CWC- Gospel Lesson - Festival of the Holy Trinity
John 16:12-15
(12) "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. {13} 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. {14} He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. {15} 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.
Word Trinity Symbols of Trinity
IA1 Open your hymnals to page 132. What do you learn about the Father from the Athanasian Creed? Uncreated. Infinite. Eternal. Almighty. God. Lord. Neither made nor created nor begotten. Only one Father.
2 Open your hymnals to page 19. What do you learn about the Father? Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. Open to page 18. Same thing.
B1 Jesus says in the verses before us today: {15} “All that belongs to the Father is mine.” What belongs to the Father? According to the creeds the heaven and earth belong to Him because He made them. We know that the Father keeps the heaven and earth, which belong to Him, operating so that we are able to continue to live.
2 From the creeds it would seem the Father doesn’t have much to do with the spiritual side of life. He just handles the physical side of life through the created heavens and earth. Is that true?
3 Listen to Peter on Pentecost to help us answer that question: (Acts 2:2223) "Jesus of Nazareth was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” What did the God the Father, and that is most likely what is meant with the title God in the passage, since God is distinguished from Jesus, have to do with Jesus’ crucifixion? He planned it and ordered it. Why? Jesus was crucified to wash away our sins. It was for our salvation.
4 Listen to a description of Jesus in Revelation 13:8 to help us answer that question: (Rev 13:8) “The Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” We know Jesus was crucified in Palestine in about 30 AD. What does this passage mean? It means Jesus crucifixion was just as good as done when the world was created. Why? It was God’s plan. He ordered it. Why did He order it? To wash away our sins. God decreed it for our salvation.
5 Listen to Paul writing to Titus: (1:2) eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. God not only planned eternal life for us before the beginning of time, but he also promised it.
6 Listen to Paul writing to Christians in Corinth: (1 Cor 2:7) We speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” Before time began God had a plan that was hidden, not fully disclosed, that would result in our glory - when God says to us “You are my children. You are holy in my sight covered with the righteousness of Jesus. Come and spend eternity with me.”
C The Father does take care of our physical lives through His created world. But the Father also planned that Christ’s death would give us forgiveness. He planned that from eternity. He decreed it would be accomplished through God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth. So, our salvation is a work of God the Father.
IIA1 Open your hymnals to page 132. What do you learn about the Son from the Athanasian Creed? Uncreated. Infinite. Eternal. Almighty. God. Lord. Neither made nor created but begotten. Only one Son. Took on human flesh. Both God and man. Suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose the third day from the dead. Ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, will come to judge.
2 Open your hymnals to page 19. What additional things do you learn about the Son? Conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of a virgin. Suffered under Pontius Pilate. Open to page 18. What additional things do you learn about the Son? By Him all things were made. His kingdom will have no end.
B1 {15} All that belongs to the Father is mine...... the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (12) "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” Remember it was Thursday night. The next day Jesus would die. The disciples would run away in just a few hours. If Jesus would try to make it all make sense right now, they wouldn’t have been able to handle it.
2 After Jesus died and rose again, the disciples would be able to understand Jesus’ answers to their WHY questions much better than now before it all happened. We know Jesus spent forty days answering His disciples questions after He rose. But notice He promises even more help than that. {13} 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. {14} He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
C1 What belongs to Jesus that will be made known to us? Eternal life. Something the Son of God has inherently which He gives to humans because of His resurrection. Forgiveness of sins. Something He can dispense because He won it by taking the punishment of death and hell we deserve on Himself. Holiness. Something He lived as our Substitute so He can give it to us to make us right with God. Love. All the actions He did and does in order to bring all His blessings into our lives.
2 When the Holy Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and makes it know to us, He isn’t calling attention to Himself, but to Jesus. The result is - we glorify Jesus. Jesus said that is the way it works: {14} The Holy Spirit will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
D Our salvation was accomplished by God the Son. He died for our sins. He lived to give me His holiness. He rose so I could live forever. We always say that because we know that. Trinity Sunday reminds us that God the Son isn’t the only person of the Holy Trinity involved in our salvation.
IIIA1 Open your hymnals to page 132. What do you learn about the Holy Spirit from the Athanasian Creed? Uncreated. Infinite. Eternal. Almighty. God. Lord. Neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son. Only one Holy Spirit.
2 Open your hymnals to page 19. What additional things do you learn about the Holy Spirit? Nothing. Open to page 18. What additional things do you learn about the Holy Spirit? Gives life. Spoken through the prophets.
B1 Jesus says: {13} But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. {14} He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. When the Holy Spirit makes known to us that Jesus lived and died and rose for us so that we might have forgiveness, holiness and eternal life, He is guiding us into the truth. When He explains and applies the truth which Jesus brought and taught, He is guiding us into the truth.
2 Once Jesus had successfully lived and died and risen for us all, the disciples could handle all of the truth. So, the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. We, who live after Jesus successfully lived and died and rose to provide us with forgiveness, holiness and eternal life, can handle all of the truth. So, the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.
3 Where does the Holy Spirit get the truth? {13} “He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears.” {15}the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known.” The Holy Spirit speaks the plans He heard the Father and the Son discussing. He speaks the truth of God which He had heard from eternity. He takes the forgiveness Jesus won on the cross, the holiness Jesus lived for us, and the eternal life He won by His resurrection, and makes it known to us. The Holy Spirit doesn’t make anything up on His own.
4 Jesus specially mentions: “The Holy Spirit will tell you what is yet to come.” The future is always scary. The Holy Spirit will remind us what Jesus taught about the future. He reminds us that God is in charge in spite of how it looks and feels. The Holy Spirit reminds us that God will accomplish His purposes in spite of the hostility from the devil and the unbelievers and even from our own sinfulness. We need the Holy Spirit to remind us of these things so we can go on in life.
C1 Because we are spiritually dead on our own, we would not be aware of the truth about God’s plans for our salvation or Jesus’ accomplishment of our salvation, nor would we believe it. That’s where the Holy Spirit fits in. He has to make these truths known to us. And in doing so, He leads us to trust in Jesus as our Savior. So, it is again pretty obvious that our salvation is also a work of the Holy Spirit.
2 We will never be able to logically comprehend the Holy Trinity as presented in the Bible until we get to heaven. That is why we call God incomprehensible in the Athanasian Creed. But, it is obvious that the work of the Triune God in the past, in the present and in the future is done for our salvation.
Trinity Word & Symbol
OUR SALVATION IS A WORK OF THE TRIUNE GOD
I. Decreed by the Father
A. Creeds about Father
1. Athanasian
2. Apostles and Nicene
B. What belongs to Father
1. Owns heaven and earth
2. Seemingly not connected with spiritual
3. God planned salvation
4. Planned from eternity
5. Promised eternal life
6. Intended for our glory
C. Salvation is work of Father
II. Accomplished by the Son
A. Creeds about Son
1. Athanasian
2. Apostles and Nicene
B. Jesus promise to make known
1. Not good time on Thursday night
2. Better time after resurrection
C. What belongs to the Son
1. Eternal life, forgiveness, holiness, love
2. HS brings glory to Jesus
D. Salvation is not work of only the Son
III. Made known by the Spirit
A. A. Creeds about HS
1. Athanasian
2. Apostles and Nicene
B. Spirit’s work
1. Guides into truth
2. All truth
3. Not on His own
4. What is to come
C. Salvation
1. Also work of HS
2. Trinity - incomprehensible,
But all for our salvation