The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth (John 16:12-15 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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September 25, 2023

Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth

00:00: It shall be the throne forever, we shall let
00:27: Christ the story, as the glory of the
01:33: Lord. Before the throne, God above, I have a throne perfectly, a great high place whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me.
01:52: My name is graven on his hands, my name is written on his heart.
02:01: I know when he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.
02:11: No tongue can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward
02:36: I look and see him there, who made an end to all my sin.
02:45: Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
02:54: For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.
03:03: To look on him and pardon me. His love, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable,
03:22: I am the King of glory. One with himself
03:29: I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood.
03:37: My life is hid with Christ on high. With Christ my
03:43: Savior and my...
03:57: My soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with Christ on high.
04:06: With Christ my Savior and my God. With Christ my
04:12: Savior and my God. My worth is not in what
04:56: I am. The strength of flesh and bone.
05:06: The costly wounds of love. But in skill or name lose.
05:23: In Christ that flows.
05:38: Rejoice in my Redeemer. Greatest treasure.
05:46: Wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him no other.
05:54: My soul is satisfied in him alone. As summer flies we fade and die.
06:14: Fame, youth, and beauty all still rise.
06:24: The boast and wealth were mine.
06:35: All human wisdom's fleeting life. But I will boast in knowing
06:43: Christ. Rejoice in my
06:54: Redeemer. Greatest treasure. Wellspring of my soul.
07:03: I will trust in him no other. My soul is satisfied in him alone.
07:39: There's here that I come fixed.
07:52: My wrath's unpaid. Rejoice in my
08:03: Redeemer. My soul.
08:13: Trust in him no other. My soul is satisfied in him alone.
08:24: Rejoice in my Redeemer. Greatest treasure.
08:31: Wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him no other.
08:39: My soul is satisfied in him alone. I bless your name,
09:34: O God, each day that I await. From dawn to setting sun, your greatness
09:43: I'll proclaim. Your glory far exceeds all human thought.
09:54: So with each breath I'll bless your name, O God. Your name will be revealed by children years to come.
10:08: As generations sing of wonders you have done.
10:15: Your strong and mighty deeds are always near.
10:35: Me to me great is the Lord. How great is the
10:47: Lord. And great need to be thanked.
10:54: Which more gracious hand provides. So we do have the connect cards.
11:04: If you are new here, my name is Michael. The connect cards will allow us to connect with you a little bit.
11:11: Put your name and your phone number on there, your email address, and we'll just send you a thank you card, thank you for coming.
11:18: And I wanted to mention that T -shirts and hoodies are still for sale. If you need more information about that, you can get the
11:27: QR code on your phone. It's been in Pastor Jeff's email. The date of closing that is
11:33: October 1st, so get your order in before that. And we can, once they are, once that closes, then
11:40: I will get those and then we will give them out to everyone when they arrive, okay? There is a starting point class, which is how you learn more about Cornerstone in order to become a member or just to learn more about the
11:53: Evangelical Free Church and everything that our church believes. That is starting today, in fact right now, in the classroom, so you can excuse yourself if you'd rather go to that now.
12:04: You can then catch this service online if that's what you need to do. But it's this week, next week, and the following week, starting point.
12:13: There's also an important congregational meeting on the 16th. This is
12:18: October 16th at 7 p .m. We are going to be discussing a couple of major items.
12:24: One is possibly bringing our youth pastor to full -time, so that's an exciting possibility.
12:30: And then secondly, a building and grounds and land question that we have to work on.
12:39: So exciting possibilities in all these directions. So please come on the 16th.
12:44: You can always ask me if you want information ahead of time about what that meeting is all about.
12:50: Tonight, there is a prayer meeting at 7 o 'clock, or is it 6 o 'clock tonight?
12:57: So if you would like to come for corporate prayer, 6 o 'clock here in the building. So let's go to prayer now.
13:04: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for an opportunity to come into this place and worship you. Lord, we desire our worship to be pleasing in your sight.
13:13: So help us to worship in spirit and in truth, that everything within us would cry out in songs of praise to you, for you are worthy.
13:24: Lord, we pray that you would help us to discipline our minds so that we're not distracted.
13:30: Help us not to be lazy in our thinking, but rather to be focused on what you have for us this day.
13:37: So we give this worship to you as our best, Lord, and we hope that you would find it a pleasing sacrifice in your sight.
13:45: In Jesus' name. Amen. Will you stand with me? There is a truth older than the ages.
14:10: There is a promise of things yet to come.
14:16: There is one born for our salvation,
14:23: Jesus. There is a light that overwhelms the darkness.
14:37: There is a kingdom that forever reigns.
14:44: There is freedom from the chains that bind us,
14:51: Jesus, Jesus.
14:58: Who walks on the waters, who speaks to the sea, who stands in the fire beside me.
15:11: He roars like a lion. He planets the land.
15:19: He carries my healing in his hands,
15:25: Jesus. There is a name
15:33: I call in times of trouble. There is a song that comforts in the night.
15:44: There's a voice that calms the storm that rages.
15:52: He is Jesus, Jesus.
15:58: Who walks on the waters, who speaks to the sea, who stands in the fire beside me.
16:12: He roars like a lion. He planets the land.
16:19: He carries my healing in his hands,
16:25: Jesus. Messiah, my savior, there is power in your name.
16:46: You're my rock and my redeemer.
16:51: There is power in your name, in your name.
17:06: Who walks on the waters, who speaks to the sea, who stands in the fire beside me.
17:19: You roar like a lion. You planets the land.
17:26: You carry my healing in your hands. God, you walk on the waters.
17:36: You speak to the sea. You stand in the fire beside me.
17:45: You roar like a lion. You planets the land.
17:52: You carry my healing in your hands.
17:59: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
18:09: Jesus, Messiah, name above all names.
18:24: Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel.
18:33: The rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven.
18:49: Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.
19:00: Jesus, Messiah, name above all names.
19:14: Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel.
19:23: The rescue for sinners,
19:31: Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.
19:52: All our hope is in you.
19:58: All our hope is in you.
20:05: All the glory to you,
20:11: God. The light of the world.
20:17: Jesus, Messiah, name above all names.
20:32: Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel.
20:40: The rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven.
20:56: Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.
21:11: Lord, our hope is in you this morning. We are thankful that we can stand here redeemed because of your sacrifice on the cross.
21:21: And we declare, Lord, that you not only are the son of God, but God himself,
21:27: Jesus, the God incarnate, the eternal Alpha and Omega, our
21:33: God and our savior. You came down from heaven's throne.
21:57: This earth you formed was not your home.
22:04: A love like this the world had never known.
22:12: A crown of thorns to mock your name.
22:24: Forgiveness fell upon your face.
22:30: A love like this the world had never known.
22:42: On the altar of our praise, let there be no higher name.
22:50: Jesus, Son of God. You laid down your perfect life.
23:00: You are the sacrifice. Jesus, Son of God.
23:08: You are Jesus, Son of God. You took our sin.
23:18: You bore our shame. You rose to life.
23:25: You defeated the grave. A love like this the world had never known.
23:40: Cause you took our sins. You bore our shame.
23:47: You rose to life. You defeated the grave.
23:54: A love like this the world had never known.
24:05: On the altar of our praise, let there be no higher name.
24:13: Jesus, Son of God. You laid down your perfect life.
24:22: You are the sacrifice. Jesus, Son of God.
24:30: You are Jesus, Son of God. Be lifted higher than all you boast.
24:43: Your name be louder than any other song.
24:49: There is no power that can come against your love.
24:56: The cross was enough. The cross was enough.
25:02: The cross was enough. The cross was enough.
25:13: On the altar of our praise, let there be no higher name.
25:21: Jesus, Son of God. You laid down your perfect life.
25:30: You are the sacrifice. Jesus, Son of God.
25:39: You are Jesus, Son of God. Amen.
25:48: You may be seated. Good morning.
25:58: Let's pray. God, thank you so much for this morning.
26:06: Thank you for all of your good gifts to us. Most especially the gift of your one and only
26:13: Son, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. We thank you,
26:20: Father, that you gave Jesus to die. The death that we deserve.
26:26: The death on the cross. What a radical thing. That you would give your
26:31: Son to be crucified for our sins. That he was buried and that he rose on the third day.
26:40: We believe this, Lord. For you have revealed this truth to us by your
26:46: Spirit. And we pray now, Lord, as we open the word of God, that you would continue to lead us into all truth.
26:54: Every one of us in this room believes certain things amiss. None of us are omniscient.
27:01: We should all be humble before you and recognize there are areas of darkness in our lives. Ways in which we ourselves are deceived.
27:10: And we pray that the Spirit of truth would minister individually to each of us to shine light on those dark places.
27:19: Illuminate your word, God, that your word would burst forth off the page into our hearts.
27:24: That we would be changed by your truth. We thank you that you always tell us the truth.
27:33: You never comfort us or appease us with lies. But you are always intensely and perfectly truthful.
27:42: And so, Lord, speak your truth to us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Truth is old and insensitive.
27:53: Truth as a category, I mean. It's not that people believing truth are old and insensitive.
27:59: But truth and time walk hand in hand. True things withstand the test of time.
28:09: Lies crumble with time. They fall in on themselves and they cannot bear the weight of progressing over the years, let alone over the decades and the centuries.
28:21: Charles Spurgeon said, I cannot agree with those who say that they have new truth to teach.
28:31: I throw new truth in scare quotes. There's no such thing as new truth. Spurgeon says,
28:38: The two words seem to me to contradict each other. That which is new is not true.
28:44: It is the old that is true. For truth is as old as God himself.
28:54: By insensitive, I mean that truth doesn't mind being questioned. Anyone who is afraid to debate or who doesn't like being questioned is probably hiding some dark space.
29:08: Truth doesn't mind being questioned. Or to use the words of Ben Shapiro, truth doesn't care about your feelings.
29:18: Truth is just true, no matter how you feel about it. And truth can withstand any test.
29:27: It is not afraid of being questioned. People are sensitive.
29:35: And people are prone to err. While truth and time walk hand in hand, people proclaiming truth often are dealt with rather harshly.
29:48: How many of you know the story of Jeremiah? Jeremiah had truth to tell to the nation.
29:55: He brought a message to the southern kingdom, living in Jerusalem. For 40 years, he proclaimed coming judgment.
30:03: He warned them that their sexual sins and their idolatry, which is a spiritual form of adultery, that this would result in God's judgment, that God was going to send
30:16: Babylon to judge the people. But they didn't want to hear this truth.
30:22: They were convinced of their ways, and they desired to continue doing what they intended.
30:28: So from the year 627 BC to 587
30:34: BC, Jeremiah preached, and the people hated him for it.
30:39: Very few people repented and believed. He told the truth, and it would take time to prove what he had to say.
30:50: Jeremiah then writes the book of Lamentations. It's only five chapters. I would encourage you to read it because it's a wake -up call.
30:57: The book of Lamentations is a wake -up call. Judgment was proclaimed, and it ultimately came.
31:04: Lamentations 1 .1 says how lonely sits the city that was full of people. In chapter 2,
31:11: Jeremiah says, My eyes are spent with weeping. My stomach churns.
31:19: My bile is poured out to the ground. He's thrown up. He's just so distraught over what's happened.
31:26: Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. Because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
31:36: Lamentations 2 .14. Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions.
31:46: You see, truth doesn't mind being questioned. The prophets were proclaiming good things and saying that God will not judge the nation.
31:56: And Jeremiah alone cried out and called for repentance. In time, the judgment came.
32:04: In 5 .86, the Babylonians came upon Jerusalem and sacked the city and carried off the remainder of the people into exile.
32:17: It was a horrible and destructive thing. Truth was proven in time.
32:26: They didn't like Jeremiah. In chapter 38, verse 6 of the book of Jeremiah, we learn what they did to him when he preached the truth.
32:37: They took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting
32:48: Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud.
32:55: And Jeremiah sank in the mud. That's what he gets for telling the truth.
33:01: He proclaims the truth, and the people did not want to hear it. And so they threw him in an old cistern where there was no water, but just mud, and he sank down in the mud, kept in prison, rejected by the people.
33:16: Jeremiah was a prophet, and he told the truth, but nobody wanted to hear it.
33:25: So it is in our day. The world that we have inherited from our forefathers has been influenced by truth.
33:35: Even an atheist historian named Tom Holland agrees with that statement.
33:42: Now, when I say Tom Holland, don't think Spider -Man. That's a different Tom Holland. This is a historian.
33:48: He's an atheist, but even he acknowledges that the world that we have inherited came from the truth of Christianity.
34:00: Speaking of the Roman Empire and the barbarism of those days, he compares that with what we value in our generation.
34:11: While studying the ancient world, Tom Holland writes that the ancients were cruel.
34:19: Their values were utterly foreign to him. The Spartans routinely murdered imperfect children.
34:29: The bodies of slaves were treated like outlets for the physical pleasure of those with power.
34:35: Infanticide was common. The poor and the weak had no rights. How do we get from there to here?
34:44: It was Christianity, Holland writes. Christianity revolutionized sex and marriage, demanding that men control themselves and prohibiting all forms of rape.
34:58: Christianity confined sexuality within monogamy. It is ironic that these are now the very standards for which
35:06: Christianity is derided. Christianity elevated women.
35:12: In short, Christianity utterly transformed the world. Isn't it interesting that even an atheist historian can look back on history and see the
35:24: Christian truth bearing fruit over time and how it changed the world?
35:32: The most famous sentence in the Declaration of Independence comes from these
35:38: Christian values. It was the Scottish Presbyterians, influenced by John Knox and his descendant
35:45: John Witherspoon, in crafting and working with Thomas Jefferson, who crafted a statement of liberty and equality.
35:54: Where do the values of liberty and equality come from? They come from the
36:01: Christian scriptures. The liberation of those who become free in Christ, individuals made in the image of God and free before their maker, inalienable rights, these come from God.
36:13: And the idea of equality, it was the Christianity of those who bound up the brokenhearted, who welcomed the leper, a
36:22: Jesus who taught women as he did men. The first to the grave were women.
36:29: And the status of women were elevated through the introduction of Christianity into the world.
36:35: Equality is a Christian value. And so the Declaration of Independence says this, we hold these truths to be self -evident.
36:45: It was self -evident because the people of the colonies in America were, by and large,
36:52: Christian. That all men are created equal. There's that equality.
37:00: That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.
37:07: That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Notice that the essence of this declaration is that there is a
37:15: God, and he has endowed people with individual rights, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.
37:22: And the fruit of this teaching produced the greatest nation on earth for a time.
37:33: The fruit of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Christian characteristics.
37:41: Equality and liberty. But notice, these were endowed by the creator.
37:48: Endowed by the creator. What happens, church, when
37:54: God himself is kicked out of the equation? Well, there will be cultural capital that remains from the
38:04: Christianity of this nation. There will still be a value of liberty and a value of equality, but divested from God.
38:12: The new doctrine that came from the Christian West, solidified, of course, by Karl Marx, but then perpetuated by those that are called the left.
38:23: You ever ask, what is leftism? We see the effect of the left in the world.
38:31: But what is leftism? It is this value of freedom and equality divested from God.
38:42: Listen, it is absolute freedom. Absolute freedom.
38:50: That not even God can dictate anything to me. The idea that even my gender, my sex, is a matter of my own choosing.
39:02: Freedom or liberty, not just from government and the big government imposing on the individual, but freedom from God himself.
39:12: It is an absolute autonomy to do whatever a person sees fit.
39:19: It is a forced egalitarianism. That rather than seeing equality as the image of God in all people, that all people must be made equal in outcome.
39:34: Leftism is forced equality. Absolute freedom.
39:40: And the vision of the left is that if you do these two things, it will yield utopia.
39:47: It's always just around the corner, but what is the principle of truth that we are discussing?
39:53: Time and truth walk hand in hand. The fruit of the leftist worldview has been tried in history.
40:02: It was tried in the USSR. It was tried in Cambodia. It was tried in China. It was tried in Venezuela.
40:09: Everywhere that it was tried, it resulted in human suffering as the world had never seen before.
40:17: And church, this leftist worldview is being tried, but it's not all that new in America.
40:24: It's hanging on for dear life in America. I remember growing up in the 1980s, and I saw the worldview of the left creeping in to my own family.
40:37: There was one who was influenced by a university professor to believe in this radical egalitarianism, that there's not distinction between men and women in roles, and she decided to become a pastor.
40:50: And therefore, my criticism in the public matches the public nature of her outward ministry to the world.
41:00: This person, who I dearly love, and I care for, a relative of mine, became a pastor of a church in Indiana.
41:12: And as this worldview got deeper and deeper in her, running a church, doing her thing, she felt in herself attraction for women, sexual desire for women.
41:29: And the leftist worldview said that she needed to be true to herself. Yes, she had young children, children approaching adolescence.
41:37: Yes, she had children that depended on her to be the mother, to guard the home.
41:44: The woman is to be inward facing in the home, and the man is to be outward facing to the frontier, to go out and conquer in the name of Jesus.
41:53: The woman is to be, to rule the roost, in a sense, to care and watch over the children.
42:01: But instead, she moved to Florida, leaving her children behind. And she pastored there for a time.
42:08: And you see, this began in the 1980s. I remember seeing the interaction with my mother, who loved the word of God and believed what it says, and said, yes, this is what
42:18: God says. We value freedom, we value equality, but God speaks the truth.
42:25: And I remember how these things blew up, and the pain it caused, and the difference of opinion.
42:31: But church, truth, truth, walks hand in hand with time.
42:38: And truth always bears fruit in time. And you can see the track record of where leftist thinking goes.
42:45: And sadly, the heartbreaking story ends that the daughter that was left behind begins to get into drugs.
42:55: And this year I was there to watch her buried, my cousin, as she followed a path that was set in motion by that abandonment.
43:09: Church, what the world is telling you, and what is being preached and trumpeted has been tried since the 1960s.
43:21: It was the sexual revolution at that time. And it's been attempted now for 50 plus years.
43:30: And I wish I could tell you that this anecdotal story of mine is only an anecdotal story, but look around at the culture.
43:38: What you are seeing is that where there is an abandonment of God's design for the family,
43:45: God's truth, you see families everywhere in chaos.
43:52: Divorce, rampant. Drug use, everywhere.
43:58: Suicide, who could think of it? Everywhere. And it seems that the very foundation of America is crumbling.
44:08: It is, it is. Because this is a truth war.
44:16: There is a leftist vision that is not built on truth, it is built on sand.
44:23: And it will crumble under the storm and it does again and again and again. And when will the world see?
44:30: And who will tell the world? Turn with me to John 16, verses 12 to 15.
44:47: John 16 brings us right back to the spirit of truth.
44:57: From John 13 through John 17, we have this section of scripture. The 17th chapter is a high priestly prayer.
45:04: It is the holy of holies. John 13 to 16 is also the holy place where Jesus with his disciples is training them in the deep things of God.
45:18: In chapter 14, verses 26, and even earlier than that, verse 16, the spirit of truth is introduced.
45:26: He is called the spirit of truth. In verse 26 of the 14th chapter, he will teach us.
45:34: At the end of chapter 15, he is again introduced as the spirit of truth. And here today in verse 13,
45:41: I want your eyes to see the spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth.
45:50: Yes, he is the spirit of love and joy and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self -control. But when
45:56: Jesus introduces him here, time and again, he is called the spirit of truth.
46:04: We are in a truth war. There are competing visions of reality. It even seems in our country right now that people are looking at entirely different realities.
46:17: It's so divided. What is the difference? The difference is between those who have the spirit of truth and therefore eyes to see all the truth and those who are still blinded in the dark and cannot see.
46:33: That's why the difference is so stark because it's the difference between light and dark, day and night.
46:42: The spirit of truth by which you see reality as it is versus a deception, a blinding of 2
46:49: Corinthians 4 .4 by the God of this age. So let's read the passage and understand what's happening here.
46:58: Jesus is telling the disciples what they will need. Previously in the first 11 verses, he's spoken how the spirit will bring salvation.
47:07: How so? By convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The spirit will convict of sin.
47:15: That means bringing a heaviness and a burden over the weight of sin, a knowledge of what coming disaster awaits, what
47:22: Jeremiah preached to Jerusalem. They didn't want to believe. And in our culture today, nobody wants to believe that God would be so harsh, so judgmental as to send people to hell.
47:38: But babies staggered in the streets consider not only the kindness, but also the severity of God.
47:47: The spirit convicts of sin. He also convicts of righteousness, that there is a righteous one and only one.
47:55: It's none of us here. We're not the high and mighty ones. We have clay feet. We stumble and we fall and each one of us falls into sin, but there's one, just one.
48:06: What's his name? Jesus, the only righteous. And he alone has conquered and lived obediently and died the death that we deserve and rose from the dead.
48:19: And because he went back to his father, he tells us in the text, therefore, the spirit now convicts of righteousness, that you can be made righteous.
48:28: The righteousness of Christ is credited to those of you who believe in Jesus. This is salvation.
48:35: This is good news. And he convicts of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.
48:41: Satan no longer has the keys. He does not dominate. He has no dominion over the world.
48:48: Christ is king. Having died and risen, he now is seated at the right hand of the father from where he reigns in righteousness.
48:59: So there's one king of the world and it isn't Satan. And the spirit now is in those of us who believe.
49:06: So where we pick up here, we're gonna read it finally. Verses 12 to 16 to 15 actually.
49:13: I knew we only had four verses so I could go a little longer on the introduction. Verses 12 to 15 is about progressing in the faith.
49:24: You have the truth when you have Christ. If you know him, you're saved. But the spirit also brings us and guides us into all truth.
49:35: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak.
49:54: And he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
50:03: All that the father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
50:14: Only those with ears to hear can make any sense of what you just read. It is
50:20: Trinitarian, what a radical thing that God exists as father, son, and Holy Spirit three persons in one being.
50:28: Nothing that mankind could have devised. In that way, it's like the cross. Who would have designed that the most horrifying instrument of torture and death would be worn around our necks as a symbol of victory over death and the grave?
50:47: This is a radical passage about God as Trinity. And this is the source of truth, the spirit of truth.
50:55: Notice it is not, it is not human wisdom. Truth does not go to those who are smartest in the room.
51:05: Many of you are saying to yourself, well, that's good news. And others are saying, oh man. See, according to verse 12,
51:15: Jesus is with his disciples that he handpicked, but they don't have the resources in themselves. Do you see this?
51:21: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Human frailty limits what we are able to receive from God.
51:33: We very often don't know the truth because of our own human frailty. What is it in the text here?
51:39: What has them stifled? Limited? In this case, it's sorrow.
51:46: Their expectations of the coming kingdom and of the Messiah have been dashed. He just told them that he's going to leave them.
51:53: And so he is trying to set this in perspective for them that if he goes, it's better for them because he'll send the
52:01: Holy Spirit. But they don't understand these things yet. They're so sorrowful that he's leaving them that they can't take anymore.
52:09: You ever gotten to that place in life where you wish you could just listen to another sermon, but I just can't hear anymore right now?
52:18: Why are you laughing? Is that where you're at right now? Okay, we're done. What do you guys know?
52:24: Sometimes it's our human frailty. Very often, it's sorrow, depression, anxiety, things like that, as was the case with the disciples.
52:31: But I think even more often in our culture because we're so prosperous due to the inheritance we've received, we have so much that the thing, the frailty that keeps us from pressing deeper into the truth is amusement, entertainment.
52:49: It's that iPhone that has you distracted as you're scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or whatever the newest app is.
52:57: What does the word amuse mean? Oh, somebody knows.
53:02: Good job, Rob. It means not think because to muse means to contemplate, right?
53:09: To think. You're musing, you're contemplating and A negates the musing. So when you're being amused, you're just not thinking.
53:18: That's why you're watching sports. You can just check out and just enjoy them doing all the work. That's why on your phone when you're just scrolling, somebody else put that there and it will entertain you.
53:29: It will amuse you. But see, that's your frailty and there is a place for checking out.
53:36: You know, you can have some entertainment. We're not legalists, fundamentalists in that way, right? Not all entertainment is bad but there's a place for it and it's been inundated by amusement and entertainment and so we have very little room for the deep things of God.
53:55: They had no room at this place. They were maxed out. So where then does this truth come from?
54:00: Next verse, 13. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
54:12: Just as you and your own resources cannot understand the deep things of God, God knows your need and he has given the spirit.
54:23: This is why it's better that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the father. Now the spirit is in the believer to lead you into all truth.
54:35: Newsflash. When you got saved, you did not arrive.
54:43: You don't know everything. There are things that I am thoroughly convinced of in this book that I'm probably wrong about and if I knew where that point of difference was,
54:55: I would correct my theology. All of us are prone to stumble.
55:01: All of us need to remain humble before God. Isaiah 66 looks to the one who trembles at his word.
55:08: That is a posture before the word of God that says, you know what? I have these traditions that I've been taught my whole life.
55:15: There's probably an area where I'm wrong and I'm going to tremble before his word.
55:21: This is why I'm going to open it every day because I'm not assuming that I've already got this book mastered. I'm frail and I need the spirit of truth and when you go in that posture, he leads you into all truth.
55:34: I, in my 23 years of ministry, have seen much to lament.
55:42: Church wars, differences of opinion. Remember when all the rage was debating whether it was a pre -trib, post -trib, or mid -trib rapture?
55:53: I remember those days. And different kinds of theological questions come on the scene.
56:01: Probably the most hurtful thing to me was about 10 years ago. I was part of a church plant where a
56:09: Vietnamese pastor and myself partnered together to start a church. And a group of Vietnamese young people came with us to preach the gospel in Juniata Park.
56:21: And we were there proclaiming Christ. And by grace, we saw many people come to Saving Faith.
56:29: But here's the difference of opinion. The people who owned the building in which we were meeting believed it was right to keep their ethnic identity central to that congregation.
56:44: And so when we had lighter -skinned people, I'm pretty pale, and darker -skinned people,
56:52: Hispanic, Puerto Rican, all the different ethnicities coming together, now we had 100, 150 people.
56:58: And it was the sense of this, this mother church that owned the building that the church needed to go back to being
57:09: Vietnamese at the core of their identity. And I was looking at Acts chapter 10 and Ephesians 3, the tearing down of the dividing walls and all of these things that I'm saying, this isn't right.
57:23: Let the Lord bring who he brings. And see, this was a very devastating thing in my life because after working in our family together, working to build this church for two years, in one day, the church was taken away.
57:39: My friend who was pastoring alongside of me was fired. And this experiment came to a close in a day.
57:50: Truth doesn't mind being questioned. There was no one who would debate these things on the point of the word.
57:57: But what's the second principle of truth this morning? First, truth isn't sensitive. It doesn't mind being questioned.
58:05: It's resilient, it's robust. Truth bears up under any questioning. The second principle was what?
58:11: Truth and time walk hand in hand. What will happen to America what happened in this
58:23: Vietnamese church? In time, truth rises up over error.
58:29: Just a few weeks ago, I got a phone call that delights me.
58:36: A young pastor from within that Vietnamese church, the young people, has been able to pastor effectively for 10 years.
58:45: And he's led them out to establish a church for whoever, whosoever will.
58:53: And he called me up a couple months later. He will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
01:00:31: In the context here, this is referring to the revelation of the New Testament. Things to come here, don't let that run to Dwight Pentecost book and think things to come, this is only about eschatology.
01:00:42: No, at this point in, I'm sure that's where your mind went, right? Sorry. The point is, when it says things to come, the
01:00:52: New Testament has not yet been given. They have the 39 books of Old Testament revelation.
01:00:59: They're not ready yet to receive the new. That will come after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes into them and then by the spirit of truth, they will bring forth this revelation.
01:01:09: Will it come from them? It will come from the spirit in them, the Holy Spirit of truth.
01:01:15: So this refers to the inspiration of Scripture. Peter will say, he'll say, no
01:01:21: Scripture is by any private interpretation, but men carried along by the spirit spoke from God.
01:01:31: And Paul will say in 2 Timothy 3 .16, all Scripture is God breathed and profitable for training and for rebuke and training correction and righteousness, right?
01:01:41: So to be God breathed means it's spirit breathed. The spirit working through them will bring forth the
01:01:48: New Testament. And I said, there are two things you need to understand about that. That's the first. The first is this book is from God.
01:01:57: Every word in the Scripture is reliable, time tested, proven, based on the evidence of history and every objective measure.
01:02:10: This book is true. The second point is that we still need the
01:02:15: Holy Spirit to illuminate the meaning of this text to us. Many people come to the text bringing in presuppositions, traditions, their own desire of the way they want it to be, and they don't allow the author to speak for himself.
01:02:33: This doctrine of illumination refers to the work of the Holy Spirit to teach us all righteousness, all truth in the
01:02:42: Scripture. So it says here, he will not speak on his own authority. So the Holy Spirit's not going rogue, bringing something new.
01:02:51: He's saying what God said in the Old Testament. The Father spoke. He's taking what
01:02:57: God says. He is God. There's no discord here, but whatever he hears, he will speak.
01:03:03: He's in perfect agreement with the Son and the Father, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
01:03:09: The New Testament is perfectly in keeping with the Old. Now there's fulfillment, and we'll get into that one day.
01:03:16: But notice the Spirit inspires the Scripture. That's revelation, and he illuminates it to us that we would rightly divide the word of truth.
01:03:26: So when you go to study the Bible, do you pray for help? That's why the
01:03:31: Spirit is in you. You need to ask him, Lord, illuminate this to me. Later I'd like for you to go read 1
01:03:37: Corinthians 2. And it's about the Spirit's teaching ministry to help you rightly divide and understand the word.
01:03:45: It teaches you the deep things of God. Lastly, in verses 14 and 15,
01:03:50: I want you to see the Trinitarian nature of this passage. Truth is downstream from believing in the
01:04:01: Trinity. I like listening to conservative talk radio, as I'm sure many of you do.
01:04:10: Ben Shapiro is great about many of the things that he says when he is in keeping with what the text says and what general revelation is found by logic.
01:04:19: That's great. But he rejects the prophecies of Jesus that are written in the
01:04:24: Old Testament. Dennis Prager is another great one in defending conservative causes, and yet he wrote the rational
01:04:34: Bible and misses every prophecy of Jesus written therein.
01:04:41: And he takes the commandments of God, waters them down to justify himself.
01:04:49: And recently, he got in a controversy for saying that pornography is an awful, permitting that, disagreeing with Jesus very clearly, saying
01:04:58: Jesus says that if a man even looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he's violating the deeper meaning of thou shalt not commit adultery.
01:05:06: But Prager makes room for that so as to justify sin. Because what the law actually does is shut every mouth before God.
01:05:18: It's a mirror that you look into and it shows you how sinful you are that you would turn to the
01:05:23: Savior, Jesus Christ. My point in bringing this up is because if you don't have the spirit of truth, which is
01:05:30: Trinitarian, you will be led into all manner of error. So what he's saying here in verse 14 and 15, he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
01:05:42: Notice the Trinity here. Follow the pronouns. He will glorify me. Who's the he, who's the me?
01:05:51: The spirit will glorify the son. Why should the son be glorified unless he's
01:05:58: God? Anybody who doubts the Trinity should go to this verse and be taught of God.
01:06:05: I don't know a stronger way that Jesus could declare that he is
01:06:10: God equal with the Father than verse 15 where he says all that the Father has is mine.
01:06:19: That's why he deserves to be glorified with the Spirit and the Father. Notice all three persons of the
01:06:25: Trinity. You have the Father, the Spirit, and the Son in perfect unity.
01:06:31: The doctrine of the Trinity is simply that there is one God, one being, one essence who eternally exists in three persons.
01:06:41: The sense in which he is three, his personhood, needs to be retained as does the unity of the persons in one
01:06:49: Godhead. If you lose either, you lose Christianity. So the modalist or the oneness
01:06:54: Pentecostal will say, well, God only manifests himself sometimes as Father, other times as Son, other times as Spirit.
01:07:05: But our text uses personal pronouns at the same time referring to communication between the members of the
01:07:14: Trinity. There's personhood here. He and me. You see that? And there's communication, there's interaction.
01:07:21: So modalism, oneness Pentecostalism, is heresy. It collapses the distinction between persons.
01:07:31: And Mormonism which makes it three separate gods altogether is heresy because this is one God. The Shema of Israel itself said
01:07:39: God is one, Deuteronomy 6 .4. Mark 12 .29 quoting that.
01:07:49: or the unity of the one essence, the one being who is God. If you get that much, you've got enough.
01:07:55: But guess what? You could spend the rest of your life with the spirit of truth living in you to plumb the depths of these things.
01:08:03: And I would recommend you do your best to try to do that. Get Stephen Wellham's book.
01:08:09: He's a great theologian that works well in explaining the Trinity. God the Son incarnate book.
01:08:20: The Trinity is revealed here as the source of truth. If you don't start here, you don't end up at truth.
01:08:26: You only go farther and farther away. So in closing, we need the spirit of truth.
01:08:35: Each of us needs the Holy Spirit active in our lives. We need to humble ourselves before God and realize,
01:08:42: I have not arrived. I'm not there yet. I'm prone to wander.
01:08:48: And pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you as our text says today, into all truth. The same spirit that indwelt you and came to live inside of you when you were born again, still lives in you and wants to take you deeper into the things of God.
01:09:03: Did you know that? Isn't that good news? There is so much truth for us to discover.
01:09:12: And it's inexhaustible. When we get to heaven, we'll still be learning things for all eternity because God is infinite.
01:09:20: So go to the Word daily. Pray for the help of the Spirit to be guided into all truth.
01:09:28: Let's take a minute to pray. Let's pray for our culture, that they would receive the spirit of truth, that the lies of the culture would be exposed.
01:09:39: Let's just pray for help. Father God, we thank you so much for your Word today. And as I've preached through John 16, 12 to 15,
01:09:50: Lord, I am acutely aware that I have missed many things. There is so much more here that should be said.
01:10:02: And I pray, Lord, that each of us would hunger and thirst by the
01:10:08: Spirit of truth to know what those things are. Lord, I pray for us in this room that you, by the searching work of your
01:10:14: Holy Spirit, would reveal the areas of darkness in each of our lives.
01:10:21: What lies are we still believing? Where are we still entangled?
01:10:31: I pray in Jesus' name that the spirit of truth would illuminate those areas of our lives, that each of us would be truly free.
01:10:41: For those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. Thank you,
01:10:49: Father, for the spirit of truth in the life of every Christian. And I pray that you would help us to go deeper in your
01:10:57: Word. And now, Lord, we want to pray for the culture around us. Lives are being destroyed by the lies of the culture, the lies of leftism, an absolute kind of freedom, freedom from you,
01:11:16: God, a forced egalitarianism, and the lie of a coming utopia as people pursue these things.
01:11:25: I pray in Jesus' name that the lie of leftism be exposed. It's ruining everything it touches.
01:11:34: And my prayer, Lord, God, is that you would use these people in this room and hearing this sermon to go out and proclaim the truth, the message of new life in Jesus Christ.
01:11:49: And I pray by your spirit that they would be convicted of sin and righteousness and judgment, and so fall before you and repent and believe the good news.
01:12:03: Send us out as evangelists in the culture. And Lord, we pray that you, as you have sovereignly worked in all of history, would once again rescue this nation from the pit.
01:12:17: We pray that truth would prevail over lies. As time is exposing the lie of leftism,
01:12:25: Lord, we pray that people's eyes would be open to see it. Send a revival through our land.
01:12:34: And I pray that revival begins here in Mount Laurel, at Cornerstone, and at The Rock, and at Living Hope in Philly, and Island Baptist, and the other faithful churches all around this area,
01:12:47: Lord God, that together we would go out preaching Christ and him crucified and risen.
01:12:56: Put a burning desire in our heart to preach the truth. Spirit of truth, come fill us right now.
01:13:04: And send us out in Jesus' name. Amen. What gift of grace is
01:13:24: Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give.
01:13:35: He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom.
01:13:42: My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
01:13:49: To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to his.
01:14:04: Oh how strange and divine. I can sing, all is mine.
01:14:11: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:14:22: The night is dark, but I am not forsaken.
01:14:30: For by my side, my Savior he will stay.
01:14:36: I labor on, in weakness and rejoicing.
01:14:44: For in my need, his power is displayed.
01:14:51: To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me.
01:14:58: Through the deepest valley he will lead.
01:15:06: Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome.
01:15:13: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:15:19: No fate
01:15:25: I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future sure, the price it has been paid.
01:15:38: For Jesus bled, and suffered for my martyr.
01:15:45: For he was raised, to overthrow the grave.
01:15:52: To this I hold, my sin has been defeated.
01:16:00: Jesus now and ever is my plea.
01:16:07: Oh the chains are released, I can sing,
01:16:12: I am free. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:16:25: With every breath, I long to follow Jesus.
01:16:32: For he has said, that he will bring me home.
01:16:40: And day by day, I know he will renew me.
01:16:47: Until I stand, with joy before the throne.
01:16:53: To this I hold, my shield is only to Jesus.
01:17:01: All the glory evermore to him.
01:17:08: Oh the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat.
01:17:16: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat.
01:17:30: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:17:37: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:17:47: I charge you, in the presence of God, and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in kingdom, preach the word.
01:18:00: Be ready in season, and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
01:18:08: Go in peace. So with each breath,
01:19:13: I'll bless your name. Oh God, your name will be revealed.
01:19:21: By children yet to come, as generations sing, of one lead to be praised.
01:19:54: How great is the Lord. How great is the
01:20:04: Lord, and greatly to be praised.
01:20:12: Gracious hand provides for all who live and breathe.
01:20:19: Mercy runs to find the helpless and the weak.
01:20:30: You hear our cries, your gracious hand makes.
01:20:42: How great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
01:20:48: How great is the Lord. How great is the
01:20:58: Lord, and greatly to be praised. Forever without end, creation will rejoice.
01:21:23: When works of wicked men, you finally destroy.
01:21:30: Your power we'll proclaim, until Christ descends, and you will reign forever.
01:21:41: How great is the
01:21:48: Lord, and greatly to be praised. How great is the