The Spirit of Truth Bears Witness to Jesus

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0:00 Well, good morning. I'm Adam, Pastor Adam Barkod. I'm in the network. I met a sister church, really, a new city down off of Elby McLeod and John Young Parkway. We meet in a little warehouse. It's always nice to be here right now. But when Ben asks, hey, can you help out? I have other things and it's like, oh, no, can I do this? What am I doing? And when you get here, you're like, oh, yeah, these are the people of God that are gathered.

0:32 This is great. So it's wonderful to be here. And I know a lot of you, so you know, the history with Ben as a great friend and mentor to me over the last 12 years or so. So it's always wonderful to come and see what's going on here. So at our church, in part, thanks to Ben, who's introduced me to Lutheranism, I've been introduced to the historic church calendar. And this Sunday, today, is actually the seventh Sunday in Easter.

1:10 And so there's only 50 days between Easter, the resurrection of Christ, and then it goes to Pentecost. And so it's 50 days, hence Pentecost, right, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so following these calendars, it's, you have to kind of, I have to kind of understand what the day is because we follow the readings they give. And when you look at the readings, you're going, what is this about? Because I would never want to preach this one.

1:41 And that's the beauty of following a book, you know, just going through or following these things. But today, just to set it all up, it's this, the disciples are being prepared for these, really these 10 days between Christ's ascension. So the 40th day after his resurrection, Jesus is resurrected talking, then there's that moment where he ascends to the Father. That's the 40th day. And then 10 days later, Pentecost, the harvest will come in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

2:15 The disciples are in these 10 days in between. Jesus is left. He's left once and now he's leaving again and they're there and he says, wait. So it's nice to remember, oh yeah, that must have been a terrifying 10 days before the Holy Spirit has poured out. And so that's the day that we're looking at. They're waiting. We kind of enter into that on this day of the waiting, the remembering everything Jesus

2:45 said in the midst of a really scary time. I mean, this is, it's a frightening time for the disciples. And so how are we going to, how the disciples going to keep following Christ now that he's gone? So the disciples, well, we with the disciples remember today what Jesus said. And here's the main idea. Jesus left a promise to his disciples, here's what's going to happen when I leave, wait for it. I'm going to graciously send you the Holy Spirit.

3:18 I'm going to send you. I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the helper. And so before I get into the passage in John, I want to use these readings. This is what the historic church does. To anchor the words of Jesus, the gospel, to an Old Testament reading and then an epistle. So I'm going to read two passages, one from Ezekiel, and then the next one at first Peter. So it shows you the before and after the continuity of what God the Father is doing, doing here

3:51 with the Spirit. So in Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 22 through 28, you just listen, let it roll over your ears and into your heart. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it's not for your sake, oh, house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations

4:25 and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.

4:57 I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my just decrees. You shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. And then we go to the results of all this with Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 7 through

5:29 14. Peter writes, The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by

6:00 the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory

6:33 and of God rests upon you. This is the word of the Lord. So now we've seen the setup in the Old Testament. We've seen what's happened to Peter, the famous denier of Christ. Now we see, and we look and hear the words of Jesus in John chapter 15. This is the passage we're considering today, 15 verses 26 through 16 verses 4.

7:04 You can tell the lecture and I chose that because none of us would ever choose to cross over from one chapter or to another. Of course, it wasn't originally written in chapters, so it makes sense. Jesus said, when the helper comes, 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've been with me from the beginning. I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

7:37 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think He is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I've said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. This is the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so as we consider this passage, it's taken from the middle of Jesus' farewell discourse.

8:12 So Jesus is saying this the night before He's betrayed. I mean, it's really John chapter 13 through 17. John is recording everything Jesus said that night. It's the last supper. Right before they go into the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will pray in agony, where Jesus will be betrayed and then be led to His brutal murder. So Jesus is saying all these things. And it's in this conversation that Jesus begins to straight up orchestrate the meeting between

8:45 the disciples and the Holy Spirit. He says, the helper, it's the spirit of truth who will dwell with you and in you. That Jesus is going to die in less than a day and knows that His beloved disciples will be overwhelmed with fear and sadness and knowing that they will feel like children whose parents have died. He promises, I will not leave you as orphans. I will rise from the dead.

9:15 And I'll be with you always. So it's here that Jesus has to say some things that need to be said. They haven't previously been said. He's been with them, but He's leaving. And so He equips them for persecution, murderous persecution. They haven't experienced the horror of Jesus' execution yet. So it's hard for them to imagine how bad can it really be? So Jesus says, you will need the helper because of the hatred of the religious.

9:49 And disciples of Christ won't escape it, but will be witnesses of truth through it. The Spirit will enable His people to endure the shame of the cross with joy, just like their Lord and Savior will in a matter of hours. So whether the disciples are fully tracking with Jesus, they often didn't. They didn't know what He was talking about. It doesn't really matter because Jesus is saying these things for a very clear purpose. He says it in chapter 16, verse 1, just to be very clear. He says, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

10:26 And then we think, why would anyone fall away from faith in Christ? But especially the disciples who lived with Jesus, walked with Him for three years. The answer is because persecution is scary. I mean, it is scary. And Jesus knows that persecution can rob you of your faith. That's the enemy's game. So He must tell them the truth. You will be thrown out of the synagogue, which is a nightmare.

10:56 The synagogue is the place where you connect to God, where God comes to earth and meets with you. It's the place of your identity. It's the place of your people. They're going to be thrown out of there. But even worse than that, there's an hour coming when whoever kills you from within the synagogue will think they're offering a service to God. This is horrible news. This is, no one wants to endure that. I know for me, even without persecution like that, I often find myself overwhelmed by fear.

11:31 And this fear can cause despair. And it creates such hopelessness that we begin to believe that, oh, maybe Christ isn't real. Maybe Christ abandoned us. This is the temptation of persecution. The temptation to deny Christ and walk away as though He weren't real or act as if you never knew Him. Even worse, that He can't do what He says.

12:02 Because all this bad stuff is happening. But thank God, we're given all the proof of this, that this is a reality with what happens to Peter. We read that Peter denied Christ three times before the crucifixion is even over. And then all the disciples scattered for fear. It was only John who stayed there with Jesus' mother. So I look at that and go, man, if the disciples couldn't do it, how are we going to bear witness

12:32 in the face of persecution within or without? It's interesting, the passage where it says, you will bear witness in the Greek. The way John wrote it in the Greek is the word is martyr. You bear witness to Christ. We think of martyrs, you die for Christ. But it's really to bear witness of the name that I'm not going to be scared of any other name. The only name I'm going to fear is this name. And then when I fear this name, he says, you don't need to fear.

13:04 Martyrs, how are we going to be martyrs for Christ? For the name of Christ? Well, this is the goodness. Praise God. Jesus sends the helper, the spirit of truth, who is from the Father and the Son. And He will bear witness. He will martyr, be martyred for you in you. He will bear witness in you to you and through you. That Jesus gives the paraclete, the advocate. That Jesus is the advocate and then He gives the spirit of the advocate who is defending you and representing you, comforter, encourager, the spirit of truth.

13:39 And it's for one clear purpose, that you never fall away from faith in Christ. Peter, we know the story. Peter did deny Christ. He was right out of the gate. But Christ called him back and forgave him three times and said, you're going to be a spokesperson for me. I've already proven I'm not good at that. Yeah, but you will have the spirit of God and the spirit will do it.

14:13 This is the forgiveness, the redemption. This is what the spirit is working. And you will recognize the Holy Spirit to Peter and to us because the Holy Spirit will teach us and remind us and apply to you everything that is Christ. This is the work of the spirit. He applies it to you. The forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake, salvation, Christ inheritance for Christ's sake, His resurrected life now and forever. The Holy Spirit is applying this constantly.

14:44 And first and foremost, He does this through the true knowledge of the Father. The knowledge that the only the Son of God has to give. And I'm going this direction because Jesus says something. He says, they didn't know the Father or me, the ones who will kill you as sacrifice to God's because they didn't know the Father. And so we learn many people can know God's law. We all know many people know God's law. And it's good. He reveals who He is, what He demands, how He created life in this world.

15:21 But the law does not save. Its intent is to drive us to the gospel. It shows us who God is and then it exposes how far we are from it. So John writes earlier for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And so the Spirit gives us and teaches us who the Father is. We learn that through Christ that God the Father's heart, this is what Christ shows us, the heart of God. That from the very beginning, from all eternity, He just wants to save us for the sake of His

15:54 Son. He sends His Son because He knows no one can come to the Father but through the Son. This is the heart of God. This is who our Father is and this is who Christ is. So Jesus says the religious will persecute you because they have not known the Father or me. Now the religious will define like this, the religious person lives under a system of being righteous in their own thoughts, in their own actions. They hear the rules and they do that. And then believe you are accepted by God if you do these things.

16:28 In other words, the religious hate that Christ loves and forgives everyone without demanding that they change first. That's the religious spirit in us. That's what the religious hate. That's why they'll kill you. That's why we kill ourselves. So it's offensive that Jesus first loves and forgives actual bad people. And that's offensive because we don't know the Father. We don't know His heart, the Son.

17:00 So we're denying the Spirit. I mean, I think about the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8 where Jesus gives her an absolution of forgiveness and he says, neither do I condemn you. I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more. Jesus did not say to her, if you go and sin no more, then I won't condemn you. And that's what the religious folks want him to say. But here we meet a sinful lady who has met the Father and will never deny the gracious

17:33 and loving heart found in Jesus Christ. So the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to constantly witness to you, the Father's heart in the gospel, that this Christ is God's Son for you. Sent by the Father to become the sacrifice and payment for your sins through His own blood. And so take away God's wrath from you and reconcile you to God.

18:06 That we are redeemed from sin and death and obtain this eternal righteousness and life through Him. So no one through his own work or holiness can atone for sins or put away God's wrath. That's the religious view. We praise God that there's no other way or means to obtain God's grace than through faith in Christ. So we believe it. And for the sake of Christ and by the power of the Spirit, I can say, God forgives you.

18:42 Thank you Lord. We praise God. I praise God for this passage because Jesus doesn't say, you're going to be persecuted. Now try harder. You better try harder. You better be a leader. He doesn't say that. Instead he says, it's going to be bad. But I'm sending you the Spirit. I'm giving you the Spirit. The Spirit will give you faith that you can't help but confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

19:12 The Spirit will give you a bold confession in the face of persecution where you just have to go, this is hard, but where else could I go? You alone have the words of life. The beauty is we're not left alone. The Holy Spirit helps and strengthens and encourages the faith that He has given you. And He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it to the end. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what the Spirit of God is doing right here, right here among us right

19:46 now. But this is why Christ created the gathering. We call it church, but it's the gathering. What are we being gathered to? To the Word of God, to the promises of God. And in those promises He says, I'm going to meet with you around my Word, call you to myself, and I'll give you all my gifts, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of salvation, and life in the Spirit.

20:17 And this is the Word of God that we gather around. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. My own journey, I spent a lot of years thinking that the Holy Spirit was some kind of journey that only the brave could figure out and then certain people got the direct line. And what I've learned is the Holy Spirit is not bound up, He can do whatever He wants. So He does do crazy things out there. And we have had experiences.

20:49 But the good news for me, because I can have an experience, the problem is my wife can't have it. And I say, oh yeah, just do this. And she's not feeling it. And I'm like, and I've learned. Yeah, God doesn't promise those experiences all out there. He promises them when we gather around His Word. My wife can come to the gathering, hear the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit speak directly to her through the Word of God. That's good news for me.

21:20 That's helpful for my marriage. But it's the grace of God saying the Holy Spirit is not a slippery thing that you have to act good to get. He sends it to you. I'm giving you. This is my promise. I'm giving says at one point about the Kingdom of God. This is my father's great pleasure is to give you the Kingdom. So every time you read the Bible, every time you read the Scriptures, know that that's the Holy Spirit. Read it out loud.

21:50 That's the Holy Spirit out loud talking to you, engaging you. You're having a Holy Spirit experience. Every time we interact with it. Every time you hear the preaching, someone, Ben, myself, we're giving you the Word of God, Holy Spirit. Share the Lord's Supper. Holy Spirit is there connecting us, applying to us. All that is Christ. But there's one other way that the Holy Spirit works through the gathering. We can soul one another in faith.

22:22 He's putting the Spirit is putting everything that's Christ into your ears, into your eyes, into your mouths. As well as, and then using that in your heart to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. But I thought today I realized driving here, oh, I'm thinking about the calendar day in the church. I was like, oh yeah, it's Mother's Day. Luckily, I said, it's my wife's birthday today, so it worked out. So praise the Lord. It's like happy birthday, happy Mother's Day.

22:57 This is something that kind of, to empower us today to embolden us to a confession, we might not be, it may not be life or death for us right now. The history of the church, that's usually the case. It's a lot of persecution throughout history. But not now, praise God. But we have now been given this opportunity to be bold in our confession to one another. I was thinking of Mother's to children, to in the family, in the church, out in the

23:32 world, that the Spirit has put our, He's put the gospel, the words of Christ in our mouths for one another. It's called the Consolation of the Believers or the Communion of the Saints. But I liked how Bonhoeffer, he said it in his little work, Life Together. I couldn't get this thought out of my head where he says, the Christian needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the Word of his brother.

24:07 His own heart is uncertain. His brothers is sure. That's the helper who's securing your faith through the means of another faithful brother and sister in Christ. So I know the Lord, but I'm scared about whatever. But you say, no man, it's great. The Lord is with you. I know it's going to be great. The faith in your heart is stronger than mine.

24:37 And that's what the Spirit does. He gives us the means of grace through one another that we're emboldened to make these confessions that God is real. His promises are true. And this is the work of the Spirit. So your confession to one another is important and used by the Holy Spirit. So today it's just to encourage you. You know it. We read Psalm 51, an amazing Psalm by David.

25:08 After his great sin he repents, and he says, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. And we know the rest of it. Christ hears that. God hears that in offer and gives the forgiveness and restores and gives the Spirit. And so Jesus has sent the Spirit of truth to deliver us, to deliver you from a life of being scared to death. And I know it's a heavy burden for mothers. Have I done right by these kids? You don't need to be scared.

25:41 You can be certain that you are in the resurrected life of Christ. The Holy Spirit is there giving you the love for them, for one another, for us in our community. We trust the Holy Spirit. He's promised. He sent the Holy Spirit to us. So by the help of the Holy Spirit we confess Christ in all these places. Wake up every morning and go, am I forgiven Lord? Thank you. The Holy Spirit will bring those verses back to your mind. Yes, you are forgiven for the sake of Christ.

26:14 Did I make a mess of things? Yes. Oh, but you are forgiven for the sake of Christ. And I give you all the victory of Christ in loving your neighbor. I give that to you. Walk. Now stand up in faith and move into that. But that's crazy. I know. It's insanity to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. That faith changes all that. Christ says, I raise the dead and I'll raise you. It says, fear not.

26:45 He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And how do we know this? Because Christ has sent the helper the spirit of truth to keep you from ever falling away. So may the peace of God which passes all understand and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. I don't know what's next here, but I'm going to pray. That feels like a spirit thing. God, thank you so much for your promises.

27:16 Thank you for your faithful people here today who your spirit has been working in greatly. And for some time, I pray that you would encourage them. Up lift the spirit that you've put in us. May we walk in confidence and trust in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.