Well, thank you so much, Kerry. It is such a joy for Sheila and me to be back at the Legacy Conference. We had the privilege of being here for the Reformation Conference back in, I think it was 2017. We're celebrating the 500th anniversary, and it's a joy to be back with you today. I echo what Kerry said, and Sheila and I consider Kerry and Pam dear friends and are so grateful for his faithful ministry here, and I know you benefit from that week in and week out. So it's a joy to be with you, to fellowship, to study together, and to study this topic that, frankly, is an often neglected one. And I hope by the time we're done, both tonight and in the sessions to come over the next couple of days, by the time we're done, you will have a new, fresh, and hopefully life-changing understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. As you know, you're in a great state, recently experienced the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. In fact, Sheila and I drove through Asheville today and saw some of the devastation. Truly astounding. Protection says that as it approached the Florida panhandle, Helene grew from a Category 2 hurricane at 8 a.m. to a Category 4 hurricane by 6.20 the same day. Five hours later, it slammed into Florida's Big Bend region with heavy rains and roaring winds that raged at 140 miles per hour and a 15-foot storm surge. As the storm traveled inland, the article goes on to say, it left a path of destruction about 500 miles long. Its victims spanned six states, but about half of all the deaths occurred here in North Carolina, mostly from flooding. Rainfall over three days ranged from 12 inches to more than 31 inches in 48 hours in some places. Recent estimates put the number killed at more than 230, making it the second deadliest storm to hit the US. And estimates also put the economic impact of the storm as high as $200 billion, which would make it the costliest storm in U.S. history. It was truly a powerful storm. I remind you of that storm because it's fascinating that when you look at both the Hebrew and Greek words for spirit, ruach in Hebrew, numah in Greek, both of them are onomatopoetic words. That is, their formation and physical sound convey the basic meaning of the powerful movement of wind or breath. In fact, in 25% of its Old Testament occurrences, the Hebrew word for spirit, ruach, is used of a powerful wind or storm. The Holy Spirit is likened to a violent wind as a metaphor of his extraordinary power. St. Clair Ferguson writes in his excellent book on the Holy Spirit, when ruach is used of God, around a third of the Old Testament uses, the emphasis is on his overwhelming energy. Yahweh's ruach is, as it were, the blast of God, the irresistible power by which he accomplishes his purposes, whether created or destructed. God's ruach, or spirit, therefore, expresses the irresistible force, the all-powerful energy of God. That's why, if you fast forward to Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, with the coming of the Spirit, there is noise, the text says, like a violent, rushing wind. Because of his extraordinary power and because of his other perfections, we'll talk about some tonight, Peter, in 1 Peter 4, 14, refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Glory. The Spirit of Glory. He is characterized by glory. He is glorious. Sadly, most Christians today don't comprehend the glory of the Holy Spirit. He's the most misunderstood, the most misrepresented, and dare I say the most blasphemed of the members of the Holy Trinity. Most Christians today, I think, resemble the followers of John the Baptist that Paul confronted in Acts 19 when they said to Paul, we haven't heard if there even is a Holy Spirit. Well, that's not entirely true today. As Sinclair Ferguson writes, while his work has been recognized, the spirit himself remains to many Christians an anonymous, faceless aspect of the divine being. He is the unknown person of the Trinity. This conference exists, so not a single person here can ever say that. My responsibility in this session is to introduce you to the glory of the Holy Spirit. I want you to turn with me to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. The theme of John's gospel, as you know, is clearly stated in chapter 20, verse 31. These things, John says, that Jesus said in it, have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life in his name. Now when you look at the structure of the book, there are a number of ways to outline it. Let me give you a very simple summary. Chapters one through 12 deal with the public ministry of Jesus. Chapters 13 through 17, the private ministry of Jesus, to his disciples, and then you have chapters 18 to 21, the passion and resurrection of Jesus. The passage I want us to consider tonight falls in Jesus' private preparation of his disciples for his death, resurrection, and ascension. Now the Holy Spirit is mentioned four times briefly earlier in this gospel. But in chapters 14 to 16, as he prepares his disciples for his departure, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in four key passages. Let me give them to you. We'll look at most of them before we're done tonight. Chapter 14, verses 16 and 17. Chapter 14, verses 25 and 26. Chapter 15, verses 26 to 27. In chapter 16, verses 7 to 15, those four key passages introduce us to the Holy Spirit. Let's read the text that I want us to examine together tonight, John 14 and verse 16. You follow along in your copy of God's Word. These are the words of the living God to us. Jesus says to his disciples and to us, I will ask the Father And He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. The theme of this passage is very clear, you saw it even as I read it. Jesus here promises that when he left in his ascension, he would ask the Father to send another helper to be with us. And here, in the Supper Room Discourse, Jesus introduces the apostles and us, as we sort of look over their shoulder, to the Holy Spirit. And he reveals to us here, our Lord does, Four essential realities about the Holy Spirit and His ministry. Four essential realities that you and I need to know to truly understand the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Let's look at them together. The first reality that Jesus explains concerns the identity and nature of the spirit. The identity and nature of the spirit. Now in verse 16, we really only learn the role of the ministry of the one who will come, but not who he is. But in verse 17, we discover his identity. Notice, Jesus refers to the one that he and the father will send, verse 17, as the spirit. We'll come back to the rest of that expression later. But for now, just take those two words, the spirit. Now down in verse 26 of this same chapter, he refers to him as the Holy Spirit. So the identity of this person who will come is the spirit or the Holy Spirit. Now this, if you're familiar with the scriptures, this person is not new to you. The Old Testament refers to the spirit some 94 times. and the New Testament more than 250 times. But who exactly is the Spirit? Scripture makes two crucial affirmations about Him. First of all, regarding His identity, the Spirit is God. The Spirit is God. Now, this isn't news. Again, if you've been a Christian any time at all, you know that, but do you know why? Do you know why we would argue that that's true? There are several lines of evidence that prove the Holy Spirit shares the divine nature with the Father and the Son. Let me just give you those lines for that. First of all, he has divine titles. In the Old Testament, he is called the Spirit of God, Genesis 1-2. He's called the Spirit of Yahweh, Judges 3-10. Those are the primary names that he's given throughout the Old Testament. Three times, he's called Yahweh's Holy Spirit. In Psalm 51, 11, as David says, don't take your Holy Spirit from me, and again in Isaiah 63, verses 10 and 11, twice, he's referred to as the Holy Spirit. So three times in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament, he's called predominantly the Holy Spirit. While it occurs only three times in the Old Testament, it occurs 94 times in the New Testament. So with the incarnation of Jesus, This becomes the primary way we know the Spirit. Holy, you understand that word? That's the connotation of something that is cut off or separate from. So it needs to be set apart. It emphasizes both the majesty, the greatness, the transcendence, and the purity of the Holy Spirit. John Owen, the great English Puritan, says this, speaking of the word holy, this is the foundation of His being, even the eternal, glorious holiness of His nature. The Holy Spirit is called that because He is holy in both His nature and His work. There's a second line of evidence for the deity of the Spirit. Not only His divine titles, but also He manifests the divine perfections. Think of how the Spirit is described. Obviously, He's holy, and our God is holy. But beyond that, there are a number of others. For example, He's called eternal. Hebrews 9, verse 14, He is the eternal Spirit who was involved in the offering of the sacrifice of Christ to God. He's omnipresent. Psalm 139, verse seven, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? He's omniscient. First Corinthians 2.10, the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. He's omnipotent. Zechariah chapter four, verse six, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says Yahweh. He's sovereign. John 3, verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it's going. So is it with everyone who is born of the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit, like the wind, blows where He chooses. He is sovereign in salvation. He's sovereign in all things. So, the Holy Spirit, we know, is God, because He has divine titles, He manifests divine perfections. A third line of evidence for His deity is that He performs divine works. He does what the Father and the Son do. For example, the Spirit creates, Genesis 1-2. He reveals truth, John 16-13, other places. He raises the dead, Romans 8-11. So he performs, and that's just a sampling. He performs the same works as the Father and the Son. It's a different role, we'll talk about that in a moment. But he works together with the Father and the Son to accomplish the divine works. A fourth line of evidence for his deity is he is presented in scripture as equal to the Father and the Son. In the baptismal formula in the Great Commission, in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name singular, there's one God, that's the unity of God, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That's the Trinity of our God. In the Apostolic Benediction, He is equal to and is even to be prayed to. Some Christians wonder if it's okay to pray to the Holy Spirit. The answer is yes. In 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. He is in this benediction, in a prayer benediction invoking each member of the Trinity to express the Father's love, the Son's grace, and the Holy Spirit, His communion. We also know that He's equal to the Father and the Son, and that He can be blasphemed like God can be blasphemed. Jesus said in Matthew 12, verses 31 and 32, Blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. But above all of those, he is clearly called God. Acts chapter five, you remember the story of church discipline there in the church in Jerusalem. Acts chapter five, verses three and four, Peter says, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? And the very next verse he says, you have not lied to men. but to God. So without question then, regarding His identity, the Spirit is God. But there's a second affirmation that scripture makes regarding His nature, and that is the Spirit is a person. The Spirit is a person. You see, some admit that the Holy Spirit is divine, but they argue that He's something less than a real person. as in the heresy of Sicilianism or even historic Unitarianism. The JWs, the Jehovah's Witnesses, deny the personality and personhood of the Holy Spirit. He's been called a force, a metaphor for God's power or presence and influence, and even a title for the person of God, but not a person. Scripture, however, provides overwhelming evidence that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, a person. He is someone, not a something. He is He, and not it. First, we know He's a person. Let me give you several reasons we know He's a person. Number one, because Scripture describes Him with personal and masculine nouns and pronouns. In the Upper Room Discourse here, Jesus repeatedly speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person starting even in our text. Although the form of the Greek word for spirit is neuter in gender, the word helper, look at verse 16, is masculine in Greek and comes with masculine pronouns. Verse 16, look at it. Let me read it to you. It goes like this. He will give you, notice not help, but another helper, and helper is masculine in the Greek text, that he may be with you forever. But it doesn't stop there. Go look at verse 14, I'm sorry, chapter 14, verse 26. Chapter 14, verse 26. There we read, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he, literally in Greek, that one, masculine, will teach you all things. Look at chapter 15, verse 26. When the helper, masculine, comes, whom, masculine in Greek, I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he, again in Greek, that one, masculine, will testify about me. So again and again, Jesus identifies the Holy Spirit as a person because of the pronouns and nouns that are used. Secondly, we know he's a person because scripture attributes personal attributes to him. In other words, he does what persons do. He does what the Father does. He does what the Son does. I'm not going to give you all the texts, or it would take too long to do that, but let me just give you the verbs in the Scripture that are connected to the Holy Spirit. He wills. He speaks. He instructs. He searches. He knows. He gives spiritual life. He intercedes. He identifies and sends missionaries. He makes moral judgments. He appoints elders in churches. He can be lied to. He can be grieved. He can be insulted. Those verbs don't go with forces. Those verbs go with people, with persons. The Holy Spirit is a person. Thirdly, we know he's a person because the Spirit speaks of himself as a person. In Acts chapter 10, you remember the story there with Peter and Cornelius, in Acts chapter 10, verses 19 and 20, the Spirit said to Peter, we read, behold, three men are looking for you, but get up, go downstairs, and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself. Those are the words of a person. The Holy Spirit is, in fact, a person. So who is the Holy Spirit? He's God, that's His identity. He's a person, that's His nature. Now that brings us to a second reality about the Spirit that we see in our text, and that is the source of the Spirit. The source of the Spirit. First of all, I want you to notice that He is sent by the Son. Look at verse 16. I will ask the Father. So in that sense, he is sent by the Son. In chapter 15, verse 26, it says, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father. In chapter 16, verse 7, Jesus says, if I go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. Since the Son sends the Spirit, He is at times called the Spirit of Christ. Romans chapter eight verse nine. He is sent by the Son. Secondly, He is sent from the Father. He is sent from the Father. Look again at verse 16. I will ask the Father, and He will give you. Look at chapter 15, verse 26, when the helper comes, whom I will send you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father. Since the Father is the Spirit, He's sometimes called the Spirit of your Father. Matthew 10, verse 20. Now, stick with me, because this is a bit of heavy sledding, all right? This is a little theology, and I know it's Friday night, and it's been a long week, but hang with me, this is important. Why does Scripture say that the Spirit is given by the Father and sent by the Son? It's because of the nature of our God, the nature of the God we worship. We were reminded of in the Psalms we sang, the prayer we heard earlier. Here's how the Athanasian Creed explains the relations within the Trinity. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. Now don't be confused here. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are, these three words are really important to know about the Trinity. They are co-equal. They are co-eternal, and thirdly, this is a word you don't use every day, but they are consubstantial, meaning they are of the same essence. In other words, each person of the Trinity fully possesses the undivided divine essence. But still, and here's where we are tonight, within the Trinity, there is a definite order. Not with respect to their essence, but solely regarding their relationship. Therefore, it is legitimate to say that the Father is the first member of the Trinity, the Son is the second member of the Trinity, and the Spirit is the third member of the Trinity. And, what we've just seen in the text I shared with you, is that the Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, proceeds from the Father and the Son. Thus we hold with the Western Church against the Eastern Church, this has been a huge divide for hundreds of years, that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's the passages that I just noted to make clear. So the source of the promised Spirit is the Father and the Son. Now, before we leave this point, let me ask this question, when? When did God send his spirit the way Jesus is promising his spirit will be sent here? There are two ways to answer that question. First of all, historically, God gave the New Testament church the spirit in this way at Pentecost, Acts chapter two. You can read about it in Acts two. A second way to answer the question of when is personally. Personally, God gives every Christian the spirit in the sense he's describing in these three chapters. At regeneration, at the moment of conversion, Ezekiel talks about it, right? I will put my spirit within you. That happens the very moment you trusted in Christ. If you're a believer here tonight, the very moment that you trusted in Christ, then you receive the Spirit in the sense that Jesus means here. Those believers who lived at that time historically didn't receive the Pentecost. They didn't receive that blessing, that promise that is the person of the Holy Spirit. But you received the Holy Spirit at the moment that you were changed, that you experienced a new life. So that's the source of the Spirit. A third reality about the Spirit concerns the ministry of the Spirit. And this is really the main focus in our text. The ministry of the Spirit. Now again, stay with me. I know this is a little bit heavy sledding, but it's important to understand who our God is, right? I mean, how can you worship God you don't know and don't understand? So make sure you get this right. The three persons of the Trinity all act and act as one in all the divine works. Let me say that again. The three persons of the Trinity all act in all of the divine works, but in God's works, whether it's creation or redemption or providence or whatever it is, each divine person has a different role. So what's the role of the Holy Spirit? Theologically, sort of a theological summary, you get this, you've got the essence of it, we can say that all God's works originate in the Father, they proceed through and are accomplished by the Son, and they are perfected by the Spirit. They originate in the Father, they proceed through and are accomplished by the Son, and they are perfected by the Spirit. So the Spirit, then, is involved in all of the divine works. Don't think of the Spirit as off in a corner doing one aspect of the work of God. For example, the Spirit is involved in creation, Genesis 1-2. He hovers like a mother bird over the creation, bringing what God had planned to full completion and fruition. He perfects it. The Son, of course, is involved as well. All things were made through Him. And the Father is the originator of this planet. So, again, you see that in creation. You see it in providence. Psalm 104, verse 30, says that when creatures die, you know, we've witnessed creatures dying all the time. It is the Spirit of God that renews and regenerates new creation across this planet. So in providence. In addition, the Spirit has roles toward the world and unbelievers. For example, He convicts of sin, John 16, verses 8 to 11. And He restrains sin, 2 Thessalonians 2, 7. But Jesus' focus here is on the Spirit's ministry to us, to us as believers. How does the Spirit minister to us? Jesus identifies three great ministries of the Holy Spirit to you and me. You need to understand these. This is the heart of what the Spirit is doing in your life. Number one, first, here's the first great ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers. He is the representative of the ascended Christ. He is the representative of the ascended Christ. Look at verse 16. I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper. Another helper. Now, Jesus had just announced that he was about to leave his disciples and return to the Father. But because of his love for them, chapter 13, verses one and two, he loved them to the nth degree. He loved them to the maximum, it says. He promises that he's going to ask the Father to give them another helper. Now, another implies what? It implies that this helper will replace the help of Jesus, which is exactly what he says. Go over to chapter 16. Look at chapter 16, verse five. He says, but now I'm going to send, I'm going to him who sent me, and none of you ask me where I'm going, but because I have sent these things to you, because of the ascension, your sorrows, Sorrow has filled your heart. Verse seven. But I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Here you see that he's promising a helper who would come how? In his place. Who would come in his place? Look now at chapter 16, verse 28. He says, I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. I am leaving the world again and going to the Father. He says, I'm leaving, but I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to send another helper. You see, he is the representative to us on earth as Christ was to his disciples in the environment. In fact, Tertullian, the great church father, called the Spirit the vicar of Christ, means his representative, his substitute on earth after he ascended. The mission of the Spirit is to extend and apply the mission of the Son to the world, to the church, and to each Christian. He said, I am going to send the Spirit and he will glorify me. We sang the song that we'll be singing several times. The role of the spirit is not to exalt himself, but rather to call attention to and to glorify the Son. He is the vicar of Christ. He is the substitute for Christ. Now, let's be honest. We're supposed to do that, right? I mean, as we were reminded earlier. Most of us would love to live life. Now, just be honest with yourself. Most of us would love to live life every day with Jesus, just like the apostles did. In fact, I think we have in our minds that if Jesus were physically here, if he was here with us, physically in this room, if he was with us in the workplace, if he was with us in our homes, then our lives, our Christian lives would be so much better, so much stronger. I think we really believe that. But that's not what Jesus said. We just read a moment ago in chapter 16, verse 7, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage, the Greek word means for your good, for your profit, for me to leave and the Spirit to come. Why, why would that be an advantage? Why would it be a greater advantage to you to have the Holy Spirit than to have Jesus here physically present with us? And the answer is because in His humanity, and Jesus is still fully God and fully human, but His humanity can only be in one place at one time. But the Spirit is omnipresent and with us all. So Jesus sent the Spirit to us as his representative. He ministers to us in the same way that Jesus did to his first century disciples. You do not have a disadvantage because Jesus isn't here physically with you. Get that out of your head, that isn't true. Jesus said it's your advantage. Jesus identifies a second ministry of the Spirit. Not only is He the representative of the ascended Christ, but secondly, He is the helper of every believer. He is the helper of every believer. Verse 16, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper. Now, there is a lot of debate about the meaning of this Greek word that's translated helper here. The Greek word is parakletos, which literally means One called to the side of another. One called to the side of another with the implication in order to help. Now traditionally in our language, starting with John Wycliffe, the first to translate the Bible into English, he did it in the Latin Vulgate rather than the original Greek and Hebrew, but that was the first translation. When he translated this text, And many who follow him translated this word periklatos, here translated helper, as comforter. The sad thing is language changes, and that word doesn't mean what it once did. In fact, originally the word in English, comforter, was from the Latin cum forte. Cum forte, which means someone who comes to strengthen. You recognize forte. Someone who comes to strengthen and help, not just someone who provides emotional support, as comfort implies today. According to the leading Greek lexicon, this word translated helper here, parakletos, its basic idea is one who is called to someone's aid. One who is called to someone's aid. In context, listen carefully, whatever helper means, whatever Parakletos means, it's not only what the Spirit will do, but it's what Christ did for his disciples when he was with them. During his earthly ministry, Jesus was a Parakletos to the disciples. And after his ascension, he said, the Father will send you another Parakletos. So everything that Jesus was to his disciples when he was on earth, the Holy Spirit has been sent to be to us. And notice what he says in verse 16, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. This helper will be permanent in the life of every believer, and this new role of the Spirit will last for the rest of redemptive history. So it'll be permanent in your life, it'll be permanent in the rest of redemptive history. So what does it mean to help us? Well, we can summarize the help of the Spirit as this. Applying to each of us the redemption that Christ accomplished. Applying to each of us the redemption that Christ accomplished. Here's how the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit. In other words, the Father originated the plan of redemption. Of course, in the Council of the Trinity, that goes without saying, but we're talking about the unique roles that each of them hold. The Father originates the plan of redemption. The Son comes to earth and accomplishes that redemption and then he sends his Spirit to apply the work of his redemption to you. Everything Christ accomplished is applied to you by the work of the Holy Spirit. That means the Spirit is our spiritual helper in so many different ways. In fact, the theological textbook of the Master's Seminary, Biblical Doctrines, lists 27 ministries of the Holy Spirit. I asked Harry for more time tonight and he wouldn't give it to me, so we're not going to cover 27 ministries of the Holy Spirit. But here are some of the Spirit's specific ministries in applying salvation to us. Let me just remind you of them. And you need the glory of the Holy Spirit. The reason you are where you are as a believer is because not only of the work the Son accomplished, but because of the application of that work to you by the Spirit. Here they are. Here are just a few specific ministries of help to you in applying redemption. Number one, He regenerates us through His Word. He gives us new life. You were dead, Ephesians 2.1. You were without God and without hope in the world, Ephesians tells us. You had no hope. You weren't struggling to fight your way to the life preserver of the gospel. You were dead and didn't know you needed the gospel. And the Holy Spirit regenerated you. John 3, verse 5, Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, that's the cleansing water in Ezekiel, and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You have to be born of the Spirit. You have to be changed. You know, if you're here tonight and you've never come to follow Jesus Christ, you need to understand you can't change yourself. You can't change yourself any more than a leopard can change its spots. That's what the prophet says. It's impossible. You're dead. You're dead to God. You have no hope except to throw yourself in the mercy of God, who alone can change you. Jesus said, you need to become a beggar of the Spirit, where you just throw yourself on God's mercy and recognize that only He can change the mess that you've made of your life. Only He can bring forgiveness. Only He can bring reconciliation with God the Creator through His life, death, and resurrection. He regenerates. Number two, the second ministry of the Spirit to us is He incorporates everyone He regenerates into the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. By, literally in Greek, in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Now I don't have time to take that all apart for you, but let me just give you the big picture. It's saying that Christ himself immerses us into the spirit. And then the Spirit immerses us into the body of Christ. So we are given the Spirit by Christ, and then the Spirit connects us vitally, personally, to the body of Christ. We become part of His body. We are connected to Him. We are united to Him. Union with Christ is such a huge thing in the New Testament. We are in Christ. He is our representative and we are spiritually connected to Him like a divine and biblical cord stretched from heaven to our spiritual lives. Number three, a third way the Spirit helps us is He indwells every believer. This is a major emphasis in verses 16 and 17. You'll notice Jesus uses three different Greek prepositions. to describe the spirit's relationship with believers. Look at verse 16, that he may be with you forever. Verse 17, he abides or stays with, and that word has the idea of beside you. And then verse 17 says, and he will be in you. Now there are two basic interpretations of those three phrases. Some say, you know what, they're all just making the same point. They're making the point in different ways that the Spirit is with you now, and He'll be with you in the future. And that's all the same. However, the change that Jesus seems to be implying here in this verse, from the present to the future tense, and what we know about the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, makes it more likely that Jesus here is signaling a change in the Spirit's ministry before and after Pentecost. So what's going on? Jesus here tells the 11 that like all Old Testament believers, the Spirit has been among them and has been beside them, been with them. But a change is coming with Pentecost, bringing a new role of the Spirit in the church age, the Spirit who has always been present with his people would now indwell his people. John MacArthur writes, this indicates some distinction between the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers before and after Pentecost. While clearly the Holy Spirit has been with all who have ever believed throughout the depicted history as the source of truth, faith, and life, Jesus is saying something new is coming. He's been among you, He's been beside you. The abiding presence of the Spirit has always been a reality. Without that, there's no regeneration. There's no new birth. There's no sanctification. No Old Testament believer would have ever grown in likeness to his Lord. So that was always true. But now, now it's different. You, believer, it's different. He is in you. 1 Corinthians 6.19, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. I love the way Paul puts it in Romans chapter eight, verses nine and 10. He describes this new indwelling of the Spirit in three remarkable ways. This is true of you, Christian. He says, the Spirit of God dwells in you. That's the first way. In the same passage, he says, you have the Spirit of Christ And then thirdly, he says in that same passage, Christ is in you. Think of the resources you have at your disposal. He's not left you alone. You're not on your own, Christian. You are dwelt by the Holy Spirit. A fourth way the Spirit is our helper is he is the author of our sanctification. He is the author of our sanctification. That one is gonna be very well addressed in another session, so I'm just gonna mention it and move on, for which my brother's taking a deep breath of appreciation. A fifth way he is our helper is he fills us, don't miss this, he fills us with his word. He fills us with His Word. Ephesians 5, 18, I think is one of the most misunderstood verses in the New Testament. It says this, do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be being filled literally by the Spirit. Now most Christians think this means be full of the Holy Spirit, as though you only got a little bit of the Holy Spirit, you need more of the Holy Spirit. That's not what he's saying. The phrase, with the Spirit, means by the Spirit. So the Spirit fills us, but it's not talking about His filling us with Himself. So what's He filling us with? The parallel passage in Colossians 3, verse 16, makes it clear. He says, let the Word of Christ dwell rich in you. You see, the Spirit fills us with the Word. To be under the influence of the Spirit is to be filled by the instrumentality of the Spirit with His Word. That's what it means to be under the influence of the Spirit. Not some bizarre mystical experience or some ecstatic charismatic experience. He fills us with His Word. Number six, He is an advocate for every believer. He is an advocate for every believer. In secular Greek, parakletos primarily referred to a legal assistant, someone who helps in court as an advocate, a witness, or a representative. It's like what Jesus is described as in 1 John 2, verse 1. His work currently in heaven, He is our advocate. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In the same way, the Spirit is our advocate. He's an advocate for us with the Father. How? Well, Lord willing, I'll deal with this role of the Spirit in my second session for Romans chapter eight, so I'll leave that alone as well. Number seven, he assures us of our adoption. He assures us of our adoption. Again, in another session, we're going to study Romans 8, 15-17, and there Paul explains that the Spirit assures us of the Father's love and our adoption as His sons and daughters. He wanted you to know, and He sent His Spirit to make sure you knew. There's one last way the Holy Spirit helps us, and that is He seals every believer for glory. He seals every believer for glory. Look at Ephesians 1. This is one of my favorite quotes in the New Testament, one of my favorite passages. Ephesians 1, look at verses 13 and 14. It says, in him you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. God the Father sealed every Christian in Christ by means of or with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Why? Well, seals did two things primarily. One, they were a mark of ownership. God gave you the spirit to show that you're his. And secondly, as a guarantee of security, He wanted you to know you're secure. Notice verse 14 goes on to say, the Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance. A pledge is a first installment, a down payment on our inheritance. The Spirit is God's down payment to us on our inheritance. You're going to make it to glory. You're going to make it. How do I know that? Because God gave you His Spirit to seal you, to show that you're His, and to show that He's going to keep you secure. He will preserve you to glory. So the Spirit is a helper to every believer in all those ways, and so many others. Let me quickly just mention a third ministry of the Spirit, and that is He is the Teacher of God's Word. He is the Teacher of God's Word. Verse 17. He's referred to as the Spirit of Truth. He is the source of truth. He reveals truth. In this context, it was a promise that He was going to superintend the writing of the New Testament. Look down at verse 26. Jesus described the Spirit's role to the apostles in two ways. He will teach you all things. That's to the apostles. Whatever Jesus wasn't able to teach them, chapter 16, he goes on to say that. He's going to teach you those things. And verse 26 says, He will bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Students, that is not a promise that you're going to do well on your next test. This is to the apostles. This has been saying, when you write your Gospels 20, 30 years, and in John's case, at the end of the first century, long removed from the event, 60 years removed, the Spirit is going to enable you to remember all that I said. Why? For the benefit of my people. He is the teacher of God's truth. I wish I had time to take you to 1 Corinthians 2. In 1 Corinthians 2, you have the Spirit as the one who reveals truth. You have the Spirit as the one who inspires the words of Scripture. You have the Spirit who illumines the minds of believers to understand the Scripture. He is the revealer, inspirer, and illuminator of the truth of the Scripture. Notice back in our text, just briefly, I just want you to see the responses to the Spirit and His Word here. Notice that unbelievers simply won't accept it. Verse 17, this new helper is the Spirit truth, whom the world cannot, the Greek word is deutomai, means to have the power or ability. They cannot receive or accept the Spirit, especially His Word. Why? Because it does not see Him. It doesn't perceive Him. It doesn't know Him. It doesn't have a relationship with Him. Therefore, they don't understand. They simply don't understand the Scripture. You know, the air around us is filled with digital signals. Right now, as you sit here, there are digital signals flying everywhere through this room. But if you don't have the proper antenna to receive those signals, it's as if they don't even exist. You don't have a phone, you're not getting any signals. Well, guess what? Scripture is like that for unbelievers. Because they lack the proper spiritual antenna to receive the signals, they don't understand it, and therefore they reject it and its source, the Holy Spirit. But not true with believers. Look at how verse 17 continues. But you, and you is in Vatican Greek, know Him. You have a relationship with Him because He abides with you and will be in you. We love the Spirit who now indwells us, and therefore we love His Word. Friends, you want to know one of the greatest works of the Holy Spirit? You're holding it in your hand. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit to you. You want to know how precious this is? In 1 Corinthians 2, when he talks about the Spirit revealing the truth, inspiring the truth, illuminating your mind to understand the truth, he says, We have the mind of Christ. He's talking about what's between the covers of this book. You have here in your hands the mind of Jesus Christ about everything He wants you to know. What an incredible gift. He is the revealer of truth, the teacher of truth. We've seen the identity and nature of the Spirit, the source of the Spirit, the ministry of the Spirit. Lastly, I just want to call your attention to one other thing, and that is our response to the Spirit. How should you respond to the Holy Spirit in all you've learned this weekend? First of all, you should worship the Spirit. Since the Spirit is God, every command, listen to me, every command to worship God in the Scripture is a command to worship the Holy Spirit. Psalm 211, worship the Lord with reverence. It's a command to worship all three members of the Trinity, including the Holy Spirit. Thomas Watson, the great English Puritan, says, there is an order in the Godhead, but no degrees. Therefore, we must give equal worship to all persons. Let me ask you, Christian, do you worship the Holy Spirit? Secondly, love the Spirit. Again, since the Spirit is God, the command to love God is a command to love the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 6, the great Shema, love the Lord your God with all your heart. That doesn't stop with the Father. It doesn't stop with the Son. It includes the Holy Spirit. Do you love the Holy Spirit? Number three, trust the Spirit. Since He's God, again, we must trust Him in His work. Again and again, scriptures call us to put our trust in God. I love what the Puritan William Perkins wrote. He said, each Christian must acknowledge the Holy Spirit as he has revealed himself in the word. Believe that he is my sanctifier and my strength and put all the confidence of my heart in him for that cause. Let me ask you, really do you trust the Holy Spirit? to complete the application of everything Christ accomplished in your life. Do you trust Him to do that? And number four, finally, commune with the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. John Owen, in his classic work, Communion with God, explains what our communion with God looks like based on this Trinitarian benediction. And he argued that we enjoy communion with the Spirit. You want to know what communion with the Spirit looks like? He argued that it involves these three things. First of all, understand the Holy Spirit's mission in your life. That's what this weekend's about. Understand the Holy Spirit's mission in your life. Secondly, know and believe His Word to you. And thirdly, trust Him to complete His work of applying the redemption that Christ purchased for you. That's what communion with the Spirit looks like. When you know who He is and what He's doing, you know and believe His Word, and you trust Him to bring to fruition all that has been begun in your life. by His sovereign work. Let me ask you, Christian, do you enjoy that communion with the Spirit? Now we understand just a little of why Peter called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of glory. Let's pray together. Father, you know how inadequate I feel today. to expose us all to the glory of your Spirit. Father, I pray that you would take my feeble attempts and somehow you would break and multiply in the hearts of your people so that it sinks deep in our souls, so that we truly worship and love and trust and commune with your glorious and blessed Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.