Turn with me to John chapter
14, the gospel of John chapter 14. I did not lead you in public prayer because
it's hard to follow someone that's been blessed by the Holy Spirit to pray, Brother
Henry. I believe the Lord got ahold
of him in the study tonight and prayed for us, so we'll just believe him to answer that prayer.
And, you know, it's a—let's see if I can say this how I want
to—it's such a confirmation to me, or a a seal to me that what I'm about
to preach is truly from the Lord when somebody is led to read
something that is so applicable to the message. And what you
read, you're going to be amazed, Henry. I told him in front of
me, and I said, now, you don't have any idea what I'm preaching
on tonight, do you? And he said, no. He wrote from 2 John, and it's
just amazing how it applies to the message tonight. Now, it's
been a while since we were in our study through what is called
the Paschal discourse. That is, the message of our Lord
to his disciples right before he was to go to the cross. So
let me refresh your memories a little bit as to what is going
on here. It's been a few weeks, and what has been said already. Now, you'll remember, we started
back in chapter 13, and now in chapter 14, you'll remember that
he started his discourse here in chapter 14 by saying, Let
not your hearts be troubled. Let not your heart be trouble. He said this because this poor
little band of disciples were about to lose their leader. They
were about to lose their friend, their confidant, their master,
their king, and so he tells them not to be trouble. And he speaks
to their hearts, their minds, he speaks many words of promise
and comfort to assure them of some things concerning himself.
He says this, there's several things that he goes on to say,
I run ahead of myself here, but he assured them, first of all,
that he was going to his father's house. He was going to the father. He was going back to God, his
father's house. And he said, it's your house
also, because he said, I'm going to prepare you a place. I'm going
to ensure your reservation in this place. And when all was
complete, He said when all the reservations and preparations
had been made, he was going to come again and receive them to
himself, and they were all going to live together. And he told
them that he had opened the way into heaven itself by what he
had done, by what he had accomplished upon the earth. Well, Thomas,
you know, was doubtful and said, hey, we don't know the way. How can we know? He said, Thomas,
I'm the way. I'm the way. that he had revealed
himself to them and that he had opened the way and taught them
the way and would give them strength to follow him. And he told them
that he would maintain their earthly powers. They were afraid
that they would lose these evidences of God's Spirit
upon them, God's power upon them. And he told them that they would
maintain their earthly powers and that he would even give them
more help. More things to ensure the success of the ministry upon
the earth. And then we told them that whatever
they needed, that he wasn't going to be far. Whatever they needed,
all they needed to do was just call, ask. Just like a kind parent
to a child. Whatever you need now, just call
me. Like a child being asleep and being, Daddy, I'm going to
be right here in the next room. And he assured him of that, that
whatever they needed, they only needed to ask for. And then we
begin tonight by seeing that he tells them that he's going
to send another person, somebody else, another divine, all-powerful
person, much like himself, yea, in extension of himself, to dwell
with them, to stay with them, to never leave them, never. to
take his place, to teach, to guide, to protect, to console,
and we'll get into this here in a moment. And then he told
them that he wouldn't leave them orphans. Not going to leave you
alone. Don't, don't, don't be worried. Not going to leave you
to yourself. Uh-uh. And that very soon they would
experience unbroken fellowship with the Father and with Christ
himself that they'd never known before, even though they lived
with him personally. And this is a comfort to us,
if you think about it. And then he told them he'd manifest
himself to them in a yet unknown and special way, in a way he
hadn't manifested himself before. And he told them that all who
kept his words would experience a special love of God the Father,
which they really hasn't experienced up to this time, because Philip
said, show us the Father. He said, I'll show you very shortly
the love of the Father. And he told them, he assured
them that the Holy Spirit would bring to memory, he would teach
them, and bring to memory all of the things. You know, Christ,
the scripture says that if all of the things that he had done
were written in a book, the world couldn't contain the books. that
these things would be written in. The world couldn't contain
the volumes of books, but it said the Holy Spirit will come
and he'll teach you, he'll lead you, he'll guide you, he'll bring
back to mind so many things that you've forgotten that I said.
And truly, don't you know, in the course of their life after
he left, after they began to live for many years afterward,
that as these things came to mind that Christ had been saying
and doing, It just, it increased their faith in such a way. You
know, it was a bearing witness of their spirit. And then he
told them finally, peace would be theirs. Peace. You know, we experience a little
bit of this, of peace, true peace of mind, of heart, of soul, comfort. And it's pleasant. The gospel
is what speaks peace to you, and you get a little glimpse
of it, you get a little feeling of it every now and then. But
he told these apostles, I'm going to give you peace. Peace. Well, it's no wonder he said,
don't be troubled. After all these promises that
he's about to tell them, or is telling them, he says, don't
need to be, don't need to worry, not a thing to worry about. So
look here in verse 15. This is where we left off. We
finished through verse 14. He said, If you ask anything
in my name, I'll do it. And he says here in verse 15, and you
have a little backward T right after the number 15. Most of
you probably do in your Bible. That means it's a start. Now,
this was in the original. the original scrolls, some sort
of symbol, meaning that it's the start of a new thought, or
at least a new paragraph, and that you can start right there
and not do damage, or you can start here and not do damage
or lift things out of context. He says here in verse 15, If
you love me, then keep my commandments. The thought just struck me, I
wish I could read this like he said it. All these things, the
Holy Spirit has to do it, but to our hearts. But he said, if
you love me, keep my commandments. Now this has a much deeper spiritual
application than what some people naturally suppose. But what he's
saying here, I believe, is that true acceptable obedience is
only produced by love. True, acceptable obedience is
only produced by love, and if you truly love somebody, you
will submit yourself to them. Now, let me explain that. Let
me illustrate. I like to illustrate. A wife—and I use this all the
time, husband-wife relationship, and we saw it in the Scripture—a
wife who truly loves her husband, truly loves him. Now, I'm not
talking about feigned service. I'm talking about real love,
loves him. She obeys, she follows, she heeds
his wishes, his commands. She serves him because she loves
him. She loves him. Because, first
of all, who he is. Because he's her husband. And many other husbands out there,
but they're not her husband, you see. And she obeys and heeds
her husband because of who he is. He's her head. Now, this is the reason love
and true service can only come through the Spirit of Christ
upon a woman and a man in a marriage relationship. You know what I'm
saying? Do you see what I'm trying to say? Because only in Christ
can you see this true subjection. And she loves and serves him
because of who he is, her husband, her head. And because she esteems
him so highly, She thinks there's none like him. My wife thinks most you ladies
lost out. She thinks I'm the greatest. I'm glad she does. I mean, love's
real blind, isn't it? But I'm glad she does. And I
think she's the greatest, greatest wife there ever was. She esteems me very highly. You
see what I mean? And I esteem her highly, and
we serve one another and love one another because we love one
another and esteem one another as being none other like them.
None like them. And because a wife serves her
husband, obeys him because she thinks she's right. You think
I'm right, don't you? Huh? She thinks she's right. She thinks that there's nobody
quite as clever and as smart and as intelligent. She thinks
I can do anything. I've got her so fooled. And because a wife
serves her husband and obeys him because she knows he loves
her. It's mutual respect, you see.
And the same holds true with children. If a child really loves
mom and dad, they'll obey him. That's the sign. That's the telltale
sign. It's like, I'm sorry, I'll use it again, but Hannah right
now, she's before she grows too old. Right now, she loves to
do things for her daddy. Hey, would you go get daddy this
or that? Sure. Yeah. Why? Why she do that? Serve me so willingly. She loves
me. She esteems me so highly. She
respects me. She thinks my daddy really is
something. And I like to help him And it's
the same way with employees. It's the same way, especially
with church members, toward a pastor and leaders and so forth. And
here's the illustration I'm trying to give. A true child of God,
a follower, a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, one lived by his
spirit, submits unto the Lord Jesus Christ because who he is. He's Lord. He's King of kings
and Lord of lords because of who he is. He's my master. He's
mine. He's my Lord. Yeah, He is. He's
revealed Himself to me personally. I'm not afraid of that saying,
a personal Savior. He really is. He saved me personally. Yeah, He did. He saved my person.
And I don't let Him scare me away from that at all. Because
I esteem Christ highly. There's nothing like Him. He
is the best there is. He is the greatest there is.
He does no wrong. He is the altogether lovely one.
He is the fairest of ten thousand, the brightest morning star. He
is. And this love ain't blind. This love has your eyes wide
open to see him as he is. Uh-huh. And so I want to serve
him because I feel Christ to be right. He's right. He's the judge of the earth.
He does right. Whatever he says, he's right.
Whatever he says for me, Jeanette, is right, and it's good. He never
does anything but what's best for me. He'll never do anything
in my life. Nothing will come to pass in
my life except what is very best for me. Why? He's too kind. He's too merciful. He's too wise.
Yeah, he is. He's too wise to err and too
kind to do injury to his children. And a child of God serves Christ
because he feels Christ loves him. That's when your love is truly
manifested, when you say, here's love. Not that we first loved
him, but that he loved me when I was a wiggly maggot, and while
I'm still a wiggly maggot, he loves me. Me? Yeah, me. Oh, boy. What can I do? What
can I do? Well, he says, if you love me,
keep my commandments. Well, what are Christ's commandments? Anybody like to take a shot at
this? Anybody? I'd gladly let you take
my place on this. What are Christ's commandments? No less than the will of God
Almighty himself. No less than, like you said today,
from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation 22. No less. Chiefly, turn to Matthew 4. We'll
go back to when our Lord first opened his mouth in public ministry. Let's see what he said. Here's
his commandments. I've given you basically, or
chiefly, three principal commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
these are the first things that came out of his mouth. Matthew
chapter 4. Keep your place there in John
14. Matthew chapter 4. Now, Christ
is about to begin his public ministry, and he was a preacher.
Jesus Christ was first and foremost a preacher, while a man. First, he was a preacher. Verse
17, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, this is
not an option. Repent. for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand." That's his first commandment. Repent. That says a lot. Oh, my. Repent. That means oh, so many things. I feel so helpless here at this. But what it means is to acknowledge
yourself. First of all, before God Almighty,
before men, acknowledge what you are. Don't hide it, but acknowledge
yourself and your sin. And that only comes by seeing
God, by seeing His holiness. And repent means to turn, too.
It means to turn. Turn from yourself and your sin. And the only way a person will
ever really turn from self and sin is to hate yourself and your
sin. Before the Lord really revealed
himself to me, I cleaned up my ways. I've told you this before,
but I'll say it again. But I just kind of cleaned up
my habits, got a haircut and cleaned up my habits just so
I could get by in this world a little better. I didn't get religion, I just
got smart, you know. I saw that I was going to have
to clean up my act if I was going to get by. Nobody was going to
help me. I wasn't going to get a good job or anything. But repentance
goes much farther than outward reformation. Repentance is a
turning from self, from me, from mine, from everything about me.
It's hating yourself. Hating yourself. And repentance
is more than that even. Repentance is a change of heart,
attitude, life. a change of life. Is it any wonder
that it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to do this, to grant
repentance, the goodness of God, to grant a repentance to a person,
a true change? And repentance is this also. It's a turning from dead works
of self-righteousness. It's repenting of what I think
is going to recommend me to God, when in actuality it condemns
me, my works, my righteousness. And it's a turning from me, from
mine, from my righteousness to his, to trust Christ and Christ
alone. And true repentance brings this. Look at verse 19. Here's the
second commandment, I believe, the principal commandment. Verse
18, Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee. After he said this,
that's all it records that he said here, in that from that
time forth he began to preach repent. for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And Jesus walking by the Sea
of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew
his brother, casting a net under the sea, for they were fishers,
and he said unto them, Follow me. Repent, turn from yourself, and
follow me. It seems so simple, doesn't it?
Two mighty commandments, aren't they? Turn from yourself and
from following after your father, the devil, and follow me. Trust Christ. Depend on him.
Look to him and him alone. I mean really following now.
Follow him. Have love and appreciation. Now,
back to John 13. Look at John 13. Look at John
13. Gather yourselves here a little
bit. We're doing a study here, and
I think it will be profitable. Look at John 13, verse 34. Now
he says, a new commandment, a new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved
you, ye love also one another. He says repent, he says follow
me, and he says love. It's a spiritual progression. That's exactly what it is. Repentance
brings about faith in Christ, following Christ. Following Christ
brings about love for Christ, love for his gospel, love for
his people. You see the natural progression there? And every
true believer, every follower and lover of the Lord Jesus Christ
submits to, bows to, bears in mind, and strives to act upon. That's what the word keep means.
He says, keep my commandment. It means to submit to, to bear
in mind, to keep in your mind, to strive to act upon, to keep
them. Strive to act upon His commandments. Every true believer. Why? Because He says so. Because He
says so. Because He says so. Because I
esteem Him, like I said before, because I esteem Him as I am.
He knows all. He is all. What else is there
but for me to do what He says to do? Everything else has to
be. If He's truth, Terry, if He's
truth, whatever else there is in the line, If I don't follow
Him, what He says, whatever else I follow, I'm in error, aren't
I? I better get behind Him. Better listen. Better listen
up to what He has to say. And a true believer keeps his
commandments impartially. Impartially. He keeps whatever
Christ says, because He says so. Because He knows they're
right. Not just what He likes. Not just what appeals to Him,
you know. And the same gave the illustration of a wife to a husband. She may not completely, this is where the illustration
can't hold too much water, but she may not completely agree
with everything he said. She may not totally understand
what he said, but if she really esteems him as her husband, as
her head, she'll follow what he says. And you may follow him
into a mistake, but not my husband, not Christ. Whatever he says
is right. And a believer will keep him
cheerfully. The Scripture says his commandments
are not grievous. His work is easy and his burden
is light. So whatever Christ says is true,
is right, is necessary, and is excellent. It's excellent. And
it's the best thing for me. the best thing for me. I look
at the text there, John 14, and it says, If you love me, keep
my commandments, my words, my testimony. And verse 16, he says,
And I'll pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you forever. I'll pray the Father, and he'll
give you another comforter. Now, up until now, Christ himself
had been their sole comforter. He'd been their, like I said,
their friend, their companion. They'd gotten everything they
ate, everything they wore, everything they drank, everything from him. They asked him all the questions
they needed to ask him. He was the one they turned to,
like little children, like sheep following a shepherd, just following
along behind him, dependent on him for everything, solely. And
now, Christ is leaving them. And so, out of love and care
and concern, he assures them, I'm not going to leave you to
yourself. I remember what you are. You were what you are, that
is, dust, frail children of the dust, when I found you. And you're
still what you are now, though I'm leaving you. And you'll still
be frail dust on your deathbed. I remember, so therefore, I'm
not going to leave you alone. I'm going to send somebody. I'm
going to send somebody marvelous. I'm going to send somebody marvelous. And, you know, he told them back
in verse 14, he said, if you if you ask anything in my name,
I'll do it. Anything in my name. Was it back
in, I forget where it was, it was Romans where we studied there,
where it said, we don't know the things that we should ask
for. You said that tonight, it's so hard to pray, you don't know
what to pray for. It's true, we don't. The Holy Spirit must
give us intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered. He's
got to take our prayers and go to the Heavenly Father and make
them right. No matter how good they may sound to us, He's got
to make them right. He's got to make them the things we really
need. And say, well, this is what they need, Father. So we
might understand the office of the Holy Spirit. But he told
them back then, he said, now ask anything in my name and I'll
do it. But we don't know what to ask for. So he says here, well, I'll ask
for you. I'll pray for you. And he knows,
he knows our failure at the end that we won't even ask. Isn't
it true? Huh? We don't pray much. He said,
I'll give you my name and I'll do it. And we don't pray much. Well, he says, it's necessary
then that I pray for you, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's like my,
it's like, was it David? He said, was it Job? Was it Job that offered up sacrifices
for his family? Was it Job or David? I forget
which it was. Which one? Well, anyway, they weren't going
to offer up sacrifices for themselves. Job? He said, though, if they're
not going to do it, I'll do it for them. And this is what our
kind Father says, our Master says to us. He said, I'll ask
for you what you don't know what that's for. I'll ask for the
Holy Spirit. That's what you need. That's
who you need. And it's kind of like, this is kind of like a
father leaving home. Say I leave home and I'm going
to be gone quite a while. And I appoint somebody to look
after and look in on my family. That'd make them feel better,
wouldn't it? Now, I'm not going to leave you completely. I'm
going to see to it that somebody comes by and checks in on you
all. Now, that'd be good, wouldn't
it, if somebody did that? He says, I'm sending somebody
to live with you. I'm going to send somebody. Look
at it. He said, I'll give you another
comforter. I've been a comforter to you.
I'm going to give you another, somebody else. This is what proves
that he's a person, another, another comforter that he may
abide with you forever, and live with you forever. I'm going to
send to you somebody just like me. Now, come on now, stay with
me here folks, please. I'm going to send, Christ said,
I'm going to send to you somebody just like me, looks like me.
talks like me, acts like me, is me. I'm going to send somebody
just like me. Now, that little girl there,
there's a couple other people, other than Mindy and myself,
there's a couple, a few other people she loves dearly. Loves more than anybody else.
Want to guess who they are? My daddy and mama. She loved
Bobo and Mimi. Besides Mama and Daddy, she loved
Balboa and Mimi more than anybody else. And Papaw and Mimi. Why? They look just like me. And they look just like me. And
they act like us. They remind us. They remind her
of us. You see? And she feels so comfortable.
And she'll be just at home, just as if, as a matter of fact, we
take her to Balboa and Mimi, she don't come home. She wants
to stay with Balboa and Mimi. Why? We're all We're one in the same family.
You see? We're one. Ba-ba-mi-mi and pa-pa-mi-mi. Ba-ba and pa-pa and if you can
figure all that out. And they love her just like we
do. Yeah, they do. They love her just as much as
we do. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. Why? She's theirs. She's born of their bones also.
She's there, and what's mine is theirs, and what's theirs
is mine, and mine, and mine, and thine, and mine. Remember
over here and that? All one, one big happy family.
And if we leave, she's going to be taken care of. Yes, she
is. Go to live with Bob-o'-Mimi or
Pop-o'-Mimi. Pop-o'. I get confused. Well, this word comfort her.
He said, I'll send you another comforter. It's taken from two,
our English word is the best translation of the original,
comforter. It's taken from two Latin words.
I don't do this very often, but I believe it helps here. Two
Latin words are com, which means alongside, and fortis, which
the word fort comes from, strong habitation. somebody strong to
stand beside us. That's what we needed, a comforter,
a comforter. You ladies, you ladies, you're
never really afraid when your husband's home, are you? Really. Now, most ladies, I don't care
if you're only 5'7", weighs 145 pounds like me, they're not afraid. You know, you can be a little
shrimp, but if they're at their husband's home, you know, nothing
to be afraid of. The big man comes in, he'll take care of
it. Well, the Holy Spirit is all-powerful.
He is all-powerful. Yes, He is. All-powerful, just
like the Father, just like the Son. He's my strong, the one
that stands along beside me. The strong one. The strong one. Christ said, I'm going to send
somebody to be with you. Somebody going to be with you. comfort you. And I'll get into
this comfort, what the Holy Spirit does in comforting, how he comforts
his people. I'll get into that more over
in verse, around verse 26, where it tells what the Spirit says. So you take the things of Christ
and show, and that's where peace and comfort comes from. And him
taking the things of Christ and applying them to you, showing
them, revealing them to you. Remember verse 17, to stay in
context here. Even the Spirit of truth. He
said, I sinned, Henry. That's what John wrote there
in 2 John, the spirit of truth. I'll send this spirit of truth
whom the world cannot receive. The spirit of truth. Christ said,
and you translated correctly when you read that in 2 John,
Christ is the truth. Christ said, I am the truth.
I am the truth. But he also said this. He said
in one place, thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. And Christ
said, here, when the Spirit of Truth has come, when the Spirit
has come, he'll guide you in all truth. And what this is saying
here is that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He's the Spirit of Christ, and
he uses the means of the Word. The Word's called the Word of
Truth. He uses the Word. The Holy Spirit speaks through
the Word only. Through the Word. The Holy Spirit
only speaks through the Word. Yes, he does. He will not speak
through any visions or dreams or natural phenomena or whatever. He does not. No, no, no. God
has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, his Gospel,
in Son language, Gospel language, through this Book. He does not
speak otherwise. And someone is sadly, gravely
mistaken if they feel like they have Heard from God, known God,
been saved apart from the hearing of the gospel. That doesn't gel
with Bible salvation, not at all. The Holy Spirit speaks through
his Word to the Spirit of truth, the Word of truth. And look at
this, he says here in verse 17, the Spirit of truth the world
can't receive. cannot receive, because it sees
him not, neither knoweth him. But you know him, he dwells with
you, and shall be in you. Now, the world can't receive
because it sees him not, and neither knoweth him. Now, what
he's saying here, first of all, is that the Holy Spirit is invisible. He says, Spirit. The Spirit. He's going to come. He's invisible.
And it is saying here, you must be born again to see and to know
him. You've got to have new eyes. You've got to have new eyes to
see. You've got to have new ears to
hear him. Now, you remember, I'll just turn over and read
this to you. You can turn if you want. First Corinthians, chapter
2. First Corinthians, chapter 2, he says this, in verse 7. He says, Now we speak the wisdom
of God, but it's in a mystery. Hidden wisdom. Hidden. Hidden
to the eyes of this world. Hidden to the ears of this world.
Hidden. People don't hear it. People don't see it, do they?
You can talk to them until you're blue in the face. I can stand
up here and talk to some people until I'm blue in the face. And they won't hear it. They
don't see it. They don't see the existence of Christ. And you know what
I'm talking about. You talk to people and you think,
why can't they see this? It's right there. Why can't they
hear this? It's just right there. It's so
clear now. And He'll have the eyes. And we're not gloating. I'm not gloating because I do
have the eyes. What I have, God gave me. And
He's just going to have to give the same eyes to somebody else. But it's a mystery. It's hidden.
That's what God ordained before the world under our glory. And
then look at verse 9. He said, I haven't seen, nor
have I heard, neither have I entered into the heart of man. See that?
Mankind, in general, the things which God prepared for men that
love Him, that God revealed among us. How? You see that? By His Holy Spirit. By His Holy
Spirit. For the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
searches out, searches all things, the deep things of God. And what
in the man knows the things of a man save the Spirit of man
which is in him? Even so, the things of God know no man. See
is no man, hear is no man, but the Spirit of God shall reveal
to that man. Verse 14, A natural man, a natural, carnal, worldly
person, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, a foolish
man. That's the reason people don't like to sit here in church.
They haven't been born again from above. They don't like to
sit here. Why? There's nothing interesting to them. Nothing
interesting. Other men don't love my wife
like I love her. Because the difference being,
I've been given this spirit of love for her. I've been given
eyes. I've been ruled by her. There's
this irresistible grace about her that God formed between us
two. And the same holds true with
a man or a woman in their relationship with Christ. A natural man doesn't
pursue any beauty in Christ, neither does he desire the beauty
of the gospel until the Holy Spirit gives it. Can't know him,
spiritually discerned. Well, that's what he said back
in the text there. He says the world can't receive
because it doesn't see him. It doesn't see the Holy Spirit.
Neither knoweth him. Can't. Except you be born again,
you cannot see the kingdom of God. I don't care how religious
you are, you can't see. And really, religion blinds you
more. than seeing does. It does. Because you think you
see. You say, oh, how great is the
darkness when you think you see. It's worse. It's two-fold. It's
a double darkness. But I have new eyes, new ears,
new mind, new heart, new principle. And I give myself as an example
I just tell you what the Lord has done for me over and over
again, just as the clearest example I can give, because I'm not what
I used to be, and it's so amazing to me. So amazing to me. The things I used to hate, I
love now. The things I used to love, I don't want. It's amazing. And nobody will
know it unless they experience it. Verse 17, continue. He says,
but you know him. The world doesn't see him. They
don't know him. But you know him. Yeah, you do. You know him. He dwells with you. He's in you. He's in you. Now, how can, this
is a good question, how can the Holy Spirit, holy, how can the
Holy Spirit dwell in a sinner? You ever thought about that question?
That's an interesting question. How can this holy, it's called
a holy spirit, dwell in a sinner like me? I don't know. I don't know. You thought I was going to give
you some deep answer, didn't you? I don't know. It's a mystery. It's a mystery. Yeah, it is. But perhaps it's
just like a loving parent who faithfully bears with a child
he loves, faithfully bears with their folly and foolishness and
sin and rebellion, faithfully bears with them. The child really has no effect
on the parent, but the parent perfects and instructs and leads
and guides that little child, molding and making, trying to
mold and make that child just like themselves. And that's how
the Holy Spirit dwells with us, or what he does. Besides, and
this makes sense, if we weren't sinners, we wouldn't need him
in the first place, would we? Don't ask how, I'll let this
written down, don't ask how or why, just rejoice in itself and
believe it. Rejoice in Christ's promise and
the Spirit's presence. Do you see the Trinity here?
Rick and I have been talking about this, and it was brought
up in the study again tonight. Do you see the Trinity here?
Look at it there. In verse 16, I, who's speaking,
the Son of God, I will pray to who? The Father. That's another
person. The Father. And He will give
unto you another. Comes from three persons. Undeniable,
isn't it? Undeniable. Yeah, it is. Undeniable. The Trinity. Well, how do you
know the Spirit is with you? Well, I'll cover that later on.
We'll see that. I'll entice you to come back
and see that, how you know the Spirit is with you. Well, we
studied that a good great in depth, didn't we, on Wednesday
night. In verse 18, he says, I will not leave you comfortless.
I'm not going to leave you orphans. I'll come to you. Well, I've
cut this written down text. This is clearly a mystery. This is clearly a mystery concerning
the Trinity. It's clearly a mystery concerning
the Trinity and their oneness. Christ said, I'll not leave you
orphans, I will send the Spirit to come to you. I'll pray with
the Father, He'll send the Spirit. He said, I'll not leave you alone,
I'll come. Seems to indicate that they're
one and the same person, doesn't it? Even though the Spirit is
a separate person from the Godhead, it seems to indicate that Christ
and him are one, doesn't it? How come? It's a mystery. Many ask this
question. We've asked this question. Will
we see only Christ when we get to heaven? Well, the amount of
transfiguration seems to indicate that, doesn't it? They saw Christ
only, but Revelation 4, I will draw your attention, well, you
don't have to turn there, but Revelation 4 is a mystery. You see one sitting on the throne,
it says, looks as a jasper stone, sardine stone, a rainbow around
his head, and it says there's one sitting in the midst of the
throne, and goes and takes a book out of the one sitting on the
throne. I don't know. You tell me when you find out.
But Christ did say it is. No man has seen the Father at
any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, He has declared. No man can see the Father and
live, the Scripture says. I don't know. But it's a marvelous
mystery anyway. What he's talking about there,
I'm just not sure. Verse 18. Verse 19. He says,
You have a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But
you see me. In a little while the world sees
me no more. He says, very shortly now, what he's saying here, very
shortly I'll not be seen by the world until I come again in the
clouds when every eye shall behold me. Soon I'm going to leave.
I'm going to leave. I'm going to stay gone, apparently.
He said, you'll see me. Yeah, you will. You'll see me.
Paul saw him, didn't he? After he went back, Paul saw
him. Actually saw him face to face. But, he said, blessed are
your eye, blessed are the eyes. Peter said this, wasn't it? Wasn't
it Peter? Blessed are they that believe, whom having not seen,
you love. Blessed are you whom having not
seen, yet you love him. But you see. How do we see? We
see by faith. We see by faith. Hebrews says,
we see Jesus. We see. who was made a little
lower than the angels. We see it. Scripture says, looking
unto him. Look, we look by eyes of faith.
It's a perfect illustration, example, of the children of Israel
looking on that serpent in the wilderness. Some of them may
have been blind. The Nazarenes may have blinded
them. The poison of those snakes may
have blinded them. They couldn't see the snake,
but they could see. How? Eyes of faith, looking. Have you ever seen Jesus Christ? I have. He wasn't 900 feet tall. He wasn't
wearing a beard. I don't know what he looked like.
Some of you know what I'm talking about. You see him by eyes of
faith in the gospel. You see him. You see him. You know, we talk about blinds,
some physically blind people being more perceptive. Having
this sixth sense about them that is developed. The Lord gives
them this. This sixth sense about them where they can feel, sense
the presence of people in the room without seeing them. God gives His children a spiritual
sense. Although they don't see Him with
His eyes, they see Him with eyes of faith. You ask me how I know
He lives? Now, come on. Who is this Jesus
Christ anyway? This man that lived 2,000 years?
You've never seen him. You've never actually heard him
speak. Have you? Well, not in so many ways. Well, yeah,
I have. Yeah, I have. And like I say,
it's a mystery and you can't explain it until you experience
it in the gospel, hear the gospel. I'm telling you, I wish I could
get this across to somebody that doesn't know what I'm saying.
When the gospel comes and thrills your heart, I mean this old-fashioned
message of a man hanging on a tree. How could that just thrill somebody's
heart?