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fellowship between all persons within the church body particularly
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Jews and Gentiles given their different backgrounds and Romans 15
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Paul begins to cite a number of Old Testament passages that showed that this was
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God's intention throughout history to bring the Gentiles into this relationship with God along with Jews who believe in Jesus Christ Romans chapter 15
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Romans 15 we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up for Christ did not please himself but as it is written the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope may the
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God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show
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God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the
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Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written therefore
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I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name and again it is said rejoice
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O Gentiles with his people and again praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all the peoples extol him and again
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Isaiah says the root of Jesse will come even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the
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Gentiles hope may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that by the power of the
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Holy Spirit you may abound in hope I myself am satisfied about you my brothers that you yourselves are full of goodness filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another but on some points
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I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the
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Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God so that the offering of the
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Gentiles may be acceptable sanctified by the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus then
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I have reason to be proud of my work for God for I will not venture to speak of anything except what
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Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed by the power of signs and wonders by the power of the
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Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Lyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ and thus
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I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named lest I build on someone else's foundation but as it is written those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand this is the reason why
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I have so often been hindered from coming to you but now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions and since I have longed for many years to come to you
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I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while at present however
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I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the Saints for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the
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Saints at Jerusalem for they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the
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Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings they ought to be of service of to them in material blessings when therefore
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I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected I will leave for Spain by way of you
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I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ I appeal to you brothers by the
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Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the
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Saints so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company may the
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God of peace be with you all amen let's pray our father we pray that the
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God of endurance and all encouragement would grant us to live in such harmony with one another that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope in accord with Christ Jesus that together we may with one voice glorify the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Lord we pray that the
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God of hope would fill us with all joy and all peace and believing so that by the power of the
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Spirit we may abound in hope our father as we open the scriptures this morning we pray that we would feel this hope that we would see it clearly in the person of Jesus Christ and that we would set all of our hopes all of our ambitions upon him
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Lord we pray that we would see clearly this morning help us to be free from distraction and help us to focus on the glory that is found in the scriptures
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Lord we thank you for this in Jesus name amen well let's turn in our
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Bibles to Romans 14 please in one way
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I've been looking forward to this addressing these verses for a while and yet I do so with a little in trepidation there are some concepts here in these few verses that are just quite amazing and quite extensive that I don't feel
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I can address adequately before you I hope that the Lord would just help us to introduce some of the issues here and the potential for growth and learning about some of these matters if we can get an inkling of what mysteries lie before us that are discoverable by us by the grace of God it would be a good thing so last
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Lord's Day we arrived to John 14 16 and 17 in which the
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Lord Jesus informed his disciples of the Holy Spirit that the
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Father would send to them in answer to his prayer the
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Lord Jesus promised his disciples that they would be assisted by the Holy Spirit and that the
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Holy Spirit would be in them and this is something new for the people of God and so today we desire to continue this very important subject that we have before us that we find not only here but also in the next two chapters of his gospel we find more information about the
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Holy Spirit here in this central portion of John's gospel than anywhere else in Scripture now in these last words of Jesus to his disciples he spoke of the close fellowship that his disciples would enjoy with all three persons or each person of the
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Blessed Holy Trinity although the Lord Jesus was about to leave them he would not leave them alone and this is an emphasis of this passage after he left them he would pray to his father so that another helper other than himself the
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Holy Spirit would come to them for 16 but he also promised that he himself would come to them along with the father who would also come to them and so we see in our passage therefore that our
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Lord Jesus promised his disciples that they would experience and enjoy fellowship with each of the three persons of the
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Holy Trinity and so today I would like to introduce this matter of the
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Christian in communion with the triune God what does that look like how do we enjoy communion with God the
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Father communion with God the Son communion with God the Holy Spirit because that's what the
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Lord Jesus is promising and assuring his disciples here in the last occasion he had to speak with them before being arrested now to begin today we want to reread a few verses we've already covered and then read beyond those verses and so here is
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John 14 12 through 24 most assuredly I say to you he who believes in me the works
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I do he will do also and greater works than these he will do because I go to my father and whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask anything in my name
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I will do it if you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever the spirit of truth whom the father whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you
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I will not leave you orphans I will come to you a little while longer in the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you will live also at that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you he who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him
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Judas not Iscariot said to him
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Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world Jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him he who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine but the father's who sent me that's a rich passage of scripture just reading over it just causes me to you know shake my head how can we properly represent what's being stated here well upon the departure of Judas Iscariot from this supper from the twelve
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Lord Jesus opened this discourse to the remaining eleven disciples with an exhortation to believe on him and so back in verse 1 of John 14 he he said let not your heart be troubled believe in God believe also in me or he was soon to leave them but he did not want them to be overwhelmed with fear and distress let not your hearts be troubled even as they saw him soon to be arrested tortured abused crucified buried let not your hearts be troubled and so he desired that they be comforted not trouble they were to believe in his father they were also to believe in him now how is this faith in him to be shown first they were to believe that he was soon leaving them for their benefit he wasn't abandoning them he was doing what was needful for them beneficial for them he was leaving in order to make access for them to dwell in his father's house
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I go to prepare a place for you to open up the way for you because there's many rooms in my father's house secondly they were to have faith in his deity that he was the eternal son of God that's how you believe on him he was in the father and the father was in him they were to believe this reality
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Jesus said to them in verse 11 believe me that I am in the father and the father in me thirdly to believe in him was to be assured that he would answer their prayer offered to the father through him
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Jesus said whatever you ask in my name that I will do so that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask anything in my name
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I will do it and so as Arthur Pink wrote faith in his person was now to be manifested by prayer in his name how do you believe in him you pray to the father through him and you pray to him it's perfectly okay to pray to Jesus he told us to do so it was then in verse 15
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Jesus gave his disciples this exhortation if you love me keep my commandments we spent some time with this so as we emphasize last
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Lord's day as Christians we have the law of God as our rule of life but that law is under Jesus Christ and that's a very important difference we are under the law of God but under that law to Jesus Christ our mediator very important for us to understand it's a difference between having power to live according to the law of God and being a legalist or being an antinomian loose living whereas before we were saved we are under the law toward God directly
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I won't even say God the father because no one can call God the father unless he believes on his son but we were under the law toward God the creator
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God the judge we were under his law his moral law but since becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ we under we are under the same law under Jesus Christ and so this is how we stated it last week through the mediation of Jesus Christ the one who goes between us and the father the commandments of God the father become the commandments of Jesus Christ this is not overtly stated but we do read our
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Lord's words by which we conclude this truth in John 15 15 we read our Lord Jesus saying if you keep my commandments
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Jesus owns them as his own you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love the commandments are the same but whereas Jesus Christ kept the commandments because they were his father's we're to keep the commandments because they are commandments of Jesus Christ in other words the law of God is mediated to us through Jesus Christ this is incredibly important and this week
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I was given a confirming word of this understanding by Arthur Pink actually
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Bruce Benny sent it to me found it and in writing about the Christians relationship regard for God's law he wrote these words
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I wish I could have stated it this way it is God's moral law but in the hands of the mediator it is the law which was in his heart it is the law which he came to fulfill the law of God is now termed the law of Christ as it relates to Christians as creatures we are under bonds to serve the law of God in other words every human being were under obligation to obey the laws of God the soul that sins shall die as redeemed sinners we are the bond slaves of Christ and as such we are under bonds to serve the
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Lord Jesus Christ the relation between these two appellations the law of God and the law of Christ is clearly intimated in first Corinthians 921 where the
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Apostle states that he was not without law to God for he was under the law of Christ the meaning of this is very simple as a human creature in other words as a human being the
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Apostle was still under obligation to obey the moral law of God his creator but as a saved man he now belonged to Christ the mediator by redemption
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Christ had purchased him he was his and therefore he was under the law of Christ the law of Christ then is just the moral law of God now in the hands of the mediator and Redeemer then he says compare
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Exodus 34 1 and what follows and so he would say he stated exactly what we were attempting to say and so you have it confirmed the law of God is the moral standard of our lives but thankfully the law of God is mediated to to us through Christ now what does this mean it has implications well first because the law is mediated to us through Jesus Christ the law can no longer condemn us there's not a law in the
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Bible that can condemn you if you're a Christian to condemn Christ on the cross in your place
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Paul wrote for the law the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death the law cannot condemn you as a
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Christian second because the law is mediated to us through Jesus Christ its threats and harshness are removed from it there's no longer the fearful threat of God's law hanging over us rather as it is administered to us in Christ it provides tender guidance even clear direction and third because the law is mediated to us through Jesus Christ the desire and delight to do his law has replaced the former antipathy and rebellion toward his law
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Paul wrote for I delight in the law of God a non -christian cannot honestly say that a true
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Christian cannot but help say that I delight in the law of God in my inner being this cannot be expressed truthfully by a non -christian because the carnal mind that's the unsaved mind is enmity against God it's not subject to the law of God indeed nor indeed can be but the longing of every
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Christian is to be governed by the law of God which is to be conformed to the image of Christ in Arthur pink wrote that true love for Christ is shown in obedience to Christ again
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Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments and here pink was dismissing all this superficial claims to love
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God love Christ all sentimental talking and singing about love are vain unless by grace we show a truthful obedience the profession of affection is worse than affectation there's more hypocrisy than we suppose love is practical or it is not love at all if you love me keep my commandments how this verse rebukes the increasing antinomianism of our day and some circles one cannot use the word commandments without being frowned upon as a legalist multitudes are now being taught that law is the enemy of grace and that the
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God of Sinai is a stern forbidding deity laying upon his creatures a yoke grievous to be born the terrible travesty of the truth is this the one who wrote upon the tablets of stone is not other than the one who died on Calvary's cross and he who here says if you love me keep my commandments also said at Sinai he would show mercy on the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments it is indeed striking to note that this tender
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Savior who is here comforting his souring disciples also maintained his divine majesty and insisted upon the recognition of his divine authority mark how his deity appears here keep my commandments we never read of Moses or any other prophet speaking of their commandments we love
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God by keeping the law of God mediated to us by Jesus Christ our Lord and so again
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Jesus told his disciples in verse 15 if you love me keep my commandments but how is this to be done for we are so weak and ignorant though we have the desire delight to do so how can we keep his commandments given our propensity to sin and the difficulty we encounter in this fallen world for doing so well the
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Lord Jesus immediately after saying if you love me keep my commandments he made a provision for our problem he would pray to his father that he would send to his disciples another helper who would always be with them to assist them in whatever he called them to do and so the
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Lord declared to them in verses 16 and 17 I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever the spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither saves him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you so Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments how do we do that I'm going to send another helper and he'll enable you to do so is what
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Jesus is promising and it's so it these are not disparate verses that he just kind of throws together they build on one another all they're all connected and related keep my commandments
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I can't do so Lord well I'm going to give you help so you can do so I'm going to give you the
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Holy Spirit you know him he's been with you he's going to be in you is what
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Jesus declared and last Lord's Day we stayed the six qualities of the Holy Spirit that our
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Lord Jesus spoke about here in these verses I'll not read those again there before you in your notes well now let us continue to consider our
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Lord's Word before us but before we move on from verses 16 and 17 it's important for us to understand our
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Lord's declaration regarding the Holy Spirit Jesus told us disciples of the
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Holy Spirit he dwells with you and will be in you and so our
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Lord's promised that the Holy Spirit would be in them what does this mean this is profound this was never the experience of any believer throughout all of history until now he's been with you you know who he is he's gonna be in you here shortly of course he's talking about Pentecost Jesus declared that the
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Holy Spirit was presently dwelling with his disciples some would say that the
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Holy Spirit been dwelling with the disciples because Jesus himself of course was had the spear without measure and he had been dwelling with them and so the
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Holy Spirit had been dwelling with them through Jesus some teach that or argue that and that certainly is true but to a biblical history the
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Holy Spirit has always been at work among his people the Holy Spirit of course is the source of life both physical and spiritual where God's Spirit is there is life where he's not present there is death and so the regenerating power that cut the ability to cause sinners to be born again by the
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Holy Spirit has always been operative in history to bring forth and then sustain the spiritual life of his people those who had saving faith it's always been true in order to be saved they must be born again only the
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Holy Spirit can do that and this was true of people during the Old Testament and it's certainly true days in the
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New Testament it's equally true today unless a man is born again by the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God is what
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Jesus told the foremost religious man in Israel Nicodemus we read in the
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Old Testament that God often dwelt with his people by the Holy Spirit there were times when the
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Holy Spirit would come upon certain ones in special times for extraordinary needs and so we read of the
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Holy Spirit coming upon one of the judges of ancient Israel when the people of Israel cried out to the
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Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer a judge for the people of Israel who saved them Ophniel the son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother the
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Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he judged Israel as a leader on behalf of God he judged
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Israel he led it he went out to war the Lord gave Cushon Rishathayim king of Mesopotamia into his hand and his hand prevailed over Cushon Rishathayim on another occasion
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God encouraged his servants Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest not to be confused with Joshua the son of Nun who took over after Moses this was much later in Israel's history after the return of the
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Jews from exile and the promise was given ye now yet now be strong O Zerubbabel declares the
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Lord be strong O Joshua son of Jehoshadak the high priest be strong all you people of the land he cares declares the
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Lord work for I'm with you declares the Lord of hosts according to the covenant I made with you when you came out of Egypt my spirit remains in your midst the
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Holy Spirit dwelled with them Jesus said to his disciples you know him you know the
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Holy Spirit he's been dwelling with you but although the Holy Spirit was with them even dwelling among them he was not yet in each of them empowering every one of them to live before God in a holy manner with regard to their ability to live holy lives of consecration and obedience the people of the
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Old Testament world were quite powerless but the Lord indicated to these disciples very soon their condition would change and so Jesus declared that the
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Holy Spirit would soon be dwelling in his disciples not just with but in God had promised in the
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Old Testament scriptures that in the age of the Messiah when the kingdom of God would be established that God would impart the
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Holy Spirit to his people to enable them to live holy lives this is one of the great blessings that we enjoy in this new covenant age every
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Christian not only has a spirit dwelling with him but the Holy Spirit is actually in the true believer to enable him her to live according in accordance with the laws of God an extended passage in Ezekiel 36 the promise of the
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Holy Spirit for people in the kingdom of Christ the new covenant moreover the word of the
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Lord came to me Ezekiel saying son of man when this house of Israel dwelt in their own land they defiled it by their own ways and deeds to me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity they were vile in God's sight therefore
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I pour out my fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land and for their idols with which they had defiled it so I scattered them among the nations he exiled them to Babylon to Syria and they were dispersed throughout the countries the nations
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I judge them according to their ways and their deeds God's law condemned them when they came to the nations wherever they went they profaned my holy name when they said of them these are the people of the
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Lord yet they have gone out of his land but I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went instead of glorifying
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God of the nations the nations were blaspheming God because of Israel as Paul stated in Romans therefore this is
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God telling the prophet Ezekiel say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God I do not do this for your sake
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O house of Israel but for my holy namesake which you profaned among the nations wherever you went and I will sanctify
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I'll set it set apart my great name which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst and the nation shall know that I am the
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Lord says the Lord God when I am hallowed and I'm sanctified in you before their eyes for I will take you among the nations and gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land now that happened actually when
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God brought the Jews back to Israel and Judah Jerusalem under Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and Ezra but this isn't just speaking about a physical return this is talking about their return to him and this return from the nations is still taking place when you and I as Gentiles are called to God this is being realized we're being called out of the nations to return to Zion and to turn to our
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Lord Jesus I'll take you from among nations gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land and then
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I will sprinkle clean water on you that was an emblem for cleansing of sin and you shall be clean and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols and here it is
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I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you there's the promise of the
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Holy Spirit I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh give you a heart of flesh and here it is in verse 27
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I will put my spirit within you Holy Spirit hadn't been in them he'd been with them
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I'm gonna put my spirit in you in this new covenant age and what would the result of this be cause you to walk in my statutes cause you to live according to my commandments and you'll keep my judgments to do them and the
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Lord Jesus was telling his disciples in this upper room John 14 this promise now is going to be realized
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I'm gonna go and I'm gonna pray to the Father and he's going to send you the Holy Spirit you know he is he's been dwelling with you but he's going to be in you if you love me can keep my commandments how do we do that I'm going to give you the
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Holy Spirit he's going to cause you to walk in my commandments and so he put within us the
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Holy Spirit and with that work of the Holy Spirit he put within us a desire and a delight to please
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God the true Christian if he could have his true desire I'd never sin again my thinking and my life would be in perfect conformity to the will of God to the law
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God where does that come from didn't come from here did it came from him put it in us and that's what the
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Lord Jesus is talking about and so when our Lord Jesus declared to his disciples regarding the
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Holy Spirit he dwells with you will be in you he was declaring the realization of the promise of the indwelling
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Holy Spirit who would enable to live in holiness before God whereas through much of the
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Old Testament the Spirit of God dwelled among his people first in the tabernacle and then the temple in this new covenant age the
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Holy Spirit takes up his dwelling in every true Christian the physical body of the
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Christian is now the temple of God in which the Holy Spirit dwells and manifests his presence as Paul wrote do you not know that your body and here he's talking about individual
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Christians your physical body who is in you there's that expression whom you have from God and you are not your own for your body at a price therefore glorify
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God in your body and in your spirit which are God and also the local church is the temple of the
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Holy Spirit through which he manifests his presence and power in the world and so in first Corinthians he was talking about the individual
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Christian body of the temple and now he talks about the church at Corinth as a temple of God you know not know that you and this you in Greek is plural the you in verse 19 is singular you as an individual the you in this verse is plural talking about the church at Corinth Paul said don't you know that you church at Corinth are
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God's temple and God's Spirit dwells in you if anyone destroys
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God's temple that is if anybody goes about and tries to destroy the local church that belongs to Christ God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you plural are that temple and then the
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Lord declared to his disciples that the Father would give them the Holy Spirit that he may abide with you forever as one wrote those that have an experimental acquaintance with the
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Spirit have a comfortable assurance of his continuance he dwells with you and shall be in you for the blessed
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Spirit doth not use to or that is ordinarily shift his lodging that doesn't happen very frequently those that know him know how to value him invite him and bid him welcome and therefore he shall be in them as a light in the air as the sap in the tree as a soul in the body their communion with him shall be intimate and their union with him inseparable and this is the promise of Jesus and it's because he's going to his father yes
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I'm leaving you but I don't want you to be troubled I'm going for your benefit and when I go I'm not going to leave you alone and he's going to enable you to keep my command and then our
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Lord in verse 18 gives his promise that he would come to them not only would he send the Holy Spirit the father's in the
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Holy Spirit he himself would come to them this is this is incredible our Lord's next words affirm and confirm the matter
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Jesus then said to his disciples and he says to us his disciples today
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I will not leave you orphans I will come to you his departure from them was that which grieved them but it was not so bad as they apprehended for it was neither total nor final could they ever be one who feels himself as long as an orphan particularly who had known his parents and then lost them the
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Lord has a special concern and take special interest in orphans and widows those are alone and lonely need needy and helpless the
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Lord watches over the sojourners he upholds the widow and the fatherless the orphan but the way of the wicked he brings their ruin our
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Lord Jesus is always watching over his own he never leaves his disciples alone as orphans are alone he is always there to comfort protect provide and assure we sing the old hymn or at least
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I was reminded of the old hymn it's not in our hymn book Jesus never fails earthly friends may prove untrue doubts and fears of sales one still loves and cares for you one who will not fail though the sky be dark and drear fierce and strong begale just remember he is near and he will not fail in life's dark and bitter hour love still prevails trust is everlasting power
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Jesus will never fail and then the refrain Jesus never fails Jesus never fails heaven and earth may pass away but Jesus never fails and this is his word to you did not leave you as orphans so Jesus has promised his disciples and particularly his disciple makers by the way behold
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I am with you always even to the end of the age after he gave the Great Commission and so as one wrote they were not to be like sheep without a shepherd helpless believers in a hostile world without a defender forsaken orphans incapable of providing for themselves left to the mercy of strangers
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I will come to you how precious is this before we go to his place to be with him he comes to be with us but what is meant by I will come to you we believe that these words are to be understood in their widest latitude he came to them corporeally immediately after his resurrection in other words they saw him in his resurrected body he came to them in spirit after his ascension he will come to them in glory at his second advent the present application of this promise to believers finds its fulfillment in the gift of the
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Holy Spirit in dwelling us individually present in the midst of the assembly collectively and yet we must not limit the coming of Christ with children to the presence of the
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Holy Spirit the mystery of the Holy Trinity is altogether beyond the grasp of our finite minds yet the
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New Testament makes it clear that in the unity of the Godhead the advent of the Holy Spirit was also
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Christ coming invisibly to be really present with his own Christ is with us here isn't he we know that you could probably be easier convinced
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I'm not here than Jesus not being here he's here we know that you can't teach a
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Christian persuade him otherwise and then our Lord has promised a blessed communion with him and his father and we arrive at these verses
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I have to read them together and then just kind of give you an inkling of it this is everything up to this for introduction all right now we're getting to the good stuff all right
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I've been sarcastic there but this is really wonderful here's
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John 14 19 through 24 a little while longer the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you will live also at that day you will know that I am in my father you and me
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I and you he who has my commandments keeps them there it is again and it is he who loves me up above there was a conditional statement you know conditional sentence if you love me keep my commandments here he says those who keep my commandments love me it's a declaration and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him that word manifest
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I'll appear reveal myself manifest to this one in a special way the one who is obedient to my commandments incredible well this pose brought up a question
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Judas Judas not Iscariot the other Judas Lord how is it you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world
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Jesus answered said to them if anyone loves me he will keep my word there's the third time keeping my commandments and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him he who does not love me does not keep my words he doesn't order his life according to the law of God under Christ and the word which you hear is not mine but the father's who sent me and so our
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Lord's earthly sojourn was soon coming to an end before long he'd no longer be physically present the world would see him no more but he declared to them they would see him they had many others would yet see him physically as one wrote they saw him then while he was speaking with to them they saw him again and again after he'd risen from the dead over the course of 40 days they saw him as he went up to heaven till a cloud received him out of their sight they saw him by faith after he'd taken a seat at the right hand of God for it's written we see
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Jesus Hebrews it was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering to death crowned with glory and honor we see him crowned don't we with the eye of faith they see him now for they are present with the
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Lord that is those who have died near with the Lord they shall see him at his second coming when he shall appear we should be like him for we shall see him as he is they shall see him forever and ever throughout the perfect day for it's written they shall see his face and his name should be in their foreheads because I live ye live also but his disciples of course would see him through the eyes of faith he would be as true and real and present with them as if he were physically present with them and their physical eyes could perceive him his disciples would be as Moses who saw
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God though God was invisible and so we read of the spiritual sight of Moses in Hebrews 11 by faith when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God the
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Jews and to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteem in the approach of Christ greater riches and the treasure in Egypt for he looked for the reward by faith he forsook
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Egypt not fear in the wrath of the king why and here we have an explanatory clause beginning with the conjunction for here's the explanation for he endured is seeing him who is invisible
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Moses saw him who is invisible and you and I see
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Christ who is invisible it's the same faith and so as with spiritual sight we behold
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Jesus as his disciples he is as real and true as that one sitting beside you right there on that pew you can't convince us differently he's here with us we then have our
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Lord's promise because I live you will live also this week of course we're going to lay to the earth one of our sisters in Christ but we do so in hope don't we she'll rise again if for no other reason than our
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Lord's words of promise here because I live you will live also how can this be why will this be it's because of the truth of verse 20 at that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you we know this true and therefore we know that our
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Lords are true to us he's God the Lord Jesus declared he was in the
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Father he said the disciples are in him in Christ and he in them we are in Jesus Jesus is in God the
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Father we cannot but help live before God no the life of Christians is bound up in the life of Christ as sure and as long as he lives those that by faith are united to him shall live also they shall live spiritually a divine life in communion with God this life is hid with Christ if the head and root live the members and branches live also they shall live eternally their body shall rise in virtue of Christ's resurrection it will be well with them in the world to come it cannot but be well with all that are his then our
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Lord gave these words in verse 21 and 22 he who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he loves me will be loved by my father and I will love and manifest myself to him and so here the
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Lord Jesus promised he would make himself spiritually known to the one who lives in obedience to him according to his commandments that is according to the law of God mediated by Jesus Christ John would write similarly in his epistle later whoever keeps my commandment or his commandments abides in God and God in him and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us there you see obedience to the commandments and the
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Holy Spirit linked together again the reason we keep the commandments is due to the Holy Spirit enabling us to do so we know that the
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Holy Spirit dwells or abides in us because we order our lives according to the law of God in Christ as Arthur pink wrote this manifestation of Christ is made only to the one who really loves him and the proof of love to him is not by emotional displays but by submission to his will there is a vast difference between sentiment and practical reality the
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Lord will give no direct and special revelation of himself to those who are in the path of disobedience he that hath my commandments means hath them at heart and keepeth them that is the real test we hear but do we heed we know but are we doing his will my little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth and he that loveth me should be loved of my father there are three different senses in which
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Christians may be considered as objects of the loving favor of the Father and the Son as persons elected in sovereign grace to eternal life as persons actually united to Christ by believing and as persons transformed by the sanctifying work of the
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Spirit it is in this last sense that Christ here speaks just as the father is said to love the son because of his obedience so as he said to love the believer for the same reason it is the love of complacency as distinguished from the love of compassion the father in other words it's a settled love the father was well pleased with his incarnate son and he is well pleased with us when we honor and glorify his son by obeying his commandments but then we read of our
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Lord's promise that both he and his father would make their home with the one who loves him and keeps his word
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Jesus answered said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him he who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine but the father's who sent me and so Jesus promised his disciples the one who loves him as shown by their obedience to him will be loved by the father
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God has a special love for those who are walking and faithful obedience to his word who are ordering their lives according to his commandments and that one has a wonderful capability of experiencing the knowledge and enjoyment of God's presence there is available to you and me the special and unique possibility and opportunity for more clear and full manifestations of God the father and his son to us think of the potential that we have not yet experienced or realized the prerequisite to placing yourself in a position to receive this blessing is to your loving loving conformity to his word to order your thinking and living in a manner consistent with his nature and ways that make of close communion with God possible and so the question before us is this how and in what ways does
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God the father and his son come to us in order to make his home our home how is his communion how is this communion with God enjoy how can we see what it is to have communion with God and how may we enjoy this communion with God when we consider our relationship with each of the persons of the
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Holy Trinity and so let's consider as we close as we wrap things up how may we experience and enjoy communion with God the father with God the son and with God the
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Holy Spirit would you be able to answer that sat down and you know give us a couple pages of explanation how do you experience fellowship with the father how do you experience fellowship with the son how do you experience fellowship with the
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Holy Spirit because that's what Jesus is promising here in our passage the
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Holy Spirit you speak of the communion the believer may have with God and sometimes this communion of the believer to is is with God the father
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John wrote our fellowship is with the father but sometimes only communion with the son is addressed
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God is faithful by whom you are called in the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord and sometimes our fellowship is with the
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Holy Spirit the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all and so how is fellowship with each person of the
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Holy Trinity to be understood wherein is it chiefly found with regard to fellowship with the
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Trinity we enter into close communion with each person of the Trinity in the manner and extent that one of the persons reveals to us the nature and ways of another person of the
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Trinity we read I think here maybe was in men's group
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I forget the statement out of our confession about the Holy Trinity and the relationship within the
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Trinity the filial relationship between the father son son son and the father instructs us and guides us in how we are to have our human relationship
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John Owen expressed it this way and John 1st
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John 1 7 the Apostle says tells us for there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the
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Holy Ghost in heaven they are and they bear witness to us what it is what is it that they bear witness on to well on to the sonship of Christ and the salvation of believers in his blood the carrying on of that both by blood and water justification sanctification is he is he there treating now how do they bear witness here on to even as three as three distinct witnesses when
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God witnesses concerning our salvation surely it is incumbent on us to receive his the father's testimony and as he bears witness so we are to receive it now this is done distinctly the father bears witness the son bears witness the
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Holy Ghost bears witness for their three distinct witnesses so then are we how are we to receive their individual several testimonies and in doing so we have communion with them severally or individually for in this giving and receiving of testimony consists in no small part of our fellowship with God in other words this is how we experience communion with each person of the
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Blessed Holy Trinity we consider how they relate to us with regard to our salvation particularly with Jesus Christ let's just quickly just look at these three how do you experience fellowship with God the
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Father in the scriptures is generally the case that faith love and obedience are the common ways of rendering worship unto
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God the Father we are to render faith and love to the father in his revelation of his son this is the witness of God the father which he has testified of his son in hearing his witness of Jesus Christ we're holding communion with the father that's how you have fellowship with the father as you're listening him to him bear witness about his son you're entering into fellowship with the father our proper response is one of belief and trust we believe what the father said respecting his son since we believe the witness of God the father regarding his son we believe on the father because of his true and faithful word to the measure that we do so we're experiencing communion or fellowship with the father but further we are to render unto
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God the father love for having given his son for our salvation 1st John 2 15 if any man loved the world the love of or for the father not in him when we love the father for his faithful witness to his son we do render honor unto the father this is what it is to have fellowship with the father for the
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Paul wrote for this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the point is this the principal grounds for our fellowship with the father is found in his sending us and revealing
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Jesus Christ to us there is some specific actions ascribed to God the father we won't go into great detail but but creation is generally ascribed to the father who created us although to the son of the
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Holy Spirit to but chiefly to the father in the Holy Scriptures it speaks about a special love of God the father to his own the father himself loves you is what
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Jesus declared to his disciples commonly in the Bible election our election to salvation is attributed to the father the father chose us in him before the foundation that is in Christ before the foundation of the world commonly
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God's sovereignty is attributed to the father the eternal decree of God is commonly attributed to the father
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Paul wrote in Romans oh the depth and riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments his ways past finding out that's true of all three persons of the
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Trinity but mostly it tends to be directed to God the father for who has known the mind of the
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Lord who has become his counselor who is first given to him and shall be paid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things it will be glory forever and so as we reflect upon the father and these unique qualities specially attributed to him as we meditate on these things and express our wonder and gratefulness to God the father for who he is and what he has done and what he's promised to do we're enjoyed communion or fellowship with God our father that's what it is to have fellowship with God the father what about our fellowship with the son what does that look like we read in 1st
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Corinthians 1 9 God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our
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Lord there's fellowship that we may enjoy especially with God the father and here we see the
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God the father has called us into special fellowship with his son there's a fellowship that we may enjoy especially and specifically with Jesus Christ the son of God what does that look like we might wonder how it is that we are sinful could have fellowship with the son of God who is sinless what do we have in common with him as one wrote he is light and in him is no darkness at all we are darkness in us there's no light at all he is life a living
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God we are dead dead sinners dead in trespasses and sin he is holiness and glorious in it we holy defiled an abominable thing he is love we're full of hatred hating and being hated surely there's no foundation for agreement or upon that of walking together nothing could be more remote than this frame from such a condition and so in what specifically then may we have and enjoy fellowship with the son of God the fellowship we have with the son is his work as mediator between God and ourselves as his people and so the
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Lord Jesus bids his people to have close and special fellowship with him it was to a hardened and sinful church that Jesus wrote behold
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I stand at the door knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and dine with them and he with me as fellowship with the son of God communal meal first we may enjoy fellowship with Jesus Christ is the one who makes every spiritual blessing available to us everything that we have come through Jesus Christ Christ is that tree of life which have brought forth all things that are needful until life eternal unto life eternal in him is righteousness which we hunger after in him is that water of life which who so drink it shall never shall thirst no more oh how sweet of the fruits of Christ mediation to the faith of his saints he that can find no relief in mercy pardon grace acceptation with God holiness sanctification is an utter stranger to these things that are prepared for believers and also he has shades of refreshment and shelter shelter from wrath without refreshment because of weariness within yea who can express the joy of a soul safe shadowed from wrath under the covert of the righteousness of the
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Lord Jesus there's also refreshment in a shade from weariness is the shadow of a great rock in a weary land from the power of corruption trouble of temptations distress of persecutions there is in him quiet rest and repose took that from John Owen I'm doing in three pages what he took volume two of his 16 works to express volume two is communion with God by John Owen and we're doing in two three pages what he did and so we may enjoy special fellowship with Christ when we consider the grace that we have in him the grace of the
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Lord Jesus be with your spirit John wrote may the grace of Jesus Christ be with you all of Christ the psalmist wrote prophetically you are fairer than the sons of men grace is poured upon your lips therefore
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God has blessed you forever speaking of the groom prophetic of Christ we may enjoy special fellowship with Jesus Christ when we consider his righteousness that he wrought on our behalf that righteousness in which we're going to stand on the day of judgment thankfully that we have as a gift to us to faith alone in Jesus alone there was found no infraction or defection in him his righteousness was pure and complete even though he was living among sinners he was holy in all his ways he was it he was righteous even in the face of those who hated him for it they hated him without a cause we may enjoy fellowship with Christ when we consider the difficulties and hardships he endured the scriptures speak about a fellowship of his sufferings you know nothing happens to us by accident we know that God has decreed everything and so the most difficult thing you're going through in life one of the primary lessons from God the
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Father so that you might have fellowship with Jesus Christ when you are suffering such difficulty with loved ones within your own family consider how
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Jesus you know was being accused by his mother and his brethren he's insane he's beside himself you think you're misunderstood you think that you're maltreated you're experiencing what
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Jesus experienced there is it's a design to teach you to have fellowship with the
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Savior as you go through the same kinds of experiences in this life but we're so close you know looking down we don't see these things and we miss out you know upon this life that God has ordered for us where he's revealing himself and the way we can know him and experience him and enjoy him and get to know him more clearly and fully fellowship with him and then lastly we'll close with the fellowship of the
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Holy Spirit John Owen wrote the basis of our communion with the Holy Spirit the foundation of all our communion with the
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Holy Ghost consists in his mission being sent to be our comforter and so we may experience fellowship with the
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Holy Spirit when we come to enjoy the comfort and the help that the Holy Spirit gives us in times of difficulty you'll never know the comfort that the
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Holy Spirit can give you unless you get into a place of difficulty that only his comfort can sustain you the
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Holy Spirit works powerfully and therefore doth comfort from the words and promises of Christ sometimes break in through all opposition into the saddest and darkest condition imaginable it comes and makes men sing in a dungeon rejoice in flames glory and tribulation it will into prisons racks through temptations and the greatest distress is imaginable and when says this where does this come from the
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Spirit works effectually his power is in it he will work and none shall prevent him if he will bring to our remembrance the promises of Christ for our consolation neither
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Satan nor man sin or the world nor death shall interrupt our comfort and when we enjoy communion with the
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Holy Spirit it's when we receive and manifest the fruit of the Spirit that he gives to us and you could go through and and all the fruit of the
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Spirit listed and you can go through the scriptures and say with regard to the love the fruit of the
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Spirit it's the Holy Spirit who sheds his love for us God's love for us into our hearts
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Romans 5 with regard to joy you became imitators Paul said of us and of the
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Lord you've seen the words of much affliction with joy the Holy Spirit it comes from the Holy Spirit and with regard to peace this is to be granted to us by the
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Holy Spirit for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the
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Holy Spirit it's a peace that passes understanding in other words you look at your life there's absolutely nothing that should suggest you should be at peace but he gives you the peace anyway a subjective peace that settles your heart regardless of what you're encountering and enduring and to enjoy and experience those is what it is to have fellowship with the
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Holy Spirit it should be our desire and our effort to have fellowship with God the triune
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God fellowship with the Father fellowship with the Son fellowship with the Holy Spirit and if you want to know more fully what that's like get a hold of John Owens volume 2 communion with God it's absolutely incredible let's close thank you our
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Father for your word and for the promises that Jesus gives to his disciples and we just pray our
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Father that you would enable us by grace to enjoy and experience these more clearly and fully in our lives forgive us our
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God for our failure to desire delight in these things more than what we do and so help us our
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God to go forth in this life each and every day seeking and desiring to have clear and true and fellowship with you our
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Father with you his son and with you our blessed Holy Spirit for we pray in the name of Jesus our