Our text is found in the portion
that we read, the first verse of our reading, the end of the
15th chapter, in the Gospel according to John, and verse 26. But 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." John 15, 26 But 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. to saying these words the Lord
Jesus Christ has been speaking to his disciples concerning the
world's hatred from verse 18 and in those following verses
he speaks of those things that his children must endure as they
follow him who himself was hated in the world. He says at verse
18, then, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own, but because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Again, at verse 23, he says,
he that hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done
among them the works which none other man did, they had not had
sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father, that this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They
hated me without a cause." And Christ, remember in these chapters,
is speaking very much of his departing from them and the coming
of the Holy Spirit to them. He is speaking very much then
of the day of grace, his dispensation of the gospel, his dispensation
of the Holy Spirit throughout This day of grace we see quite
clearly there will be these two things running together concurrently. There will be the world's hatred
on the one hand, but on the other hand there will be that gracious
help that comes by the Spirit. But when the Comforter is come,
says Christ, whom I will send unto you from the Father, Even
the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of mine. In the midst of all that God's
children have to endure then, in this fallen world, they are
assured that there will be that gracious ministry of the Holy
Ghost. Peter, writing there in chapter
4 of his first epistle, Verse 14, he says, if ye be reproached
for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken
of, but on your part he is glorified. The Spirit of glory and of God
is the one who comes to rest upon the believer, to minister
to him. And so, tonight, as we turn to
the words that I've announced as our text, I want us to consider
something of what Christ says here concerning His coming. The
coming of the Holy Spirit. And we consider some three things
from the text. First of all, His name. Secondly, His character. And then thirdly, His office. First of all, his name. His name. Now I know that Christ
speaks of him as the Comforter. But thinking more particularly
of that name that belongs to him as the third person in the
Godhead. He is the Spirit of Truth, is
he not? Even the Spirit of Truth which
proceedeth from the Father. We must, in this text, be careful
to distinguish the Spirit's essential relationship with the Father
and with the Son in that great mystery of the Godhead, that
mystery of the Trinity, and there is a relationship, an inter-Trinitarian
relationship, and we have to distinguish that relationship
from the ministry that the Spirit exercises in the outworking of
the covenant of grace. Now we see here that Christ refers
to him by the name of the Spirit, even the Spirit of truth. But the verse we see is very
much a Trinitarian verse, all the persons of the Godhead are
here. It is the Son, as God incarnates,
it's the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, in the
state of His humiliation, ministering here upon the earth just previous
to His crucifixion, and He speaks of the Holy Spirits, and He also
speaks of the Father, the Comforter, He says, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth
from the Father. He shall testify of me. All the persons, the three divine
persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
then, are set before us in the text. Think of the language of
that great Athanasian creed which speaks that the Godhead of the
Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one. The glory equal and the majesty
co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is
the Son and such is the Holy Ghost. They are all equal. There is no superiority, no inferiority. Each of the Divine Persons is
God. And yet there are not three Gods.
There is one God who subsists in those three Persons. But how
significant are the Names? We speak of God the Father, of
God the Son, and of God the Holy Spirit. of the Son. Now, the very name
that is given to him tells us something of his relationship
to the One that is spoken of as the Father. In the opening
chapter of John's Gospel we have those great statements concerning
the Eternal Word, which is another name for the Eternal Son. We
are told how the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. He is the only begotten of the
Father. Now, in God's gracious purpose,
of course, His people are made His sons, they become the sons
of God. Are they the sons of God? They
are God's sons by adoption. It is only the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one speaking here in this chapter, that is the begotten
Son, the only begotten Son of God. Now the Jews understood
the significance of what he was saying to them in the course
of his ministry. how they sought to kill him,
as we are told in chapter 5, because he had not only broken
the Sabbath, they said, but he had said that God was his father,
making himself equal with God. And there were other occasions
when they would have stoned him, but his owl, of course, was not
come, they could not lay a single finger upon him. In chapter 10
we are told how the Jews took up Stones are going to stone
him. Jesus answered them, many good
works have I shown you from my Father, for which of those works
do you stone me? The Jews answered, saying, for
a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because
of thou being a man, make us thyself God. How was it that
he made himself God when he said that God was his father? And
this was the charge of course they laid against him when they
arranged him before Pontius Pilate. What did they say? They accused
him of blasphemy again because he said he was the son of God. He is the eternal Son of the
Eternal Father, the only begotten Son, the Son of the Father in
truth and love. That's a tremendous statement,
is it not, that we find in the third verse of John's second
epistle. That's how we describe the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Son of the Father in
truth and in love. That is the relationship that
they sustain. The Father delights in His Son,
and the Son delights in His Father. We are thinking particularly
of the Holy Spirit and His coming, and the name, the name that is
given to Him, even the Spirit of Truth, says Christ, which
proceeds from the Father. He is Spirit. He is Spirit in
the sense that He is breathed forth, He proceeds from the Father,
He proceeds from the Son. That is the relationship that
there is between the person, the procession, the proceeding
forth, the breathing forth of the Holy Spirit. Later in chapter
20 and verse 22 Christ breathed on them it says and
said receive ye the Holy Ghost he breathes on them he is breathed
forth now look at the language that is used here in the text
notice the tenses that are used the Lord Jesus speaks of the
comforter coming. When the Comforter is come, He
says, whom I will send unto you from the Father. He uses a future
tense. It speaks of something that is
going to take place in the future. After He has gone the way of
the cross, after He has made that great sacrifice for sins,
the purpose of His coming, after He has risen again, from the
dead and then ascended on high. He's speaking of that future
event that's recorded of course in the second chapter of the
Acts, the coming of the Holy Spirit. And Peter reminds us
there that it was Christ who shed him abroad. He declares
that to the Jews in the course of his preaching. Christ is speaking then quite
clearly here of something in the future. He will send the
Spirit. He will send the Spirit when He has completed His own
work, that work that was given to Him in the Covenant, and then
the Spirit will come to accomplish His work in the Covenant. We have then the future tense
at the beginning, but then At the end of the verse we have
the present tense. Christ speaks of him as the spirit
of truth which proceeds from the Father. Does it speak of
him proceeding from the Father in the future? He is always proceeding
from the Father. That is his natural procession.
That is his relationship to the Father, his relationship to the
Son. He proceeds, he brings forth. But he is not just a power, he
is a person. See how Christ uses the personal
pronoun, in fact it is the demonstrative pronoun that he uses here. Christ
says, Hey! Literally that one, that person
of whom he has spoken as proceeding from the Father, he is a person
and he shall come, says Christ, and he shall testify or the significance
then of the name that is given to this particular person. He
is God, he is God the Holy Spirit or God the Holy Ghost. One and
the same thing of course, the word Spirit comes from the Latin,
the word Ghost comes from the Anglo-Saxon, but it's one and
the same thing, but the word is used interchangeably in our
authorised version. But it's one and the same thing,
it's God. The third person of the Godhead, as we say. God,
the Holy Spirit. And then we see something with
regards to his character in the second place. He's spoken of
here as the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth. All he does is in accordance
with the Truth. all his ministry is in line with
that truth that is revealed for us here in the Word of God. Is
he not the author of the Scriptures? Those holy men of God, says Peter,
they spake as they were moved, as they were brought along by
the Spirit of God. And they only spake the true
words of God. Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's God breathed, it's the breath
of God, it's the work of the Spirit who has given us this
book. It's an inspired book. It is
the truth of God. And so the Spirit here in his
character is spoken of in terms of truth. He is holy of course.
He is a holy one. Is not God himself thrice holy? Doesn't Isaiah speak of the song
of the angels about the throne of God? How they cry, holy, holy,
holy Lord God of hosts. Oh the Lord God, He is three
times holy because He is three holy persons, holy Father, Holy
Son and Holy Spirit and so as he comes the Holy Spirit into
this world what does he do? He reproves and he convinces
of sin this is the mission that he comes to fulfill is it not? and we see that in the following
chapter In chapter 16, at verse 8, Christ
says, when he is come, he will reprove. The margin says, convince
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
I believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judged. bears his constant testimony
to the truth. The truth as it is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He convinces the world of sin
at the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost as Peter
and the Apostles proclaim that great message of salvation. They
don't preach in vain. There is the Spirit And the Spirit
is at work, He is applying the ministry of those men, the ministry
of Peter. And we are told, are we not something
of the consequence? There is that conviction brought
into the soul of sinners. Who were those men there at Jerusalem? Well, they were Jews and they
were proselytes. In other words, they were those
who had converted to the Jewish religion. They may have been
Gentiles by birth, but they have become Jews. They have embraced
the Jewish religion. This is the congregation. And
Peter speaks plainly to them of what they have done in the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Jews were the
ones crying out, crucify him, crucify him. And so Peter says
of Christ being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken. And by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. He speaks directly to them. You've
done it. You've killed the Lord of glory. Oh yes, he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, the Roman authority. They had not authority
to kill a man. but they were the ones that demanded
his death and as Peter so faithfully proclaims this message we see
the outcome when they heard this these Jews and these proselytes
when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren
what shall we do? He is there to say, convincing
of sin, because they believe not on me. God always convinces
men of sin. He convinces men of that sin
that lies at the root of all our sin, that awful sin of unbelief. That sin of the fool, the man
who says there is no God. It is the Spirit who comes, you
see, as the Spirit of truth, and bears his witness even in
the sinner's heart, and the sinner is made to feel what he is. But
not only does he speak the truth with regards to sins, he also
convinces of righteousness. Of righteousness, says Christ,
because I go to my father and he see me no more." Now what
Peter was preaching, was he not declaring really the innocence
of the Lord Jesus Christ? No, it was not really possible
that death should hold him. He was the one raised again from
the dead. He was the one who was vindicated
by God. He was really that righteous
man. He is that righteous man that is spoken of by the psalmists
in Psalm 24, the man that is able to ascend the hill of the
Lord. That surely is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only righteous man
Though the first man, the first Adam, was righteous when he came
pristine from the hand of his Creator, Adam did not continue
in righteousness, Adam transgressed. Adam and his wife Eve, they felled,
and all their offspring had partaken of that fallen sinful nature.
There is but one righteous man, that is the second man, the Lord
from heaven. You shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord. You shall stand in His holy place, asks David. He that hath clean hands, and
a pure heart, and hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfulness. Oh, this is the manuscript. And
so, what does David go on to say? Lift up your heads over
your gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of glory shall come. Who is this King of Glory, the
Lord Strong and Mighty, the Lord Mighty in battle? Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of Glory shall come. This is the man who is able to
ascend into the hill of the Lord. It is the man Christ Jesus. And
the Spirit bears testimony too, as that man. and that righteous
man. And we see it, I say, even in
the preaching of the apostle there on the day of Pentecost. Look at what he says in verse 22 of Acts chapter 2.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders, and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves also
know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain
there was no wickedness in him there was no cause of death in
him the soul that filleth it shall die and so death was not
able to hold him be it continues whom God hath raised up having
loose the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it, his sinlessness. How could death hold him? The
wages of sin is death. There was nothing of sin in him.
And the Spirit, I say, bears testimony to him and his righteousness. But do we not see it subsequently
in the experience of a man like saw the pharisee, the proud self-righteous
pharisee, brought up at Gamaliel's feet, boasting that he was a
pharisee and the son of a pharisee, and touching the righteousness
of the law, considering himself to be blamed, all but when the
Spirit does his great work in the soul of that man, how he
is convinced of his sins. And there he is kicking against
the pricks, goaded in his conscience. And he comes to the very gate
of Damascus. And there is to him that wondrous
revelation of Christ. He expresses, does he not, later
when he's writing to the Philippians, something of his desire. Once
he knows Christ, he sees all his righteousness in Christ.
That's the witness of the Spirit in the soul. of the man who is
now Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles. And what is his
desire to be found in him, to be found in Christ? He says,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God, by faith. And here is the spirit, you see,
the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. He doesn't just convince
of sin but of righteousness, because I go to my Father and
ye see me no more. Here is Christ vindicated. The
righteous one now risen and ascended and seated on the throne of glory. And then the Spirit also reproves
of judgment, it says, of judgment because the Prince of this world
is judged. Satan has been judged. Satan
has been defeated and vanquished. Satan now has no power over those
who are in cross. He is a vanquished father. There
is none who can really make them afraid anymore. Even death has been vanquished
by Christ's resurrection. But Christ is that one, of course,
to whom God has committed all judgment. All judgment has been
committed into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says as
much. Back in chapter 5, verse 22, the Father judgeth no man. but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son. Verse 26 For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Lord Christ is that one who is to sit in judgment upon all men.
And again, even with the coming of the Holy Spirit there on the
day of Pentecost, do we not see the Spirit bearing testimony
to that truth? At the end of his sermon, verse
36, Peter says, Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom he hath
crucified, both Lord and Christ. All power, all authority is committed
into his hands. And this is the Spirit's constant
testimony there. He is the Spirit of Truth. He
is the Holy Spirit. But I want, in the third place,
to say something more particular with regards to his office, as
we see it in terms of the outworking of that eternal covenant of grace. The father sends the son, does
he not? When the fullness of the time
has come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman made under
the law. And here is God the Son, obedient
to all his Father's will, executing all that work that the Father
had given him to do. After these discourses in chapters
14, 15 and 16, we see him in prayer in chapter 17, and what
does he say in the course of his prayer? I have glorified
thee on the earth, he says to the Father, I have finished the
work. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And so upon the cross he cries
out, in triumph it is finished, it is done. All the work is executed. The great sacrifice has been
made. The Father is the one who has sent the Son. And in
the course of all his ministry this is Christ's way to do the
will of him who has sent him and to finish his work. But here
we see that it is the Son who in the outworking of that same
covenant says, He will send the Spirit. 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 is the eternal
Spirit of God. He is God the Holy Spirit, which
proceeded from the Father. He shall testify of mercy. As Christ sends the Spirit there,
the Spirit has an office. The Spirit has a work that He
too must accomplish. The Lord Jesus Christ in that
covenant comes of course as the great servant of God. Behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. But here we see that Spirit is
the one who now comes to serve God the Son. Back in chapter 3, what do we
read at the end of the chapter as Christ is about to commence
his public ministry, He has that great unction of anointing of
the Spirit. God give us not the Spirit by
measure unto him, it says. End of chapter 3. There is a
great effusion, a great outpouring of the Spirit upon him. He is
the Christ. He is the anointed one. Anointed with the Spirit. And
we see how the Spirit is constantly serving him throughout his earthly life.
We see it even in his coming into the world, his conception.
How is he conceived? How is he conceived in the womb
of this virgin? She knows not a man. This is
a virgin birth. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
them. The power of the Highest shall overshadow them. Therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. He is conceived by the Holy Ghost. Even there you see, at the beginning
of his earthly life, and his earthly life begins in the womb,
where all earthly life begins. There in the womb he is conceived
by God the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is serving him,
that he might execute the work that he had undertaken in the
covenant. And so when he comes to John to be baptised, you know
what happens at his baptism. He submits to John's baptism.
and the heavens open and the Father declares this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased and the Spirit descends upon
him in the form of a dove the Spirit is there you see to serve
him at his baptism and then we are told how he is led of the
Spirit he is under the Spirit's influence the Spirit is directing
him, he is led of the Spirit into the wilderness where he
is tempted of sight to the men He returns in the fullness of
the Spirit and he comes to Nazareth where he was brought up and he
goes as was his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day
and the minister gives him the book of the prophet Isaiah and
he turns to Isaiah 61 those familiar words And he begins to read those
words, you can read it, we've referred to it several times
previously there in Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 4 and verse 16 following. He reads those words, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon him. He has anointed me to preach
the Gospel. And all the eyes of those in the synagogue are
upon him and he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears. He is anointed of the Spirit
to what end? To preach. That's what He is
saying. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
them. To preach. To proclaim all His ministry.
As it's recorded for us here in the Fourfold Gospel, Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, all of it is under the gracious anointing
of the Holy Spirit. And so the miracles which in
many ways are a confirmation of his ministry, because they
point to him as that one who has been sent of God. He says
again to the Jews, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God,
then the Kingdom of God is come upon me. How does he perform
miracles? He performs them by the Spirit.
His whole ministry is a spiritual ministry. And when he comes to
die, Paul to the Hebrews speaks about He through the Eternal
Spirit offered Himself up to God. All the Spirit is there
in the cross through the Eternal Spirit. His whole ministry, as
I've said, it's a spiritual ministry. The Spirit is there when He is
raised again from the dead, put to death in the flesh, says Peter,
quickened by the Spirit. You see that relationship then
between God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That's all the earthly ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks at the Spirit as that One
who will constantly serve Him at every turn. But then here
Christ speaks of His ministry also as that one who will testify. He shall testify of me. When the Comforter is come, whom
I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth
which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me, he shall
bear witness to me. And the Lord goes on to say something
more of that ministry does he not in chapter 16 verse 13, 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 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. He's God. He's God the Holy Spirit. But all that ministry that he
exercises here it's such a self-effacing ministry. Or does God, the Son,
willingly humble himself? He thinks he is not worthy to
be equal with God but makes himself of no reputation and takes upon
him the form of a servant and is made in the likeness of men.
That's the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, humility. Let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, says the Apostle. Or that
humbleness of mine. that we see in Him who is the
Glorious, Eternal, Only Begotten Son of God. But look at the Holy
Spirit also. Let us not lose sight of the
Spirit. Though His ministry be such a self-perfacing ministry,
He doesn't call or draw attention to Himself. That's not His ministry. He is worthy of all praises,
He's God. And yet, In the mystery of this
covenant, He shall glorify me, says Christ. He shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. In a sense, although He is there
in the Old Testament, of course, because all believers must have
known something of that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit, David certainly knew the meaning
of the Spirit. He cries out in his great penitential
psalm, take not my Holy Spirit from me. He felt that he had
grieved the Spirit. All those who were the true Israel
of God in the Old Testament, they were born again of the Spirit
of God. But there is that sense in which
he doesn't really come at all until Christ is glorified. Those words that we have earlier
in chapter 7 here. Do you remember how Christ speaks of
the believer? "...either believe upon me, as
the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water." Rivers of living water. What is this that Christ
is speaking of? Well, John tells us, "...this
spake he of the Spirit, which thou that believe on him should
receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus
was not yet glorified. Now in a sense he holds back
until Christ is glorified, Christ has accomplished his work, and
on all the Father's goodwill and pleasure, and Christ has
now risen and ascended, been received up into glory. and then
the spirit comes in all his glory there on the day of Pentecost
and it is the Lord Jesus Christ who very much sheds him forth
being by the right hand of God exalted says Peter he has shed
forth this which he now see and hear he testifies to Christ if
we know anything savingly of the Lord Jesus Christ we can
only know it through the spirit Or we might fill our heads with
all the scriptures. We might apply ourselves, and
there are men, unbelieving men, who make a study of the Word
of God. They might call themselves theologians
or expositors, and what do they know of the ministry of the Spirit?
It's one thing, you see, to fill our heads. It's another thing
to know that blessed ministry of the Spirit, taking of the
things of Christ, revealing them to our soul. making Christ so
real in our experience, granting that blessed revelation of Him
as the only Saviour. And so we come to this aspect
of His office. He is the servant of Christ yet,
He is the testifier of the Lord Jesus Christ, He bears witness
to Him, and He is the Comforter. He is the Comforter of the people
of God. The Comforter is come. This is
the word that the Lord uses time and time again in these three
chapters 14 and 15 and 16. The Comforter. And you know the
significance of the word. It's a compound word there as
we have it in the original and we're told that the two words
rendered in our authorised version as Comforter literally mean one
called to be beside another. He is that one who comes to be
beside another and he comes beside poor needy
sinners and he comes to be their helper and their guide and their
instructor and the one who will reveal the things of Christ Or
do we feel that we stand in need of that One to be alongside us?
To be alongside us when we come to read the Word of God? When
we come to hear the ministry of the Word of God? Do we feel
to need Him alongside us when we turn to God in prayer? Do
we feel that we constantly need Him to help us? To help us to
read, to help us to hear, to help us to understand, to help
us to believe? Or do we feel that we can do
nothing without that blessed ministry of the Comforter? And
here is the great promise, you see, that the Lord Jesus Christ
has given concerning Him, concerning His blessed ministry. When the
Comforter is come, says Christ, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit of truth.
which proceedeth from the Father. He is God. God the Holy Ghost. And Christ says, He shall testify
of mine. He shall glorify mine. For He shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. Oh God grant that we might know
Him then. And all the blessings of His
gracious ministry for Christ's sake.