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to the gospel of John. As we 
continue to work our way through the fourth gospel, we find ourselves 
in John chapter 15. I'll read from verse 18 to 16, 
four, but our focus this morning will be on verses 26 and 27. 
Remember this section is called the upper room discourse or farewell 
discourse. The Lord Jesus meets with his 
apostles, his disciples to instruct and encourage them as to his 
departure from them. They're going to go out and they're 
gonna turn the world upside down. And so many times along the way, 
Jesus gives them theology. He teaches them about God himself, 
namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is one of those 
instances where he tells us more about the Holy Spirit in verses 
26 and 27, so I thought it deserved some attention. So beginning 
in chapter 15 at verse 18, if the world hates you, you know 
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, 
the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the 
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world 
hates you. Remember the word that I said 
to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted 
me, they will also persecute you. If they cut my word, they 
will keep yours also. But all these things they will 
do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him 
who sent me. If I had not come and spoken 
to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for 
their sin. He who hates me hates my father 
also. If I had not done among them 
the works which no one else did, they would have no sin. But now 
they have seen and also hated both me and my father. But this 
happened that the word might be fulfilled, which is written 
in their law. They hated me without a cause. 
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. And you also will bear witness, 
because you have been with me from the beginning. These things 
I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 
They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is 
coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's 
service. And these things they will do 
to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But 
these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you 
may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did 
not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day. We see the glory 
of God clearly revealed in the created order. We as well appreciate 
that revelation of God's grace and mercy and goodness in the 
gospel of our salvation. We thank you for your great grace 
to us, calling us out of that darkness into marvelous light, 
giving us that faith to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
all of the benefits that He wrought for sinners. We pray that this 
gospel would be preached here and elsewhere and throughout 
the earth, and that you would be pleased by the Spirit to save 
a great multitude. May you call out from every tribe, 
tongue, people, and nation, sinners to come to your dear Son to receive 
forgiveness of sin, to receive that righteousness by which they 
can stand in your presence. And God, bless and encourage 
each of our hearts here this morning, build us up in our most 
holy faith, cause us to reflect upon the glory of our great God, 
the living and the true God, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Do forgive us now for all of 
our sins, guide us by the Holy Spirit, and we pray in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, in the larger section, 
remember that in chapter 15, specifically in verses 9 to 17, 
the emphasis is on love. Love from Christ to his disciples, 
and love from the disciples to Christ, and love to one another. Well, beginning in verse 18, 
the direction turns. It's no longer love amongst the 
disciples, but it's the hatred and the enmity and the opposition 
of the world toward the disciples. So that's the immediate context. It begins there in chapter 15, 
at verse 18, and really continues a long way into chapter 16, but 
specifically and properly at the end of verse 4 in chapter 
16. So as I said, along the way in the Upper Room, Jesus gives 
us more revelation concerning relations between the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Again, this is the way we learn 
of who God is in Himself. Remember when we looked at John 
1? And if you don't remember, that's okay, because this is 
our hundredth sermon on the Gospel of John, so most likely you don't 
remember, and that's okay, so I'll just review. I made a distinction 
between what we call theology and economy. And theology simply 
refers to God as He is in Himself. Now, there's other meanings, 
to be sure, with theology, but God as He is in Himself. And economy refers to those things 
outside of God. So, the created order, the image 
of God in man, the beauty of creation, the incarnation of 
the Son, such that Jesus is able to say, if you have seen me, 
you've seen the Father. So God reveals himself as he 
truly is in those things that are external to himself. And 
if you remember in John 1, we are given that opportunity to 
sort of peek behind the curtain to see what's true of the Son's 
relationship to the Father. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, John 1. Then 
John 1.14, 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. And then John 1.18, no one has 
seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in 
the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. So again, John 
lets us see behind the scenes, as it were, to who God is in 
himself with reference to Father and the Son. That before John 
1.29, when the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sin of the world. I think that when we get to 1.29 
and that statement, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the 
sin of the world, it's all the more glorious when we understand 
John 1.1-18. that the Word became flesh, that 
He is the Lamb of God, that He does that to take away the sin 
of the world, shows us glorious truth about our God. So, who 
God is in theology, or who God is in Himself, is revealed through 
what God does in the world around us, in redemption, in providence. Now, not exhaustively, because 
we're finite. We'll never ever exhaustively 
know the infinite God. There's always going to be that 
chasm. There's always going to be that 
difference. But what is true of God that 
we see with reference to God's works in creation and in providence 
and redemption tell us truth about who God is in Himself. 
And so what we have in verse 26 specifically is more about 
the Holy Spirit. See, we often think of the Father 
and the Son, but we don't always think of the Holy Spirit. Well, 
the Lord Jesus wants to make sure that we think of the Holy 
Spirit, and so he has shined the light upon the Spirit, a 
couple of times along the way here in this Upper Room Discourse. So that kind of a lengthy introduction, 
but I want to look at two things this morning. First, the testimony 
of the Holy Spirit in verse 26, and then the testimony of the 
apostles in verse 27. But let's look first at the testimony 
of the Holy Spirit in terms of a reference to Him. Notice in 
verse 26, but when the Helper comes. Now the identification 
of the Helper is the Holy Spirit, as we see what follows, the Spirit 
of Truth who proceeds from the Father. He's identified as Helper 
in chapter 14. You can look there at verse 16. the father and he will give you 
another helper that he may abide with you forever and then again 
in chapter 14 at verse 26 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 
the word helper simply means one who appears in another's 
behalf, a mediator, an intercessor, a helper. Sometimes we just transliterate 
the Greek word and we call him the Pericle. Other translations 
have comforter, not too bad or not too far off the beaten path 
there. Van Maastricht defines it or 
describes it this way, one who takes up the cause for another 
and indeed for his benefit. In fact, this language is predicated 
of the Son in 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. My little children, 
I write these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone 
does sin, we have an advocate, we have a helper, we have a paraclete 
with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So notice the 
identification of the helper is the Holy Spirit. He's also 
called the Spirit of truth. Which is interesting because 
in 14.6 Jesus defines or describes or predicates of himself truth. In the Psalter, Psalm 31 specifically, 
we learn that the Father is truth. So the Father, the Son, and the 
Spirit are truth, yet not three truths, one truth. So notice 
in 1417 concerning the spirit, 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. Now the reference to the helper 
here, we've got to understand why it's in this context. Why, in the middle of a section 
where Jesus is talking about the world's hatred of you, and 
their inevitable persecution of you, why would he take this 
moment to not only speak concerning the Spirit, but then tell us 
something about the Spirit related to the Father and to the Son? 
Well, I would suggest, first of all, to increase the liability 
of the unbelieving Jews. If you go back just a few verses, 
verse 22, if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have 
had no sin. But now, they have no excuse 
for their sin. Remember, Jesus there is not 
saying, without His incarnation, they would have been a guiltless 
people. No, by virtue of His incarnation, by virtue of His 
fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets, by virtue of His coming 
in the fullness of the time, made of a woman, or born of a 
woman, born under the law, it underscored their sin of unbelief 
and rejection of the Messiah. And then notice what Jesus says 
concerning this in verse 23. He who hates me hates my father 
also. So notice, Jesus doesn't say, 
if you hate me, then you're still okay with God. Remember, these 
religious Jews thought that Yahweh was everything, or at least they 
said they thought that. But what Jesus says is absolutely 
precisely spot on. If you reject the Messiah that 
Yahweh sent, then ergo, you despise Yahweh. That's just as simple 
as it can possibly be. So I think one of the reasons 
why Jesus invokes the Spirit in verse 26 is to show the further 
liability of these Jews who have rejected both the Son and the 
Father who sent the Son. But as well, he wants to encourage 
the disciples. He wants to encourage the apostles. You're gonna be opposed. You're 
gonna be persecuted. You're gonna have the world. 
You're gonna have false religion. You're gonna have all kinds of 
machinations against you, but be of good cheer. I'm gonna send 
another helper, that one who makes the Lord Jesus Christ present 
amongst his people. So in other words, you're not 
going to go it alone. Whatever death threats, whatever 
hardships, whatever trials, whatever afflictions, whatever gulag, 
whatever prison, whatever deprivation, you'll never walk alone. So he 
wants to encourage the disciples in that particular direction. 
Then I think thirdly, he wants to show us that a rejection of 
the Father and the Son inevitably leads to a rejection of the Spirit. 
A rejection of the Spirit inevitably leads to a rejection of the Father 
and the Son. Why? Because in this one and 
living and true God, there are three persons, the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit. They're equal in substance and 
power and glory. So if you deny one of the persons 
of the Trinity, you deny the entirety of the Trinity. In fact, 
Cyril of Alexandria made that observation at this point. He 
says that both he and the Father have been hated by the ignorant 
Jews, and this without cause and for no good reason. Now he 
profitably introduces the Spirit, adding to the Word the fullness 
of the Holy Trinity, and showing that the Spirit was dishonored 
with him, so that the spectators of the miracles, who had raged 
so completely against the Son, may also be shown guilty of disparaging 
the power of the highest essence of all, which is beyond nature." 
In essence, what he is saying there is that if you reject one 
person, you reject all three persons. Now brethren, I think 
that this is a very important emphasis in the church today. 
I think that we need to think clearly, insofar as we are able, 
with reference to the doctrine of God. We like to talk about 
what God does. We like to talk about what God 
gives. We like to thank God for all 
of the benefits that we have accrued, and we should do all 
those things, but we need to be a bit more interested in who 
God is. Now, the Scripture reveals Him, 
as I said, one true and living God. Deuteronomy 6, 1 Corinthians 
chapter 8. But there is a trinity of persons 
in that one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I mentioned 
in the beginning, was the Word. The Word was with God and the 
Word was God. We see that was God-ness predicated 
of the Holy Spirit as well. So it takes or will hopefully 
help us to just slow down a bit with this verse and make some 
observations concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit. So I've talked 
about theology and I've talked about economy. Now you should 
still remember that. That wasn't 100 sermons ago. 
So theology, who God is in himself. Economy, what God does outside 
of himself. So in terms of theology, we need 
to ask, how do the persons of the Trinity relate to one another? We call that eternal processions. It's not going to be a quiz, 
but just keep that in your mind. Eternal processions. Eternal 
obviously locates it in God himself. Because everything outside of 
God himself is not eternal. It's created. It's temporal. 
There's a beginning. There's an end. And then when 
we talk about what God does in the economy, we talk about temporal, 
that means with reference to time, missions. That means with 
reference to what does the son do and what does the spirit do? Well, I think in verse 26, the 
Lord Jesus looks at temporal missions and eternal processions. Notice in 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." So let's take up that temporal mission first. Notice 
that Jesus says he's going to send the Spirit. He's going to 
send the Spirit to help the apostles. He's going to send the Spirit 
to help the subsequent church. He's going to send the Spirit 
whenever you stand in need. We oftentimes take that verse 
about not planning out what you're going to say, but the Spirit 
will give you utterance. Too many lazy preachers have 
leaned on that particular text and have not shown themselves 
faithful in a study of God's holy work. The specific application 
is to the apostles when they're face-to-face with unbelieving 
Jews in the book of Acts, and increasingly face-to-face with 
a hostile Roman government as we move on in New Testament times. Now, of course we can trust in 
the benefit of Christ with his church giving us the Spirit, 
but we ought not to lift it right out of its particular context. 
So Jesus is talking specifically to his apostles, and by extension 
the church, the churches that they are responsible for in terms 
of foundation, he tells them that he's going to send the Spirit 
to aid them and assist them. Notice again verse 26, but when 
the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Spirit. 
So that temporal mission is seen, notice in John 20. John 20. Kind of a down payment in John 
20. Specifically at verse 21, this 
is post-resurrection. They've marveled that they've 
seen the one who went into the grave come out of the grave. 
And Jesus says to them, 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 we've got this 
promise of the sending of the Spirit here in John 20, verses 
21 to 23. We see the fulfillment in Acts 
chapter 2. You can turn there, verses 1 
to 4. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all 
with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound 
from heaven of a rushing mighty wind. Don't miss the connection. He breathes on them in John 20 
to signify the temporal mission of the spirit given to them to 
empower them for ministry in his name. And so on the day of 
Pentecost, what are we confronted with? This rushing mighty wind. wind, the glory of God Most High 
is manifested in the sending of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Not as though he had never come, 
not as though he had never indwelt believers. When David repents 
in Psalm 51, he says, take not thine Holy Spirit from me. So 
the argument is that it's not that the Holy Spirit appears 
on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes in power 
according to the prophecy of Joel by virtue of the ascended 
Christ at the right hand of the Father. So he promises it in 
John 20, it's fulfilled here in Acts 2. Notice in verse 3, 
then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one sat 
upon each of them. And they were all filled with 
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the 
Spirit gave them utterance. And then note specifically at 
chapter 2, verse 33. Peter starts to get practical, 
and he starts to bring his sermon to a conclusion, and he says, 
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. 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, let all the house of Israel know assuredly 
that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord 
and Christ. So Jesus promises the sending 
of the spirit in this visible temporal mission. But then notice 
back in John 15, 26, he tells us something about eternal 
processions. As I mentioned, the temporal 
mission, what we see in the economy, reveals to us truth about God 
in Himself and its eternal processions. The fact that the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit are one true and living God who exists 
eternally as three persons. So notice, Jesus highlights this 
eternal procession. So when the Helper comes, whom 
I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who 
proceeds from the Father. The Spirit of truth who proceeds 
from the Father. Now, if you're a member of our 
church, you subscribe to the Second London Confession of Faith 
of 1677-89. I'm going to just start saying 
89, so I don't have to slash it in there. And if you're mindful 
of the Nicene Creed, the creed that sometimes Christians recite 
or rehearse or they meditate on, you'll note that the language 
is that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's the position that we hold 
to in this particular church. That's the position that the 
Western tradition of Christianity has held to in most of its history. So it's the language of filioque, 
and that simply is a Latin term meaning, and the son. So when we ask the question, 
does the spirit proceed from the father and the son? Some 
would suggest, you know, that's kind of an odd question. Why 
would we get caught up in that? Brethren, practically as believers, 
we get caught up in a whole lot less important things, don't 
we? Come on. What color hymn books 
are we gonna fight about in the life of the church? It just seems 
smart to kind of think in more detail about who God is. Well, 
as you might imagine, those opponents of the language and of the son 
probably go to verse 26, because Jesus says, the spirit of truth 
who proceeds from the father. Jesus doesn't say from the father 
and the son. So the language, if you ever 
come across this term, as you're often reading about church history 
and creedal confessionalism and things like that in your off 
time, of course, it's filioque and the sun. So this was a division 
between the Eastern and the Western church. Not strictly and absolutely. Some Easterns maintain the filioque, 
just to make it more complicated for all of us. But for the most 
part, what we had is that the Western Church inserted it in 
the Nicene Creed at the Council of Toledo in AD 589. That wasn't 
Toledo, Ohio. It was Toledo which would be 
a part of Spain when Spain came into being. So the Western Church 
confesses that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. 
The Eastern Church confesses that the Spirit proceeds from 
the Father. Now again, we maintain that the filioque should be there. The language and the son is crucial 
for good Trinitarian thinking. There was a man by the name of 
Anselm who wrote on the procession of the Holy Spirit and his arguments, 
and we're not going to get into all of that, but just a few things 
in terms of the filioque, the and the son. He says, the filioque 
preserves unity and equality between all three persons. Without 
the filioque, the spirit would not be given by the son, but 
the son would be given by the spirit. Whenever scripture speaks 
of the spirit as the spirit of Christ, it is assumed that the 
spirit proceeds from the son as well as the father. I think 
you see that specifically in Romans 8, 9 to 11. The apostle 
has no problem talking about the spirit of God and the spirit 
of Christ. And I think that what Jesus is doing here, he's already 
put himself on par with the Father when he says, if you hate me, 
you hate him who sent me. So Jesus, along with the Son, 
along with the Father, is what we call in theology principle 
of the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Creed reads, and I 
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds 
from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son 
together is worshiped and glorified. It's a great statement that we 
ought to confess, a great statement that we ought to believe, a great 
statement that I think reflects what the scriptures teach us 
concerning who God is. Now, as I've said, brethren, 
we get caught up in a lot of debates about a lot of minutiae, 
but let Christians disagree on the doctrine of God, and that's 
petty. That's minor. That's weak-minded. I'm glad 
the early church didn't view it that way, because it was the 
early church that thankfully gave us the Nicene Creed. The early church fought and in 
certain cases died, suffered exile, suffered banishment for 
holding and maintaining these truths. See for us today, theology 
kind of gets in the way of a real practical Christianity. Have 
you ever heard of orthodoxy? That simply means right thinking, 
right doctrine. Orthopraxy means right living. Well, the church in the 21st 
century is all about orthopraxy, but has little concern for orthodoxy. But you see, without orthodoxy, 
you don't get orthopraxy. If anybody's interested in this 
more practically, come tonight, because it's intriguing that 
Paul wants the church in Philippi to abound more and more in love 
in all knowledge and discernment. Huh, you mean, Paul, that the 
way that we learn to love one another more is by studying the 
Bible and theology? Yeah, that's what he means. In 
other words, without theology, without who God is, we are going 
to be rudderless in this world for every jot and tittle of our 
lives. So this stuff, and this isn't preacher talk to make you 
think this is really important. This is really important. This 
is what people have fought, as I said, and died for and bled 
for through the history of our religion. Now, with reference 
to the fact that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, 
I would suggest some really practical things, theologically, come as 
a result of this. The eternal procession of the 
Spirit from the Father and the Son maintains consubstantiality 
of the persons. Now, for those who were not here 
in John 1 and those who cannot remember a hundred sermons ago, 
consubstantiality simply means of the same substance, of the 
same being, of the same essence. See, the doctrine of the Trinity 
teaches one essence or substance or being and then three persons. So it's not a contradiction. 
We're not saying God is one in one sense and three in the same 
sense. We're saying God is one in one 
sense and three in another sense. And so the Spirit's procession 
from the Father and the Son maintains that same substance-ness of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I would suggest as well 
that the eternal procession of the Spirit from the Father and 
the Son maintains, this is equally important, distinction among 
the persons. There is three persons, the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We cannot compromise that truth. In the beginning was the Word, 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So we need to make 
sure not only one essence or consubstantiality, but we need 
to make sure that we maintain three persons. And if you look 
at the history of the church, there's heretics on either side. 
The one that is associated with no distinction among the persons 
is Sibelius, or modalism. The idea that God was the Father, 
became the Son, and then is the Holy Spirit. That's not the Christian 
doctrine of the Trinity. Neither is Arianism, which teaches 
God the Father, Jesus is some sort of inferior god-like figure, 
that's more of the Jehovah's Witness spin on it, and the Spirit 
isn't personal. So you've got this Arianism and 
Sabellianism that the Church has consistently navigated by 
maintaining the things that I'm speaking here. And not because 
I'm speaking them, I'm parroting what the Church has said. The 
eternal procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son maintains 
distinction of the persons. Our confession, good time for 
us to remind ourselves. In this divine and infinite being, 
that's the essence or substance that is God, there are three 
subsistences or persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and 
Holy Spirit of one substance, of one power, of one eternity, 
each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. So that's a great statement concerning 
the glory of the one true and living God who exists as Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. But if we ask the question, well, 
how are they distinguished? The confession goes on. The Father 
is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally 
begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father 
and the Son, all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one 
God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished 
by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations. 
So all that to say that distinction of person within God is seen 
not by the sons always obeying the father. The son does that 
in the economy according to his humanity, but when we go to theology, 
there's no obedience on the part of the son to the father. When 
we go to theology, the only distinction that we have among the persons 
is that the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten by the Father, 
and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's 
the way we maintain distinction between the persons of the Godhead. Now, I hope no one is too confused 
at this point. If you're not getting it your 
first pass around, and this is not meant to be an insult, It 
takes time to get the melon wrapped around some of these concepts, 
especially if they're new to you. But suffice to say that 
this is what the early church was confessing when they wrote 
their creeds. This is what our second London 
Baptist forefathers were confessing when they wrote that confession. 
And you can see that it wasn't just spun out of nowhere. They didn't just say, huh, let's 
concoct this theory and put it in our creeds and confessions 
and just confuse the people of God for millennia. Jesus talks 
about the sending of the Spirit. Jesus talks about the eternal 
procession from the Father and the Son. John tells us in 1.1, 
in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the 
Word was God. The creed at Nicaea didn't develop 
that. They didn't make that up. They rather recognized through 
biblical exegesis that this is what God's word taught. One in 
one sense, three in another sense. How do we know there's distinction 
amongst the persons? Well, the father's unbegotten, 
son is begotten by the father, and the spirit proceeds from 
the father and the son. And all of this argues that the 
eternal procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son maintains 
the unity of the divine nature. All things that are absolutely 
crucial when we get into debates with modern-day Arians, which 
is Jehovah's Witness, and with modern-day Sabellians, which 
are one-nest Pentecostals. and, you know, lots of other 
variations to be sure. But I just thought it was important 
because it is for the Savior that in this upper room discourse, 
yes, I want you not to be scandalized. I don't want you to stumble, 
16.1. I want you to take heed. I want you to not fear men, Matthew 
chapter 10. I want you to go out and faithfully 
proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. The upper room 
discourse, Christ is conducting a seminary sort of seminar for 
his hand-chosen apostles so that they can go out, and as I said, 
turn the world upside down in obeying the Great Commission. 
But interestingly, all along the way, he wants us to know 
more about God. He wants us to know more about 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Almost as if to 
suggest it is that knowledge that will drive you into those 
synagogues. It is that knowledge that will 
send you before Agrippa. It is that knowledge that will 
send you across the oceans to testify concerning the glory 
of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the way of God, the 
eternal processions, unbegotten, begotten, and proceeding from 
is reflected in those temporal missions. The Spirit comes to 
bring us through Christ to the Father. So Jesus wants the disciples 
to know theology because it will animate their efforts going out 
to service our blessed master in the economy. And then that 
brings us back specifically to the text. A rejection of the 
Father and the Son is inevitably connected to a rejection of the 
Spirit. A rejection of the Spirit is 
inevitably connected to a rejection of the Father and the Son. You 
don't get one person of the Trinity on his own. It's all of God or 
none of God, and that was the fundamental problem of the unbelieving 
Jews that Jesus is speaking about in this context. If you reject 
or you hate the one sent, then you hate the one who sent him. 
And that is precisely the emphasis. Now, in terms of the ministry, 
we talked about temporal missions. What does he do? Look again at 
1526 at the very end. He will testify of me. See, brethren, when we get consumed 
with Jesus, that's the Spirit's leading of us. You cannot look 
at the persons of the Trinity in competition. You cannot look 
at it, you know, you've heard about, you know, stealing a bride's 
thunder at the wedding. You know, when the friend of 
the bride comes in and she's dressed nicer, we go, wait a 
minute, that shouldn't be that way. We kind of impose upon the 
triune God our sort of created thinking, right? There's got 
to be competition. It's kind of by design, brethren, 
that we think more about the Father and the Son than the Spirit. Now, I'm not suggesting we shouldn't 
think about the Spirit. I just spent 20 minutes telling 
you as to why we should think about the Spirit. But notice 
the function or the purpose of the Spirit in that temporal mission. He will testify of me. That's 
the point in Acts 2. Acts 2.3 talks about them being 
filled with the Spirit, and then them speaking in tongues, and 
then it evidences that tongue speaking and the various nations 
represented there that we're able to hear concerning the great 
works of God. As I've said on many occasions, 
the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, for them that's everything. But 
that's not the point in the sermon. Therefore, let it be known unto 
you that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord 
and Christ. The pouring out of the Spirit 
by the Son at the right hand of the Father, there in Acts 
2.33, was for the expressed purpose of shining the light, not upon 
tongues, but upon Jesus. And that's the point and purpose 
of the ministry of the Spirit. You see that with Jesus as well. 
He comes to do the will of Him who sent Him. He comes to bring 
glory to the Father. There's no competition. There's 
no, you know, stealing one another's thunder within the context of 
the triune God. So the object of His testimony 
is Jesus' life, death, resurrection. Jesus' words and works. We see 
that all throughout the Upper Room discourse. But as well, 
in terms of the nature of his testimony, specifically in this 
context, the works that Christ had done. See, how did Jesus 
do miracles when he was here on earth? Well, because he was 
God. Yeah, but because he was a man who had received the Holy 
Spirit without measure. We gotta be careful about saying, 
because he was God. If his humanity is tainted with 
Godhood, then it's not real humanity. And we gotta be careful of that. 
There's a union of natures in the one person, but the natures 
aren't co-mingling. So we gotta make sure we understand 
the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the work of Christ. So in 
other words, when Christ does these mighty deeds, and in Matthew's 
gospel, the unbelieving Jews there say that he does it by 
the spirit of Beelzebub. What does Jesus call that? He 
calls that blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. ascribing the works of 
Jesus to the Lord of the Flies, to that dunghill deity which 
is called Beelzebub, that is to blaspheme the Spirit of the 
living God. And so the Spirit testifies of 
Jesus. The Spirit testifies of His works 
done in His ministry. And the Spirit testifies, guess 
what? Through the written word of the 
living and true God that you now possess in your laps or on 
your phone. So then that brings us to the 
testimony of the apostles. Notice in verse 27, and you also 
will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. 
The object of their testimony, their political agendas, the latest fads in society, the 
latest boycotts. Now, brethren, political agendas, 
fads in societies, boycotts, I'm not gonna condemn any of 
us for doing that. I have participated in those 
things myself. But ministers of the gospel following 
the train of the apostolic ministry, they're testifiers of Jesus. They're proclaimers of Christ 
and him crucified. They say with Paul, I determined 
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. 
I would imagine a fellow like Paul who earned a living as a 
tent maker there in the Roman empire had a few thoughts about 
the current government. When Nero turns the corner and 
starts to become terrible, first five or six years of Nero, You're 
great. Good guy. And then something 
happened. I'm sure Paul noticed that. I'm 
sure the apostles saw that. You know, maybe in a drunken 
rant sometime, let's raise their taxes. Well, any citizen in anybody 
politic at any time in the history of the world tends to notice 
that. But when it comes to their ministry 
as apostles, when it comes to the ministry of pastors as pastors, 
notice what he says, you also will bear witness because you 
have been with me from the beginning. The bear witness is obviously 
connected to that which the Spirit testifies concerning. You're 
going to testify of me. Now the power behind their testimony 
is the Holy Spirit. So again, no competition here 
between the Spirit and the Apostles. The apostles do what the apostles 
do because of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, 
John 14, 16 to 18. The teaching ministry of the 
Holy Spirit, 14, 26, 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. 
And the guidance of the Holy Spirit, notice in 16, 13, however, 
when he The Spirit of truth has come. He will guide you into 
all truth, for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, 
He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. So the apostles 
are going to go out, washed in the blood of Jesus, clothed in 
the righteousness of Jesus, having received the power and the presence 
of the Spirit of Jesus, to go to the Jewish synagogues and 
to testify that Jesus, in His life, death, and resurrection, 
is the only way of salvation. That Jesus did mighty deeds. Jesus' doctrine was, in fact, 
heavenly. It is by the Spirit that the 
church goes into the world to do what God has commanded. So 
the Spirit and the apostles are not in competition. The Spirit 
works by the Word and through the apostles to propagate the 
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the 
earth. We see it in Acts, Acts 5, 32. We are His witnesses to 
these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit 
whom God has given to those who obey Him. The nature of their 
testimony, we see their foundational role in the church. It's not 
that they alone are the foundation, but they're certainly foundational 
in the church. Ephesians 2.20, Romans 15.20. 
There's other passages, Revelation 21.14. The apostles were different 
than other Christians. I know we like to jump into the 
upper room and make everything personal. But brethren, there 
are things very concretely specific and applicable to the apostles. Now again, by extension, the 
church that they founded, but the apostles themselves would 
be foundational in the founding of the church, but their writings 
would be foundational for the health of the church through 
the subsequent ages. God spoke the Spirit specifically 
through those men by way of appropriation. You're following the theological 
trajectory here. The Spirit has these men write 
the Word of God. Why? Just so they could have 
a contender on the marketplace for religious books. No, we have 
the authoritative word of God that has as its sum and substance 
the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. So the apostles are functioning 
as witnesses. This is Acts 1.8. Jesus tells 
them, you're gonna be my witnesses first in Jerusalem, then to Judea 
and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. 
Peter preaching to the household of Cornelius in 1039 and 1041 
highlights the role of the apostles as witnesses. Again, not to their 
agenda. You know, Cornelius, it's too 
bad that you have to serve a godless state like Rome. Let's go found 
a new nation and we'll let you be the center. No, no, no. Then 
again, you might do that. Go ahead as a citizen. But as 
an apostle of Jesus Christ, he was there to tell him about redemption 
through blood, atonement through the finished work of Jesus. The 
presence and the power of the spirit falls upon them. And then 
Peter baptizes him and his household. So when we come to the apostolic 
testimony and witness, on the one hand, we're not wrong. We 
don't look at Peter as Pope. You know, Peter is the supreme 
pontiff, the one that has all authority over every church ever. 
No, we don't do that. That's nonsensical. But on the 
other hand, we recognize that Paul and Peter and John and those 
brothers did things that were outside the ordinary calling 
of every Christian ever since. And there's nothing wrong with 
seeing them in that particular capacity. By way of conclusion, 
listen to 1 John 1, 1-4. That which was from the beginning, 
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which 
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning 
the word of life, The life was manifested and we have seen and 
bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with 
the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen 
and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship 
with us. And truly our fellowship is with 
the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write 
to you that your joy may be full. So Jesus ends this statement, 
or ends verse 27, by saying, because you have been with me 
from the beginning, the beginning of His public ministry, to the 
specific task He appointed them to, and for the purpose of communicating 
those gospel treasures. those riches of the glory of 
Christ, to the posterity that is now through their written 
word, and to the then known world in terms of unbelieving Jews 
in the Roman Empire. They had been with him from the 
beginning for a specific and expressed purpose that they might 
go and make him known. Well, brethren, I hope that this 
has not confused or muddled the waters, but we need to think 
clearly concerning who God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
Remember, all of this such that sinners could enter into heaven. Imagine, the beauty of the created 
order shows us something concerning God, doesn't it? Well, it does. Paul says that in Romans 1. The 
effect leads us back to the cause, and we learn truth about God, 
His eternal power, His glorious Godhead. But it's redemption. It's the mission of the Son in 
the incarnation. It's the mission of the Spirit 
at Pentecost that show us something even more concerning that God. 
It's that He's triune, but that He's full of grace and mercy. Why all this? Because in the 
fullness of the time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, 
born under the law, to redeem those under the law. Why does 
God do what he does in the economy? Yes, to show us truth about him 
in theology, but to show us that experientially, by calling us 
out of darkness into marvelous light, by renewing our minds 
and hearts, by giving us a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
by causing us to see that Jesus is altogether lovely and chief 
among 10,000. God does this to save us from our sins. That's 
the purpose of John's gospel as a whole. I write these things, 
John says in 20, 30, and 31, so that you might believe that 
Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing in his name, you 
might have everlasting life. So if you missed every jot and 
tittle about the Holy Spirit there, that's okay. But this 
is what the Holy Spirit wants you to know, that Christ Jesus 
came into this world to save sinners. The way he did that 
was through his life, his death, and his resurrection. And the 
way you receive that is by looking to him in faith. Well, let us 
pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for the revelation 
of our great and glorious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
We thank you for this upper room discourse and the great things 
that our Lord teaches concerning the Father, Son, and Spirit. 
Pray that you would encourage each of us, build us up in our 
most holy faith, cause us to stand in awe as we consider your 
glory and your majesty. And again, bless the proclamation 
of your gospel. May it go forth conquering and 
to conquer, and may it work according to the power of the Holy Spirit 
in this place, even now. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Well, let us stand and 
close our service by saying 564. 564 doxology in praise to our 
great and glorious God. we do ♪ Amen, so bend in me ♪ ♪ The whole 
earth and its glory give ♪ ♪ Amen, so bend in me ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. Well, please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation and contemplation on the things of 
our God.