Church, our sermon text for this morning is John chapter 14, verses 15 through 31. So if you could turn there, either in your bulletin or in your own copy of God's word. John chapter 14, starting at verse 15. This is God's word. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will 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 him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the words that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still 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 your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. Church, let's pray together. Our Father, we come before you today in the matchless name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we come before you today praising you. Father, we look out at creation and we see that your world testifies to something of your wisdom, something of your eternal power, and your divine nature is clearly displayed to us in the things that you have made. But Father, how much more do you reveal your glory to us in the face of Jesus Christ. Father, you have revealed yourself most fully in Jesus Christ and in his word. And so, Father, we come before your word humbly. We come before your word expectantly. Father, we come expecting to hear from you. Father, we know that your word does not return void. It accomplishes that for which you purpose. It succeeds in the thing for which you send it. And so we ask that by your Holy Spirit that you would make the preaching of your word and the hearing of your word effective? Father, would you exhort us? Would you comfort us? Would you teach us through your word and by your Holy Spirit? We ask this in Christ's name, amen. What happens to the disciples when Jesus leaves them? That's the question on the table in John 14. What happens to the disciples when Jesus leaves them? Jesus has already told the disciples that he will leave. He's already clued them in to this fact. The first step in his departure when he says, I will go and prepare a place for you, is his death. In fact, less than 24 hours from when this text is taking place, less than a day from when Jesus is saying these words to the disciples, he will be dead. Jesus will go to the cross and he will die. And this is a very big change for the disciples, right? Jesus has been with them physically for years. For years, the disciples' daily routine has been to wake up and to follow Jesus around and to hear him teach them and to hear words from his lips. Jesus has walked alongside them. He's been with them for years. And now he says, I will go and prepare a place for you. He will leave them, physically speaking. And so the question is, what happens next? What happens to the disciples when Jesus leaves? Well, here's what Jesus says, verse 16. He says, he will ask the father who will send them another helper, meaning the spirit of truth. The father will send the disciples the Holy Spirit. And this here is a word of comfort to the disciples. Jesus is saying, I am going away, but don't worry, another helper will come to you. Someone else will come to you and be with you. That's what Jesus is saying. Just as I have helped you, disciples, another helper, someone else will come along and help you along. The word helper here is important. Sometimes in scripture, this word refers to Jesus. Other times in scripture, this word refers to the Holy Spirit. And there are a handful of different ways you could interpret this word. For example, helper could mean advocate, like a legal advocate who defends you in court. The word essentially means somebody who comes to your aid when you're defenseless, when you need help. Think, for example, if you were to travel to a foreign country where you didn't speak the language, and you committed a crime and were arrested and taken into court, and they didn't give you an interpreter. You're sitting there on trial. You don't speak the language. You have no idea what's going on. You need help. You need an advocate. You need someone to come to you and to speak for you, to advocate for your case, to plead your case for you. That's the idea of the word helper here. When Jesus leaves the disciples, they will now have two helpers, or two advocates, just as you have two advocates. The Son advocates for you at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you, and the Holy Spirit advocates for you in your heart. He takes the work of Jesus Christ and applies it to your heart. That's the work of the Holy Spirit of God. When Jesus leaves the disciples, they will no doubt receive accusations. They will receive accusations from the outside, from the world and the devil. They will receive accusations from their own hearts, their own selves. The accusations might sound something like this. They might sound something like, where's Jesus? Hasn't he left you in your sins? Hasn't Jesus abandoned you? Look at your guilty conscience. How could you be saved? Where's Jesus? There is no one to help you. That's the sort of accusations that the disciples might receive. It's the sort of accusation that you might receive as well. But the Holy Spirit, the helper, the advocate, not only applies the work of Christ to your heart, but he lifts your eyes up to heaven to see Jesus Christ. He makes you say that despite your sins, despite your guilt, it's been paid for. The Holy Spirit causes you to look to Christ and say, I agree. I agree in one sense with these accusations. I agree that I am indeed sinful, but I know, I know my Redeemer lives. I know that in Him I have forgiveness. I have acceptance with God. God has promised in His word. that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And so the Holy Spirit lifts your heart up to heavens to see Christ and to see your Redeemer and to know that in Him you are forgiven. That's one of the ways that the Holy Spirit is your advocate. He does so in your own heart. And this word helper could also mean teacher. In verse 26, Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. And this teaching is not new teaching. It's not new revelation. It has everything to do, Jesus says, with what Jesus has already taught them. Verse 26, the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you, Jesus says. In verse 26, Jesus has said, I am the truth. And in verse 17, we read that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, verse 17. And those are connected, right? The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth of God, meaning he testifies chiefly to the truth of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ and in his word. The Holy Spirit has never made anyone teach that there are multiple ways to heaven. The Holy Spirit has never made anyone teach that Jesus was simply a good moral teacher. The Holy Spirit has never made anyone teach anything that contradicts the written word of God. Why is that? It's because he's the spirit of truth. He's the spirit of truth. He testifies to the truth of God. He is indeed God. He can do nothing but tell the truth and testify to the truth in your heart. The Holy Spirit works with the written word in the hearts of believers to convince you of the truth, to persuade you of the truth of God. Something we see in verse 17 is that the Holy Spirit distinguishes Christians from the world. He distinguishes in this way. Jesus says, the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells in you and will be in you. In other words, Christians receive the spirit of the truth, the spirit of truth, but the world does not. And this is an important point because we live in a day and age where, in the world today, the questions that people ask, more often than not, is not, what is the truth? We live in a day and age where people, generally speaking, are not as much interested in the truth That's really a question that people will ask. Instead, people tend to ask the question, what's convenient? What will help me? What is convenient? Even if it's a lie, even if it's not true, the question that people ask is, what's convenient? But the church, the church should be a place where people care about the truth. The church is a place where people love the truth, where people defend the truth. The church is a place where we defend the truth, where we believe the truth, where we see the truth of the word of God and we conform our lives to it, even if it's not convenient. The church should be a place where outsiders could come in and speak with us and they would hear us speak the truth to them in love. They should see the church as a pillar and a buttress of truth, a stronghold of truth, where people care about and believe the truth of God and will speak into their lives and will preach the truth, regardless of what the world says. That's a work of the Holy Spirit of God. He's the spirit of truth, whom the world doesn't receive, whom the world does not receive, but Christians do. because he tells you the marvelous truth of God. So when Jesus leaves, he will send the Holy Spirit. But now we ask, what does it mean that Jesus is leaving? Will Jesus leave them entirely? Is this first teaching that Jesus will leave the disciples and then simply hand them off to the Holy Spirit? Is that what he's saying there? Is Jesus leaving them for good? The answer is no. Verse 18, Jesus says, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. And now here's where things get a little bit tricky from an interpretation perspective. What does Jesus mean when he says, I will come to you? And in verse 19, he says, you will see me. Does Jesus mean that they will see him face to face? That could be. Jesus could be referring to his post-resurrection appearances. In this text, Jesus could be saying that after his resurrection, he will come back to the disciples and he will see them. He will show them the scars in his hands. He will show them the wound in his side. He will eat food with them. He will commission them to go preach the gospel. And if that's what Jesus means here, That could make sense. He says in verse 19, because I live, you also will live. That's clearly referring to his resurrected state. And he says that the world will not see him anymore, but the disciples will. And that's exactly what happened. When Jesus rose again, he didn't appear to the whole world. He only appeared to his disciples. He only met with them. So it's very likely that what Jesus is saying is that after his resurrection, He will appear to the disciples physically, and that's when they will understand, verse 20, that He's from the Father. That will be proof to them that Jesus is from the Father. Who else but the Son of God could rise from the dead? Who else but the Son of God? He must be from the Father. Jesus says, in that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. That's when the disciples will know that when they see the risen Jesus face to face, they will know that the Son and the Father are one, and they will know that they are united by faith to Jesus Christ. That's when things will begin to click for the disciples. The last few pieces of the puzzle will be put into place when the disciples see the risen Jesus face to face. But there's more to this text. In verse 18, Jesus says, I will not leave you as orphans. And that makes it sound permanent. Right? Jesus will come back and he will stay with the disciples. And in his post-resurrection appearances, if that's all that Jesus means here, those weren't permanent. Those only lasted for 40 days after he rose again and then ascended into heaven. So what's the full meaning of this text? How will Jesus come to them permanently? Well, I'm convinced that what Jesus is saying here is not only referring to his post-resurrection appearances, but also related to the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For that reason, what Jesus is saying to the disciples is also a promise that applies to you and me, is that the risen Christ comes to his people by the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus is promising in this text. The risen Christ comes to his people by the Holy Spirit. He will not leave the disciples all alone. He will come to them and stay with them forever, verse 16. Once Jesus leaves physically, he will come back to them spiritually through the work of another person of the Trinity, God, the Holy Spirit. And this here is an application for us, because you and I, every single person in this room, we've never seen Jesus physically. We've never seen Jesus with our eyes. We've never had a face-to-face conversation with him. You have no idea what he looks like. But you can say, I know him. I believe him. I love him. This man who lived 2,000 years ago, who you've never seen face-to-face, you can say, I know him. And think, for example, think for a moment about how significant that is. There's no one else that you could say that about. You can't scroll through your contact list on your phone and find a person who you could say, I've never seen this person face-to-face, but I know them very well. Or better yet, if you're sitting in history class, you're studying people who lived in the first century, there's no one who you could say, I know that person. That person who lives 2,000 years ago, I personally know him. But Christians can say that about the Son of God. Christians can say, I know him. I believe him. I see him by faith. this one whom I've never spoken to personally, this one who I've never spoken to face to face. I live because he lives. I believe in him. I know him. And church, that is a work of the Holy Spirit. He brings the risen Christ to your heart. In verses 18 through 20, everything Jesus promises the disciples, he also promises to you. He will not leave you as an orphan. He will come to you by the Holy Spirit. The world will not see Jesus, but you will see him by faith. Because he lives, you also will live a new life in him. Now we ask, where is the risen Jesus right now? Well, he's with the Father. If we jump briefly to verse 28, we see there that Jesus says that he's going to the Father and that the Father is greater than he. If we pause for a minute and look at this verse, it's been wrongly interpreted by some people who think that this verse is teaching that Jesus isn't God. Or some people think that this verse teaches that Jesus was created. But that's not what it's teaching. John 1.1, for example, plainly says, the Word was God. In John 10.30, we hear Jesus saying, I and the Father are one. John 8.58, Jesus has said, before Abraham was, I am. The whole Gospel of John, the whole of the Bible teaches that Jesus is God. And so that's not what this verse means. Neither does it mean, some people look at this verse, verse 28, and think, oh, there must be levels within the Trinity. There must be a hierarchy in the Godhead. But that's not what this is teaching either. This verse 28 is not speaking about God in himself, meaning it's not speaking of Jesus according to his divine nature. It's speaking of Jesus according to his human nature. It's not saying that the son is less than the father. It's saying that Jesus, in his humanity, in the role he's playing on earth, in that role specifically, he is less than the father. As he is human, touching his human nature, he is less than the father. And this makes perfect sense with what Jesus is telling the disciples. He's saying, my work here on earth is done. My humiliation is finished. And now Jesus says he will return to the glory that he had before the world existed. The glory that he has by his own divine right, he will return to it. And so now we ask, what else is Jesus teaching in this whole text? Well, as he's talking about the Holy Spirit who will bring the risen Christ to the disciples, he begins with these words in verse 15. He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. He repeats the same thing again in verse 21. Effectively, he says, whoever has my commands and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And then again in verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Not once, not twice, but three times, Jesus reminds us that loving Jesus and keeping his word are inseparable. Now we have to ask, what sort of keeping does Jesus mean here? Is Jesus saying that all Christians keep his word perfectly? Is Jesus teaching that Christians are sinless? Not at all. There's no Christian who obeys perfectly. There's no one who keeps his commandments perfectly. But what is Jesus saying? What exactly does he mean? Jesus is teaching the simple truth that Christians strive to obey God, right? As Christians, we strive to love God. We strive to obey him. We strive to obey all that he has written in his word, all of his moral law, because that's how we love God. That's how you can express your love for Jesus Christ is by keeping his word. Jesus here is not telling us how we can be saved from our sins. He's not saying that in order to be saved, you must first love and obey him. Jesus has told us many times in the Gospel of John that faith is the instrument of salvation. Simply believing in Jesus Christ is the way to be saved. Whoever believes in him has eternal life. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Jesus is not teaching how to be saved. He's teaching us what's the result of that faith. What's the fruit and evidence of saving faith? It's love. It's obedience. That's what Jesus is saying here. If you love him, you'll strive to obey him. In the year 1539, Martin Luther wrote a small book called Against the Antinomians. And that word antinomian is taken from the Greek words anti, which means against. and namas, which means law. So the antinomians were people who were against the law. And the reason Martin Luther wrote against these antinomians is because they were teaching that the law of God had no place in the Christian life. The antinomians were teaching that Christians were not under any duty or any obligation to obey the law of God in the Christian life. For example, you might have someone say to you something like this. God doesn't care too much about what you do. God doesn't care too much about how much you obey him. All he cares is that you love him in your heart. That's antinomianism. It's a disregard for the law of God. It's saying God's law is not that important. It's not important for Christians to follow. But here you have Jesus plainly telling us, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Who is it that loves me, Jesus says, verse 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them. The truth is, is that you, Christian, through the death of Jesus Christ, you are free from the condemnation of the law. You are free from the curse of the law. You are free from the wrath of God. You are free from any condemnation you could ever possibly experience from your breaking the law. You are free from the curse of the law. The law can no longer condemn you. Through the death of Jesus Christ, he has paid for your sins once for all. Praise God. You are free from the condemnation of the law. you are now free to obey the law. That's true freedom. True freedom is not freedom from the law of God. It's freedom to obey the law of God. Satan might tell you the same thing that he said to Adam and Eve in the garden. Is God really good? Did God really say, is God in his law? Is he really out for your best interest? Is he really for you in his law? But that's not the truth. Satan always questions the law of God. He questions the character of God. But we can look, as Christians, we can look at the law of God and say, this is a good law. This comes from God. This reflects his nature. This is how we were meant to live. And it's a good law. It's a wonderful law. Right, the psalmist in Psalm 119 says, oh Lord, how I love your law. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Your word is sweeter than honey in my mouth. Oh, how I love the law of God. That's the Christian attitude. The antinomian attitude we see in verse 24. Whoever does not love Jesus does not keep his words. But the Christian can say, this law is from God. This law is a good law. I'm free from the condemnation of it, and I'm free now to obey it. Jesus says in verse 21 that those are the people who love him. And he says it's to that person that he will manifest himself. Judas then, he hears Jesus say this, and he's confused. And this is the good Judas, so not Iscariot, not the betrayer. The good Judas asks Jesus a follow-up question. He says, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? The word manifest means to make known. And here, Judas's expectation was that Jesus would make himself known visibly to the whole world, really a grand display, some sort of visible manifestation to the whole world, and that Jesus would come back right away and establish a sort of earthly kingdom here on earth. And so Judas is wondering, how will Jesus make himself known to only some people? How will Jesus manifest himself in this grand visible display without everybody seeing what's going on? But Jesus has something different in mind. Verse 23, how does Jesus manifest himself to the disciples? Not in a grand visual display, but in love, in mutual love. God loves his people. Church, if you are a Christian, God loves you. Look at what he says, my father will love him. All three persons, not just the son, love you. And that is how God manifests himself. That's how Jesus manifests himself to his people. He makes himself known in love. And what does that look like? In verse 23, Jesus says, my father will love him and we will come to him and we'll make our home with him. In verse 23, this word for home is the same word that's used in verse two of this chapter. There it was translated rooms. And this word is only used twice in the whole Bible. And both of those two times are here in this chapter. And as we heard last week, this word doesn't mean something physical. It doesn't mean like a physical house or a physical room. It means something more like dwelling place or abode. Think, for example, about the Old Testament temple, where that was supposed to be God's dwelling place with his people, Israel. Or think even better about Revelation 21, that grand chapter where we read these amazing words. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. and God himself will be with them as their God. That's the imagery that we should have as we read this verse. God making his dwelling place with man. Verse 23, the son and the father will make their dwelling place, their home, with God's people. And that, friends, is a work of the Holy Spirit. That's what verse 23 is teaching, that Christians being indwelt by the Holy Spirit Now know God. You know all three persons of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit who indwells you is the spirit of adoption, and it's through him that you can cry out to the Father, Abba, Father. He's not just your God, he's your Father. who cares for you. And the Holy Spirit who dwells in you is the Spirit of truth, as we've seen. He gives you faith to believe in Jesus Christ, who is the truth. He gives you faith to believe. He applies the work of Christ to your heart. And so when the Holy Spirit indwells your heart and gives you faith to believe in Jesus Christ, it means you know all three persons of the Godhead. That's what you see all throughout this chapter. You see the Father sending the Holy Spirit. You see the Father and the Son coming to believers and making their dwelling place with you. It's a glorious thing. It's a marvelous thing, is that all three persons of the Trinity care for you. They love you. In verse 27, then, Jesus talks about peace. And again, Jesus is about to leave the disciples physically, and so he's comforting the disciples. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. I will give you peace. And Jesus, he makes a comparison. He talks about his peace versus the world's peace. And when he does that, it tells us that the world has a type of peace. The world offers a certain type of peace that isn't Jesus's peace. And what kind of peace can the world offer you? Well, it can give you a type of temporary peace. We're all born, in a sense, looking for peace. We're all born in the chaos of our own sin and other people's sin and the misery that comes with our rebellion against God. We're all born Restless if you will we're all born without peace and the world offers you Temporary solutions the world offers you quick fixes The world says you can find peace in the things of this world The world will offer you things like a career, or marriage, or family, which in themselves are good things, but the world says, this will give you peace, this will give you eternal peace. Or the world offers you therapy, or hobbies, or being liked by everybody else. The world will latch onto anything in your heart that you might desire, and it will tell you this will give you peace. If you only have this one thing, it will finally give you peace. But none of it is effective. Some of these are good things, but the world holds them out and says, this will fix all of it. We're born with sin, which is a fatal disease, but the world gives you pain medicine. a temporary relief to try to give you peace, but it never works. All the while, you know in the back of your conscience, it's not well with my soul. I have no peace. But Jesus comes, and he says, my peace I give to you. Peace I leave with you, true peace. Everlasting peace. Because the peace that you need is not just peace with other people, or peace with yourselves, or peace with the world, it's peace with God. And only Jesus Christ can give you that peace. True peace, true joy, is found only in God. It's not found in the things of this world. True peace is to commune with God. True peace is to know God. True peace is, verse 23, to have the Father and the Son come to you and make their dwelling place with you. True peace is to have the Holy Spirit of God indwell your heart so that you know the living God through Jesus Christ. That is the peace that Jesus gives. I'll close with this, is that in Revelation 21, where we see that scene of God dwelling with his people, in Revelation 21, everything in this text will be fully realized. Everything in this text will be completed, if you will. Jesus will return not just by his spirit, but in his body. We will see him not just by faith, but by sight. We will love him and obey him, not just imperfectly, but perfectly. And in that, at that last day, and from an eternity forward, you will dwell in the immediate presence of God. the holy, immortal, invisible God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, he will make his dwelling place permanently, in a complete sense, with his people. The angels, they cry out, holy, holy, holy, when they gaze at him. The angels fall down in worship. It is that God who makes his dwelling place with you and from that day forward you will be in perfect peace. You will be in everlasting peace because you will be lost in the wonder and the praise and the worship of God. You will gaze at his majesty forever. You will be lost in the worship of God. As one author put it, After ages and ages have passed, you will never get to a place where you've exhausted God. You will never get to a place when there's nothing left to be discovered about God. After ages and ages have passed, he will still be the incomprehensible God who you will enjoy and glorify for an eternity without end in eternal peace. And church, you have a foretaste of that peace right now. That's what this text is teaching. By the Holy Spirit, you have communion with God right now. You know the living God. That is the peace that surpasses all understanding. It's to know God, it's to commune with God, it's to worship the God who himself surpasses all understanding. Praise God. Let's pray. Our Father, we do praise you this day. Father, would we be more and more lost in the wonder and the praise of you? Would we know you more and more through Jesus Christ and by your Holy Spirit? Father, we long for that day when you will present your church blameless. You will present us blameless before the presence of your glory with great joy. And from that day forward, we will worship you in your immediate presence in perfect peace. forever. Father, by your Holy Spirit, please show us Christ. Show us the peace that we have with you that we might enjoy more and more of a taste, more and more of that future peace, that future glory that we shall have with you when we glorify and enjoy you forever. Father, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.