Well, good morning to each of
you. Turn with me again to John chapter 15, if you would, please. John chapter 15. Last two verses of the chapter. Verse 26. 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." Our subject this morning is the Spirit of truth. The Lord first addresses him
as the Comforter. And that word Comforter in the
original Greek means advocate. It means intercessor. It means
consoler. To me, that just proves that
the Holy Spirit is the same as God the Father and God the Son
is none other than God himself. God in three persons. He's the
believer's advocate. He's the believer's intercessor. He's the believer's mediator.
He's the believer's consoler. And I believe it's helpful to
understand that these words before us here are some of the last
and final words that the Lord ever spoke to his apostles. Matter
of fact, chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 in the gospel of John
are the last words of our Lords to his disciples and apostles. And it's here that the Lord instructs
His people how God will use them and what to expect in the days
and weeks to come. And what encouraging words they
are. After warning the disciples of the opposition that they would
meet with, without discouraging them more, the Lord reverts to
His original promise that the divine comforter would come to
their relief. If you look back a page or so
to John chapter 14 and verse 26, you'll see just that. It
says, but the comforter, John 14, 26, 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've said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. And
let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Here
in John chapter 14, the Lord says that the comforter will
be sent in Christ's name. And in our text, in John chapter
15, He tells them that the spirit of truth will descend from the
Father. And those two statements together
show us the unity of the Godhead. The Spirit of truth would further
our Lord's interest and would be unto the disciples what Christ
Himself had been unto them and would be unto them if He had
remained on earth. This was a great comfort to them.
And then again in verse 26 of John 15, We read, but when the Comforter
has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify
of me, in verse 27, and ye also shall bear witness, because you've
been with me from the beginning. Now here the Lord explains to
the disciples how the Spirit would testify of Him, but that
He would also, through the disciples, bear witness of Christ. What
they had already seen and heard from the Lord, they would hear
nothing different, nothing new through the Spirit. This shows
us the harmony between God the Father and God the Son and God
the Spirit, along with God's true servants. And in this religious
world in which we live, When so many different things are
being preached in different religious organizations, I find great comfort
in knowing that God's Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit,
that the things that we preach are so. That's what Paul said
in Romans 8, verse 16, when he said, the spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And
then again in verse 27, and ye also shall bear witness because
you've been with me from the beginning. Now for three and
a half years, the apostles had been eyewitnesses of all that
Christ did. They saw all the good that he
did to the bodies and the souls of men and women. They saw with
their eyes, they heard with their ears, they handled with their
hands the word of life, being Christ himself. Especially, he's
always referring to himself in the gospel that bears his name
as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And we always find him leaning
upon the Lord's breast, upon his chest, upon his heart. And
they could, with faithful testimony, declare the great things that
Christ had done. They had seen them firsthand.
And today, the comforter is still comforting those who believe
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at chapter 16 verse one. This is one of those places in
the scripture that there probably should have never been a division
of chapters. In chapter 15, the Lord had been
speaking of the hatred of the world against the Father and
against Himself and against His disciples. He said, don't think
it's strange that the world hates you. It hated me before it hated
you. But then he assures them that he would send the Holy Spirit
to comfort them and further his cause. But here in chapter 16,
or in this part of the conversation, like I said, it shouldn't have
been a division, a chapter division there, but now the Lord returns
to the subject of the world's hatred in even more detail. Previously, the Lord had spoken
somewhat in general terms of the world's enmity, but now he
proceeds to speak more particular. The disciples of Christ would
be hated by the world. And he begins with these words
in verse one. He said, these things have I
spoken unto you that you should not be offended. Now, if you
have a marginal Bible, that word offended means that you might
not be made to stumble. It means that you might not be
discouraged. Verse two, they, speaking of
the religious leaders, shall put you out of the synagogues.
They'll despise your message, they'll hate your gospel, and
they'll put you out. That's not all. They'll have
such a hatred of the gospel of God's grace and the gospel of
a crucified, buried, and risen again Savior, and the redemption
that's only found through His blood. They'll hate that message
so much that they'll put you to death. Again, verse two, yea,
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God's service. They'll kill you and think they're
doing God a favor. And you know, that's exactly
what the religious leaders did to our Lord's disciples. Matter of fact, as I mentioned
last time, according to biblical history, every disciple, with
the exception of John, the writer of these words, was executed
for their stand of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified.
And John, who was not killed, was exiled to a remote island,
the Isle of Patmos, And today, I'm convinced that we don't really
know anything about real persecution for Christ's sake. But we may
yet, before it's all over. The words of our Lord here rang
true concerning the apostles. They were put to death. And those
who did it thought they were doing God a service. Why would
religion do such a thing? Verse three tells us, look at
it. And these things will they do unto you because they have
not known the father nor me. Now there you have it. Not one
person persecutes a believer because they personally hate
the believer. They'll persecute you because
they hate your God and they hate your savior and they hate him
without a cause as we saw last time. Cause they don't know the
father and they don't know the son. That's what God says. And the Lord says in verse four,
but these things have I told you that when the time shall
come, you may remember that I told you of them. Now look at the
first part of verse five. He said, but now I go my way
to him that sent me. Well, you think about that. Our
Lord going back to the father, he goes by the way of the cross. Our Lord's going to the cross.
Our Lord is going to the tomb. He'll rise from the grave, He'll
conquer death, and He'll ascend back to His Father. But He goes
to the cross that He may alone atone for His people's sins.
And He dies and is buried in a tomb that His elect might have
eternal life. And he goes to the grave as the
believer's scapegoat. He rises as their justifier so
that God may remain just and still justify the believer. He ascends to heaven to the most
holy place as the child of God's great high priest to intercede
on their behalf. Everything he did was for his
people. He sits at the right hand of
the majesty on high as mediator. There's one mediator between
God and men, and that's the man Christ Jesus. And he had to go
by the way of the cross, by the way of the tomb, in order to
accomplish these things as our great high priest. He says, I
go to him that sent me. And very few today ask where
he went or why. Look at the last part of verse
five, even the disciples. He said, and none of you asketh
me, whither goest thou? Verse six, but because I have
said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Should
have been just the opposite. So many times we're discouraged
about so many things, but if we could see the overall picture
of God's sovereign providence, we would rejoice. It's here that
the Lord tells them why they shouldn't be sorrowful. He had
just told them that he was going back to his father, and yet sorrow
filled their hearts. You know, he told them in the
beginning of John chapter 14, he said, let not your hearts
be troubled, that he was going to prepare a place for them.
He's saying that the way home for him is by the way of the
cross and by way of the tomb, and then to glory. and there
to prepare a place for them and to prepare them for that place. He told them that he would come
again and receive them unto himself, that where he was, they may be
also. So don't sorrow, but rejoice.
I think about what Paul said in Philippians, I believe he
said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice and
rejoice that you rejoice. And here in verse seven, the
Lord gives them another reason to rejoice. Look at it, verse
seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's 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'll send him unto you. Now, if Christ didn't die, there
would be no gospel for us to preach. The purpose of the Holy
Spirit is to reveal the gospel, to take the things of Christ
and show them to us. But if Christ didn't die and
go back to the Father, then there is no gospel. And if Christ didn't
die, there's no blood to be shed, no blood to cover and wash our
sin away. If Christ doesn't die, there's
no atonement, no sacrifice for sin. The Holy Spirit has no purpose. If Christ doesn't die and rise
again, there's no salvation to be applied. There's no forgiveness
to grant. There's no eternal life to give. The Son of God must be lifted
up. Isn't that what the Lord said?
Must be lifted up. He didn't die as an example.
He died as a substitute. He didn't die as a martyr. He
died as a redeemer. And if Christ didn't die, we'd
never need a comforter because there would be no comfort to
give. Christ's way to the Father is by way of the cross, by way
of the tomb, and that's the way to the throne. If Christ didn't
die, there's no gospel, no salvation, no eternal life, no redemption. But if he goes away, he'll send
another comforter, that being the Holy Spirit, he said, who
will abide with you forever. And when the Holy Spirit has
come, look at verse eight, and when he has come, he will reprove,
he'll convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, this is the ministry of
the Holy Spirit. He'll reprove and he'll convict
the world of sin. Now, what does that mean? Well,
first of all, the word reprove means much more than just convict.
It means to convince. He'll convince his people in
this world of their sin. You know, I remember very vividly
when the Lord convinced me of my sin. I was convinced and yes,
I was convicted. Yes, I was reproved. I knew what
I deserved. I remember that. And I prayed
for the first time in my life that God did not give me what
I deserved. I prayed for mercy. That's what
mercy is. There are three things here that the Holy Spirit will
convince and convict the world of, or his people in the world.
Verse nine, he says of sin, because they believe not on me. That's
the first thing. Secondly, verse 10 of righteousness,
because I go to my father and you see me no more. And then
the third thing, verse 11, of judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. So there's three things here
that the Holy Spirit convicts of, sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now, first, the Holy Spirit is
going to convince and convict His people in the world of sin. Conviction of sin is absolutely
essential to salvation. It just is. Before a sinner will
ever come to Christ in faith, seeking mercy, they'll have to
discover that first and foremost, they need a Savior. They'll have
to discover that they need mercy, that they need salvation. Why? Because they're sinners. They
have to be convinced of that. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save who? Sinners. And the only people
that come to Him in faith and believe on Him and are saved
by Him are sinners. That's the first thing that must
be revealed to us. So the Holy Spirit convinces
and convicts saved sinners of their sin. Has the Holy Spirit
convinced you of your sin? If so, that's a good sign. Before
a person feels a need of mercy, they're made to see their guilt,
they're made to see their inability. They see that they cannot save
themselves. Their sin won't allow it. By
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Why? Because
we can't keep the law. We can't satisfy God's justice. We see our need of mercy, just
like that publican that went up to the temple to pray did.
You remember what his prayer was? Oh God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. We see our need of mercy for
one reason, because of our sin. Now, if we miss the conviction
of sin, we're gonna miss repentance. Nobody's ever repented for sin
they didn't have. And because of repentance, it's
toward God, because our sin is against Him. Against Him and
Him only have we sinned and done this evil in His sight. If we
miss repentance, we're gonna miss faith. And if we miss faith,
we're gonna miss Christ. And if we miss Christ, we're
gonna miss eternal life. Christ died for who? The ungodly. And only God can reveal it to
you. And only people that seek a savior are sinners, the ungodly. Christ said the Holy Spirit will
convince, convict, reprove men and women of sin, S-I-N, singular,
Not sins, plural, but sin, singular. Sin is singular. Sins, plural,
are what we do in word and in thought and in deed. They're
definitely plural. I got a bunch of them. Sins is
an action, but sin, singular, that's what we are. Sin is why
we commit sins. Sin is our nature. what causes
us to commit the transgressions and iniquities, plural, that
we do. And it's because our hearts are
bad. You know, spiritually, all of us have heart trouble. A man
is a thief because he steals, but he was a thief before he
ever stole. Well, how so? Well, he wouldn't
have stolen if he wouldn't. A man's a liar because he lies,
but yet he lies because he's a liar. and a liar is what he
is by nature. And our Lord said that the Holy
Spirit will convince the world of sin, and here's why, because
they believe not on me. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Sin's put away. But he that believeth
not on the Son hath made God out to be a liar, because he
believes not the record, he believes not what the Scriptures say that
God has given concerning his Son. The Holy Spirit's coming
to convince this world, Christ said, of sin. And then secondly,
the Holy Spirit will convince and convict his people in this
world of righteousness. Without the blood of Christ,
our righteousness is nothing but, Isaiah said, filthy rags. The best we've ever done, filthy
rags. It takes the blood of Christ
to make us acceptable unto God. The Holy Spirit's gonna convince
the world of righteousness. Adam sinned, and when he sinned,
his eyes were opened, and he felt guilt and shame for the
first time. Why? Because he realized that
he was naked. He'd been naked all along, but
he didn't know it, because he didn't have any sin. But now
his eyes are open, he sees he's naked, he's naked before God.
And that's what he realized. So what did he do? Well, he got
some fig leaves and he sewed them together by the work of
his own hands. And he made himself an apron
to cover his nakedness. But it didn't work. It didn't
suffice. It didn't give him any peace.
It didn't give him any comfort. You know how I know that? Because
he ran and hid. He heard God coming, and if he'd
have been satisfied with that fig leaf covering that he did
with his own hands, well, he would have stayed where he was,
but he didn't. So what happened next? God, in great mercy and
grace, slew a lamb. It says an animal, but I'm convinced
it's a lamb. God slew a lamb and made coats
of skin to cover the nakedness of Adam and his wife. You see
what the Lord's saying there? He'll convince the world of this
righteous covering. That's what the righteousness
of God is. It's our righteous covering.
Our Lord says here that He'll convince the world of righteousness
because He'll die and go back to the Father. That's where our
righteousness is obtained in what He did and what He accomplished. What did He say from the cross?
What was His last words? It's finished. The redeemed child
of God finds out that they're sinners. They realize that they're
naked, naked before God. They realize that God is unhappy
and God is dissatisfied with them. So what do they do? They
try to cover themselves with their own self-made hand-sewn
fig leaf righteousness. But there's no joy, there's no
rest, there's no peace, there's no comfort. That's what I tried
to do in religion for years. It wasn't anything but just fig
leaf covering. But there was no peace, no joy,
no comfort. And we run from God and we hide
until we discover that God sent a lamb for us. And he killed
that lamb just like he did for Adam. God slew a lamb, shed his
blood, took his skin and covered old Adam and God accepted him
and embraced him. And when the believer finds out
that they're sinners, and that their works won't work. They
discover that God sent a lamb and died on the cross, and as
our representative and our substitute and our sacrifice, He obeyed
the law on our behalf, that He satisfied God's justice on our
behalf. When we see that God Almighty
sent His Son, His only begotten Son, to redeem us and justify
us, and that we're now covered with His perfect righteousness
and we're washed in His precious blood, there'll be some joy and
comfort then. And then thirdly, the Holy Spirit
convinces and convicts believers in the world of judgment. The
Holy Spirit convinces us of judgment. He says, because the prince of
this world is judged and our sins are put away. Our enemy
is conquered. That's what that means. I've
got some family. and friends that they're always
doing battle with Satan. They're casting out Satan. They're
taking authority over Satan. Why? God's already conquered
him. No reason. God has already conquered
him. He's God's dog on a chain. And there is therefore now no
condemnation, no judgment to them that are in Christ. Judgment
and condemnation is put away. Therefore being justified by
faith, we have what? Peace with God. That's what I
need, peace with God. And we can say with Paul in Romans
8.33, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. If God justifies me, nobody can
charge me with sin. That's why I got peace. That's
why I have comfort and joy. Nobody can lay anything to the
elect's charge. Who's he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. If Jesus Christ died for me,
nobody can condemn me. Nobody, including Satan. Who is it that died, yea, rather
that is risen again, who's seated at the right hand of God, whoever
lives to make intercession for us. There he is, my high priest,
mediating on my behalf. Judgment here does refer to Satan.
He's defeated, he's cast out, but it also refers to the believer.
There's no judgment for the child of God, and the true child of
God sees that. That's why he has peace. That's
why they have comfort. No judgment for those whom Christ
has died for. Who's he that condemned? It's
Christ that died. That settles it. But it also
refers to unbelievers. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, what? Judgment. All of this conviction
of sin by the Holy Spirit relates to Christ. He'll convince them
of sin because he's pleased to do so. The Holy Spirit will convince
them of righteousness because Christ goes to his father. The
Holy Spirit convinces of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. And God's going to judge this
world by that man, Christ Jesus. That's what he says. John 5,
22, we're told the father judges no man, he's committed all judgment
to the son. In Acts 17, 31, God commanded
all men everywhere to repent because he's appointed a day
in which he will judge the world, not his church, not his elect,
not his sheep, but the world. He'll judge the world in righteousness,
in holiness. And they're gonna come up short,
way short. And this is the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. And the Lord Jesus tells us that
he's our comforter. We can be comforted by him. We
can be comforted by these things. Are you comforted? Does this
comfort you? Then rejoice, rejoice. And again, I say, rejoice. Oh,
may God be pleased to make it so.