Alright, go back with me to John
14. I titled this message, Lord Send
Us Your Spirit. Send us your spirit. We have many verses of scripture
that prove God the Trinity. Many verses of scripture, this
portion is one of them. In this text that we've been
going through, God the Son is speaking. And he said that he would pray
to God the Father. That God the Father might send
God the Spirit. That's what he's saying right
here. Tonight, we're going to look at the Holy Spirit, who
is our comforter. And we're going to see how he
comforts us. Verse 15, verse 15 says, if you
love me, keep my commandments. And I would love to take the
time to re-explain what that means. But we did that two Wednesday
nights ago. I'd actually like to just re-preach
that message. But we did that two Wednesday
nights ago, so we'll move on. But I will remind us of this.
He did not say, if you want to be saved, keep my commandments. He didn't say that. He said,
if you love me, if you love me, keep my commandments. And we
do, don't we? We love him and we do desire to keep his commandments
and we don't keep his commandments. But we desire to and the reason
is because we love him. Verse 16 says, and I will pray
the father and he shall give you another comforter that he
may abide with you forever. Who is this comforter? Verse
17 says, even the spirit of truth. That's who it is. God's Holy
Spirit. Now look at verse 26 right here
in John 14. It says, but the Comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall
teach you all things, bring all things to remembrance, whatsoever
I have said to you. The Comforter which is the Holy
Ghost. Our Comforter is the Holy Spirit
of God Himself. The Spirit of God Himself, and
our Lord called Him in verse 17, the Spirit of Truth. Now let me show you why He called
Him that. Turn with me over to Acts chapter
1. Acts chapter 1, look at verse
16. Men and brethren, this scripture
must needs have been fulfilled. Now watch this right here. Which
the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning
Judas. The Holy Ghost said it. It was by the mouth of David,
but the Holy Ghost wrote it. The Holy Ghost said it. Now turn
with me over to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter 1 verse 20 says, Knowing this first, and I want
to point out that this is the first thing that a person needs
to know concerning the Word of God. I was watching a documentary
a few years ago, and I was just curious. You know, they were
going to be talking about things of the Bible. And so I turned
it on for just a minute. And this guy was going through
different writings and he was a theologian and he was talking
about how apparently Paul's opinion on things changed. And he learned
some things and realized his error because he says this over
here, but he says that over here. All right, well, here's the first
thing that that poor man needs to learn. Verse 20 says, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost,
wrote every word in this book. Every word that we hold so dear
was written by the Holy Spirit, by God's Holy Spirit. Well, I
thought these were the words of Christ himself. They are. Go with me over to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 8 says, Beware,
lest any man spoil you through philosophy, in vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Christ is the fullness of the
Godhead, the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. Christ is the
fullness of God the Father. Christ is the fullness of God
the Father. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. What is his name? The Everlasting
Father. That's his name. Explain that
one to me. Really, it's true though. Philip said in the text that
we just read a minute ago, he said, show us the Father. And
Jesus Christ said, have I been so long time with you and yet
has thou not known me? Christ is the fullness of the
Father and Christ is the fullness of the Spirit. There are three
that bear record in heaven. This is what 1 John 5 verse 7
says. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. There are three. That's the part I don't want
to diminish. There are three, but they are
one. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. It's the Spirit of Christ. The
Word is the Word of Christ. Go with me over now to Romans
8. Romans 8 verse 9 says, But you
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Christ is God. Jesus Christ is
God. The Spirit of God, the Spirit
of Christ is talking about the same person, the exact same person. Back in our text in John 14,
our Lord is talking about sending the comforter. And he said in verse 18, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. That's what
he said right here in the context of him saying, I'm going to send
a comforter. He said, I will not leave you comfortless. I
will come to you. So God, the father, God, the
son, and God, the spirit are one, but they're three. And I just cannot explain it. All I can do is declare it. Our
Lord said in verse 16, And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. He shall give you another comforter. Verse 17, even the spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him. But you know him, for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you." God's Holy Spirit must be given. He must be given by God. Sinners cannot receive God's
Spirit by their own will, their own decision, or their own doing. Won't you let God's Spirit into
your heart? Okay, so we cannot receive him
of our own will, our own decision, our own doing. My mother grew
up Pentecostal, and I asked her about it one time, and I actually
heard her tell this story a couple of times, but she told me about
the first time they made her speak in gibberish. It wasn't
tongues, that's a real language. But this was not a real language.
And she'd been going to this Pentecostal church, grew up in
it, you know, from a little girl. She had not yet spoken in tongues. And everybody was recognizing
this, you know, and she was becoming old enough. She told me when it happened,
she knew it was fake. But she said that the emotions
were so intense And she didn't want to be a sinner who didn't
have God's spirit. She wanted to be saved. Anyway,
what happened was these older women came and said, you're going
to get God's spirit tonight. You're going to get the spirit
tonight. So they surrounded her and she said it was like she
couldn't get out real close, real close on her. And they started
saying, come on, come on. They all started clapping. Come
on, come on. She's going to get it tonight.
You're going to get it. Go. You're getting it. She's getting it.
Speak, speak, go, go. That's not God's spirit. That
is another spirit. That is a spirit. All right.
But that's another spirit. When God sends his Holy Spirit,
sinners sit down, they become clothed, and in their right mind. Then this kind of stops. That's
what happens when God sends his Spirit. All this craziness, people
literally tripping over pews and all that, that is not God's
spirit. Go with me to John chapter 3. John 3 verse 1 says, There was
a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,
and this was a religious leader. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. We know that something about
you, Jesus Christ, has something to do with God. Verse 3, Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh. And whither it goeth,
so is every one that is born of the Spirit." When God's Holy
Spirit comes to a sinner, they had no idea he was coming. They
had no idea where he was going. They just get knocked down. They
just get blown over. And without God's Holy Spirit,
a sinner cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, and a sinner
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Without God's Spirit,
we sinners cannot worship God, we cannot understand and we cannot
enter into God's word. I feel like this is just a, this
is part two of the Bible study. But without God's spirit, we
cannot enter into God's word. And just like Nicodemus and all
the rest of the Pharisees, religion is everywhere. I mean, it's everywhere. But without God's spirit, it's
nothing but men and women. And this is what's going on everywhere. And they're sincere. And my heart
goes out to them because they are so sincere. But this is what's
happening. Men and women are seeking the
truth about Christ. They really are. They're opening
the Bible and they're opening books and they're studying things.
And they are seeking the truth about Christ. But without God's
Holy Spirit, they will never find Christ the truth. They'll
never find him. Without God's Spirit, no life
will be given. No understanding will be given.
And no comfort will be given. No, there's always going to be
something missing. Something's missing. No rest
will be given, not without God's Spirit. Now back in our text in John
14, the promise that our Lord is making to each one of his
children is, I will send you my Spirit. I will send you my
Spirit. I'm going to send you my Spirit.
Verse 16, he said, 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 you know him. For he
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you
comfortless. I will come to you. I will. Now in verse 18, I think this
is absolutely precious. I hope your Bible has a center
reference, a margin. There next to the word comfortless,
my Bible says orphans. I will not leave you orphans. I'll come to you. Our Lord right
here is leaving. This is it. And he knows they don't know why.
They really don't know why. If God will send his spirit to
us, if God will send his spirit to us, the number one thing we
need in a worship service, we need a few things. We need a
man that God has called to stand up and speak. We need his word. We need some time in the study.
But we need God's spirit. I mean, we need God's spirit.
But if God will send his spirit to us, one word from God's spirit. If he will give us one word,
it'll break a center. One word. This poor man might
stand up here for a half hour and say a thousand words, but
God can take his spirit and send one word and it can break a center
and it can heal a center and it can raise a center and it
can comfort a center and it can feed a center. One word from
God's Holy Spirit is greater than a million words of truth. Of truth. I mean, you've heard
people speak before and say, I didn't really disagree with
much of what he said, but something was missing. You know what it
was? God's Holy Spirit. And one word from God's spirit
is greater than a million words of truth from a man without the
spirit. He alone, and not any man, he
alone is the comforter. All right, now what does he say?
What does he say? How does he comfort God's sheep? I can promise you this is the
best part. Look at chapter 15, verse 26. It says, 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. That's what he's going to do. What does the Comforter comfort
with? He brings Christ right to the heart. That's what he
does. He comes with Christ. He is the spirit of Christ and
he brings the word of Christ straight to the heart. He will
testify of me. If God sends his spirit to a
sinner, that sinner will enter into. He will understand, and he will
worship Christ. He will worship Christ. He won't
get all caught up in religion and feeling good and ready to
go out and volunteer at the soup kitchen, although that's a wonderful
thing. If God sends his Spirit though,
that man is going to worship, he's going to bow the knee and
worship Christ. He's going to do it from the
heart, sincerely. Look at chapter 16, verse 13. John 16, 13 says, 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. How do you know if God has sent
his Holy Spirit to a place, to a service? Everybody walks out
of there saying, oh man, we had the Spirit today. God's Spirit
was in that place. Nope. They walk out saying, what
a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. A wonderful Savior to me. That's what they say. Look right
here in chapter 16 at verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you." What our Lord is saying is this. If I don't
die on that cross, he said, I must go away. If I do not leave all
of heaven and earth for three days, and if I do not rise from
that grave and ascend back up to my Father, making peace for
you, if my Father does not receive me on your behalf, there is no
comfort to give. None to give. I must go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. Thank God he went away. But he said, right here, I'm
going and I'm going to send him to you. Verse 8, he said, and
when he is come, he will reprove. That means convince. The world
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. When God sends his
spirit to his child, he convinces that child of his own sin. He convinces that child. He convinces him of his own sin
because he shows him why Christ had to die on that cross. It
was not just sin. It was my sin. It was my sin. But then God's spirit convinces
that child of righteousness. And he shows that child why Christ
had to die on that cross. It was so he could give me his
righteousness. He took my sin so that I could
have his righteousness. And then God's spirit convinces
that child of judgment. I was judged in the death of
Christ and now my judgment is over. I'm convinced by God's
spirit through his word of when my judgment took place. I'm convinced. It's not to come. Not for me.
Not if God put me in Christ. I don't speak that arrogantly. I just state fact. If God put
me in Christ Jesus, my judgment's over. Convinced. All right, let's close with one
more word of comfort from God's Spirit. Go with me to Romans
8. Romans 8 verse 15 says, For you
have not received the little s Spirit of bondage again to
fear, but you have received the capital S Spirit of adoption,
whereby We cry, Abba, Father. When God sends his spirit to
his child, when God comes to his child, the spirit whispers
into the ear of that child's heart, Christ will not leave
you to be an orphan. That's what he says. He has adopted
you into the family of God. He bought you. And he has called you by his
own name, thou worm, Jacob. He changed your name to Israel.
You are a prince with God. Isn't that something? Verse 16
says, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if children, then we're heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Verse 14 says, for
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. Lord, send us your spirit. Send
us your spirit. All right, let's stand together.