[0:00] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Well, today is Trinity Sunday, which means that last Sunday, last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday.
[0:19] ! And the reason why Trinity Sunday always comes after Pentecost Sunday is because the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the knowledge that God is one in three persons, and three persons in one God, well, that doctrine and that truth is something that has been revealed to us, not by men, but by the Spirit of God.
[1:00] You see, on Ascension Day, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven, where he would rule and reign over his church through the guidance and through the direction of the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
[1:21] For it is through the coming of the Comforter, through the coming of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, it is through him, through the Holy Spirit, that Christ our King rules and reigns over his church in all truth.
[1:42] Which is why Trinity Sunday always comes after Pentecost Sunday. Because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal God to us.
[1:57] In other words, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead and to guide us all in the truth. As our Lord explains in John chapter 16, verse 13, And when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.
[2:21] Therefore, the truth of Trinity Sunday, the truth that God is one in three persons, and three persons in one God, this truth is not so much a doctrine of men, as it is a revelation from God.
[2:38] For the same Spirit who descended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, to lead and to guide Christ's church into all truth, is the same Spirit who led and guided the apostles' successors in all truth, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
[2:59] And then again at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. And then again at the Council of Ephesus, the Council of Chalcedon, and all the other truly ecumenical councils of the undivided church.
[3:16] For it is through the Holy Spirit's guidance, as well as the Church Father's meticulous study of Scripture, that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was rightly expressed.
[3:29] That is to say, the knowledge and the truth that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons, nor dividing the Godhead.
[3:41] But the problem today, the problem today is that in a lot of people's minds, there exists this great division between the illumination of the Holy Spirit on one hand, and the dogmatic teachings of the undivided church on the other.
[4:02] For the problem today is that there are a lot of Christians who do not connect what happened on the day of Pentecost with what the Church confesses on Trinity Sunday, or on any other Sunday for that matter.
[4:19] For today, there are a lot of people who mistakenly place personal revelation above and beyond the consistent and historic witness of Christ's one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
[4:36] And so, today you can find a so-called Christian Church that supports and affirms just about anything. You can find a Church that believes exactly what the Apostles and all of their successors believed, or you can find a Church that is more in line with modern sensibilities and cultural norms.
[4:59] You can find a Church that agrees with St. Peter when he said that baptism now saves you, a Church that agrees with St. Paul when he said, and the cup of blessing which we bless is in not the communion of the blood of Christ, and yes, a Church that believes that God is one in three persons, and three persons in one God.
[5:23] Or, you can find a Church that denies one, two, or even all three of those claims. For if everyone's individual interpretation of Holy Scripture is just as valid as another, who's to say what is right and what is wrong?
[5:47] But dear Christian friends, do not be deceived. No one individual interpretation of Holy Scripture is greater than the dogmatic and historic consensus of the undivided Church.
[6:03] I mean, that is, after all, why in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, St. Paul even calls the Church, and I quote, the pillar and ground of all truth.
[6:17] End quote. For it is the Church's responsibility, as the pillar and ground of all truth, to support and defend the truth of Sacred Scripture, which is precisely why the Church has formulated and adopted creeds, and which is precisely why the Church has established basic doctrines, like the Holy Trinity, that all Christians must accept, and which is why even the Church has determined, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which books should and should not be included in that collection of books, which today we call the Holy Bible.
[7:03] For all of these things, all of these things, were not done by the Church in order to undermine the truth of Holy Scripture, as some suppose, but they were rather done to support, defend, and uphold the truth.
[7:26] Nevertheless, some might ask, and just who gave the Church the authority to do such things, to which we must answer by explaining why Trinity Sunday always comes after Pentecost Sunday.
[7:41] Because after our Lord's ascension to the throne of heaven, the Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord's apostles at Pentecost in order to lead and guide Christ's Church in all truth.
[7:57] And on Trinity Sunday, we rejoice in that very same truth. The truth that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity.
[8:10] And it is in this mystical union, in this mystical union of Christ's one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that the ultimate hope of the world's salvation is made known.
[8:26] As in John chapter 17, our Lord said, I pray, Father, that they all may be one as we are one.
[8:38] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.