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