Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel. We continue to work our way through John's Gospel. We're in the upper room discourse. We've slowed down a little bit in our study as we're looking at the doctrine of the Trinity in a bit more detail. And basically what we have in the Upper Room Discourse, our Lord Jesus is preparing His disciples for the mission that they will have after His ascension on high. And one of the things that He sets before them in great detail is who God is, the living and the true God. that he is one in being, three in person, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit has been mentioned up to this point in John's gospel. But as we see here, specifically in chapter 14, Jesus gives us more information concerning the spirit of truth. Again, there'll be some technical terminology employed this morning. I mentioned last week that we need the guardrails that have been set up in the history of the church, Nicaea in 381. Chalcedon 451, and then of course our Second London Confession of 1689. Those are helpful guardrails to keep us, as a car, from flying off the cliff. The Church has invoked or utilized principles of interpretation to deal with the fact that there is one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the last generation or two, we have seen people destroy those guardrails, and as a result, the doctrine of the Trinity has fallen on hard times. So it is important for us as God's people not to perhaps explain it in the way a John Owen would, or an Athanasius, or an Augustine, but we need to have some understanding of who our God is. Jesus describes, or gives us, the sum and substance of eternal life in John 17.3. In the high priestly prayer, He says, this is eternal life that they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So if that is going to occupy us in that heavenly Jerusalem, it should certainly occupy us here on earth. And as well, we face a lot of attacks upon the Christian faith. It does us no good to not be able to explain the God whom we worship. So let's read beginning in chapter 14 at verse 1, and then our focus this morning will be verses 17b and 18. I mentioned we were going slowly through this section. We've just made it through verse 17a, but beginning in verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, in the way you know." Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also, and from now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip. He who has seen me has seen the father. So how can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him. For He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God and Holy Father, we do confess that you are one in being, three in person, and we glorify your great and awesome power and majesty and glory. We acknowledge your handiwork in the created order and in providence, and we rejoice in the redemptive order. We praise you for the sending of the Son of your love into this world, sinners to save. We thank you for the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit to take that truth and to make it alive in our hearts. We thank you for that effectual calling, drawing us unto yourself and causing us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things bespeak a gracious and a merciful and a glorious God. We pray now that Your Spirit would guide us as we consider this section of Holy Scripture. We pray that You would be magnified and glorified in this glad hour, that You would draw out our hearts in worship and praise and adoration and in more love to Thee. And God, may You indeed have mercy upon any and all who are dead in their trespasses and sins. We don't appeal to their free will to make good decisions respecting their future. but we call upon the God of absolute sovereignty and power. We know that you make men willing in the day of that power. We pray that for our meeting together here. We pray it for other churches here in our community, throughout this country, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So send the Spirit to take these things and to make them effectual in the hearts of a great multitude that no man can number. Forgive us now for all of our sin and unrighteousness, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, I'd mentioned a bit ago about these guardrails or these protections that the church has established to keep us from falling prey to heresy on either side with reference to the doctrine of our triune God. And one of them is in our confession, 2nd London Confession, Chapter 2, Paragraph 3. When it gets into the triunity of God, it reminds us that in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences or persons. the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided." So when it comes to considering our God, we need to make sure we maintain the unity of the Godhead. We need to make sure we don't see three gods. We need to make sure that we don't see God Inc., or sorts of divinity partialed out to various persons in the Trinity. So we need to maintain the unity, the infinite and divine being of God. But we also need to recognize the distinction of person in the Godhead. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Father. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son. There is distinction, and as the confession goes on, those distinctions are seen in what we call eternal relations of origin. So the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. They are consubstantial, they have the same essence as the confession tells us, and yet they are distinct persons. Again, you might say, well, that's tough for me to understand. Welcome to the church. God is infinite. We are finite. He has revealed himself in 31,000 propositions, give or take, another 102, and we have true knowledge of God, but the finite will never be able to exhaust the infinite. The creature will never be able to fully understand the creator. He's in a different chain of being. We need to make sure that we're reminded of that. God is not just man writ large. It's not the case that you go from the lowest form of creation, say, the worm, and then you move on to the cat, and then you move on to the dog, and then you move on to the human, and then you move on to the angel, and then you move on to God. That is a misstep. We have more in common with the worm. And dare I say it, more in common with the cat than we do with God. He is creator. We are creature. He is in a different category of being altogether. So that the Bible teaches our triune God, we confess. That we can fully understand every jot and tittle? No. There's a significant amount of mystery in our Christian religion which keeps us worshiping. Because if we figured out all there was to figure out with reference to God, we'd move on to the next puzzle. But God is such that he will always take our breath away when we plunder or seek to plunder the depths that he is. So remember, we need to protect the unity of the divine nature, but we also need to recognize distinction among the persons. And one of the ways that we see that, specifically in John's gospel, is what we refer to as theologia and economy. And basically, theologia, or theology, is how John starts. In John 1, 1 to 18, he begins with theology. He goes sort of behind the scenes, as it were, of redemption or what we call the economy of salvation. And he gives us a bird's eye view into who God is. He tells us with reference to the son, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And then in verse 14, he says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. It's not until verse 29 that we see an emphasis on economy or salvation history, when the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So John tells us who the Word is relative to the Father before telling us what the Word does in terms of saving us men and bringing us redemption. Well, we see the same sort of thing with reference to the Holy Spirit. What we see the Spirit do in history is reflective of how the Spirit relates to the Father and the Son in eternity. You've got theology, or who God is in Himself. The Latin for this is ad intra. And then you have God as He relates to everything not God. Everything outside of God, we refer to that as ad extra. or those separate or external works of God. So it's add extra what the Holy Spirit and what Jesus do in history show us something about who God is in himself. Now, it doesn't explain everything. It doesn't exhaust who God is. But when we read the pages of Holy Scripture, we see the Son and we see the Spirit doing things, coming from the Father, and we can make conclusions about how these three persons relate to one another in themselves. So that's what we need to do as we proceed relative to our understanding of who God is. We need to recognize the distinction of persons in the Godhead. You see that? Notice in chapter 14, specifically at verse 16, I, Jesus, will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever. So there's three persons. Jesus prays to the Father, and he prays to the Father that the Father will send another helper, the paraclete, the comforter, the one that will make sure that the children of God are not orphans in this present evil age. So there is distinction of person. But as well, we need to maintain the fact that the unity of the Godhead It's not that the Father is 33 and a third percent God, the Son is 33 and a third percent, and then the Spirit is 33 and a third percent. They're consubstantial. That means they are of one essence or one substance. All that is true of God is true of the Father, is true of the Son, is true of the Holy Spirit. Yet not three gods. As Sanders says, to identify the Holy Spirit as God is to say that whatever God is, the Holy Spirit is. God has a nature. The Bible speaks of it as God's divinity, Romans 1.20, or deity, Colossians 2.9. He says the King James Version translated words like these as Godhead, a thrilling word that is basically an archaic way of saying Godhood or Godness. That's true. That's right. That's accurate. That reflects well on the biblical material. By way of reminder, we had the fact that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. He's named with the Father and the Son. 2 Corinthians 13, 14. Galatians 4, 4-6. Ephesians 2, 18-22. Revelation 1, 4 to 6, we see that the Spirit is counted with other divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As well, the Spirit is described in personal ways. He has life. He has intellect. He has will. His operations upon men are things outside of God. He regenerates, He converts, He sanctifies. As well as a person, He's lied to, He's grieved, and also He can be sinned against. Not an impersonal active force, but rather the person of the Holy Spirit, the third of the triune God. As well, the fact that the Holy Spirit is consubstantial or one in substance or essence with the Father and the Son. The divine name spoken about with reference to the Spirit. He is referred to as Yahweh. He's referred to as God. He's referred to as Lord. the divine attributes predicated of the Holy Spirit. We know from the scripture that he has eternity, he has immensity, he has omniscience, he has omnipotence. Again, anything and everything true of God is true of the Holy Spirit. The divine operations of the Holy Spirit, he is active in creation, miracles, resurrection, healings, powers, tongues, all those sorts of things the Spirit is operative in. As well, the divine worship given to the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2, 18-20, to envisage us coming to the Father in corporate worship through the Son in the Spirit. So the Spirit is right there. The Spirit is right there in the baptismal formula. Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Singular name, three-person. Unity of the Godhead, distinction among the persons. As well, the eternal procession and temporal mission. Turn to 1526 for just a moment, where you see what happens in history or in economy. Salvation history shows us something about how the Spirit relates to the Father and the Son. Notice in John 15 at verse 26, "...but when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me." I take that sending by Christ of the Spirit in salvation history as a reference to the day of Pentecost. And what happens at the Day of Pentecost in the sending of the Spirit in that temporal mission is reflective of, or revelatory of, the eternal procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son. Again, this may be somewhat confusing, but we're trying to articulate a biblical and orthodox doctrine of the triune God. If you don't get it this first time around, don't get discouraged. Learn, read, study, look at Nicaea, look at Chalcedon, read our chapter 2. It's a wonderful statement concerning of God the Holy Trinity. Because brethren, again, we can get a lot wrong in our religion. We can't. Just witness how many things are wrong in our religion. And I'm not talking about practically, I'm talking about doctrinally. You hear a lot of weird stuff coming out of the people of God. You hear a lot of weird stuff coming out of pulpits today. Weird stuff isn't necessarily damnable heresy. Damnable heresy is at the level of who God is and how does God save. In other words, we should be willing to die on Trinity. We should be willing to die on Christology. We should be willing to die on justification by faith. Yeah, I'm not gonna die for eschatology. If you're a premillennialist, hey, I think you're wrong. You think I'm wrong. Let's all, you know, love Jesus together, right? So when it comes to God, though, and we've seen this, and I've appealed to this several times in John 8, specifically at verse 24, when Jesus says to his opponents, the religious leaders, if you don't believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Well, nowhere in the gospel records does he say, if you don't believe in post-millennialism, or if you don't believe in all-millennialism, or if you don't believe in premillennialism, you will die in your sins. Again, brethren, I think we ought to pursue truth even at the level of eschatology, but that's not damnable heresy. Damnable heresy is rejecting Jesus. Damnable heresy is not understanding Jesus. Damnable heresy is twisting up the person and the work of Jesus. It's those things that are necessary for us to understand. As well, the Spirit is called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is a gift given by the Father and He's given by the Son. And I think a good summary statement is found in that Nicene Creed. It says that, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. That is good biblical theology, good Trinitarianism. It's upheld, or at least specifically with reference to Jesus at Chalcedon in 451, and then, as I said, the 17th century confessions. Now, as we move on, this is a bit of a review, we want to still stick a little bit with this idea of the unity of the Godhead and the distinction of person. There's another tactic that we have seen the church employ in order to explain how the one true and living God isn't made up of three parts, it isn't God Inc., it isn't a conglomeration, it's not a corporation. And that doctrine is called inseparable operations. Now, again, no quiz today, no test, but just throwing this out there. It's the doctrine of inseparable operations. And all that means is that everything outside of that living and true God, everything, as I mentioned earlier, ad extra, not in God himself, everything external to God comes about by the result of the one living and true God. In other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not three agents accomplishing a particular work. They have one power. They have one eternity. They therefore have one will. Remember, each has the entirety of the divine essence. So, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit do what they do external as the living and true God. It's not three participants just sort of agreeing and getting things right in some cosmic harmony. No, it's inseparable operations. Everything external to God is done by the living and true God. Barrett defines it this way, since the persons of the Trinity are indivisible in essence, they are also indivisible in their external operations. Having the one simple will in common, they perform a singular act in any external operation. Now, why is this important? Because if we mess this up, we will fall into tritheism, or three-godism. The Father does some things, the Son does some things, and then the Spirit does some things. Well, if they each have the divine essence, then that must mean there are three gods. No, everything external to God, add extra, is done by the living and true God, the unity of the Godhead. Now, as we work our way through Scripture, we see at times things are said specifically about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In fact, when we look at the Scriptures, if we ask the question, what's usually said about the Father? Creation. What's usually said about the Son? Redemption. What's usually said about the Spirit? Sanctification. That's what's called the doctrine of appropriations. Again, no test, no quiz, throwing it out here so that you'll understand that the church does have successful ways to execute scripture, to interpret the Bible, to maintain the integrity of the one living and true God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Inseparable operations guards the unity of the Godhead. Appropriations highlights the distinction of the person. So again, when you look at scripture, the Father is tasked, at least in Genesis chapter 1, with creating all things. But so is the Son, and so is the Spirit, in Genesis 1, 1 and 2. Divine commentary, Psalm 33, tells us that by the word of the Lord. So the Father, through the agency of the Son, in the Spirit, the breath of God, created the world. So we see inseparable operations, but sometimes the Bible highlights specific things about specific persons to show us more of our wonderful God. So the fact that the Father is predicated of creating and the Son and the Spirit shows us inseparably everything outside, but there are things done or shown by scripture to apply specifically to persons to show us more about that. So it shows us the relation obtained between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now that everybody is sufficiently confused, let's pick up with the rest of the data. Whether you get all that or not, again, no quiz, no test, but let's look at verse 17 again. As we move on, because we had four points under this second point with reference to the nature of the Spirit. So in the nature of the Spirit, 16b to 17. We've seen distinction of persons in the Godhead, 16b. The unity of the Godhead, 17a. Now we move to the ignorance of the Godhead, 17b. And then the knowledge of the Godhead in 17c. But notice what Jesus says in verse 17. So he sort of amplifies who this helper is in the first part, the spirit of truth. Now note what he goes on to say, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. So I think that we ought to appreciate in the first place that what Jesus is primarily concerned about in the Upper Realm is the disciple group. He cares about the world. In fact, that's the bigger context according to chapter 14, specifically look back at verse 12. Where it says, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to my Father. Because Jesus ascends on high, he leads captivity captive, he gives gifts to men. And those men are apostles, those men are prophets, those men are pastors, those men are teachers and evangelists. And so he wants them to go out with mission and tell sinners about Jesus so that they may be saved. So the world is certainly under his consideration, but specifically here in verse 17, he makes this contrast between what the world knows and what the disciple group knows. He cares about the world in the sense that he wants the disciples to go to the world, and he wants them to preach, and teach, and make disciples, and baptize those disciples, and found churches, and worship the triune God, and engage in all the things that are consistent with churchmanship. Jesus wants all that. But in the upper room, his focus is primarily on equipping these disciples to go in his name for this particular task. So with reference to verse 17, after articulating the nature of the spirit, he speaks of the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. This is one of those statements like we saw in John 6. In fact, you can turn back to John 6, specifically at verse 44. Jesus, once again, underscores the reality that if salvation is to happen in the life of a man, woman, or boy or girl, It must come from God. Sovereign grace is absolutely crucial because dead men in sin don't believe on the gospel. Dead men in sin don't repent from their sin. If God doesn't open hearts, if God doesn't cause the new birth, if God doesn't draw effectually sinners unto himself, there will be no salvation. So notice in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, before we look at that and say, well, that means there's no hope for sinners. No, there's great hope for sinners because God is in the purpose of having sent his son into the world, sinners to save. These passages on God's sovereignty ought never to be interpreted in a way that brings despair or discouragement on the part of the church. No, conversely, God is about saving. Go to Revelation chapter 7. You have a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Jesus inaugurates the new covenant in his blood and he says this blood is shed for what? For the remission of the sins of many. Not just a handful, not just a few. It is the sovereignty of God that provides the impetus for evangelism. It is the sovereignty of God that provides the fuel for missions. It's the sovereignty of God that should cause us to get up off our seats and proclaim that there is salvation to be had in the Lord Jesus Christ. This concept of God's sovereignty somehow inhibiting the gospel message is hyper-Calvinistic. And it's drivel. It is hogwash. It is not consistent with Scripture. Biblical, robust Calvinism is about proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. It's about telling sinners to believe on Him and you will be saved. Telling sinners to relinquish their opposition and that axe to grind and come to a gracious Savior. In fact, backing up just a bit to verse 37, look at what Jesus says. He underscores the beauty of divine sovereignty. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And then he opens his arms and says, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. In Matthew 11, he praises the Father for hiding gospel truth from some, but revealing it to babes. And then he says, even so, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in your sight. And it's on the heels of that sort of confession of God's absolute sovereignty that he says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So the same emphasis here in the upper room, Jesus is telling his disciples something true about the spirit of truth. He says, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. We know from scripture that the righteous walk according to the spirit in Romans chapter eight. But we also know in Romans chapter eight that the unrighteous do not. The unrighteous walk by a spirit according to Paul in Ephesians 2, 1-3, but it's not the Holy Spirit. It's the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. It's the prince of the power of the air. It is godlessness. It is wretchedness. It is reprobate. So the ungodly needs divine grace in order to understand who the spirit is. The ungodly needs divine grace to make that good confession. I believe in the son of God who lived for me and who died for me. The ungodly needs sovereign grace to see the father as the fount from whom all blessings flow. So Jesus acknowledges that he's gonna provide for the disciple group, another helper that is going to abide with you forever. And then he says the spirit of truth. And then he goes on to say, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. Practically, I think he's encouraging the disciple group that they need to rely upon the Holy Spirit. The one that the Lord Jesus is going to give to the disciples is the very one that the disciples are going to need to lean on when they go to a world who doesn't know the Spirit of truth. They're not going to be able to make changes. They're not going to be able to affect salvation. They're not going to be able to convert the sinners to whom they go. They stand in need of divine grace. They stand in need of divine empowerment. In other words, the task of the church is not the conversion of the nations. That's the task of our gracious God. He calls the church to be faithful, to go therefore, and to make disciples. How do we make them? Not by gun. not by knife, not by military might, we make them by the proclamation of justification by faith alone. We tell sinners, God is holy, you're not, and the way of salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus. Now, we cannot affect that change, but the Spirit of Truth can. The Spirit whom the world does not know, because they haven't received Him. So when Jesus works here, He's encouraging the disciples that the very Spirit He's going to give them is the very Spirit that the world doesn't know, but the very Spirit that the world needs to understand, or rather, come to know through grace. So all that Jesus does in terms of explaining Father, Son, and Spirit, He wants to inculcate in them dependence upon God. Jesus' concern here is with his disciples, that they may be equipped to go and effect the gospel preaching in the world. But then notice, he ends this section in verse 17c to underscore that they know him. So verse 17, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Why do they know Him? We're part of the world because they've tasted God's grace. They've had their eyes open. They've had their hearts open. They've come out of darkness into marvelous light. Notice in John 14, specifically at verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. That's to encourage them and to settle them and to help them when the earth, as it were, collapses in on them as they go out into the empire and they meet opposition. And they're going to meet opposition, brethren. Read the book of Acts. Who's the first great opposer of the church in the first century? It's not the Roman Empire, it's the unbelieving Jews. It's the unbelieving Jews who can't stand this emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah. They can't stand this emphasis that this Nazarene, that this one who hailed from Galilee, this son of a carpenter, that he would somehow be Messiah. That was repulsive to them. Well, to use the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, it was a scandal to them. It was a stumbling block to them. So in Acts, you see much opposition from unbelieving Jews. There is opposition in the background from the Roman Empire, especially as the Jews invoke the civil magistrate to bring the pressure upon the people of God. But initially, the Roman Empire wasn't too antagonistic against Christianity. They thought it was a subset of Judaism, and for the most part, let them alone. But later on in the empire, that escalation arose. That opposition and antagonism arose. Under Nero, it reached a fever pitch, and later emperors as well, would be about the murder of a multitude of people who confessed saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So again, remember the disciple group here in the upper room. Jesus is about to die. He's going to be ripped away from them and hung upon a cross. He's going to be raised again, he's going to ascend on high, but he gives them this mission, he gives them these objectives, and he also wants to calm them so that their hearts are not troubled. So 14.1 is a believe in me also to settle your wayward heart so that you don't panic and lose heart. But 1412 is a reminder of justification by faith. They had believed on Jesus for salvation. Thus they had received the Spirit, the Spirit that the world did not receive, the Spirit that the world did not know. Why? Because they were not born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus mentions in John chapter 3. But he says, you know him. Notice. And he goes on to say in verse 17, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Remember, a few sermons back, we looked at another doctrine called perichoresis. And perichoresis simply means mutual indwelling. Specifically, look back at chapter 14 at around verse 12 again. I'm sorry, verse 10, do you not believe this is an answer to the question from Philip? Let's just back up. Verse seven, if you had known me, you would have known my father also, and from now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip. He who has seen me has seen the father. Isn't that an amazing statement? You've seen Jesus, you've seen the father. You can see why the unbelieving Jews hated him. Now, I'm not saying it was right for them to hate him, but when he made himself equal with God, if you didn't have eyes to see that, if you didn't have faith to receive that, if you just saw this man that looked just like everybody else that was in Israel at that time, Remember what the prophet says? He had no form, no comeliness. There was nothing about him that would cause us to gaze admiringly at him. He didn't have a halo. He wasn't, you know, the ripped Jehovah's Witness Jesus with the 18-inch guns and the rippling, you know, chest muscle. He wasn't anything to look at. That's the point with reference to the servant of Yahweh. He doesn't come out of heaven guns blazing. He comes from heaven to assume our humanity with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin. And he lives in that lowly condition. He dies as a criminal on the cross and he's raised again the third day. So with reference to this statement, he says, he who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, show us the Father? Now notice in verse 10, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? This is perichoresis, the mutual indwelling of the divine persons. Why? Because they each have the whole divine essence. When it comes to the Spirit indwelling us, that's not perichoresis. We don't have the same essence. The Spirit indwells us by God's grace. The Spirit indwells us because of adoption. The Spirit indwells us because of that the means by which God saves us and draws him unto himself. But notice this blessed reality. The Spirit indwells his people, and notice at the end of verse 16, that he may abide with you forever. The concept that a person can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit and then somehow lose their salvation? That's not biblical. If you receive the Holy Spirit, if you're justified freely by His grace, whatever ebbs and flows, whatever hardships and afflictions, whatever trials and difficulties, with David and with Peter, you will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb. David did horrible things as a blood-bought child of God. Peter did a horrible thing as a blood-bought child of God. Sometimes the blood-bought children of God do horrible things. But by God's grace, they shall never fall away completely. Why? Because the Spirit abides in them forever. It's not here today and gone tomorrow. Oh, you wiseguide yourself out of this salvation, so therefore I'm going to take my spirit from you. When David, in his Psalm of Repentance, prays that, take not thine Holy Spirit from me. He's a believer when he prays that prayer of repentance in Psalm 51. He says, restore to me the joy of thy salvation, because certainly during the gestation period, and certainly during the time subsequent to that, with reference to his adultery and murder, he didn't feel that joy. He wasn't living in a fever pitch of delight in the mercies of a covenant God, but he was nevertheless a saved man. And so when we have this promise from our Savior that the Spirit abides in us forever, That ought to encourage us. That ought to make us happy. You know, not everything is forever, right? We like to think everything is forever, but it's not forever. But God's grace to his people is forever. And then notice, he says, that brings us to the final section here, and I feel like I can go and die on a plane to Boston and at least have finished, I'm just kidding, I'd rather not, but I've at least finished a section. Great on me going down if I remembered I hadn't finished that section in John's gospel So I I'm at least finishing a section of John's gospel so I can go to my maker in peace Should he decree that as the case and my poor wife is probably rising now hoping that doesn't happen But notice the last statement in terms of a promise of Jesus will close here and make a few observations and then we'll we'll conclude but notice after having said this Verse 17, the spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. Notice then what Jesus says, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Isn't this one of the preeminent blessings of biblical religion? The presence of God with his people. You all know the Proctors. When the Proctors were here, he gave me a beanie. You call them toques in Canada, and it says, I will never walk alone. Sort of the motto of Liverpool, England. I will never walk alone. Do you realize that's our promise, brethren? We will never walk alone. It may feel like it at times. It may appear to be that way at times. There are seasons when in God's providence and God's dealings with his people needs to chasten us or discipline us or take us to the woodshed. And it may seem like he doesn't have that great big smile, but as Cooper says, behind that frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. The reality is, is that our blessed God is always with us. Isn't this what Joshua needed to hear before the conquest? And isn't this precisely what God told Joshua? You're going to go into the land, you're going to kill people, and you're going to break things. You're going to dispossess the land of the Canaanites because I've given it by way of inheritance to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, what does Joshua need to go on that campaign? Yeah, he needs to make sure his powder's dry, needs to make sure his troops are in order, needs to make sure that everybody's on board with strategy for battle. He needs the presence of God, and that's precisely what God affords him. Or the Great Commission. What are these men that are going to face unbelieving Israel and the Roman Empire, what is it that they desperately need? Do they need self-help? Do they need, you know, the most recent conference or TED Talk? No, they need the presence of Jesus when He says, go therefore and make disciples, baptize those disciples, teach those disciples. What is He saying? Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So we've got this presence of Christ with his people. I would suggest as well, when you look at all the covenants of God, and there's several historical ones, I would argue three theological ones, covenant of redemption, covenant of works, covenant of grace, but in those historical covenants, what seems to be the overarching promise that God makes to his people? I will be your God and you shall be my people, right? Isn't that beautiful? Because by nature in Adam, we have gone astray. All we like sheep have gone astray. We don't care about God. We don't want God. We're not seeking God. We like our sin. We like to engage in lawlessness. We want to rebel and transgress and engage in those things which are vile and filthy. But when God saves us now, He has purposed and promised and covenanted to us that He'll always be with us. even to the end of the age. So notice what Jesus says here specifically, I will not leave you orphans. Incidentally, I think this is a good way to understand what we find in the prophet Isaiah in chapter 9 at verse 6. You've got those four titles that are predicated of the Messiah, one of them being everlasting father. Well, Jesus isn't the Father. Didn't you start off the sermon by saying that the Son is not the Father, the Father is not the Son? He's the everlasting Father, in the redemptive sense, to the Church. He's our head, the head of the body. Ephesians 1, 22 and 23, Colossians 1, 18. Christ is everlasting Father, in a redemptive sense, to the Church that is His. So notice, I will not leave you orphans, that means to be without a parent, I will come to you. Now there's some question as to what coming to you does he mean there. Right? Seems to be a good question that I think arises from the text. He's referred to his departure from them in a little while. Look at John 13 in verse 33. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, where I am going you cannot come, so now I say to you. I think that's a reference to the cross. Notice in 14, verses two and three, in my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Again, I think it's a reference to him after the ascension, going into heaven, and then promising that he'll come back again to collect his bride and bring them to those several mansions that he has for them. He refers to his resurrection when he will be raised from the dead in several contexts. And we see that in John 20, verses 19 to 29, after the resurrection, he comes to them. But I think the specific I will come to you reference is Pentecost. Again, not that the Holy Spirit is not present prior to Pentecost, but that the Holy Spirit is given in a very powerful way on the day of Pentecost for the equipping of the church to make known the glory of Jesus Christ and to do that work that God has entrusted to the bride, to go to make disciples and to baptize those disciples. So the Lord Jesus, notice in chapter 15 again, verse 26, when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will testify of me. Turn over to John chapter 20, specifically at verses 22 and 23. Well verse 21 so Jesus said to them again peace to you as the Father has sent me I also send you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them if you retain the sins of any they are retained so he breathes on them again it's a symbol an emblem of the procession of the Holy Spirit who comes from the Father and the Son and so then on the day of Pentecost you can turn to Acts chapter 2 and where Peter is preaching to explain the significance of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember in verses one to four, the Spirit comes in power and the people there start speaking in other tongues. We see that there were devout people from various nations gathered together on that particular day. Tongue speaking wasn't gibberish, it wasn't nonsensical. Notice specifically in 2.11, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. They were foreign languages communicated by the disciples to make known the wonderful works of God. Then notice in verse 12, so they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others mocking said, they are full of new wine, a bunch of drunkards, they're out of their minds. So Peter takes the occasion to stand up and to first say, this is what was prophesied by Joel. In other words, Joel 2, 28 to 32 prophesied the outpouring of the Spirit upon a whole group of people at a particular time. They would prophesy, they would speak in tongues, they would make known the glorious God who saves sinners. So Peter says, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And then he declares the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the significance here on the day of Pentecost. And notice specifically in verse 33, He speaks of Jesus' true humanity in verse 22. He speaks of his death on the cross in verse 23, his resurrection in verses 24 to 32, and then his ascension in verses 33 to 36. So notice in verse 33, therefore being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. And then note the crescendo. This is where the sermon is going. Verse 34. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, this is what Peter wants them to get. This is what Peter wants them to know. not the tongue-speaking phenomena that he does deal with. It's the fulfillment of Joel, it's the power of the Spirit, but the Spirit poured out by the ascended Jesus. So notice, "...therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Going back to our text, what Jesus promises At the end of verse 18, I will come to you, I take as a reference to Pentecost. He will come to the church by the Spirit and he will abide with them forever. And we have the presence of Christ, I was thinking about this recently, in the marks of the church. Think about Belgic Confession, Article 29. It's good to be in a somewhat Dutch group here where you all know the Belgic Confession. If you're not Dutch, Belgic Confession 29 says, what are the marks of the true church? Preaching the word. the administration of the sacraments, and the administration of discipline. Do you know that Jesus attaches promises to each of those three things that he will be there? There's a general sense where Jesus is always with us. He comes to us by the spirit, he dwells in us by the spirit. But with reference to the preaching of the word, when Paul comes to exhort Timothy on preach the word, he does so in the presence of God most high and the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 10, he asks the question, how shall they believe him whom they have not heard? So in true biblical preaching, Christ is there, but as well in the sacraments. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and 11 to be sure, but the real presence of Christ is seen even more in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. When it comes to the supper, Christ is really present by the Spirit. And then in discipline, Matthew chapter 8, tell it to the church and treat him like a tax collector and a heathen. And then Jesus says where two or three are gathered together in the exercise of church discipline, I will be in their midst. So Christ comes to us by the spirit. He's not physically present in the supper. It's not that the bread becomes his body and the wine becomes his blood, but he's really present by the spirit, just like he is in preaching, just like he is in discipline. So the Lord promises that the people of God will never be orphans because Jesus comes to them. One final text here, Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter 3, you see this dynamic at work in the church at Ephesus in Paul's prayer. Notice in Ephesians chapter 3, specifically at verse 14, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. He offers them three petitions, or tells them three things he prays for them. First, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. You see that? Because we have the Holy Spirit, we have Christ who has come to us, and he will never depart from us, and he will keep us unto that great day. So that is a great encouragement first to the people of God. Whatever happens to you in this present evil age, whatever the government has up its sleeve, whatever family or friends may do to you, whatever occurs in your workplace, whatever hardships and trials you're called upon by God to bear, You know this, Jesus will never depart from you. He will always be with you. He will be present in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death. Have you ever pondered that in Psalm 23? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The first thing to observe is he knows he's going to go through it. He's not going to stay there. It's not gonna end there. That's not the final chapter in David's life. He's gonna go through it, but he has this constant affirmation, thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Remember that scene in Matthew's gospel where the disciples get into the boat and Jesus gets into the boat too. And what happens? Oh, perfect glass, they just sail like no problem. No wind, no problem, no tempest. No, of course not. What's the take-home or at least a take-home implication? Christ in the boat doesn't result in the absence of affliction, the absence of tempest. This isn't health, wealth, prosperity. Well, I've got Jesus, so I'm always gonna be rich. No, that's not what the scripture teaches. You have Jesus, so even though you've got affliction, even though you have hardship, even though you have difficulty and discouragement, Jesus is right there in the boat with you. He's gonna see you through it. His rod and his staff, they comfort you. So in terms of a conclusion of the whole, be encouraged, church, that Christ is with you. The Spirit abides in you forever. Once you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you are his forever. This idea that you can fall away. When people do fall away, it's not that, hey, he had it and then he lost it. They went out from us, John says in 1 John 2, 19, but they were not of us, because if they were of us, they wouldn't have gone out from us. But this happened that they might be manifest to us. So the reality is that your faith may be little, your faith may be weak. As Machen says, weak faith will not move mountains, but there's one thing that weak faith will do. It will bring a sinner into saving union with our Lord Jesus Christ. So brethren, be encouraged. And as well, if you're not a Christian here this morning, look at what we get as Christians. We get God's grace, we get his mercy, we get the forgiveness of all of our sins. Imagine if I stood up here and I preached to you that you could come to Jesus and 80% of your sins would be dealt with. That wouldn't be good news, would it? What am I gonna do with the 20% that still remains? That's a big balance owing. Or if I even said that 99% of your sins are forgiven. Again, that 1% is a huge balance when it comes to eternity, and when it comes to the fact that I'm supposed to have performed obedient to the law. So that's not good news. The good news of the gospel is when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses you from what? From all sin. Not some sin, not a little bit of sin, not just the big sins, but from all sin. So if you're not a believer here this morning, this in my mind is a great enticement as to why you should look unto the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And not only forgiveness, because imagine if we were forgiven, but then God says, okay, from this point on, your sins are cleansed, your sins are washed. Now, you really need to obey and be faithful and be loyal so that on that final day, I will receive you into my kingdom. That wouldn't be good news either, right? Think about that. Your sins are forgiven right now. You make this purpose in your mind. I'm going to go out and not sin again. Do you get 30 seconds from that declaration? 20 seconds? 10 seconds? 5? Do you immediately obey God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself? No! The good news of the gospel, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, is not just forgiveness, but a righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus imputed to us. In other words, given to us. So we are cleansed in his precious blood, and we are clothed in his glorious righteousness. That's what God says to needy sinners. So come to him in faith, and you will receive all of these blessings, all of these benefits, and you will have Christ abiding with you by the person and the work of the Holy Spirit and that forever. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God and our Holy Father, we thank you for this This passage of Scripture and what it shines the light upon in terms of the Holy Spirit, in terms of our gracious Father and Son, and yet not three gods, but one living and true God. We bless you, we praise you, we thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We thank you in the life of the Church. We have the promise of Christ abiding with His people while they engage in those things that He has ordained. Help us to enjoy, help us to delight, help us to rejoice in what you have done in and through the cross of our blessed Savior. And we do pray for many more to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray in his most blessed name, amen. Well, let us stand.