This morning's message will come
out of the gospel of John chapter 16, verses 12 through 15. The title of the message is the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. I want us to look at the ministry
of the Holy Spirit in the church today. It is sad how abused he
is in this day and the work that he performs in the church. False
religion has him doing everything except what the scriptures says
that he is doing. When I see these religious hooksters
on TV, speaking in gibberish and acting like the Holy Spirit
is doing some physical healing through them, it's sickening
to watch them pin such things on the Holy Spirit. When the
Holy Spirit comes, when he's present, here's how you will
know his presence. He will take the things of Jesus
Christ and reveal them to the church. He will reveal the things
of Christ to his people. The Holy Spirit never comes to
entertain sinners on their way to hell. He comes to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is his
ministry. He comes to guide into all truth,
not entertainment, but truth. Our Lord says in verse 12, I
have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. We learn truth one step at a
time. We learn truth from truth. Knowledge
builds on knowledge. You have to learn step one before
you can go to step two. A good teacher will know how
to take you from one step to another. Generally speaking,
a person is only as good as their teacher. If you have a bad teacher
in grade school, it will show up in high school. If you have
bad teachers in high school, it will show up in college. We're
only as good as our teachers. That being so, We have the best
teacher in the Holy Spirit, for He is God. We cannot have a better
teacher than the Spirit of God. Therefore, He is infinitely wise,
He's all knowing, He is infallible, and He is the teacher of the
Lord's people. Of all who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, He is their teacher. He's always with them. He's always
guiding them. He's always instructing them.
It is hard to get lost if the guide is always with you. When
all commentaries fail, he never fails. If you truly want to know
a scripture, ask the Holy Spirit of God. Ask the Spirit of God
to open its meaning. If he doesn't, then leave it
alone. Leave it to his wisdom when to open it. Just trust him. to be the teacher. Now it says
in verse 13, how be it when he, the spirit of truth, this is
the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, is come. He will guide
you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself. He's not
going to glorify himself. He's going to minister and reveal
the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. He will reveal it
unto you. He will take the things of Jesus
Christ and make them known to you. Now, all things that the
father hath are mine. This is the Lord speaking, the
Lord Jesus. He says, everything the father has are mine. Therefore
said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Now we have his person here.
The Holy Spirit is not an influence. He is a real person, the third
person in the Trinity. And notice that there are three
people mentioned in these verses. The Father in verse 15, the Spirit
in verses 13, 14, and 15, the Son in verses 14 and 15. However,
there is only one God, Do I understand this? Can I explain
this? No, but I do believe it because
the scriptures teach us that there is only one God, three
distinct persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
but only one God. In 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. We are told to pray our
Father, We are told to pray in the name of Christ, and we are
told that the Spirit makes intercession for us. It is written in Romans
8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for, as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercessions
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. His chief purpose
first is to guide the Lord's people into all truth. A guide
is someone who knows what he's doing and where he's taking you. Now it says that he will guide
you into all truth. I know that many count doctrine
or truth not to be of any real importance. Without it, you cannot
know the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not without his doctrine.
And I assure you, if the Holy Spirit guides you into all truth,
it will not be cold, dry, dead doctrine. And it will always
be concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment
of all truth, all doctrine. Now here's the benefits that
come from knowing the truth. First one is assurance. When
we understand how that God can be a just God and justify us
through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, it will promote
assurance. The more we learn of truth, as
it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the more joy, the more assurance,
the more peace we will have in Christ. Learn truth never leads
to bondage, but to freedom. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Knowing the truth
will keep you from danger. It will keep you from going after
false doctrine. It will keep you from following
false religion. And it will teach you to deny
ungodliness. Knowing the truth makes us fit
for the master's use. We are not fit for anything until
the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. Knowing the truth
gives us a right understanding of ourselves. Until we know the
truth, we have a high opinion of ourselves and the low opinion
of God. Knowing the truth enables us
to worship God in spirit and in truth. Now notice, He will
guide you into all truth. I can guide you to the truth,
but not into the truth. I may be able to convince you
that the Bible teaches that God chose a people in Christ before
the world began, but I cannot guide you into it and enable
you to fall in love with it, to embrace the fact that God
did choose a people and Christ died for them. But the Holy Spirit
can apply the truth to the soul. It is written in 2 Thessalonians
2 8, listen, And then shall the wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and blind wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish. And here's why, here's why they perish. Because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. I can
preach the truth to you, but I cannot make you love the truth.
I can bring you to the scriptures and teach you total depravity,
but I cannot make you feel your total depravity. In Romans 8,
28, and we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose.
Do we know this because the Bible says so or because the Bible
says so and the Holy Spirit has burned it into our hearts that
everything is working together for our good? Charles Spurgeon
said, 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. You know, I think there
are many who believe what is called the doctrines of grace,
but they don't embrace them. They don't love them. It has
no real effect on their lives. You cannot listen. You cannot
love something without having a real effect on you. It's not
possible to really love something or someone and it not have a
real effect on you. That's why Colossians 3.1, it
says, set your affection on things above. Whatever has your affection,
whatever has your heart has you. Whatever has your love has you.
Now the Holy Spirit, back here to the Holy Spirit again, he
comes to guide into all truth for the purpose of glorifying
Jesus Christ, not for the purpose of entertainment, for the purpose
of glorifying Christ. It is written in verse 14, he
shall glorify me. His chief purpose is to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. That which is of the Holy Spirit
always glorifies Christ. If you want to know if a man's
ministry is of God, ask this one question. Here is the acid
test. Who is getting the glory? When
the message is over and you are going home, who are you thinking
of? Who is getting the glory from
that message? Now, How does he glorify Christ? Our Lord says, for he shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. He comes to Christ himself
and takes the things of Christ and shows them, reveals them
unto the Lord's people. Now, what are those things? Well,
our Lord said in verse 15, all things that the father has are
mine. First, the first is this. His Godhead. This man is God
in the flesh. Jesus Christ is the almighty
God of creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. That person is Jesus Christ.
It's written in the scriptures in Colossians, all things were
created by him and for him. Jesus Christ is the creator of
all things. Jesus Christ is God in sovereignty. He rules over all sovereignly. Jesus Christ is immutable. It
is written in Hebrews that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He is the eternal one. All that
God is, so is the man, Jesus Christ, for he is the living
God. And then we have his glorious manhood. He truly became bone
of our bone, flesh of our flesh. We have His sinless life, the
Holy Spirit reveals His sinless life, His substitutionary work,
which He accomplished at Calvary's cross. He lived for His people,
He died for them. He lived for a multitude of sinners,
He died for a multitude of sinners that no man could number. Jesus
Christ did not die to make salvation a possibility, but a reality
for a multitude of sinners. The Holy Spirit reveals him in
his offices as prophet, priest, and king. He is that prophet
that Moses said should come. He is that priest like Melchizedek.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then we have his
glorious reign. The Holy Spirit reveals his glorious
reign now and hereafter. He is Lord seated right now on
the throne. He reveals his ability to save
and to the uttermost and his willingness to save to the uttermost.
He glorifies Christ with Christ himself. He takes the things
of Christ. His Godhead, his manhood, his
substitutionary work, his offices, his prophet, priest, and king,
his meritorial reign. He takes all of this and reveals
this to all who believe. Is his work necessary? Absolutely. Without the Holy Spirit, we could
not know God. We could not know the Lord Jesus
Christ. We would not be born again. He is the agent in the
new birth. We would not know conviction
of sin, of righteousness and judgment. We need the Holy Spirit
to guide us where the truth is hidden from the natural man.
We need him to guide us for there is still no so much sin in us
that we would miss him. We need him to guide us where
the path of truth is so narrow. If we move one jot or one tittle
to the left or right, we'd lose the truth. Truth is very narrow.
It is written in Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that which
seems right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Now, in conclusion, when the
Holy Spirit reveals the things of Christ, it gives us comfort. It gives the believer comfort.
When we are able to look to him, we are comforted. When we are
able to feed on Jesus Christ, we are comforted. There are some
foods that are called comfort foods. Jesus Christ is our comfort
food at all times. He is the comfort food for everyone
who believes. When Christ is glorified in the
heart, he becomes the source of all comfort. He becomes a
source of our hope. He becomes the source of our
faith. He becomes a source of our strength. In Jesus Christ,
we find all that we need. I pray the Lord bless his word.