me:

Where in the Bible does it say Jesus is God? And the second one – When Jesus prayed, who was He praying to? Both are excellent questions which get to the very foundations of Christian faith. Whole books are written about such things. I will only answer you briefly, so I hope you will give me time later to explain more. For now, here is my answer.

First, Christians believe in one and only one God. However, this God is far more complex and profound than we humans can properly comprehend. Our God is one, yet He is compound. He has revealed Himself to mankind in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God was revealed as one, because the peoples of those times were polytheists, believing in many gods. So to the Jews, God revealed His Oneness. Yet even in the OT, hints of His plurality are also seen. Let us make man in our image. (Gen. 1:26), Man has become like one of us. (Gen. 3:22) Notice the words "us" and "our" - words expressing plurality. Prov. 30:4 speaks of the Son of God. How could this be – God, who is One, has a Son!? Daniel 3:25 speaks of a time when 3 Hebrews were thrown into a furnace in Babylon, and yet 4 men were seen in that furnace, and the appearance of the fourth was "like the Son of God." (or of the gods). Even one of the names of God, “Elohim,” is plural!

In the New Testament, we have still more detail. We have three persons mentioned clearly and specifically. We know that God is to be prayed to as "Our Father in Heaven." (Mat. 6:9) according to the words of Jesus. So there is a Person called the Father, and this Person is plainly God. There are many other verses I could mention which teach this. There is however, another Person mentioned in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that He was a real Person of history, and that He was fully a Man, for He was born, He grew up, He ate, drank, slept, was tired, was crucified, and died. We also know He was raised from death and lives forever.

In addition, there are many other aspects of His existence which are explained to us in the Holy Scriptures. We know that people worshipped Him on many occasions (Mat.14:33, Jn.20:28, Heb.1:6) We also can see that He forgave sins (Mar. 2:5-7) and who can forgive sins but God alone? We are told He lived a sinless life (Jn. 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26), and no one but God could be sinless. He could read minds and hearts (Mat. 9:4; Jn. 2:24; Jn. 16:30) Who can read minds but God alone? He worked miracles (Jn. 5:36; Jn. 7:31; Jn. 20:30, 31). He predicted His own death and resurrection in detail, and then accomplished it exactly as prophesied! (Jn. 2:19-22). Who could do such things but God alone? There are many other verses that show Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. For example, even one of the names by which He was to be called, mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments is Emmanuel, and we are told that means, "God with us." (Mat. 1:23). And in John 1:1, we are told that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then, in John 1:14, we are told that this "Word" became flesh and dwelt among us, so we know the Word was and is Jesus! He dwelt with us, and He was and is God. Yet though the totality of God was with and in Him, (Col. 2:9) He was not the totality of God, for the Father was still in heaven, and the Spirit, though in Christ, was also still present in every part of the universe.

By the way, it was to God the Father that Jesus prayed on many occasions, which answers your second question. Jesus prayed to God, His heavenly Father. Yet Jesus was the second Person of the Godhead, and thus, God Himself. How can this be? While on the earth in human flesh, Christ emptied Himself of all divine prerogatives (Philippians 2:5-11) and depended totally upon the Father. Thus He had to pray, as we have to pray.

There is one other divine Person, part of the Holy Trinity, mentioned in the Bible, the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not Gabriel. Neither is He some kind of force, like electricity. He is instead the Spirit of God. Now God is Spirit (John 4:24), that is, His very nature is Spirit, so the Holy Spirit is obviously God. The Spirit was in the beginning hovering over the waters of the sea, and was involved totally in the creation of the universe. The Spirit is a Person, for the Bible says this plainly is several locations. Acts 5 is one place where we can plainly see this. We’re told there that a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and in so doing, we’re told they lied to God. Read the whole story in Acts 5, and especially look at verses 3 and 4, where it says they lied to Him, and lied to God. The Bible also says the Holy Spirit can be grieved, which is something that can only be done to a Person. (Eph. 4:30) Many verses speak of the Holy Spirit, as there are many which speak of the Father and the Son. So the three Persons are clearly presented in scripture, they are all presented as divine, as God. And yet, other verses tell us that God is One. All of this may appear to be chaos and confusion unless we understand the fact that God is revealed as a Trinity. That is, within the nature of the one true God, there are three distinct Persons, coequal and of the same substance, all eternal and possessing all the attributes of God, yet separate and distinct as Persons. This is the nature of the true and living God, and it is a marvel and a wonder, complex beyond the comprehension of human beings.

Other facts illustrate the equality of the three Persons, while not detracting from their distinctness. For example, the Father and the Son are both called the Shepherd of Israel, they are both called the Rock, the Light, the Alpha and Omega, the Judge, the King, etc., etc. Why this seeming confusion? Because there is only one God, yet this God has revealed Himself in three Persons! This is the God of the Bible. And we rejoice in this God!

There are many reasons that the Trinitarian concept of God is both wonderful and necessary. Let me explain. God is love, we are told in 1 John 4:8. Now then, if God is love, who did He love from eternity past, when there were no human beings or other beings in existence yet? If God is only One, He cannot be love, for love needs an object. If God is one, why does He love community, and why does He teach us to be a community? The Church is a community of people who love one another, just as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have loved one another for all eternity. If God were one and only one, He would need human beings to love, and He would be a codependent God! But He is not codependent! He does not need anything. He only made us to expand the love community of the universe, not because He needed someone to love. Why did God make man and woman in a mutually dependent relationship, if He Himself is only One? Why does the apostle Paul say in Ephesians 5 that the relationship between a husband and wife is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church? Why would Christ be married to the Church as a husband marries a bride? Why that plurality if God is only One? You see, so many things in the universe and in the Bible point to a compound plurality in God. He is One, but He is Three! This is the mystery of the Christian God, the God of the Bible.

So then, I said I was going to be brief, but I have been long! As I said, this is no easy subject to tackle. I have tried to explain what the Bible teaches as briefly as I can. I'm sure it could be done much better, but I have tried. I would like to show you this and more in the Bible, for it is all in there. I also have various teaching notes I have written on this type of thing over the years, and I could email some of them to you if you’d like.

God bless you, and thanks again for asking these difficult but important questions.

Pastor Warren Hoyt

2) Dealing With Divorce. Sermon given on 3/29/09

Q. Pastor Hoyt,

After listening to your sermon today, I have to say I left with a question that I was hoping you would've answered earlier. Throughout the entire service, you discussed all the reasons for NOT getting divorced and what reasons you can get divorced. However, I was waiting the entire service for you to touch upon the "what if" portion. There are a lot of people in the congregation that probably have been divorced under non-biblical permission, myself included. With that, you mentioned that God hates the divorce and not the divorcee. When we repent of our sins, He will forgive. However, you also mention in the bible that those particular people are not to ever get married again. So what about those people who DO get married again? I left with the feeling that this sermon says my current marriage is un-Godly and I should be asking God for forgiveness every day for sleeping in the same bed as my wife. I really hope I'm wrong in this assumption, and maybe I missed something in the sermon that answered that. I DO feel God is in our marriage and is working in it everyday. Any thoughts?

A. Dear brother in Christ,

Thank God for your email and your honesty! I am very glad you emailed to tell me this, because if you thought this, I'm sure others left with the same impression. I assume you came to the first service? Because in the second service, I had more time, and I think I addressed this better. I am always so pressed for time that I'm sure I often leave something out that should've been said. Please pray for me on this!

There is a lot of controversy about these matters and what the Bible teaches on them, and there is difference of opinion on it. I think I mentioned one Christian leader who tells people to not marry a divorced person by any means? I am not as adamant on that point as he. I mentioned him, not because I agree with him, but to say how serious the matter is. Here's what I believe about this. If you divorce your spouse, you commit adultery and cause them to commit adultery. If you marry a divorced person, you are part of this adulterous situation. I think at second service I said that adultery means to contaminate, to water down, to violate. I said that since marriage is meant to be one man, one woman, for life, then to violate that is adultery. So that is very serious. However, what I believe is, once we recognize that, we can repent and ask forgiveness for that adultery. That's what God wants us to see and that's what He wants us to do. Repent, and ask forgiveness. But once that is done, the sin is forgiven. We don't continue to live in adultery after that. The act of marrying another person was adultery. But it's not a continuing condition, once we repent and receive forgiveness. It's over. It's taken care of. I think God wants us to see the seriousness of the sin, how bad what we did was, and seek His forgiveness for it. But I did say in both services that divorce and adultery are not the unpardonable sins.

So if you have recognized these things and repented, and if you've asked forgiveness, there is now no condemnation. It is over and done with. Go forward from this point, walking in God's grace. My wife confessed yesterday that she had an abortion before I married her. That is murder. It is a very serious sin. But she didn't know that when she had the abortion. She didn't know till years later. She has repented and received God's forgiveness for it. So there is no condemnation. The sin is forgiven and forgotten by God forever. We're talking about the same kind of situation with divorce and remarriage. I hope this makes sense. If not, try going online to our website at www.jesuschapelep.com and downloading the notes from the sermon. I think you'll find the question answered in those notes.

Thanks again for this good question!

Pastor Warren

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