Please get your Bibles and let's turn together to the Gospel of John. Even though the text says John 16, let's go all the way, let's start back in John 14. So if you could turn to John 14, verse 16. I want to read just three other very short couple of verses. Before we get to the main section that we'll be in this morning, John 16 verses 5 through 17, that'll be the main section. But we're going to start back in John 14 verse 16. And this morning, I want to, in some ways, ride the momentum or the wave or whatever you want to call it of the previous last weekend's conference, both in something of the theme that is the work of the Holy Spirit, the spirit and the reformation of the church, or the, how about just the spirit and the life of the church, we can say. So I wanna look at that, and then the other thing is this will be, maybe at least half of our time might be a little more on the teachy side, if I can coin a phrase. just because some of the matters that we need to look at and get clear before us are very important to then have some clarity and understand what the scriptures teach us about the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit. So let's begin John 14 verses 16 through 18. Let me really encourage you to track with the Bible readings, you have to have God's Word before you as the basis of anything that's gonna be said this morning, or it'll be for naught. 14, 16 through 18. 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. And then down to verse 25-28. Verse 25-28 of the same chapter. 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 then to chapter 15, to the 26th verse. Chapter 15, verse 26, But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And then now to chapter 16, beginning in verse 5, and I'm going to read through to the 17th verse. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going to Him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in Me. Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father. And you will see Me no longer. concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. A little while and you will see me no longer. And again a little while and you will see me." So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us? A little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me. because I am going to the Father. Please bow with me briefly in prayer and I'm gonna also pray for our brother George at this time. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, thank you for your word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We do pray now for the illuminating work of your spirit that he would work by this word that He might penetrate our hard hearts, that He would awaken our dull minds, that we might see Christ lifted up altogether lovely and beautiful and be drawn to Him. And so, Lord, glorify Christ in our midst this morning as we spend time in Your Word now. We pray as well for Your servant, George, that You would continue Your care for him, granting he and Tammy Jo, the grace they need for this trial that you have brought them to. We thank you for an example of one who is counting it all joy when he is in his trial, knowing that through this, you are using this to perfect him and test his faith so that it might come forth shining brightly, that all will glorify you for your work in him. And so Lord, we pray that as he meets with doctors this week, that you would be with him, that you would give the doctors accurate diagnosis, that there would be clarity that Tammy Jo is requesting, and we pray that you would continue this time of mercy in his life. We ask these things now in Jesus' name, amen. Well, this evening, as you heard in the announcements this morning, as was prayed a little while ago, we will be coming to the Lord's table as a congregation, and we will be engaging in one of the greatest blessings that is given to the Christian church this side of heaven. The Lord's Supper is a foretaste of the great wedding feast the lamb that Jesus told us he is preparing for us and Amazingly that at that feast Jesus will be serving us He himself will serve his people but as I've noted recently in a previous sermon on the sacrament of communion It is sadly the case that over the last 500 years, the Lord's Supper has been more of a flashpoint for controversy rather than a gathering ground for unity. Instead of what it is designed for, what it is given to us for, instead of being a source of joy, a source of anticipation for the church of the living God, the Lord's Supper has become a place of some infighting, it has become a place of significant disagreement and an opportunity to split into factions. And probably no other aspect of the Lord's Supper has been more debated than the subject of the nature of the elements that are used in the sacrament. That is, instead of, and as we gather as a church, instead of focusing upon Christ and his once for all sufficient sacrifice for us, instead of when we gather at the table and we think of and we commune with our exalted risen Lord who's at the right hand of the Father and who we anticipate to come again to take us to himself so that we might be with him forever We have argued and we have speculated about the kind and the nature of the bread and the wine that are given to us at the table of the Lord. Sometimes, and maybe you're not aware of some of these debates, but just, I hope it strikes you in light of the glory of Christ. as something of a distracting and sad thing. But sometimes the argument is over whether the bread should be unleavened bread or not, or if it should be in the shape of a cross or not, or if it should start as a loaf of bread so that it could be torn during the giving of the sacrament or not, or if it's okay to have little pieces. Sometimes the argument is over whether the content of the cup should actually be wine or if it should be grape juice. Far more important, much more significant, there have been debates on the very nature of the bread and the wine once the service begins. In other words, does the bread change from being actual bread into the actual flesh of Jesus? And does the wine change from being wine into the actual, real blood of Jesus? Or is there some kind of a mixture of natures? In other words, it remains bread and it remains wine, but at the exact same time, it's also the body, the actual, real body, the flesh of Jesus, and his blood, is that what happens? In fact, I want to give you some technical terms here that identify the main camps that have existed at least over the last 500 years. And in doing so, I want it to be clear here, I don't want to do this and I don't want to spend too much time doing this or get overly technical here, but it's important to know these in order then to appreciate what Jesus is actually teaching. The first, and you have these sort of names there, and you might want to jot down a little bit of the description there, but the first is often called the mere memorial position. The mere memorial position. memorial position. This view holds that the Lord's Supper is really nothing more than a ceremony or a time of observation to get us to think back on the death of Christ for us. In other words, it's like a statue of a famous person which helps us recall some of their more important exploits in their life. I think, is it Palmer? Right down here in the middle of town. You drive by and you think of, oh, this is what General Palmer did back then. And it recalls to mind some of the exploits of a historical figure. Or it's like a day of observation. We celebrate, say, D-Day, or we celebrate the 4th of July, or something like that. And it's to remind us of an important event that happened In other words, this approach is that when I come to the Lord's table, my response to the Lord's table is supposed to be something like, okay, this reminds me that He died for me. But here's the thing. Descriptions used in the New Testament to speak of the Lord's Supper speak of it as something much more substantial than a mere memorial. Indeed, it is spoken of, and Elder Kleinbart used this term mystical this morning, but I'll use it again. It's spoken of mystically, or I'll say mysteriously, it's actually spoken of in terms of an actual communion with the living and resurrected Christ right now, in the present, not just in the past. For instance, and I have this passage for you in the bulletin this morning, Paul speaking in 1 Corinthians 10.16, listen to what he says. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? So the Bible itself makes it very clear that something more is going on in the Lord's Supper than it merely being a memory mechanism for us. We actually participate in, the other word in sometimes the translation is we actually commune, we actually commune with the embodied Lord Jesus Christ, we somehow, and I use that word mysterious, we somehow get the incarnate Lord our Savior as our spiritual food and sustenance in communion. And so the Lord's Supper is more than just a memorial to him. But secondly, let's move to another view that is called transubstantiation. Transubstantiation this is the Roman Catholic view and it holds that the bread and wine and Here's the thing and this is the you have to get this part of it. It holds that the the bread and wine are fully and completely changed the way I remember this or transformed So I think of transubstantiation, I think of the word, what happens to the elements? They are literally completely transformed from being bread and wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. In this view, the bread, and here's the key term, the bread only seems to still be bread, and the wine only seems to still be wine when we commune. But in fact, they are really now no longer bread and wine, but have become the actual flesh and the actual blood of Jesus. Now, interestingly, there is an ancient heresy that was called docetism. I have that written down there. That's what that word means. The word, the name for this heresy came from a word that meant to seem, to actually seem but not really be. And this heresy infamously said that Jesus was not really a human being, but he just seemed to be one. to us. That is, His flesh and blood only seemed to be human flesh and human blood, but they were really something else. And as you can see, sometimes ancient heresies crop back up in new forms, odd forms. And I think that the whole idea of something that is real only seeming to be so is just an old error in new clothes. Finally, and thirdly, there is the view that is called consubstantiation. You have that written there too, consubstantiation. Now, where transubstantiation teaches that the real bread and wine are transformed into something else entirely, and you can actually read the Council of Trent that says, anyone who believes that there is anything of real bread or real wine still in those elements is anathema. It is an entire, complete, transformation of the thing. And so where transubstantiation says there's an entire, that the bread and wine are completely transformed into something else, they don't remain what they were, that they become the actual body and blood of Christ, consubstantiation, and if you want a reference on that, this is the Lutheran view. This is what the Lutheran church believes and holds. Consubstantiation believes that the bread and wine remain, so here's the difference, it remains real bread and real wine, but it now, and this is how I remember the consubstantiation, it coexists with, it coexists with the real and actual flesh and blood of Jesus. Now let me have you feel that for a moment. You might think, huh? But feel this for a moment. At first glance, this view can seem to have merit in that it seems to reflect more accurately who Jesus really is. I mean, have you thought about this? Much more than transubstantiation does. That is, and shouldn't we ask ourselves, and as we think about this position, isn't Jesus the God-man? I mean, isn't it the whole, one of the most important matters of the incarnation is it is God and man, two natures in one person, dwelling together in one person. So why, why can't the bread and the wine also be both? the real bread, it's real bread and it's real wine, and at the same time, it is also the real body and the real blood of Jesus Christ. Well, it is precisely at the point at which the Lutheran view, consubstantiation, this coexisting, seems to have some truth. that two natures can actually dwell together in one thing. Like it was with Jesus Himself, it is actually at that point that that view fails. And it fails in this way. If the bread and the wine actually become the real body and real blood of Jesus, then Jesus doesn't have a real human body and real human blood. You see, a real body and real blood is bound by space and time. That is, a person with a real body can be bodily in only one place at one time. People of God, this is part of the depth and the sacrifice of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Do you realize that the eternal God, the Son, the very Son of God, took a real human flesh and blood body like ours to Himself forever. That is, He forever bound Himself to us and He will forever be in our flesh. If He didn't actually take a real body like ours, if Jesus didn't actually If He was not actually made like us in every respect, which is what Hebrews says, except in our sin, if He was not made like us in every respect, except without sin, then we have not been saved. And if Jesus really did leave, as He said He, and if He is really bodily with the Father in heaven, ministering on our behalf as our high priest at the right hand of God in heaven, even now as he said he was going to do, then he is not, Jesus is not bodily here in the bread and the wine. A body can't, a body can't be everywhere. And if Jesus is bodily in heaven, then he is not bodily. So there is this mere memorial view, again, which I think guts the Lord's Supper of the mystery and life that is there. And it recasts sort of like a living history reenactment. In that view, it is just a memory mechanism to get us to think back. And then there are these other two positions. There's transubstantiation and consubstantiation, which, and hear this, they do take serious the words of scripture that we actually do commune with Christ in the Lord's Supper. But here's the thing, and here's, if you wanna write this down and think about it a little bit more, but they both place Jesus bodily. They both locate the presence of Christ, His flesh and His blood, in the elements of the bread and the wine. They say that's where Jesus is. The congregation, Jesus teaches something different than all of those, each of those preceding three views. Now first off, I want you to note, it's vital, it's extremely important to note, have you ever heard of the terminology that this very teaching of Jesus here, chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, and then his prayer in chapter 17, this is actually called the upper room discourse. the upper room discourse. That is, what's going on? When Jesus is teaching all of this in our passage to his disciples, they're actually participating in what we call the Last Supper. That is, he's in the midst of instituting the Lord's Supper for us. So everything that Jesus says here in this section is vitally relevant to the Lord's Supper. Secondly, Jesus says two significant things which, and I'm track with me, they are initially confusing. Jesus says two things here which are initially confusing to us, and did you read? I read a little further so you could see they are initially confusing to the disciples as well. but which are absolutely key to understand if we are to understand and benefit from the Lord's Supper rightly. The first is that Jesus is really, Jesus is really bodily absent right now from us. And the second is that Jesus is really spiritually present with us right now. First of all, and I want you to have the passage open in front of you so you can just see these references. First of all, on the matter of Jesus being really bodily absent from us right now, all we have to do is look at his words throughout this section. And you can look at his words in many other places that, and it's Jesus himself saying over and over and over again that he is going to leave this world. That he is going away. that He is going to go back to His Father. Look at verse 5, I am going to Him who sent me. Look at verse 7, it is to your advantage that I go away. Look at verse 10, I go to the Father. And look at verse 16, a little while and you will see me no longer. And so, Jesus is bodily absent right now. That's what he says. That's what he said would happen. That's what he's trying to tell the disciples. This is what's going to happen. I'm going to be gone. I'm going out of this world. I'm going back to my father. But secondly, he himself also says that he will be present with us. That he will be present with us in some way. even while he is bodily absent from us. For instance, think of the words at the end of the Great Commission. What does Jesus say there? At the end of the Great Commission, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Look at, well, you don't have to go back there, but we read it in verse 18 of chapter 14, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Verse 28 of chapter 14, I am going away and I will come. And in verse 17 of our own passage, chapter 16, we see the disciples are confused because he says that you won't see me and yet you will see me and I am going to the Father. You will see me. You won't see me. I'm going to the Father. So Jesus is saying that He is going to somehow be gone. He will bodily be with the Father and yet be here at the same time. So what is the answer? How can Jesus be gone bodily and yet still really be here with us? How can we come to the Lord's table and eat real bread? and drink real wine, and yet really commune and participate with the body and blood of Jesus, even though he is bodily in heaven with the Father? Well, the answer is abundantly clear from this passage. As clearly as it is the case that Jesus is really leaving to go back to the Father, it is clearly the case that when He leaves, He is going to send the Holy Spirit to be with us. And that is the answer. That is the answer. The person and work and presence of the Holy Spirit is the answer to it all. Look at verse 7, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you. Verse 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. Look at verse 14, He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. Congregation, the answer to all the seeming confusion of Jesus going away but also being here is this. It is the real presence. It is the real person of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus goes, He will send, and here's the terminology, He will send His Spirit. to be with us, to dwell in us, to make himself present to us. It is mysterious, yes, but the Spirit, and here's another way to think about it, the Spirit solves the distance. The Spirit solves the distance between Jesus bodily in heaven, away from us, and yet Jesus also present with us. just as when, let me see if maybe this is helpful to grasp this, just as when you hear the gospel preached, when you hear that glorious news that Jesus is the Savior that we need to save us from our sin, and when the Spirit, the word is being preached, you hear that good news of the Spirit, convicts us that he's the savior I need, that Jesus is the one that I need to believe upon. And then, and then this is the terminology we sometimes use, I hear that message, I'm convicted by it, and then this is the, I love this terminology because it is true and accurate, and then I lay hold of Christ. by faith, and I make him my own. With a spirit-wrought faith, Jesus becomes mine. He is brought near. The Spirit opens my spiritual eyes, and I lay hold of Christ. It is the same when you come to the Lord's table. The Lord's table proclaims again to you that Jesus is the living and resurrected savior who laid down his life for sinners like you. And the spirit then enables you to lay hold of Jesus Christ by faith and really get him to really feast upon, to really rest upon him. It's kind of interesting, earlier in the discourse, this upper room discourse, the apostle Philip had come to Jesus and I think I would have done exactly what Philip did, but Philip comes to Jesus and he says, Jesus, just show us the Father and it'll be enough. Do you remember Jesus' answer to Philip? He says, have I been with you so long and you still don't know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen. Jesus goes on to say, if you have me, you have the Father. You see, just as it is true that to have the Son is to have the Father, it is just as true that to have the Spirit is to have the Son. In fact, what we do here is we actually bump up against, in some way, the great mystery of the mutual indwelling of the Holy Trinity, even as we begin to think through the great mystery and work of the incarnation. But in the end, Jesus is saying that his spirit will make him present. So because of the amazing and gracious and mysterious willingness of the Son of God to become incarnate in our flesh. He can now, in His flesh, only be in one place at one time. But by His Spirit, Jesus is everywhere present. And even more mysteriously, by faith, the Spirit enables us to commune with Him even though He is bodily with the Father. The Spirit closes the distance between Jesus who is bodily at the right hand of God in heaven and us who are bodily here on earth. And so you see, we don't have to, you see, we do not have to drain the bread and the wine of their reality. When we partake, we don't need, we don't need them to change. We simply need to take seriously the reality and the purpose and the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And as it is in every area of life, we have to keep coming back to Jesus. He is the touchstone of our entire faith. If we will listen to him, if we will love him, if we will take his words seriously, if we will stay away from speculation, philosophical speculation, and rather just listen to the Spirit, then we will partake of and commune with Jesus by faith. That is, in the Lord's Supper, by the symbols of bread and wine, Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us is presented to us again and again. And through that visible representation of Christ, the presentation of His His body as our bread and His blood as our drink. The Holy Spirit facilitates a spiritual communion with Him as we take and eat and as we take and we drink, desiring and looking to and loving and trusting in Christ by faith, our absent Savior. Our absent Savior is ministered presently to us by the Spirit. In other words, He is near to us in the Spirit. And if you can grasp that, you have the key to understanding how we get Christ, how we benefit from His flesh and blood in the Lord's Supper. If you have your bullets, and I want you to open it as we close right now. Our own confession makes this clear when it says in the 29th chapter, in the 7th section, just look at this, worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporeally, in other words, not bodily, but really and indeed, but not carnally and bodily, but spiritually receive and feed upon Christ crucified and all benefits of his death. The body and blood of Christ being then not bodily or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine, yet as really but spiritually presented to the faith of believers." That is a lot. That is a lot to chew on and to think about, but it will be worth your time to do so. In fact, if I could ask you and highly recommend I would highly recommend to read through John 13 through 17 before you come back this evening. Read through the very sermon, the very discourse that Jesus taught as he was instituting the Lord's Supper. Read through that before we come back this evening and then I urge you to come back again tonight with your mouths of faith ready to receive Christ and his righteousness Again, come hungering and thirsting after Him and you will be filled. You will be filled as the Holy Spirit takes of what is Christ's through the sacrament and by faith makes it yours. Let's pray together.