This morning we turn together to a number of passages in the New Testament. John, a few verses from John chapters 14, 15, and 16 to begin with, then turning to Acts chapter 2, then finally to Matthew 28, the last few verses, the last sentence as recorded in our Bibles, the last second part of verse 28 serving as the text. And I need to point out that if you were looking at the outline on the back of the Order of Worship, the third point, there is a dangerous error there, it should say, the unbroken period. Not the broken period, there would be absolutely no comfort in that, the unbroken period. So I apologize for not doing a better job of proofreading. But we want to begin this morning by looking at what our Lord said about the coming and work of the Holy Spirit. John chapter 14, beginning with verse 15 through 18, and then jumping down to verse 23. Hear now the Word of God. If you love Me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Down to verse 23. Jesus replied, If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own. They belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Turning to chapter 15, verses 26 and 27. When the Counselor comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. Chapter 16, verses 5 through 16. Now I am going to him who sent me. Yet none of you asks me, where are you going? Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt. in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me. In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer. And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But 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. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All 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. In a little while you will see me no more. And then after a little while you will see me. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, the first four verses. And there we read, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violet wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. And then back to Matthew 28, verses 16 through 20. Again, the last part of verse 20 serving as the text for the message this morning. Matthew 28, verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Now, beloved in Christ the Lord, we cannot help but to read this episode of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and wonder, well, what was that like? Well, yes, we are given a few of the details, for example, the tongues of fire, speaking in other languages, a newfound boldness to publicly preach the gospel as never before, But of course, along with all of this, the accusations of drunkenness. But you also have to wonder just a little bit if the disciples said something like, wow, I didn't know what hit me. I don't know what came over me. And of course, we need to be careful that we do not let our imaginations apply or add to Scripture that which Scripture is silent about. But we do know that they enjoyed an amazing transformation. And no doubt, they knew this was a fulfillment of what Jesus had promised. They knew that their Lord was indeed with them as He sat. Oh, He was with them in a different way than before, to be sure. In a sense, He was now with them in a more powerful way. We know that He had combed their hearts with His physical presence when He was with them, But when He was not physically with them, their hearts no doubt returned, their fears no doubt returned at least to a point. And there was possibly a bit of uncertainty. Yet now, He calmed their hearts in His physical absence. From Pentecost forward, in a particular way, Christ's followers enjoyed and continue to enjoy the comfort of Christ's presence in His absence. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Beloved, what a powerful statement. Jesus had just given to His disciples an awesome commission and not just a small little task. He was sending them out to set up His kingdom in the world. And what an overwhelming task it may have seemed to them. Make disciples of all nations? But He, the one to whom had been given all authority in heaven and on earth, the one alone who could give them this sort of a commission. He promises heavenly protection. He will not send them out alone. He says, I am with you always. Yet right after this, He left this earth. Boys and girls, did Jesus contradict Himself? They hear his words, I am with you always. But before we know it, as Acts tells us, he was lifted up and a cloud hid them from their eyes. Yet we know that they believed him. They may not have understood totally, but they believed him because they stayed in Jerusalem and waited as he said to do. Now first of all, though, notice the blessed recipients of this comfort. Jesus says, I am with you. You is plural here. Verse 16 says, Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. Jesus is speaking here to His eleven remaining disciples. Judas Iscariot, we know, is no longer there. They were the blessed recipients of our Lord's word of comfort as He promised them His enduring presence. Yet we know that it wasn't just their blessing exclusively. They represented all believers. They represented the true church of Jesus Christ. The church He would draw together through their apostolic testimony to all that they had seen and heard and learned about Him. All true believers in Jesus Christ are blessed recipients of the comfort of Christ's presence. It is for all those to whom the disciples' task would be passed down throughout the generations until the end of the age. This is a wonderful promise to the whole church that she will have life and power through His constant presence until the great day dawns when she will be glorified with Him forever. And Pentecost. Pentecost itself is proof that the recipients were to be more than just the eleven, as we're told in Acts 2, verse 41, that about 3,000 were added to their number that day. And verse 47 says, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Beloved, this promise of our Lord was not and is not for the whole world. The whole world of wickedness. Because the Holy Spirit was not given to the world of wickedness, of sin, but to believers. John 14, verse 17 says, the world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. In our day of outcries against discrimination, and we as believers are often the ones who are called those who are, we are the ones who discriminate against others. But in our day of those outcries, we are reminded here that our God does discriminate. He discriminates in favor of His believers. In favor of those redeemed by the blood of Jesus. And the Bible is clear that God loves the righteous, but hates the wicked. And our Lord's promise here, I am with you always, is a fitting conclusion to Matthew's Gospel account. In Matthew 1, verse 23, the angel introduces the virgin's son as Emmanuel, God with us. And Matthew 18, verse 20, there Jesus says, for where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them. And now at the very end, And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Beloved, it's not simply the memory of Jesus Christ that is present with His people. Nor is it just His teaching or the teaching about Him. He Himself is with His people. Again, boys and girls, about ten days ago we celebrated the ascension of Jesus. His going back to heaven in His glorified physical body. His body is no longer with us. We know He's alive. But His body is seated at the right hand of God, a God the Father in glory. So how can His promise to be with His people always to the very end of the age, how can that be true? Well, very simply because of the busy fulfiller of His promise. On Pentecost, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to live in and with His church and to work through the church. The Holy Spirit is indeed a different person of the blessed Godhead than the Son and the Father, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet, He is also the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and therefore one with them. One God. And we know, of course, that between Christ's ascension and Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit was present with believers. Even in the Old Testament time, the Holy Spirit was busy and active among God's people. We read about that in different places where the Spirit came upon His prophets. The Spirit came upon King Saul when he was just beginning to go out and have a victory. The Spirit was busy and active even in believers in the Old Testament because as the Bible teaches us, no one can believe in God without the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart. Paul says no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit, which also means that no one could believe the promise of the Messiah apart from faith worked in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says believers are temples of the Spirit. He makes His dwelling place, His home in each one of us. John 14, verse 23 says, Jesus replied, If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and we, we will come to Him and make our home with Him. We, the Father and the Son. And again, the Father and the Son do this through the Holy Spirit. But also the church as a whole is His temple and dwelling place. And when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, He came to be with the church in a different way than before. He came to expand the church beyond the national borders of Israel and beyond the walls of the earthly temple in Jerusalem. He came to establish worship of God in spirit and in truth as He would gather together the elect from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. He came to equip the disciples for the great commission task they had been given and to prepare hearts, yours and mine included. to become disciples. We're calling the Holy Spirit the busy fulfiller of Christ's promise to be present with His people. We read together what Jesus said about Him and what He would be busy doing. The NIV translates as Jesus calling the Holy Spirit Counselor. This comes from the Greek word from which we get our form of it, paraclete, which is also translated as comforter or helper. Helper probably being really the best. But in all of these, we can see how the Holy Spirit works in God's people. The Holy Spirit's task was to represent Jesus in His absence. Again, to His disciples, Jesus, with them physically, had been a guardian, a helper, an advocate, a comforter, their strength. And now in His absence, the Holy Spirit would be the one to guard and guide and lead and protect and comfort and teach those saved by grace through faith. But it wouldn't be something different. There would be a blessed continuity because Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking it from what is Mine and making it known to you. As you can imagine, there is so much to say about the work of the Holy Spirit in us on our behalf for Jesus' sake. In John 14, Jesus calls Him the Spirit of Truth. The truth, the Word of God, is His sword. The sword of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not lie. He will not deceive us. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. And this means that all the things the Holy Spirit teaches us, for example, about God, about ourselves, about Jesus Christ, about the church, about the end times, simply all the things He teaches us are the truth. And this is especially true about His testimony to our hearts about Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 15, 26 that the Spirit would testify about Him. And in John 14, verse 26, we read, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. In other words, beloved, the Holy Spirit would make plain first to the disciples and then to you and Me through their testimony recorded in Holy Scripture about the things, for example, that had not yet taken place when Jesus said these words. His crucifixion, His death, His resurrection and ascension. None of that had yet taken place. But the Holy Spirit would make all of that and the understanding of all that plain to them and through them to us. And the Holy Spirit would make plain to our hearts and lives that Jesus Christ is the Lord of life. That He is the only Redeemer and Savior of His people. And along with this, when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, it's the truth. He's not kidding. It's the truth. When he says there is a Redeemer who is Jesus Christ the Lord, it's the truth. When he says that those who believe are co-heirs with Christ as adopted children of God and that we may call God Abba Father, it's the truth. When he says through Paul that he is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, it's the truth. when He opens our eyes, beloved, to the comforting Word of the Lord, that when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze because you are Mine. That's the truth. And when the Holy Spirit comforts us with the truth, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. for you are with me, that too is the truth. Beloved, Paul makes it clear in Ephesians chapter 2 that the Spirit dwelling with us is Christ dwelling with us. And the Spirit is indeed busy for which we are to be grateful. He will convict of sin, even us as believers. He will admonish us through His Word applied to our conscience. He will admonish us when we turn away from God and His way for a season. But also, He is the One who restores us. He leads us to daily repentance. He gives us the assurance of salvation. He blesses us with the peace of God that passes understanding. He teaches us all that we need to know for salvation. And He does it all with His Word. The truth of Scripture. Back, I believe, when we consider the Holy Spirit in our consideration of the Belgic Confession, I shared with you a list of things given to me by one of you from a minister you had heard in a different state. And I read those at that time. Just briefly read them again. Where would we be without the Holy Spirit? And Scripture passages just to prove all these. Where would we be? No creation. No Scripture. No church. No incarnation. No testimony of Jesus. No conviction of sin, no new birth, no revelation, no understanding, no comfort, no assurance, no sanctification, no fruit of the Spirit, no life, no hope. Because there would be no salvation. And beloved, our love for the Lord and our desire to serve and obey Him and our sorrow-filled hearts when we don't is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Our love for each other and our desire to encourage and help each other and pray for one another is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. He is busy sanctifying and cleansing us daily. And should the Lord be pleased to use one of us to lead another to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's not our work. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have that assurance of salvation, if you've been comforted in times of sorrows, praise God, that's the work of Him through His Holy Spirit. And as we come together today to the Lord's table, we must understand that this table is meaningless apart from the power, the illumination, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Apart from Him, it is nothing more than a taste of bread and wine or juice. Apart from Him, those who partake without true faith eat and drink judgment unto themselves. But by Him, ours is the blessing, beloved, of seeing with our eyes the visible picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Lord's Supper Forum says, by this Spirit who dwells with Christ as in the head and us as His members, He brings us into true communion with Himself and makes us partakers of all His riches of life, eternal righteousness and glory. That's what the Holy Spirit preaches through this visible table. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. He makes the signs of the table effective. That indeed we remember and believe as we see the breath that Christ's body was given and as we see the cup that His blood was shed unto a complete remission of all of our sins. He makes the seal of the Lord's Supper real for you and me. Again, as the form says, let each of us firmly believe all His promises of the complete remission of all of our sins and enjoying the rich blessings of Him, entering into communion with our Savior, not doubting that we shall be nourished and refreshed even this morning with His body and blood through the working of the Holy Spirit as surely as we receive the bread and cup in remembrance of Him. Very simply, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the table and gives us to enjoy the comfort of it. He is the changer of hearts. He is our comforter in all times. And therefore, as the psalmist says, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam when the mountains quake with their surging, we will not fear. Why? Because nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus said, And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. The comfort of Christ's presence in His absence is ours for an unbroken period. He is with us both now and forever. The psalmist in Psalm 39 says, Where can I go from your Spirit? From your presence? And he goes on to give the answer by saying, to paraphrase, nowhere. There's nowhere I can go. We confess that Christ sent His Holy Spirit as a down payment, a guarantee of His glorious return, even as He said, Beloved, heaven will have no end. But this world, this earth, this life will come to an end. But until all of God's elect have been gathered in, drawn in by the Holy Spirit, and as long as this world remains, we have a need for the presence, the blessing, and the protection of the Holy Spirit. Until we have been ushered into the glory of heaven, having been completely sanctified and cleansed by the Holy Spirit, and while sin still clings to us against our renewed will, And until Satan, the tempter, the one who shoots his fiery arrows at us one by one, over and over again, his arrows of temptation, while Satan and all of his hosts, until Satan and all of his hosts have been put away forever, we have need of the comfort of Christ's presence through His Holy Spirit to help us reach that which Christ has taken hold of for us. But the day will indeed come when that which the Lord's table points forward to will be an eternal reality. The day will come when we will enjoy for all eternity the blessing of Revelation 21, verse 3. Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And then John goes on to talk about the new order. No more tears, no more sorrow. For those who reject Jesus Christ, His coming again to judge the living and the dead will indeed be a terrible thing. It will be too late for comfort then. But for those, for all those who turn to Him in repentance and faith, theirs is the guarantee of the comfort of Christ's presence in His absence through His Holy Spirit. And theirs is the certainty of living with Jesus Christ forever and ever. Beloved, we must remember, boys and girls, young people, we must remember that the Holy Spirit is with us as believers in this life always. Where can I go from His Spirit? Nowhere. Even when we put ourselves in situations we don't want Him to notice, He is with us. He helps those who cry out for help to resist temptation. But as well, He pricks the consciences of those who ignore God's Word and willingly enter into temptation and commit sin. But again, He draws back. He restores God's people. Praise Him, beloved, for the comfort you have received in your life. The strength, the assurance that only He can give. And may we walk day by day as children of light. And may our prayer be that the Holy Spirit would not keep from us even one blessing, but that He would lead us, guide us, protect us, and always keep us in His tender care. and in the truth of Jesus Christ. And beloved, come now in the strength of the Spirit. Come now for the feast to spread. Be nourished. Be satisfied. Until our Lord brings us to the glorious eternal feast face to face with Him.