amen let's turn to second corinthians chapter 11 again we welcome you in the savior's name thank you for joining quite a number away this evening but we're glad that you have made the effort and maybe you're away today and you made your way home and we're very thankful for your commitment and your faithfulness to the work of god second corinthians chapter 11 And we'll read the opening four verses, and then we'll jump down to verse 12. 2 Corinthians 11, verse number 1. The Apostle Paul, writing here by inspiration, he said, And indeed, bear with me, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that i may present you as a chaste virgin to christ but i fear this by any means as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ for if he that cometh preacheth another jesus who we have not preached or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. Verse 11, Wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth, but what I do, I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Amen. And we'll end our reading there, a portion that reminds us even of those who claim to preach the gospel are actually the ministers of Satan. And how often that is the case with regard to these false religious movements, these cults, They come in the name of Christ, but they certainly do not preach the Christ of the Bible, and they certainly do not preach the gospel that is in the Word of God. We'll end our reading, as I said there, at the end of the verse number 15. Now, I wonder this evening, can you guess what these well-known people have in common? John Adams, the second president of the United States. Charles Dickens, the English novelist. Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist and mathematician. Beatrix Potter, the writer of the little books, the Peter Rabbit series. Christopher Reeve, known as the Superman. In my day anyway, he was the Superman actor. Tim Bergers-Lee, He was the creator of the World Wide Web. Neville Chamberlain, a 20th century British prime minister. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Or Florence Nightingale, the English social reformer and the founder of modern nursing training and theory. Well, the thing that unites all of these well-known, famous individuals is that they all ascribe to Unitarianism as their faith They were Unitarians. Unitarians have defined themselves in the past as being, and I quote here from a Unitarian church website, people of liberal religious outlook who are united by a common search for meaning and truth, Although Christian in origin and still following the teaching of Christ as a great and godly leader, Unitarianism today also seeks insight from other religions and philosophies. Individual beliefs within our religious community are quite diverse, and personal religious development is seen as a continuing process. Unitarianism has no set doctrines or dogmas. Alan Rustin, in his pamphlet, What is Unitarianism?, he wrote, Unitarianism does not aspire to settle down into being a static faith, a totally coherent philosophy to defend it against all assaults. It is rather a quest for values which each person must develop for himself. And so you make up your own, whatever you want to believe in. In this light, it has been said that a Unitarian church is not one where an individual comes to learn a faith, but rather to develop a faith of his own. It may differ from that of the person sitting alongside in the pew, but each will hold a personal faith seen and felt by all. One of their official publications defines Unitarianism in this way, a liberal religious movement arising out of Christianity, expressing itself largely but not wholly in Christian forms and terms and in the spirit of the man Jesus. It is liberal in rejecting the idea of a unique and final revelation of truth. So they deny the Bible. And entrusting men to discover and believe as much as they can for themselves, it is a religious movement, insomuch as it is a church and ministries and ways of worship. It is glad to remain Christian where it can, but glad also to discover other truth and beauty and goodness in other faiths and other lives. Unitarians of no better man in religion than Jesus of Nazareth, but they believe that there had been others like him in the past and there will be others like him again. Airy-fairy is a term that I would use for such statements or such definitions. Airy-fairy. While Unitarianism is a worldwide religious movement, it does find itself with a local expression through the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland. If you go on to their official website, you'll find that all of their churches in Northern Ireland, some 31 in total, are east of the province. There are no churches west of the ban. And only two of them are found in the Republic of Ireland, one in Dublin and one in Cork. Now you know that there are various forms of Presbyterian churches. There is the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, there is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, there is the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and the Free Presbyterian Church. And many people think that the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland is really just another Presbyterian church, but it's far from it. Though they take the name Presbyterian, those who are members of the non-subscribing Presbyterian church are far from being orthodox Christians, as their liberal stance on theological and moral issues show. You only have to but look and see them marching in pride marches with regard to homosexuality, sodomy, to understand that they certainly do not hold to the teaching of Scripture with regard to that particular issue and many other particular issues. Now let me give you a little background history to Unitarianism, first in Europe and then in Ireland. Unitarianism really finds itself in embryonic form in the heretical teachings of a man called Arius in the 3rd century AD. Arius he taught that the Lord Jesus Christ was not God. He also taught that he never claimed to be God and therefore they were not to believe or we should not believe that he is God. That was his teaching. He taught that Jesus Christ was not one in substance with deity. Now his doctrine or his teaching did not gain traction within the early church because right away the church at large rejected his teaching as heresy. It would be called the Aryan doctrine, this doctrine that taught that Jesus Christ is not God. And so eventually the church got together at the Council of Nicaea in AD 30 or 325 AD. And it was in that council that they looked at the scripture teaching concerning the Trinity. And as a result, the doctrine of the Trinity was established or we would say verified and believed to be true as it was taught in the Word of God. And so his teaching on the non-deity of the Lord Jesus Christ was outrightly rejected by the church and the council of Nicaea. However, Arianism reappeared in the 16th century through a man called Servetus. He was a Spaniard, he was an Arian, and he's considered by many as the founder of Unitarianism on continental Europe. Severus denied that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. And so he wrote against the doctrine of the Trinity. This is what he said. Your Trinity is the product of subtlety and madness. The gospel knows nothing of it. Now, such statements brought swift condemnation from the religious authorities of the day. And so, Servetus, he had to flee to France and he would remain there in exile until he was executed for his heretical beliefs. Another person who contributed to Arian doctrine was a man by the name of Sicinius. 1539 to 1604, he believed that the Holy Scriptures should be interpreted rationally or by human reasoning. And so there wasn't much need, he believed, for faith, but there was a need to understand and to reason and to rationalize the Scriptures. And therefore, as he did that, he believed that God, in essence, was one. Only God the Father was divine. according to Sicinius. Now, during the first half of the 18th century, the church in Europe developed an increasing reluctance to accept the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine teaches that while there is one God, there are three persons within the Godhead. And this reluctance to accept the doctrine, it began to find credence among some Presbyterians who had settled in Ulster during the days of the plantation. that doubt and skepticism regarding the doctrine of the Trinity began to find expression in religious thoughts and writings among some in the Presbyterian church. This shocked the leadership, the godly leadership of the Presbyterian church at that time, shocked that such doctrine, such heresy could be found among the ranks of the Presbyterian church. And so it was decided that that error with regard to the Trinity and the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only answer was a new subscription to the Westminster confession of faith by all of its ministers. If you know anything about the Westminster Confession of Faith, and there are free copies there in the hallway if you don't have one, you'll know that chapter 2 deals with the doctrine of the Trinity. And it is that section that the Arians really couldn't subscribe to. Let me give you a little flavor of what is written in that chapter, just the section number 3, concerning the Trinity. And the unity of the Godhead, there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. And so it was eventually decided that there needed to be a fresh subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith. And the liberal ministers in the Presbyterian Church who were promoting and propagating the Arian doctrine, despising Aryan heresy, those liberal ministers were an uproar. They certainly did not want to ascribe to such teaching as is found in Scripture and then presented there in the Westminster Confession of Faith. And so in the year 1726, John Abernathy, who was also the leader of what was called the New Light Movement, along with 16 other ministers, refused to sign the Westminster Confession of Faith. And as a result, they and their congregations were subsequently expelled from the Presbytery of the Synod of Ulster. However, it would take the heroic stand of Dr. Henry Cook in the early 19th century to finally force all of the Aryans out of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. And that would lead then to them forming the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland. So whenever you read that non-subscribing, it simply means that they do not ascribe to the fundamentals of the faith that are codified for us in the Westminster Confession of Faith. They do not subscribe to the Confession of Faith. And so that is really the history, Europe and also here in Ireland. But as we consider Unitarianism, we need to move on and think about their teaching. So what do they teach? What do they believe? Well, I think maybe it's better what they don't believe. Maybe it would be a better way to put it. Well, let's consider their teaching. First of all, let's consider what Unitarians believe about the Word of God. The Word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible. Under the Our Faith section of their official website, the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland states that their faith, and I quote, is governed by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. That sounds very good. That sounds very solid. They believe they're governed by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. However, whenever you drill down into their belief of the Scriptures, you will find that their belief in God's Word is not what we believe because of what we read in the Scripture. For example, it was once asked, do Unitarians believe the Bible is divinely inspired and infallible? In other words, that God spoke that it's infallible, that it's truth, whole truth. It is dependable upon because it is infallible. Well, the question received the following reply from a Dr. Kroszke, a Unitarian minister. This is what he said. He was saying no to the fact they were asked the question, is the Bible divinely inspired and infallible? No. The doctrine of revelation of the absolute and indisputable authority of the Bible is alien to Unitarian faith and teaching. That's what he said. You consider the statements of Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Peter 1 verse 21, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so not to believe in the infallibility of Scripture is then to deny, to deny the deity of God, the Holy Spirit, who gave the Scriptures to us. He spoke, and holy men of God wrote down what the Holy Spirit spake on to them. And so denial of the inspiration of Scripture, the infallibility of Scripture, also reflects on the author of Scripture, Jack Mendelsohn, a minister of the Unitarian Universalist movement. He expressed the views of the group whenever he wrote this, churches, Bibles, and creeds are the creations of men who once exercised their freedom to create. And so he simply sees churches, he sees the Bible as a mere creation of human beings. He went on to add this, the Bible is replete with inaccuracies, inconsistencies and errors. And so the Bible is not infallible. according to that Unitarian minister. Unitarians, they state, we regard the Bible as one of many important religious texts. but do not consider unique or exclusive in any way. The Bible is not a central document in our religion. So they're all over the place. Here we have one, they say the Bible is not the central doctrine in our religion. You have the non-subscribing church, they say that their church, their faith is governed by the scriptures of the Old and the New Testament and the Holy Bible. So they don't know really what they believe. In contemporary Unitarianism, the individual's conscience, guided by reason, is the source of what is believed. Let me quote directly from our ethos section in the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church website. Faith guided by reason and conscience. They say this, Very good. we accept the guidance of our reason and conscience and we believe that human creeds and confessions restrict the sacred rights of private interpretation which is a fundamental principle of the reformation and so they believe that their own human reasoning their own conscience can dictate by what with regard to what they believe. Now, the Bible is respected by them as, and I quote, a helpful guide, containing, as they say, religious insights, but it is rejected as the word of God. For many Unitarians, human reasoning and experience supersedes the word of God. But how different that is from what we read in the Psalms. The Psalmist said, thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. The entrance of thy words giveth light and giveth understanding to the simple. Beloved, God doesn't leave us to our own deceptive hearts or minds, our own faulty reasoning, our own fallen logic when deciding how we are to be saved. and thereafter conduct our lives as Christians. He has given to us his unchangeable word as our guide, the infallible scriptures." Obviously, whenever electing their recent moderator, they didn't allow the scriptures to guide them. Instead, they were guided by their own faulty reasoning. You may say, well, how do you get that? Well, at the meeting of the General Synod there of the non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland on the 14th of June, 2022, just a month ago, they elected the Reverend Lena Cockcroft, a woman, to be the moderator of their church. And she has been serving in that church for the last 40 years as a minister." They didn't allow the Scriptures to guide them. They used their own reasoning. And so that's their teaching with regard to the Word of God. The second teaching is obviously the teaching on the Trinity. Unitarians, they deny the Trinity. They affirm that in God there is only one personality, namely God the Father. Even when they refer to God as Father, they feel that human language is inadequate to define what is beyond definition. For some, this reason, they find it more helpful not to use the word God at all. Unitarians, they believe that the Trinitarian doctrine or the doctrine of the Trinity Is not taught in the scripture, but it was really added by this council of nicaea William ellery channing was a unitarian preacher in the united states in the early 19th century And he was one of the unitarians leading theologians in 1819 in a sermon unitarian christianity channing placed jesus well above humans but well below god by holding as he put it in the most exalted views of Jesus Christ, which are consistent with the supremacy of the Father. So he puts Jesus Christ well above humans, but well below God. What is he then? Who is he? If he isn't God, if he isn't human, who is he? Well, the Bible teaches that there is one God, but the Bible also teaches that there are three persons in the Godhead. And that's proven many ways. I've reminded you of them. Three ways, really? It's proven in scriptures, it's proven by Bible verses which really refer to the three persons within the Godhead. Matthew 3, 16, 17, Matthew 28, 19, John 14, 6, John 15, verse 26. It's also established by Bible verses which establish the deity of the three persons and it is also established by the fact that there are three persons within the Godhead. There is a distinguishing between each person with the Godhead. The Father begets the Son. The Son is begotten. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. So there are distinct individuals within the Godhead. And time and time again, even in the book of Genesis, we come to read those words, us and our, in referring to God. Genesis 1 verse 26, let us make man in our image, a plurality of persons. He didn't say I will make man in my image, but he said let us, plurality, make man in our image. Paul, when he comes to close out his letter to the Corinthian believers, he says these words, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Three persons, they're identified. 2 Corinthians 13 and the verse 14. And so the doctrine of the Trinity is presented in scripture. The name isn't, but neither is the name atheist. As I've said before, and yet the psalmist said, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Atheism is very much presented in Scripture. Though the name is not presented, and though the name Trinity is not brought to our attention until the fourth century, the doctrine of the Trinity is found, and we are Trinitarian. You believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What about their teaching on then the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, let me quote again that Unitarian Dr. Churowsky. He said, Unitarians repudiate the doctrine and the dogma of the virgin birth. Unitarians do not believe that Jesus is either the Messiah of Jewish hope or Christian fantasy. They do not believe that he is God incarnate, or the second person of the Trinity, or the final arbiter at the end of time who shall come to judge the quick and the dead. Unitarians are satisfied to look upon Jesus as a great and inspired moral and spiritual teacher. The Lord Jesus Christ, he asked his disciples one day. First of all, he asked them, whom do others say that I am? Then he eventually asked them, in Matthew 16 verse 15, and whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter came back with this reply, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. How can a system which robs the Lord Jesus Christ of his deity possibly be classed as a Christian movement, a Christian system? Concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Unitarians interpret it as the resurrection of Christ's deeds, and Christ's thoughts, and Christ's teaching, living on in the lives of other people throughout history. And therefore, they do not see Christ's resurrection as the physical resurrection of his body. And yet in Luke 24 verse 5 and 6 the angel said, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen as he said. And so they deny the doctrine of the resurrection. Think about another two doctrines. We've added these together. What about their teaching on sin and salvation? Well, I'm back again to that Unitarian minister. He wrote this. Because of this total depravity of man, supposedly, God sent his only begotten son into the world to die for sinful men in order that whosoever believeth on him may have everlasting life. That's what we believe. This is what he said. Such doctrine Unitarians find offensive, unbiblical, even immoral. In such a statement, this Unitarian minister mocks biblical and Christian position on the doctrine of sin. Unitarians, you see, they believe that man is intrinsically good. The Bible teaches that man is intrinsically bad, and that there is none that doeth good, no not one. With regard to salvation, he went on to say, Unitarians believe in salvation by character. They hold that as a man develops a society where moral values and spiritual insights are treasured, man will find the road that leads to peace, justice, and brotherhood. Man at his best is the surest proof that he needs no God-man savior to die for him and for the sins of the world. He needs all the help that good education, noble example, and friendly cooperation can give him. The more I read about Unitarians, the more I got very frustrated with them. And so with regard to salvation, they teach that salvation is achieved through self-effort and the assistance of our fellow man. Such, and I say this respectfully, such as a slap in the face to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Because if salvation could be secured by education, salvation could be secured by noble example, and by the friendly cooperation of others, and by, really, us developing a good moral character, why did Christ die on the cross? Why did the Son of God come down from heaven and die on the cross that if man could accomplish salvation for himself? You see, Unitarians believe that everyone will be saved. They are what is known as universalists. This belief flows out of the premise that all faiths are equally valid systems to bring us to God. The claim by Christians that they alone are the children of God and that Christ is the only way of salvation is considered by them to be the height of arrogance. And yet Peter's words to the Jewish council And Acts 4 verse 12 tells us that Christ is the exclusive way to heaven. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh on to the Father but by me. What about their belief in the afterlife? What do the Unitarians believe about heaven and hell? Well, in the book 100 Questions that None Members Ask about Unitarian Universalism, we read these words. Very few Unitarian Universalists believe in a continuing individual existence after physical death. Even fewer believe in the physical existence of places called heaven and hell where one goes after dying. One Unitarian minister when asked, do Unitarians believe in heaven and hell? He replied, if by heaven you mean an abode of eternal light where the saved and redeemed enjoy everlasting bliss, and if by heaven you mean the devil's eternal darkness where the wicked suffer on ending torment and punishment, do Unitarians emphatically repudiate such beliefs? The same minister went on to say, hell is man's failure to be and to live up to his best. Hell is injustice, violence, tyranny, hatred, war, and everything that fits these satanic categories. Only a reading of Luke chapter 16 will inform such people that hell is a real place. of everlasting conscious torment. Let me close with a thought about their teaching on evangelism. Unitarians do not try to make converts by proselytizing, as they call it. And so they don't send out missionaries to reach the world with their message. According to them, they do it quietly and effectively, letting people know who they are and what they stand for by the lives that they live. But brethren and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples and his church, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and though I am with you always, even on to the end of the world. We are not to sit and do nothing, but rather we are to take the gospel message to the untold billions who live in our world. These are but some of the beliefs of Unitarians and Unitarianism. I trust that what we have thought about and even these few brief thoughts as a result of this message that you have come to the conclusion, as I have come to, that Unitarianism is a false religion that contradicts and conflicts the teaching of God's precious word. May God blow upon such a church and see to its demise. But at the same time, may he blow upon the embers of our heart and inflame our hearts to spread the truth and the gospel of redeeming grace, holding forth the word of truth and the word of life to all who hear it. May God spare our people. from such error. May God help us to believe the truth for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand for a word of prayer. It'll change our positions. Heavenly Father, we come before Thee, Savior's precious name, ever thankful for the church into which Thou hast caused our paths to cross and our steps to be directed towards. We thank Thee that we're not sitting under a false gospel, a gospel of works, a gospel that is absent of the grace of God. Where would we be if it wasn't for Thy grace? Lord, we'd be going down to hell. We'd be taken up in the folly of human reasoning and logic, and we would find ourselves at the end of life's journey. perishing everlastingly in the place where there is no light where there is no relief where there is no no end oh we bless thee for the gospel and for all those things oh god that grieve us at times, even within our own lives. Oh, may we ever rejoice in the fact that, Lord, we've heard the true gospel, and the true gospel has got a hold of our souls, and we've been redeemed by Jesus' precious blood. O answer now prayer as we linger on soon around the throne of grace. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious, worthy, and holy name. Amen.