Okay, let us get started. All right. Okay, let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Lord's Day. Thank you, Lord God, for your goodness, for your mercy, for bringing us here this morning to worship you, to worship our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray this morning that you, by your Holy Spirit, would teach us, would instruct us, that we would see the beauty of your salvation, the beauty of your triune nature and your work in salvation as a triune God. Help us, Lord God, to see these wonderful truths, to rejoice in them and to worship you because of them, Lord. Thank you so much for your many blessings. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, so. Continuing in our series in the Trinity in the Gospel of John, we finished looking at Christ, the deity of Christ, and how John describes, how he portrays, identifies Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as God himself in the flesh. And then we looked at the Father and how the scriptures, particularly John, since we're looking at this through the lens of the Gospel of John, how John views God, right, that just like the other Gospels and all the other Jews and monotheists, they believe in one God, yet we saw that they called Jesus God, and then we saw that the Father is called God, and we even saw how the father works or his role in salvation. And so then we started looking now at the Holy Spirit. Now, one thing that we're gonna see is that the first part of the book, there's about an equal amount of references to the Holy Spirit in both the first section of the book and the last section of the book of the Gospel of John. But the first section, we'll see that they're primarily in reference to, the focus is still the ministry of Jesus Christ. It's the ministry of Jesus Christ that is in view, and not the Holy Spirit. And it's not until the second half of the book that we begin to see more of his role, his particular role in salvation. But also keep in mind, as we said last time, as we've been saying the past couple weeks, this idea of inseparable operations, that even though we can highlight, we can point out the distinctive roles that each member of the Trinity plays, The father, for example, decrees, you know, the salvation, the son accomplishes salvation, and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation, as we're going to see quickly in a little bit. Yet, they're all working together. It's not like the father does his work and then sits back and then lets the son do his work, and, you know, he's not working. You know, we see statements where Gia says the father is working even now, and so I work. So all three are always working together as one. They do not work separate from one another. So, but that's what we're going to look at. We're going to look at the Holy Spirit and his identification as God and then his role in salvation. Okay, so let us begin. Let's see. We saw this. So this is the work of God in salvation. The Father decrees. The Son accomplishes. The Spirit applies. So that's the work of salvation, the distinctive roles of each one, but again, they all work together as one. The Father sends the Son. I'm sorry, the father sends and the son is sent. Again, those are distinctive roles, the one who sends and the one who is sent. The son does not work separate from the father. We see this in John 5, 19. Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner. So, we've spoken of this several times, that this is in no way speaking of the inequality between the father and the son, but the equality and that they both work together. The son does not work separate from the father. The son does, it says, only what the father shows him, John 520, for the father shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. So the relation between the Father and the Son and their work in salvation is key in the Gospel of John. Again, if he's portraying Jesus as the Son, the question then is the Son of whom, right? So if he's the Son of God, then this relationship between the Father and the Son is key and vital in understanding the Gospel of John, understanding salvation. The identity, relation, and work of the Father and the Son is key to John's theological view of God. because he is saying that Jesus is not a son as we are sons by being born again, but he is the son. He comes from the father. He is the son in a very unique way, which then gives us the grounds to see him as God himself, since he shares the same divinity, the same essence as the father. But there's something missing, or someone missing, and that is the Holy Spirit. So we've seen a lot of the Father and the Son, a lot of the Father and the Son, but we haven't seen the Holy Spirit. And again, one of the main roles of the Spirit is really to point to Jesus. The Father and the Son have roles that are different than the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is one that is not drawing any attention to himself and is always pointing to Jesus. And so we don't see as much as the work of the Son and then the work of the Father, but it is there. If we look carefully, it is there. And John does describe the Holy Spirit in divine aspects, divine terms, but then also as we see his role in salvation, we see his divinity as well. So the first section of the Gospel of John, called the Book of Signs, is saturated with images of the Father and the Son. But though there are several mentions of the Holy Spirit, he is not the emphasis. A reminder of the structure, so here's a reminder of the structure of the Gospel of John. You have the prologue, verses 1 through 18 in chapter 1, where he lays down a lot of the key themes that he will be expanding upon in the next section, or in the Gospel. So in the next section is the Book of Signs, chapter 1, verse 19, through the end of chapter 12. And here, there are seven major signs, although we see other things, and although even John himself acknowledges that Jesus did many more signs, but there are seven signs that he focuses on, and therefore, theologians, Bible commentators call this section between 119 and the end of 12 as the Book of Signs. But then there's a transition in chapter 13. And then so we see from that moment on, we see pretty much the last hours of Jesus, Jesus's life leading to the crucifixion. And so from 13.1 to the end of chapter 20, we have the book of passion, of the passion or the book of glory. And then chapter 21 is the epilogue. Nevertheless, we see the deity of the Holy Spirit both in how he is referred to and the role that he plays in salvation. So the deity of the Spirit in the Gospel of John We see in John 3, 1, 8, although he is referenced before this in chapter 1 where John is speaking about the Christ and how he didn't know who the Christ would be, but the one who sent him said that he was going to give him a sign, right, upon whom, you know, the spirit descends upon him like a dove. That would be the, who would be the Christ. So, we see the spirit mentioned there. But here in John chapter three, we see some, or John describing the spirit in terms of deity. And so what we see is we see two things. We see that spiritual birth is by the spirit, and that the spirit is sovereign. And this is, that first point is important because in John chapter one, In John chapter 1, as you can see here, Verse 11, he came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So the idea there is being born of God, having a heavenly birth, and this is exactly what we see in John chapter three. Let me go to John chapter three so we can all see the text. So here he's talking to Nicodemus. And he says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again, be born, can he? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. So we see here, again, these two things. We must be born of the Spirit. We must be born again, or more properly translated, born from above. We must have a heavenly birth. And this heavenly birth, being born of God, means that we have to be born of the Spirit. So there is an equating here back to John chapter one, verses 12 through 13, that being born of God means being born of the Spirit. So there's that connection there, but I think more importantly is the idea of the sovereignty that is given here to the Holy Spirit. Here, John is doing an analogy. So just as the wind, you know, when we go We can't see the wind, right? We see the effects of the wind. We don't know where it's coming from. We don't know where it's going. Of course, the wind itself does not have personality, does not have a will of its own. But the analogy is that in an anthropomorphic sense, the wind is just doing what it does. No one else is controlling it. It's on its own. It's moving. As the wind is, in a sense, sovereign and does its own will, its own desire, he's comparing that to the Holy Spirit. We don't see the Holy Spirit, but we see the effects of the Holy Spirit. When somebody is born of the Spirit, We can see the effects. And we don't know who is going to be saved next. We don't know what the spirit is going to do next. We just see the effects of the spirit. Again, just like with the wind, we just see the effects. And so the idea here, because he says of the spirit, So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. The wind blows where it wishes. That idea, wishes, or that word, wishes, is phthalo in the Greek, which means desire, and it has to do with the will. And so what he's saying about the Spirit, he's giving, he's assigning to the Spirit a sovereign will. Now, this will is not apart from the Father or the Son, but he has a sovereign will. So, in this, he's describing the Holy Spirit as sovereign. That he, the work of the Spirit is not something that we can command, that we can, it's not mechanical, but it has a will. The Holy Spirit has a will, and it's accomplishing a purpose. And in this case, it's to bring people, to give them a spiritual birth. These two aspects, the fact that being born of God means to be born of the Spirit, and that the Spirit is sovereign in the work of salvation, that He is the one that gives us this spiritual birth, these two facts, describe the point of the Holy Spirit as divine, and we start seeing that he becomes then crucial in salvation. It's not just the Father and the Son, but it's the work of the Holy Spirit. Because if you remember, too, in the context, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, and he doesn't understand. Why doesn't he understand? because he's not born of the spirit, right? So the father can accomplish or can decrease salvation, the son can accomplish salvation, but if the Holy Spirit doesn't give us understanding of that, doesn't give us that new spiritual birth, then we can't receive salvation. We won't understand the gospel, we won't understand spiritually to believe and be saved. And so, he becomes a crucial role in the doctrine of salvation. But here, though here, the emphasis is still on Jesus' ministry. But we do get a hint of his work and his role in salvation. The deity of the spirit in the Gospel of John, we also see here that the spirit imparts eternal life through faith in the words of Jesus. We see this in John 6, 63. It is a spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. Okay, so the words of Christ are what the Holy Spirit uses to impart eternal life. John 7, 38 through 39, he who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke, and this is John speaking, but this he spoke of the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for the spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. And so here we're getting a glimpse as to what is coming. So again, up to this point, the focus is still Jesus's ministry. And the reason why we don't see so much of the spirit in his role is because at this point in redemptive history, Jesus is still working. He hasn't been, as the text says, he hasn't been glorified. And from what we've been looking at in John chapter 12 and 13, when is he glorified? When is Jesus Christ glorified? It's in his work, right, of the cross, being dead, buried, and then being raised, or being raised from the dead, and then ascending to the Father. So again, all these in connection with Jesus's ministry, with Jesus's work, but telling us here that it is a spirit that imparts life. And here in 738 and 39, it's compared as a river of living waters. It's this never-ending source of eternal life. So, although we do get a hint of this in the first section of John, of his work, the emphasis is more on Jesus' ministry, but it is much more prominent, as his work is, in the second section of John's Gospel, the Book of Glory. We see... Those were the first ones. So in the Book of Passion, of the Passion, the Book of Glory, we see his role kind of being more emphasized now that Jesus, because if you think about it, Chapter 13 and onward are the last hours of Jesus' life. So his work is about to be done. So now he's, remember that we said that this whole section, Jesus is imparting to his disciples final instructions. He wants to prepare them for the time that he departs from them. And so he begins to speak to them of what is to come. And part of that is the Holy Spirit. So we see, for example, in John 14, 17. It says, I will ask the father and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever, that is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. John 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 that I said to you. So the spirit in this section of the gospel of John takes an emphatic role. Again, and this is because Jesus is preparing to leave. He is preparing to go back to the father and he does not want to leave them alone without any help. And so Jesus is instructing them and telling them, preparing them for what is to come. Now, if we look at this section of chapter 14, let's read the entire section together. It says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper so that he may be with you forever. The helper is a spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, but it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he remains with you and will be in you. So he will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming to you. After a little while, the world no longer is going to see me, but you are going to see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I in you. The one who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him, and I will reveal myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us? and not to the world. Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will follow my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. The one who does not love me does not follow my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. So in this, we're seeing all different things going on. And we see the relationship again between the father and the son, the work that the son is accomplishing that is really the father's work that he has given him to accomplish. And he's telling them that I'm leaving, I'm departing. But what does he say? He's saying that he's sending a helper, the Holy Spirit. And then as he tells him this, as he tells him that he's gonna send the Holy Spirit, So he's basically saying, I'm leaving, and I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming to you. You see that? I am coming to you. So the role of the Holy Spirit here is not only important, but it is important because of who he is. His divinity is shown in his unity with Jesus. So remember what we said before that all three share equally the divine essence. They are united in the one divine essence. And so Jesus then is identifying himself with the Holy Spirit strongly in such a way that the coming of the Holy Spirit is also the coming of Jesus. Jesus is present with us now through the Holy Spirit because they are so closely united. But this does not mean we should not conclude that the Son and the Spirit are the same person. Remember we said that there's a heresy called modalism that sees God as just one person who manifests himself in three different ways, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in reality it's just one person. Remember, we believe in one God who exists in three persons. There's three subsistences within the divine essence, three distinct subsistences, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But there is a unity that exists among them because they share equally and fully of the divine essence that Jesus here, he says, as the Spirit comes, I am coming. And so that is how Jesus is with us forever. That is how Jesus is with us to the end of the age. That is what he tells his disciples in Matthew 28. I will be with you even to the end of the age. Because he is with us through the Holy Spirit. It is his Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of Christ. So there is this unity between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And if the gospel has already established a unity between the Father and the Son, then the unity between the Spirit and the Son also includes the Father, right? So we can say, for example, if you think of circles, and you have a big circle, you have the father, and then if the son is in the father, and the spirit is in Christ, it is his spirit, then all three are united together, right? Does that make sense? This unity in relation to one another is what gives the Holy Spirit his divine essence, his character, and how we see that he is divine. And it's the same way that we've been seeing with the Father and the Son. A lot of what we've been looking at is the relationship between the Father and the Son. The way that we've seen that the Son is divine is through his relation with the Father, this unity that exists between them. And now we see a unity between the Holy Spirit and the Son. Mm-hmm. I'm pretty sure it is. Let me double check. Let me see. Yeah, it's a present verb, so it's I am. I think I am coming to you would be to you. But no, it's not I am. No. It's just, it's the word to come, and it's in the first person, so I am coming to you. Yes. Three persons are never separate. Never. So whenever we read the Holy Spirit will dwell in us, it's all of God. Yes. I mean, all three persons, because the Holy Spirit is separate from the Father and the Son. Exactly. And that's kind of what Jesus says, what you read earlier, I think, where he says, Yeah, I think it's in... Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes, and it is through the Holy Spirit that we have both the Father and the Son. Yeah, he says here, if anyone loves me, he will follow my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. And that's, yeah, through that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. rather than saying just God will live in you. The Bible repeatedly talks about the spirit dwelling in us. Do you think that's primarily because it is that relationship with his function? Yes. Yes, I think that's correct. That is his role. And so typically we see that the spirit will dwell in you as we have here. But we can also conclude because of the unity that the father and the son dwell in the, the God dwells in us. Yeah. Okay. And then so, John 50, 26, we see, the Holy Spirit described as the helper. When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is a spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. John 16, 13, but when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come." John 20, 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. So these are three more instances of the Holy Spirit that is mentioned. But we see here that the Holy Spirit is described as the helper. He's the advocate. He is the one who helps us in the various things that we're gonna need. And in relation to that, he is the spirit of truth who comes to speak the truth of Christ, to speak the truth of God to us. And as you were saying, Bob, that's his function, that is his role. He is the one that convicts us of sin. He is the one that takes the word of Christ, the truth of Christ, the truth of who God is, and makes it known to us. And he helps us to understand. He helps us in our sanctification. He is with us to the end of the age. And then because of that or through that, we have Jesus Christ who is with us to the end of the age. So again, the spirit of truth, these are the verses that we just read, but again, just keep in mind that the truth here, again, is referring to divine truth. This is the truth that Nicodemus, that all the people who simply followed Jesus' miracles, this is the truth that they could not understand because they did not have the spirit of truth. Okay, so this is divine truth, and therefore the spirit who enables us to understand, to see these things, who convicts us of these things, who shows us these things, he is called the spirit of truth. So it's divine truth, showing not just what he does, but the truth of his nature. He is true, and he speaks the truth of Christ, the truth of God, so that we may understand and believe. And as I mentioned earlier, he is the spirit who helps us, the helper. Jesus calls him the helper. And it is this role that, when we think of sanctification, this, along with the spirit of truth, is what the Holy Spirit is doing. He is sanctifying us in the truth, in the truth of God. He is helping us in our struggles with sin, in our struggles with temptation, in our trials that we endure in this world. And this is exactly what the disciples needed to hear after he tells them, I'm leaving you guys. I'm gonna leave. So in one sense, he did leave because as a man, he's not omnipresent. In his humanity, he is in heaven with the Father. So they wouldn't see him anymore. So he would depart and leave in that sense. And as we see in John chapter 14, they are sad. They are sad that he's gonna leave. But he's comforting them and saying, yes, I'm going to leave in one sense, but I will be with you to the end of the age, but through the Holy Spirit. So I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, and through him, I will be with you. And he will help you. He will help you to remember the words that I've said. He will enlighten you. He will instruct you. He will guide you. He will strengthen you. So all these things, this is then the focus then of the Holy Spirit. And this is why we see now the emphasis somewhat shifting a little bit, or at least being highlighted more of the Spirit's role in salvation. Because up to this point, the focus was the ministry of Jesus, his signs, the works that he did, the teachings. But now that he's leaving, He's telling His disciples, now there's gonna be someone else who's gonna be with you, and He will help you, He will guide you, and He will bring to your remembrance all that I have spoken to you. And that's the Holy Spirit, and that's his role. And the church really is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the one that goes out to the ends of the earth, and he gathers God's people by enlightening them, by giving them life, spiritual life, so that they can hear the gospel, believe in the Lord, and he is the one that's gathering people into the church. He creates the church. Yes? Holy Spirit's role is the same thing as Jesus' role that he had in his disciples, and the same role as teaching them what Jesus taught them as well. So in a sense, not only is, since Jesus was leading them, he was going to go be their heavenly advocate, their paraclete. Like 1 John 2, 1 says, and then Holy Spirit is the earthly paraclete who's here for us. Yeah, and that's true in one sense that the Holy Spirit is doing, continuing to do, what Jesus did in his earthly ministry. He called and gathered his disciples, he taught them, he instructed them, and that is what the Holy Spirit does today. He gathers, he calls, and he grafts them into the body of Christ, and he is the one that is teaching and instructing. But again, remember, on another hand, in another sense, it is Jesus the one that is instructing us still. He is working, he is still speaking on our behalf, like he said, he's our advocate. So, again, we see this unity, though the Holy Spirit kind of in one sense gets the emphasis, the highlight of that work here, at the same time we can say it is Jesus Christ who is teaching us, who's still speaking on our behalf and teaching us through the Holy Spirit. Because it is his words. And in one of the texts he says, which one was it? I'm sorry, go ahead, let me look for the text. Are we saying that the Holy Spirit is not the one that is using Jesus' words as he's speaking to teach us? I'm sorry, what was that? Are we saying that the Holy Spirit is not the one that is teaching our hearts these things as Jesus was teaching? Yes, he is teaching us. Yes. Yes. But here it would say afterwards. Yeah, as Jesus is teaching. Has, yes. Yes, before this is, you know, he will be given, is he not still? Yes. Oh, I see. So before he was sent. Yes. Yes. Oh, of course. Yeah. So just like in the Old Testament, right? Yes. Salvation was always by Christ, right? Is looking forward to Christ. So anyone who was ever saved in the Old Testament during the earthly ministry of Christ after it is, the Holy Spirit that gave those people life, that took the words of God, and made them alive to the people, revealed them to the people. Yes, yes, we are saying that, but what the Holy Spirit, just as the Son says, I am doing what the Father shows me, and they are His words, The Holy Spirit is also teaching us Christ's words. So there are His words. So just like we can say the Father is the one true God, the Son is the one true God, and the Holy Spirit is the one true God, we can say that Christ teaches us and the Holy Spirit teaches us. But really, it is the Holy Spirit through whom Christ teaches us. So it is the Holy Spirit that's enabling us, that's giving us that understanding. It is His role. But yeah. Does that answer your question? Yes. It's always been by the Holy Spirit. before the events of the death and resurrection of Christ and before the coming of the Holy Spirit versus the men that they became. Suffering persecutions without complaining, being riders of the Word. You look at the overwhelming they did, and that's the evidence of the Spirit coming. Oh, this is right here, John 16, 13, but when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, right, so he will, so there's his role, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. It's similar to what Gia said about the father. I'm only telling you what the father shows me. But they were his teachings. But then in another sense, he says, these are my father's teachings. There's this unity, but each one does have its own specific or distinct role in salvation. Is there any other questions before we close? So again, in showing the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit and His work in salvation, or the fact that He is the Spirit through whom we have spiritual life, but then his role in salvation and his relation to the son and then to the father, those things show us, demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is a person separate, or not separate, distinct from the son and the father, but he is also God. He is also God and crucial, his role is crucial in salvation. Yes. Yeah, I'm just thinking about our confession. It talks about assurance. The foundation of our assurance of salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is the Holy Spirit. The bottom line is, with whatever doubts we may have or confusions, it is the Holy Spirit who gives us assurance of salvation. It says, you believe in Christ. Yes, yeah. Yeah, I think also in chapter one, when it's talking about the holy scriptures, the confession talks about all these wonderful and glorious truths that definitively demonstrate that the Bible is the word of God. But then he says, but it's the Holy Spirit, the one that really gives us the, let me quote it. Let me see if I can find it. Make sure you get it correctly. The holy scriptures. Paragraph five, we may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God, the full discovery, make a discovery, the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God. Yet, not without standing, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts." Is that the one that you were referring to? Okay, yeah. Yeah, so we can have all the evidences in the world, and they're good, but what is key is having the Holy Spirit give us that, or persuading us that these things are true. Otherwise, we can hear it all day long, and we just will not assent to it or truly believe in it. So yeah, the work of the Holy Spirit is key. And it's important to understand that when we evangelize, when we share the gospel with people, we can share it as clearly as possible, but the Holy Spirit is key. It's important to enlighten them, to give them spiritual life so they can hear and understand and then truly believe and rest in Christ Jesus, trust in him. Yep. Any other comments or questions? Okay, let's pray.