complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the chapter that we read together
in John's Gospel, chapter 14. And by way of text, I'll read
verses 25, 26, and 27. I'll just read the verses through
the ones John's Gospel, chapter 14, verses
25, 26, and 27, wherein we read, These things have I spoken unto
you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Now we should never use the hymn
book to justify our doctrine. But in its right place, the hymn
book can act as a commentary upon the Scripture. And really,
and ministering brethren amongst us will know that our message
should be, if somebody asks you what was a sermon about, we ought
to be able to summarize it in one short paragraph. And John
Berridge does this, where in our Gatsby's Hymn 888 he says
this, His spirit must disclose the deadly plague within uncover
all our woes, and show the man of sin. And feeling thus our
ruined state, we humbly fall at Jesus' feet. The comforter
must teach, the Saviour's toil and smart, and with conviction
preach atonement to the heart. Then sinners gaze with ravished
eyes, and feast upon the sacrifice. But finally, and this is so important,
The Spirit, too, must show the power of Jesus' arm to vanquish
every foe and guard the soul from harm. Believers then grow
strong in faith and triumph over sin and death." Note there that
Berridge, he only ascribes a triumph over sin and death to the person
of Christ Himself. And so this evening, we consider
this issue, this matter of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's
work. I trust this evening you're not
going to hear any new doctrine. It's never our desire to hear
new doctrine, but to be more and more established in the old
truths. That's our message. And so, By
way of context, really, often we give the context before we
venture into the text, but really verse 25 is self-explanatory
of it. He says, These things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. The Scripture is not
in a vacuum. It is not a collection of random
texts, John's gospel is one composite whole. It has a message. There was a reason for the message. The reason was, of course, John
being the oldest of all the disciples. He'd lived many years after his
contemporaries had passed away. He wrote this gospel at a time
when the very person, the very deity, the very work and the
preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ was under attack. Under
attack by false teachers and there were many errors being
spread abroad. And so John here, ever mindful
and writing, of course, under the influence of the Holy Ghost,
writes to address these things, and he deals with them head-on. But we mustn't think that this
was the only purpose. There are, of course, links.
We believe in a systematic theology. In other words, all things blend
into one. Again, it's a working Knowledge
of truth is the doctrines of grace, both in mind and in heart. And we're mindful of the fact
that the Lord Jesus here, when he is speaking, is speaking of
those things which have gone before, and those things which
are to come. That's why we read. These things
have I spoken unto you being yet present with you." The Lord
Jesus was constantly teaching his disciples. He was constantly
instructing them. The Lord now was approaching
the end of three and a half years of ministry. John the Baptist,
we know, had that unique ministry in preaching that the Kingdom
of God was at hand. He had a great following, but
then when the Lord Jesus came, the people, quite rightly, and
just as it was prophesied, gladly heard Him. They gladly heard
Him. But He's preaching here. He's
speaking. And He's speaking of heaven being
a prepared place for a prepared people. I go to prepare a place
for you. And then he speaks of the relationship
there is between Father and Son. The Son being the Keeper of the
Covenant. The Covenant of Grace. Remember
the Covenant of Grace has always been there. There's only one
Saving Covenant. And this evening we're either
under a Covenant of Works under the Mosaic Law or we are under
the Covenant of grace. And that's why the Lord says,
If ye love me, keep my commandments. There's only one commandment.
Before man fell, there was one commandment. Not to eat of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. And today, for the saint,
there is but one commandment. Only one. What do we read of
it? We read of it in the following
chapter. It should go without saying, it would be remiss of
me not to mention that it is of course profitable to read
John's Gospel chapters 14, 15 and 16 together. Because they
all speak of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Spirit.
But here the Lord says This is my commandment that ye love one
another as I have loved you. That's the motive. That's the
motive. You know, if there's one thing
we should stand for, it's this principle. This is the old truth
of the 19th century I'm preaching now. These are the distinctives
that I trust we love. that if we have any other motive,
even in coming to chapel this evening, than that of love to
Christ and His cause and His people, it's insufficient, it's
deficient. Our motive, our motivation here
this evening for gathering this way and at this time must be
that we love Christ, we love His cause, we love His people.
And so, The Lord speaks and says, these things have I spoken being
yet present with you. He's instructing them. And we're
so mindful. Notice the disciples. When the
Lord is with them, so often He intercedes for them in difficult
situations. Either situations where they've
got a completely wrong understanding of the principle, Or perhaps
they're completely outmatched by the scribes and the Pharisees
and the Lord comes in. Think of the men there upon the
water, Lord save me. So fearful when the winds come
about, when the storm comes. So many occasions the scribes
and the Pharisees would come with those subtle answers and
the Lord intervenes here on their behalf. They were very much in
the background. They were very much retiring.
They were very much those who were dependent upon
his physical presence. And this is what the Lord is
emphasizing here. And it was a great thing. John here is recording
as the Synoptic Gospels also record for us in Matthew, Mark
and Luke. the great things the Lord did.
In fact, if they were taken down, the worlds themselves could not
contain them, we read. That's the significance of our
Lord's earthly ministry. And then we come to verse 26.
I had to start in verse 25 because we can't start a sentence with
a but, can we? We have to remember that the
chapters and the Verse numbers are actually, they're there.
The translators placed them in to help us find our way around
the Bible. But they have their limitations. Verse 26 is, "...but the Comforter."
which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you. But the Comforter, the Paraclete, which is the Holy Ghost. And here we must make a doctrinal
observation. Truth is without question and
without compromise Trinitarian. Not only does John speak of the
preeminence of the Lord Jesus, he speaks of the Trinity. Do
not be concerned about the matter that the actual word Trinity
is not given in the Scripture. It's preached everywhere. It's
spoken of everywhere. And here is one example. The
Lord Jesus is speaking of himself in his person and thus he speaks of the Holy
Ghost as a person. Leslie Faulkner, the late Leslie
Faulkner at least, made this very It's a striking comment. It's absolutely true. The Holy
Spirit is not it. It's He. It's a person we're
speaking of here. The person of the Spirit. And
here we have our minds illuminated. They are enlightened through
the word of what the ministry of the Holy Spirit is. And this
is so helpful. In this, it's so vital for us,
in this day of confusion, where men think they know the ministry
of the Spirit, but they don't. The ministry of the Spirit is
laid down for us, and thus, real experiential religion is that
which is consistent with the Word itself, not the other way
around. We don't judge our experiences
on their own merit and then apply them as we see fit from the Word.
The Word comes first and our experience of Christ must, of
course, flow from this. The Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost. Now, we have this principle.
and we read of it earlier on, in verse 17, "...even the Spirit
of truth, whom the world..." Note this, "...cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him,
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." What's John
saying there? Well, it's this vital principle
that Only the elect are enlightened and have the Holy Spirit. I'm afraid we can't walk with
those and we have these discussions from time to time with those
who speak of the Spirit convicting people. But then you must make
a decision. Or but then we must press men
when they're in a moment of weakness to cajole them, to persuade them
to believe. Dear soul, there's nothing of
the kind. Nothing of the kind. Here the Spirit begins the work,
continues the work, and what do we read? John also says, earlier
on in his Gospel, it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth
nothing. And so, we must be mindful. You see, again, there's another
doctrinal principle we have. The total depravity of man is
absolute. Absolute. It is absolute. And thus, however many good points,
and you know there's many unregenerate men have some excellent points.
They put us to shame in many ways. No question about that. But that's altogether different
matter. Because whatever we put our hand to, Whatever we put
our hand to is tainted by sin. It's all tainted by sin. But
note this, the comforter. That's the ministry we have here,
the comforter. So there is a knowledge, of course,
of sin. The Holy Spirit's work is to
enlighten the mind and the heart as to our state. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Paul says to the church at Rome,
and that's absolutely true. And so here we see the comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost. And again we are emphasizing
here the Trinitarian nature. Whom the Father will send in
my name. The Father sending. The Spirit
there working. And the Son redeeming his people. And so
essential. And he's speaking to the disciples.
He's in the immediate context of course he's for warning them,
He's speaking to them. He will not be with them for
that much longer. He must go. But the Spirit will
be poured out. And what do we read? And this
is the principle that we follow even today. Acts 2 and verse
1. This is the very principle of
the church. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
They were all with one accord and in one place. Thus, the gathered
church, that's our principle that we have in Acts 2, is that
which must worship God in spirit and in truth, but it gathers
physically. It must do. Worship is corporate
and therefore it is physical. We must come together in this
way. And so, why? This is where the
Holy Spirit has promised to be. In and amongst and with his people. And I can guarantee you this.
If we will not worship the Lord in his house, on his day, We
won't worship him anywhere else. This is the place where we are
desirous to come and we're desirous to come whenever the doors are
open, whenever we can. We know the circumstances that
may prevent us every now and then. And those responsibilities
through work or caring or whatever that might be that may prevent
us. But we're here when we can be here. And thus the spirit
here, who the Father will send in Christ's name, will teach
you all things." Spirit is the teacher. The teacher. And so, it comes, does it not,
to that very basic principle there, of conviction of sin and
to the revelation of the Lord Jesus Himself. And we know in
chapter 16, verse 13, how be it when He, the Spirit of truth,
is come, He will guide you into all truth. Now, what's that? John also speaks
of it in his epistle. He that hath Christ, when he
speaks of doth not sin, And a man being a believer does not say...
It's not saying that a man is sinless in himself. That would
be absurd. But the work of grace in the
soul is perfect. Because the Spirit's work is
always perfect. It's flawless. And that's the
mercy. And you know that's the liberty
that we have. That's the liberty that we have. You know there's
a line of thought It's not amongst our originators, but it's here
on the fringe of our churches today. Which almost speak as
though the real Christian walks in darkness all his life. He
walks in doubts and fears all his life. And that's the mark
of real Christianity. And anybody with any liberty,
we pour cold water on them. Because, well, they must be presumptuous.
Well, there is presumption. We know there's presumption.
We know there's triumphalism. And we don't hold with that.
But dear friends, the view that the Christian has no liberty
is the view of the papacy. It's got no place in a strict
Baptist pulpit. The Gospel, what does the Lord
say? Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, is there liberty. This is the whole purpose. Why
should the children of a king go mourning all their days? You
know, we have our doubts and fears. We have those things that
perplex us and are difficult and cast us down. But those are
not marks of Christianity. They cast dishonor on the Lord
and contradict His gracious word. Feelings are not what we hold
to at all. What is the work of the Spirit?
It is applying the blood of Christ. Again, going back, I know I came
off there. I'm going back to this. He says
this, For he shall not speak of himself, the Spirit doesn't
speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. for he shall receive of mine
and show it unto you. So there is the revelation of
Christ there. That's what it is. And that is
what the Lord Jesus reveals both in the immediate context. He
says here, whatsoever I have said unto you is bringing them
unto remembrance of the disciples and to the gospel writers who
were able to take these things down. But in context also, we
have to also include the next verse. It's vital we include
the next verse. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. We have to take the Lord at his
word. Peace I leave with you. Peace. Now man says peace, peace where
there is no peace. Religion says peace, peace where
there is no peace. But that's why the Lord says,
My peace I give unto you. And this is what is so vital.
And really this evening I want to come to the very crux of what
real experiential religion is. I say this very deliberately
because we're criticized, some of us, for preaching doctrinal
sermons. But people don't understand,
I fear, what real experiential religion is. It's to know a person. It's to know a person. Real experiential
religion is not a warm feeling. It's not somebody who makes you
feel pleasant and then you go out the chapel and you lose it
all. Or you hear a man and you say, oh he was nice. Oh he was
nice. Dear soul, that's not experiential
religion at all. That's not experiential religion
at all. We must know a person. And so here, the Lord speaks
of peace. Peace, I give unto you. His sovereign grace all the way
through. Because the Lord gives it. His spirit gives it. His
spirit gives it. Now, there's something that strikes
me very much here. It always puzzled me before.
Let not your heart be troubled. It was, one preacher said, their
hearts were all one. He doesn't say, let your hearts
be troubled. Let your heart be troubled. Their
hearts... All these men, with the exception of course of Judas
Iscariot, who was a traitor, they all desired the same thing. they desired to see the person
and the spirit reveals the person one God in three distinct persons
this is what we have before us peace this is not as the world
giveth not as the world giveth why is that there? because naturally
speaking we can enjoy peace in the sense of peace and quiet
we are living at the present and who knows if that may continue
or not we have done for many years here in the UK we've been
favored to live in peace time that is we're not at war in the
physical sense and we have to be thankful for
that we have to every day we have to be thankful for that
but What's the world's peace that it gives? It doesn't give
any peace. It promises peace. But it doesn't
deliver on it. And that goes right back, and
so often I know, I'm going right back to the garden. Where Satan
says to Eve, you shall be as gods. That's where it began.
That's where it began. And thus it continues. The world
promises, and promises, and promises, And you know there's much truth
to what men speak of as the rat race. Neighbors competing against each
other who can have the best car, and who can have the drive concreted
over, and who can have the biggest extension. We all see it in our
neighborhoods. It's an awful thing to get into.
But there's no rest in it, is there? There's no peace in it.
And so, people often think If certain things will change in
their lives, it will improve everything. If I could live in another country,
or if I could only get married, or if I could only rid myself
of this problem, that will be the end of all the issues that
I have. It won't be, it will be just
the same. Just the same. Because peace is to know Christ. It is to know a person. And thus,
the Lord promises his people peace. He promises. He says, My peace I give unto
you. That speaks in and of itself
of the promise of the person. And dear soul, there we have
where there's peace, there's rest. There's rest. And this is real Christianity. And this is real experiential
Christianity. To know this person, it's not
enough to know about him. It's not enough to know all the
doctrines of grace. Some of us knew lots of doctrines
before the Lord ever dealt with us. The Lord uses mind and heart. These things come together. That's
why late Principal Breed used to speak about the intelligent
Christian. He wasn't speaking of a Christian
who had a PhD. Or a Christian who was an intellectual
or an academic. He's speaking of the Christian
who knew what he believed and why he believed it. And the Christian
who could give a reason for the hope that was within him. We
have to remember, from Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures
were never intended simply for academics. That has its place.
It wasn't intended simply for academics or for Greek and Hebrew
scholars. But for every believer. Every
believer should be a theologian, as was said from this pulpit
many years ago. And it remains the truth. But
it's been able to both see and live in what we have before us
now. And you know if we live in the
peace of Christ, it'll come out. It'll come out. We won't need
to go around button-holding people. It comes. It comes. Men see it.
Yes, they see our thoughts and feelings. Every believer has
them. And we don't need to go far to
find them. That's why Paul speaks of endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It's something
I trust we each strive for. But, if a saint, actually if a man
or a woman has peace, it will make itself known. And we have
to declare it. We have to declare it. We have
to speak of it. I would just note here, when the Lord speaks
here and says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. He's not
speaking of the law there. He's speaking of the gospel.
He's speaking of the gospel. Thus, the law says nothing about
following the Lord through the waters of baptism. The law says
nothing about sitting at the Lord's table. But if ye love
me, keep my commandments. Thus, if we love Him, we must
profess Him openly. We must speak of what He has
done for us. And that's what we have here.
If we have peace in the soul, We have to declare it, and the
Holy Spirit gives it. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send, in my name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, Rest in this, when all seems against
us and there may be many things against us. Rest in this, let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Amen.