Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of John as we work our way through John's gospel. We're in John chapter 14. John 14, our focus will be verses 16 to 18. It's the second part of something we did a few weeks ago, the mission of the disciples. After our Lord Jesus encourages the disciples that he goes to prepare a place for them in chapter 14, verses one to six, he then underscores with reference to his father, that if you have seen him, you have seen the father, verses seven to 11. And then He turns His attention and directs His energies to specifically preparing the disciples for the mission that they face. After Jesus dies, He will be raised again, but He will ascend on high. And from that throne at the right hand of the Father, He will give the Spirit and He will give them power to carry out greater works. Remember, the greater works are not competition. Jesus doesn't say, you're going to do greater works and show me up. The greater works in here are the works of Christ from the right hand of the Father as done through the disciples. So in verses 12 to 18, we see specifically this emphasis on the mission of the disciples. So I just want to read again, beginning in verse 1 to verse 18, and then we'll start. 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, and 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. 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 thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you that you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We thank you for so great a salvation. We thank you for a church that we can gather together to sing your praises, to hear from your word, to call upon you in prayer, and to hopefully edify and encourage one another in our most holy faith. We ask now that Your Spirit would guide us, the Spirit promised by our Lord to the disciples in this passage. We know that on that day at Pentecost, He poured out the Spirit in a great way, and we are the benefactors of these blessings. We ask that You would guide us by the Spirit, instruct our minds and hearts, We pray that you would encourage and edify the saint. We pray for those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. They would hear of everlasting life in our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his gospel. We thank you for the life of perfect obedience to the law. We thank you for that death on Calvary as a as a substitutionary atonement, as a sacrifice for sinners. We thank you for his resurrection, for his ascension on high, and we look forward to his coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. May it be the case that all here would be clothed in his righteousness and cleansed in his blood, and may you be merciful, and may you indeed receive prodigals back to yourself through your grace and for your glory. Forgive us for all sin and unrighteousness, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I'm not going to lie to you. I have a lot of material, and I'm not quite sure if I'm going to be able to get to all that material today. The Holy Spirit has been mentioned in John's gospel up to this point. He's been mentioned specifically in chapter 1 at verses 32 and 33. Chapter 3, verses 5 and 6, and then in verse 8. as the one who brings about the new birth or regeneration. He's been mentioned in John 4, 24, at least indirectly, John 6, 63, John 7, 37, and 39. So he has been mentioned, but here I want to take the time to look specifically at the nature of the Spirit. I had mentioned in the last hour, just giving a brief report about our trip to Africa, one of the men, we asked if he was a Christian or not. He said, yes, I worship the Trinity. And as I mentioned in the last hour, I'm not sure that many North Americans would describe the Christian God as Trinity. I mean, if you pushed, and you dug, and you pressed, they would say, oh yeah, yeah, the true and living God is Triune. We confess Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But it's not that readily coming forth out of the people of God today. I think, as I mentioned yesterday, we're going through a book on the Holy Spirit in our Saturday morning study. The Spirit of God is As far as all three persons, it's probably the least understood and the least known in terms of a theological sort of a survey. So that's why I wanna spend some time in this section dealing with the Holy Spirit. Just by way of reminder, we've seen the mission of the disciples specifically in verses 12 to 14. Christ reiterates that he's the object of faith. Notice in 12a, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me. How do we get saved? What's the means by which or the manner in which we come to a saving knowledge of our blessed God? Well, it's not our good works. It's not our merit. It's not our reformation. It's not our stopping to do certain things and starting to do other things. It's by God's grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. You believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Whether you get anything else from the rest of this sermon this morning, know this, that Christ Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the one called the Word of God, took on our humanity. That means he assumed our flesh with all the essential properties, everything that is true of man, Christ assumed to himself, except sin. He didn't have sin. He was perfect. He was impeccable. He was righteous. Why is that? Because we needed somebody to keep the law for us. God made us to obey Him. God made us to glorify Him. God made us to enjoy Him. But as a result of Adam's sin, we forfeit that. We are dead. So we don't glorify. We don't enjoy. We don't honor Him. So we need one to stand in our place and keep the law. That's what Christ does in his humanity. He always does what the Father commands. He fulfills perfectly the Ten Commandments. He fulfilled all of the law written by Moses, given by God through Moses. But then he goes to the cross. And he goes to the cross not simply to tell us what love looks like. He goes to the cross in light of the Old Testament. He is the victim that is sacrificed by the priest in order for the sins of the people of Israel. Now in Christ's particular situation, he is both priest and sacrifice. He is both the offerer and the one offered. In fact, John in his gospel quotes John the Baptist, who when he first lays eyes upon Jesus says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's got all that Old Testament data in his mind. He has all those sacrifices. He has Solomon's temple. He has the tabernacle. He has the Levitical priesthood. He has the sons of Aaron. He has the day of atonement. And when he sees Jesus, he says, this is the one that all those things pointed forward to. This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So believe in Him, and you get the benefits of His life. Perfect obedience to the Father, such that you'll be clothed in His righteousness. But you also get the benefit of His death. You get cleansed in His precious blood. And of course, He didn't stay in the grave. Death had no dominion over Him. He was raised again the third day, and now He sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father. where he ever lives to make intercession for his people, where he ever receives guilty, vile sinners unto himself who have been blessed by God with grace to come to him. So if you get or don't get all of the contours of the distinctions with reference to the doctrine of the Trinity that I'm about to get into, get this. that the way of salvation, the way of peace with God, the way of forgiveness of sin, the way of gaining a righteousness by which you enter into the presence of God, is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, which cleanses us from all sin. So Christ reiterates that. He's already mentioned it by way of encouraging them not to be troubled in verse 1. He says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. There we see something distinct, something unique about the Lord Jesus Christ. He puts himself on par with the Father. He does so because of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. One true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that's one of the things, one of the strategies that Jesus is employing in this upper room to encourage the disciples, to fortify the disciples, to stabilize the disciples, to give that impetus to the disciples such that when he does ascend on high, they'll go into the then known world and preach the gospel. They will face emperors. They will face magistrates. They will face unbelieving Jews. They will face the threat of death and extermination. Why? Because they serve the true and living God, and it is their benefit and privilege to be able to serve Him. There's that bit in Acts 5 where the apostles are scourged, and they leave from there not moaning, not whining, not calling their attorney, but they go from that place rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That love of Christ, that faith in Christ has sent many a martyr to his death. It has sent many a covenanter to his death. It has sent many a person to their death, not grudgingly, not unhappily, but embracing the glory of God most high in that particular instance. So it is faith in Jesus by which salvation is had. It is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether you're young, whether you're old, whether you're a notorious sinner or a garden variety sinner, the way of acceptance by the Father is through faith in the Son. That's what you need to remember. That's what you need to take home. That's what you need to pray that God would give you, a saving interest in our Lord Jesus. So he rehearses this. He's the object of faith, verse 12a. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, and then notice he speaks concerning the works of the disciples. Remember, he's in the upper room. He's equipping them. He's encouraging them. He's going to depart from them, but he doesn't want them just lying on their couch enjoying redemptive benefit. He wants them going into the Roman Empire. He wants them bringing that gospel to various villages and cities that people the world at that particular time. So he says, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do. And then notice he says, because I go to my father. In other words, the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God Most High means good things for the church. You see it in Acts 2. You see the Holy Spirit come in mighty power upon the people of God there. And Peter stands up to explain the phenomena. He says this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel back in Joel chapter 2. The time of fulfillment has come. The time of realization has come. The time of the promise has been brought to fruition. And then we read in Acts 2.33 that it's Jesus at the right hand of the Father who sends the Spirit upon the people of God. So it is to their advantage, he says to them later in the upper room, that he leaves them. And again, that's a pretty staggering statement. They had grown to love him. They had been very fond of him. He was very close to them. And he says, it's good for you that I go away. That puzzles people. What does that mean? How could it be good that Jesus is not with them presently? Well, he's always with them spiritually. That's how he ends this section in verse 18. I come to you. How is Christ present with his people now? by the Holy Spirit, by this other helper, by this paraclete, by this one that he sends, so that we're not left as orphans in this present evil age. So he says, it is good for you that I ascend to my Father, because you're gonna then engage in greater works. The greater works are more people affected with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus' ministry was locally present there in Israel. What happens after his resurrection? What happens when he gives the commission? He says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Then you see that in the book of Acts. Acts chapters 1 and 2, the emphasis upon Jerusalem, and then from about 3 to 8 you see Judea, Samaria, and then with the calling of the Apostle Paul to the uttermost parts of the earth. That's what he means by greater works. And again, it's not a competition. Well, Paul won more people to Jesus than Jesus did in his earthly ministry. It's Christ at the right hand of the Father using the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John as they go into the various synagogues to preach the glory of Jesus Christ to save sinners. These greater works are the manifestation of the power of Jesus at the right hand of the throne of God. So he tells them they're going to do greater works. And then notice in verse 13, whatever you ask in my name, that I will do. Brethren, that's conditioned by context. He's not saying, if you want to be a cowboy, then I'm going to go ahead and grant that to you. You want to fly to the moon unassisted, I'm going to give that to you. No, he's talking about mission. He's talking about going out, preaching the gospel, and seeing sinners saved. When you ask those sorts of things in my name, I'm in that. I'm for that. Once in a while, you'll hear me, and I hope it's graciously, probably not, but pick on other churches that make the way to the cross so narrow. Now, I know that the way is narrow, and I know that there's a broadness to destruction. I know that. I get that. But when it comes to gospel preaching, who do we take our cue from? We take it from Jesus. go and preach the gospel to every creature, right? That's what we're supposed to do. We're not supposed to qualify it. We're not supposed to tear off any edges that we can't sort of square off. We have a gracious God that is in the business of saving a great multitude that no man can number. So when you and I come to him and we say, Lord, can you give us some help and some grace? We want to see sinners saved. That's what he wants, isn't it? That's what he's about. It's the whole purpose for the cross. The apostle says God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. So this idea that we can only go to this small sliver of humanity is not biblical. We go everywhere. Now the gospel that we present to them isn't God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. It is Christ lived, Christ died, Christ was raised. All who look to him in faith will have everlasting life. That's the apostolic preaching of the cross. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. So when it comes to the glory and the grace and the mind of God, He doesn't throw us off when we ask for grace to evangelize sinners. Maybe the problem is that we have not because we ask not. So the Lord Christ promises. Now, and again, there's another qualifier in terms of asking in his name, things that are consistent with the will of God. Lord, in your name, I want to go out and fornicate. That's not in the will of God. That's not going to be an answered petition from God most high. It'll be a rebellious transgression on your part. And then notice in verse 13, 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. Again, consistent with mission, consistent with what is the will of God in terms of asking things in his name. Again, being a cowboy, being an astronaut, maybe that is the will of God, but that's not what's in view in this particular passage. Now that brings us then to his promise to the disciples concerning the spirit. So I want to look at this promise of the sending of the Spirit in verses 15 and 16. Secondly, the nature of the Spirit. And again, this is where we're going to look at the Holy Spirit in a bit more detail. Verses 16b and 17. And then the passage ends with another promise of Christ to his disciples in verse 18. So you've got promise, I want to spend some time at the nature of the Spirit, and then the promise again of Christ. How far we get, I will not keep you too long, but I do think there are things that we need to emphasize in this particular passage. Now notice in terms of the promise of the Spirit, specifically at verse 15, he says, if you love me, keep my commandments. We looked at that last time. Now this isn't love me in order to be saved. Who loves Jesus? Those who are saved. We don't get saved by loving Jesus. We get saved and then we love Jesus, right? We're dead in our trespasses and sins. We're at enmity with God. We not only hate him, but he's not looking too favorably upon us either. Just read the Psalms of David. So when it comes to this statement, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, it's not a sort of a remedy or a formula for salvation. These have already believed on Jesus, such that they ought not to be troubled, according to 14.1, such that they are reminded this is the foundation for their mission in verse 12a. They've already believed on Jesus. They're justified freely by God's grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. So what's the fruit of justification by faith? It's love to God, and it's love to one another. In fact, the Apostle John says, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. At one point, you probably didn't like Christians. At one point, you probably didn't want to hang out with Christians. And at one point, you probably really didn't want to hang out with Christians at the time of worship in a church on a Sunday, especially when the sun is shining. What more miserable place could you possibly be? But now, and probably not to the degree it ought to be, but now you like Christians. You love them! Why is that? Because you've stumbled upon the key on how to live a successful life? No, because God in his infinite grace and mercy saved your wretched life. That's it. That's what causes us now to have a favorable disposition toward one another and a favorable disposition toward God. So in the context, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. He's reminding them they're saved by grace through faith in him. The chief sort of fruit of that, the consequence of that saving faith, is love for Jesus. And that love for Jesus will then animate them toward obedience to Jesus. So again, it's not obey me, then love me, then be saved. It's just the opposite. You're saved by grace. The fruit of that salvation is love for Jesus. And then that love is the impetus behind you going, therefore, to engage in the mission that he's entrusted to them. In fact, I pointed us to that passage in John's gospel. Look at chapter 21 in what I think is the epilogue of the book. John 21, specifically at verse 15. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Now then these, that's a big question among commentaries. Then these what? Fish. That's kind of an odd question, but Peter's a fisherman. Who knows? Probably more than these others that are surrounding us, the disciples. I've often concluded that the way that we love each other the best is to love Christ the most. You're most effective to your wife or your husband if Christ comes first. The principle of Matthew 6.33 is real for every situation and every condition. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then these things will be added to you. Remember the autobiography of John G. Peyton. He would speak about his father going into his closet to pray. And everybody knew you don't mess with dad when he's in his closet. Not that he's going to come out like a hippopotamus and scream at them and yell at them and hit them with things, but it was sacred time. It was where he had dealings with God. Brethren, that is the best way we can express love to one another, is to put the Lord first. I know that seems counterintuitive. Well, no, my wife, my husband, then the Lord. No, you're only effectively loving your spouse, your children, your parents, if you're loving the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and your strength. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. But everything in you, you pour into God, pour into Jesus. Now notice what he says. Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Now there's a lot going on. God willing, we'll look at it when we get there in our studies in John's gospel. Three times, probably answerable to the three denials of Simon Peter to that servant girl. Oh, I don't know this man. But the point that I want to bring out is that it's love for Christ that is the predicate for the feeding of the sheep. It's love for Christ that is the impetus for them to feed the people of God. It's love for Christ for them, after his ascension on high, to leave their nets once and for all and go into the Roman Empire. It's love for Christ, for the Apostle Paul, to go into the synagogue of the Jews, who were not altogether friendly to somebody preaching Jesus as the Messiah, and do that. Why did he do that? Yes, he loved humans. Yes, he loved the people to whom he preached. But he loved Jesus. Because he loved Jesus, he went upon that task. So the 14-15, if you love me, keep my commandments, again, I think there's a general principle for all of us, as God's people, we're justified freely by grace, we're in the life of sanctification, we believe the fruit of that is faith, or love rather, and then we engage in obedience. That's all true. but specifically with these 11 brothers that are going to go and turn the world upside down, that are going to have to stand before godless men that want to put them to death, that are going to have to do things that weren't theirs by nature. Peter goes from fisherman to a hated and despised individual in the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul had been a rabbi. He had been a Pharisee, no doubt favored and loved by all sorts of his comrades and companions. What happens when he starts preaching Christ? Oh, Paul, that's just another perspective that we love to hear about. No, what things were gained to me are now loss. I've counted everything loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Many, many, at least Bruce, FF Bruce speculates, Paul was probably married as a first century religious Jew, as a rabbi in a synagogue trained under Gamaliel, probably would have been a married man. He speculates she left him. She speculates that that's one of the things he's counted lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Well, mentioned in the last hour, Oscar in Turkey, he gets converted to the Lord Jesus three years ago and his wife divorces him because he's now a Christian, he's not a Muslim. That sort of thing happens in the world. That sort of thing happens with reference to men. So if you love me, keep my commandments generally for all of us to be sure, but specifically for these disciples that are gonna go turn the world upside down for Jesus, he is giving them specific encouragement for the task at hand. Notice then he speaks of the gift of the Spirit in verse 16. I will pray the Father. I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. So Jesus underscores something that the apostle Paul testifies to in both Romans 8 and Hebrews 7. Jesus always lives to make intercession for his people. Isn't that a great thought? I think it is. I might tell you, and I hope this isn't true, but I'll pray for you. Brethren, I'm not infallible. If I don't have my phone or my notepad that I write stuff on, there's a good chance I may forget. Usually, practically, I try to pray as soon as I say that so that I don't forget, but hey, you know what happens. I hope you as husbands are praying daily for your wives. I hope you wives are praying daily for your husbands. I hope you parents are praying daily for your children. I hope you children are praying daily for your folks. You know, you miss a day, right? You got up and you had something else going on and you didn't get to your time of prayer. Jesus always lives to make intercession. Just imagine that for a moment. Or the Apostle John in 1 John 2. We're going to look at this a little bit tonight. It's a bit indirectly connected to our text in Psalm 130. He says that we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So we go out and we do something sinful. We get into those depths of despair like the psalmist has in Psalm 130 verses 1 and 2. Out of the depths I've cried to thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. We come to Him. The despair, the depths, don't keep us from God. They're the very foundation of our approach to God. And in that, we pray for the advocacy of the Savior. We have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. It is a most blessed incentive for the people of God to pray. Jesus intercedes for the saints. Notice specifically what he intercedes for the saints for in this instance. The disciples are going to need divine aid for the mission. Imagine that, Jesus. Jesus, okay? You're with Jesus. And you personally have witnessed Jesus do things like change water into wine. You personally witnessed Jesus heal the noble man's son. You've personally witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. And then Jesus says, you know, I'm gonna depart, but you're gonna do greater things. Would it possibly rise in your mind to question that? What do you mean greater things? I've seen you raise Lazarus by the word of your power. I'm not Jesus. I'm not the divine word who assumed humanity. Jesus tells them you're gonna do greater works. So what is he doing now? He's furnishing them with the resources necessary so that they can engage those works. It's a very simple formula that we find here. So notice again, verse 15 or verse 16, I will pray the father, his intercession, and the father will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The provision of the Father through the Son is the giving of the Holy Spirit. Again, we'll spend a bit of time on His nature, God willing, this morning. The sending of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, I think, is the biblical way to interpret the material. Notice specifically in chapter 15 at verse 26, but when the Helper comes, For those who were there yesterday, those who are somewhat in tune with the history of the Church, there was a debate at the time of the Nicene Creed. The Latin or the Western Church said that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Eastern Church said, no, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. I take the position that he proceeds from the Father and the Son, and that's the way I will progress as we move through John's Gospel in the Upper Room Discourse. Notice in verse 26 of chapter 15, 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. We have a from the Father through the Son in the Spirit motif to describe to us the action of our blessed God. One inseparable operation, everything outside of him is done by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are things appropriated to each of those persons to indicate something about the glory of our great God. But as well, notice in John 20, sort of an enigmatic bit of a passage, But I think if you read it in light of the Upper Room, in light of Trinitarian understanding of Scripture, notice what we find in John 20, specifically at 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. This is the outward external display of what is going to take place in Acts 2. Look at Acts 2, specifically at verse 33. Remember, the particular issue at hand was the outpoured spirit. It is in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, the Spirit has come to magnify the Lord Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His exaltation. And notice specifically at 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. I think that phrase, it's called in Latin the filioque, and the Son, is very essential and important to Trinitarian theology. So back to our particular text, the Father sends the Spirit through the Son. And then notice that last bit in verse 16. So we've got Jesus interceding for us always at the right hand of the Father. But we also have the Spirit abiding with us forever. Again, brethren, let's not pass over these texts too quickly. The Spirit abides for us forever. You've probably heard those kinds of Christians, and I'm not necessarily putting them in hell or calling them reprobate, that teach that you can lose your salvation. How? If it were up to us, then yes, I agree, 100%. But it's up to the triune God. Paul says in Philippians 1, I am persuaded, I am convinced that he who began this good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. How do we know that can be the case? Because of passages like these. Do you think the Spirit takes up residence in the heart of the believer and then departs? You think the Spirit's there on Monday to Thursday and then, oh, you did something really bad, so he's done with you? I think that's the way we look at it from time to time. You see, brethren, if we can lose our salvation, who does that ultimately reflect upon? It reflects upon the Savior. You mean He couldn't save His people from their sins? He couldn't efficaciously wash them from their iniquity? He couldn't give them that righteousness that He secured in His 33 years of absolute obedience to the Father? You see, brethren, we have the Spirit forever. There's no end to the blessing of God upon the people of God. We have a Savior that intercedes for us. We have a Spirit who indwells us, and by that Spirit, Christ is present in us. It is a glorious and wonderful thing to sort of parse out and consider our great God, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, that brings us to consider specifically the nature of the Spirit in verses 16b and 17. Now, before that, I want to just share something that happened yesterday. Saturday morning, we have that theology class. Anybody's welcome to come. The book's cheap. It's short. It's pretty easy to understand. Anybody can come. 6.30 Saturday morning. We call it ODART 30. Started off, we'd have that, and then we'd have breakfast, and it was me doing all the breakfast. I'm like, no, more breakfast. But then it was time. Do we want to change? No, 6.30 was good. We have our whole Saturday. Great. So a question came up, because it's been in my heart to set before the brethren the things concerning our triune God, and just made the comment based on a book that we had read previously, a couple of books ago, about the Trinity. And in the first chapter of Matthew Barrett's book, Simply Trinity, he has a chapter called Trinity Adrift. He says, how did we end up where we're at in this present generation? And where we're at is not altogether good in the study of God. Where we're at has Jesus as God submissive to his Father. That's not good theology. That's very bad theology. Jesus as man submitting himself to the will of his Father is absolutely orthodox. But Jesus being God himself, consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, being submissive, or the Father exercising an authority over, that's not good Christian theology. So kind of playing on that theme, how did we end up where we ended up? The brother asked that particularly. And of course, I wasn't that quick-witted to think up this response then. But I thought about it in the afternoon, a bit this morning. And I'm not a guru, but I just want to share this. Imagine if you had a mountain road. It was windy, and there was cliffs on either side of that road. And you happen to be driving up that road one day, and you notice a bunch of cars off the cliff. You get to the top of the hill, you meet the guy that lives up there, and you say, why are all those cars off the cliff? He says, well, you know, it's crazy. We used to have guardrails along the side of the road there. We used to have guardrails that even if a guy fell asleep or, God forbid, he drank or whatever, and he started to veer off the road, those guardrails would stop him from flying off the road. And then you ask the homeowner, well, what do you think would be the best question to ask? Why did they take the guardrails away? That's where we're at in Trinitarian studies in the 21st century in Reformed and Evangelical churches. I'm not talking about the Charismatics and all those people out there. I'm talking about guys that teach theology proper and Christology at some of the better seminaries. So, if we ask the question, what are the guardrails in that illustration? I would suggest two from the early church and one from the Reformation church. The early church gave us the Nicene Creed. The early church gave us, as well, the definition at Chalcedon. So 381 and 425 respectively, somewhere around there, 431, I think. Anyways, you've got Nicaea and then you've got Chalcedon. You move to the time of the Reformation, you got our brothers, our London Baptist brothers, those faithful guys that did the work of putting together a confession of faith. Those serve as guardrails so that we don't veer off the road and fall off the cliff. So Barrett points this out. The church in the last generation or two has gotten rid of some of these very efficient guardrails. And the guardrails are such that they help you not to mess up the doctrine of the Trinity. So when it comes to considering this, we might ask the question, well, why would they get rid of guardrails? Just seems like such a good idea to me, right? If I'm driving, I like to know there's a barrier between me and certain death. I'll take the bashed car. That's preferable than the bashed skull that the off-the-cliff thing results in. Why did they get rid of the guardrails? I don't know. That's profound, hey? I don't know. I have a few thoughts. And again, these aren't inspired or infallible. I would suggest one of them is biblicism. Biblicism sounds good. Oh, we need to be biblical. But you see, biblicism reads the Bible without the church. Biblicism reads the Bible without Nicaea, reads the Bible without Chalcedon. We say, well, wait a minute, Nicaea and Chalcedon, those were men that were writing about the Bible. Shouldn't we be more concerned about the Bible? We should always be more concerned about the Bible, but we should see in the Bible that Christ ascended on high, that he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men, specifically Athanasius. He gave Augustine. He gave theologians to set up guardrails, not apart from the Bible, but to protect the Bible. So they read, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Then they read 114, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. So they write these creeds and these confessions as guardrails so that we don't mess up John 1-1 and John 1-14. Biblicism comes along and says, no, just me and the Spirit. But the Spirit gave us Athanasius, the Spirit gave us Augustine, the Spirit gave us Vermigli, the Spirit gave us Van Nastrig, the Spirit gave us Spurgeon. Are we gonna say, no spirit, we can do it better and brighter and more effectively? We need those men. I would suggest as well, there's an anti-intellectualism that has settled upon the church. Now, brethren, as I say these things, there's good things happening. There's really good things happening. So it's not all bleak and dark and bad and woe and doom and all that sort of thing. But I think I'm basically giving you a defense of theology. Oh, we just want to go love Jesus. We don't need all that theory and doctrine. We don't need all those I's dotted and T's crossed. It is often said, which Jesus then are you loving? And anti-intellectualism is betrayal to our God. We're to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, with all our soul. What does Paul say in Romans 12? Be transformed by what? By the renewing of your mind. You say, well, it's just too hard for me. Well, try harder. So I said to the brothers yesterday, just because something is hard doesn't mean you don't do it. If that's true for you, then you're messed up and you need to repent. You know, when you raise your kids, they say, well, it's just so hard. Okay, son, let's just plop you in front of Nintendo for the rest of your life, because that's not hard. You don't do that. You don't parent that way. Why would you function that way? It's just too hard. That's why there's guides. That's why there's helps. That's why there's guardrails. That's why there's strategies. That's why there's tactics. That's why there's a way to read the Bible so you don't end up a Jehovah's Witness. There's ways to read the Bible so that you don't end up a heretic. And if you just take the time to see passages like these and listen to the church as a whole, it really isn't that hard, brethren. I'm not the brightest bulb in the chandelier by any stretch of the imagination, but just trying to read it, trying to get my mind. That's a consistent testimony of other non-bright bulbs in the chandeliers that I've met. David was actually right. The law of Yahweh makes wise the simple. David was right that the law of God has made him able to stand before the teachers and the debaters and the wise men of his age. The apostle issues that declaration in 1 Corinthians 1. Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer? Where is the debater? The wisdom or rather the foolishness of God will shut the mouths of these wise men. Mention Paul before Festus when he's preaching Jesus Christ, and Festus says, oh Paul, much learning is driving you mad. What does Paul say? I'm not mad, most noble Festus. I speak the words of truth and reason. There is an anti-intellectualism, this idea that emotions is all that we need in the Christian life. Brethren, I'm for emotions. I'm happy to be happy, but that ought not to be the goal. The goal ought to be to be right, to be truthful, and to get the feeding of the emotions from the truth of God's holy word. Because if you're all emotional and you're a heretic, That's not good, okay? I'd rather not be emotional and be orthodox and go to heaven than be an emotionally vibrant, zealous person that is going to hell. Again, it's a pretty simple equation in my mind. As well, I would suggest there's a degree, and please, I'm not targeting you. He said I'm lazy. There's laziness amongst us, brethren. There just is. Right? Putting your mind in gear, learning things that perhaps are fresh or new or things that stretch you. Oh yeah, I believe in God. Well, how is this one God exist eternally in three persons? I don't know. Well, maybe you should try to start asking the right questions and reading up on it, because greater the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. In other words, if we delight in anything external to God, as blood-bought children of God, we really ought to delight in Him. And if we delight in Him, then we'll want to know Him. And wanting to know Him means to know not Augustine level, though I'm not saying don't, or Athanasius level, but to some level how the one true and living God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How are you able to present a case to a Jehovah's Witness if you don't know that case? How could you ever speak to a Mormon if you don't know? How could you ever speak to the pagan, the heathen? You realize that many of our early brothers were writing against these very notions. Aquinas in the 1200s was writing against Islamic philosophers, those who were monotheistic, but were not Trinitarian. In the early church, the patristics, they're writing in the pagan Roman Empire that had a polytheistic view. Everybody was God in those days. And here comes the Christians with their monotheism, but with this sort of a take. That one God is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So do they say, well, you know, it's just too much. I just want to be happy, and I'm not going to deal with that. Praise God that some of those brothers weren't lazy. Praise God that some of those brothers took pen to paper and defended the faith. As well, there can be pride. Again, I'm not picking on anybody here. I'm not. I'm just suggesting that these are things that we need to come to grips with in the church today, because it is simply unacceptable to hold heretical opinions about who God is. I don't know when we authorized that. Probably when we took the guardrails down. Oh yeah, you can be a Jehovah's Witness and still be an evangelical. You can deny the glory and the consubstantiality of the Lord Jesus Christ and still be a faithful church member. That's when the guardrails went down. That just wouldn't have happened back in the day. Do you realize that if you were wrong theologically in the early centuries, you got exiled? That really means what it is. They got exiled. Okay, new Judas, off you go. Forget your family, forget your house, forget your car, forget your summer home. You're gonna go live out in the desert and be there with you and your sin. And if you repent and you forsake and you confess the glory of Jesus for real, we'll receive you back. They got exiled in those days. They thought that theology mattered. They thought that it was something that was worth investigating. There is a pride that is settled upon us in our scientific age, right? We got all the answers. It's tough to sort of navigate when we have all the answers. This is modern man. Science has said. Science has spoken. Well, let's be beholden to science. We had two or three years of that. How'd that work out for us? Not bueno, as far as I'm concerned. Science is good insofar as it makes refrigerators. It keeps your car running. Science is very helpful, but it's not God. It's not God. But in a scientific age, we've arrived. We've got running water. We've got Costco, the middle class dream, all that sort of stuff. And there's this pride that C.S. Lewis speaks of. He calls it chronological snobbery. We don't read old authors because, I mean, they're ruse, right? They didn't know about refrigerators, so why should we read them? Chronological snobbery, it's a pride thing. No brethren, we need to read the apostles, the prophets, our Lord Jesus, we need to read Moses, and we need to read Athanasius. We need to read Augustine. We need to read the confessions. We need to read the creeds. We need to see the guardrails. And by God's grace, those guardrails need to be put back in place so we quit driving off the cliff, right? Never a good thing to drive off a cliff. There's a simple fix, a very simple fix. I'm not saying we got to split the atom here. Put the guardrails back up, right? You're banging your thumb with a hammer? What's the simple fix? Stop banging your thumb with a hammer. Sometimes the answers are very, very simple. And with reference to the doctrine of the Trinity, we need those guardrails. And I would suggest, and this is probably connected to laziness, and I hope it's none of us. I know you're busy. I'm busy. We're all busy. Everybody's busy. Here in the West, we're governed by clocks. That's not true everywhere, but we are. We got a clock in our pocket, we got clocks on our walls, we're surrounded by clocks. Have you ever noticed that on a computer? How many clocks are there? How many times do I need to be told what time it is? I'm inundated with clocks. We have, as Neil Peart said, many hands on our time. I get it, we're all busy. but laziness in theology produces or promotes heresy, but as well just not having an interest. Think about how busy you are. Think about how many hands are on your time. But think, just for a moment, if somebody came along and said, I've got this thing, that if you did it for a half hour, you would have a great benefit to your life. Many of us would move our schedules around. Many of us would get up earlier. Many of us might stay up later. We might actually accommodate that schedule that is highly regulated by the clock to fit it in. The point is... You can fit in a little Bible study. You can fit in a little reading of the confession of faith. You can fit in the reading of a good book that treats the things that I'm speaking about here. There has to be in the heart of the people of God, a desire to know their God. John 17, where we're heading in this upper room discourse is to the high priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus says, this is eternal life. How would you fill in the blank? You already know it, so it's probably a bad bet, but how would you fill that in? This is eternal life. If you're a bowler, oh, I'm going to go to the big bowling lane in the sky. You happen to like auto mechanics. I'm going to go to that big garage in the sky. This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We get sidetracked with a lot of other things. We get disinterested in some of the main things. Well, I don't need to know about all that theology. That's what the pastors are for. You need to know that theology because that's what's going to come to stabilize you in the moment of grief. You know what's going to help and benefit you when tragedy sets in? An understanding of who God is. An understanding of the blessed triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's that that buoys the soul. It's that that's the pinnacle of everlasting life. It is that for which we were created, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That's the first question in Westminster's Shorter Catechism. What is the chief end of man? It's not your temporal prosperity. It's not a house full of kids, which those things aren't bad. Temporal prosperity, God has smiled upon us. House fulls of kids, that is great. Love to be in the church and see all the kids. But the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. How do we get that? We're back to where we started. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. We'll look at the nature of the Holy Spirit, God willing, next Sunday morning. I wanted to give this defense of theology because as we move through this material, not just here, but through the rest of the Upper Room, Sinclair Ferguson is right. When the world is collapsing around the disciples, Jesus takes the opportunity in the Upper Room to teach about the Trinity. Well, this is the way you evade the public authorities. This is the best lawyer that you can get to argue your way out of a court situation. He talks to them about God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no more glorious subject. There is no more practical subject than understanding who God is. It is the essence of eternal life. It is the glory of the creature to behold the magnificence of the creator and to stand in his presence redeemed by precious blood and clothed in the righteousness of another. So may it be the case, as believers, we pursue these things. Unbelievers, come to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, and you will be saved. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we find here in the upper room discourse concerning our blessed and our glorious triune God, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I pray that you would give us wisdom, give us ears to hear, hearts to receive, and an appreciation for the essence of everlasting life, the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. We thank you for the Holy Spirit. We thank you for his indwelling us forever. And we thank you that he has sealed us and guaranteed to us that final redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, we pray that others would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. They would believe on him and know the joy of being found in him. And we ask this through Christ our Lord, amen.