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First Baptist Church Leominster iconFirst Baptist Church Leominster

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I've taken the gospel to the world, the scene of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome.
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And he saw that the unity of this church was so important, it was at the heart of the gospel.
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Yet this church was comprised of Jews and Gentiles, all who had become Christians, but from these different backgrounds.
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And so there was some difficulty in bringing about fellowship within this church.
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And one of the keys to bring this about was the concept of Christian liberty, and that's what we have in Romans 14.
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The way a church can function, get along with so many disparate people, is a proper understanding of Christian liberty as set forth in the
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Bible. And Romans 14 is one of the primary sources for that instruction.
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Romans 14. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
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One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one whom eats.
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For God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the
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Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
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Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the
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Lord. The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains abstains in honor of the
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Lord and give thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
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For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the
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Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
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Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother?
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For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God.
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So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
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I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.
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But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.
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But what you eat, by what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.
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For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the
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Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
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So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.
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Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
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The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
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But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
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Let's pray. Lord God, as we read these passages,
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I realize how sinful I've been. Lord, there are many times that I pass judgment on others.
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There are many times where I look down on others. And Lord, this passage is so clear that we are to be loving one another, that we are to be giving preference to one another, that we should not make anyone stumble, but that we should be look for up -building, that we would speak the truth in love and thus be built up in Christ.
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We thank you for the freedom that we have in Christ, and Lord, we do pray that we wouldn't use that freedom as an offense.
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So Lord, help us be mindful of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to put their needs first, as the
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Lord Jesus Christ put our needs first. Help us to demonstrate that same attitude, which was in Christ Jesus.
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Lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you that we are here gathered together, lifting our voices to worship you.
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And Lord, we thank you for the teaching of the word. We pray, Lord, that we would be focused on what your word says.
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Help us, Lord, to hear it clearly. Help us, Lord, especially in the application of it.
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We pray that the end goal of this morning's sermon would not only be to glorify you, but it would result in our obedience to it.
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So Lord, give us wisdom. Help us to see things clearly, so that we might apply these truths in the power of your spirit and glorify you.
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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Just a reminder, the choir is rehearsing today, before, after, before lunch, after worship, downstairs in the read room.
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Very good. Okay. With view to Easter, which is what, in April this year?
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Right. All right, let's turn again to John 14, as we're working through this gospel.
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This is what, the 87th Lord's Day that we've been in this gospel? I didn't think it'd be this many when we started out, but it's rich.
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And it seems like we're slowing down a little bit as we get into our Lord's interaction with his disciples, the last night before he was, well, the very night that he was betrayed and arrested.
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Last week, we were not able to cover the notes that we distributed to you. And I was considering just moving on, which
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I do sometimes, but was encouraged to pick up where we left off because of the important nature of the subject that is before us, which is the proper use of the law of God for the
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Christian. It's a matter that many, not many, seem to understand very well.
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And although this subject was also addressed to some of you last Wednesday evening in Pastor Jason's study on the law of God, the matter is of such importance.
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And because there's so much misunderstanding about this subject, I think we can only benefit by addressing it thoroughly.
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And so repetition is not bad, it's good. And really,
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I don't think that we've really understood a matter clearly until we're able to teach another the subject itself.
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And I imagine that a few of us are some ways off from that point. It is my opinion that the role and use of the law of God in God's work of grace in his people is one of the most important, and I would argue, difficult theological issues to understand rightly.
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And much spiritual stumbling occurs when attempting to walk through this field of study. It is a difficult matter, and I think it's more difficult than even dealing with matters of eschatology in times.
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How the law of God relates to the gospel is a very, very important matter.
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The passage we're examining is John 14, 12 through 17, in which our Lord promised his 11 disciples these wonderful words of encouragement just before he was arrested and taken from them.
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And so we read these words last week. Here again are his words, verses 12 through 17.
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Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, another truly, truly, verily, verily,
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I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my
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Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the
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Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
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And then verse 15, If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the
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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 sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
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The outline we're using to help us through these two paragraphs is as follows.
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We introduced this last week. First, Jesus promised his disciples that they would do greater works than what he had done.
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Amazing promise. We addressed that last Lord's Day. As well as the second,
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Jesus promised his disciples that their prayers would be answered with particular emphasis on the expansion of the kingdom of God, the preaching of the gospel.
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And then thirdly, since verse 15, that introduced the whole matter of the law of God, because Jesus speaks of his commandments,
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Jesus commanded his disciples to be obedient and faithful. If you love me, keep my commandments.
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And then fourthly, Jesus promised that his disciples would be assisted by the Holy Spirit. Verses 16 and 17.
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And so it was the third point that we began to introduce last week, in which the nature and role of the law of God for the
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Christian comes into view, comes into play. And so Jesus commanded his disciples to be obedient and faithful.
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John 14, 15, Jesus declared, if you love me, keep my commandments.
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The great desire and goal of the Christian is to order his or her life in righteousness. God's put that desire within the heart.
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It wasn't there before we were saved. He put that desire there. And righteousness, by definition in the
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Bible, is a life lived according to God's law. That is, his commandments.
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Jesus was fully righteous because he fully kept the law of God throughout his life.
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That's what righteousness is. Paul summarized the nature of the Christian life in 1
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Corinthians 7, 19. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
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Obedience is all important. And then Jesus said here to his disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments.
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And so we conclude from our Lord's words here that our motivation for obedience to God's laws should be our love for Christ.
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If you love me, keep my commandments. We are to obey God's commandments because we love our
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Savior, Jesus Christ. This motivation for obedience is sometimes described, and we mentioned this last week, as evangelical obedience.
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This is in contrast to what has been commonly described as legal obedience.
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That should not characterize us as Christians. And legal obedience is present when someone is motivated to obey
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God's commandments out of fear of God's punishment, rather than due to love for him.
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Legal obedience is enslaving. Legal obedience is powerless to transform a person.
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Legal obedience does not characterize a person who is holy before the Lord. We are to have evangelical obedience.
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We obey because we love God, and we know this pleases him, and we want to please him.
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Legal obedience is generally what characterizes the person whom God has initially awakened to his presence and the guilt of his sin, the presence of his sin, the guilt of his sin, and the awareness of God's certain condemnation for him due to his sin.
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In other words, a motivation of legal obedience is the common experience of those who are under conviction of sin by the
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Holy Spirit before they are converted. They are first convicted, and then they're converted.
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And while they're convicted of their sin, they are thinking in terms of legal obedience. They become fearful because they're not obeying
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God's commandments. However, when we're converted to Christ, our desire and motivation for obedience to God's commandments undergoes a change, or it should.
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We begin to obey God because we love God, not out of terror because we know what the consequences are if we fail to do so.
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We are to obey God because we love God. However, even true Christians can fall into this errant way of thinking regarding God's law.
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The Christians in the churches of Galatia did so. Rather than adhering to the truth of justification by God's grace alone, to faith alone, they were adopting the errant teaching that certain
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Jews had brought among them. They would tend to follow the Apostle Paul. After he left, they'd come in to spread their false teaching.
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And these errant teachers in the churches taught that salvation was gained through keeping the law of God in addition to faith in Jesus Christ.
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They coupled faith in Christ plus law -keeping, resulting in salvation, or so they taught.
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And so they taught that obeying the commandments of God, in addition to the work of Jesus Christ, between the two of them, salvation would take place.
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That's how sinners were justified before God, as well as that's how people became sanctified by God, through a combination of one's own works plus faith in Christ.
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And Paul taught very clearly and explicitly that these people had departed from the gospel because they were not teaching salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
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They were teaching salvation ultimately by works, by their own works, plus Christ.
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But that rendered their faith in Christ meaningless and useless, and even damning when they added their own works as being meritorious before God.
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And so we read of Paul's denunciation of this error in many places in the epistle to the
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Galatians. It's very important for us to understand when we read these passages that Paul was denouncing those who viewed and used
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God's law as a covenant of works. This is very important to understand, because Paul says a lot of negative things about Christians who are striving to keep the law, but recognize he's talking about an errant view of the law, not a righteous keeping of the law as Christians.
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He's talking about the error of keeping the law of God as a covenant of works, as a way of salvation, or as a way of becoming holy or sanctified.
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And so rather than viewing the law of God as a standard of righteousness to which Christ enables his people to live by the power of the
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Holy Spirit, they viewed keeping the law, actually in their own strength, as a way to obtain salvation, both their justification and salvation before God.
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And the apostle denounced them very forcefully for their error. And we read that, for example, in Galatians 3 .10.
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And I could have pulled out other passages as well, but this is representative, Galatians 3 .10
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and following. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
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You try to be saved by your works, you're going to be cursed of God. For it's written, cursed is everyone that does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
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You want to be saved by works of the law, you've got to keep them perfectly. But that cannot be done.
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But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. For the just shall live by faith, quoting the
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Old Testament. And yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them.
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And then I skipped down to some verses, to verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God?
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Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life truly righteousness, would have been by the law.
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But the scripture is confined all under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
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But before faith came, before the gospel came, before this New Testament age came, we, and Paul is describing himself here as an
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Israelite, as a Jew, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
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And therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
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But after faith has come, we're no longer under a tutor. In other words, we're no longer under the law of God as a covenant of works, is what he's declaring.
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And so God had established the law of Moses as a covenant with Israel in order to prepare those who would later believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
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The covenant of the law revealed to them the presence and the gravity of their sin and of God's punishment for sin.
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And it also revealed to them, at least those who are awakened by the Holy Spirit, of their inability to become right with God, that's justified before God by keeping the law.
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The law showed them that, if they understood it rightly. It showed them their need for the
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Savior, Jesus Christ. Throughout the Old Testament, the Mosaic laws, when they were broken, the response was you had to bring an animal sacrifice.
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Every breaking of every law pointed to the Messiah, the
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Savior who would come and take away their sin by dying upon the cross. The law as a covenant came to an end with the death of Jesus Christ on his cross.
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The law of God was not abolished, but the law as set forth in the Mosaic covenant came to an end.
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That covenant on which Israel related to God had come to completion.
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The law of God continues as a moral code, but to the believer it is now the law of Christ.
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It's not a covenant of works, but rather the law is under Christ, mediated by Christ.
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It remains a moral code, but it's not a covenant of works, whereby people are saved, or whereby people are sanctified.
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And so Paul could write, Brethren, if man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
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Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The law of God is now unto
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Christ, under Christ. And again, John 14, 15, Jesus said,
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If you love me, keep my commandments. The law is not under Moses, the law is under Christ, for those that are in Christ.
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And so this leads us to consider and underscore that the laws of God are the laws of Jesus Christ.
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Jesus said, My commandments. Jesus declared, If you love me, keep my commandments.
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Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the commandments of God the Father became the commandments of Jesus Christ.
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This is not overtly stated, but we do read our Lord's words by which we may conclude this truth.
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In John 15, 15. Listen closely to what Jesus said.
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He said, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
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Father's commandments, and abide in his love. You see that transition there?
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People kept God's commandments directly as a covenant of works, but under the covenant of grace we keep the commandments under Christ.
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The commandments of God become Christ's commandments. The commandments are the same, but whereas Jesus Christ kept the commandments because they were his
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Father's, we are to keep the commandments because they are the commandments of Jesus Christ. If you love me, keep my commandments.
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In other words, the law of God is mediated to us through Jesus Christ. Through his authority as Lord, Jesus Christ enables his people, through the gift of the
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Holy Spirit, to keep his commandments. The law of God.
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The Apostle Paul wrote of his relationship with God's law through Christ in 2 Corinthians 9, and here he's writing about how he would come in and try and reach people with the gospel, and he would come with a different attitude and approach when he came to Jews who were under the law of Moses, with Gentiles who were not under the law of Moses.
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And so he wrote about himself, For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.
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And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law.
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To those who are without law, that would be the Gentiles, as without law.
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But lest anybody think that he was being lawless, that he was just free to do anything and everything he wanted to do in violation to the moral law of God, he gave this parenthetical statement to clarify.
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Not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ. And there you have it again.
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The law of God abides as an authoritative rule for the Christian, but it's under Jesus Christ.
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And that's how Paul viewed himself, always within a moral order. And Christ was leading and guiding him to keep the law of God.
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Why did he do that? That I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.
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I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of that gospel with you.
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And so the Apostle Paul never regarded himself as without God's law, which governed his thinking and living.
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But he regarded his submission to God's law as mediated by Jesus Christ, even under Jesus Christ.
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He was no longer under God's law as a covenant, but was under Christ as a covenant, who governed his life by his law.
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And that's why Paul could write regarding himself a Christian. And this is Paul the Christian that was writing in Romans chapter 7,
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I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. There you have the present abiding authority and role of the law of God for the
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Christian. I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
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And yet even in this delight he talks about this inward struggle. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
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O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. I thank
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God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then he draws this conclusion as the Christian. So then with the mind
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I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
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Paul as a Christian always saw himself under the law of God, but it was mediated by Jesus Christ.
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Paul could write to Timothy regarding the law. As I urge you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some.
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They teach no other doctrine nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
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Now the purpose of the commandment, the purpose of the law we might say, the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, and from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
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But we know the law is good if one uses it lawfully. And that's why we're talking about evangelical obedience.
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To use the law unlawfully would be to attempt to keep the law according to legal obedience, out of fear of God's punishment rather than out of motivation of love for God, love for his son
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Jesus Christ. And so what these passages reveal to us is that there is an abiding role for the law of God in the life of the believer.
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And yet please understand that relatively few, and I don't want to denigrate them, well -intentioned, well -meaning, godly
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Christians do not believe this is the case. Because of the legacy of dispensationalism and other reasons that's been around for a little over a hundred years, they say no, the
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Christian is not under the laws of God whatsoever. We're under grace. And so they basically say that we have no moral standard.
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As long as you love, you're okay. And you are not to look to any commandments of God.
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You're not to look to the law of God as a moral code. And this is errant, as we've already seen.
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Paul never regarded himself as not having the law of God governing his thinking and his living.
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But it was a law as mediated and governed by Jesus Christ. And so this sets forth the uses of the law of God as set forth in the scriptures.
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In fact, it was John Calvin who long ago set forth the three purposes of the law that are set forth in the
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Holy Scripture. And particularly the third use of the law is the use that is not understood, and it's even denied by many well -intentioned evangelical
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Christians. I included a theological note from the Reformation Study Bible because it so clearly sets forth this threefold use of the law.
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It's in your notes toward the bottom of page three. Every Christian wrestles with the question, how does the
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Old Testament law relate to my life? Is the Old Testament law irrelevant to Christians, or is there some sense in which we're still bound by portions of it?
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As the heresy of antinomianism, in other words lawlessness, becomes ever more pervasive in our culture, the need to answer these questions grows increasingly urgent.
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The Reformation was founded on grace, not upon law. Yet the law of God was not repudiated by the
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Reformers. John Calvin, for example, wrote what has become known as the threefold use of the law in order to show the importance of the law for the
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Christian life, and this was in his classic Institutes of the Christian Religion.
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The first purpose of the law is to be a mirror. On the one hand, the law of God reflects and mirrors the perfect righteousness of God.
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The law tells us much about who God is. Perhaps more important, the law illumines human sinfulness.
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Augustine wrote, back in the 5th century AD, Augustine wrote, The law highlights our weakness so that we might seek the strength found in Christ.
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Here the law acts as a severe schoolmaster who drives us to Christ. That's one of the uses of the law in the
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Bible. A second purpose for the law is the restraint of evil. The law in and of itself cannot change human hearts, obviously.
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It can, however, serve to protect the righteous from the unjust.
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Calvin says his purpose is by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice.
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The law allows for a limited measure of justice on this earth until the last judgment is realized.
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In other words, when it's declared these are the consequences for breaking the law, there is a restraint there that's imposed really on all human beings to a measure, and that's one of the purposes of God's law in the
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Bible. But now we come to the third use of the law. The third purpose of the law is to reveal what is pleasing to God.
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As born -again children of God, the law enlightens us as to what is pleasing to our
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Father, whom we seek to serve. The Christian delights in the law as God himself delights in it.
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Jesus said, and they quote the verse we're dealing with, John 14, 16, verse 15,
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If you love me, keep my commandments. This is the highest function of the law, to serve as an instrument for the people of God to give him honor and glory.
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By studying or meditating on the law of God, we attend the school of righteousness.
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We learn what pleases God and what offends him. The moral law that God reveals in scripture is always binding upon us.
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Our redemption is from the curse of God's law, not from our duty to obey it.
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We are justified not because of our obedience to the law, but in order that we may become obedient to God's law.
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To love Christ is to keep his commandments. To love God is to obey his law.
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The law of God has an abiding role and purpose for the Christian.
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Now, as already mentioned, Pastor Jason's study on Wednesday evening is addressing the subject of God's law, particularly the
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Ten Commandments, in the light of today's crisis, moral crisis in our society.
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And in chapter two of this book, Ryken addressed the Christian's use of the law of God, and he identifies these three purposes.
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But he used a helpful wordplay to convey this. And so he wrote first that, again, the law is as a mirror.
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It shows us our sin. The law is a muzzle. It keeps us from doing wrong.
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And thirdly, the law is a map. It guides our conduct. There you have the three uses of the law.
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Now, again, apart from Christians who are reformed, and what we mean by that historically
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Protestant, relatively few evangelical Christians believe in the abiding value and use of God's law for the
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New Testament Christian. And there are even some who are very strong in their belief of the doctrines of grace.
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In other words, they're Calvinistic, who also do not believe God's law has a role for the
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Christian life. I have friends who believe this, have this position. They assert that the
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Bible teaches that Christians are no longer under God's law in any form or any way at all, but rather we are under God's grace.
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And so they oppose one another, they would argue. And they conclude this teaching from what seems to be a rather clear statement of the
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Apostle Paul, Romans 6, 14, and 15. He said, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under law but under grace.
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What then? Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace? Certainly not. These people therefore argue that the law of God no longer has authority over the
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Christian, for we relate with God solely on the basis of his grace that is in Jesus Christ.
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Another place in Romans that they use to argue their case is Romans 7, verse 1 and following.
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Do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
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For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she's released from the law of her husband.
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So then if while her husband lives she marries another man, she'll be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she's free from the law so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
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And then Paul draws the conclusion from this metaphor. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
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For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
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But now we've been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
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Well, they would argue, of course, you see, we're no longer married to the law whatsoever.
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The law has no authority, no binding rule. It's not a binding rule for us as Christians. And they conclude that from those verses.
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The Apostle Paul stated quite forthrightly, Christians in their union to Christ have the kind of relationship they now have to God's law.
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They're now married to Christ. They're no longer married to the law, as it were. And they are now able to live lives of righteousness through the grace of God that's in Christ Jesus.
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But what these well -intentioned Christians fail to understand is that when Paul wrote of the
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Christians' deliverance from the law, he was writing of Christians being set free from a relationship with God that was based on keeping the law, which had only brought condemnation to them.
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In other words, before coming to Jesus Christ, his people, physical Israel, related with God based on a covenant of works, which are works required in God's law.
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But when salvation came through Jesus Christ, their former relationship with God based on keeping the works of God's law came to an end.
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Christians relate with God based on a covenant of God's grace in Jesus Christ, not a covenant of works based on keeping
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God's law. And so, because believers are in Jesus Christ when he died on the cross, they passed out of condemnation to God's law, for Jesus Christ was condemned in their place.
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The law of God can no longer condemn the Christian, and that's what Paul was emphasizing.
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Through the believers' union with Christ, the believer died to the condemnation of the law. But the
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Christian is now alive and now enabled by grace to live according to God's law.
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And the Christian, being married to Christ, this is what takes place. And Paul stated this in Romans 8, verse 1 and following.
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This is a very, very important passage that speaks to this matter.
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Paul declared, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
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For the law of the spirit of life, in other words, the gospel, in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
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That would be the law as a covenant of works that brought about damnation. For what the law could not do, that is, make a sinner holy, could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
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God did. What the law could not do, God did.
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By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.
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Why? For what purpose? And then in verse 4 we have the purpose. Why God sent his son to condemn sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
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You see, the standard of the law is in place there. But whereas the law dealing with sinners could not make them holy or produce a sanctified life, through Christ he enables his people to live according to the righteous requirement of the law.
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For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.
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The things of the spirit here is the righteousness of the law. For to be carnally minded, this is to be a non -Christian, is death, but to be spiritually minded, this is a
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Christian, is life and peace. Because the carnal mind, in other words the non -Christian, is enmity against God.
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It's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. The non -Christian cannot be subject to the law of God.
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But he's saying in this passage, the Christian is subject to the law of God. The unbeliever can't be, it's impossible to him, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please
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God. And so here we read that the non -Christian is unable to live according to the law of God.
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His mind is not subject to the law of God, is not capable of becoming so.
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But the spiritually minded is subject to the law of God, even the things of the spirit.
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And given this reality, it's fitting that the Lord Jesus then told his disciples he would give them the
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Holy Spirit to enable them to live before him. And so the sum of this is, in John 14, 15,
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Jesus told his disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments. And then with verse 16, he talks about giving them the
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Holy Spirit who would enable them to keep these commandments. And so we come to this fourth division of these two paragraphs in John 14, 16, and 17.
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It's our Lord's promise. I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever, the
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Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you, and he will be in you.
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In this verse, we have all three persons of the Holy Trinity revealed to us. The Son of God is speaking.
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He declared he'll pray to the Father on behalf of the disciples. And in answer to that prayer to the
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Father, the Father would give his disciples the Holy Spirit. And here the
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Holy Spirit is called the helper. Here is the first mention by Jesus in John's Gospel of the gift of the
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Holy Spirit that the Father would impart to his disciples in answer to his prayer to the Father.
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But though the Lord himself first mentions the Holy Spirit here, the Holy Spirit was spoken about earlier in the
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Gospel. In John 1, we read of John the
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Baptist's testimony of Jesus. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him.
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He said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
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I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose
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I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness.
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I saw the Spirit, Holy Spirit, descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
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John the Baptist said, I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
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He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the
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Holy Spirit. And the Lord Jesus is talking about that baptism of the
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Holy Spirit here in John 14, 16. Not only did
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John the Baptist mention it in John 1, but John the Gospel writer, John the Apostle, mentioned the
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Holy Spirit in John chapter 7. Here we read, On the last day of the feast, the great day,
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Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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And then John the Gospel writer gives this explanation. Now this he said about the
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Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the
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Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Go back to John 14, verse 16.
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Jesus is about to be arrested. He's about ready to be crucified, raised the third day, ascended to heaven, seated on the throne in heaven, and then he baptizes his church with the
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Holy Spirit the day of Pentecost. And so, here we have the
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Lord Jesus pray to the Father, and the Father gives the Holy Spirit to his disciples.
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And in describing the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, or John, describes the
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Holy Spirit in a number of ways. In the time we have remaining, let's just work through these rather quickly, rather briefly.
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First, let us recognize that God the Father would give the Holy Spirit in answer to the prayer of Jesus.
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Jesus said in verse 16, I will pray the Father, he will give you another helper. We know, of course, that the
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Holy Spirit is the third person of the blessed Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity, of course, states that there is but one
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God, one essence. But within this one God, there are three subsistences, which is a very important word actually devised by the early church in addressing the doctrine, biblical doctrine of the
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Trinity. Here's a statement from our confession of the Trinity. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the
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Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit. Of one substance, power, eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided, the
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Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding.
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See, the Son is described as having been begotten from eternity. The Holy Spirit is described as proceeding from the
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Father. But the Father is never said to be proceeding from the Son. Or proceeding from the
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Spirit. And so there's a clear distinctiveness between the
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Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All infinite without beginning, therefore but one
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God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar, in other words, particular, relative, the way they relate to one another, properties and personal relations, which doctrine of the
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Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and comfortable dependence upon Him.
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In other words, the proper understanding of the Trinity, particularly how the Father and the Son relate to one another, instructs us, teaches us, how we are to relate to God and to His Son.
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And by the way, it instructs us on how to relate within our families and our society as well, doesn't it? All stems from the relations of the blessed three persons of the
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Holy Trinity. And so there is one being, one God, three subsistences.
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In other words, there are three persons, though but one God. Each person has the whole divine essence.
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Each person is not one third God. Each person is fully holy
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God. But these persons are distinguishable from one another. What distinguishes the
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Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son? The Holy Spirit is proceeding from the Father and the Son.
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Later on when we get to John 15 and we have to get into some of these details, we're going to see that point right there, that statement right there, divided the
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West from the East. Eastern Orthodox Roman Catholicism in the West, because the
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Eastern Orthodox said, no, no, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. The Western Church said, no, no, the
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Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. That split Christendom into two divisions that exist even to today.
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And here in John 14, 16, we read Jesus declaring that the Father would give Him to the disciples, that is give the
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Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus Christ. It is never said that the
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Son of the Holy Spirit gives the Father. The Father gives the Holy Spirit. There's distinguishable traits from the three persons of the
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Trinity. And this is one of the characteristics of the blessed
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Holy Trinity that we need to recognize. Top of page 7 of your notes, if you're following along there, the
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Lord Jesus calls the Holy Spirit another helper. That's interesting. Here in the
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New King James Version, it's helper or another helper. The Greek word is parakletos.
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I have trouble accenting that second syllable. Parakletos. I want to say parakletos, but that's not it.
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It's parakletos. And this is how the King James translates the word comforter.
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The Holy Spirit is a comforter. Here in the New King James Version, it's another helper. A new translation, newer translation, a couple years old, the new
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English translation translates the word advocate rather than comforter or helper.
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And the translators of the NET gave this explanation regarding their choice of the word. And I included this to show you just how broad and difficult it is to understand this word fully.
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And so advocate or helper or counselor, Greek paraklete, from the
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Greek word parakletos, finding an appropriate English translation for parakletos is a very difficult task.
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No English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word. Comforter, used by some of the older English versions, appears to be as old as Wycliffe, an early
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English translator. But today it suggests a quilt or a sympathetic mourner at a funeral, a comforter.
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Counselor is adequate but too broad in contexts like marriage counselor or group counselor.
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Helper or assistant could also be used but could suggest a subordinate rank.
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Advocate, the word chosen for this translation, that is the NET, has more forensic or legal overtones than the
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Greek word does. Advocate carries the idea of a legal helper.
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Although in John 16, 5 through 11, a forensic context is certainly present. Because an advocate is someone who advocates or supports a position or viewpoint.
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And since this is what the paraklete will do for the preaching of the disciples, it was selected in spite of the drawbacks.
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In other words, what they're saying is no single word seems to give the full idea of the
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Holy Spirit as the parakletos. The basic idea is that the
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Holy Spirit given to the disciples would stand beside them, assisting and empowering them to carry out their work of proclaiming the gospel,
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Jesus Christ to the world. And so he is the parakletos, which is a compound
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Greek word. It begins with the preposition para,
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P -A -R -A, like in parallel, side by side lines. And then the verb connected to this or preceded by this preposition para, beside, is the word kleitos, which is the
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Greek word for called. And so the parakletos is the one who's called alongside.
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And so he's called to stand alongside us and to strengthen us and help us and defend us and empower us, to give weight to our witness, to give assistance and encouragement.
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And within the context of John 14, to help you and me keep his commandments. We need the
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Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called another helper because he's given to stand with his people just as Jesus himself had stood with his disciples.
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Jesus Christ himself is called the parakletos in 1 John 2, verse 1.
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It reads, My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an, there it is, an advocate with the
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Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus Christ is our advocate with the
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Father. And the Holy Spirit is another advocate for us, is what Jesus is saying.
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I'm going to pray to the Father and he's going to send you another advocate. I'm leaving you shortly, but you're not going to be alone.
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I'm sending another advocate to stand beside you. And so Jesus refers to the
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Holy Spirit as a helper in addition to himself as the helper of his disciples.
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It ties together closely the person and work of the Holy Spirit with the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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I appreciated this commentator's comment on this. Our discussion above for the linguistic meaning of the title paraklete has now become more complex.
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Not in regard to definition, but to expression. For the title not only refers to the
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Spirit of God, but also to the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the advocate, the
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Holy Spirit is another advocate. Jesus Christ is the helper, the Holy Spirit is another helper.
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The title paraklete therefore expresses the intimate presence of God with his people. A presence that formally began with the incarnation and will carry on until the new creation.
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For this reason, the title paraklete refers to the ministerial office of the
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Trinitarian God in the world, occupied by both the Son of God and the Spirit of God. First Jesus, and now the
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Spirit, witness to God. Speak on behalf of God. Console, guide, and teach in the way of God.
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Help in the work of God. This is why paraklete cannot be translated into any one word or concept, nor any language,
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English or otherwise, grasp its fullness. For paraklete is the title of an office of God, the one from which he ministers to the world he loves.
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It is the term that guarantees God is present, and that nothing, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future, nor any powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from God and his love for us.
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Now you think about that. Jesus is about ready to be arrested within maybe a couple of hours.
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Taken from them. Crucified. Taken away from them.
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But Jesus is assuring them he's not going to leave them alone. I'm going to send you another comforter like myself, and he's going to guide you.
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He's going to teach you, help you, strengthen you, instruct you, recall your mind to the things
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I've taught you. He is going to assist you. He's going to enable you to keep my commandments, something you cannot do apart from his presence and his work.
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And so the Lord Jesus, thirdly, and we have to close here, top of page 8, declared the
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Father would give the Holy Spirit so that he would abide with his disciples forever, that the
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Holy Spirit would abide with them. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. If anyone has not the
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Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Every true Christian has the Holy Spirit.
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And then the Lord Jesus described him as the Spirit of truth. And this is just the first of three occasions in which the
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Holy Spirit is described by Jesus as the Spirit of truth. He's the
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Spirit who reveals truth, imparts truth, reinforces truth, strengthens you in your proclamation of truth, your defense of the truth.
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He's the Spirit of truth. And then he makes this declaration, the world cannot receive this
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Spirit. Why? Because the world can't see him. And the world can't know him.
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It's like the world, they won't believe anything they can't see with their eyes. And they can't know him because to know him you have to be spiritually minded.
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You have to be born of God to see this. It's a matter of faith.
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And then lastly, the Lord Jesus said his disciples already had known the Holy Spirit, but they would soon learn of him much more than they did.
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He's been dwelling with you. You know him, but soon he will be in you.
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And that opens up a whole other arena of teaching that we obviously cannot deal with this morning.
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But we're entering into these few chapters of John 14, 15, and 16 where we have the most clearest revelation of the person and work of the
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Holy Spirit that we have in all the Scripture. And so it would serve us well to spend some attention to these matters.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you for the glorious gift of the
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Holy Spirit. And we do love you and we desire our God to keep your commandments as you have told us.
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And yet we recognize our need for the Holy Spirit to do so. And so we ask our
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God as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ, that you would send your
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Spirit upon us afresh. We know that he dwells within us, but we need his power upon us, our
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God, to strengthen us and enable us to do what pleases you, which would in turn be a delight to us because that is our love, our
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God. We do love you, Lord Jesus, and we grieve when we fail to keep your commandments.
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And we delight when we do keep your commandments. And so may the blessed Holy Spirit, Lord, be fully manifest in our lives.
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Give us afresh, Lord, this blessed promise and help us to go forth from this place invigorated with power from you to live for you and please you.