I please God to bless us together
tonight as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Gospel of John,
chapter 16, and we'll read verse 13. The Gospel of John, chapter
16, and reading verse 13. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he will show you things to
come." Jesus was speaking to his disciples
and those things, of course, that he spoke at that time, they
were to prove and to recognize It did indeed come to pass. And
so today we can look back and we can realise that wonderful
blessing and favour of God to us in revealing the great truths
that we have in the Word of God. These disciples had been with
the Lord Jesus for some three years and now he was about to
be taken from them. And of course, he'd been wonderfully
blessed to them, and they enjoyed communion with the Lord Jesus. They'd seen his miracles. They'd
seen his walk. They'd heard his conversation.
And it had been a wonderful blessing to them. And now the time was
approaching, a time which they weren't really able to comprehend
or understand. And Jesus was telling them that
he was going to be taken from them. that he would not remain
with them but he's able to encourage them and to tell them those things
which should strengthen them. He says, nevertheless I tell
you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if
I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart
I will send him unto you. Well we know The Lord Jesus did
of course depart. He did rise from the dead. He did ascend to his Father in
Heaven. He did depart from them, but
he also fulfilled his promise and sent the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit, to speak to them, to teach them, to direct them to
the great work that the Lord Jesus Christ had done. so they
were able to understand the blessing of it. And we today, what a mercy
it is today for the Holy Spirit, because if we think if there
was no Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus had died some 2,000 years
ago, then how would we have known that those things spoken of were
correct, were true, were real, about the Lord has blessed the
Church of God with the wonderful favour of the work of the Holy
Spirit. And how good it is if you and
I have some understanding of the work of that Holy Spirit
in our heart. And really the work of the Holy
Spirit is to reveal Jesus unto us. Well the Holy Spirit of course
reveals what we are ourselves, but then directs us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it is a great blessing to
be therefore guided into all truth. When He, the Spirit of
Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. The Spirit of God does guide
His people into all truth. And as we Think of what truth
is in this world in which we live, where there is so little
truth, so many lies. And what a wonderful thing it
is to have the truth of God's Word, and to realise God's Word
is true. We have many encouraging signs
that it is true by the fulfilment of prophecy. We can look back,
can we not? the Old Testament and see many many details of
the New Testament which came to pass. God's truth was revealed
after many years and we will not find anything in the Word
of God that was prophesied that has not come to pass or will
not come to pass. There are those things still
which obviously are to be fulfilled when the Lord will come and return
in all his glory but nevertheless There are many things which have
been fulfilled very correctly, very accurately. And so we have
that evidence that the Word of God is truth. And as the Word
of God is truth, we believe what the Word of God tells us, and
it tells us about the work of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord
Jesus, when he spoke to his disciples, having told them that the Comforter
would come to them, And he says, and when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment,
of sin because they believe not on me. Well, how many people
in the world today willfully do not believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? They will not believe. And so
as we look into our own hearts tonight, has the Holy Spirit
come and guided us into that knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which has enabled us to believe the great truth of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus came to seek and
to save that which was lost. Well, of course, the first consideration
is to know whether that Holy Spirit has shown us our lost
condition. our lost condition, our ruined
condition, our sinful condition. Naturally, people are unwilling
to admit that they are sinners, they are great sinners, they
are such sinners that do not deserve mercy. If you speak to
most people today, they may admit that they've done one or two
things wrong in their life, but they won't want to confess. that
they are really sinners in the sight of a holy God. They won't
really want to confess that sin is mixed with all they do. They
won't want to acknowledge that what they think are good thoughts
and good desires are laced with sin. It is the work of the Spirit
of God to convince us of sin. And it's not a pleasant situation. Because when that Holy Spirit
convinces us of sin, sins that we didn't realise existed perhaps,
it's not a comfortable position. Because we cannot claim then
to be a good person. We cannot claim to be a righteous
person. In fact we realise we are an
unrighteous person and a sinner indeed. And if it is the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will show to us the
need for holiness and how unable we are by nature to become holy. We can't become holy because
of that sin which dwells within and it is impossible for us to
do those things which are right and are good and are all times
pure. In fact we are the opposite and
it is a very sad and solemn realization when the Spirit of God convinces
us of our true state before one who is holy and that is the Lord
God himself. There is no sin in God but there
is sin with us now and this sin Comes like this sin because they
believe not on me and it's because there has not been revealed the
need of a savior Now what a favorite will be if as you and I look
into our hearts tonight We're able to discern there the work
of the Holy Spirit of God in convincing us of our sin Spirit
of God does convince. It doesn't leave us in a vacuum. It doesn't leave us thinking,
well, have I sinned or not? The Holy Spirit convinces us
of sin and shows us how we stand before a holy God. And as by
His Spirit in Christian experience, we grow in grace, that means
to grow in that wonderful unmerited favour from God, it is then when
the Spirit of God reveals to us more of our sin, secret sins
perhaps, that nobody else knows about, nobody else has seen,
but that which you know and God knows. And perhaps there was
a time when you didn't know, and the Spirit of God then shows
you that you have sinned in this way and that way. And what is
the result? It's the work of the Holy Spirit
which shows us our condition in measure. We never, I believe,
never really see the total of all our sin. It's so great. We
never really realise the total volume of it. But the Spirit
of God does reveal to us in increasing measure the sin which dwells
within. Not forgetting, of course, outward
sins, but the sins which dwell within, which is really the work
of this great and blessed Spirit of God. And it's when that Spirit
then convinces us, and it is convincing, and sometimes it
needs a lot of convincing. Perhaps we're not very convinced,
but the Spirit of God will work, my friends, and continue until
we are convinced that we are the sinner, the sinner, and that
sinner needs forgiveness. How are we to then achieve forgiveness? How are we going to justify ourselves? How are we able to stand a righteous
person before a holy God? Somebody who is so unrighteous,
how is it possible? It is because of what the Spirit
has revealed to us in our sinful nature that we come in a helpless
and in our own view hopeless condition before a holy God. And it's at that state then that
the Spirit of God then directs us out of ourselves to the wonder
of redeeming love. the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ will never mean anything of spiritual value until
we are shown the sinfulness of our nature and the sin which
dwells within. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
mean anything to us. There will be no real need of
a saviour. We may know about Jesus, we may
know perhaps some theory about the Lord Jesus coming and dying,
but it's not until the work of the Holy Spirit speaks to our
hearts and shows us our condition before a holy God and we cry
out, what must we do? What must we do? The words of that Philippian
jailer are very true, aren't they? As he was convinced of
his sin by the words of the Apostle through the great working of
the Spirit of God and he cried out, what must I do to be saved? What must I do? And the Apostle
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Not to believe on his own abilities,
very simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. And that man received faith to
believe. And if it's the Spirit's work,
if it's God's work in our soul, we shall receive that faith to
believe. And so we have this evidence
of sin because they believe not on me. Well, we will not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ unless are shown our need. So we see
then the work, do we not, of the Holy Spirit convincing us
of our sin and because of that leading us to the Lord Jesus
Christ so that we do believe. But if we do not believe, it
is sin. And those who have not been shown
their sinnership by the Spirit of God will not believe because
there's no need to believe. They have no need. But bless
God, when the Spirit works in our heart and shows us our sin
and directs us to none other than the Saviour of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it is that, as it were,
the Gospel is opened up to us. We never really understood it
before. We were never actually in that
place. We've never actually been under the influence of the work
of the Holy Spirit. But when that work came and moved
our spirits, moved our heart, and we were then directed to
the blessing and the wonderful favour of knowing that the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, and like the
Apostle Paul said, of whom I am chief. Now bless God then, if
you and I have the evidence of the Spirit's work in our hearts,
It's only you that can know the truth of that. No one else can
know the effect of the work of God in the actual soul itself. It's between our souls and God,
your soul and God, my soul and God, which reveals to us our
condition and our need. Well, what a favour tonight if
we can testify to God's praise that he has been gracious to
us, And the Holy Spirit has come to us and has worked in our hearts. And it is a comfort. He is then the comforter when
we look and see the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon that cross
at Calvary to atone for our sins. That's a very comforting, blessed
understanding. to realise that the Lord God
Almighty has graciously come into this sinful world and to
die upon that cross, shed his precious blood in order to take
away your sin and my sin. And so have been blessed with
that belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe, yes, he did
come to die for me. a personal application, the work
of the Holy Spirit of God. Bless God tonight, if we have
the evidence of it in our hearts, that the Spirit's work there.
And so we realise here that it is that which the Lord has sent,
that blessed Holy Spirit of God. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and He see me no more. Of judgement, because the
Prince of this world is judged. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. And the work of
the Holy Spirit is generally in this way, it's here a little
and there a little. We don't know everything, we
never know everything, but we only learn a little. The Holy
Spirit leads us, the Holy Spirit directs us, line upon line, precept
upon present. The Lord teaches us in that way
that we are able to absorb it and understand it. And as the
Lord teaches us in this way, it will all lead us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. And so then we come
down to this verse where the Lord says, howbeit When He, the
Spirit of Truth, is come. Again, it's wonderful to read
the Spirit of Truth. God is Truth. Howbeit when He,
the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. To be guided. It's a good thing,
isn't it, to sometimes have a guide. We need guides, don't we, sometimes.
We may go around ancient monuments and and guides provided to take
us round because if we were to go round ourselves we would lose
our way probably and we wouldn't understand many of the objects
and many of the situations which are on show. They would just
go over our head. We wouldn't be able to understand what they
were all about. And therefore guides are provided so that they
may be able to instruct us and to tell us the reason for this
situation and that situation and why a certain object is there
and a certain object is there. It's a guide's job to do that,
and we will be thankful that we have guides in those situations. Well, it's much more important
for us to have a guide with regard to our spiritual life as we journey
through this world. And as we journey, we come into
many different situations and difficult times, and we see different
things, And we need the Spirit of God to guide us and to instruct
us and to teach us in the way that we shall go. And here we
have the confirmation that this Spirit of Truth, when it's come,
when he's come, when he's come to us, when he's quickened us,
made us spiritually alive, like the Apostle said, and you hath
he quickened, hath made alive, who were dead in trespasses,
and in sins, when the Spirit of God has come and blessed us
with that quickening favour, it is then, you see, that we
need him. We need him to come and to guide
us into all truth. As it were, it's a new world.
It's a new situation. When the soul is made spiritually
alive, we're born again in the Spirit of God, and we're like
little children, we're like babes and we need to be guided and
we need to be taught the truth of God. And so that is performed
by the blessed Holy Spirit. Now isn't that wonderful then
to think that the Lord Jesus said that when he descended to
his father he would send the Comforter who is the Spirit of
God would indeed speak to us and would guide us and direct
us. The Spirit of Truth is come.
When he's come, it won't be before of course, we won't need any
guidance before, we won't be concerned about anything before,
but when the Spirit's work is coming to our hearts then it
produces a concern to know the right way and to be directed
in the right way and to have the Lord Jesus Christ revealed
to us. We may have read many things
about the Saviour, we may have read the Old Testament prophecies,
but when the Spirit of God comes and speaks to our heart, it's
then we have new eyes, we have spiritual eyes, and those spiritual
eyes are looking to see spiritual blessings, and they are looking
to see something glorious and precious with regard to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we have this promise.
What a promise it was. Try and cast our minds back to
this upper room and these disciples here, mystified about many things,
concerned about many things, having these wonderful words
spoken to them, and then after a short time, when the Lord had
risen from the dead and then when he was taken up to his Father,
to have been able to think on these words and be encouraged
by them, and to realise the truth and He will guide you into all
truth. He will guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit of God, my friends,
does not make mistakes. You and I make mistakes. We may
make mistakes in our view of things, in our belief of things.
But the Holy Spirit of God never makes mistakes. He never directs
us. He never guides us in a wrong
way. He always guides and directs
us in a right way. And what do we need to do then?
We need to pray that this Holy Spirit may indeed guide us in
a right way and that we might not be left to our own imagination,
to our own understanding. Because our own imagination,
our own understanding left to ourselves is sinful and we should
come to wrong conclusions. And in those conclusions, we
will not give God the honour and the glory. But when the Spirit
of God works in our heart and guides us into all truth, that
truth will direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends,
it will be true. It will not be false. And it
will be good. And it will be a blessing to
us. And we'll be instructed by it. And we will thank God from
our heart for the revelation which has been given to us. It
may not be what we kind of think of as a revelation, some supernatural
thing. No, not at all. It may just be
a simple revelation to our spiritual eyes to observe the great plan
of salvation and that plan of salvation as it's directed to
ourselves, to our own heart. That's when we rejoice. That's
when we bless God for the evidence of the work of God speaking to
our hearts that we know that we have passed from death to
life, the evidence of it in our own hearts. He will guide you
into all truth, all truth. Now, the amazing thing is, as
the Lord says here, he shall not speak of himself, no, but
he will speak of the things of Jesus. will reveal the things
of Jesus to us. And there are so many things
the Spirit of God reveals to us. It reveals to us how the
Lord Jesus walked on this earth as that great and glorious example. The Spirit of God shows us then
how we should walk. We have our example in the Word
of God. the Saviour's walk. That's our
example. And it's the Spirit of God, as
it were, which draws us aside and enables us to consider Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, consider what He did, consider what He
suffered, what He endured in His life. And it is the wonderful
work of the Spirit of God when it makes us willing to walk that
way, willing to follow gracious and glorious Savior. And we know
the example of a Savior was very simple. It was very blessed.
It was very real. He did the will of his Father
in heaven. He came into this earth to do
the will of his Father in heaven. What a blessing, therefore, if
we are directed in that way today, that the Spirit of God directs
us to do the will of Almighty God. You see, God the Father
had a perfect plan for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends,
our God has a perfect plan for you and me in our little life
in this world. And what a good thing it is if
the Lord gives us a gracious submission to do His will. Submission to do His will. It's wonderful to be blessed
with this and it's through the work of the Holy Spirit of God. He guides us into all truth and
the truth is to follow this man, to follow the Lord Jesus Christ
in all his example that he's left on record for our encouragement
and our instruction. It speaks to us, it tells us
how to order our conversation, It speaks to us about how we
are to do good unto all men, especially unto the household
of faith. It tells us how to love our neighbour as ourself.
There are so many words in the Word of God to instruct us into
all truth. He will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. And he will show you things to
come. And so the Spirit of God will
direct us into what the Lord Jesus Christ did on this earth
and how he concluded that work his Father gave him to do. And
what a great and glorious work it was. Now, until the Spirit
of God comes into our hearts, we should only recognise it as
something that the Lord Jesus Christ did. But when the Holy
Spirit works in our heart, we will have the application of
that death to ourselves. And in that condition, we shall
know that the Lord Jesus Christ's death was a death which he suffered
in order that you and I might live. we might be forgiven of
all our sins. It was his life that he gave
for our life. Now the Spirit of God then directs
us in that way and makes these truths very real and very precious,
so that we stand amazed at Almighty God. Again the Spirit's work
shows to us the greatness of God. Almighty God willingly suffered
a sinful person like you and me so that you and I might be
saved, we might be redeemed, all our sins might be forgiven. It's the work of the Holy Spirit
and bless God tonight if you and I can trace out in our life
that wonderful work of the Spirit of God which has directed us
to the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work and the application
that that work was completed on our behalf. He suffered, he
died so that we might live eternally with him in glory. There was
no other good enough to pay the price of sin, to pay the price
of my sin. He only could unlock the gate
of heaven to let me in. My friends, that's the only way.
It's through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the
Spirit of God speaks to us of the things that Jesus did. The fulfilment of that work that
his father gave him to do, the glorious fulfilment of it, that
which had been foreshadowed really right from the time when the
Lord appears to Adam and Eve in that Garden of Eden. Yes,
from that very time when he said, the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head, should squash the serpent's head, there
was the evidence of the love of God displayed in the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, forecast those many, many years ago. And
so right down through scriptures, we see the fulfillment of that
being brought nearer and nearer until the time when the Lord
Jesus Christ himself came and suffered upon that cross. Right
through the Word of God there was the evidence, the necessity
of sacrifices being given and to think that the Lord Jesus
Christ gave himself as that great sacrifice for your sin and my
sin. We couldn't pay the price ourselves.
Impossible. The price was too high. And we
can never do it because we're sinful flesh. The Lord Jesus
Christ willingly came, and he paid the price required for our
redemption. He paid the price required to
take away all our sin, and that price was the price of his most
precious blood. Now, bless God tonight, if the
Holy Spirit has directed us, directed you and me, to have
the application of that blood upon our own conscience, to know
that that was done for us, and to be able to say, yes, through
the grace of God, I'm washed. I'm washed in the blood of the
Lamb. I'm clean. Yes, I'm forgiven. I'm saved. And I shall, by His grace, be
with this Lord in glory. work of the Holy Spirit then
makes these things real and precious to us, so that we will then desire
to be with Jesus in glory forever. And the closer the Spirit of
God leads us to the Saviour, the farther we shall be from
the things of this world, and the greater desire we shall have
to go and to be with Christ, which is far better. It is the
clear work of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit reveals to us the
blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he did to the Apostle
Paul and brought him to that great statement where he was
able to say, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now that was the evidence of
the Spirit's work in the Apostle's life. And it's wonderful if the
work of this Spirit brings us and draws us to the Saviour so
that we, by His grace, are able to humbly say, yes, for me to
live is Christ. I live to know more of Christ
in my life because of His great salvation. I see myself as a
wretched and undone sinner and I need the Saviour. My friends,
this won't be something which will be just known on one small
occasion in our life, because sadly we continue to sin, sadly
we continue to fall, because of the terrible influence of
our great adversary the devil. And what does it make us do?
It makes us look out of ourselves, out of ourselves, to the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is that? It's the work of
the Holy Spirit of God. And whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." As
we spoke this morning on that 31st Psalm, the Holy Spirit's
work is to direct us to those things which are to come. Those
things which are Glorious and wonderful and the Lord has prepared
for his suffering church And it is the work of the Holy Spirit
to direct our hearts and our thoughts and our attention To
those glorious which are to come and so by his grace through the
work of the Holy Spirit We come and are able to say. Oh, how
great is thy goodness and the wonderful favour of God to us
in revealing to us these things and directing us to those things
which are to come, the glory of Emmanuel's land. O how great
is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. It is the work of the Spirit
that has brought us to fear the Lord, which thou hast wrought
for us, which thou hast done for us. the work of the blessed
Saviour, that finished work which thou hast done for them that
trust in thee, blessed with that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that faith given to believe, that for them that trust in thee
before the sons of men, to looking forward to that wonderful day
when we should have finished our course on this earth. Now,
such considerations are not morbid. to the Church of God. They are
morbid to the unconverted person. The unconverted person wants
to live always on this earth. They don't want to give up. They
want to enjoy life to the full. This is their life. There's no
life. Eternal blessings for them. But to the Church of God, moved
by this blessed Spirit, they look forward to that day when
they should have done all the things of this earth and they
should go and to be with Christ which is far better, and he will
show you things to come. You see, the Spirit of God comes
and directs us to the glory of Emmanuel's land, where the Lamb
is in the midst of the throne, where all that glorious heavenly
throng, all those who are robed in those white robes, washed
in the blood of the Lamb, will be united together and sing that
new song, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Oh what a great
blessed consideration that is. Now here we have this truth and
he, this is the Spirit of God, will show you things to come,
eternal realities, eternal blessings will direct our hearts to these
things. And my friends as we travel through
This wilderness, as we read in Deuteronomy, the waste howling
wilderness, many things that distract and disturb us, not
a comfortable journey, no, a difficult life, a difficult journey, but
glory at the end of the road, glory at the end of our life,
and that will be to be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever, singing
his praises. And as we journey on, the Spirit
of God will come and direct us to that situation, we'll say,
yes, he is worthy. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy
of all adoration. And I believe it is so when the
Lord Jesus comes, as it were, through the Spirit and shows
us his work, his finished work, and the cost of our salvation,
then to make us willing in the day of his power to take up our
cross and follow a despised and crucified man. And it won't be
a hard, it may be a hard thing in one way, but it'll be a blessed
path because it'll be with Christ. That yoke will be shared. So the Lord Jesus said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Sharing that yoke with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our burden halved, the Lord taking
that we're journeying on through this life not alone. The Spirit
of God directs us to the Saviour, to the glory of his great finished
work and the cost of our salvation so that he will be indeed attracted
to us And we would understand what the Apostle Peter said when
he spoke of it as redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And there's a line in our hymns
which says, invaluable blood. My friends, if there was no life
given, no blood shed, there'd be no hope for you or me. But
bless God today that the Spirit of God reveals these great truths
to our soul and we rejoice in them. Rejoice to think that there
is a plan, a glorious plan, for your soul and my soul, that by
His grace and by His favour, we shall spend eternity together
with Him, singing His praises for all that He's done. Now isn't
it good to think that the blessed God that we have here in the
third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, revealing these
things to us, coming up tonight, bless God for Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak, and He will show you things to come. Amen.