"On Retainer" 6-5-22
Overview
On Retainer: The Spirit as Our Advocate
On Pentecost we remember the promise Jesus gave the night before His death: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever" John 14:16. The Greek word paraclete means "one called alongside." Older translations rendered it "Comforter"—drawing on the Latin sense of "with strength"—while others use "Helper" or "Advocate." In the ancient world, the paraclete was often the family attorney, kept on retainer so that whenever trouble arose, the relationship was already in place and help was immediately at hand. That is the picture Jesus gives us of the Holy Spirit: not a stranger summoned in emergencies, but One already bound to us, dwelling within us, ready in every need.
Yet unlike the fictional attorney whose clients are always written innocent, our case is different. Scripture leaves no loophole: "None is righteous, no, not one" Romans 3:10; "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins" Ecclesiastes 7:20; "people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil" John 3:19. We cannot argue our way to acquittal. But Scripture also gives us a second Advocate: "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins" 1 John 2:1-2. The Judge steps down from the bench, stands beside the guilty, and bears the sentence Himself. At-one-ment is accomplished at the cross.
Having paid that retainer in full with His own blood, the Son sends another Advocate—the Spirit of truth John 14:17. The Spirit's work alongside us is threefold. First, He speaks truth, holding up the mirror of the Word so that we see our sin honestly rather than slipping back into comforting lies, for without knowing our sin we will not know our need of a Savior. He "will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" John 14:26. Second, He testifies of Christ: "When the Helper comes... he will bear witness about me" John 15:26. Third, He bears fruit in us—"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" Galatians 5:22-23.
The world says we get out of life what we deserve—nothing more, nothing less. The gospel says exactly the opposite. Because of Christ, we do not get what we deserve. The Father has given you an Advocate to be with you forever, dwelling within you, speaking truth, pointing to Jesus, and producing His fruit in your life. The retainer has been paid in full. He is yours, and you are His.
Transcript
Would you open your Bibles, please, with me for our study today to the Gospel of John 2s
the 14th chapter. 7s
If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that on page 95 9s
in the New Testament. 14s
John the 14th chapter. 15s
The character was born in 1933. 20s
It started with comic books, went to radio, then it wound up on television, television 25s
movies, then even films. 34s
Over the course of time, there were 90 novels involving the character. 39s
Arguably, the character is the most beloved, fictitious attorney in American history. 45s
If I were to mention the name Raymond Burr, I see some connections here. 60s
Perry Mason, Perry Mason. 69s
I couldn't help but think of Perry Mason as I prepared this sermon for today. 75s
Because as you look at the text, there is such an interesting designation involving 82s
an attorney with regard to the Holy Spirit. 90s
We come to the conclusion of the series on the Holy Spirit, the sent one. 96s
We have studied how the Holy Spirit calls us to believe, how the Holy Spirit gathers us 103s
together because he doesn't want us to be alone. 111s
How the Holy Spirit calls and gathers and lightens turns on the light bulb of faith and 115s
transforms our heart. 120s
How the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. 123s
Everything that the Holy Spirit does from bringing us to faith, to leading of the God they 125s
live. 130s
We studied how the Holy Spirit forgives us through the Word of absolute that goes forth. 132s
We studied last week. 140s
How the Holy Spirit will raise us up on that day. 141s
When the Lord comes again, where we will live with the Lord, body and soul together. 146s
Calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, forgives and raises. 152s
And so today, in sermon number eight, in this series, I think it is such an appropriate 161s
day to bring this series about the Holy Spirit to a close on this pentacost Sunday. 168s
It was 50 days after the resurrection, 10 days after the ascension and the church, all 120 184s
of them were gathered. 193s
And the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church. 195s
Came like a rush of a mighty wind and tongues of fire, rested upon them. 202s
And they spoke in languages that they weren't trained in, but all of a sudden they were fluent 208s
in some 15 different languages that were being spoken. 214s
As a Holy Spirit was poured out, this affected the mouth and the eyes and the ears and 220s
they spoke of the mighty deeds of power of God. 229s
And this pouring out of the Spirit was fulfillment of a promise that Jesus had made. 239s
Look on the place, at verse 16 of John 14. 250s
Jesus said, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to be with 256s
you forever, advocate, such a fascinating, fascinating word. 266s
In Greek, the word is pericletos, pericletos. 278s
It's translated into English correctly. 284s
So, advocate, you can translate it as helper, you can translate it as comforter. 286s
That was how the King James version translated it. 292s
That was also at a time and which the English language was closer to the Latin roots. 296s
Because comforter means with strength. 302s
So the image is of the Holy Spirit coming with strength. 305s
Pericletos, it means alongside. 313s
Cletos, it means to call. 316s
So the advocate, the helper, the comforter, the pericletos, comes along side of us, the Holy Spirit, 321s
the cold one to come along side of us, pericletos. 336s
There's another dimension to that designation. 346s
In ancient day, in biblical times, attorneys were known as the pericletos, the pericletos. 350s
What have mentioned is the pericletos, however, it's the family attorney. 363s
And the family attorney was on retainer. 372s
So, if a problem arose in the family, if some legal advice needed to be given, the relationship 378s
had already been established through the retainer. 386s
And so the pericletos would come and to assist, would come alongside an assist in the situation. 389s
The pericletos. 402s
It was the case of the whittless witness. 410s
And it was the only case that peri Mason ever lost. 419s
It's really quite an amazing record. 426s
Now, there was the case of the terrified typist. 430s
He lost that one, but then he got it overturned. 433s
There was the case of the deadly verdict. 436s
He lost that one too, but then he got that one overturned. 440s
But it is legal career. 445s
He lost one case. 448s
The case of the whittless witness. 452s
If you wanted an attorney, you wanted peri Mason, right? 456s
And because of his record, 463s
he came with a hefty retainer. 465s
Why did he win all the time? 474s
Why did he win all the time? 477s
Well, it helps when the writers write that your clients are always innocent. 479s
Right? 486s
That'll help in terms of the win color. 488s
With us, in the real case of the sinful human beings, 495s
we're not innocent, are we? 508s
We're guilty. 511s
And there is no argument that can be made. 514s
There is no case that can be made with regard to our innocence. 516s
It is case closed. 520s
Because we're guilty. 524s
We can't argue our way out of it. 527s
We can't come up with some type of appeal to a legal strategy or some type of loophole 529s
that we can appeal to. 535s
No, we are guilty. 537s
Romans, the third chapter. 542s
Paul writes, 546s
there is no one who's righteous, not even one. 549s
Ecclesiasties seven. 557s
Surely there is no one on earth, so righteous as to do good without ever sending. 560s
John three. 568s
And this is the judgment that the light Jesus has come into the world and people loved 570s
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 578s
That's just the beginning of the evidence against us, just the beginning. 585s
Nobody's righteous. 592s
Nobody can do good here without sin, crouching right at the door. 595s
Because our sinfulness envelopes everything. 603s
Jesus comes into the world and the love was for the darkness, not the light. 607s
And yet, 617s
we are declared innocent through the blood of Jesus. 619s
The classic example is the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, who looks upon us and pronounces the judgment. 629s
guilty. 638s
And then the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ comes down off of the bench and stands next to us and says, 640s
and now I will take their punishment. 647s
I'll pay the price. 651s
It's exactly what Jesus does at the cross. 652s
When all of our sinfulness is laid upon him, all of our guilt is laid upon him. 656s
All of the wrath of God for sin, the just wrath of God is laid upon the sun. 663s
Is laid upon the advocate. 672s
Listen to the word that's used. 679s
In first John the second chapter, we have an advocate, a pair of clettles. 681s
With the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 689s
Notice here the designations. 698s
Jesus Christ is the righteous one, the perfect one, the sinless one, who dies for us who are unrighteous. 700s
To do what? 709s
To atone for our sins, remember the meaning of the word, 711s
Atonement, at one mint through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are brought back into, at one mint, 715s
back into reconciliation, back into relationship with God Almighty. 722s
The sin rips apart the relationship. 728s
The sin destroys the relationship, and through Jesus on the cross, we're brought back into relationship through the forgiveness of sins. 731s
Jesus Christ is the paracletos. 742s
And then, in verse 16, Jesus says, 747s
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another paracletos. 751s
The paracletos sends another paracletos. 762s
And notice how the paracletos is described verse 17. 772s
This is the spirit of truth. 778s
He comes alongside of us, paracletos. 785s
He comes alongside of us to proclaim the truth, the truth of the word, is we constantly need that. 792s
Because of our sinfulness, we have a pension to believe the lie. 801s
We have the pension to understand ourselves. 805s
Not as the sinners we are in the depth and the breath of our sin. 810s
We have the pension, it's part of our sin, to fool ourselves. 814s
Probably would much rather believe the lie about ourselves than the truth of the depths of our sinfulness. 820s
And so the Holy Spirit comes with the word, 829s
Convicting us of who we are. 832s
As God holds up the mirror to us, and we see the sin of thought and word, indeed, what we've done and what we've left undone, what we said, and what we didn't say. 836s
And we are constantly reminded of the truth, and we keep slipping back into the falsehood, and the truth keeps coming to us. 851s
As the Holy Spirit comes alongside and says, I need to show you this, because if we don't understand our sin, then we don't understand the need for a Savior. 860s
And so the Holy Spirit comes and shows us the truth about ourselves, and he does it through the word. 873s
Look, please, it chapter 4, verse 26. 886s
There the Scripture says, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 893s
Everything that Jesus said recorded by the apostles, given to us now in the inerrant and infelible word of God, he continues to teach us who we are, and who he is. 913s
The sinner that we are and the gracious God that he is. 930s
We hear of the law that convicts us of our sin, and we hear the sweetness of the gospel that tells us of our Savior. 935s
And he uses the very word recorded for us, the Holy Spirit that comes, and speaks to truth to us. 944s
Speaks the truth, and the Holy Spirit comes to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. 957s
Turn over, please, to chapter 15, verse 26. 967s
Jesus says this, when the pericletos comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father, he will testify on my name. 972s
So he keeps coming, giving us the truth, and he keeps coming, pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. 989s
The third aspect of the Holy Spirit's work is he brings forth from us the fruit. 996s
Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. 1004s
He comes to give us the truth. He comes to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to bear that fruit in us, and he comes as the pericletos to come alongside of us, and is so close to us. 1013s
Is so alongside of us that he dwells within us. 1030s
Look at the second sentence, verse 17, you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 1037s
The pericletos are pericletos. 1055s
The family pericletos, who is on retainer that has been paid in full by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1062s
In over the years, Peri Mason had some great lines, great lines. 1086s
But then he'd say this, we get out of life what we deserve, nothing more, and nothing less. 1095s
Peri Mason was a great lawyer. He was a lousy theologian. 1111s
Because what do we hear? Because we don't get what we deserve, do we? We don't. 1120s
Because of the pericletos, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1130s
Jesus said, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another pericletos, to be with you forever. 1136s
That promise is for you. 1154s
He's on retainer that is paid in full. 1160s