Open your Bibles this morning again to John chapter 14. We're going to ponder some more words of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And the focus of our text is going to be verses 25 and 26. I'm going to begin reading in verse 15, and I'll read through verse 26, and then we'll pray and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, if you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper. Remember, that's another of the same kind as Jesus. That He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you a little while longer, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you." Let's pray. Holy Father, we thank you that we get to read these words that Jesus spoke while being present with the disciples and that through the power of your Spirit they were inspired to write an infallible account of these words for our benefit. And we come, Lord, humbly recognizing our need for the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand these words. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, we pray, with understanding that we might better know Christ as Lord and Savior, and that we might trust Him more fully as Lord and Savior, that we might love Him more as Lord and Savior each and every day. thus glorifying you, magnifying Christ in our lives in the power of the Spirit. We pray all these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Before we begin our examination of these two verses this morning, I think it would be helpful for us to remember a particular theme that John has highlighted in this gospel. It's a theme of lack of understanding on the part of the disciples prior to Jesus' death and resurrection, followed by understanding of the disciples after his death and resurrection. He highlights this theme earlier in the gospel in a couple of important ways. For example, in John chapter 2, He records the challenge that was put to Jesus after he'd cleansed the temple. You know, he drove out the money changers and such. And in John chapter 2, verses 18 through 22, we read this challenge where the Jews answered and said to him, to Jesus, what sign do you show us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And then the Jews said, it has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said." Now notice that. At the time, the disciples didn't understand what Jesus was saying any better than anyone else did. It was after, sometimes after His resurrection, that they got it. That they came to understand that's what He meant when He said that. And they were able to put it together. Another instance illustrating the same thing may be seen in chapter 12, where John records the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And I'll read you verses 12-16 of John 12, where you see the same kind of thing happening. There, beginning in verse 12, it says, The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel! Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him. Again, we see that the disciples didn't fully comprehend some of the things that Jesus taught until sometime after his resurrection from the dead. In fact, here John says that they understood when Jesus was glorified, which in this gospel, as we've seen in our past studies, refers to this complex of events that includes Jesus' death, his resurrection, his return to the Father. That's his glorification. That's how he returns to the Father, through death, resurrection, and ascension. And all together, that's how He is glorified. So it's after these things happen, after His glorification, that everything started to really come together and they began to understand things. But how did they come to understand such things so much better after Jesus was glorified? Are we to assume that it was simply due to the benefit of hindsight? I don't think so. I don't doubt that hindsight certainly helped them and played a part in their greater understanding later. What really made the difference was hindsight that was empowered by the Holy Spirit. That's what really made the difference. It was the power of the Holy Spirit working in their lives that brought them such clarity. This presence of the Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus. And in the manner in which the Holy Spirit brought this clarity was taught by Jesus. He said that this would happen. He said that after He was gone, they would understand things better. And He said how? It would be through the work of the Holy Spirit teaching them that they would understand things better. And this is what these verses are really about, verses 25 and 26. How do we end up with gospel accounts? How do we end up with the teaching of the apostles? How do we know that they understood the things that Jesus said and passed them on to us accurately and so forth? How could they be assured when they were so confused during his ministry that they would finally understand all these things? The Holy Spirit is the answer to those questions. We read in verses 25 and 26 again, These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the helper The Holy Spirit, Jesus says, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you. There's the key. The work of the Holy Spirit. Now, those who have been paying attention as we've been studying the Gospel of John in recent weeks, We'll quickly recognize that this is the second time that Jesus has mentioned the Helper in the Upper Room Discourse here. There's going to be several more coming. The first time the Helper was mentioned was back in verses 16 and 17 of the same passage, probably just minutes before, actually. in the actual conversation that took place. Look back at verses 16 and 17 and see what Jesus said there when He first mentioned this Helper. I will pray the Father, He says, 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. That was the first mention. of the helper. We saw in our study of that text that this word translated helper in both of these places is this Greek word parakletos. It's led some theologians to refer to the Holy Spirit as the paraclete rather than trying to figure out how to translate it here. They just call him the paraclete and transliterate it, kind of like we do with the word baptize. This Greek word has the basic meaning of one who is called alongside to help. It can be used as a legal, technical term, as one who appears in another's behalf. In that sense, it can mean an advocate, a defender, or an intercessor. In fact, the word is used that way of Jesus, in 1 John 2.1, as our advocate. But it can also refer to one who gives protection, help, and security. And in that sense, it can be translated like a helper, comforter, or counselor. It's this latter meaning that seems to be in the foreground of Jesus' thought here in both of the uses of the term that we've seen here in chapter 14 of John thus far. I think he's speaking of the help, the comfort, the guidance his disciples will receive from the Holy Spirit after he himself has returned to the Father. They need help in understanding what Jesus has been saying. He's going to give them that help. They need help and guidance in the days ahead to navigate all the trials that are coming their way. The Holy Spirit's going to eventually give them that help that they need. He's going to protect them when Jesus is gone. And in the early days of the spread of the Gospel, when there's so much persecution and so forth, the Holy Spirit's going to empower them to continue the work of taking the Gospel to the whole world. He wants them to know the Holy Spirit is coming because He's going. That's the context. And He wants them to know that they have another Helper who's like Him. Another of the same kind. But there are differences in the way Jesus speaks of the Helper here from the earlier passage. And I'd like to focus on three such differences because I think in looking at the differences in the way Jesus in this second time talks about this helper, the Holy Spirit, and comparing it to the first one, we can see some nuances of meaning that he intends to add and to bring out. There's a reason he says things a little differently this time than before, I think. I want to ponder a few of those. So here's the first one. Earlier, Jesus referred to the Helper as the Spirit of Truth, in verse 17. But now He refers to Him as the Holy Spirit. I think this highlights the connection between truth and holiness in the mind of Jesus, in the mind of God. And it helps to prepare us to better understand the role that the Holy Spirit is to have in the lives of believers as their Helper. with the role the Holy Spirit's going to have in the lives of the apostles, and then ultimately in all Christians. He will help us to grasp the truth and to become more holy ourselves as we do so. Since it's by means of the truth that we ourselves will be sanctified or made holy. These things go together. Our Lord Jesus says later on in His intercessory prayer for the disciples in John 17, to the Father, He says, I have given them, the disciples, your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. You sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. That word sanctify means make holy. As you sent me into the world, Jesus said, I also sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." That's all of us. Jesus was praying for us, who are believers now. And what was He praying? Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. They will be sanctified by the truth. So, the Holy Spirit is the one who makes us holy. And how does He do it? Well, He's the Spirit of truth. He does it with the truth. That's how he does it. I think William Hendrickson then is correct when he writes of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called holy because he is not only himself completely sinless and in possession of all the moral attributes in an infinite degree, which of course is true also with respect to the Father and the Son, but also because it is he who takes the leading part in the work of making others holy. In other words, in our scientification. So, here's something really important we need to understand. We cannot make ourselves holy. The Holy Spirit is the source of holiness that God desires to bring about in us, and he is the source of this holiness because he is also the spirit of truth, and we cannot be made holy apart from the truth. So, away then, I say, with the silly notion that so many seem to have these days that you can become more like Christ without the Word of Christ. It's nonsense. Away with the equally silly notion that the Holy Spirit works to make us holy somehow apart from the Word. There are a lot of professing believers in so-called evangelical Christianity today We like to talk about meditating in a way that's not really scriptural, and sitting and waiting on God to sort of speak to them and show them things. They may as well be going, om, like some Hindu, right? Look through the Bible and look at meditation. Look at all the places where the Bible talks about meditation or contemplation. You know what it'll be talking about meditating on? The Word. Because the Holy Spirit transforms us through the Word. He works in, with, by, through the Word in our lives. We become holy through the Word. He doesn't work apart from the Word that He inspired. He doesn't go against the Word that He inspired. There are many Christians that assume that God is leading them to do things. I talked to a pastor recently who's convinced God called him into pastoral ministry even though he admits he's never been trained, he's not really qualified, but he knows God called him. How does he know that? Does the Holy Spirit lead people against His Word? I don't think so. In fact, I know He doesn't. This is something we need to get our minds wrapped around. We need to latch on to this idea. There is no work of the Holy Spirit apart from the Word in the life of Christians. In one way or another, He always works in, with, by, through the Word. Jesus does not imagine our becoming more holy in any other way than the Holy Spirit working through the Word in our lives. And He certainly doesn't imagine that we can do it in our own strength. Or else why promise the Holy Spirit at all? He knows what we need. We need the Holy Spirit. That's what we need. Secondly, here's another difference. Earlier, Jesus referred to the Helper as the one whom the Father would give the disciples in response to His request. Remember, He said, I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper. But now He refers to the Helper as one whom the Father will send in My name. Changes it up a little bit. What's the significance of that? I think D. A. Carson hits on it when he writes this in his commentary on this passage. That the Father sends him, the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name may not be greatly different from saying that the Father will send him in response to Jesus' request, as said earlier in verse 16. There may, however, be a further point. If he ascends in Jesus' name, he is Jesus' emissary, not simply his substitute. Just as Jesus came in his Father's name, i.e. as his Father's emissary, so the Spirit comes in Jesus' name. I couldn't agree more with that assessment. I think he hit the nail on the head there, what Jesus is saying. As we've seen in our previous study, The Holy Spirit does communicate the presence of the Father and the Son to us, but he does so as an emissary who is himself present with us as the representative of both the Father and the Son. So he works in accordance with the Father and the Son to break about their mutual purposes in our lives. This passage is very Trinitarian, right? That's the second difference. We need to see the Holy Spirit. We've seen earlier, he's another of the same kind, this helper, as Jesus. And one of the ways he's similar to Jesus is that he comes as a representative. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You experience the presence of the Father when you experience my presence. And now we're seeing that we experience the presence of the Father and the Son when we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit. They are one. And this way, he's like Jesus. There's a third difference here. And this is going to kind of build on the one I just described. A helper of another kind, who comes to us in the way that Jesus comes to us, in a similar way, as a representative of the rest of the Godhead, you might say. Because remember, Jesus also said, the Holy Spirit is with you in my presence. So it wasn't just the Father that was with them in Jesus' presence, it was the Spirit too. You just can't have the Father without the Son and the Spirit. The Son without the Spirit and the Father. The Spirit without the Father and the Son. It's just not possible. Our third difference. Earlier, Jesus referred to the Helper as the One who dwells with you and will be in you. But now He refers to Him as the One who will teach you all things. What's he going to do when he indwells them? Here's one thing he's going to do. We've implied he's going to make them holy, because he's the Holy Spirit, right? And Jesus later prays that that will happen through the truth. But now he says he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you. Now we've already recalled, and now you see why, this of misunderstanding of the disciples before Jesus' glorification, followed by understanding after His glorification. Now, this verse shows us where that understanding came from. After His glorification. The teacher came. The helper came. And He made all the difference. It wasn't just hindsight. It was Spirit-empowered hindsight all the difference. He's the one who enabled the disciples to put things together in the right way, to fully understand what Jesus had taught them. And so his work is focused on who? Jesus. As Tom Chantry has aptly observed, there is great confusion in the church about the work of the Spirit, and thus much confusion also as to how we might worship and honor him. Jesus thought that the Spirit's work is primarily as a teacher, and that His teaching brings us back to Christ. The Spirit is honored then through doctrinal clarity rather than mysticism, and through Christ-centeredness rather than Spirit-centeredness. You show me a group of Christians that talk about the Holy Spirit all the time, that don't talk about Jesus very much, and I'll show you a group of Christians that don't know the Holy Spirit very well. No matter what they say. Because Jesus tells us what the Holy Spirit's ministry is about. It's about Him. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's about our getting to know Him as our Lord and Savior better. Knowing the things that He wants us to know about Him better. This ministry of the Holy Spirit also assures that we have a true account of Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospels. and by implication also the teaching of the rest of the apostles. It is true. I think R.C. Sproul is right when he points this out. He says even the best students were not capable of memorizing everything Jesus said during his lifetime. Humanly speaking, we forget things, important facts and such slip from our minds. But Jesus said, I'm going to take care of that. One of the first things the Holy Spirit is going to take care of when He comes is to bring all of these things to remembrance. That's part of the reason we have so much confidence in the accuracy of the Gospels. These accounts do not rest primarily on the ability of the disciples to recall perfectly what Jesus taught them. Rather, their record was superintended by the Holy Spirit Himself, the Spirit of Truth, whom Jesus sent to represent Him." That's where confidence comes from. Thank God we don't have to rely on Peter's memory for our salvation and for an accurate account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We'd be doomed then. This is a crucial point, as a matter of fact, that Peter himself made later when he spoke of the apostolic teaching. I'm going to read to you a little bit more extensively from 2 Peter 1, what Peter had to say about the apostolic teaching that we have recorded in the New Testament. Beginning in 2 Peter 1.13, he says this. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Jesus predicts the death of Peter, and that's what Peter has in mind here when he says, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. He knows he has to give his life for the gospel, and that's coming soon. He says, moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. How's he going to be careful of that? He's writing it down, see? That's how. That's one of the ways. He said, for we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Then he gives an example of how they were eyewitnesses. He says, for he received from God, the Father, honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. He's looking back on the Mount of Transfiguration now as an example of the eyewitness testimony that He can provide. But He's not relying simply on His own memory here. He goes on to say, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you would do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any in private interpretation. And there he doesn't mean that nobody can go around and interpret things on their own. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about here the revelation of Scripture never came by. These prophets just didn't make things up. or have visions and interpret them on their own, or something like that. That's not how it happened. He says, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now, in this context, he's putting his own teaching in the same category as that. How can you be assured that what I'm telling you is true? Because no prophecy that's a genuine prophecy from God ever just came from a man. How did it come? Not the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus? Not the things I've given you? The prophetic word I've given you? And here he's talking about the teaching and preaching that he does. Not just foretelling things? How can you be sure of that? He said, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Peter's talking about the ministry of the teacher. Assuring that he understood things correctly and passed them on correctly. That's what he's talking about. And he saw the teaching that was passed on by himself and his fellow apostles as being in the same category as the Old Testament scriptures, as ultimately being the result of the supernatural work of inspiration by the Holy Spirit. He wants us to know that this is why we can trust their writings. since they'd experienced the ministry of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus promised that they would. In a unique way. So then, we have three differences in the way that Jesus has described the ministry of the Holy Spirit here in this second teaching about the Spirit from the first. And I think highlighting those differences has helped us to see how Jesus is expanding what he's been saying to them. But I'd like to point out one more significant aspect of Jesus' teaching here. It's also a little different because it's here that we see for the first time that Jesus uses a Greek masculine pronoun, a kados is the Greek pronoun here. It's translated he. Here, if you look again at verse 26, that the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. In the Greek, that is a masculine pronoun. But here's the thing, pneuma is a neuter word. See, in Greek they have this grammatical gender. You can have feminine, neuter, and masculine words. And if you have a feminine word, it will require a feminine pronoun to refer back to it. If you have a neuter word, it requires a neuter pronoun to refer back to it. A masculine word, a masculine pronoun to refer back to it. The genders need to match grammatically. That's just good Greek grammar. Jesus takes a masculine pronoun and refers back to a neuter word. And it's not because he doesn't know Greek grammar. He's spoken Greek very well in these teachings that he's been giving. This is on purpose. Jesus doesn't make mistakes, you know. This is on purpose. In fact, he does it again, several more times. in John. For example, later in John 15, 26, Jesus says, when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He, there's a kenos again, will testify of me. So you have that masculine pronoun again. He does it again in John 16, verses 13 and 14. However, when He There it is, Kainos again. The Spirit of Truth has come. He will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of his own, or from himself, using the masculine again, referring to the Holy Spirit as a himself, not an itself. He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you things to come. Ekanos, masculine again, will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. So, Jesus deliberately and repeatedly uses the Greek masculine pronoun with reference to the Holy Spirit, even though he knows that the Greek word for spirit is neuter, rather than masculine. And when he does this, it must be that he wants us to understand something about the Holy Spirit, that Greek grammar isn't sufficient to show us. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing. That's what Jesus is saying. It was implied throughout the text already. And when He said, another of the same kind, He'll be one who represents just as I represent. He's present with you in the same way the Father and the Son are present with you. These are personal beings, the Father and the Son. And so is the Holy Spirit of Jesus. is emphasizing that. As a matter of fact, this is why most modern translations, everywhere that the articles are used of the Holy Spirit, even when they're neuter articles, because pneuma is a neuter word, English translations regularly translated he. Why? Because Jesus said we should see him that way. Jesus said so. That's why. That's a good translation for that very reason. J.A. Carson had spoken of the Holy Spirit in personal terms in his commentary, and he defended why when he wrote this. He said, these notes have consistently referred to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, as a person, inasmuch as the Paraclete is given as, in certain respects, a personal replacement for Jesus, and that John does not hesitate to use the personal masculine pronoun of him. I would argue that John is repeating Jesus' teaching. Jesus did this. Even he says, though the word spirit in Greek is formally neuter, this approach is entirely justified. We're justified in constantly referring to the Holy Spirit as He, because Jesus teaches us to. Not just in this use of the pronoun, but in the way the Holy Spirit is described. We could look at other texts. We could remember that Paul warns the Ephesians not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Things don't get grieved. People do. Persons do. personal beings do. He tells the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to whom He will. Things don't make decisions. Personal beings make decisions. So there are other ways we could see this in the New Testament as well. But for now, I just want to point out that Jesus emphasized this in the way He spoke about the Holy Spirit, so there could be no doubt about it. The Holy Spirit is a personal being. Those who say, like the heretics, the Jehovah's Witnesses, that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force that emanates from God. That's just flat-out heresy. That's blasphemous. We should rarely reject that. The Holy Spirit is a personal being, period. He's equal as such to the Father and the Son. We've come to the end of the passage, and I think we've stirred the waters of the text. And in the process, we've sort of seen some things rise to the top, right? That I just want to emphasize again before we finish. I want to restate several applications that have come up. First, we need to remember that we cannot become more holy in our own strength. We need to remember that as we leave here today. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we're sanctified, and the Holy Spirit works through the Word to bring this about. We must never forget that. He is both the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit. These two things, truth and holiness, cannot be separated. Ever. Those who think they get holiness without the truth know nothing of holiness, and they certainly don't know God. They certainly don't know the Holy Spirit. As our confession reminds us, They who are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really and personally, through the same virtue by His Word and Spirit dwelling within them. They nailed it, didn't they, in their confession? They got Jesus' teaching. We need to remember that the Holy Spirit has assured us that we have a true and infallible Word from God, since He has inspired the writing of the Scriptures for our benefit. We can trust in God's Word to be all that we need. We can trust. We're not trusting in the memory of Peter and John. We're not trusting in the creativity of Paul as a theologian. We're trusting in the Holy Spirit as our teacher, who ensures that we have an infallible Word. This is why Paul wrote of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ. And this is why Paul concluded that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We have an authoritative and sufficient word from God because Jesus kept his promise to send the help. And the Helper, the Holy Spirit, guaranteed that we would have Jesus' teaching just like we needed to have it. And it is all we need now to be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. But I'd also add that our assurance of the truth of God's Word is not due simply to the work of the inspiration of the writers, but to the Word of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we read the Word. Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthian believers. As it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love them. Nobody can ever have dreamed up God's plan of salvation. It can never have come from a human mind. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God." Sounds like he read John 17 almost, right? "...that we might know," he says, "...the things that have been freely given to us by God." These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches." He was a beneficiary as one of the apostles of this special teaching power of the Holy Spirit. But here he's talking about how we all become believers, how we all understand spiritual things. He says, these things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. You might better translate it, speaking spiritual things with spiritual words, in this context. He says, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Paul is explaining to the Corinthians why they understand spiritual things at all. The things that they've been given through the apostles, the apostles didn't invent. They couldn't have invented these things if they tried. These things haven't ever entered the heart of man. They didn't come originally just from men, they came from the Holy Spirit. And people who understand these things don't understand them because they're able to as natural men either. But only because the Holy Spirit enables them. These words come from the Holy Spirit, we receive them as from the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul is teaching. This is where our assurance comes from, and our understanding of God's Word. It comes through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus told his disciples that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I said to you, He anticipated and prepared the way for the teaching that we saw in Peter, 2 Peter, and from Paul in 1 Corinthians. They're simply repeating and teaching the ideas that Jesus had already taught. And they're doing it through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. The third and final application that's come forth from this text We need to remember that the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force emanating from God, as I said earlier. That is a heresy. He is himself God, and he is himself a person, a personal being. So that means, just as we are right that we ought to worship the Father, we ought to worship the Son, We ought also to worship the Holy Spirit. He is worthy of all honor and praise, even as the Father and the Son are. But how is he best honored? When we're Christ-centered, Scripture-centered people, that's how we best honor the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Holy Father, it has been my intention to just meditate some more upon the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this morning. We don't want to pass over these things too quickly. We want to take time to ponder and think about these amazing things that Jesus says to his disciples. And we do so, Lord, thankful that we too now have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to understand them as we should. For that we are truly grateful that we can know the things that have been freely given to us by your grace because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. For that we are truly grateful. Thank you, Jesus, for sending another helper. Thank you, Father, for sending your Son. Please help us as we go forth from here to remember what true holiness is really all about. It's becoming more like Christ, and it happens through the Word. Help us not to lose sight of that, I pray. We ask all these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.