THE TRIUNE GOD IS OUR SOURCE OF SALVATION
JOHN 16:12—15 JUNE 15, 2003
JOHN 16:12-15
12I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Each one of us learned many different things as we grew up or as we are growing up. From early on, in order to learn about the foundation of reading and writing we had to learn the ABC’s. We went on to learn that these letters made words and sentences, paragraphs and entire books. That’s the way our culture is. If you went back in time to the time of Jesus or the time of the Old Testament, you would find that the parents instructed their children on who God was. They taught their children that there was only one God, the Lord God, the Triune God. That was the way of their culture. That is what we are going to study today. The Trinity is a foundation doctrine of the scripture and our Christian faith. At times some find it difficult to understand and completely believe. That is why in the Old Testament and the New Testament the Jewish children would learn what it meant that the Lord their God is One. They learned a little song (we might call it today) or a ditty. In Hebrew it went,
:dÿÿ½Òxe’ |hœAwÿÿhÌy ûnyYÿÔh×lé’ hœAwÿÿhÌy l¡ÿÔ’ßrüWÇy vYÿÑmüH.’ They would sing that verse ‘Sha`ma Israel, Adonai elo`hanu, Adonai ekhad.’ “The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” from Deuteronomy. The verse right after that says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength"(DEUTERONOMY 6:4,5). So it is today that we look at what some refer to as the mystery of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The only God that is like that is our triune God. We have come here today that we might love Him with all of our mind and our soul and our strength.
Our theme as we look at what John writes and tells us this morning is the fact that
THE TRIUNE GOD IS OUR SOURCE OF ETERNAL SALVATION
I. Everything that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son
II. Everything that belongs to the Son belongs to the Spirit
III. Everything that belongs to the Spirit belongs to believers
These words were written before Jesus was put to death. Because of that, the disciples were having a hard time understanding everything Jesus had to tell them. Our text begins 12I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. Jesus had already told them that He was going to go to Jerusalem to suffer at the hands of Pontius Pilate and be put to death. They didn’t want to hear those things. But Jesus also told them that He was going to come back to life. When they heard He was going to be put to death, they tuned Him out that He was going to come back to life on the third day. Jesus realized that He had much more to tell them but they were not able to bear it yet. So, we realize that after Jesus arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, He sent to them the Holy Spirit who would give them a full understanding of God’s great plan of salvation.
That is why Jesus says at the end of our text 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. You have to picture that here is Jesus in physical form, standing before His disciples. He had told them many things. They didn’t want to see Him go to Jerusalem and be put to death. They were troubled and saddened by that if you read the rest of the chapter sixteen. Jesus reminded them that yes, He would be put to death but He would come back to life because His heavenly Father was His true Father. Whatever His Father in heaven had was His because He was God the Father’s Son—so He says, ‘Whatever the Father has is mine.’ Everything, in other words, that belonged to the Father belonged to the Son. What belonged to the Father, the Son enjoyed to have.
So it was, when we look at what the will of the Father was for the world, His will is that none would perish but everyone would come to repentance. That was the will of God’s Son Jesus, also. It wasn’t something that was a new teaching. It was something that the people of the Old Testament knew and that they looked forward to, that the Messiah would come and that believers would be saved. The prophet Ezekiel wrote: "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"(EZEKIEL 18:32). That was God the Father’s will for mankind and that was Jesus’ will for mankind also. We see that Jesus was sent to earth that He might live and die and rise again.
We see that Satan tempted Him. Thankfully and joyfully we rejoice because Jesus did not give in to any temptation. We remember that He relied on His Father’s help when He was sorely tested. When He was in Gethsemane, He took His disciples with Him. They fell asleep and yet Jesus still needed to pray to His heavenly Father because He was going to face the depth of His suffering for you and I as believers. Then we look at His prayer from Luke: "’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him"(LUKE 22:42,43). Whatever the Father had belonged to the Son. Jesus wanted God’s will to be done, so He prayed that His Father’s will would be done. And it was done. Jesus was reminded that He was not left alone. An angel came and strengthened Him. Whatever belonged to the Father belonged to the Son. His glory would be shown in Jesus’ death. He was strengthened by the power that God had to strengthen Him. It’s the same for us yet today. We, too, need to look really close at our lives and ask ourselves, ‘what is God’s will to be done”, rather than ours. Sometimes to do God’s will is not always the easy way out. Still, the Lord strengthens us.
He reminds us that the source of our eternal salvation is the Triune God. He reminds us today that everything that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son. Jesus goes on and says
II. Everything that belongs to the Son belongs to the Spirit
Remember, Jesus was going to leave His disciples. They were going to struggle. They were going to struggle when it came to the crucifixion of their Lord and teacher when Jesus was taken from them. But, they would not be alone. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. The Holy Spirit would help the disciples. It is true on that first Easter Sunday they were locked away in that room because they were scared. Even the week after Easter when Jesus appeared to them, they were locked away in the upper room again. They were frightened. You can imagine, as we talked about on Ascension Day, their wonderment as Jesus arose into heaven forty days after the resurrection and was no longer seen by them physically. The Holy Spirit would come and make known to them completely so that they could understand and believe in their hearts what they really knew in their minds.
Jesus explains how the Holy Spirit is going to do this work. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. What belonged to Jesus that the Holy Spirit would take from Him and make known to the disciples? He would make known to them that indeed; this Jesus was the true Messiah—the Messiah who had been promised already to Adam and Eve at the creation of the world, the Messiah who had been looked forward to for three thousand years. The Holy Spirit would make known to them that their faith was not in vain—that He was the true Son of God. He was the one the Lord God had promised for the sins of the world.
We heard that in our gospel lesson for today (JOHN 3:1-17). It’s interesting that Nicodemus; a leader in the church comes and doesn’t understand salvation. The Lord tells him very simply that God sent His Son because He loved the world so much that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. That is what the Son had that the Spirit would make known to the world. The book of Hebrews tells us the same thing. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone"(HEBREWS 2:9). The Lord Jesus tasted death for you and I so that we might not have to taste death. Oh, yes, we will face death at the end of our life, but then we are taken into eternity and we do not experience eternal condemnation.
This is what the Son, Jesus Christ did for the world. He died for our sins. This is what the Holy Spirit reveals for us. EPHESIANS 1:13 tells us, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” We are marked with a seal at our Baptism when with the washing of the water and God’s holy Word; we are made members of God’s kingdom. We heard that in our second Scripture lesson this morning too (ROMANS 8:14-17).
We are heirs of eternal life because as our text tells us and as our readings point out and as the Apostle’s Creed reminds us, the Triune God is our source of eternal salvation. Everything that is divine belongs to the Father, it belongs to the Son; what belongs to the Son belongs to the Spirit. Today you and I celebrate and worship because
III. Everything that belongs to the Spirit belongs to believers
Here is a key thrust in our text for us this morning…the mystery of salvation is not a mystery at all. The Holy Spirit reveals it to us. Listen to what Jesus says. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He refers to the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet been fully, formally poured out on the disciples. They would learn from Him because He would speak the truth. What would be the truth? He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. The Holy Spirit is also a part of the Triune God. He wasn’t going to come and just make up things. He wasn’t going to speak on His own as Jesus said, but He’s going to tell them about salvation. He’s going to tell them about what is yet to come.
We know the Holy Spirit came visibly and powerfully on that first Pentecost. The disciples were given the ability to speak to many people in many different languages. Then we’re told that they were told that the church would endure. The gates of hell would not overcome it even though it would face persecution. So, they were told about what was yet to come. They saw the glory of Jesus. He says, 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit—sometimes the Holy Spirit is looked at as not as important in the Trinity. Some would feel that it’s not even part of the Trinity. When we look at Scripture passages, we find out that indeed, He is. He has the same names as the Lord God. He does the same things. He reveals to us those things that are heavenly.
You and I would not understand a thing about God except that the Holy Spirit has given and worked faith in our hearts by grace. It reminds us once again that you and I cannot buy our way into heaven, that you and I cannot earn our way into heaven. As we look at our sinfulness, you and I do not even deserve to be knocking on heaven’s door. Yet, in spite of our sinfulness, the Lord forgives us by grace. In spite of our unworthiness, He lets us walk right in to the gates of heaven itself. How do we know that? The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 CORINTHIANS 2:10, "But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” The deep things of God are that any of us would be saved at all. The deep things of God show us His deep compassion and love for sinners such as you and I. The Holy Spirit reveals that to every believer.
Sometimes we might question God. Sometimes we might wonder if God’s will is really being done according to our will or the way we want it to be done. The Lord reminds us that we can come to Him and ask Him for guidance and direction. We can come to Him and ask Him for strength and comfort. We can come to Him realizing when we don’t know what to say to God, the Holy Spirit does. Listen to this from ROMANS 8:26. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Maybe sometimes as we’ve prayed hard and earnestly, we couldn’t think of the words to say. It is at those times that the Holy Spirit pleads on our behalf—with groans that words cannot express!
This is the Trinity, the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is no other God like Him. All the false gods in the world are so self-inflated and self-important that they don’t want to say there are three persons in one God. They want to say, ‘I am God,’ and that’s it. This scriptural doctrine of the Trinity is part of the very foundation of our Christian faith. For those who don’t believe in the Trinity cannot be saved because there is only one God, and, they do not believe in Him. No wonder! No wonder, as the Hebrews as they took care of their flocks and as they wandered in the wilderness, taught their children, ‘The LORD our God, the LORD is one.’ ‘Sha`ma Israel, Adonai elo`hanu, Adonai ekhad.’ You can just hear how that flows. ‘The LORD our God, the LORD is one.’
This doctrine of the Trinity that you and I have come to know and appreciate is found throughout the Scripture. We see it at Jesus’ baptism. We see it and hear it in the blessings that we hear. Time and again, Scripture talks about it. From 1 PETER 1:2 we read these words. "To God’s elect...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of GOD the FATHER, through the sanctifying work of the SPIRIT, for obedience to JESUS CHRIST and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance." That is a good way to end. Grace and peace be yours in abundance, from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our Triune God who is the source of our eternal salvation. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
