Let us turn again to God's Word
in the chapter that we read, John chapter 16. And directing
your attention to the words that we find here at verses 13, 14
and 15. John 16 and the verses 13, 14 and 15. 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. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are mine, Therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall
show it unto you. Earlier we were considering the
coming of the Holy Ghost as we have it declared in that previous
chapter we looked at those words In verse 26 of chapter 15, when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, ye
shall testify of me. And now, having spoken somewhat
of His coming, I want us to consider more particularly how He comes
as that One who is the Glorifier of Christ. As the Lord says at
the beginning of verse 14, He shall glorify me. The Spirit
then comes to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a long text
that I've announced, three verses, and in these verses the Lord
is continuing, of course, to speak in particular of the ministry
of the Holy Ghost. That's the main thesis that runs
through these chapters, 14, 15, and 16, these discourses. I call them the valedictory discourses
of Christ, his last teachings really, before he comes to make
that great sacrifice for sins. And in the course of the chapters
he has much to say with regards to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And we saw how in the reading
He makes it plain that in order for the Spirit to come, the Lord
Jesus must go away. Verse 7, 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. He was to come. There were certain
things that were also to come. and see how the Lord speaks of
those things to come. Here at the end of verse 13 in
our text, concerning the Spirit, He will show you things to come. What are those things? Well,
I think of two things in particular. There was, of course, to be the
calling of the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus, during the course
of His own ministry, was very mindful that that ministry was
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in Matthew chapter
15 and then at verse 21 following we have the Canaanite woman who
comes to the Lord seeking his gracious help but she is a Canaanite
woman And what does he say to her? Well, he tells her quite
plainly that he is sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But that woman, oh, she broke
no denial. She perseveres and the Lord does
hear her. But his ministry, and he was
mindful of this, is to those lost sheep again. In Matthew
chapter 10 we see the Lord sending out His 12 apostles and He gives
them specific instruction and direction as to just what their
ministry is to be and where it is that they must go. We have
the names of the 12 there at the beginning of Matthew 10 These
twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But after the Lord Jesus Christ
has accomplished His great work, there is to be preaching a proclamation
of the truth, the gospel, is to go to the nations of the Gentiles. And we see it intimated in some
measure even at the beginning of his own ministry. He comes
unto his own, his own receive him not. but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to be called the sons of God." But
this is a truth that must be fully revealed, the calling of
the Gentiles. And of course we know that it
was Paul himself who was called specifically to be that one who
must take that gospel to the Gentiles, right into the Ephesians. He speaks of the revelation of
that mystery. Then in Ephesians chapter 3,
for this cause, I pour the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which he
has given me to youwards, how that by revelation he made known
unto me the mystery as I wrote afore in few words, whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of
the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the
grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His
power. This is that that was amongst
those things that were to be revealed. He will show you, the
Spirit will show you things to come. The calling of the Gentiles. And what is that? It is really
the bringing in of the gospel day the bringing in now of the
day of grace a different dispensation to that that was there in the
Old Testament that was a dispensation of the Lord of Gods and there
is of course a contrast between the two and again we see it's
Paul who brings out the difference Read there in 2 Corinthians 3,
verse 6, following. He contrasts on the one hand
the letter of the law, on the other the spirit of the gospel. And in that, of course, we have
the revelation of that remarkable way of salvation that is only
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Paul, when he writes to
the Galatians, He says, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. There
were those They were there in the churches of the Galatians,
and they were legalists, and they wanted to bring these Gentile
converts back under the law of God. Not so, says the Apostle. Not so at all. Now, we are to
recognize that that dispensation has passed. A man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. That was Paul's own experience.
how he was brought to turn from any trust, any confidence in
himself as he tells the Philippians his one desire was to be found
in Christ and there in the Lord Jesus Christ
he would find his justification not by any deeds of the law that
he had done but by the faith of Jesus Christ and when In that
third chapter of 2nd Corinthians that we've referred to, that
third chapter, he contrasts the two, the law on the one hand
and the gospel on the other. He describes the gospel there,
in verse 8, as the ministration of the Spirit. The gospel is the ministration
of the Spirit. And not surprisingly, this is
what the Spirit will show. He will show you things to come. The calling of Gentile sinners. The Gospel going out into all
the world. That Gospel that is the ministration
of the Spirit. And what is the real ministration
of the Spirit? Well, says Christ here at verse
14, concerning the Holy Ghost, He shall glorify me. And so as we come to consider
these verses, here in John 16, 13, 14, and 15, I want to divide the
subject matter into three heads. First of all, I want to say something
more with regards to the essential unity that we see in the Godhead. We're thinking in particular
of the ministration of the spirits, that is God, the Holy Ghost,
we say the third person in the Trinity. But there is of course
an essential unity in the Godhead. There is Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and those three are one God undivided. Now what we have
in these verses, again, is a Trinitarian construction. All of the divine
persons are present here. Look, for example, at verse 15. Christ says, All things that
the Father hath are mine. So he's speaking of God the Father.
And he is the one who is speaking and so he refers to himself by
the personal pronoun I, all things that the Father hath are mine,
therefore said I. He is the one speaking, that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, that is God the Son. Therefore said
I that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you."
Who is he referring to when he uses that third person in the
plural, that third person in the singular, he, that he shall
take of mine? Well, he is speaking clearly
of the the Spirit of Truth, the one who is mentioned at the beginning
of verse 13, albeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, has come.
In these three verses that we have as a text, he is very much
speaking of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So, verse 15, we
see the three. We see the Father, we see the
Son, and we see the Holy Spirit. And we see it time and again.
It's there in the verse that we were looking at earlier today. Remember those words at the end
of the previous chapter? 15 verse 26, When the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. Again, it's a Trinitarian verse.
And then if we go back to chapter 14, and there at verse 26, it
says, "...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."
Again there in that verse we see the three persons of the
Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Now we have to observe,
and this is what I really want to emphasize, the truth of the
deity of the Holy Ghost, the deity of the Holy Spirit. He
is equal to the Father and He is equal to the Son. We know that there are a diversity of ministrations. Again, Paul speaks of these things
when he writes in the twelfth chapter of his first epistle
to the Corinthians, that church that was blessed with a remarkable
abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and yet there at
Corinth there was much abuse of the gifts of the Spirit. But
see how in 1 Corinthians 12 we have Paul speaking of the Spirit. Verse 4 He says, Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are differences
of administration, but the same Lord, and there are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in
all. We have the three persons again,
there he speaks of the same Spirit, that is God the Holy Ghost, He
speaks of the same Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
speaks of the same God, that is, the Father, which worketh
all in all. And then he says at verse 11,
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing
to every man severally as he will. All that they have, they
have received. All these gifts of the Spirit
that are being so much abused at Corinth, they were from the
Spirit. It was the Spirit who made a
difference. And how grievous then was the sin of that church.
They were sinning against God, the Holy Ghost. Thinking then
of the Spirit, how we need to take particular accounts of this
Nine that is given to Him. He is the Spirit. And what does that name tell
us? Well, it does not express the
essence that belongs to the Spirit, but it speaks of his relationship
with the other two persons in the Godhead. The name Spirit
has to do with the relationship that he sustains to the Father
and to the Son. And we said this morning as we
have it there in the text we were considering is the Spirit
of Truth which proceeds us from the Father. There in chapter
15 verse 26 the Spirit of Truth which proceeds us from the father
and as he proceeds from the father so there is that sense in which
he also proceeds from the son because later in chapter 20 after
his resurrection what does the son do he breathes on his disciples
he breathed on them and said receive you the holy ghost he's
very breathing on them he's the procession of the holy ghost
he's bestowed of that gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, this name that
is given to him, speaks of the eternal aspiration of Him. Just as we have the eternal generation
of the Son, He is the only begotten of the Father, that is His glory,
so we have this procession of the Holy Ghost which is His glory. I thought as I was studying these
things and meditating in these things, I thought of the words
of the Athanasian Creed. The three great creeds of the
early church, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and what is
called the Athanasian Creed, the longest of the three creeds.
We haven't time to read it all if you've got a Book of Common
Prayer, you'll find it in the Book of Common Prayer that I refer to this simple statement
concerning the three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The
Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son
is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten. The
Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor
created, nor begotten, but proceeding." There are remarkable statements
contained in that Creed, but there in the early churches there
was much controversy over the doctrine, the doctrine of God,
the doctrine of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine
of the Holy Spirit. It was necessary that Believers
came together and sought to state the doctrines contained in Holy
Scripture in succinct words. And that's why we have these
creeds of the ancient church. The Holy Spirit then proceeds from the Father and
the Son. He is a person. and he is equal to the Father
and the Son. In no way is he inferior or subordinate. And yet what do we read concerning
the Holy Ghost here in the text? O be it when he, the Spirit of
Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall
not speak of himself. He shall not speak of himself.
He doesn't speak of himself in opposition to the father. He
doesn't speak of himself in opposition to the son. Dr. Gill says he is of the same mind,
the same understanding, and the same will as the father and the
son. Because though God is three,
God is one. And when it comes to God, there
is no conflict between the persons in the Godhead. There is a blessed simplicity,
God's will is one. What the Father wills, the Son
wills, and the Holy Ghost wills. God's will is one. Although the
doctrine is most profound and we cannot begin to understand
it, will we ever understand it? God is so much greater than ever
we are. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst
thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst
thou do? The measure thereof, longer than
the earth, broader than the seas. That's the language of Eliphaz
there in the book of of Job. God is beyond our understanding. We try to fathom these things,
we try to meditate in these things, but we're lost in wonder and
laugh and praise, I trust. And yet, although it's all so
profound, there is at the root such a simplicity. God is one. And God's will is one. Some people
like to speak of God having a revealed will and a permissive will. Well, I don't like that. As if
there's two wills in God. There are not two wills. There's
never any conflict in God. Well, this is the wonder, you
see. The essential unity that we see in the Godhead. That's the first point. And secondly,
secondly, I want to concentrate for a while on this aspect of
the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as it's spoken of here, which
is such a self-effacing ministry. It's such a self-effacing ministry.
How be it when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide
you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself. He is the
Spirit of the truth, He guides into all truth, but He doesn't
speak of Himself. How are we to understand this?
We're to understand it in terms of the outworking of the covenant
of grace. We're to think here in terms
of the economy of grace, the way in which God works in salvation. How does God work in salvation?
Well, the Father is the one who sends the Son. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law. And remember how the Father speaks
of the Son, they're equal, they're gods, co-equal, co-eternal. But the Father says concerning
the Son, Behold my servants, whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighted, I have put my spirit upon him." That's
in the Covenant, you see. The Son willingly becomes the
servant of the Father in working that salvation that is necessary
for sinners of last mankind. And so when the Son comes, what
can He say concerning the Father? And we read the words this morning
there In chapter 14, 28, My Father is greater than I. How is the Father greater if
there's no subordination in the Godhead? Well, it's not the Godhead here,
it's the Covenant. It's the great purpose and plan
of salvation, the outworking of that that God had planned
from eternity. that covenant in which the Son
becomes the Father's servant. My Father is greater than I. So what does the Lord Jesus say
in the course of His ministry, and we have it continually here
in John, chapter 12, verse 49, I have not spoken of myself but
the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what
I should say and what I should speak. the Son is speaking the
words that the Father gave Him to speak again in chapter 15
and verse 15 all things that I have heard of my Father I have
made known unto you what the Father had made known to the
Son the Son comes to make known to the disciples and again if
we go back further into chapter 7 And there at verse 16, Jesus
answers them and says, My doctrine is not Mine, My teaching is not
Mine, but is a sentiment. If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the
same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. This is the Lord describing
his own ministry. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, he says. My meat, that's my necessary
food, that's the food that sustains me, that by which I'm living. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, and to finish his work. Clearly, we see that
the Father sends the Son. And in the fullness of time then,
the Son comes. And what does the Son come to
do? He comes to speak the words of the Father. He comes to do
all the Father's will. He comes to finish the work that
the Father has given Him to do. He is very much the servant of
the Father. And then we see How the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, serves the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit serves the Lord
Jesus Christ as we see Him as God's manifest in the flesh. Chapter 3, verse 34, He whom
God hath sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto Him, Oh, there was such an effusion of
the Spirit upon him. We remarked this morning on the
significance of this word comforter, the name that is repeatedly given
to the Holy Ghost in these chapters. And I said it's that word that
we are familiar with in our English language, you find it in some
of the hymns, it's the word paraclete, that's the anglicized form of
the particular Greek word. apparently, one called to be
beside another. And now the Spirit is here constantly
besides the Lord Jesus Christ. How does the Lord Jesus Christ
come into this world in the fullness of the time? Well, He has to
be conceived. How do you and I come into this
world? We are conceived. In the remarkable providence
of God we are conceived in the wombs of our mothers. And the
time comes, you see, when the child conceived in the womb is
brought to the birth. And the Lord Jesus is a real
man. How is this man conceived? He's conceived in the womb of
a virgin. How can a virgin conceive? Mary
knows not a man. She's betrothed, but she doesn't
know Joseph. They're not man and wife. Oh,
she knows him, but there's not that relationship. they have
not become one flesh how is this child conceived? well the angel
says to the virgin the holy ghost shall come upon
thee the power of the higher shall overshadow thee therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the son of God what was conceived of human nature and that human
nature body and soul was joined to the eternal son of God the
person of the eternal son of God takes to himself a real human
nature he is God man because he never ceases to be God and
yet he is a real man and you know even now the Lord Jesus
in heaven is the God man touch with the feeling of our infirmities
but all the ministry of the Spirit there at the beginning of his
human life conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Ghost and then
we refer this morning to other aspects of the Spirit's ministry
how the Spirit descends upon him at his baptism descends in
the form of a dove even as the Father speaks from heaven this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and he is led of
the Spirit into the wilderness he is tempted of the devil after
40 days in the wilderness he returns into Galilee in the fullness
of the Spirit he is there in the synagogue in Nazareth and
the minister in the synagogue gives to him the book of the
prophet Isaiah and he reads those words of Isaiah 61 the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach
the gospel you can read it there Luke 4.14 following, this day
is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, He says to them. How
does He perform miracles? By the Spirit. If I cast out
demons by the Spirit of God, then is the Kingdom of God come
among you. All the spirits ever ministering to Him, ever serving
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what the Spirit is doing. constantly
serving the Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes to die we read
of him who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spots to God. But then after three days is
he not raised again from the dead, being put to death in the
flesh, says Peter, but quickened by the Spirit. The Spirit serving
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then further we see how the
Lord Jesus Christ is that one who sends the Spirit. The Spirit
is sent by the Lord Jesus Christ. How does the Lord Jesus Christ
send the Spirit? Well, He prays. He's a man and
He makes His request to God. He prays. Isn't the Lord Jesus
a remarkable pattern of prayer? The disciples said, Lord, teach
us to pray. As John taught his disciples
to pray. He is that man who spends whole nights in prayer to his
Father. And of course, in the chapter
after this, 16th chapter that we've just read earlier tonight,
we have that great 17th chapter. The Lord's high priestly prayer. He is a great priest. And what does a priest do? A
priest intercedes. That's a part of his priestly
office. We see him praying. What else does a priest do? He
makes sacrifice. And so after chapter 17 we come
into chapters 18 and 19 and we see him there as a sacrificing
priest. But he's not only the priest,
he's the sacrifice. He's the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. But we're thinking about how
the Lord sends the Spirit. What does He do? Chapter 14 and
verse 16, I will pray the Father. I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth
Him, but ye know Him. for He dwelleth with you and
shall be in you." How clear it is here. Again we have the three
persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Spirit. And the
Spirit is a person, just as the Father is a person and the Son
is a person. And repeatedly we have the masculine
pronoun, He. He dwelleth with you. He shall be in you. But how does
the Lord Jesus send the Spirit? Well, He prays to the Father. And then we see it ultimately,
of course, when we come to Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost. And that glorious event, the
coming of the Spirit. Not that the Spirit was not present
previous to that. I said this morning the Spirit
is there, is there in creation. How were the heavens and the
earth made? By the Word of the Lord, by the breath or the Spirit
of His mouth. God said, let there be light,
there was light. It's the Word of God, it's divine
fear. This is how God works. by the word of His mouth but also by the breath of His
mouth by the spirit of His mouth He is there at the beginning
in creation He is there throughout the Old Testament but then when
we come to the New Testament we have the fullness the fullness
of the revelation of God we see Him of course in the Son who
is the image of the invisible God but we see Him then in that
wondrous coming of the Spirit The Spirit was not yet given
because Jesus was not yet glorified, we are told back in chapter 7.
But when Christ is glorified, Oh, having finished the work
that the Father gave Him to do, I have glorified Thee on the
earth, I have finished the work that Thou gavest Me to do. Having
made the great sacrifice, having uttered those words from the
cross, it is finished. He bows the head, He gives up
the ghost, commends his spirit, his soul into the hands of God,
he dies. He rises again, he ascends on
high. What does Peter say? Acts 2,
33, Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear. though he had prayed, I
will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter and
the Father heard his prayer the Father answered his prayer he
received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost and
he sends the Spirit and the Spirit comes very much then as the Spirit
of Christ this is his ministry He shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will
show you things to come, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive
of mine, and shall show it unto you. Now thirdly and finally,
consider his exalting of Christ. is exalting of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what the Spirit's ministry
is. Now in the divine economy of grace, in the great plan of
salvation, we see that it is the Father who appoints sinners
to salvation. That is election. The Father
appoints sinners to salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It
is of the Father. It is the Son who comes and accomplishes
that salvation. And how does He accomplish that
salvation? By His obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross. He pays the great price of the sinner's redemption. The
ransom price that is owed to the Lord of Gods. that law which
is holy, that commandment which is holy and just and good it
must be satisfied, God's holiness, God's righteousness, God's justice
must be satisfied the soul that sinneth it shall die the wages
of sin is death and the Lord Jesus dies And he dies just for the unjust,
to bring sinners to God. He reconciles sinners to God. Or the Son is the one who accomplishes
salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. The electing love of the Father,
the redeeming work of the Son. And the Holy Spirit is that one
who applies the salvation. who makes that salvation such
a blessed reality in the soul of the sinner when that sinner
is born again by the Spirit of God. Oh, ye must be born again. Ye
must be born again. The man can receive nothing except
it's given him from heaven, born from above, born from heaven,
the great work of regeneration. This is what we call the economy
of God's grace. And we see how it's brought out
wonderfully in that opening chapter of Ephesians. Ephesians 1, verses
3 to 6 speak to us of the Father, His electing love. And then verses
7 to 12 speak to us of the Son, His redeeming worth. And then
verses 13 and 14 speak to us of the Spirit. How these things
are sealed upon the soul of the sinner by the blessed Spirit
of God. So observe then what it is that
the Spirit does. How do we come to an experimental
knowledge of salvation? It is by the work of the Spirit. It's by the work of the Spirit.
He does the work. He makes Christ a reality to
sinners. And this is what the Lord is
speaking of in the text. How be it when He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall
not speak of Himself, though He be the Spirit of Truth. Who
does He speak of? Christ says, I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. He will guide you into all truth.
He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak. And He will show you things to
come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are Mine. Therefore said I that He, that
is the Spirit, shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you. Oh, the Spirit, He must come
and He must show us these things. or we cannot know these things,
He must reveal these things to us. It is under the Spirit's
ministry that salvation is experienced. And we sought to say a little
of it on Thursday, I referred again to what we were considering
then, there in 1 John 2.20, the unction, you have an unction
from the Holy One and ye know all things what is the all things
that we know by that unction? it's salvation the anointing
the same word really in verse 27 that is rendered previously
as unction the anointing which have received of him abideth
in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no
lie and even as he hath taught you ye shall abide in him that is the Spirit's ministry
how we need that blessed anointing the Spirit to come and to open
our understanding and to touch our hearts and to move our wills
we have to have an experience of that ministry of the Holy
Spirit Himself revealing to us the things of Christ and yet
whilst we recognize that no man can say that Jesus Christ is
Lord but by the Holy Ghost Yet, here Christ is reminding us of
the objectivity of salvation. In no way does the Spirit draw
attention to Himself. In no way does the Spirit glorify
Himself, though He be the agent. Though subjective experience
can only be by the ministry of the Spirit. How important is
his work in the soul of the sinner? But that's not what is being
emphasized. It is the objectivity of salvation
that is so important. He shall not speak of himself,
says Christ. He shall glorify me. This is
what he does, you see. This is what we saw this morning. He shall testify of me, the end
of that verse we were considering, chapter 14, 26. Always the Spirit directs to
Christ. What is salvation? It is simply looking on to Jesus. It is looking on to Jesus, not
looking to ourselves, not looking for any qualification in ourselves,
not looking for the work of the Spirit in ourselves, it's looking
on to Jesus, always, only. He shall testify of me. And when He does that work we
will recognize who Christ is and we will be brought to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, look at John, writing
there in his first epistle, that first general epistle, in chapter
4, he says, Beloveds, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirit where they are of God, because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that he
should come, and even now already is it in the world." Or what
is the ministry of the Spirit? He bears testimony to the reality
of Christ's human nature. He is one, one with his people. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. touched with the feeling of our
infirmities tempted in all points like as we are yet without seeing
precious truth the truth of that human nature and then John goes
on there at verse 13 Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus
is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And again, you see, what does
the Spirit do? He directs us to Christ, to the
person of Christ, not only the truth of His human nature, that
He has come in the flesh, but also the precious truth of His
divine nature, His eternal Sonship. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. All Gods Grant then that we might
be those who know that blessed ministry, that gracious ministry,
the testimony of the Spirit of God, ever, always directing us
only to the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall glorify me, says Christ,
for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. O God, be pleased and to bless
His Word to us. Amen.