Please take your Bibles and turn to John 14. John chapter 14. If you're willing and able, we'll stand out of reverence for the reading of God's word. We'll pick our reading up once again in verse 15 and read the same verses from last week, verses 15 through 17. Jesus says these words, and this is the word of God. John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray the Father. 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. Pray with me. Father, we come to you once again simply to ask for help and aid. Lord, we wake up this morning and just recognize the desperate need of Christ and an ample helping of grace from your spirit. Father, in all things, moving this morning, father, getting out of bed, encouraging our hearts. All right, tackling the day, if you will, coming together. Well, we recognize that all of that in all of that father and we have a desperate need of you. But even in some of those seemingly mundane things, we recognize And that with the joy of Christ, Father, and desire to honor and please him, that even those things mean something. And that, Father, we truly can, whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, and whatsoever we do, we are to do for the glory of God, and we can do for the glory of God, because of the work of Christ and by the power of his spirit. Father, this time is no different. It seems even weightier. And as we approach your word, Father, strive to be faithful, but at the same time, desire for something more than just a clear explanation. While that's needed, Father, we need your spirit to enliven our hearts and to make these truths alive in our inner men, inner women, and inner boys and inner girls. Father, that it would reach the depths of our souls, that you would encourage our hearts, that you would strengthen our spirits, that we may go from this place loving Christ all the more because you have exalted him in our hearts. So, Father, go with us now to your word and accomplish that which pleases you. And may it please us well, please us as well, Father, as you work and labor in our hearts and lives. It's in his precious and holy name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. Thank you so much for standing. John 14 verses 15 through 17. In particular, our goal this morning be to hone in on verses 16 and 17. Very quickly, you'll remember that this time in the Gospel of John, our Savior is having his last time of private instruction with his disciples prior to his rest, his crucifixion, ultimately his death, and what will conclude three days later in his resurrection, 40 days later in his ascension. And it's a time in the gospel of John and in his life in which he, particularly, is fully aware of what is before him, and I mean in relationship to his death. He's on his way to the cross, and it is hours away. And one of the amazing things that I've tried to bring forth to you that has been a particular treasure in my own heart is that in a time in which he could sit down with disciples and talk about all of his own troubles from a human perspective, because we remember that Christ is fully human, he does not. He sees something either on the face of the disciples, he sees something either in the heart of the disciples that causes him, even in his last hours. To turn His service not to Himself, but as He always does, thinking of others, He seeks to comfort the disciples. Thus in verse 1 of chapter 14, He says, these words, let not your hearts be troubled. We might compare this scenario to a mother and father, although that falls even short, probably infinitely short of actually what's going on here. Maybe a younger family. The father is there on his deathbed, dying of cancer or something else, and the young boy or the young girl, the four-year-old, five-year-old comes up. and doesn't understand what's happening, doesn't even really understand that his mother or father is dying. And the father strives to explain to him and comfort his soul. In some sense, he is and has come to terms with what is before him. It is inevitable. He knows that that is his lot. And he tells the little boy or girl, I'm going away. but then seeks to turn and comfort that little boy or girl in instruction. I mean, what they are to be and to do, what all of this means in his absence. Some way, that's what Christ is doing with his children, with his spiritual babes in Christ. He's telling them, I'm going away, but look, I'm coming again. And he seeks to settle their troubled souls in the midst of that. And He does it by encouraging them in the truth of God's Word, and particularly truth about Him. He tries to encourage them by exalting some realities about Him, but it's not about Him alone, it is in His service to them. For example, Christ is preparing the way in verses 1 through 11. And in preparing that way, he is preparing a way for them. And he tells them, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Where I'm going, I'm going to prepare that place for you to be with me. But know this, that in the going away, I'm not actually leaving you. I'm going to send a helper, and we're going to get to that this morning. Verses 12 through 14, he continues to encourage them with this truth, that in my going away, my work will continue. And it's going to be even greater in you as the Spirit of Christ labors in you. And one of the means to accomplish that in is going to be the means of prayer. So he encourages them to pray. And in praying in his name, in God's will, in the Father's name, in Christ's name. Again, there's multiple texts you could bring in. He's encouraging them to ask. and to pray, to accomplish that end. We looked at Acts and saw how that actually played out in the life of the church, how they prayed and Christ met them in the power of the Spirit and accomplished those realities. Last week we looked at verse 15 and that phrase, if you love me, and the ESV phrases it like this, you will keep my commandments, and I argued that that too is a promise. That actually is to encourage the disciples. You can imagine, as Christ is going away, how discouraged they may be. How in the world are we going to accomplish this if he's gone? And he encourages them to examine their own hearts in a similar way, I think, as Peter later on, when he looks at Peter and he says, Peter, do you love me? If so, feed my sheep, right? From that foundation is the reality of faithfulness in Christ. And really, faithfulness in Christ could be summed up in this reality, loving Christ. To love Christ is to seek to honor Christ with a life that is honoring to him. And out of the love that is born In our hearts and lives, faithfulness is bred, faithfulness is cultivated. As we believe on Christ, we see Christ as he is, and we love Christ all the more, which compels us to strive to honor him with a faithful life. So our obedience is flowing out of, and in some sense, comparable to loving Christ. Then we come to verses 16 and 17, and in these verses, really, what we see is what we might compare to, or you try to illustrate with this idea of the Spirit of God being the engine, if you will, of the Christian life. All of what was just previously mentioned in verses one through 15, and even subsequently after, we might want to ask the question, what is the foundation of all of this? How is it that all of these things are accomplished, we might ask? We could ask questions like this, and maybe you do, maybe some of your kids will, you know? Why do I obey God? How do I obey God? We might say, because you love God. And then we might say, or they might say, why do I love God? We might say, because why do you love God? And I say, because I've seen him. And because I've seen him, I believe in him. And we might even ask the question further. Well, what about him do you see that's different? And how did that change why you believed in him? We may be able to give a clear articulation of what we see now differently that we love about him, but still, the question arises, why are there people that don't? I mean, those same people, they know the same things. I struggled with this in days past. sitting on the same pew as a young man, or sitting on the same pew as an older man, and some of my family, or some of the people that I bring to church, and want them, like in my inner man, as much as possible, to be converted to Christ, and come to Christ, and the same sermon that would be preached, and I would think, man, what a glorious Savior. It would fall upon their ears. And they would walk away the same. Not to boast in anything that I am. I'm not the smartest guy in the world. I'm not even at the top tier. I'm not all that logical on some days. I'm not the most reasonable person. I'm not the smartest, the most intellectual. What is it about the gospel that was preached on that day that drew me? Why do I love Christ? Why do I wake up every day and struggle? with a desire to be faithful and wanting to love Christ more. And yet, and yet some don't. What makes us different? What makes them different? Are we just more logical? Are we smarter? Are we more submissive by nature? Why do we believe? You might ask, yet, Another question, why today do I believe more than I did yesterday? How do we get victory over sin even as a Christian? We might ask these questions. Where does the continued cultivation of patience come from? Because I know that I can't work it up in my own life, right? And that's evidence in my marriage and family that over the years, I've continued to grow, you've continued to grow. What's the foundation of that? How do we get there if we're arguing for faithfulness? Spiritual growth in some of your lives is exponential, yet in others maybe not so much if at all. You look at it and you say, it's because I've put in the work. Is it really because you've put in the work? You know, I've went to the Bible and study and prayer. And practically, there's no doubt that that has influence, but we also know that there's a plethora of people that have given themselves over to Bible study and what we might call the means of grace, those means that God gives us to grow, and yet they don't grow at all. It's just an academic exercise. You can look at the Pharisees and say, those guys gave more time to Bible study and prayer than any of us. Why is it that Jesus condemns them with a cold, dead orthodoxy and a legalism? In some sense, it comes down to this text. What's the difference? What makes the difference? And I'm not laying aside all of those other things, saying that those things are inconsequential. What you'll understand is that, too, that the Spirit of God has a will for believers, and he's ordained a certain means to approach him. and to learn and to grow in Him. Therefore, we are to grab Bible study and prayer and fellowship and the preaching of God's Word, the proclamation of the truth. We're to grab all of those things by the horns and we are to love those things and to run with those things and to labor in those things. But those things are only a means to an end to see Christ. And the only way that we're going to see Christ as clearly as we need to and we want to in a way that actually cultivates faithfulness and love to Christ is with the help and the aid of the Spirit of God. What I'm saying is that John 14 through 17 in the beginning in this passage, we see the reality for the utter need of the presence and the power of God in the Spirit to accomplish what is necessary in our lives. To please God, to live for God, to love God, and really to do much of anything of eternal consequence and value. For example, as we come off of the verse, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, we recognize that that's a promise to believers to comfort their souls. That we're to walk not discouraged in this life with a struggle because of certain areas of faithfulness, We are to love Christ and to obey Christ in honor of him. But that's not to say that we're not to confuse this verse and say, if you love me, you will keep my commandments, and that if you do that, then I will give you the spirit. We're not to to confuse the text in that way. What we're going to realize is that if the love of God is born in our hearts, it's as a result of the Spirit, and that obedience comes out of a lovingness to Christ. And that really, the foundation of the Christian life in every area is the Holy Spirit. Thus John takes, and particularly Christ, in the comforting of the saints, His disciples, and you and I subsequently, 2,000 years removed, encourages the people of God with this teaching, particularly the teaching of the Spirit of God and His operation in the life of believers. And the emphasis on the person of the Holy Spirit, I want to argue, may sound elementary. And it may sound just something fundamental to Christianity such that we kind of push it aside. But it is, without a doubt, one of the most important things for you and I to understand as we strive to live and honor and be faithful to God. And that it is important to understand it doctrinally. But even more than that, it is imperative that we understand it experientially, that we understand and know this person of the Trinity, that we yield it to him, that we are dependent upon him. We must remain humble, recognizing, and this is often an area of contention with God's people, right? That what we, have in Christianity and maybe even within this congregation is this tendency to go to one extreme or the other. Maybe not in this congregation to go to the extreme of the charismatics and kind of abuse the doctrine of the Holy Spirit such that it devolves into chaos. But maybe we're on the other end in which it is just this academic truth that we know and it's not experientially lived out. What we're going to see in this text is that the Holy Spirit is the gift of the Father because of the prayers of Christ, and that it is a person who is coming to the people of God to live in them, to help them, to aid them, to teach them from that moment forward. And that is extremely imperative that we understand that and live in light of that reality. So, again, this may seem elementary, rudimentary. It may seem like a Bible study this morning, but we're going to go to the text. We're going to seek to understand, very elementary, who the Spirit of God is and what His operation is in our life, what He desires to accomplish that we may know Him and grow in the love of Christ. I'm gonna give you just a few points to hang our hats on. And we'll spend more time in a couple of them than others. Number one, we'll look at the prayer of Christ. It'll be very quick, but in verse number 16, we see that the gift of the Spirit is actually the product of the prayer of Christ to the Father. Number two, we're gonna look at the person who's coming. We're gonna actually look at the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to, emphasize the personhood of the Spirit of God. And that actually has a practical implication. Number three, we look at the purpose of His coming. Why did He come? And then number four, we'll look at the permanence of His coming and what a blessing it will be to truly realize that He is with us and He will never leave us or forsake us. So number one, the prayer of Christ. We see the prayer of Christ here in verse number 16. He says, and I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." And very, again, very simply, what we have is this Trinitarian work of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that is working to come to the aid of the believer. This will be extremely comforting, particularly to the disciples. As Christ is going away, he's going to let them know, he's going to teach them that Christ actually will come and the power of the Spirit to them to enable them to live out the Christian life in a way that's honoring to God and loving particularly to Christ. So I just want to say seemingly in passing, very briefly, that this is the result of the work of Christ. That the Spirit of God coming to God's people is not only by means of His death, and crucifixion, that He accomplishes that work and purchases that reality as one of the benefits for Christ's saints, but you see that this is the grand desire of His heart that the people of God would have the Spirit of God to enable them. In some sense, if we can use this terminology without being heretical this morning, it is the heart of Christ, it is the desire of Christ for the Spirit of God to come in you to come to be with you, that you may be enabled to live out the faithful Christian life in this world. We can put it another way, that it is Christ's desire for you to live faithfully, therefore He equips you with all the means necessary to accomplish that, that you shouldn't wake up this morning with this this impersonal view of Christ at the right hand of the Father as you struggle through this life wondering if you could ever delight or to please God, or to delight in God and to be pleased with Christ. It is such Christ's desire that He gives Himself over to this means of prayer. He approaches the throne room of grace on this day. He says, this is my prayer. I will pray to the Father. I will go before Him. I will petition God Himself. in the Spirit, for you, on your behalf. And you see this advocate of the people of God, particularly the disciples here, that Christ goes before the Father and asks Him to equip them to live out a loving life to Christ. To be pleased in Christ, to be pleased by Christ, and to please Christ. How will that be accomplished? Well, He will pray to the Father to send the Spirit. So we see the prayer of Christ, and in that prayer, we really see the desire or the heart of Christ towards His disciples. We see a direct reference to that later on in verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, He's gonna name Him, the Advocate, the Helper, the Comforter, from whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. That this is the prayer of Christ. Number two, We'll not only know the prayer of Christ, but also the person who's coming. We'll spend a little bit more time here. And my emphasis is going to be on the personhood of the Holy Spirit. You remember in verse 16, he says, I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. He goes on to refer to Him even in this passage as he. So we could ask the question very basically once again, seems elementary, but who is the Holy Spirit? Who is? And that's an important question. We're not asking what is the Holy Spirit. And we answer that as this. He is one person of the Trinity or the Godhead. That there is one God, the scriptures are clear, and that one God has existed eternally as three persons. Some of you have a boys and girls catechism where you're teaching your children God's truth. Spurgeon's catechism, the boys and girls catechism, says this in question six. Are there more gods than one? Of course the answer is this out of Deuteronomy six. No, there is only one God. Question seven is, in how many persons does that God exist? Or this one God exist? The answer to that question is three persons. Who are they? Question eight would ask. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That the Spirit of God has eternally existed as the Father with the Son. That it is true to say that the Father is God, the Son is God, and number three, that the Holy Spirit is God. That there are not three gods, but there is one God who has eternally existed in those three persons. That the Spirit of God, it's important to recognize this morning, that the Spirit of God is not an it. He is a divine person. He is not an influence or an energy of God. I mean, He's not a spiritual force to where He moves things from another world. That what we have in the Spirit of God is an actual person who is God dwelling with us. Verse 26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things. He will teach you all things. And bring to your remembrance all things that I've said to you. He will teach you, it says. Power doesn't teach. Influence doesn't teach. Energy doesn't teach. A person teaches. Throughout the text of Scriptures, we see that the Spirit of God as a person who has personal attributes, You may not see the importance of this initially, but it will be in the way that we relate to God. It will be in the way that we relate to the Spirit of God. Throughout the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament, He is a person who has a rational will. He has thoughts. in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11. He makes moral judgments in Acts 15, verse 28. He makes moral choices, excellent choices, in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11. He relates to other persons within the Godhead, the Father and the Son. But he also relates to people. You'll find that he teaches them. He testifies to them. He reproves them. He guides them. He intercedes for them. John Gill, an old Reformed Baptist, says, quote, now, as the advocacy and intercession of Christ, it proves him to be a person. and a distinct one from the Father with whom He intercedes. So the intercession of the Spirit equally proves His personality, even His distinct personality also. And what He's saying is, He's saying if the Spirit intercedes for the people of God, He intercedes for the people of God on behalf of Christ to the Father, then know this, that He too is in some sense a person. He is God. And that He is fully divine. For example, Acts chapter 5, with Ananias and Sapphira, the Holy Spirit is used interchangeably with God Himself. To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. He shares all the attributes with God because He is divine. He is omniscient in the Scriptures. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He's eternal. He has foreknowledge. He has goodness. He has love. He has excellence. He has truth. He has holiness. He's infinite. And all of these are attributed to the Spirit or the Holy Spirit as much as to the Father and to the Son. And you say, again, this is somewhat rudimentary or elementary. You say, I know this. Yes, but do you know Him, is going to be the grand question. Right? That in Christ, the Spirit of God comes to the believer to dwell in him. So as you labor in this life, it is important to know as a believer that God is laboring in you and with you as that person. As who? As the Holy Spirit. That's the name that's given to us here. and probably the dominant name throughout the entirety of the New Testament. Spirit indicating that thing or that person or that idea or that concept of invisibility. It's often used as naturally of a breath. In the New Testament, it could be used of the breath of a man. It's something that goes unseen. And when the wind blows, it's often used of the wind blowing. I mean, from a natural perspective, it's that which is unseen, but carries weight with it as it moves things. It can blow through. You know, the wind is there because it blows through the trees. When it's used of God, it's used in a similar way. It's used to speak of the invisible power or the immaterial nature of God. He is a spirit. It signifies just the lack of limitations to this God. He's not confined to a physical nature. He's limitless. And because of that, he can be omnipotent, omniscient. There's no limit or borders. to his attributes. Therefore, he is infinitely knowing. He is infinitely able. He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think. He's able to do more than any man could ever calculate. Why? Because God is a spirit. But not only is He a spirit, He's the Holy Spirit. If you wanted to bind God to something, you say there are boundaries to our triune God, you would bind Him by this, His holiness, which in one sense is infinite, and in another sense binds Him to a certain nature and character that is completely other than us. And that's what the word holy means. It means separate or set apart. God is set apart. He is fully clean. He is something other than us, such that in Isaiah 6, the angels would come and bow before Him, and even in their righteous nature before Him, without any sin present in their spiritual beings, He would still be so other than them. In the light of eternity, they would still clothe their eyes because of the brightness of the glory of Jesus Christ Himself. That's the holiness of the Spirit. I know that we think of the Father. It's easy to think of the Father like that in heaven upon His throne. It's easy to think of the throne room, as you will, of the Spirit of the Father there in heaven in this unapproachable light because of the reverence and the awe that is produced in His presence. And yet at the same time, This holiness is attributed to the Spirit, which lives and dwells in each of us. And as He lives, He lives in a holy manner. And so His nature is holy, but even what He accomplishes, because He is holy, He accomplishes only that which is holy. So His nature is holy, His message is holy, His word is holy, His actions are holy, and those who are His are too holy. He makes them holy. Otherwise, you couldn't approach Him with reverence and awe. We learn from this that God is holy and the Spirit, too, that lives and dwells in us is worthy of our worship, is worthy of our reverence, is worthy of our awe, is worthy of our submission, is worthy of our obedience. Number two, He is not only the Holy Spirit, but He is the Spirit of truth. I mean, it says something of his nature that he is truth. Nothing can come out of him that is a lie, that is false. But it too says something of his ministry. He ministers truth and truth alone. He speaks the truth. He is the truth. He leads men into truth. There is no falsehood in him, and you'll find no fault in him. You'll claim no error within the spirit of God. He, like the Father and the Son, are flawless in character, but also flawless in activity. There's not one thing that they've done that's been inappropriate, wrong, or false. They do not lead men astray. That he is the spirit of truth. Number three, he's the helper. He's the helper will look most will look more at this in just a little bit, but you may have a translation that says he's the comforter. The word there is, the original word's paraclete. You hear preachers say that all the time. It's just the original word that means to be the comforter, to be the helper. Literally, it could be translated the advocate. It's a legal term. It speaks of somewhat of a representative, a man who would go before, come to the side, come to aid. Literally, in a general fashion, he is the one who comes alongside for the purpose of helping and for the purpose of Aiding that's what we have in this spirit this spirit who is a spirit of truth comes in truth speaking a message of truth leading the people of God in holiness and that is how he aids and comes alongside and helps in the Christian life. So we must remember that he is not only to be treated as a mere power to be manipulated for our selfish ends, but we are to seek him and in seeking him we are in pursuit of not our own desires or a transcendent experience like the charismatics. That when we say When we speak of the Holy Spirit, we are in pursuit of a person. We are relating to a person. We are coming before a person. A person is walking alongside us. If we're loving God, we're in Christ, we're believing in Him. He's dwelling with you. And when you are completely alone, physically, naturally in this world, you are not if you have the Spirit. And we'll look more practically in the application of that soon. Number three, We see the prayer, we see the person, and we see the purpose. So He's given for a reason. What is the purpose of His coming? Verse number 18, which we did not read this morning, you read these words, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. I will not leave you orphans. So what's the purpose of His coming? His coming is to be with us. It's that simple. Now we're talking about the activity in us. He's coming to accomplish things in us, but He is coming to be His sent by the Father in accordance to the will of the Son. His desire for us is for the Spirit to come wholly, completely to be with us and to be in us, to dwell in us. Why? To minister to us like Christ Himself. So he is doing so, so that we are not alone. The disciples are not alone. Another name to be very familiar with when we talk about this in relationship to the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is also referred to, particularly in Romans chapter number eight, as the Spirit of Christ. You don't need to turn there, but Romans chapter eight and verse number nine. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But hang on to that phrase in verse number nine. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Prior to that and after that, he's going to refer to the Spirit in different ways, with different characteristics, with different names, and he's going to use them interchangeably. For example, verse nine, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, and then he says, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, how? By the power of the Spirit. And you don't see that language in John chapter 14, but what you do see is the principle. You do see that reality. Verse number 18, you read these words. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. I will come to you. Who's coming to them? I thought it was the spirit. In some sense, it is. And what you'll find is that interchangeable language, too. In John 14, you'll find in John 16, you'll read things like the Son is sending the Spirit, and then you'll read the Father is sending the Spirit. And the question is, exactly who's sending the Spirit? Is it the Father or is it the Son? And the answer is yes, it's both. They're used somewhat interchangeably, that the Son is desiring and praying and the Father is sending. In a similar way, you'll see that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ. And it is, as Paul says in Romans 8, it's Christ in you. I will not leave you. I will come to you. I will be with you. I thought the Spirit was going to be with me. He is, but in the Spirit you have Christ. Thus we can say that it is Christ in me. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 27. That's exactly what Paul says. He speaks of Christ in you. The hope of glory. that Jesus is going to comfort the disciples and you and I today by saying, yes, I'm going away, I will have this heavenly ministry, but know this, I'm sending the Spirit, and when the Spirit comes, you won't be deficient because you don't have Christ. You will have Christ. Christ will not leave you in that sense. I will come to you, He says. To do what? To comfort you. To help you. That word comfort in the old language, it more signified not necessarily an emotional state of consolation, but strengthening in consolation. What does the Holy Spirit promise when He says, He says, I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper, another helper. And He says that in verse number, verse number 16. He says, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. One question to ask in that verse is, who's the other Helper? So if the Spirit of God is coming, and the Spirit of God is going to be another Helper, another Comforter, another Advocate, then who's the original? Who's the original? Who before has come to their side? Is it the Spirit, or is it someone else? And what seems to be being said here is that as Christ leaves, He will send another Helper, and that original Helper is Christ Himself. That the ministry of the Spirit of God will be to carry on, to pick up, and to take the very ministry of Christ to those saints there now. That's what it means by another. Another is another of the same kind, which points to the truth that the Spirit is not the original Helper. He's another Helper, a new Helper, yet at the same time, He would be like the original Helper. Who's the original Helper? Christ is the original Helper. R.C. Sproul says of this passage, the Paraclete is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ. Jesus' role as the Helper, he says, is vitally important in His earthly ministry. The Holy Spirit assumes the title of another advocate or paraclete in light of Jesus's absence. The Spirit is sent to be Christ's earthly substitute or replacement. Many Christians throughout the ages have referred to as the Spirit of God as the vicar of Christ, the substitute for Christ, the one who would minister in his stead. Against some popular belief throughout the ages, it's not the Pope. It is the Spirit of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who stands in the stead of Christ, ministering Christ to the world, convicting them of sin, righteousness, and judgment because they do not believe in Christ, and cultivating the love of God and the ministry of Christ to the saints. That when Christ came, He was literally referred to, or in the coming, the anticipation of Christ, as the consolation of Israel. Luke chapter 2, in the prophecy of Christ's coming. Luke chapter 2, I think it's verse number 25. We read the story of Simeon. We read these words, and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. and the Holy Spirit was on him. And you see there that the Holy Spirit is not the consolation of Israel in that moment, right? He's not the helper. He's not the paraclete. That's what the word there means. It actually, it's the same word. Advocate, paraclete, helper. What they were anticipating was the Christ that would come and actually console them. How would he console them? He would console them by saving them. We read that this morning in Isaiah 40 verse 1 at the opening of the service. I know that it was a long passage, but throughout that entire passage, you see the comfort of God coming to the nation. In verse 1, comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. speak comfort to Jerusalem. And he's going to argue that that comfort is going to come in a Savior and in a Shepherd, one who would draw them out, one who would forgive their sins, and one who would lead them and take those little lambs in His arm and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those who are with young. That Old Testament Israel is looking for a helper, looking for an aid, looking for one who would come and to save His people. And all throughout the end of Isaiah, you're going to read of that Messiah who is to come. Isaiah 61.1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. That's Christ. Because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to open the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn. to console those who mourn in Zion, it says, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and that he may be glorifying. What we must remember and what would have been encouraging to their hearts is that as Christ goes, his ministry doesn't go. And really, he doesn't go. That what you have in the Holy Spirit is actually the presence of Christ, such that we could call it the Spirit of Christ, who will continue the work of Christ, such that you and I today can say, I have Christ in me. I walk with Him. And He walks with me. That this Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God, continues. And that's how. Link it with the rest of John 14. How will we accomplish the greater works? We won't do it in and of ourselves. But how will we carry on Christ's ministry in a way to do greater works even than Christ because of Christ in you? How will I lead my family? You know? I can't do it. I've tried. You know? I've tried all the means necessary, all the books that I could find, all of the great counsel that you can gird up from all the philosophers and all of the psychiatrists and all the you know, the sociologists and all of the parenting experts and things like that, and yet at the end of the day, like, I don't know what I'm doing. You know, I don't know how to bring this little human into the world, you know, and raise it up in a way that honors Christ. How do you do that? Your only hope is Christ, that he is there. in you and through you, utilizing you as a means displaying His glory as that light that's set as a city upon a hill. You're a beacon for your children. And may He utilize that gospel message and that gospel proclamation both in word and deed as He walks before you. walks alongside you and actually enables you to engage those children as an evangelist to the glory of God such that if He wills and in all of His grace, He may save those children. How? Because of the Spirit of Christ operating in them through your loving faithfulness to Christ. He's our only hope. that what He is encouraging the saints of God, and what I want to encourage you in today, is that if you are loving Christ, because you're believing Christ, and striving to be faithful to Christ, and delight in Christ, and lean on the Spirit of God, who is Christ in you, that all the world may see, and He uses that in the most eternal ways. That you can be faithful. You can have joy. You can raise your children in a most glorious and privileged way without casting all of the hope and weight upon you to save their souls. But living in light of Christ, loving Christ, they see that and Christ uses that in the operation of the Holy Spirit even to bring those little ones to Himself. Such that they too would know what it's like. to walk with Christ and to have them in Him. He's going before you and He's came to teach you. That's one of the primary ministries of the Spirit of God. Verse 26 of 14. But to help her, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring your remembrance all things that I said to you. And there's a particular application to this that I think actually applies directly to the disciples. That very well could be that in the post-Christ resurrection, and in their persecution and opposition in the early church and acts, that God would actually bring to mind those things. But there is a truth in Scripture, not only in this place, but others. in which the Holy Spirit's ministry continues to the saints in guiding the truth of God's Word before us, such that we come to the text of Scripture and we don't have the ability to nail it down in knowledge and understanding such to bring it alive in our souls, but the Spirit of God guides that. He lights the way. And we're to come to the Word of God, we're to come to the people of God, we're to come with humble hearts, willing to be led and taught by this Spirit, the One who is Christ in us. And how does He do that primarily? He does that primarily by exalting Christ. John 16 verse 12. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. Verse 14, He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine, therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. That one way you know that the Spirit of God is operative in your life, is that He does not exalt or elevate Himself in His person, although He has every right to. But He operates to exalt Christ. This morning as we walk away, it will not be, as it will not be, we will not think, we should not think anyway, that God was mightily present with us because the Spirit manifested Himself in these external signs. But more so in the age in which God has placed us to think the Holy Spirit was very present among us this morning. Why? Because Christ was exalted in my heart and in my life. I walked away loving Him so much the more. You know, reveling in my Jesus, I love Thee. This morning, Christ was present in His saints, in the singing, in the prayers, in the fellowship, on the Lord's Day. When I walked away, I found Him more beautiful than all the sophistry of the world, than all the natural beauty of the ages, than all the landscapes that you could hurl together on a mound and put before me. Christ this morning seems all in all. And everything fades to the back. That one of the primary ministries or the primary ministry of the Spirit of God is to exalt Christ and to teach those believers to love Christ and to exalt Him. To show them in a way that they see Him. That changes them from the inside out and transforms Verse number 19, he says, a little while longer and the world will see me no more. But you will see me. I love that phrase. Never jumped out at me until this past week. But you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. You can just hear the questions just rolling around in their little brains because it did mine as well. How will we see you? Because of the ministry of the Spirit of God. I will be present among you. I will be in you. And the Spirit of God will come post-resurrection when I'm gone and He'll lead you into all truth. And that primary truth will be in the person and the work and the character and the nature of Christ. And this will be His continued ministry to exalt Christ in your lives such that you are transformed and forever changed. And He is all the more beautiful, all the more lovely. You'll delight in Him all the more. And as a result of that, faithfulness, obedience, will not seem like a burden. Why? Because the love of Christ with Paul constrains us. What I want you to know with that particular passage, and that particular point is, is that the person of the Holy Spirit is a true person, and that person who is coming is coming in the power of Christ to literally be Christ in you, to minister to you, to exalt Christ such that He is all the more lovely, and all the more lovely that He is, all the more we are drawn to Him in faithfulness, loving Christ. Yes, there's the conviction of sin, there's the drawing, but it fades away in the loveliness of Christ. Our grip to this world becomes loosened as our grip to Christ becomes strengthened, and we cast ourselves not upon the idols of this world. The idols of our heart begin to fade away as Christ becomes more and more enthroned in our thinking and in our mind. And He comes in that person. He comes in the power for that purpose. And He comes, number four, permanently. He comes permanently. Which is maybe one of the most loveliest truths of all. Why? Because I'm not the most loveliest of people. And I love that phrase that MacArthur often gives as he's arguing for the perseverance of the saints. You know, and the eternal security of the believer, if that's the kind of language to argue. He says, listen, if I could lose my salvation, I would lose it. I have no doubt in my mind. Living and dwelling with me, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. If I could, I would lose it. I am not faithful enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm not powerful enough. How in the world is it today that I even woke up, you know, believing? It is because the Spirit of God came to dwell in me. It is because it is Christ in me. He is the one that is keeping me. He is the one that is teaching me. He is the one that is preserving me. He is the one who is continually praying for me. It is the Spirit of God, Romans chapter number 8, in which the Spirit of God is operative within the believer to pray for us when we don't even have words to speak. And He prays with groanings which cannot be uttered. And what you find is that there is this ministry with our Advocate up on high who intercedes on our behalf even in the heavens in this Advocate here and now, which will be fully displayed in John 17, as He even prays for us 2,000 years removed, those who would believe on His name. John chapter 17, you know what the prayer of Christ is? He says this in verse 11, Now I'm no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me. that they may be one as we are one. And he goes on to pray for the saints, and he says, I'm not praying for those that You've given me here and now, but also those who will believe in Your name. And I'm praying for them, that we would be one with them as the Father and the Son, that the unity would be so great. No doubt the Spirit is present. How is Christ in me except by the Spirit of God? And you see the triune work of God continually, not only in salvation, but even in my sanctification, even in my preservation. that He is coming to dwell in me according to Ezekiel chapter 36. How? By giving me a new heart and pouring His Spirit upon me, causing me out of love to walk in His statues. That Christ's desire and His prayer is that the people of God, you and I, would have that which is necessary, that we might walk faithful. How's He going to do that? By the indwelling of the Spirit of God, giving you a gift that is otherworldly, and that gift is Christ Himself and the power of the Spirit. And He'll walk with you. He'll lead you. He'll guide you into all truth. And you know how long He's going to do it? Forever. Forever. That's what He says in verse number 16. He says, I will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. It's forever. Christ is in you. He is not leaving you. He is not forsaking you. He is laboring with you. And know that Jesus Christ, who died for your sins and accomplished your salvation with His own blood, cares more about your salvation than you do. He cares more about your sanctification than you do. And thus He has committed Himself in the power of the Spirit because of the work of Christ and the plan of the Father to equip you with this permanent presence such that He would be continually drawing you to Himself, exalting Christ in your mind, causing you to repent of your sins by the power of the Spirit as you walk no longer in the flesh, but you walk in the Spirit and you put on Christ, you see Him as more lovely, and that will continue until we see Him face to face, in which we will permanently, eternally dwell with Christ in the heavens. That this is an eternal reality, but it too is a present reality in your life. So application, and much of it has been, so it'll be brief. Application. If you love Christ, Christ is in you. So be encouraged. That's the point of this passage. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Be encouraged. Be comforted. Be consoled. Why? Because if you're believing in Christ and you're loving Christ, know this, you will keep His commandments. How? Because I've given you all that you need in the person of the Spirit who is the presence of Christ in your life. As He's exalted, love Him more. Work with Him more. It's the Holy Spirit. is to be to, this is our application, the Holy Spirit is to be to the disciples and to you and me all that Christ was in his earthly ministry, right? Think about that, all that Christ was to the disciples. Last week I posed the question, how in the world, I mean, are we 2,000 years removed to even love or to cultivate that affection to a man that we've never even met? where the scriptures would proclaim and Christ would declare, and I will give to you this morning, and that this Christ is present among us. That you can know him, that's what he says, you do know him for those who do believe. And that as he goes away, he does not leave them wanting. And that that same ministry, as the disciples would have gotten together, seen the miraculous works, heard the grand teaching, exalted the realities of eternity in their minds, as they would have prayed alongside the ministry of Christ to them, which they would have seen as so incalculable and invaluable to their sanctification and to the progress of the work of God in this world, that which would have been so insurmountable in value, having Christ with them, He says, did not change. It doesn't change. You have Christ with you. You know, you may look back and think, yeah, I would have had boldness, I would have had resolve, I would have done this or I would have done that, I would have been a much better Christian if Christ was ever before me. Well, the text is clear today. He is as much with you, if you believe in Him, as He was with the disciples. And we are to live in light of that reality. We are to live as if Christ is present with us. Why? Because He is. We are to experience that. It's more than just mental accolades. It's more than just an academic experience. It's more than just a celebration of truth. A.W. Tozer, this is a paraphrase, said that one of the greatest tragedies in the church was that we began to celebrate the resurrection instead of experiencing it. That what we have in the Spirit of God is a person to commune with, not something simply to know. Right? That it is imperative that you not only understand and have an orthodox understanding of who the Spirit of God is and that we get this right as an individual, as a pastor, and as a church. But it is even more important that in light of that reality, we know Him. That you know Him this morning. You know Christ. Why? Because He is in you and He is with you. You know, and the atheists hate this argument, but it's true. There's no believer in this world who doesn't, at least on some basis, argue the reality of God. Why? Because the Spirit of God testifies with their spirits. Christ is in you, bringing you, cultivating in you realities, joy, patience, faith, love, hope, self-sacrifice, service to others. That one of the grand realities, at least in our own heart, which is not completely objective in nature to the world, is the reality that Christ is in me. And He's working and He's laboring. And as I look over the last 20 years, I think his labor was not in vain. That he continues to love and he continues to walk and he continues to be there all throughout the New Testament. And you see the presence of Christ and the power of the Spirit operating through the means that he has designed. Christ is present with us in the preaching of God's Word. Christ is present with us in the Lord's table as He communes with His people. Christ is present in the baptism waters as the truth is proclaimed. Do you know something this morning of the presence of Christ in your life by the Spirit of God? Not only because you understand it from an academic perspective and you know all the catechism questions, but are you this morning walking with Christ? And is Christ walking with you? Another point of application, if this is true, then we are to treat the Spirit of God in our lives as we would have treated Christ, right? So if Christ is a person, imagine for just a moment that Christ was with us today, you know? Imagine that he's sitting there in the pews, the son of God who died to save sinners like us. If he were here this morning, how would you relate to him? How would you speak to him? How would you carry yourself around him? Well, here's the kicker. If you have the spirit of God, he is with you always. And he is a person. He is a person in Ephesians chapter four who can be grieved. He is a person in 1 Thessalonians 5 that can be quenched. He is a person in Acts chapter 5 that can be lied to. He is a person in Acts chapter 13 who leads and guides and directs in the ministry of the mission work of God. I mean, Acts chapter 15. The disciples say they move in a certain direction. Why? Because it seemed good to them, and it says it seemed good to the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 16, He's forbidding and directing mission work, and the Holy Spirit is active, Christ is active in the context of the local church as He ministers to them, and ministers Christ to them. In Acts 20 and verse 28, it is the Holy Spirit who has made you overseers. He is appointing, He is ordaining, He is affirming those leaders within the context of the local church. That Christ is a person. And the Holy Spirit is a person. And the presence of Christ is made known through Him. And this morning, He is a person to be ministered to and is ministering to His saints. He walks among us. And we should think of it like this. It is as if Christ is with us. Why? Because he is. He's here even this morning ministering to the saints. And maybe too, he's here this morning ministering to those who are not. Acts chapter 7 and verse 51. He says, you resist the Holy Spirit even as your fathers did. Maybe today you're here and you're without Christ. Know this, you're not rejecting concepts. You're not arguing ideologies. You're not casting down arguments. This morning, if you are without Christ, it's because you reject a person. The person of Christ and the power of the Spirit. Thus, we see the Spirit of God saving men from Acts on, even prior to that. But in Acts chapter number 2, John 16, which was actually quoted this morning in Sunday school, and given some attention. What you see is that when I come, the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and sin, because you do not believe in Me. I think that that has some practical application to today, but I think that you see that too in Acts chapter 2 as Peter stands up and preaches. When the Holy Spirit comes there at Pentecost and dwells upon the early New Testament church, Peter preaches with power and he calls those men to come to Christ. Why? Because they did not believe in Him. And because they did not believe in Him, they murdered the Christ. And in that moment, the Spirit of God convicts them. They're pricked in their heart and they come to Christ, now believing on them which they did not believe in. And He continues that work even to this day. As Christ is proclaimed, as Christ is preached this morning, the salvation and the consolation of all the world, the nations included. His death, burial, and resurrection is pounding before you that He died for sinners, and that you are without Him, and that you are in need of Him. If you're being drawn this morning, convicted of your unbelief in the Savior of all the world, He commands you to come this morning. Do not resist. If you're here today without Christ, you're not rejecting a concept. You're rejecting a person. But two, if he is drawing you by his magnificent and eternal power, as he did throughout the ages and he continues into this day, I beg you come. As Christ says, come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So saints of God, take comfort. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in Me. If you believe in God, believe also in Me. And in that believing, you will be loving. And in that loving, you will be obeying. Why? Because a person dwells in you and walks with you, exalting Christ, and He will do it forever. He has gotten you in His hand, and He will not lose any of His. So be in courage. Yield to Him. Love Him all the more. If you're without Christ today, today is the day of salvation. And if He's drawing you, come. Believe on Christ. He is your only hope. Let's pray. Father, we thank You, we praise You, just for Your labor of love in and through and among us. Father, we know that the Word was proclaimed. How faithfully. One day I'll stand and give an account. How clearly? Who knows? And in that we revel that the best sermons, Father, that have ever been preached have been by fallen men, and our greatest attempts still fall short, Father, of what you deserve, and that you, by the power of your Spirit, take our fallen endeavors, mixed with our finiteness and even our fallenness, And by your power, Father, you do eternal things. And that's what we pray, Father, to this end, on this day. Father, that you would take the word proclaimed, maybe even this morning, Isaiah chapter 40, as it was read before the service even started, that you would take it and that you would use it, Father, to your end for your glory, to exalt Christ and his person, character, and nature in the lives of your people. And if somebody, Father, hears without Christ, older or younger, maybe a little one, Father, may you, by the power of your Spirit, make him lovely in their sight. Father, see him as their only hope and savior and spend their lives delighting in you as they live joyfully and patiently awaiting your return. Father, give them a childlike faith and do the same for us. Make, Father, what we have made so complicated simple. Loving Christ. Exalting him in our lives. And may we enjoy every minute of it as we are drawn by the power of the Spirit as he lives and dwells, Father, in us. And may all the world know that there is a triune God in heaven, whether they serve him or not. May they know, Father, by our lives, that our King is Jesus Christ and Christ alone. But Father, in your patience and love and compassion, may you use this church and individuals and families as a means to be that light to draw, Father, all men to yourself. We would glory and revel, Father, in the salvation of sinners. So Father, we look to you to that end and just pray that you'd help us to be faithful and to rejoice in those times of blessing. and to rejoice well in times of dearth.