Burk Parsons: The Spirit of Truth

well I'm grateful to see that some of you have come back after this morning it is truly a great delight and joy to have been given this assignment to speak to you this afternoon on the person and work of the Holy Spirit we're gonna be looking at various passages through John's Gospel particularly in the final discourse of our Lord Jesus Christ like begin this afternoon by reading one passage that we'll be looking at in the first passage that we'll be looking at from John chapter 14 beginning at verse 15 jesus said if you love me you will keep my Commandments and I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you also will live and that day you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you this is God's holy and inspired inerrant infallible and authoritative Word for you his people let's pray together our Lord God Almighty you are one God three persons Father Son and Holy Spirit and our Father we come to you this day needing your help we need your help Oh Lord and we need your aid the aid of the Holy Spirit to help us to understand your word as it pertains to the Holy Spirit and to who you are our triune Lord so help us lord illumine your word by your spirit and may your spirit both convict us and comfort us may your spirit encourage us and may your spirit draw our eyes to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ even now and may it be we pray for your glory alone amen now I assume that most of you know that I am a confessing presbyterian now many of you who perhaps know my story at all know that I am elapsed Baptist I was a Baptist for many years and still have a great deal of respect for many of my Baptist brothers and sisters many Baptist pastors and the Baptist Church where I once was years ago many of our members of st. Andrews Chapel in fact are still Baptists we're trying to do everything we can to convince them otherwise but they're stubborn the truth of the matter is our church is filled with all sorts of people from so many different backgrounds and so many different denominations but they have one thing in common they want to hear the Word of God and it's hard to find anymore isn't it and sad to say thankfully there are still many good churches and even many good churches in our area that preached the Word of God and the gospel of God but we all have that in common don't we well when it comes to this whole matter of the person and work of the Holy Spirit one of the things I'm very grateful for is the emphasis that I received as a Baptist on the role and the person and work of the Holy Spirit but as I became a presbyterian as I became a confessing Presbyterian that means that I have a confession to which I adhere the Westminster standards comprised of the Westminster Confession of faith the larger and shorter catechisms these standards to which I adhere heartily rex animo these standards are very clear about what the Spirit does and what the spirit doesn't do and as a confessing presbyterian as most of you I'm sure are aware you're aware of the fact that I am what we call a cessationist that is to say that a cessationist we believe that while the Spirit is active and the Spirit is working that he is no longer working in and through the special revelatory gifts of the Spirit tongues and healings and so on and a lot of people when they hear this language of cessationism as opposed to continuation ISM continuation ism or continuationists believe that these special relative revelatory forgive me it's late in the afternoon revelatory gifts of the Spirit are still active those of us who believe that they have ceased believe that they have ceased appropriately and rightly and they have ceased because they no longer need to because God's special revelatory gifts have been given to the church to testify to God's special revelation as God has revealed himself throughout history and in particular redemptive epics where God has revealed himself through prophets and apostles God has attested to that truth attested to that revelation with signs and wonders well there's no longer any need for those signs and wonders to attest to new truths being revealed because there are no new truths being revealed now that's a simple way of explaining cessationism but a lot of people when they hear that they think that what that means if that we are cessationists if we are confessing Presbyterians are even confessing Baptists and confessing reformed those from the reformed tradition the Dutch tradition by and large adhering to the three forms of unity they think that what that means is that we no longer believe that the Holy Spirit is working that we no longer believe that the Holy Spirit is active and so they assume I suppose that we have essentially relegated the spirits work to those who do believe in the continuation of those special revelatory gifts the point in fact just the opposite is true it has been the reformed who have throughout history and even leaning upon our forefathers who are faithful to the Word of God before the Reformation it has been those faithful biblical expositors and teachers and scholars that have insisted on the person and power of the Holy Spirit on the foundational understanding of the spirits work as the third person of our triune God that in fact when you really study the matter when you really look into the differences between the different traditions particularly if you look at the theology of what we find in so Pentecostal and charismatic churches the reality of it is when you really investigating what you'll find is that they believe less than the power of the Holy Spirit and more and the power of what they need to do in order to sort of muster up and conjure up the power of the Holy Spirit we actually believe that the Holy Spirit is actively working we are the ones who believe that it is the spirit who regenerates our hearts he is the one who makes us alive as Jesus explained to dick Nicodemus in John chapter 3 Nicodemus didn't quite understand and Jesus explained it's the Spirit who makes us to be born again Paul makes it plain throughout his epistles that it's the Spirit who quickens us it's the Spirit who regenerates us just as the Prophet said it's the Spirit who comes and invades and conquers our hearts and takes our dead stony and hard hearts and removes them rips them out and gives us hearts of flesh that are pliable moldable sensitive to the Lord and dependent upon him it's the Spirit who opens the eyes of the blind it's the Spirit who takes the blinders off our eyes you know a lot of people when coming to coming to grips with the great and beautiful truths of salvation and scripture when coming to see God's glorious grace and salvation when coming to see how God sovereignly chooses and and saves and redeems a people for himself as Christ chooses his own bride a lot of people say it's as if the blinders came off it's as if I saw for the first time God's Amazing Grace some people even say it was like I was converted for a second time and I know what that experience is like myself for some people however I think they were converted actually for the first time because it's the Spirit who takes the blinders off to help us see our sin and help us see the grace of God it's the spirit very moves our hardened hearts it's the spirit who enables us to understand it's the spirit who gives us the wisdom to see the Word of God who gives us eyes to see hearts to perceive minds to understand but too often in too many books in too many articles in too many sermons in too many prayers we never hear anything about the Holy Spirit there are books written on sanctification that barely mentioned the person at work of the Holy Spirit how often do we hear language about what the Spirit is doing when we say and when we ask what is God doing in your life what do we mean by that what is God the Holy Spirit doing you in you when we ask what is God showing you what we mean by that is what is God the Holy Spirit showing you what is he revealing to you what sins are you struggling with how are you living a life of repentance as Luther commended that we live all our lives as lives of repentance what we mean by that is what is God the Holy Spirit convicting you of and when we are filled with doubt and filled with guilt and filled with shame from the accuser and from our own hearts we need comfort and it's the Spirit who gives us that comfort dearly beloved we who call ourselves reformed and if we truly are then we need to be a people who reclaim and recapture what in many ways has been a forgotten foundational doctrine of our God the Holy Spirit is not just a parenthesis that we add on as a tagline to make our sound ourselves sound more spiritual like saying well if God wills let's not be flippant about that the Holy Spirit is absolutely foundational to our understanding of who God is how God acts and even how God speaks even now through his word by the power of the Spirit we cannot really talk about what we're learning from the Word of God we cannot talk about how we're growing in the Grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ we cannot even pray we cannot have any meaningful conversation on anything pertaining to the Christian life without talking about the Holy Spirit we need not to forget and it's the Holy Spirit who does the reminding now in John we have about four or five sections in this final farewell discourse of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein we read about the helper Jesus here in this passage before us in John 14 says if you love me you will keep my Commandments this is throughout John's Gospel and throughout John's writings in the New Testament and he's taking that largely from what we find in the law of God and the Torah and the Pentateuch this language of loving God and if we love God we will follow God we will follow and keep his Commandments we will strive to do that well when you hear that you say well how do we do that we'll never do it perfectly that's true but the striving to keep the commandments of God is all by the person and power of the Holy Spirit listen to what Jesus says there in verse 16 I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever now if I were to ask you a question a question that RC used to put to the congregation in two attendees of conferences like these he would say who is the Paraclete who is the great Paraclete who is the comforter who is the Advocate and typically when we hear that word Paraclete from the greek Parakletos typically we immediately go to the Holy Spirit and it is true that the Holy Spirit is a comforter but he is not the only comforter nor is he the first comforter or advocate it's Jesus who is the first pair of clay sauce it is Jesus who is our first advocate and who remains our advocate as John declares and for John chapter 2 we have an advocate with the father namely Jesus Christ and so Jesus is I'm going to send you another helper I'm gonna send you another advocate I'm gonna send to you one who will be like your defense attorney who will come alongside you and not just alongside you but in you I'm gonna send you one that will be with you and Jesus had already told them I'm going away from you I'll be with you just a short while longer but the Spirit will be with you forever so don't worry the Spirit is going to be with you and he is the other helper who will be with you to help you to help you love the Lord and to keep his Commandments even Jesus said in verse 17 even the Spirit of Truth Jesus identifies who the Spirit is he is the Spirit of Truth and this Spirit of Truth who preserves the truth sustains the truth speaks the truth and reveals the truth this Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you now that statement is quite striking isn't it jesus said even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive those of you are careful Bible students realized that the sovereignty of God and the salvation of God has weaved all through this they cannot receive him why can the world not receive the Spirit of Truth because it neither sees him nor knows him the world cannot have the spirit or know the spirit because the world still has the blinders over their eyes the world's hearts are still hard the heart of the world in the heart of those who are apart from Christ do not have the minds to perceive in the eyes to see because it has not been granted to them Jesus makes it plain and he draws a dividing line and says you will have him you will know him but the world cannot receive him and then Jesus promises there in verse 18 I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you also will live in that day you will know that I am in my father and you and me and I in you friends that is actually one of the strongest statements for the Trinity in the New Testament Jesus is explaining in no uncertain terms how it is that he is in the father that they as God's people are in him United to Christ and Jesus says and I in you now what we're going to see here as we move on through the rest of these passages in the final discourse later on in chapter 14 and verse 25 and 26 is how the holy spirit is woven like this beautiful thread throughout Jesus's final farewell discourse that the Holy Spirit comes throughout not just not just one place but from beginning to end Jesus wants to draw their attention listen carefully not completely away from himself but he wants to draw their attention to the third person of the Godhead namely the Spirit of Truth because right now they were worried they were burdened they were afraid they didn't know what was going to happen this one who came was now going to leave them they had no idea what that would mean and Jesus wanted to comfort them I will not leave you as orphans the Spirit is going to be here he's going to take care of you and so in chapter 14 and verse 25 Jesus says these things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you saying don't worry everything that I've said the Spirit will remind you of those things he will teach you these things you see what Jesus is saying here is that the Spirit will give to you what you need and what you require in here is contained the the inspiration even the inerrancy of scripture because the super the the spirit super intense as he uses the authors of scripture to give to us the Canon of Scripture the Spirit will reveal these things to you he will remind you of these things and then on to chapter 15 and we read there in verses 26 and 27 Jesus says but when the helper comes whom I will send whom I will send to you from the father the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning this is the twofold witness of the truth we in preaching the gospel and proclaiming the gospel of God to the world to all nations to the Lost we preach the gospel and so that is the external call of the gospel we are calling people to believe the gospel we are calling people in believing the gospel to repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ and Christ alone we are giving that external call of the gospel member earlier we talked about how God not only ordains the ends of all things but that he ordains the means to those ends he has ordained that we proclaim the gospel he has ordained that we preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and even to our next-door neighbor which in some ways is sometimes much harder but it's the spirit who bears witness and it's the spirit who does the work of the internal call he takes that external call of the gospel and and the hearts of those who belong to the Lord he convicts them he penetrates their hearts he invades and takes over their hearts and their lives and leads them - faith in Christ the Spirit does this powerful work it's the helper who comes the Advocate who comes who does this and then as we read on in chapter 16 we read what is in my mind one of the most stunning statements that Jesus ever made in chapter 16 verse 4 Jesus says I do not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you but now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asks me where are you going but because I've said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart nevertheless I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go away for I do not go away if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe me concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged 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 and will declare to you the things that are to come he will glorify me for he will take that which is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you did you hear that did you hear that stunning statement that Jesus made there is recorded in verse 7 it is to your advantage that I go away I have always been absolutely stunned by that statement because most of us would say it is better to have Jesus with us how many times in your life have you cried out to the Lord especially in times of suffering in space in times of pain especially in times of worry especially in times where you are in prayer for the salvation of those that you love to save a son or a daughter from an evil and sad situation how many times have you wanted an answer from God and you said if you were just here if I could just see you if I could just be with you if I could just hear from Jesus you know all those supposed visions that people have had and of physical signs of Jesus as if that's ultimate Jesus is saying that's not ultimate all those supposed visions and signs of people seeing Jesus whether it's in the clouds or at the foot of their beds Jesus saying you're missing it because it's better to have the spirit with you and in you than me beside you it is a stunning statement and hard for us to believe it is hard to believe that the the spirit and his person and his presence within us is to our advantage it's mind-boggling but Jesus is the one who sang him Jesus is the one who's saying it is to your advantage that I go away you know when we have especially family go away and even pass away it's hard for us to understand how that might be to our advantage but somehow in some way God uses the absence of loved ones God uses even the death of loved ones to help us depend upon him more and it's the spirit who does that what does Jesus say the spirit does that in coming in being sent from both the father and the son what is it that Jesus says the Spirit will do Jesus says that this helper will he he will come to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment because the Spirit is not only one who comforts he is also the one who convicts he is not only a defense attorney he's also a prosecuting attorney against sin now this section is a little bit confusing upon first glance because of the language of it there in verses 9 and following so Jesus goes on to explain he says concerning sin because they do not believe in me well what sin is Jesus referring to in one sense all sin but particularly the sin of not believing the Christ of not trusting Jesus and of rejecting Jesus that is the ultimate sin if you will and Jesus is saying that the Spirit will convict the world of sin because they have rejected me the Spirit will convict the world of sin because they have not trusted me and secondly Jesus explains concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer now we don't know necessarily precisely all that Jesus means there but some commentators have pointed out that what Jesus may in fact be saying is that Jesus is speaking of his ascension and even his vindication that in going to the Father he will be proven to be true his words proven true that what he said and what he promised and what he prophesied is in fact true and that as he goes to the Father the Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness concerning justice concerning all that is right now now that's hard for us to understand why would the Spirit convict the world of righteousness well it could very well be that the righteousness that Jesus has in mind as it was very common for John in his upon his epistle and in his gospel to rely so heavily upon so many Old Testament prophets especially Isaiah and one of the things that we see John doing and perhaps doing it here is relying upon Isaiah's prophecy particularly as it pertains to the righteousness or the supposed perceived righteousness that was in fact like filthy rags you see the world has a righteousness so they think they have a justice so they think it is a paraded righteousness that is in fact at the end of the day filthy rags before the sight of God is it amazing how many friends that we have and relatives that we have neighbors and colleagues and co-workers and classmates that we have who do so many righteous deeds in their own eyes it's almost as if their righteous deeds become a sort of religion I think many of them think that if they just do enough then God's gonna like them he's gonna shower his favor upon them some of them even say that to us that's really every false religion that we can somehow do all that we can to work our way up to God Christianity is the only religion that says God worked everything together to come down and reach us but it's almost a religion for the world to do righteousness to do justice in such a way that it's as if they're trying to do a justice and do a righteousness that is apart from God and so at the end of the day it is only self glorifying self aggrandizing only for their own hearts and their own glory but the Spirit will convict the world of they're supposed righteousness and show them that are his that it's nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of God and what they need is the imputed righteousness of Christ the substitutionary atonement of Christ an alien righteousness that comes not from within but from without from Christ and then lastly in verse 11 we read concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged the world has its judgments doesn't it the world it's decisions and the world always seems to feel justified in its decisions and judgments but the world's worst judgment the world's worst decision was to put Jesus Christ on that cross and the Spirit will come and will convict the world will show forth to the world will point out to the world and will be that prosecuting attorney to come in and show the world its sins and thanks be to God the Spirit showed each and every one of us who are trusting Christ our sins often when we think of the Holy Spirit we we think the Spirit is only a comforter only and encourage ER and I think that when we do that we are short-selling the person and power of the Holy Spirit almost in one sense painting the spirit as a weakling that he is only this sort of buddy that comes up alongside us and says attaboy and coaches us it encourages us and said it's gonna be alright I'm I'm right here with you and so so often we downplay the spirits work but when we understand that the name paddock Latos or Paraclete when we understand what real help is when we understand what it is to really be an advocate we know that that's not just giving empty encouragement it's not just flattery it's not just saying everything's gonna be okay because the real help that we need in life is not only to be comforted but we need to be convicted we need to know about our sins we need to be confronted by ursins convicted by our sins so that we would know the comfort that's ours in the spirit and I think so often in the churches and among our children we they too often have this sort of Pollyannish view of the holy spirit the holy spirit is a warrior the holy spirit is an invader and a conqueror the holy spirit is one who calls and exhorts who comes alongside in order to call and to exhort and to challenge and to rebuke because all of those nuances are found in the language of a Paraclete of one who calls out and comes alongside who are our closest companions who are those that we count on so much in life for many of us here today they're sitting right beside us for some they have left us some have gone to be with the Lord it's those who have meant the most to us in life who have helped us and they've helped us not just by telling us how good we are all the time but they've helped us in seeing our blind spots and seeing our sins and helping us to grow in holiness as we rest on the holiness of Christ the truth of the matter is those that we come to truly appreciate in our lives are those who are tough enough and strong enough and honest enough to help us see where our sins really are that's why the bond of a husband and wife the bond of two good friends that's why the bond that exists sometimes between even siblings over the course of decades is so tight it's not because they've experienced only good things in life it's not because every experience has just been a nice pleasant conversation it's because they've been through it together because I've had to deal with their sins with one another because they've had to repent and apologize for their sins they've had to come to terms and to come to peace they've had to forgive and that's the ingredient of any good relationship you see the reality of it is as this have been said couples husbands and wives they don't fall out of love they fall out of repentance and forgiveness friendships don't fall out of trust and loyalty and love they they fall out of repentance and forgiveness it's an absolute crucial ingredient for true friendship that we would be quick and ready to say I'm sorry that we would be quick and ready to say please forgive me and that our friend that our spouse and our father our mother our son or our daughter would say I forgive you and I love you the Spirit of God in coming to us and coming within us is the one who shows us our sin and it is one of the greatest blessings that we have as Christians just as one of the greatest blessings that we have and one of the greatest ways in which the father assures us that we are his children is through that loving hand of chastisement that loving hand of discipline as the author Hebrews writes in Chapter 12 leaning upon proverbs three so it is the Spirit of God who gives us that great discipline that great blessing of convicting us of sin but he doesn't leave us there but too many of us are prone to stay there too many of us are prone to wallow in the mire of guilt and shame and of our own sin not only from the accusations of the accuser who is regularly and daily accusing you a lot of times we don't even know what's going on in our lives and we wonder why we're experiencing the hardships that we are and we forget about spiritual warfare we forget that we have an accuser who hates us and who wants to bring us down it's not just the accusations from the evil one it's not just the accusations that we get from the world that we will continue to get and in these United States and throughout the world we're going to continue to face more and more severe persecution simply by speaking the truth in love the sad thing is when you get persecution from the church for speaking the truth and love but the Spirit of God spirit of truth he speaks truth to us and sometimes dearly beloved the truth especially when it's about us hurts but if we wallow in the mire of guilt and shame and we do not trust what the Spirit is doing if we do not trust what the father is doing through the Spirit if we do not trust that that conviction is not meant to kick us when we're down it's not meant to leave us in the ditch it's not meant to kill us it's meant to make us die to self that we might more trust Jesus Christ it's meant to make us not wallow in that place it's meant to make us from getting up off our knees look upon our beautiful Savior it's meant altom utley to comfort us it's meant to convict us and restore us it's meant to convict us and bring us to that place of hope and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit a peace that passes understanding a peace that really doesn't make sense because we can't believe that we have it that the Spirit gives us that peace and gives us that joy and gives us that hope I mean have you ever asked yourself why you have hope I mean this is a hopeless world in a world full of despair why do you have any hope it's because the Spirit has given you hope as Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 that we have hope even through suffering as God through suffering brings about endurance and through endurance we have hope and that hope does not disappoint because the Holy Spirit the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us the reason you wake up and the mercies of God are new every morning and you don't just wallow in despair and a mire of guilt and shame in the sin of yesterday and yes year is because the spirit has given you the eyes of hope so it's the same spirit who can fix us but it's that same spirit who gives us hope why are you still a Christian because of the Holy Spirit why do you still have joy it's because of the Holy Spirit why do you still go to worship it's because the Holy Spirit sustains you because you by faith are a child of God and the Spirit is the one who reminds us that we are children of the Living God and Romans chapter 8 Paul and such beautiful language tells us and reminds us who we are for some of us it's hard to believe for some of us we are prone to doubt we are prone to easily to fall into despair and even self-pity but Paul reminds us who we are in Christ in chapter 8 and verse 14 Paul writes for all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God all who are led by the Spirit you see if the Spirit is within us if we have the spirit then we'll walk by the spirit if we know the gospel the Bible tells us we are to walk worthy of the gospel this is the language of the Christian life and so if we love the Lord we will keep his Commandments we will strive to keep the commandments of God in all of life if we have the Spirit will be led by the spirit this is the language of first John for all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God being led by the Spirit demonstrates if you approves and in fact we are the sons of God for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father dear beloved father the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him dearly beloved the assurance that we have the knowledge that we have the understanding that we have that we are sons of God is all on account of the fact that the Spirit of God is within us bearing witness with our spirit giving this reciprocal constant testimony that we belong to the Lord and if the Lord saved you the Lord keeps you if the Lord chooses you he doesn't unsure you if the spirit grabs ahold of your heart and gives you a new heart you can never have that rotten hard heart again if you have the Spirit of God you will never fully or finally fall away if you have the Spirit of God if that spirit is within you and it's that spirit who doesn't just tell you nice things about yourself and doesn't just tell you how you can sort of experience your best life now if it's the spirit who can vix you of sin and the spirit who tells you what a wretched sinner you are it's that same spirit who lifts you up and says now now and only now you can sing amazing grace let's pray together our Father we thank you for the Spirit we thank you O Lord that the Spirit is within us Lord may the spirit convict us and may your spirit comfort us may your spirit help us for we need your help o Lord sustain us we pray and may your spirit do a mighty work in our hearts during our time together at this conference may we not walk away and unchanged people but may your spirit work mightily in our hearts and minds to help us to love obey and glorify you more as we rest in the finished work and the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ and his name we pray amen [Applause]

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

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Keywords: Ligonier, Ligonier Conference, orlando conference, ligcon, john 16, John 3:8, holy spirit, sanctification, ascension, burk parsons

Id: 7OEEGXRubxQ

Length: 43min 53sec (2633 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2019