In the sermon titled 'The Promise of Another Helper' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Jesus' promise to send the Holy Spirit as a helper to His followers after His physical departure from the world. Based on John 14:15-18, the sermon emphasizes the relationship between love for Jesus and obedience to His commandments. It explains that true love for Jesus naturally results in a desire to keep His commandments, which is both an imperative and a description of believers. The sermon highlights the Holy Spirit as another helper, who continues Jesus' work in His physical absence, empowers believers to carry out His works, and helps them obey His commandments. The Holy Spirit is presented as a vital presence in the life of a believer, offering guidance, strength, and fellowship. The sermon also explores the Trinitarian nature of God, emphasizing the unity and distinct roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Believers are encouraged to rely on the Holy Spirit's power and presence, which is described as a never-ending source of help and comfort.

Good morning. It is wonderful to be with the people of God. It definitely makes man life feel so much better. I have the honor of reading our sermon text today. The sermon text is John 14, 15 through 18, but for context I'm going to start in 12 and go through 21.

Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. 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 with you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you will live also at that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I in you he who has my commandments and keeps them It is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him." Let's pray.

Oh father, We are such a desperate people and you knew that. Lord, you knew that we would need another helper. Lord, as feeble and wandering as we are, Lord, We are so thankful for you, Holy Spirit, who is God. May we make much of you today. Thank you for helping us to understand your Word.

Thank you for helping us to live out the requirements of your word. Thank you for helping us to know you. Lord, you are so great. You are so great. Would you come in great power today?

We know that your word is powerful. Dividing soul and spirit and joint and marrow. Would you just work in our hearts mightily to love you more, to obey you more. For those who don't know you, would you work in their hearts to bring about saving faith? Give my brother Jason great power as he preaches your word.

Give us as listeners great ears to hear. Jesus name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is, the promise of another helper. That's exactly what Jesus is doing in our text. He is promising to send another helper.

He stands on the edge of his crucifixion, and then resurrection, and then ascension when he will no longer be physically present. And he is teaching the disciples that He is not leaving them alone. That is the whole point of our text. As we go through these chapters, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, we are going to have to continue to force ourselves to zoom out. Instead of zooming in on these four verses exclusively, we will zoom in on them, but instead of exclusively zooming in on them, we want to zoom out.

Keep in mind that this is part of one extended dialogue. Actually, it's mostly a monologue. Every once in a while, one of the disciples will turn it into a dialogue by saying a little something. But overwhelmingly, these chapters are a monologue, one talking, Jesus talking, Jesus as Lord and Master using His prerogative to teach. And Here is the flow of thought.

This is my attempt to keep our zooming in on four verses attached to the context. I believe this is the flow of thought. Jesus is teaching, I am one with the Father. I am one with the Father in my words. The things that I am saying, I am one with the Father in my works.

The things that I am doing. I am not speaking alone. The Father and I are speaking together. I am not acting alone, the Father and I are acting together. That is verses 7-10.

Therefore, believe in me. Because I am God, because I am working in concert with God as God, the mysteries of the Trinity in view here. Because of that, believe in me. This is verse 12. Those who do believe in me will carry on my works in the world.

I'm dying, I'm going away, but my works aren't going away. My people are going to continue my works in the world, even after I'm no longer physically present. The works of Christ will be seen in this world because my people will be doing them. My people will be doing even greater works than I did. So it's a call to belief in verse 12.

And then It is an assertion that those who do believe will carry on his works in the world in verse 12. You can ask anything in my name and I will do it. That is stated and then repeated. Stated in verse 13 and repeated in verse 14. He says you can ask anything, how?

In my name. I think we pick up right there in verse 15. If you love me obey my Commandments. That has everything to do with asking in the name of Jesus. So as we come to our text, let's ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, we thank you for your promise to pray to your Father to send the Holy Spirit. We thank you that we see in Acts chapter 1 and 2 the fulfillment of this promise on the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower your people. This has happened, and so now we can pray with great confidence and boldness for the help of the Holy Spirit today, right now in our midst, to stir us up and to be a source of help and power as we desire to come to Your Word, have it be honored among us, and to be changed by it. This is the work of your Spirit and we pray for an abundance of it. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Alright, we have four verses. We'll take them one at a time. So hopefully your finger is still in John chapter 14. Follow along as I re-read verse 15. Very quickly.

If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, says Jesus, keep my commandments. In this verse we have an imperative for those who love Jesus. Keep His commandments. It's a command to keep commandments.

It is an imperative to keep His Word. Here is the flow of thought. Jesus is Lord. Overwhelmingly in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke, in John, In these Gospel accounts, when his disciples address Jesus, they don't say Jesus. They don't call him by name.

Overwhelmingly, almost without exception, they say, Lord. Once in a while they say Rabbi, which means Lord. It's a special subset of Lord. Jesus is Lord of these men. Jesus is Lord of all believers.

He is Master. Then what are His instructions? As the boss, as Lord and Master. These are His instructions to keep His commandments. It is a command to keep His commandments.

What is the immediate context? The immediate context is Jesus stringing together two ifs back to back. Let's look at this. Back up to verse 14. Watch the ifs being strung together in verse 14 and 15.

The first if in verse 14. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Then immediately, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. The relationship between loving and obeying is in the context of asking in Jesus' name. It seems to me that this is a crushing blow against someone with no love in their heart, proven by no obedience in their life, coming to the Father with requests and magic words.

In the name of Jesus. Just imagine this, a person with no love in their heart, how do we know that? Because there is no obedience in their life. They actually have good evidence that their heart is cold towards God. They come with requests to the Father thinking that they have the magic words and now the Father must grant their requests.

In Jesus name I've said the magic words. This is a crushing blow against that. The stringing together of these two ifs, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. They belong there together.

There is an argument being built. There is a flow of thought here that is a death blow against people who have no love of God in their hearts, and they prove it because they have no obedience of God in their lives coming with magic words to the Father expecting to receive anything. That man should not expect that he will receive anything from the Father. Look ahead to verse 23. We are fast forwarding for a second to verse 23.

If anyone loves me he will keep my word. Put this side by side with verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments, an imperative, a command to keep the commandments, Then verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. So is keeping Jesus' word an imperative, a command, or a description? It is both an imperative and a description.

Jesus commands us believers to keep His Word. Get this, this is important. That command serves as a means in the life of those who truly love Him for their growth and obedience. The command is a means to an end. Growth and obedience.

In other words, here we are believers, we call Jesus Lord, and real believers have real love in their hearts for Him, and we have this verse staring at us all the time, keep His commandments. We know that we don't obey as we ought, and we want to grow in it. Those who love Christ want to grow in it. This is a means of that growth, having this commandment here, staring us in the faith. The imperative is a means to that growth.

Because Jesus is Master, we are happy to have Him as Master. We are happy to have Him as Lord. We want Him to be Lord more today than He was yesterday, and more tomorrow than He was today. Growing in having Him really be Lord. Not just saying, Lord, Lord, but not keeping His commandments.

But really growing and having Him be Lord at a practical minute to minute, hour to hour level. The imperative, the command in verse 15, is a means to growth and obedience to all who truly love Him. Those who truly love the Lord Jesus in sincerity are to keep His commandments, and they do keep His commandments. Both are true. You don't have to pick between, is it a command to obey Him, or is it a description that those who love Him obey Him?

Yes and yes. You can have them both. We should have them both. Jesus gives us both. Unless we think that Jesus is teaching something new, this is really instructive.

Listen to this, just a series of verses from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 5 verse 10, "...but showing mercy to thousands..." This is a description of God, Deuteronomy 5 verse 10, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. Not Jesus and John, God through Moses in Deuteronomy 5. To those who love me and keep my commandments." Jesus could be expounding on Deuteronomy chapter 5 or Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9, Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations to those who love Him and keep His commandments. There they are again.

Love of God and the keeping of His commandments. Deuteronomy 10 verses 12 and 13. And now Israel what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command you today for your good. Love for God in the heart and obedience to God in the life. In Deuteronomy 5, 7, 10, and on and on.

By the way, we are reading Deuteronomy in our family worship times. We were in Deuteronomy chapter 30 last night and we saw exactly the same thing. Love for God and obeying His commandments. Jesus is not bringing new doctrine here in verse 15. Love for God and obedience.

Love for God in the heart and obedience to God in the life have always been linked. Obedience in life has always been the evidence of love in the heart for God. Always. New Testament, Old Testament, forever. Forever.

Listen to Jesus in Luke 6, 46. Luke 6, 46, But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? This is right after he said, every tree is known by its fruit. If you want to know the truth about the tree, you look at the fruit. There is evidence of the reality on the branches of the tree.

If there is real love for God in the heart, there will be real obedience to God in the life. It has always been that way. Jesus says that a hundred times in the Gospels. Or listen to John, the Gospel writer, when he becomes John the Letter Writer in 1 John 5 verse 3. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

Let me just say that again. This really gets to the heart of the matter. John the Gospel writer, when he becomes John the Letter writer, says this in 1 John 5.3, For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. To the one who loves God, this is his or her perspective. The commands are not burdensome.

They're a blessing. These commands are not a burden to be grudgingly born. They are a blessing to be sought and pursued. Got it? In a person who loves God, this is the heart.

Not The commands of God are some burden to be borne, but a blessing to be pursued. The one who loves God says, the commands of God are not burdensome. I wish I kept them more so I would be more blessed. Not trudging along under the burden of the commandments. Finally, on this verse, don't miss what Jesus is laying claim to.

It's easy to read right over the top of this. My commandments. Moses never speaks like this. Moses is the one through whom the Old Testament law comes, and he never talks like this. Moses never says, My commandments.

Jesus talks like this. The prophets never speak like this. Jesus speaks like this. Jesus is claiming the right to command you. He's claiming the right to command me.

Why? He's Lord. Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Master.

With the right to command me and you. And he does command me and you. Alright, back to John 14. Verse 16, follow along. And I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever.

And I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever." In this verse we have a gift of Jesus' mediation, another helper. So if you are taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, the two blanks are gift, another, a gift of Jesus' mediation. I want to press home this point, the Holy Spirit is a gift of Jesus' mediation on behalf of His people. This gift is another helper.

First, this is one of the most breathtakingly Trinitarian verses in all the Bible. You have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all in this verse relating with one another. The Trinity can be deduced in many places by implication throughout scripture starting in Genesis 1. In other words, you can take data and trace it out to its conclusion that God is 3 in 1, that God exists in three subsistences, one God. I'm going to start using that term more as we work through John 14, 15, and 16, these three chapters, speaking about the Holy Spirit.

It's fine to talk about God in three persons, but the risk of thinking about God in three persons is that we make persons people, and we think of people as distinct autonomous entities, and God doesn't exist that way. It turns God into three people who work really well together, and that's not the God of the Bible. That's not monotheism. There are absolute distinctness, but there is absolute unity at the same time. By using another word, I'll probably toggle back and forth.

I'll be saying three persons and three subsistences. Just know this, when I say subsistences, I'm drawing from historical language of people who were worried about how we think about the Trinity. That's why they use that word. It's not a word that we use in any other context, and that's really helpful actually, because it doesn't come with the baggage of other usages. Right here, the Trinity is on the surface.

You don't have to trace it out to the implication of anything. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in the same verse relating with one another. The Son asks, the Father gives in response to the Son's request. The Spirit abides with an end. The son asks, the father gives in response, the spirit abides with an end.

Now, just a quick comment on translation. I will pray the father. NASB and ESV and NIV translate the same Greek word. There's nothing in the underlying text that's different. So it's not a textual variant.

They just say, ask. I will ask the Father. The reason that the King James and the new King James render it pray, I will pray the Father. No one ever talks that way. You pray to the Father, you don't pray the Father.

The reason they've rendered it that way is that the underlying Greek word in verses 13 and 14, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. There's a Greek word used in 13 and 14, and it's a different Greek word than is used here. The King James and the New King James translators are trying to maintain a nuanced distinction between the Greek words, because they're different Greek words. It's different when we ask than when Jesus asks. Jesus asks as a peer and that Greek word reflects that.

We ask as subordinates, The Greek word rendered in 13 and 14, when we're doing the asking, is more like the begging of a superior. That's completely appropriate. This is how we come to God. We beg a superior. We entreat a superior.

So the New King James and King James translators, are trying to maintain that nuance. I think it fails to maintain the nuance and it makes it confusing. I really wish they would just have said ask. One man's opinion. It's a struggle to know how to do this, so I'm not saying translation is easy.

Jesus asks the Father. That's what the Greek word means. This is the Son asking and the Father giving in response to that request and the Spirit abiding with and in. This is the three subsistences of the Trinity working together to create a bride who is without spot and wrinkle. That's what you see in this verse.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit working together in their agreed roles in salvation to create a bride for the Son and to render her without spot and wrinkle. Jesus' blood covering and the Spirit coming and having ongoing purifying work. This is about a bride who is unendingly helped from the inside. Verse 16, that's what's here. A bride who is unendingly helped, not from the outside, but from the inside.

He dwells with and he dwells in. Isn't that wonderful? Think of that. A bride unendingly helped to be beautiful from the inside. Praise the Lord.

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, another helper. I'm not stretching to say that the Holy Spirit is the Helper. I'm fast forwarding for a moment to verse 26 where Jesus makes it perfectly clear, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Jesus connects the dots Himself in verse 26. The helper is the Holy Spirit on the authority of Jesus in verse 26. Let's focus on these two words, another helper.

First, another. In context, Jesus in His physical presence is their current helper. These men who are hearing Jesus, here in John 14, they are physically present with Jesus their helper. He has been helping them for three years. He has been advocating for them for three years.

He is about to no longer be physically present and He is going to send them another helper. He is the helper. He is sending another helper. When Jesus departs physically, he will ask the Father and the Father in response to that request of the Son will send another helper to replace the Son in his physical absence. The Son is going to be physically absent, the Father sends a replacement.

Jesus is helping physically present. When Jesus is no longer physically present, He is replaced by the sending of the Holy Spirit. Second, helper. The King James renders it comforter. The NIV renders it advocate.

Let me give you the three senses of this word, meaning this is a Greek word, perikletos, maybe you've heard periklet, periklet is a loose transliteration of the Greek word, meaning if you looked at the Greek written in English alphabet, you would see periklet, or something really close to periklet. It has a breadth of meaning with three senses. One, One called alongside to help. Two, one who pleads another's cause before a judge or another. One who pleads another's cause.

Three, In the widest sense, a helper or one who gives aid. So there are three senses of varying degrees of breadth, but all closely related. This is a Greek word only used in John 14. We will encounter it twice in John 14. Once in chapter 15, once in chapter 16.

So think about that. In all the New Testament this Greek word is used in the Gospels three times. John 14, 15, and 16. Four times in three chapters. And then it's used by John in 1 John 2, verse 1.

Now listen to 1 John 2, verse 1. Same word, helper, advocate, intercessor, counselor, or it has breadth of meaning. 1 John 2 verse 1, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Our translators translated advocate here and helper in John 14.

Both are good translations. They have a little different sense, but not much, and it has to do with the breadth of the Word. But in 1 John 2, John the letter writer uses it of Jesus. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In 1 John 2, verse 1, Jesus is the advocate or helper, or however you want to translate it, Jesus is the Perikletos.

In John 14, the Holy Spirit is the helper or advocate, or however you want to render Perikletos. The point is, the Holy Spirit is sent to continue the helping ministry that Jesus did in person when he was physically present. Now the Holy Spirit is sent to continue His work within the hearts of unbelievers. Again, to make a bride and to purify that bride, to make her ready for her marriage. How does this helper help the Lord's people?

This word is meant to be wide, it's meant to be broad. I like the rendering of helper because it is the broadest of the translations. I think that is right. The Holy Spirit helps us in every way that we have a need. You have a thousand needs, He can help in a thousand ways.

It's meant to be broad. But our immediate context in John chapter 14 gives us two ways in which we are helped as a starting point. So again, I don't in any way think this is a comprehensive list or meant to be restrictive in any way. If you have a thousand needs, the Holy Spirit can help you in a thousand different ways, no problem. But we're given a context that has two immediate needs.

One, Jesus' people do Jesus' works in His physical absence. This is the first way in which the Holy Spirit helps us, in which He is another helper. Jesus' people do Jesus' works in His physical absence. They can ask anything in His name and He will do it. And then what?

And then this promise that He will ask the Father and the Father will send the Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps with this mission of doing the works that Jesus did and even greater works in response to our prayers asking anything in His name. Is this consistent with Acts chapter 1? When the Spirit comes you will be endued with power from on high, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Is that consistent with what Jesus is teaching here?

You better believe it. Another helper to do Jesus' works in Jesus' absence. Two, Jesus' absence. Two, Jesus's people obey his commandments. They keep his word.

Then this, a promise for the sending of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps with this mission. Here's a question. How's a guy like me supposed to do Jesus' works in His absence? How's a guy like me supposed to keep Jesus' commandments?

Jesus answers both of those questions with this promise. I just send my spirit. You don't know, Jason, you don't know how a guy like you does my works in my absence? The Spirit. You don't know how you keep my commandments based on your personal history?

The Spirit. I want to ask you to consider Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 5, in six consecutive times we see this sequence. Jesus saying, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you. Six times he gives that sequence.

First, you have heard that it was said, you shall not murder, but I say to you, whoever is angry at his brother without a cause is guilty of murder. Second, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, whoever looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery already in his heart. So in verse fifteen, if you thought we could wink at it because it was Jesus saying, if you love me obey my commandments, and somehow his commandments were short of the moral law, Matthew 6 sends in a nuclear warhead to blow that to smithereens to evaporate it and leave nothing left. Jesus doesn't contract the moral law. He actually just frees it from the wrong views and interpretations of it in Matthew chapter 5.

I was tempted to say he expands it, but he doesn't expand it. He explains it. The moral law was always that. Hating your brother in your heart was always heart murder. Always in the Old Testament and the New Testament forever.

Always heart murder. Lusting after a woman was always heart adultery. It always was in the Old Testament, now and forever. He was explaining the moral law of God for all time. It was never right to hate your brother.

It was never okay. It was never alright to lust after a woman. It was never okay. It never will be okay. It is the eternal righteousness of God being communicated to man.

Don't say Jesus' commandments and think that somehow lessens the load because it is nice Jesus. Domesticated Jesus is not domesticated at all. Listen to Romans 8 verse 13. Paul writes, For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live." Paul is talking about what Jesus is talking about.

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Meaning, believers, you have indwelling help so that you don't have to be a slave to sin anymore. Believers, you have indwelling help. Not just the force be with you, a person who indwells you to help you. So the Holy Spirit is not the force be with you.

The Holy Spirit is a person as much as God the Father is a person, as much as God the Son is a person, God the Holy Spirit is a person. Do not dishonor Him by calling Him it. We've all done that. Probably in the recent past. I'm saying to myself, stop it.

And I'm saying to you, stop it. It is a dishonoring of the person of the Holy Spirit to call Him and it, because Jesus never calls Him and it. Use Jesus' pronouns for the Holy Spirit. It is not the force be with you, now you can use the force to put to death sin, it is a person, an indwelling person, helping you. So does the Spirit influence believers?

Yes. Is the Spirit just an influence? No. The Spirit is a person. So Jesus' people do Jesus' works.

That sounds hard. How? The Spirit. So Jesus' people obey Jesus' commandments. That is hard.

How? The Spirit. Listen to Matthew chapter 10, verses 20. This throws light on this. Matthew chapter 10 verses 18 through 20.

Jesus says, You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. So, in what other ways does the Spirit help us? Well, if you get dragged before the court, don't sweat it.

The Spirit of your Heavenly Father will give you the words, He will help you. The Holy Spirit will help you. Say the right thing at the right time to bring honor to Jesus. This is help from the helper that Jesus is describing in Matthew chapter 10. Or John chapter 7 verses 37 through 39.

Listen to this. John chapter 7 verses 37 to 39. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." That last bit is John the Gospel writer explaining what Jesus was saying when He said, if you believe in Me, out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.

John makes sure that we get, he is talking about the Holy Spirit that would be sent on the day of Pentecost. What will that be like? That will be like rivers of living water flowing out of your heart. That is help from the helper. Think about the extent of that help.

Well, describe it. What's it like? It's like a never-ending river of water flowing out of your heart. I'll take it. Send it my way.

And as this Helper, He abides with the believer forever. Why does Jesus need to ask the Father to send the Spirit? Is the Father hesitant? Does the Father need convincing? Is that what Jesus is doing?

He is convincing the Father. He is laying out the case for the sending of the Spirit. No, no, no. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2.15.

There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2.5. It is Jesus' special office to advocate for His people. That's why He's here in John 14-16 asking the Father because it's his job to advocate for his people. Not that the Father is hesitant or needs convincing, but it is Jesus' office to advocate, to plead for his people.

He's doing it here in John 14 verse 16. Even now Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. Not because God is stingy, not because God doesn't know, but because there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. That is true today. He is interceding today as we meet at Sovereign Redeemer on March 10th, 2019.

Jesus is at the right hand of His Father interceding for us. It is His place. It is His office. He is Jesus Christ. As Gary would say, Christ isn't His last name.

Christ is His function and office. It means anointed. The anointed ones in the Old Testament are prophets, priests and kings that you put oil on their heads to mark them out and consecrate them for a specific duty given by God to either be a prophet or a priest or a king. Jesus is God's anointed more than any prophet or priest or king in the Old Testament. Jesus was anointed by God to advocate for His people.

He is at God's right hand praying for you right now and me, and for the preacher. Praise the Lord. Matthew Henry says this, Matthew Henry says this, The same that gave the Son to be our Savior, will give His Spirit to be our Comforter, pursuant to the same design. Listen to that again. He is talking about the Father.

The same that gave the Son, the Father gave the Son, to be our Savior will give His Spirit to be our Comforter, pursuant to the same design. Meaning, the same reason that the Father sent the Son is the exact reason that He sends the Spirit, to save and keep His people. If you are saved, then you are kept. And if you are saved and kept, it is because the Father sent the Son, the Son perfectly willing, The Son sharing a will, one will with the Father, and the Father sent the Spirit. The Spirit perfectly willing, sharing a will with the Father.

It's called the doctrine of simplicity. God is simple. He doesn't have wills that might compete with one another. It's three subsistences with one will. They never have anything other than complete unity of will.

There is nothing outside that circle of their will. It is a shared single will. The doctrine of divine simplicity. It's hard to think of God as simple. To read this book and think of God as simple.

In the sense that He has one will, He is simple. Verse 17. The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." That's future tense because he's talking about the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and it hasn't happened yet. We can do away with the future tense for ourselves because the day of Pentecost has come and gone.

So the tenses are different for his disciples that were listening to him because they were two thousand years ago and the Spirit has come. That promise has been fulfilled. Listen to 17 again. 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." We can say, and is in us. In verse 16, the Holy Spirit is called the Helper.

Here, in verse 17, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is in the Truth business. The Holy Spirit is all about the Truth. What is the immediate context? Jesus in verse 6 saying, I am the truth.

Right here, verse 6, Jesus says I am the truth. Verse 17, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. Jesus is the central truth of Scripture. It's not all the truth of Scripture that is not said to diminish God the Father, or God the Spirit, or any of the truths associated with them, but it is to say the reason we have the Bible is to drive us to Christ. Listen to John 15 verse 26.

We're not quite there yet. It's going to be a few weeks. By the way, when we take on four verses, I am feeling like we are sprinting. It might seem like we are lagging to you, but to me I feel like we are sprinting in these four verses. I could have easily done a sermon or verse on this.

John 15, 26. I said that to prepare you for how long it might be until we get to John 15.26. But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. So it's almost the same words that we have here. He's called the Spirit of Truth just like here.

He proceeds from the Father just like here. What's He doing? He testifies of Christ. He will testify of me. Listen to Acts 5.32.

In Acts 5.32, all of the apostles have just been apprehended for the second time for preaching Christ in the temple. Jewish leaders had a dim view of the apostles preaching Christ in the temple. They've already arrested them now the second time by Acts chapter 5. Listen to 532. This is Peter saying this, and we are witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.

Peter and friends, stop preaching Christ. How can we do that? We are witness of these things. We saw these things with our two eyes. How could we stop talking about them?

By the way, the Holy Spirit is witness to these things too. Even if you could make us be quiet, how could you ever make the Holy Spirit be quiet? It is his job. He is the Spirit of Truth. Christ is the central truth.

You might be able to quiet down eleven men. You might be able to martyr them all. Church history says they all were martyred, except for John. It doesn't matter. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.

It kept revealing Christ and it made it continents away to Gentiles like you and me. You can kill his people. You can't shut up his testimony because the Holy Spirit is not killable. He is the Spirit of Truth. He reveals, he testifies of Christ.

Peter saw that. And so he could say very freely in the face of his adversaries. James is martyred soon after this. He could say to his adversaries, we're witnesses of this, but by the way the Holy Spirit is a witness to this too. You could never get him to not testify.

Now flip to chapter 16. We're in John 14, but just turn the page to John 16. I'd like to read 7 through 11. This is part of the same discourse. So maybe this was said 45 minutes later, I'm guessing.

It's the same sitting. John 16, verses 7 through 11. Jesus says, 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 depart, I will send him to you.

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in Me. Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more. Of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Here we see the Helper and His role as the Spirit of Truth in the world, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

His role in the world is not restricted to believers. He is the indwelling Helper of all who truly believe in Jesus Christ. But it is not just that. He actually convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. That brings us to the two dispositions toward the Holy Spirit.

The world cannot receive Him. It doesn't see Him. It doesn't know Him. It doesn't receive him. But he is known by believers and he helps the believers all day, every day, in every way.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. It's sort of like Paul is preaching a sermon on the two dispositions, the disposition of the world and the disposition of believers toward the Spirit. Paul sounds like he's preaching a sermon on this in 1 Corinthians 2, 6-14. Paul writes, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit. Here's where we are so far. Eye hasn't seen, ear hasn't heard, it hasn't entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed those things to us through His Spirit. That's where we are.

Now continuing, halfway through verse 10. For the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

So he is talking about the disposition of believers towards the Spirit. We have the Spirit. The Spirit knows all about God being God. And He reveals those things. It's His job to be the Spirit of truth and reveal those things to believers.

Now verse 13. So The things that have been given to us freely by God, those things are made evident and shown to us by the Spirit. It is His job to show us our riches. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But, the natural man, Man as he was born, man as he comes out of the womb in his natural state after the fall, but The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God and can't.

They are foolishness to him. He is spiritually dead. So it is also the Spirit's work to raise the spiritually dead, according to God's good pleasure. We see both dispositions. The disposition of the believer receiving the Spirit of God that teaches him or her about their riches, their inheritance, the disposition of the unbeliever, unwilling and unable to receive the things of the Spirit of God.

They are just foolishness to him. He is dead in sins and transgressions. Again, the Holy Spirit dwells with the believer. The believer is not alone. The Holy Spirit is with you, believer, and in the believer.

The help is not external. The help is internal. A person indwelling you, helping you. And this fellowship is unending. Think of it not just as power, but as fellowship.

Fellowship with power. The Holy Spirit is God fellowshipping with us. We are actually going to hit this, I think next week, about the Father and the Son being in us. How is that? It is through his spirit.

Is that mysterious? Incredibly. Am I going to be able to explain that? Not hardly. But, anyway, we'll take a whirl at it next week.

This fellowship is unending. He abides with us forever. This is the distinction of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. More power, more often, in the Spirit ever present in the New Covenant people of God. So what's the difference in the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament?

Was he in the Old Testament? Yes, he is named by name in the Old Testament, not infrequently. Starting in Genesis 1, the Spirit hovering over the waters. The testimony of the Holy Spirit starts in Genesis 1. That gives you an indication.

He is all over the Old Testament. So what is the distinction? More power, more often, and the Spirit ever present in the New Covenant people of God. He seems to come and go in the lives of the people of God in the Old Testament. He indwells the New Testament believer.

This is the promise. I think it was Matthew Henry, so this is a very loose quote because I don't even know who I'm quoting. I think it was Matthew Henry that said that just as the Messiah was the great promise of the Old Testament, the Spirit is the great promise of the New Testament. I think that's true. It was the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament to bring people to faith.

Abraham was saved the same way you are saved. It was the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart bringing them to faith. He raised the spiritually dead. And now, he goes beyond this work to an indwelling fellowship. Can you grieve the Spirit?

You betcha. Can you quench the Spirit? You betcha! Does that mean the Spirit no longer indwells you? Not hardly.

Finally, on this verse. Finally, you know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you, Jesus says. You know Him, believers, for He dwells with you and will be in you, Jesus says. You know Him, believers, for He dwells with you and will be in you. The knowledge of the Holy Spirit is not academic.

It is experiential. It's not that there aren't facts about the Holy Spirit, there are thoughts about the Holy Spirit. There are Bible truths that can be taught about the Holy Spirit. That is knowing ABOUT the Holy Spirit, Just as knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus, knowing about the Holy Spirit is not the same as knowing the Holy Spirit. Knowledge of the Holy Spirit is not academic, it is experiential.

How do you know? When he dwells in you, you know him. By His presence, by your experience of His presence. So should we know the facts? Of course.

We should study the facts and intellectually gain all that we can about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. That is no substitute for experiencing His presence. Verse 18. Finally, Jesus says, I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. In this verse, it is said that believers are not abandoned or left unprotected.

So, if you are filling in blanks on the handouts, it is unprotected. Believers are not abandoned or left unprotected. We are not orphans. The rich truth is that the death of Jesus did not represent an abandoning of His people. Not at all.

Quite the contrary. We have not been left alone. We have not been left unprotected. There are four views of what I will come to you means. What did Jesus mean when he says I will come to you?

Here are the four views. It means the resurrection. He died but he rose from the dead. They saw him. He's talking to these men.

I will come to you means I will be resurrected. Number two, the sending of the Spirit. It follows along with what he has been talking about. I will come to you by the sending of the Spirit, and in that sense you will not be orphans. Number three, the second coming in glory.

I will come to you. I'm coming again. The first time in humility, the second time in glory. I will come to you. I am coming again.

Number four, that it means all of these things. He comes in his resurrection. He comes by the sending of the Spirit, he is coming again in glory. There's no point making a distinction, so just keep that he comes, and he comes, and he comes. There's not anything close to a consensus among the smart people.

D.A. Carson, who is still alive, a wonderful scholar, says it is the resurrection. He is wrong. It is not the resurrection. If it is the resurrection, then he ascended and he left them orphans.

D.A. Carson is wrong. He's way smarter than me, but he's wrong on this one, in my opinion. Ryle says it's the second coming. J.C.

Ryle is wrong. J.C. Ryle is actually downright bad on this one. He actually says, we actually do live like orphans in this world. We are a despised people.

We are often an isolated people. That is exactly contrary to what Jesus says in this text. It cannot mean that. J.C. Ryle is wrong about this.

Friends, it's the coming of the Holy Spirit. It's the sending of the Holy Spirit. I'd like to offer two verses to make this plain. First turn to Ephesians 3. I think the reason that the commentators can't come to a consensus, even though in context I think the answer is so obvious.

It's obviously not obvious to everyone. It would be terrible to be wrong after saying these things. It wouldn't be the first to the last time. Ephesians 3 verses 14-17. Ephesians 3, 14-17.

Ephesians 3 verses 14-17, Paul writes, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named. That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man." So Paul is praying that the athesian believers would be strengthened with might through His Spirit, through the Holy Spirit, in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. When God strengthens you with might through His Spirit in the inner man, Christ is dwelling in your hearts by faith. We're going to hit this again next week when the Father and the Son come and dwell in the believer.

They do that here. Christ dwells in the hearts of believers by His Spirit. Is He at the right hand of His Father interceding for His people? Yes. Is He in the hearts of His people?

Yes. How can that be? By His spirit. 2. Consider Matthew 18, the very end of Matthew 18 verse 20, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

How is that true? Is that true? Did he keep his promise? You better believe he kept his promise. That is true by his indwelling Spirit.

Christ is with his people by his Spirit. That's not a distant thing at all. Son and Spirit are one. That's a mindbender. I know.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8 verse 9 and 1 Peter 1 verse 11. Did you get that? The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8 verse 9 and in 1 Peter 1 verse 11. Did you get that? The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8 and 9 and in 1 Peter 1 verse 1.

He is called the Spirit of His Son in Galatians 4, verse 6. There is much more to say. I have three applications and they are quick ones. Number one, if you love Jesus, keep His commandments. It is evidence that you love Him.

No evidence, no love. So simple. No evidence, no love. If you love Jesus, keep His commandments. Because if you love Jesus, you will keep His commandments.

We're coming to that in a text very soon. Number two, if you are a believer, try to overestimate the help you are receiving and can receive from the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer, try to overestimate the help you are receiving and can receive from the Holy Spirit. I dare you, I challenge you, try to overestimate it. My original writing of this was, try not to underestimate the help you are receiving from the Holy Spirit.

Then I saw, that is so dry. We all know we do underestimate it. I'm saying, I'm laying down the gauntlet. I'm daring you to overestimate the help that you are receiving and can receive from the Holy Spirit. I don't know how you would.

How would you? I've overestimated the degree to which the Spirit of God can help me. I doubt it. I want to stir you up to try it. I think we'd be encouraged by trying it.

Number three. Be good students in John 14, 15, and 16. We are at ground zero in Scripture of teaching on the Holy Spirit. It's going to be Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit for three chapters. This is ground zero.

To understand the Holy Spirit, you start here. Starting in 1 Corinthians 12 with sign gifts would be like starting in Revelation 20 for end times. I want to understand the end times. I go to Revelation 20 and there's a dragon and a chain and a pit and fire. If you start there and not in Genesis 1 with a serpent whose head is crushed by the seed of the serpent, and then Daniel and then Isaiah to see how the same words are used, if you start there you're getting somewhere.

If you start in Revelation 20, you're lost. With the Holy Spirit, if you start in 1 Corinthians 12 with signed gifts, you'll never understand the Spirit. Because you started in the wrong place. You didn't lay a foundation of understanding. So this is our opportunity.

I'm begging you to be a good student in these three chapters, 14, 15, and 16, because this is ground zero for the Bible's teaching on the Holy Spirit. This is the Son of God laying the foundation for our understanding of the third person of the Trinity, the third subsistence of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, God. Thank you for your truth. Help us to all be good students as we work through this, to work through it so carefully, like workmen approved. You don't need to be ashamed of our handling of the Word of Scripture, who find ourselves gaining and being strengthened and encouraged week by week by gaining a good understanding of this person, this He and Him who indwells your people.

Help us spirit, help us we pray in Jesus name, Amen.