We're going to actually be in
John chapter 14 today, but I wanted to read from this chapter, all
of the New Testament especially, but not just the New Testament,
but the old talks about the ministry of God, the Holy Spirit to us. And this particular chapter,
as is often the case, highlights the work of God the Father, of
God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And that is why I had
Brad read this, and you can see that in these verses here. And
I want you to hold your place there. We'll come back to Ephesians,
but I want to go back to John chapter 14. And I've entitled
today's message The Comforter, and that is the name that is
given by God to the Holy Spirit who is given to us by Christ
and the Father to comfort his people. In John chapter 14, Jesus
is about to go to the cross. And the disciples are very sad
and troubled because of that, not only because he would leave
them, most especially because he would leave them. That was
their greatest concern, but also that if he wasn't with them,
what it would mean. What it would mean to them to
be without the Lord Jesus in the world. But he assures them
that they are not to be discouraged, not to be troubled by all of
this, because he would go to his father to prepare, he would
go to the cross to prepare a place for them with his father. And
so his departure was for the greatest possible benefit to
his people. It was for their salvation. It
was for them to come to the father, to be brought to the father.
And so even just with that, we should have the greatest comfort
that the Lord Jesus would depart from us for a time in order that
he could bring us to the Father. And so that's the sense of John
14, is that the disciples are troubled. They're greatly troubled.
told them that he was going to depart from them, that they wouldn't
see him, but he would return soon and be with them again,
which was that period of time where he went to the cross and
to death and then was raised again and then returned to show
himself to his disciples. And from there he ascended and
sat down in the right hand of God. But they didn't understand
it, and so they were troubled by the fact that he was going
away, And he assures them that he wasn't going away permanently
and that he was going away for the greatest possible good, their
salvation, and that they would be brought to the father as his
own children. And this work that he would do
for them would also result in something much greater than his
physical presence with them. He was with them for three and
a half years on earth. And so that had a profound effect
upon them. Obviously, He was with them daily,
constantly, teaching them, instructing them, comforting them, and not
only teaching them, but giving them grace to understand and
to believe Him, and even to love Him, and so they had a strong
bond of love between them on their part, as well as His, obviously.
His is an eternal love, and it's an infinite love, as Brad said.
So, as I read this chapter, and I was reading this particular
verse just before the service here, I want you to look at this
verse as we open our thoughts on the rest of this chapter about
the Comforter. In verse 28, John 14 in verse
28, it says Jesus is talking to his disciples, he says, you
have heard how I said unto you, I go away. Now that's true, he
was going away, going to the cross, and come again to you. He was going to go to the cross,
he would come again, but then he's going to open up something
else because he sees that they're still sad. He says, if you loved
me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father,
for my Father is greater than I." Now, I've always puzzled
over this verse. How does this verse address their
concerns? It seems like they were having
a difficult time because they were focused on their own limited
sphere of understanding and what they could see by that understanding. Christ was going to be taken
from them. Oh yes, he said he would come
again, but still, that he was going to be taken from them.
And he had told them that he was going to the Father and that
his Father, here he says, if you love me, you would rejoice
because I said I go to the Father. Now, why would they rejoice because
he's going to the Father? I mean, in my thinking, the reason
I have trouble with this verse is, yeah, but you're going away
from me. It's like when mom or dad tell
their children, I have to go take care of things, I gotta
go to work, or I have to go to the store, I have to do something,
I'm gonna come back, what I'm going to do is for your benefit.
And the trouble is, is we didn't understand as children why they
had to leave. I don't care where you're going,
just stay with me. I don't care about work, I don't care about
money and all this stuff, just stay with me." Now, the Lord
Jesus had been with them, and why was he there? Why was he
with them? Well, because he had come into
the world to save them from their sins, to bring them to God. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. In 1 Peter 3.18, that's what
the scripture says. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. So this is why he came. He came
to save us from our sins so that the barrier of our sins and the
results of our sins, which is death, and the curse of God's
law upon us because of our sins, and hell, and the grave, and
the bondage of the law, and Satan in his kingdom, all that would
be done away with and broken because he would save us from
our sins. That's why he came into the world. And how did he
do that? Well, he had to stoop from his
place in glory in order to take on our nature. And in our nature
he had to bear all of the sorrows and the guilt and the shame of
our sin because he took our sin and was made sin for us. And
he bore our sins in his own body up to the cross, on the cross,
the tree. So considering all that, when
he says, you heard how I said, I go away. and come again, if
you love me, you would rejoice. And that makes sense now, doesn't
it? Because he who had glory with the father before, who is
the love of his father's heart, and whose will, God's will is
to glorify his son, now he's about to receive that glory.
Now he's about to return to his father and receive the glory
that he left in his humiliation in order to save us from our
sins. So that His great grace in taking that stoop, unbelievable
stoop, made lower than the angels, made lower even than man. He
says, I'm a worm and no man. Now He's being exalted because
He is going to have accomplished His mission. the work would be
completed, the salvation would be obtained, an eternal salvation. And now our eternal, the captain
of our eternal salvation would absolutely obliterate all of
our enemies and obtain an eternal redemption for us, eternal life
and eternal glory. And then he would occupy the
place with the Father that he came to bring us into, to be
with the Father in his house as our home. and to know the
Father and all the love that He had towards us, that He would
adopt us as His children and send His Son to redeem us from
all of our sin and everything that kept us from Him. And so
it makes sense as you think about the glory that would follow because
of the work Christ finished and did for us. And so now it helps
me understand, it helps us as God's people to understand, if
we love Christ, We want Him to be glorified, don't we? We are
so thankful that He would have stooped so low as to come to
us and to bear our sins and bring us to Himself in glory with His
Father. So if we loved Him, yes, we would
rejoice, wouldn't we? We would rejoice. My Father is
greater than I. We would not only be with Christ,
but with the Father. He's greater, greater. No, not
that the Son of God is less than God the Father and His divine
person. He's equal with the Father, co-eternal,
co-sovereign. He rules, His will is done in
all the armies of heaven. But as our mediator, the Father
is greater than the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is what He's
doing here. He's lifting up our eyes away
from ourselves, away from all of the afflictions and the sorrows
and the burdens of our life, to consider Christ, not ourselves,
to consider Him and His accomplishments and His glory and our love to
Him because of His love to us. And so now that opens up the
rest of this chapter to us here, considering this, this great
stoop and the glory that followed in our love for Christ and our
desire to see Him glorified and even sing His praises and be
with Him where He is and with the Father. This is incredible,
isn't it? It's amazing grace. It's incomprehensible
that the Lord from heaven would come to bring us to Himself by
His sacrifice of Himself for our sins. And this was all done
in love. Now, He's not only going to go
to the Father and prepare a place for us at the cross, bring us
to the Father in the end of time, but meanwhile, while He's sitting
in His sovereign glory and His sovereign power over all things,
all that is His Father's has been given to Him now, He's going
to send His Holy Spirit to His people. to be with us, to be
in us, and to reveal the things of Christ to us, to direct our
attention, to direct us in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. What unbelievable grace
that God the Holy Spirit would occupy in us who are wretched
He would be in us, and this proves that the Lord Jesus Christ purged
us of our sins, doesn't it? That the Spirit of God, who is
holy, would dwell in a human person, each one of His people. It means that the Lord Jesus
Christ has purged us from our sins. He's made us holy and given
us His Spirit. And so there we see another thing.
Not only did Christ come in his humiliation and accomplish our
redemption to bring us to God the Father, who he says was greater
than himself as mediator. But He also did this in order
to give us His Spirit to be in us, to be our life and all. And that led me, as I was thinking
about this chapter here, to ask this question. How can I know
Jesus Christ? How can I know that I'm in Him?
How can I believe Him? How can I love Him? How can I
know what to pray and have the unction to pray? How can I come
to God and worship God? How can I do anything? How can
I live? And the answer to all these questions
is by the Spirit of God. By the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ, given to us because Christ redeemed us by His precious blood.
And so let's read this now together in John chapter 14. He says here,
Jesus in verse 7, he says, if you had known me, talking to
Thomas, you should have known my father also. So knowing Christ,
we know the Father. What is eternal life? It's to
know Jesus Christ and to know the Father in Him. To know Him. He says this over and over in
this book of John. In John chapter 8, he says in
verse 19, And listen to these words, then said they unto him,
where is thy father? Jesus answered, you neither know
me nor my father. If you had known me, you should
have known my father also. So you can see there, and look
at chapter 12. In John chapter 12 and verse 45, he says this.
He says, in verse 45 of John 12, he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. But in
John 14, he tells his disciples in verse, let's see, let's see,
where is it here? in verse 17, the spirit of truth
whom the world cannot receive. Whoever sees me sees the Father.
If you had known me, you would have known my Father. But the
spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him. For he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. So we're given this grace. from God to know Jesus Christ. We know Jesus Christ by the gift
of His grace, by the Spirit of God given to us, and that's a
unique gift given to the Lord's people that is not given to the
world. It's not given to everyone. So
this gift of knowing Christ, which Jesus spoke about in verse
7, John 14, 7, if you had known me, you should have known my
father. This gift is a gift of saving grace to know Jesus Christ. This is eternal life, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. And we know God when we know
Jesus Christ. And so he says that to Thomas,
and verse 8, Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. And it sufficeth
us. He didn't understand what he
was talking about. He thought visibly we would see
him. No, it's not a visible seeing. It's a heart seeing. It's a seeing
by faith, enabled by the Spirit of God to see the Father in seeing
the Son. And so when we consider these
things, as they're spoken to us by the Lord, we see the unity. We see that within the Godhead
there is this unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And if you think about it in these terms, you hear the voice
of God the Father speaking at the Mount of Transfiguration
and at the baptism of Christ. And what does He say? One thing
He says is, this is my beloved Son. What is the Father doing? Look at my Son. Hear Him, this
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In Him I am well
pleased, not in yourselves, but in Christ and in all He has done. He's the only one who pleased
the Father. So, we see here that the Father
speaks of His Son, and speaks of Him exclusively to us. He speaks of His Son. And the
Son, what does He do when He comes into the world? He says,
I'm not going to speak my own words. I'm only going to speak
what I hear from my Father. And I come to glorify my Father.
I do the works of my Father. I speak the words of my Father.
And I seek the glory of my Father. I have my father's sheep. He
gave them to me, and I lay down my life for the sheep. They are
mine, but they're His. And so the Son is speaking of
His Father. He's directing us and bringing
us to the Father. And the Father is speaking of
His Son and telling us to hear Him, believe Him, see Him. And
the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Spirit of the Father, He lifts up Christ. And so in the Trinity,
in the Godhead, we see this wonderful directing of each member of the
Godhead to the other. And so no wonder when Jesus speaks
to his disciples, he says, look upon me and be ye saved. Because
that's the message of the Spirit of God. But in order, and in
seeing him, he says, you will see the Father in him. And you
will have this sight of Christ and of the Father by the Spirit
of God. Amazing, isn't it? And so Philip
said, show us the Father. It suffices us, Jesus answered
him, have I been so long time with you? And yet has thou not
known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen
the Father. Eyes of faith by the Spirit of
God. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believe us
not thou, Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the
Father in me?" And so, once again, we see this unity between the
Father and the Son. The Father is in the Son, the
Son is in the Father, and we may not be able to understand
that. But we take it as children. We know that the Spirit of God
is one with God. It's the mind of God. He's the
mind of God. He's a person, but He reveals
to us the mind of God. And here the Spirit of God is
in Christ, the Spirit of God is in the Father, and the Son
is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son. And so we have
this unity in the Godhead, co-equal, co-eternal. having the same nature,
and the same will, the same work, given to the Son to do, and the
Spirit of God to lift up the work of the Son, and the person,
and the offices of the Son, to make known to us the Father's
perfection in the Son. Unbelievable. Don't you believe
this, that I'm in the Father, and the Father in me? The words
that I speak to you, I speak not of myself, but the Father
that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. So everything
the Father does, He does through His Son. He does through His
Spirit. He created the world by Jesus Christ. He saved His
people from their sins by Jesus Christ. And He sent His Spirit
to direct us to Jesus Christ, who did these things, who finished
that work. Verse 11, believe that I am in the Father by His
word. Or else, and the Father in me,
or else believe me for the very works sake. There's no denying
that the work of salvation is the work of God. And that's what
Christ has done. Verily, verily, verse 12, I say
to you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall
he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because
I go to my Father. Now, he's talking here indirectly
about the Spirit of God, isn't he? Jesus Christ went to the
Father. Why? Well, because He finished
the work. But because He finished the work,
and because that work was to save His people from their sins
and then send His Spirit to them as they live their life in this
world as sojourners looking for Christ, looking to Christ and
looking for Him. By the same Spirit, He says to
them, you will do the works that I do, only greater works than
these. Now the apostles were able to
do things as Jesus did physically, raising the dead, giving sight
to the blind, raising those who were lame, and so on, healing
the sick of all these kinds of sicknesses. But the one thing
that's most prominent in what the apostles were able to do,
was to preach the gospel by the almighty power of the Spirit
of God. And by that power, men and women
and boys and girls were converted. They were given life in their
souls. They were given faith in Christ. And even though when
Jesus was on the earth, there were many who followed him, there
were only a few, maybe 500 brethren, he says in 1 Corinthians 15,
and a few more than that. Less than perhaps a thousand. But when the apostles preached
on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 and 5,000, the word of God spread
throughout the whole world. And the church of God, the people
that were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, were then called into
that salvation through the preaching of the gospel because of the
spirit of God in them. And that's what he's speaking
about here. The almighty work of the Spirit of God in the disciples,
bringing the gospel to the hearts of dead sinners and giving them
life, like Ezekiel 37 says. Prophesy to these bones. Ezekiel
prophesied the Spirit of God entered to the bones and gave
them life and flesh on the bones because the Spirit of God, through
the preaching, was given to those bones. And that's what God does
when he saves his people. Talk about greater works. Raising
sinners from the dead, that takes the exceeding greatness of God's
power. And that's what happens when
the gospel is preached. That's why Jesus said, John 6.63,
the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. because it was by the Spirit
of God that this happens. And so he goes on, in verse 13. So, the peace we want, the joy,
the love, the faith, the comfort, how to pray, what to pray, all
these things are given to us by the Spirit, and that's what
Jesus is talking about here. Verse 14, if you shall ask anything,
I'm sorry, verse 13, whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So Christ
is going to do, He's going to answer the prayers Himself, which
means He's God. And He does it for the glory
of His Father. But He does it and He receives
glory because He did it, but His Father is glorified in the
Son. But how does He accomplish the work? How does He answer
the prayer? He gives them His Spirit. That's what they're going
to ask Him for. Remember on the day of Pentecost?
If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you
love me, keep my commandments. Now, we talked about that a couple
sermons. But think about this, when you
think about your love to Christ. Stop thinking about yourself,
but think about Him. You see, the problem is that
when we start thinking about our love, it just withers, doesn't
it? It's like when you think about
your faith, it just seems to wither and shrink and you can't
find it. But when you look to Christ,
When you see He is God, that He's God's appointed and anointed
mediator, that He did all the work to fulfill the law, both
in its precept and penalty, and give us His Spirit in order to
know and believe Him and bring us to God. When you see that
in Christ, then what do you do? Oh, you're overtaken, aren't
you? You're overtaken by His grace and the fact that He did
all the work. And you could trust Him. And
you find yourself in your soul running out to Him to save you. And so all of your attention
now is taken up with Him. And you're so thankful and delighted
to know that looking to Him you have all that He is from God. And so He says, if you love Me,
keep My commandments. Not as if you don't love Him.
but is drawing our attention to Him. And so we are enabled
by the Spirit of God again in answer to our prayers, Lord,
cause me to go, cause me to believe, cause me to love you. We keep
His commandments by His grace. And he says, I will pray the
Father, verse 16, and He will give you another Comforter that
He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth. Now,
look at this verse, in verse 16. Who is praying? Christ, as
our Mediator. I will pray the Father. He will
give you. Who's giving? The Father. What
is He giving? The Spirit of God. And what is
He to us? Our Comforter. And how is He
given to us? Forever. To abide with us. And what is He in Himself? He's
the Spirit of Truth. He reveals all truth. Everything
He says is God's mind and it is truth. And who is truth? The Lord Jesus Christ. So He's
the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth. The world can't receive
Him because it sees Him not. It doesn't know Him, but you
know Him. He dwells with you and He shall be in you. This is because the Lord Jesus
Christ gave Himself for our sins. Look at John chapter 7. John
chapter 7. He says in verse 37, In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink. Who do we come to? Christ. What
do we do when we come to him? Drink. We take of him. He that
believeth on me, that's what drinking is, believing on Christ. You see, when you look to Christ,
you draw from Him, don't you? You draw all virtue from Him,
all cleansing for your sins, all righteousness to cover you,
all holiness, all of your access to God, you bring it from Him,
entrusting Him. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. There's this constant flow of
the life of God in the soul of a believer in looking to Christ. In fact, in looking to Christ
is the evidence of that life. But this he spake of the Spirit. which they that believe on him
should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." You see,
why is the Spirit of God given to us? Because Christ redeemed
us from our sins. He removed the impediment that
God, the Holy Spirit, could be with us and dwell in us. Christ
was with us, He took our sins, He bore our sins, He took them
away. Now He sends His Spirit to us. What a blessing this is. And what does the Spirit of God
in us do? Look at Romans chapter 5. He directs us to Christ. How? How does He direct us to
Christ? He directs us to His saving work
for us. In Romans chapter 5, He says
this, in verse 5, Hope maketh not ashamed, because our expectation,
we will not be disappointed. We will not go with this expectation
and be disappointed. We will surely have what we expect
from Christ, because this is how our hope won't be disappointed,
even now, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. What does the Spirit
of Truth do? He reveals to us Christ. He reveals
to us the love of God to us in Christ. And then He explains
that love. Verse six, for when we were yet
without strength, we had no spiritual ability. We could not keep the
law of God, not once, not in any part of it. We couldn't satisfy
its just demands. We couldn't pray. We couldn't
believe, we could do nothing, we were spiritually dead. When
we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Those who have no knowledge of
God, they're not seeking God, it didn't enter into their mind,
and yet Christ died for them. That's the love of God. Verse
7, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth,
He demonstrated, He set it forth, He made it known, He manifested
it openly. His love toward us in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Son of God, in our
nature, as our mediator, to bring us to God, our surety, our redeemer.
He died for us. The One who is our Master and
Lord died for us, much more than being now justified by His blood. Before God, no sin, perfect righteousness. His blood gave us the righteousness
by which God justified us. That's what it's saying. For
if when we were, oh, we shall be saved from wrath through Him,
reconciled. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, When we
were dead in sins and serving our own sinful lust, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by Christ's life. That's
what the Spirit of God does. That's the ministry of the Spirit
of God. The shedding abroad of the love
of God in our hearts. Look at 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. I want to show you this text
of scripture as well. He says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3
and verse 5, And the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Here we have The Trinity. The Lord is the Spirit. Direct
your hearts, that's His ministry in us, into the love of God,
God the Father, for us, into the patient waiting for Christ
who died for us and is coming again to bring us to God. Amazing,
isn't it? Here we have that. The Trinity
in our salvation. Look at chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because this is
God the Father, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. That's his work. He chose us
to salvation through, and this was his choice also, this is
his predestinating means of our salvation, sanctification of
the spirit. The Spirit of God giving us a
new heart, giving us life, a holy life in us. In order that we
might believe the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit
of truth, the Spirit of God causing us to believe on Christ who is
the truth. You see that? Look at Ephesians
now. Ephesians chapter 2. You have your place there in
Ephesians 3, but look in Ephesians chapter 2. He says this in verse 4. This is speaking here now about
God the Father, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he loved us." That text of scripture was breathed
out, dictated by the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God, to
us and written here for us to know the love of God. God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us even
when we were dead in sins, has given us life, quickened us,
together with Christ. You see, He went away, came again,
but the Spirit of God was given to us to give us life from the
Father with Christ. Think about this. God the Father,
because of his love, when we were dead in sins, sent his Spirit
to give us life and made us alive with Christ. You see the Trinity
here? And the work of the Trinity?
And then he goes on, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened
us together with Christ, for by grace are you saved. It was
of his grace. And the result is our salvation.
And He has, what? Raised us up together and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God the Father
did that through His Spirit, gave us life in Christ, and we're
seated with Christ in glory. Now, that in the ages to come,
He, God the Father, might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Again, His grace
through Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, but the operating
principle of grace, of faith in our heart, is the gift of
the Spirit of God to us. It's the fruit of the Spirit
of God to believe on Christ. Remember Galatians 5, 22, the
gift, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on,
and faith. And that, that faith is not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, God
the Father's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, which he did
by his Spirit, unto good works, which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now, look at verse, I'm going to jump down to verse
18. Look at this verse with me. It's talking about Christ in
this verse, in the first case. He says, for through Him, through
Christ, the One who is our peace, the One who brought us near to
God, for through Him, through Christ, we both, both Jews and
Gentiles, those redeemed of the Lord, those chosen of God to
salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, have access by one Spirit unto
the Father. Do you see that? I don't think
there's a more concise description of the work of God the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit in all of Scripture that shows
us that this is the work of God. Salvation is of God. It's God
the Father who chose us in Christ to salvation and appointed the
Spirit of God to regenerate us and to give us a new heart, His
life in us, because Christ died for us. Through Christ, all of
His people have access to the Father through the Spirit of
God dwelling in us. Now, We're already quickened,
we're given life. So life and faith and all these
things are from God. Look at Ephesians chapter 3 now. Look at Ephesians chapter 3 and
verse 5. This is the gospel, which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The Spirit of God reveals what? The Gospel of Christ. To us,
how? Well, it began with the Apostles.
He revealed it to the Apostles as Jesus said, the Spirit of
Truth sent by Christ from the Father is going to enable you
to do these works greater than even I did. And he's doing that
through the gospel, and look also at verse 16 of Ephesians
3. Brad read this with emphasis,
it says that he would grant you, this is the prayer of the Apostle
Paul to God the Father. It begins in verse 14, for this
cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, God the Father
is the head of the family, and Christ is the one who made us
through His blood the sons of God. But verse 16, that He would
grant you, God the Father grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, in all of His glory, The Father, in all of His glory,
to be strengthened with might, strength, the strength of God
by His Spirit in the inner man. Don't you want that? Don't you
want that? To be strengthened with might
by the Spirit of God in the inner man. And notice what the result
of that is, that Christ may dwell in your hearts. You see the intimacy
and the inseparability of God the Father, and God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit? The Father is going to grant
this, that you would be strengthened with might in the inner man by
the Spirit, and the result is that Christ Himself dwells in
your hearts by faith. The Spirit of God is the Spirit
of Christ. Him dwelling in us is God the
Spirit, and God, the Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling in us, and it's
the Spirit that gives us faith, the Spirit of Christ. To believe
Him, that you being rooted and grounded in what? In love, may
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ. It passes knowledge, His love,
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Do you
want that? Will that cause you to love Him?
You know it will. You see, this is the work of
the Spirit, because of the work of Christ, because of the will
of God, and this is the Father's work, that the Son fulfilled
in His work, and then gave us His Spirit. It's incredible,
isn't it? And so much Everything in our
life is dependent upon the Spirit of God dwelling in us. That God
would dwell in His people. That's amazing, isn't it? Our
bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. He is our comforter. He's always telling us what Christ
is to our souls. And that God the Father designed
this, and willed it, and brought it to pass, brought it about
by His Son, gave His Son for us, didn't spare Him, delivered
Him up for us all, and with Him gives us all things. He's even
given us His own Holy Spirit. And this is what we're to desire.
This is what we're to pray for. The Apostle prayed for it for
the Ephesians. We're to go to God the Father through the Lord
Jesus Christ and in His name because of His work and His person
and His appointment and His anointing. And we're to say, Oh, my Father,
give me Your Spirit that I might know Christ and know my adoption
by Him. and cry with Him, cry with the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of Your Son, My Father, Father,
Father, that's the words of Abba, Father, My Father. Let's pray. Father, we pray through the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the One who purchased us with His
own blood to fulfill Your holy will and Your love for us, to
make it known in what He did, and Your love by what He did
to bring us to Yourself that we might be called the sons of
God. Unbelievable, incomprehensible love of Christ and of our Father.
And we pray by Your Spirit that by your Son your Spirit would
be given to us in our inner man, that we would have in us God
the Holy Spirit dwelling because of Christ's redeeming blood and
your eternal will and love, and we might by the Spirit of God
in us know and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and love Him
and love His people and bear fruit to God, And we might look
for Christ, and the love of God would be shed abroad in our hearts,
now and forever. We pray that as you gave the
Spirit of God to your disciples forever, He would dwell in us
forever. We want Him, Lord. We want Christ
to dwell in us. He's our life. He's our salvation.
He's our all. and we need him, and we know,
Lord, you minister yourself to us through the gospel, so we
pray, Lord, day by day, cause us to think on Christ and not
ourselves, and see our all in him, to run to him, and to find
in him everything, the fullness of God and our completion in
him. In his name we pray, and for
his sake, for his glory, amen.