along with the message this morning. Always good when the songs and
the message are one, which all the songs we sing here are in
line with the message, I know that. Turn back to John 16, John
16. Again, we are going to look at
the ministry of the Holy Spirit, part two. I spoke to you about
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He will convict us of sin, righteousness,
and judgment, I believe it was last week. And we're gonna look
at it some more because our Lord continues on this subject. And in doing so, he's telling
us of the ministry that the Holy Spirit will have in the church
as well as in every believer. He works in us. We are not left
alone. He instructs us, he teaches us. Our Lord said earlier in the
book of John, all thy children shall be taught of God. And everyone
that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me. And that's also the work of the
Holy Spirit. Everyone he instructs and teaches,
everyone he takes in hand, to instruct and teach always come
to Christ. They always end up in Christ. And we never leave Christ. We
don't go on to another subject or a better subject. There is
no better subject than the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord
said in Matthew 11, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He's
always the subject of our learning. And this is the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Holy Spirit
is vital to our salvation. You are not going to be saved
without him. Now, we do not pit one against
the other in the Trinity. The whole work of the Trinity
is vitally important to our salvation. The Father chose us. The Son
redeemed us. The Holy Spirit regenerates us.
He applies what Christ has done for us. He applies it to us. He applies it to us and he enables
us to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he enables us to
lay hold of what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
where we get our comfort, our assurance, our rest is in the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. That's his ministry.
His ministry is not gibberish. It's not putting your forehand
on somebody and knocking them on the floor and they get up
and throw their crutch away. That's not the work of the Holy Spirit.
That's the work of another spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is
always, always, always on the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. That's how you'll know the difference.
As I said, he's vital in our salvation. The scripture says
you must be born again. Can you do that? Can you give
yourself a new birth? Can you regenerate yourself?
Can you make a new you? We can't do that. We can't do
that. One time years ago I was preaching
on the radio when I was at Hurricane Road and I said that, You know,
the new birth was a vital necessity, and the new birth is of the Holy
Spirit, and it's vital, it's vital. I said, because if you
and I could, if we could be born again, if we could go back into
our mother's womb and be born, I said we'd come out the same
way. A man called me, he was upset. He called me, he said,
I wouldn't do, I wouldn't come out the same way, I wouldn't
do the same things. Now, only a fool, I don't mean to be mean,
but only a fool would argue with a fool. He didn't understand
the scripture. I knew he didn't know the gospel.
If you know the gospel, you know what the Lord is saying. You
know, when Nicodemus said, shall a man go back to his mother's
womb and be born again? Well, if he did, he'd still be
the same mess. That which is born of the flesh is what? It
never changes. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. And that's why we need him. That which is born
of him is spirit, not just spiritual. It's spirit. It's of the same
nature it's born of. That's why we must be born again.
And without him, that's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen.
And without this new birth, the Lord told Nicodemus, you can't
see the kingdom of God. You can't understand it. You
know, Nicodemus no doubt had questions on his mind he was
gonna ask about the kingdom, no doubt. And the Lord stopped
him. He said, let the man be born
again. He can't see the kingdom of God. You can't understand
the kingdom of God. You cannot understand the gospel. You can't do it. The natural mind, it says in
1 Corinthians, I think it's chapter two, receives not the things
of the spirit of God. They are foolishness to him.
He doesn't do it. He doesn't receive it. But that
which is born of the spirit receives the things of God. He receives
the things of God, so you can't see it, and you cannot enter
into the kingdom of God because it's a spiritual kingdom. Flesh
and blood, it says, does not inherit the kingdom of God. It's
a spiritual kingdom. Very real kingdom, just like
the kingdom of man we live in right now. This flesh, very real,
we can see it. We look in the mirror, we look
at each other. It's very real to us. But the kingdom of God
is spiritual. It's a spiritual kingdom. So
without him, there's no such thing as a new birth. Now, Carl,
help Paul. Help Paul to come in. Come on in, Brother Paul. That's
all right, we're family. We're family. But he takes the things of Christ
and he says he's gonna show them to us here. He will take the
things of mine And show it, he didn't say show them, he gathers
it all up into one word, it. I looked that word up, it means
all that's previously mentioned. All that he has been talking
to him about since he's been with him for three years. And
he said he'll take the things of mine and he'll show it, he
will open it up and you'll get an understanding. of these things
that are mine, things that are mine. Listen, he never comes
to entertain sinners on their way to hell. The Holy Spirit
never entertained sinners on their way to hell. He comes to
glorify Christ, that's his chief purpose. That's my chief purpose
for being here this morning, is to glorify Jesus Christ. Whether
we are saved or lost, my chief purpose is to glorify Christ.
But I tell you what, when Christ is glorified, he said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all men to me, all types of men, all
types of men and women, sinners from all over this world be drawn
to me. I'll draw them to me if I be
lifted up. So it's imperative that I glorify
Jesus Christ in my preaching if sinners are gonna be saved.
I'm not gonna set him aside and say he's done all he can do.
Now let's talk about what you're supposed to do, nothing. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And even
that's a gift of God. But now our Lord says in verse
12, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. Did you get this? I have yet
many things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. You're
gonna hear from me again. That just jumped out at me. You're gonna hear from me again.
He told him he's going away and they were sorrowful, but he's
saying to them right here, you're gonna hear from me again. I'm
gonna instruct you, I'm gonna teach you. You know, we learn
truth one step at a time, don't we? One step at a time. We learn truth from the truth.
Christ is the truth. When the Holy Spirit guides us
into all truth, He's guiding us into Christ. And in Him, we
learn all these things, all the truth. You know, He doesn't speak
of it as truths, as plural, but as one truth. Just like the fruit
of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering. You say, well,
that's fruits. No, it's not. It's one. It's one coming from
one vine. It's coming from one vine. It's
one fruit. All that is one fruit. All that is of God. So you're
gonna learn the truth from the truth. And a good teacher, listen,
a good teacher knows how to take you from one step to the other. You know that? A person, you
know, generally speaking, a person is only as good as their teacher. If you have a bad teacher, or
you have a bad teacher in grade school, high school is not gonna
be easy. College, if you have bad teachers
in high school, college is gonna be difficult. It's gonna be difficult. This is why teachers are so important. If you have a bad preacher, you're
gonna have bad results in the pew. Your faith's gonna be false. Your hope's gonna be false. Your
peace is gonna be a false peace. If you have a bad preacher, you're
gonna have a bad faith, bad everything. It's so important to have a right
teacher. In the Holy Spirit, there's no
better teacher than him. There is no better teacher than
him. He's God. He's God. Look over in 1 Corinthians. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
two. We cannot, God cannot give us
a better teacher than the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit
himself is God. He's God Almighty. Look in verses
11 and 12. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now, we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. We have the spirit of God. God's
given us of his spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is God, and he's
infinite. Listen, he's infinite in wisdom
and knowledge, and he's infallible. His teaching's infallible. I
wish all teaching was infallible, but it's not, is it? But his
teaching is, his teaching's infallible. And he's a good teacher. And
this teacher here is always with us, and he's gonna be our guide. If you really wanna know what
the scripture says, and I say this to everyone who has an interest
in Christ, an interest in being saved, if you have a real interest
in being saved, Ask him to open the scriptures. I've got some
good commentaries I read, but they cannot open the scriptures
to me unless the Holy Spirit opens it to me. Now, I can repeat
what they're saying. I've heard commentary preachers
before. I've heard commentary preachers. I know they're just
preaching from a commentary, but those who know Christ, preach
Christ, they're preaching from experience. You know, they said
concerning the disciples, they took notice that they had been
with Jesus. You know when somebody's been
with the Lord and is instructing you. You know that. But he's
always with us. He doesn't leave us to ourselves.
He guides us. Verse 13, how be it when he,
the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you. You see, a
good teacher is one who guides the student. You guide the student,
you don't cram the student, you guide the student. He guides
you and he guides you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
he's not the subject of the message, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, here's his chief purpose, and I'm gonna get to
this at the end of it. He shall receive of mine and show it to
you. All things that the Father hath
are mine. This is, as a mediator, all things
have been turned over to the Son. All things are His. Here's equality. All that the
Father has, I have. Now, this is not just, this is
not material things. You know, the world's turned
over to Christ. But all the attributes of God, He has. Whatever the
Father has, I have. Is God holy? I'm holy. Is God
sovereign? I'm sovereign. Is God immutable? I'm immutable. All things that
the Father has are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine, show it to you. Now, first of all, we have to
understand this, that the Holy Spirit is not an influence. He's
God. He's God. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That is the reason why when we
are baptized, we are baptized in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. This shows the importance of
all three of them. We are identified with all three. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. If you'll notice, there are three
people mentioned in these verses. The Father in verse 15, the Spirit
in verses 13, 14, 15, and the Son in verses 14, 15. But there's only one God. There's only one God. Now, we
can't, in our little old minds, can't grasp that, but we can
believe it because the scripture teaches this. Listen to 1 John
5, 7. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
And these three are one. He goes on to say there's three
in earth, the Word, the water, and the blood. And he says these
three agree in one. You see, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, they don't just agree with one another,
they are one. And here's the mystery, here's
the mystery. We are one in them. We are one
in them. You go and read John, well, when
we get to John 17, you'll see that. We are one in them. You
know, we are told to pray our Father, which art in heaven.
We are told to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatsoever
you ask in my name, he said, I will do it. And we are told
that the Spirit himself makes intercession for us. Listen to
Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. But we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, We pray for things we don't even
know what we're talking about half time. You know, we pray, listen,
we pray for someone to get well, don't we? They may need to get
sicker. They may need to get sicker.
They may need to get a little worse. We're praying that they,
we are praying that they will get better and the Holy Spirit
is praying that the purpose of God be fulfilled in them. That's
what he's praying for. And he prays for us. He makes
intercession for us in ways that we don't even know how to. He
says, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings,
which cannot be put into words, cannot be uttered. Now, when
he comes to us, he comes to us as a spirit of God, and he comes
to us and regenerates us, and he comes to us to guide us. He's
a guide. A guide is someone who knows,
he knows what he's doing and where he's taking you. You know,
I hired a guide, this has been several years ago, for the first
time. I just wanted to do this one
time in my life. And I hired a guide to take me, Paul Mahan,
and Ron Fannin. You don't know him. Some of you
may know Ron. But I hired this guy to take us on a trout fishing
trip. And I mean, what a day we had.
Unbelievable day. That man knew what he was doing.
He even tied all the flies on for us. He even provided one.
He pulled them out of his pocket and he said, here, put this on
there. They're hitting this. Bam. And
we hit it. They would hit it. I mean, this
man knew what he was doing. A guy knows what he's doing.
I don't need a blind guide, do you? The blind follow the blind. He said they both fall in the
ditch. I didn't hire him to put me in a ditch. The Holy Spirit
guides us into all truth. He knows where he's taking us.
He's taking us to Christ. He's taking us to him. He'll
guide you into all truth. Now, here's something. He guides
you into all truth. We can't differ on the truth, can we?
Now, we can differ on how long you want to wear your hair or,
you know, with a guy who wears his hair a little longer. I don't
care. What does that matter to me? What we don't differ on is
the truth. You know, I can go to China,
Mexico, Africa, and if there's a church there, you know we believe
the same truth. We don't believe a version of
the truth. God's people don't believe a version of the truth.
They all believe the same truth because they all have the same
spirit teaching them, instructing and revealing these things. He guides into all truth. And
listen, many count doctrine not to be of any real importance.
With attitude, listen. Without Christ, you cannot know
right doctrine. Now you can know it intellectually,
but not in your heart. Because here's how you know,
here's how you know you have been taught the truth as it is
in Christ. Here's how you know. When you
hear right doctrine, God chose a people, you love it. You love
it. You don't just say, well, I believe
that's right. Well, I do believe that's what the Bible teaches,
because it's written there. You can believe a lot of things written
there. A man told me one time, he said, I believe everything
written in that book. And this man never confessed.
He never confessed to know Christ. He was just a rotten rascal I
worked with. But he told me one day, he said, I believe everything
written in that book. I thought, no, you don't. If you did, you'd
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Intellectually, you give what
you call mental agreement to it, but you don't really believe
it. Not as the word of God speaks of believing. Here's some benefits. The benefits
that we get from the Holy Spirit when he brings the truth to us
and reveals the truth to us, reveals Christ to us, is first
of all, faith. Faith and repentance. This is
how it first shows up. faith and repentance. And then it shows
up in assurance. Are you assured of Christ, of
who he is, what he did, who he did it for, where he is now?
That's to me, that's the gospel of there's not one. That's it
or there's not one. When we understand how God can
be a just God and justify sinners like me and you, It'll give us
assurance, it'll give us rest, it'll give us rest. And the more
we learn of the truth, which is Christ, the more we learn
of him, the more joy we'll find in Christ, no matter what the
situation is. No matter what the situation
is, we'll find some joy in the Lord. And listen, learning truth
never leads to bondage. If you feel bound up in bondage,
you know, I've got to keep the Sabbath, I've got to keep this,
I've got to do that, that's not, you didn't learn the truth. You
shall know the truth and the truth will set you free from
all bondage, all bondage. Being here this morning is not
a bondage. It's a freedom, it's a liberty. It's a great privilege. It never leads to bondage. And
knowing the truth, when the Holy Spirit will guide you into all
truth, it'll keep you from spiritual error. You know that, I tell
you this, you who believe, you know an error when you hear it.
You know the truth when you hear it. Because the Spirit of God
witnesses with our spirit that we are the sons of God. When
you hear it, you're like, that's it. That's the truth. That's
the truth, I believe that. Lord, I believe that. You know,
I've heard my pastor preach so many times, and my heart has
leaped within me. I don't care how guilty I felt
about myself or about my sins. My heart leaped within me, and
I said, I believe that. Whether I'm lost or saved, I
believe that. I believe it. I can't help but believe it.
And you know, and that gives me assurance that that's of God.
That's of God. When my heart leaks within me,
when I hear the truth, that just blesses me because I know that's
of God. That's the spirit of God, that's his spirit, witnessing
with my spirit that I'm a son of God, when I can rejoice over
the gospel. And knowing the truth makes us
fit for the master's use. You know, when I first went to
13th Street, sat under Henry, went to the preacher school,
I sat for a year, year and a half. Henry didn't ask me to do anything.
He didn't ask me to pray. He didn't ask me to preach. He
let me sit there, shut up, and listen. That's the first rule
of thumb if you want to learn anything. If you want to actually
learn something, sit down, shut up, and listen. That's the first
rule of thumb. You've got to be quiet in order
to learn. You've got to listen. You've
got to listen in order to hear. That sounds like a Yogi Bear
statement, but you've got to listen in order to hear. And knowing truth is more than
knowing scripture. The Pharisees knew scripture.
It's knowing the one whom the scriptures speak of. It's knowing
him. And knowing the truth, listen,
knowing the truth gives us a right understanding of ourselves. Until
we know the truth, we have a high opinion of ourselves and a low
opinion of God. But once he reveals the truth,
that flips. That flips. We have a high opinion of God
and a low opinion of ourselves. I don't trust myself. Trust me.
I'd be careful about that. You might want to be careful. I don't trust myself. And knowing the truth enables
us to worship God in spirit and in truth. And how can we worship
God this morning in spirit and truth if we don't really know
the truth? If we don't, listen, if we don't love the truth. There's
a lot of things I don't, you know, I don't understand, I can't
grasp, but I tell you this, I can love the truth because to love
the truth is to love Christ. It's to love the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he says, I'll guide you into all truth. I can guide you to
the truth. Only the Holy Spirit can guide
you into it. You see, that's an experience. The Holy Spirit guided me into
the truth is an experience. I experienced the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's someone I experienced. I
experienced the truth. I might be able to convince you,
listen, as I said, I might be able to convince you that God
chose a people, but only the Spirit of God can guide you into
it in such a way that you'd love it, that you'd love it. God chose me. God chose me. Why would God choose me? Well,
the reason's found in Him, not me. It says over in 2 Thessalonians
2.10, you can read that scripture in there, keep it in context,
but it says, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they received not the love of the truth. He
didn't say they didn't receive the truth, they received not
the love of it, they didn't love it. I believe there's people out
there that are what you would call Calvinists. that don't know Christ. They went from being an Arminian,
which is a works religion, it covers all, you know Arminianism
covers every religion, it's a works religion. They go from being
Arminian to being Calvinist. Brethren, I pray that I went
from being Arminian to being saved, to the Lord Jesus Christ. to knowing him. I didn't switch. I didn't switch, as one man said
to me, he said, well, when I heard a certain preacher, and he's
preaching, you know, God chose the people, he said, that just
changed my whole theology. I said, you can't change your theology
without changing God's. Can't do it. I'm trying to be
so clear on this. You just don't flip one belief
to another belief. You go from being lost to being
saved. And Christ is the center of that salvation. He is that
salvation. And it's always about Him. Always
about Him. In Romans 8, 28, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. Do we know this
because the Bible says so or because of the experience of
it? And the Holy Spirit has burned this into our hearts. that all
my sorrow, all my tears, all my losses have also worked for
my good. Do I really know that in here? I know the word of God says that,
but there comes a time when what the word of God says is in here. He said, if my words abide where?
In you. They abide in you, they live
in you. Paul said the word of God works effectually in you,
it works in you. And as it works in you, it works
in you to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said this, Charles
Spurgeon said this, a Christian should do with the truth as a
snail does with its shell, live inside it, as well as carry it
on his back and bear it perpetually about him." That's how you and
I ought to deal with the truth. Now, how many have learned what's
called the doctrines of grace and believe them to be so, but
they haven't fell in love with them? They really don't love
them. You cannot love something without it having a real effect
on you. I know this, if you love something,
it's got you. If you love someone, they have
your heart. That's why I say set your heart
on things above, not on the things of this earth. If my heart is
set on things above, Christ has my heart. He has my heart. Everything else is secondary
to it. Everything else is secondary
to it. My family's secondary to it. Everything. Then he comes to guide you into
all truth for the purpose of, listen, of glorifying the Lord
Jesus Christ. He comes to glorify him. He shall glorify me, verse 14.
His chief purpose is to glorify Christ in all that he is, in
all his attributes, in all his deity, in all his manhood. He's
come to glorify him. He's the message. Christ is the
message. He's the message. He glorifies him as God. He glorifies
him as a man who knew no sin. He glorifies him. He glorifies
him in his sinless life. He glorifies him in his substitutionary
work. He's a true substitute. He's
a true substitute. You know, I played football in
high school, and they would send a substitute in, you know, whenever
they have somebody on sidelines, and they would come in and take
that person's place, and that person would come out. That's
just a form of substitution. Real substitution is him actually
taking my place and becoming me. You know, on the cross, as
far as God's law is concerned, it dealt with me. It dealt with
me. It was my sins. He was made to
be my sins. He was made to be sin for us.
He was made to be what I am, that I might be made to be what
he is, the righteousness of God. He glorifies him in his office
as prophet, priest, and king. You know, I never even knew about
that until I heard Henry. I was going to a place for three
years. I never knew anything about the offices of Christ,
prophet, priest, and king. I didn't know any more of Christ.
He was never the subject anymore. Tithing, church attendance, witnessing,
going out on Tuesday night, witnessing. I mean, it was just always about
something doing, it was always about doing something, but never
about what he did and is doing. Never. He'll glorify him in his
glorious reign now and hereafter. He'll glorify him in his meditatorial
reign. He'll glorify him in his ability
to say to the uttermost that come to God by him. He glorifies
Christ. And without him, without him,
we wouldn't know any of these things, would we? We wouldn't
know any of these things. I didn't. I didn't. And we need
him to guide us because we naturally don't know the way. What'd they
say to him? Lord, we don't know the way. You're right, you don't.
Not naturally. Christ said, I'm the way. Now
spiritually, now you know the way. You know Christ is a way
to God. He's the only way to God. And we need him to guide
us because there's still so much sin in us to overcome. You and I would misunderstand
everything said here this morning if he didn't guide us. We'd go
home so twisted. We would do like those who are
lost. We'd take the scriptures and
rest them to our own destruction. But he guides us. He instructs
us. And we say, I see. I see. I understand the gospel. I understand
how God could be a just God and save me in Christ. I understand
his offices. I understand his work. I understand
his reign. I understand all things were
made by him and for him. None of this was made for me.
It was all made for him. I was made for him. And I'm glad
that it's so. And in closing, in showing us the things of Christ,
This is how the Holy Spirit gives us comfort. He's called the Comforter.
What's he gonna comfort you with? Oh, don't worry. That's not a
comfort. You gonna tell a worry wart not
to worry? What was that song years ago?
Don't worry, be happy? That doesn't work. It doesn't
work. He comforts us with Christ. Christ is our comfort. When we
look to Him, we are comforted. He enables us to look to Him,
we are comforted. When we feed on Christ, we are
comforted. When we come here and we're able
to actually listen and feed on Christ, we're comforted. Christ
is our comfort food. You know, they say that we eat
a lot of things because they're comfort foods. Christ is our
comfort food. And when Christ is glorified,
when he's lifted up in our hearts, not just me standing here, but
in our hearts, he's lifted up, he becomes all of our source
of comfort. Christ is my source of comfort
in every way, in every area. This is the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. This is how you know This is how you know his presence.
Who gets the glory at the end of the message? Who are you going to be thinking
of when you leave here? What are you going to be thinking?
Who gets the glory? If the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted
up and he gets the glory, I'm telling you, it was a Holy Spirit
meeting. If not, it was another spirit.
All right.