Alright, good morning brethren.
Let's turn in our Bibles to John 14. Brethren, we serve a very gracious
Redeemer, a very gracious God. You know how When you receive
news that someone you love is about to die and depart out of
this world, you know how heartbreaking that is. It just, your heart sinks down
to your stomach. There's a void, there's an aching,
and it's aptly called a broken heart. It's really heartbreaking. Now you think about how that
news breaks your heart, how it really breaks your heart. That's
what the apostles felt like that night when our Lord declared
to them that he was about to be betrayed and that he was going
to be arrested, that he was going to the cross, that he was going
to die. and depart and be with the Father.
This is what they felt. This is the heartbreak they felt
that night. Our Lord told them, and He told
them many times, but they really thought He was going to stay
with them visibly, bodily, and how much they had benefited from
His bodily presence. He called them, They had experienced
the power of His Word, the words of eternal life. They left all
and followed Him. They had been taught of Him. Every question they had, He answered
it. He had provided for them the
whole time. Worked great miracles before
their eyes and fed them and provided for them. He stilled the wind
and the waves for them. He protected them from The scribes
and the Pharisees, they despised the Lord and they despised His
apostles because they despised the Lord, because of their association
with Him. And now they're being told the
Lord is no longer going to be with them bodily. they're going
to be left as sheep for the slaughter, they think. And all the hope
they had, they thought He was going to restore the kingdom
like it was in David's day. They thought He was going to
deliver them from Roman rule. They were under the rule of the
Romans. They thought He would deliver them from that. And in
addition to being their salvation, but there was so much that they
looked upon and depended upon because of what they saw, seeing
him physically, bodily, naturally. And so to hear him, that he's
going to die and depart, they were so troubled. Just like you
would be if you heard someone you dearly love is about to die
and depart. They were filled with grief. You think about it. the way that
makes us feel, and you put yourself in their shoes that night. And our Lord was so gracious.
He's so gracious. His word here and everything
He's saying to them was to comfort them. It would have been cruel
to to accuse them of not believing
Him and laying some heavy burden on them when their heart was
already broken. But He's comforting them. He's
comforting them. And listen to what He says here.
He knew their heart and He said in verse 15, If you love Me,
keep My commandments. He's not doubting their love.
He put it in their heart. He's appealing to their love.
He's saying to them, I know you love me, and since you love me,
you keep my command, you continue believing me. He said, believe
me, over and over, believe me. Believe me for the work's sake.
Continue with your brethren, continue washing one another's
feet, continue bearing one another's burden, continue helping one
another to remember these things that I'm telling you. And he
said, verse 16, and I will pray the Father and He shall give
you another comforter. that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know him, for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you
comfortless. The margin says orphans. I will
not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you. Now, though our Lord Jesus is
not here bodily, though He's not here bodily, He does abide with His people. He's not
left us as comfortless orphans. The Holy Father and the Son abide
with His people continually, and that's by the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Our triune God is the comforter
of His people. Our triune God is the comforter
of His people. All three persons are one in
comforting His people. He said in verse 16, and I will
pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter. Verse
17, even the spirit of truth or the spirit of the truth. Someone
said, The believer has two comforters. Truth is, the believer has three
comforters, and they're all one. They're all one. The Lord Jesus,
the Son of God, is our comforter. That's why he says here, I'll
give you another comforter. He had been their comforter,
and he is the comforter of his people. For three years, they
had been with him, and he had been their comforter. But his
presence won't be with them anymore, but he never leaves those he
has redeemed, those he's the surety for. He does not leave.
He said in verse 18, I will not leave you comfortless. I will
come to you, he said. And then two, he promised to
send another comforter. That's the spirit of God. Another
meaning one who would be the comforter of his people, even
as Christ had been the comforter of his people. The Holy Spirit
never leaves, though He regenerates. He said there in verse 17, He
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And we have another Comforter,
God our Father. Listen to 2 Corinthians 1.3. Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God
of all comfort. The Father purposed everything
in salvation, who he would save, Christ who would do the saving,
and how we would be saved through the Spirit, through the Word.
And so everything that our Lord Jesus is promising here, the
Father is all a part of it. He's the Father of mercies and
the God of all comfort. God is one God, not three gods,
just one God in three distinct persons. Three distinct persons. And all are involved in salvation. All three persons. This one God
is involved in all three persons. Although they have a distinct
work they each do, they're all one in the salvation of His people
and they're one in the comfort of His people. Look at verse
16 again. You see all three, I will pray,
there's God the Son, I will pray the Father, there's God the Father,
and he shall give another comforter, even the Spirit of truth, there's
the Holy Spirit. All three, all three persons
in the Godhead are involved in comforting his people. There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And each one,
just as though they perform distinct works, but they're all one in
those works. Each one is performing the works
the other one's performing, and they're all one. Performing the
works to save his people and keep his people confident I want
to just read this to you again down through this verses and
notice how the father the son and the spirit are involved in
each each Verse here look at verse 19. He said yet a little
while and the world seeth me no more But you see me Because
I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." And how would
they know this? By the Spirit of God. So you
have Father, Son, and Spirit there comforting His people,
making us to know. Verse 21, he that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will
manifest myself to him. And he manifests himself through
the Holy Spirit. Verse 22, Judas said to him,
not Iscariot, he said, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest
thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and
said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words, and
my father will love him, and we will come unto him. We will
come unto him. My father will love him and we
will come unto him and make our abode with him. This is by the
Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit. He declared the promise
of the comforter This promise he's given and what he was going
to do. He's promising, this is not only my word. It's not only
what the Spirit of God's going to make you know. He said, this
is the word of my Father. Look there at the second part
of verse 24. And the word which you hear, and he's talking about
everything he said here, including the comfort that he's giving.
It's not my word, but the Father's which sent me. See, he's including
the Father as one involved here in this comforting all three
persons. Verse 25, these things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the Comforter,
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things and bring all things to remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. So our one God, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all three persons are
the comforter of His people. They all get the glory for saving
us and they get the glory for being the comforter, our one
triune God. And the comfort, now what is
the comfort? Why is the Spirit called the
comforter? Because He's the advocate and
the intercessor within us. He's the advocate and intercessor
within us. The Spirit takes up dwelling
in us in regeneration, permanent dwelling in us in regeneration. And He's the advocate and the
intercessor who causes us to look out of ourselves and sets
our affection on the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the
Father. He's the advocate within, the intercessor within. You can
read that in Romans 8. He makes intercession for us
with words that can't be uttered, causing us to look out of ourselves
and depend on Christ and come to Christ and look to Christ.
We can't even pray without God. And it's by the Spirit of God
as the comforter and the advocate and the intercessor within us.
And he's the comforter because when he causes us to look away
from ourselves and all the wind and the waves and the troubles,
he causes us to look to Christ at God's right hand who is our
advocate with the Father in glory. So you have the You have the
comfort within and the comfort at God's right hand, and all
of this being of God the Father. All of God the Father. And the
comfort is knowing this. When we see Christ, and we do,
we see Christ, the comfort is knowing that when he went to
that cross, he didn't try to do something for his people.
He accomplished what he went there to accomplish. He absolutely,
thoroughly put away the sin of His people. When you see our
Lord Jesus Christ, go into the tomb and be buried. See yourself, your body of sin,
buried forever. He has died, He's buried. Before the tribunal of God, before
His judgment seat, He's dead, He's buried. justice has been
poured out to the full. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when
you see him go to the Father and sit down at God's right hand,
see yourself ascending to the Father, seated there with him,
accepted in the Beloved, perfectly righteous in Christ Jesus your
Lord. This is the comfort He gives
us. The comfort is the same comfort He gave you when He first called
you, and that is to behold Christ is your salvation. This is what
He comforts His people with. The Spirit doesn't bring His
child into bondage again. He doesn't bring us into bondage
again. God is love. And John, repeating
what the Lord says here, said, Perfect love casteth out fear. When He fills us, when the Holy
Spirit spreads abroad in our hearts the love of God, He casts
out fear. It's not bondage. It's not bondage. Christ said there in verse 27,
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. The peace He gives us is that
He has accomplished peace for His people with God. We have
peace with God in Christ. Look over at Romans 8 and again
see that all three persons in the Godhead are involved in this.
Romans 8 verse 15. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, I have a father. There's the spirit
and there's the father. The spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. There's all three, the Spirit,
the Father, and our Lord Jesus. He brought us into this relationship
of children, not servants, not in bondage, not fearful, children. And he says, if so be that we
suffer with him. that we may be also glorified
together. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. And here's how we're going
to suffer with Him. Same way you believed on Him
when He first came to you. Same way you've been preserved
to believe on Him up till now. This is how we're going to endure
suffering. The Holy Spirit interceding within,
being our advocate within, turning us to Christ our Advocate at
the right hand of the Father, and making us see the Father
accepts us in Christ and we have peace with God. That's how you're
going to endure suffering. Now secondly, not only is our
Lord all three persons in the Godhead involved in this comfort. Secondly, we shall be comforted
as long as we walk this earth because the Holy Spirit shall
never be taken from one in whom he abides. Never. Verse 16, he
said that he may abide with you forever. John 14, 16, that he
may abide with you forever. Verse 17, he says, 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. The world cannot receive the
Spirit nor the things he teaches because natural man only believes
what he can see with natural eyes. That's what he said right
there. He says, "...whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not." With the world, seeing
is believing. Seeing is believing. Seeing with
carnal eyes, natural eyes. This is why the world's religion
has to have lots of things men can see and touch and feel and,
you know, stained glass windows and fleshly music to appeal to
the flesh and all sorts of activities and ceremonies, things you can
see, things that really move the flesh. In that natural state,
a sinner cannot receive the things of the Spirit. He cannot. He
said there in verse 17, whom the world cannot receive, not
only will not, but cannot. Cannot. But the Spirit of God,
thankfully, is irresistible like the wind. And though we could
not believe, He makes us believe. It gives you a new heart, it
gives you faith, and gives you a new will. So that seeing by
faith, seeing by faith what can't be seen with the natural eye,
this is what you see, this is what you know, and that's what
our Lord said, you know Him, you know Him, for He dwelleth
with you. He dwelleth with you. The Holy
Spirit, it was manifest on the day of Pentecost when the Lord
poured out the Spirit. and saved that great multitude.
But the Spirit of God has always been the one who causes life
in His people and makes us believe God. He said, He dwelleth with
you. He dwelleth with you. He makes us know the truth. He's
the Spirit of the truth. He makes us know the truth. He
makes us know that we are ruined sinners, entirely incapable of
saving ourselves, entirely incapable of doing anything that's going
to make us perfectly accepted with God. And He makes you see
that this acceptance in every need we have, every need we have,
is Christ. Is Christ. Full provision, our
Lord Jesus. He makes you know this. Look
at John 16, 12. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. And He will
show you things to come. glorify me. For he shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. You see, this thing
of salvation is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It's of
the Father and the Son, and it's made known in our hearts by the
Spirit. And when He comes, He's going
to make you know the truth, and He makes us rejoice in the truth. He makes us rejoice. When you
see that the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
When you read Romans 8, you know, and you see what all the Lord
purposed there. He says, He works all things
together for the good of them who love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. And then everything He lists
there is all of God. And everything He lists there
is beginning to end salvation. Whom He did foreknow, that's
where it begins. With the love of God, knowing
His people, loving His people, ordaining His people. Whom He
did foreknow, Them He also predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that His Son might get all the glory, that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren. If we believe, if we've been
created anew in heart so that we're conformed to the image
of Christ, it's because God predestinated from the beginning. And whom
He predestinated, them He also called. He called us, and then
He also justified, and then He also glorified. It's all of God. This is what the Spirit of God
teaches us, so that the conclusion is this, and what a great conclusion
it is. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? This is the spirit of the truth that Christ reveals
in us. And when He makes you know that redemption has been
accomplished, He's purchased you from under the curse and
condemnation of the law, He makes us stop trying to act out these
dead works to try to make a righteousness for ourselves. He says, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
this is what he is to every child of God who the Spirit gives faith,
because you believe him, you believe him, and he's the end
of the law for righteous to everyone that believe it. And he makes
us to know him as our sanctification. He takes the blood of Christ
and he purges our conscience from those dead works, from our
sin, from our either trying to come to God by our self-righteous
works, or for thinking that we're any less sinful than we are.
And he makes you see, he is all your sanctification. It is by
his blood, purging the conscience, giving you a new heart, that
we're made to look to him and live to him, to abhor that which
is evil and cleave to that which is good. And when you find yourself
cleaving to that which is evil, He still comes in His Spirit
and purges your conscience and keeps you cleaving to Him that
is good. And He makes you know, you find through your own painful
experience and your sorrowful trouble and backsliding, you
find out, if the Lord wasn't my sanctifier and my sanctification,
keeping us We would fall. We would fall away. But he's
that hedge about his people. He's that hedge about our new
man within us that's keeping us looking to him and trusting
him, our sanctification. And the Lord makes you to know
and truly know that when you know He's doing this work in
you and He has done this in you and He continues to do this in
you, that's how we know He's the Master and He will do the
same work in our brethren. And so when our Lord tells us
to believe Him, to keep His command, believe me and love one another,
involved in that is just like he kept just he just kept speaking
of what he would do for them. And that's what he's going to
use us to do to keep reminding one another of the great things
God has done for us and continues to do for us and pray for one
another and trust our Lord to make our brethren stand. And
that's what he will do. He will make his people stand.
He will. Go over to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 12. I love how when you read all
the different apostles, they all speak the same word, because
it's the same Comforter, it's the same Spirit teaching them,
and they all are taught exactly what Christ... This section of
Scripture in John 13 and 14 and 15, through that part there right
before He went to the cross, is so vital because it is over
and over repeated by the apostles. It's just almost word for word.
Look here, the Apostle Paul, he was an apostle, he was taught
of the Lord, though he was taught from heaven. Now this shows you
too that the Spirit of God is the teacher. And Christ has not
left us and the Father has not left us because he did this work
for Paul after he had ascended to the Father. Look at what Paul
wrote, 1 Corinthians 2.12, Now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. freely given,
no cost to us, the great, great, great cost to our Redeemer, the
great cost to our Father who gave His only begotten Son for
His people, but freely given to us. Which things also we speak. Which also we speak. This is
the dunamis. This is the power of God, the
Gospel. And we speak not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual. We look at one verse
of Scripture, we go to another verse of Scripture, we go to
another verse of Scripture, and we look at what the Lord has
spoken and what He's recorded in His Word through the Holy
Spirit throughout the Word, comparing spiritual with spiritual. But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. Where did Paul get that? He got
it from Christ. That's just what Christ said
that night. But he that is spiritual judgeth, he discerneth all things. You have an unction from the
Holy One and you know all things. He discerneth all things, yet
he himself is judged, he's discerned of no man. The world don't understand
the Lord's people. They don't get why you like to
come here and hear the gospel preached. They can't understand
why do you want to hear somebody say you're a sinner. Not judged of men, not discerned
of men. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of
Christ. This is what our Lord is promising
His people through the Spirit, to give you discernment, true
judgment, to be able to look to Christ and see Christ and
know Christ and believe on Christ and continue in Him and to love
Him and love one another because He has given you His mind. And
so our Redeemer, go to Ephesians 1, our Redeemer is not going
to depart. He's not going to depart from us and he's not going
to take the spirit from his child. Ephesians 1.13. He's actually, he's regenerated
us and he has given us the faith to believe and he's sealed us.
And the Spirit of God continuing to teach us in our heart, just
like Paul said in Romans 8, hereby we know we're the children of
God, by His Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, with the Spirit
He's given us, hereby we know. And so He's a foretaste, the
Spirit of promise is, He's a foretaste, He's an earnest that makes us
sure of glory that will be kept by our Lord. Ephesians 1.13,
in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. sealed, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
until He comes and redeems us out of this world. He already
purchased us. We're already His possession, all His people. And
this is the earnest, the spirit of promise is the earnest until
the redemption of the purchased possession, and it's all unto
the praise of His glory. And so when Paul tells us to
grieve not the Holy Spirit, you know, our Lord This is something
that, and I'm gonna try to preach on this later, but our Lord that
night, when they were broken, this was their infirmities, their
weakness. And the scripture says he is
touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He experienced
those weaknesses himself because he was flesh, but he's also touched
with, when we're brokenhearted, he's brokenhearted. And so the
same way, when we're not walking as we ought, it's grievous. It's
grievous to the Holy Spirit. And so he tells us, don't grieve
the Holy Spirit. If you need the Spirit of God
and you need the Lord to strengthen you, and you do, go to Him. Go to Him and beg Him for mercy. Beg Him to give you a double
portion of the Spirit, to strengthen you, to be your strength, to
put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man,
that new man that's created after the image of Christ, so that
you walk before Him, obey Him, and keep His commandments. This
is not grievous to us when the Spirit of God and has created
us anew, you want to. What's grievous to us is when
we don't obey our Lord. That's what's grievous. That's
what breaks your heart. And trust Him, look to Him, and
help one another look to Him. But this is the assurance that
He gives us. Every believer knows this. If
He was going to take the Holy Spirit from us, you who believe,
you could say this, he'd already done it. Is that not so? Every
one of us could say that. Because at some point, we've
grieved him. But he's not going to take the
spirit from those that he everlastingly loved. He's going to keep you.
He's going to keep you. And you know, it's just like
our children. I'm going to get into my next message. It's just
like our children, though. You know, you give them space
to to correct themselves and obey you. And if they don't,
then you correct them. And that's what the Lord's going
to do. And it might be grievous. It might be painful. But He will
do it because He's not going to lose. His people cost Him
too dearly. Cost Him too dearly. His glory
is behind it. His glory is connected with our
salvation. The glory of His Son is united
with our salvation. And we're the fullness of His
body. His body won't be complete if He loses one He everlastingly
loves. So He's not going to lose one. He's not going to lose one. When
our Lord says here, those that love Him will keep His word,
that's a certainty, because He's going to see to it. He's going
to see to it. So this is the last thing, and
I'm just one little saying here, but since the Spirit, the Father,
and the Lord Jesus are one, this is how our Lord Jesus continues
to come to us. He said there in verse 18, I
will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I won't leave
you orphans. He told them there in verse 19, yet a little while
the world seeth me no more, but you see me. You see him. You sitting here today, you see
him. The world doesn't see him, but you see him. You see him
by faith. Because he lives, you live also.
And at that day, when the Spirit comes, and the Spirit's our teacher,
and this could be said when He first gave you the Spirit, and
it's said throughout our walk through this world, when He turns
you in that day, you shall know that I am in the Father, and
you in me, and I in you. You know this union you have
that will not be broken. So sinner, the things that are
seen are temporary. Everything we see is temporary.
Things that are unseen, that's eternal. Spiritual. We've received
a kingdom that cannot be moved. It's eternal. It's all the creation
of our Lord Jesus. Do you know and believe that
He alone is your only righteousness? Has He given you this peace?
that only He can give to know you accepted in Him and you're
complete in Him and that He'll never leave you nor forsake you.
That's by Him praying the Father and on Christ's behalf because
the Father is pleased with Him and He's pleased with His people
in Christ, He has sent the Spirit to you and taught you this good
news. And our Lord promises, He Himself,
His Father and the Spirit He said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee. He says, Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age. That's what they needed to hear
that night. That's what I need to hear. Isn't
that what you need to hear? That's the comfort. If we have
a Savior who's loved us before we ever knew him, and he's going
to continue to keep us and save us. Let's go to him. Father,
thank you for this word. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for comforting
your apostles that night and continuing to comfort us today
with the same word. We thank you for praying the
Father and thank you, Father, for sending the Spirit. Thank you, Lord, that you've
never left us, that you continue to keep us and preserve us. You're able to overcome our flesh
and our unbelief and our sin and able to give us faith and keep
us looking to You. Lord, we ask You to work this
in us. Continue to do so. Continue to
give us Your Spirit. We ask, Lord, for more of Your
Spirit. We ask You to revive us. We ask
You, Lord, make Christ so precious to us that we want to honor Him more
and more and give us that grace, Lord, to do so more abundantly, to believe so
faithfully that we're willing to forsake all, and to love so
abundantly that our love for you and our love for our brethren
appears like a hatred for every other person. Make us love that
strongly and that deeply. Lord, we are so troubled, we are so
apt to stumble and apt to be full of doubts and fears just
like the apostles that night. Thank you, Lord, that you remember
we are dust. Thank you for remembering what
we are. And Lord, we're so thankful you're touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Everything we have, we owe it to you. Everything we are, by your grace,
we owe it all to you. Oh Lord, I, we thank you. We praise
you, we give you the glory. Help us to do so more in our
actions and what we say and do. And Lord, thank you for forgiving
us where we failed. Thank you for blotting out our
transgressions. Lord, we ask you, make your presence
known with us here today, wherever your gospel is preached, Lord.
Be there with your people and speak into each heart, wherever it depended on you. Thank you so much, Lord, for
your grace and mercy. These things freely given to
us. All in Christ, all in that perfect,
our perfect Redeemer. Your glorious Son. Lord, we can't thank you enough.
We could stay here all day thanking you for the blessings you've
given us. You know, Lord. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.