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beginning in John 14 at verse 
12. 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. "'A little 
while longer, and the world will see me no more, "'but you will 
see me. "'Because I live, you will live 
also. "'At that day, you will know 
that I am in my father, "'and you in me, and I in you. "'He 
who has my commandments and keeps them, "'it is he who loves me. 
"'And he who loves me will be loved by my father, "'and I will 
love him and manifest myself to him.' "'Judas, not Iscariot, 
said to him, "'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself 
to us "'and not to the world?' Jesus answered and said to him, 
if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love 
him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He 
who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word which 
you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. These things 
I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, 
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will 
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things 
that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace 
I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give 
to you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid. You have heard me say to you, 
I am going away and coming back to you. If you love me, you would 
rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for my Father 
is greater than I. And now I have told you before 
it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will 
no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is 
coming, and he has nothing in me. but that the world may know 
that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, 
so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank you for the written word of the living and 
true God and how it demonstrates to us the incarnate word, the 
word made flesh. We praise you and we bless you 
for the gospel of our salvation. We praise you for the forgiveness 
of sins and the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith 
alone. And we praise you for the communion 
that it gives us in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
Cause us to reflect upon this now as we move through this section 
of Scripture. May we reflect upon the great benefits and the 
great blessings that we possess as the people of God. To that 
end, we pray that your Spirit would guide us and lead us and 
teach us. And again, Father, we pray that you'd open hearts 
and raise dead sinners and cause them to believe on Jesus and 
to know the the joy of communion with the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit. Forgive us again for all of our sin and unrighteousness, 
and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, essentially, 
if you look at chapter 14, specifically at verses 19 to 24, you have 
Jesus reiterate the same thing. In other words, verses 19 to 
21, He commends, not just love for Him and obedience to Him, 
but that springs as a result of faith in Him. Remember in 
verse 12, he says, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes 
in me, we're justified by God's grace, through faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and that manifest itself through love and obedience. 
So he mentions that, and then he gives this promise to those 
who do love him, those promise to those who do keep his commandments. 
Notice in verse 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them, 
it is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by 
my father, and I will love him. manifest myself to him." Now, 
we'll see in just a moment how on the heels of Judas, not Iscariot's 
question, Jesus says about the same thing, but he amplifies 
it, or he expands on it, or he makes it even more meaningful 
as if that were even possible. But in verse 21, notice at the 
end, he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will 
love him and manifest myself to him. Note the amplification 
in verse 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep 
my word and my father will love him. And then note the shift 
to the plural pronoun. And we will come to him and make 
our home with him. So essentially the same, but 
this added emphasis. Not just the son, but the father. We have this wonderful truth 
that in this divine and infinite being there are three subsistences 
or persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. 
And so I think that we can rightly conclude that when we get one 
of the persons of the Trinity, we get all of the persons of 
the Trinity. And I think that's specifically what Jesus is commending 
in this particular section of scripture. And again, remember 
the context. He wants them to go out and do 
greater works. He wants them to go out and engage 
in gospel missions. He doesn't say survey the culture, 
find out what they wear, find out what they eat, find out what 
they do in terms of work. He says, I want you to understand 
what you possess in the gospel. I want you to understand something 
about those every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. 
I want you to understand what you have in terms of relationship 
to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And if you look at this particular 
passage, it has a specific application to the disciples in preparation 
for going out to do these greater works. There's a broader application 
for us. We do love Jesus. We seek to 
keep His commandments, not so that we may be saved, but because 
by God's grace we have been saved. We're justified by faith. The 
reflex of that is love to Christ and obedience to Christ. So whatever 
Jesus says here is true. He comes and He manifests Himself 
to us. But as well, we, Father and Son, 
will come and make our home with Him. And if you think about it, 
this is kind of one of the big deals in all of Scripture. In 
other words, it's God's dwelling with His people. Why did God 
make us? Not because He needed us, not 
because He was incomplete, not because there was an emptiness 
on the part of God, so He had to make us in order to find satisfaction. No, He doesn't create out of 
need. He doesn't make because of necessity. He does it according to His own 
good pleasure. He wants to manifest His glory, demonstrate His grace 
and His mercy, reveal the goodness of Jesus Christ and salvation 
by Him. So when we look at Scripture, 
we see this emphasis on God, and I'm using wanting according 
to the manner of men, but God wanting to dwell with us. That's kind of an amazing thing, 
isn't it? The one who inhabits eternity, the one who is from 
everlasting to everlasting, the God who created, the God who 
governs, the God who redeems. What is the endgame in this? 
It's the manifestation of His glory, and it's the dwelling 
together with His people. So when you look at the first 
book of the Bible, you'll see that emphasis. God makes the 
Garden of Eden. And it's not just the garden 
that we need to sort of focus on there. And Adam's vocation 
is not simply a gardener or a farmer. The Garden of Eden is a sanctuary. 
The Garden of Eden is a temple. The Garden of Eden is a place 
where God comes to be with Adam and Eve. In fact, in Genesis 
chapter 3, after they resist or rather reject God's law, we 
learn in Genesis 3.8, and they heard the sound of the Lord God 
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Why do you think 
that was? It was to commune with Adam and 
Eve in the cool of the day. The idea being is that they would 
engage in their work. At the end of the day, they would 
have communion with the great God of heaven and earth. So it 
says, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden 
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from 
the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 
As well, you continue on in the Old Testament, you'll see that 
the tabernacle That sort of temporary facility where Israel would worship 
God was a dwelling place of God where the people of God were 
to meet with Him. In fact, at the announcement in Exodus chapter 
25, with reference to the instruction for the tabernacle, we read in 
25.8, "...and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell 
among them." Also, the temple was to be a meeting place. You 
can turn to 1 Kings 8. 1 Kings 8. So we see God dwelling 
with Adam and Eve. We see God dwelling with Old 
Covenant Israel in that temporary facility called Tabernacle. But 
as well, Solomon understands the purpose for the temple that 
he is building. Notice in 1 Kings 8 at verse 
10. And it came to pass, when the priest came out of the holy 
place, that the cloud filled the house of the 
Lord, so that the priest could not continue ministering because 
of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled 
the house of the Lord. Then Solomon spoke. The Lord 
said he would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built you 
an exalted house and a place for you to dwell in forever. 
So again, Solomon understands the limitations. Solomon understands 
that the temple doesn't contain God. It's not that God is there 
in the temple to the exclusion of filling everywhere else. Solomon 
understands the limitations in terms of temple, but he also 
understands the purpose, the import. I have surely built you 
an exalted house and a place for you to dwell in forever. 
You see this as well as the trajectory of new covenant religion. Revelation 
21, what does John the Apostle see? He sees new Jerusalem coming 
down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. And 
as he's surveying this particular scene, he says in verse 22, but 
I saw no temple in it for the Lord God almighty and the lamb 
are its temple. We don't need some physical structure 
when God and the Lamb are present. And then we see this promise 
built into the announcement of the new covenant, but a promise 
that also extended to the old covenant. What was the pinnacle 
of covenant blessing when you review all of those historical 
covenants? God says, I will be their God 
and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31-33, I will be their 
God and they shall be my people. So when we move to a passage 
like this, we don't want to read it without considering or pondering 
this is God's purpose. This is God's plan. This is one 
of the reasons why He saved us from our sins, so that we can 
commune with Him, so that we can know Him, so that we can 
enjoy Him. In fact, Jesus, in John 17, verse 
3, is going to summarize the essence of eternal life that 
very way. This is eternal life, that they 
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
hast sent. In other words, brethren, the 
chief blessing or boon of our religion is God himself. And that's specifically highlighted 
here in our passage in John 14. So in verses 19 to 21, Jesus 
outlines the blessing of eternal life. He makes a contrast between 
the world and the believer. He does that in light of 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. So in verse 19, a little 
while longer, and the world will see me no more. They won't see 
him with the physical eye, but they also don't understand with 
the spiritual eye. They don't know the significance behind 
his life, his death, his resurrection. But he says, but you will see 
me. Notice the idea being, not again the physicality of Jesus 
as he's risen from the dead, though they would see that. that 
they will see Him in His offices to save. They will see Him in 
the significance of that life, death, and resurrection. They 
will see Him at the right hand of the Father, wherever He lives, 
to make intercession for them. They will see Him as their advocate 
with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, when they sin 
against Him. So he holds out these blessings 
of eternal life. And then notice as well, he says, 
because I live, you will live also. Because of the resurrection 
of the dead, because of the life and death and resurrection of 
our Lord, we have everlasting life. God delivered up Christ 
who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness 
of God in him. He was delivered up because of 
our offenses. He was raised for our justification. Because He died, because He lived, 
we now have everlasting life. And then notice in verse 20, 
at that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in 
me, and I in you. The day of resurrection, to be 
sure, the day of Pentecost, and the day of judgment. further 
manifestations of the reality of what Jesus sets forth in John, 
specifically at 14, 10, and 11. Do you not believe that I am 
in the Father and the Father in me? Verse 11, believe me that 
I am in the Father and the Father in me. Brethren, nobody can say 
that except Jesus. We can't say that. We're not 
in the Father and the Father in us. Now, there is a sense 
where, because of grace and adoption and those blessings, we participate 
in who God is, and He is certainly our God, and we are His people. 
But that's not how Jesus is speaking. He's talking about the same nature. 
He's talking about the same essence. I'm in the Father. The Father 
is in me. That's why I say, when He says, I come to you, that 
means the Father comes to you as well. You can't separate the 
persons of the triune God. And then he mentions the blessing 
of communion with Christ again in verse 21. So that's the sort 
of introductory thought, and now Judas, not Iscariot. The author wants to make sure. 
This ain't the betrayer. Remember, the betrayer left. 
Judas Iscariot's the man. He's gonna sell Jesus for 30 
pieces of silver. He's gonna deliver him up to 
the Romans to be crucified at the behest of the Jews. The unbelieving 
religious leaders prevail upon Judas. They make this deal. They 
proffer a deal of 30 pieces of silver. You deliver him up, and 
then we'll take him, deliver him up to Pilate, and then he'll 
be executed. We saw that in Gethsemane, or on the heels of Gethsemane, 
we see Judas' friend come to him and yet he is betraying him. So John wants us to make sure 
that this Judas is not Iscariot. He said to him, Lord, how is 
it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? So 
when we look at this question, we see the questioner, it's not 
Judas Iscariot, it's the other Judas, but the question. I would 
suggest there's a benefit in this question, just as there 
were previously in the chapter. Look at chapter 14, specifically 
at verse 4. And where I go, you know, and 
the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we 
do not know where you're going, and how can we know the way? 
So the question of the disciple produces more answer from the 
master. And guess who benefits from that? 
You and I do. So when Thomas says, we don't 
know where you are going and how can we know the way? It's 
on the heels of that. Jesus makes that glorious declaration. But 
then drop down to verse 7. 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. We ought to be thankful 
that the disciples ask these questions. We ought to be thankful 
that the masters open to these questions. We ought to be thankful 
that Jesus doesn't say, just shut up and knuckle under and 
listen to what I have to say. He responds. He answers. He gives 
further information. He amplifies. He expands. He 
explains. And that's precisely what we 
find following Judas's question here. But I would suggest as 
well the context of the question. Why does he ask this? Because 
on the one hand, the world isn't going to see, but on the other 
hand, the believers are going to see. The nature of that question, 
it could have just been for more information. How is it that you're 
going to manifest yourself to the one group but not the other? 
But it might also be something of Judas, not Iscariot's, heart 
for other sinners. Lord, we want you to manifest 
yourself to them too. Well, hopefully we're not the 
only 12 that are getting this bird's eye view or the 11 that 
are getting this bird's eye view on who you are. We want others 
to know this, this blessed joy of being found in him. And it 
might also be born out of this thought in a humble sort of way. Why are you manifesting yourself 
to us and not the world? Why us? Have you ever had that 
thought? You look around at the world 
and you see so many people that are headlong hell-bound into 
sin. And you wonder, why me, God? Why am I saved? What makes me 
different? It's not your performance. It's 
not your law-keeping. It's not your righteousness. 
It's God's grace, His good pleasure. There is that sense where there 
ought to be in the lives of God's people an occasional reflection 
upon, why me? I got big problems, Lord. I had 
big problems. Those big problems still persist 
and consist at times. Why me? So that could be why 
Judas, not Iscariot, is asking these questions. But as I said, 
it provides the ground now for Jesus to expand, to amplify, 
and to teach. So Judas says, Lord, how is it 
that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? So 
notice in verse 23, he takes up the to us. this manifestation 
of Jesus to the disciples. So Jesus answers and says to 
him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will 
love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. 
So the Lord reiterates what he says in verse 21a to expand upon 
what he says in verse 21b. That may seem like I'm spending 
a lot of time on structure here, but I think it's very important. 
Notice again, 21a, he who has my commandments and keeps them, 
it is he who loves me. 23a, if anyone loves me, he will 
keep my word and my father will love him. Notice 21b, and he 
who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him 
and manifest myself to him. 23b, and we will come to him 
and make our home with him. Brethren, we read these things 
at times and we don't spend time reflecting and pondering. I would 
imagine for these disciples initially, they're hearing Jesus with so 
many words, but as they reflect upon this later on under the 
tutelage of the Holy Spirit, they're saying, wait a minute. 
So Jesus coming and manifesting himself to us means the Father 
and Jesus coming and manifesting themselves to us. In other words, 
there is a triunity. In other words, there is a trinity 
of persons in the one true and living God. This is what Christ 
is commending to them. So when it comes to this particular 
reality, as he expands, I want to look at... I know this is 
going to make you go, oh man, we're going to be here forever. It's not. 
We got seven observations on this amplification or this explanation. Typically after three, people 
are ready to check out. If it's not a three-point sermon, 
you got four, eh, five, no, six, absolutely, positively, not seven, 
I'm running. Please don't do that. Seven quick 
thoughts on this expansion in terms of what Jesus says in verse 
21b and now in verse 23b. And some of those observations 
will be brief, others will be a bit more detailed. First, the 
statement underscores a plurality of persons in the Godhead. So 
this idea that, you know, Nicaea or Constantine made up the doctrine 
of the Trinity could not be further from the truth. In the beginning 
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The 
Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That Word that was in the 
beginning, that Word that was with God, that Word that was 
God, that Word took on our humanity, and He dwelt among us. So the 
idea that men made up the doctrine of the Trinity is absolutely 
false. The doctrine of the Trinity is 
the very heartbeat of the Christian religion. The doctrine of the 
Trinity is who God is. He is one true and living God 
who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you 
do not confess that, if you do not own that, if you do not participate 
in that by faith, you are not saved. That is the identification 
of the true and living God. Now brethren, we need to make 
a distinction that sometimes people are saved in spite of 
their knowledge. Sometimes people are saved in spite of their deficiencies 
in the understanding of the triune God. And we bless God for that. But if presented with truth, 
if taught the truth, if given these things, you need to embrace 
them because they're revealed propositionally by God in Holy 
Scripture. So the first observation is that 
there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Notice, secondly, 
the statement points to the Father and the Son. So look at verse 
23 again. He says, if anyone loves me, 
he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come 
to him and make our home with him, father and son. Go back 
to John 14, verses 10 and 11. 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 who does the works. Believe me that I'm in 
the father and the father in me. or else believe me, for the 
sake of the works themselves." I'd love to actually present 
a test right now and ask you if you remember what that word 
is that describes the mutual indwelling of the persons one 
with another. It's perichoresis. The fact is, 
is that the father is in the son and the son is in the father. 
So much so that if the son is manifesting himself to the one 
who loves him and to the one who obeys him, that means the 
father is present as well. In fact, Cyril of Alexandria 
makes this observation. Since the only begotten dwells 
in our heart, the father is not absent. The son has the one who 
begat him in himself, since he is one of one essence with him. And he himself is in the father 
by nature. Again, I mentioned this a bit 
earlier, but I think it's something to keep in mind. If you have 
one of the persons of the Trinity, You have all of the persons of 
the Trinity, one true and living God. In this divine and infinite 
being, there are three persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. You don't get a part of God, 
you don't get little bits of God, you get God. You get the 
Father and the Son coming and dwelling in you. But I would 
suggest thirdly, the statement includes the Holy Spirit. It's 
not that it's just the Father and the Son, but it's by necessity 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Again, in this divine 
and infinite being, there are three persons, the Father, the 
Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine 
essence, and yet the essence undivided. So you get God, you 
get all of God. So notice specifically in our 
passage in verses 16 and 17, the Lord Jesus, verse 16, says, 
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. It's already said that the Spirit 
dwells us. It's already underscored the 
fact that we received the Holy Spirit. Notice in verse 25, these 
things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the 
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, 
he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance 
all things that I said to you. Of course, this is a special 
equipping of the disciples to go out and turn the world upside 
down and making disciples and planting churches and some of 
them writing the New Testament documents. There's the general 
reality that for the people of God, when we believe the gospel 
of Christ, we are sealed and given the guarantee of the Holy 
Spirit. He's on board. He indwells us. I don't want 
to use GPS, but he's sort of like that GPS. He is never apart 
from the people of God for whom Jesus died and was raised again. So when Jesus says in verse 23b, 
we will come to him and make our home with him. It's a reference 
to father. It's a reference to the son, 
but it's also inclusive of the Holy Spirit. Listen to Augustine. He says, Lest any should imagine 
that the Father and the Son only, without the Holy Spirit, make 
their abode with those that love them, let him recall what was 
said above of the Holy Spirit, whom the world cannot receive 
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye shall know 
him, for he shall dwell with you and shall be in you. Verse 
17. Augustine goes on to say, here you see that along with 
the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit also takes up his abode 
in the saints. That is to say, within them as 
God in his temple. I love that he picks up on that 
language that I introduced the sermon with. God dwells in Eden 
as a temple. God dwells in the tabernacle 
as a temple. God dwells in the temple as a 
temple. The Son of God comes and temples 
or dwells among us. In 21-22 of Revelation, there's 
no temple in terms of an apparatus that we enter into for religious 
worship, because the Lamb, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb 
are the temple. So then Augustine says, the triune 
God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit come to us while we are 
coming to them. They come with help. We come 
with obedience. They come to enlighten. We to 
behold. They come to fill. We to contain. That our vision of them may not 
be external, but inward. And their abiding in us may not 
be transitory, but eternal. Good gloss or good comment on 
that reality. So it's the Father and the Son, 
the we and the our, but that's inclusive of the Holy Spirit 
as well. Fourthly, the statement here 
in verse 23B is reminiscent of verse two in the chapter. Look back at chapter 14, verse 
one. Chapter 14, verse one. Let not your heart be troubled. 
You believe in God, believe also in me. Now, I had joked earlier 
about a test on perichoresis. There's no test. And I do not 
expect everybody to be able to rehearse all these things and, 
oh yeah, this is this and that. It's kind of introduction, kind 
of a, here's some theology that helps you, I think, guide you 
through scripture. And what is a mystery in our 
Christian religion? It's the glory of it, it's the 
heartbeat of it, the doctrine of the triune God, but it's a 
mystery. In this divine and infinite being, 
there are three persons. That's not the way we normally 
talk. That's not the way we normally 
think, right? So there's no quiz. There's no 
test. Some of this may be a bit confusing, 
but just stick with it. Stick with it in your Bible reading. 
Stick with it in your reflection. Stick with it in your prayer 
lives. Stick with it in your public worship in the church 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So notice what Jesus then says 
in verse two, 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. In my father's house, there are 
many rooms or many homes or many places, however you wanna translate 
that. I favored mansions when we went 
through this particular passage because I think it bespeaks the 
glory of God. In other words, when Jesus goes 
to prepare this place for us and then promises that he'll 
come back, grab us, not grab us in some weird or unsavory 
way, but to take us back up into that mansion. That's not the 
federal government. You get a 300 square foot room 
and a bowl of bugs each day and, you know, just slug it out and 
enjoy. There's mansions of glory. There's heaven above. There's 
magnificence and splendor and excellence and wonder. You're in the presence of the 
Most High, world without end, amen. Mansions captures that 
in a very glorious way. When I think of something wonderful, 
I don't think 300 square feet and a bowl of bugs. I think mansion. I think bounty. I think feast. I think blessing. I think excellence. And that's what the Lord Jesus 
goes to prepare for us. But notice what he does. He prepares 
this mansion or he prepares this abode or he prepares this home 
in heaven so that at his second coming he collects us and then 
brings us there. But he uses the same language 
in verse 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep 
my word and my father will love him and we will come to Him and 
make our mansion with Him. We'll make our home with Him. 
We'll make our abode with Him. We'll make our dwelling with 
Him. See, the glory of the mansion 
language in 14.2 isn't on all the accoutrements. It's on the 
fact that God is there. And so the Lord Jesus says, on 
that day, you'll come to be where I am. But until that day, guess 
what? The Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit are going to dwell in you. They are going to make 
a home in you. You're going to be recipient 
of all the blessedness of God Most High. Already, it's not 
yet been fully realized in terms of the New Jerusalem and the 
Eternal State, but we already have this. We've already been 
blessed. We already possess. This is what 
Jesus says in verse 23. The one who loves me and keeps 
my commandments, those are the ones who are justified by faith, 
by the way, and those who love me and keep my commandments will 
be loved by my Father. I will manifest myself to them. But when the question is pressed, 
Jesus says, we will come and make our home with him. So the 
language of verse 2 points to the not yet. The language of 
verse 23b points to the already. We have God. We have Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. The one true and living God takes 
up residence in us. Again, there's that reflection. 
Well, why us? You know, we're a Garden of Eden, 
we're a tabernacle, we're a dwelling, we're a sanctuary of the Most 
High. Brethren, that's what the New 
Covenant documents teach. That's why I've often encouraged 
us, when we ponder these things and we reflect upon what we're 
doing on the Lord's Day, when we come to the Lord's house, 
we're experiencing the Lord's blessings in ways that I'm not 
sure we fully get yet. And I'm not saying that as a 
diss. I've got the same challenges. You know, I wake up and I want 
to remind myself I was glad when they sat under me. Let us go 
to the house of the Lord. And you know, but that doesn't stick, 
right? There's issues that come up, 
especially when you're younger and you have little kids. Isn't 
it Sunday morning? Your kid could not lose his shoe 
any other day of the week, but he always loses his shoe on a 
Sunday morning. Kid has his Bible religiously 
Monday through Saturday, but where's your Bible when we're 
walking out the door? There's always some challenge 
on a Sunday morning to get betwixt us and the gladness of heart 
when we're told, let us go to the house of the Lord. That's 
creaturely, sometimes it's sinfully. The bottom line is we already 
possess it, but we don't yet have the fullness of it. But 
Jesus is commending to us this reality that in Him, we have 
God. In Him, we have the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord prepares mansions in 
glory above and will come again and receive us to Himself. But 
in the meantime, for those of us who by God's grace, who've 
been justified freely by grace, those who do His commands, those 
who love Him, and again, not perfectly, not without blemish, 
not without spot, Jesus promises that we will come and make our 
home with Him. The blessing of the triune God 
upon His people. Now I'm going to stretch one 
more time in terms of a bit of theological explanation of the 
doctrine of the Trinity. We've seen this in the Saturday 
morning study. which by the way, anybody can come to. If you wanna 
spend the 10 bucks or 15 bucks on the book and show up on Saturday 
morning at O Dark 30, you're all welcome to come. We meet 
at 6.30 every other Saturday morning. We studied the doctrine 
of Christ. We're in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And one of 
the things in this book on the Holy Spirit we've been reminded 
of by the author, Fred Sanders, which by the way is a very excellent 
little book, is something that Gregory of Nyssa pointed out. 
And not just Gregory of Nyssa, but theologians scattered throughout 
the church. Gregory said this, but every 
operation which extends from God to the creation. Again, this 
is not a quiz, this isn't a testable moment, but just listen. And 
as I mentioned at the last Saturday morning study, these categories, 
these strategies, these tactics, these ways of understanding are 
really helpful to try to get at how can God be one and three? How can it be one divine infinite 
being and yet three persons? Again, we may not fully understand 
it. Well, we won't. God is comprehended. 
His essence is comprehended by none but himself. The finite 
can't get at the infinite. We can get at what he reveals 
to us that is true, but we can't exhaust him. So anyways, this 
is a good concept to keep in your mind. He says, every operation 
which extends from God to the creation and is named according 
to our variable conceptions of it, has its origin from the Father 
and proceeds through the Son and is perfected in the Holy 
Spirit. So again, I don't think that's too hard. How do we maintain 
the unity of the divine being? We have a doctrine called inseparable 
operations. Everything outside of God is 
done by that one true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
We have a doctrine of appropriations. How do we appreciate each of 
the persons of the triune God? Well, these prepositions help. 
Everything comes from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Again, one true and living God 
who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we 
can appreciate that through a bit of English grammar, Greek grammar 
too. We've got prepositions, from the Father, through the 
Son, in the Spirit. Huh, does the Bible teach this? Well, turn to the book of Ephesians. 
Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. Notice in verse three, blessed 
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed 
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 
So what's Paul saying? I want to celebrate, I want to 
rejoice, I want to bless God for all the blessings that he 
has given us. The blessings he has given to us are benefits 
of salvation. The blessing we give to him is 
just to pronounce how wonderful he is. We don't add to him, but 
we simply declare what he possesses. So Paul starts, verse 3 says, 
blessed be this God. And then Paul starts to look 
specifically at what this blessed God does in terms of the salvation 
of sinners. And we see this from, through, 
and in motif. The Father chose us in Christ. We have redemption through the 
blood of Jesus. We have application of it in 
the Spirit. So Ephesians 1, 3-14 demonstrates 
this from, through, in motif. So does Ephesians 2, 1-10. You're 
dead in your trespasses and sins. You walk according to the prince 
of the power of the air, who works in the sons of disobedience. 
You're a wretch. You're messed up. But God, verse 
4, who is rich in mercy, blesses us through the Lord Jesus Christ 
in the Spirit. So again, Gregory says, every 
operation which extends from God to the creation has its origin 
from the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is perfected in 
the Holy Spirit. It's a beautiful way to kind 
of view it, a beautiful way to kind of get one's mind wrapped 
around. Look over at Ephesians 3, Ephesians 
chapter 3, where I think he sort of highlights or hits these heads 
in prayer. Notice in 3.14, 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. 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, that you, being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the 
saints what is the width and length and depth and height, 
to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may 
be filled with all the fullness of God." Again, if the prepositions 
aren't specifically there, the prepositional meaning is, These 
works extend from the Father, they come through the Son, and 
they are received in the Spirit. So that when Jesus says, the 
one who loves me, the one who keeps my commandments, we will 
come and make our home in him, we see this emphasis on the triune 
God inhabiting his people through faith. Then I would suggest fifthly, 
and you can stay in Ephesians, the fifth observation on the 
text is that the statement is then reciprocated in the believer's 
worship of God. I'm leaning right on Sanders 
here for the Saturday morning, guys. You're probably thinking, 
he's stealing this from Sanders. Yep, taking it right out of his 
book. So listen to the fifth point. The statement is reciprocated 
in the believer's worship of God. God's blessings come from 
the Father through the Son and the Spirit. How do we go to God? In the Spirit, through the Son, 
to the Father. Again, brethren, there's still 
mystery, it's still tough, but I guarantee you when you start 
thinking the way the church has helped us to think with reference 
to Trinitarian passages, it goes a long way to helping get it. Again, not exhaustively. My promise 
isn't that you're going to know the mind of God perfectly. You're 
not. It'll never happen. I can assure you on divine authority, 
that will never happen. There is a breach or a chasm 
between the finite and the infinite that we cannot make up for. God 
has revealed truth. God has called us to think His 
thoughts after Him. God has called us to grow in 
the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Walking downtown 
or having a, walking downtown and meeting a Jehovah's Witness 
or having a Jehovah's Witness stand at your door and you saying, 
well, I think the Bible kind of teaches the Trinity somewhere. 
That's not the way the church met that challenge. It's not 
the way the people of God met that challenge. Do you not think 
that in the early centuries of Christianity, the pagans, the 
Jews, and later on the Muslims all asked, how could you have 
one God who exists in three persons? You think we're the first generation 
that's ever countered that question or experienced that? Well, one 
God, three persons, that sounds like a contradiction. I mean, 
it's like a parrot. That's all they ever say. It 
sounds like a contradiction. Just bat him on the head and 
tell him to keep talking. Say something else. Do you think 
the early church was faced with that again by the Jews? You think 
the Jews trucked with the doctrine of the Trinity? They hate Jesus. They despise Jesus. They abhor 
Jesus. Jesus said, you have your father 
the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. So 
when the Christians start celebrating this triune God, how do you think 
that went over in synagogues? You think, oh, that's great. 
Yeah, you've shined more light on us in terms of the understanding 
of who God is. No, they despised it and loathed it and abhorred 
it. The pagans. The pagans were polytheists. 
They had a whole plurality of gods, but not one true and living 
God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, 
one has commented that it was atheism which was charged against 
the early church in the book of Acts. You could have a pantheon. You could have a plurality, but 
to have one true and living? No, that's where we have to now 
oppress or persecute you. And then, of course, the Muslims. Who do you think Thomas Aquinas 
is writing against when he's arguing for the one true and 
living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? 
The best of Muslim philosophers. Again, the same thing that obtains 
today. Muslims say some kind of decent 
stuff about Jesus, but not the real stuff that the Bible says. He was a prophet of God, he had 
dignity, all that sort of a thing. They don't see him as the Son 
of God, one in nature with the Father and the Spirit, and came 
for us men and for our salvation, assumed our... They don't see 
all that. So the early church had to combat these attacks. And what they have yielded to 
and provided for us later on are some good tactics, some good 
strategies, some good wheels to help us move the church into 
the future, not trying to redevelop or reinvent what has already 
stood the test of time. So this from the Father, through 
the Son, in the Spirit, blessing of God upon his people is reciprocated 
by the people to God. We go in the Spirit, through 
the Son, to the Father. I think I've said that probably, 
not a billion, but maybe a billion times over the last couple of 
years. Look at Ephesians 2, specifically in verse 18. For through him, 
Jesus, we both, Jews and Gentiles, have access by one Spirit to 
the Father. That's what corporate worship 
looks like in the Spirit through the Son to the Father. Look at 
verse 22. Well, verse 21, "...in whom the 
whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple 
in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for 
a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." So back to John 14, 
the Lord Jesus Christ is amplifying, he's expanding, he is showing 
and illustrating the glory of the triune God inhabiting those 
for whom Jesus died, those for whom Jesus was raised again, 
those who by God's grace believe on Jesus, they receive the triune 
God in his glory and his majesty and his power. I would suggest 
sixthly that the statement is reminiscent of Isaiah 57, 15, 
and holds out the promise of chameleon with the triune God. 
The prophet, Isaiah 57 says, for thus says the high and lofty 
one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high 
and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit 
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the 
contrite ones. It feels like I missed something in that citation. So I'm gonna go read it right 
out of Isaiah 57, 15. Isaiah 57, 15. For thus says the High and Lofty 
One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the 
high and holy place with Him who has a contrite and humble 
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the 
heart of the contrite ones. Imagine being one of those disciples 
in that upper room. Jesus starts talking about, we 
will come, we will make our home with them. What are you thinking? 
You know Isaiah the prophet, you know 5715, you know what 
the score is. So Jesus is using that language 
of abode, or of home, or of mansion, or of dwelling. And then I would 
suggest seventhly, the statement, what Jesus says in 23b, is the 
basis, at least one of the bases, for the confessional statement 
with reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. It is the foundation 
of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence on 
Him. In other words, if we don't know this, again, I'm not saying 
you can't go to heaven if you don't read Fred Sanders. It's 
not the point. You can't go to heaven unless 
you memorize 2nd London, chapter 2, paragraph 3. I'm going to 
say you're going to be happier on your way to heaven memorizing 
2nd London, chapter 2, paragraph 3. But brethren, there ought to 
be in us this desire to know God. And Jesus is doing that 
in the upper room. The one who obeys, the one who 
loves, he's the one to whom we will come and make our abode 
with. So Jesus answers Judas, not Iscariot's 
question relative to the disciples in verse 23. Quickly, he answers 
it relative to the world in verse 24a. Notice, he who does not 
love me does not keep my words. As Owen says, you love him not 
because you know him not. You love him not because you 
know him not. And so Jesus says to Judas, not 
Iscariot, here's the blessing, that manifestation, father and 
son to the disciple, verse 23. But then in verse 24a, he who 
does not love me does not keep my words. So if we understand 
the argument in the context, we're not gonna come and make 
our home with that. We don't come to the worldly. 
We don't come to the one who has no faith. We don't come to 
the one who rejects the idea of Hebrews 11, those who believe, 
must believe, not only that he is, but that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him. And so the Lord Jesus pronounces 
yet again, a condemnation upon the world like he does in verse 
17 and like he does in verse 19. And then this last statement 
concerning his word, Again, I think it's a further evidence, a further 
demonstration, a further manifestation, a further proof, whatever you 
want to call it. that he and the father are one. That he has 
the same nature as the father. Notice what he says at the end 
of verse 24. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the 
father's who sent me. We have seen this language previously. 
Chapter seven, verse 16. Chapter eight, verse 26. Chapter 
eight, verse 28. Chapter eight, verse 47. Chapter 14, verse 10. Jesus is not distancing himself 
from the Word and the Father. Jesus is including himself with 
the Word and the Father. It's not my word. Remember, Jesus, 
according to his humanity, is standing before that. It's an 
authentication of who he is as the sent one from the Father 
who sent him. As Thomas mentions, the Father, 
therefore, who speaks in me, is in me." This is another sort 
of statement that underscores perichoresis, that mutual indwelling. Cyril says, you should realize 
that when you hear my words, you hear the words of the Father. 
So 24b isn't militating against everything he has said, it's 
rather confirming everything that he said. Well, I would suggest 
in conclusion, just a few thoughts and then we'll go. First, the 
blessing of union with Christ. What is union with Christ? Well, 
when by God's grace we believe the gospel, we are adopted as 
sons, we have the many blessings that God conveys to us and confers 
upon us, and we have union with Christ. But what does union with 
Christ entail? It entails union with the triune 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will come and make our home 
with them. Brethren, I'm just encouraging 
you. This is not how dare you. Think 
through these things on a Sunday morning. See if it adds a spring 
in your step when you're coming from the car into this place. 
We get to go to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. We get to do what God created 
us to do, but in our sin and our transgression and our rebellion, 
we didn't do for however many years, we were unsaved. But now 
that we're saved by God's grace, now that we believe the gospel, 
we get to do what we were created for, to glorify God and to enjoy 
Him forever. That ought to hopefully inspire 
more of an earnestness when we come to the house of God in terms 
of public worship. I think as well this idea or 
concept of union with Christ, especially as it's governed in 
our context, would indicate that we ought to pursue, by the presence 
of the power of the Spirit, obedience to our master. Because he says, 
if you love me and you keep my commandments, I will manifest 
myself to you. If you love me and you keep my 
commandments, then we will come and make our home with you. Oh, 
that puts a bit of a spin on commandment keeping, doesn't 
it? Well, I gotta keep the commandments or he's gonna smack me in the 
head and throw me out of the house. No, that's not why the 
child of God keeps the commandments of God. John tells us the commandments 
aren't burdensome, they're not grievous. Why do we keep the 
commandments of God? In order to be saved? No, because 
by grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. And the 
more that I seek to follow the lamb, the more I know the presence 
and the power of the lamb. I know the father, I know the 
son, I know the Holy Spirit, I know the blessedness of we 
will come and make our home with him. That's not, again, to earn 
things. It's not, again, to be a mercenary. 
But it's rather to understand the blessedness of communion 
with the triune God. I would suggest, secondly, there 
is an exhortation in the passage, at least by way of implication, 
to the world. And I want to end here. Notice 
the implication in verse 19. A little while longer and the 
world will see me no more. They would see him physically, 
they would see all those particulars, but he's speaking about the spiritual 
sort of appropriation of who Jesus is as prophet, priest, 
and king. So if you're here this morning 
and you're not a believer, you're not seeing the significance of 
this. You're not seeing why this is 
a good thing. You're not seeing why I should 
come to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. That's not 
encouraging you. That's not a blessing to you. 
So what's the first order of business? You've got to figure 
all this out, prepositions and from and through. No, the first 
order of business is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
way of understanding is by faith. By faith, we understand, said 
the apostle in Hebrews 11. See, that's different than most 
people, most people at least in sin. Well, I have to have 
everything figured out before I'll believe. That's not the 
way this works. You're dead in your trespasses 
and sins. You can't figure it out. You don't have the spiritual 
goggles. You don't have the glasses to 
be able to interpret reality. It is only by God's grace, through 
faith in Jesus Christ, that one then has the ability to see Him. This is why the Bible describes 
Jesus as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. Well, as 
Christians, we say, yay and amen to that. The non-Christians, 
they go, huh? Maybe he had some good teaching. 
He did some pretty good things, but the chief among 10,000 and 
all together, lovely? No. The problem is that you're 
dead in sin. You're dead as a rebel. You're 
dead as a transgressor and as one who lacks conformity under 
God's law. The only hope, the only encouragement, 
the only exhortation that the Bible sets forth is very simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. It is most blessed, most wondrous, 
most glorious, and once by grace you see, then these vistas of 
who God is, one true and living God, in three persons, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, begin to become appreciated. So may it 
be the case, for the people of God, we grow in grace and in 
the knowledge of God. And for the non-people of God, 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and learn about this true and 
living God from that vantage point. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for 
your grace. We thank you for the gospel of 
our salvation and for this wonderful promise that we find in 23b, 
that we will come and make our home with him. What an encouragement 
to each and every one of us to gather together on the Lord's 
day, to walk with you each and every day. And may you bless 
us and may you increase our faith and our understanding and help 
us, God, to glorify you. And we ask in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, you can turn with me in 
your hymn books to 568. We'll stand and we'll sing the 
doxology of praise to our blessed God. 568. grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. Father, thank you for this day. 
Thank you for your goodness and graciousness to us. Go with us 
now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, please be seated.