When the scriptures are being
read, they need to be looking at them. They can be singing these songs. If by any means, the scripture
says, if by any means the Lord might use it, I recall when the
Lord began dealing with me as a young adult, I recall things
I'd heard growing up, songs I'd sung came flooding through my
mind and heart. If you want your children saved,
you'll do everything that's available. Teach your children well. All right, we've got another
subject. John 14. John 14. People, if these things weren't
important, and if I didn't think they were important, I wouldn't
deal with them. If I hadn't personally seen the benefits of them, I
wouldn't even bother. But I have. I've seen. I've seen God use these things,
I've learned from experience. So those things you've both seen
and heard and learned of me do. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ
here in John 14 were spoken to his disciples, the apostles, primarily. But the spirit of what they're
saying The spirit of what he says to
them applies to every believer. Believer. Nothing of what he says applies
to an unbeliever. But the spirit of what he says
applies to everyone. Let's look at it. Verse 15. If
ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14, verse 15. The Lord is speaking to his apostles
and his people. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now turn over to 1 John 3. 1
John chapter 3. If you love me, keep my commandments. He's saying if you truly love
me, do what I say. True love True love doesn't just say so, but it proves so. Right? True love doesn't just say so,
but it proves so. I'm going to deal more Wednesday
night with keeping his commandments. All right? But here's the emphasis,
true love, love for Christ. Look at 1 John 3, verses 18 through
21. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, or that is only in word and tongue,
but in deed and in truth, in action, in actuality. Verse 19, Hereby we know that
we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. John is saying we We know our
hearts. He said, I know my own heart. My heart is assured before him. Can a man know his own heart?
Well, he'd better. You say, well, doesn't Jeremiah
say the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?
Who can know it? That's the natural man. God gives his people a new heart. Jeremiah also talks about a stony
heart, doesn't he? God takes away the stony heart
and gives a heart of flesh that feels, that knows. The whole epistle of John, he
says, we know and we know, we know, we know. Hereby we know
that we've passed. Can a person know whether or
not they love Christ? If they don't, then they probably
don't. Right? Can I know if I love my
wife or not? If I don't, then I probably don't. That make sense? That's ridiculous. If you love somebody, you love
them. You know you do. Sure you do. How much more of
the love for Christ? Read on. Here in 1 John 3. Verse
20. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.
He knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemns
us not, then have we confidence toward God. OK? Love and sincerity. Love and truth. Unfamed faith
and love, the Scripture says. Paul said, Know ye not your own
selves, whether Christ be in you? Remember that? No, don't you know your own selves,
whether Christ be in you or not? Except you be reprobate. So,
yes, a person can and must love, surely, if you love someone,
if you love Christ. Look there, I turned too quickly. Look there in 1 John 3. Verse 24, He that keepeth his
commandments, and dwelleth in him, and he in him, Christ in
him. Hereby we know that he abideth
in us. We know by the Spirit which he
hath given us. A person must know whether or
not he loves Christ or not. And a person can and yet must
know whether or not the Spirit of God is in him or not. That's
what this says, doesn't it? Hereby we know that he abideth
in us, Christ in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us, the Holy
Spirit. Can a person know whether or not the Spirit's in him or
not? Well, if he doesn't know, he doesn't know. This is what
he's saying here. Just as one may and must know
they love Christ, one may know whether or not they have the
Holy Spirit of God within them or not. Now, let me say this
for your comfort. Every one of us in here know
that we don't love Christ as we should or as we could, don't
we? Believers I'm talking to. Every
last one of us know that, that we don't love Christ as we ought. My pastor brought up one time
how that poem by John Newton is really, we really shouldn't
quote it so very often. When he said, "'Tis a point I
long to know, oft it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the
Lord, or no? Am I his, or am I not?' That's not scriptural. We ought to know. We know whether
or not we know Christ and love Him. And our sin ought not to
cast us down to such a point that we wonder about our salvation. You know what? If it does, you
cast in doubt on Him. Sure, we doubt ourselves, but
we can never doubt Him. People, when it comes to, let
me just, I'll just confess to you, I never, I never doubt my
own salvation because I know it has nothing to do with me.
Because I don't doubt Christ. I don't doubt what he said. I
don't doubt what he did and who he did it for. Did it for sinners? What he said applies to sinners
and it'll never be taken away. He said heaven and earth may
pass away, but not my word. He said, I wouldn't know why
I was cast out. The chief of sinners, faithful, saying, I
don't doubt my salvation. I have full assurance in Christ
all the time. If that's where your assurance
is, you can have it all the time. And how do I get down and sinful
and wicked and feel like Oh, my. And I asked myself, how could
you call yourself? Then I answer myself, I didn't
call myself a child of God. He did. Does that make sense? Does that help anybody in here?
Huh? They that trust in him will never
be put to shame, Scripture says. Never. I shame him, and he'll
never shame me. That's my salvation. OK? But you must know whether
you love Christ and whether or not the Spirit was in you. Look
back at the text now. Verses 16 and 17. John 14, verses
16 and 17. He said, I'll pray to the Father
and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide
with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth. Capital
S. Holy Spirit of truth. whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him. But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." You know him. Who is he? Who is this spirit he's talking
about, this Holy Spirit? Well, the world doesn't know
him. That's what Christ said. Neither
can receive him. But he says to his apostles and
his people, you know him. You've seen him. He dwelleth
in you and shall be in you. Dwelleth with you and shall be
in you. Who is he? Look at verse 18.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Who is the Holy Spirit? He's
the Spirit of Christ. He's Christ's Spirit. Who is
the Holy Spirit? He's Jesus Christ. In spirit. In spirit. Listen, just as Christ is God, Jesus Christ is Spirit. The world doesn't believe he's
God either, does it? And they don't believe he's the
Holy Spirit. And some who may say, Stanley, he's God, but they
sure don't say he's the Holy Spirit. These three are one. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. And these three
are one. What one? Christ. I am. Look at there, it says
the spirit of truth, doesn't it? Verse 17, the spirit of truth. Didn't Christ just say in verse 6, what did he say about
the truth? I am the truth. Well, who's the truth? Spirit
or Christ? Both, because they're both one. same person. Am I confusing you? Well, I shouldn't. That's just
why I'm just telling you what Christ said here. Verse 17 says
the world doesn't know him. The world knoweth him not. This
religious world is confused about God, and they're equally confused
about the Holy Spirit. This world is confused, this
religious world especially. is confused about God. No, they
don't know who he is or what he's like, and they're equally
confused about Christ and about the Holy Spirit. Look at verse
7. See, verse 7, if you'd known
me, you should have known my Father also. You'd have recognized
him. If you really knew God, in other words, if people really
worshiped Jehovah, they'd worship Christ, because he is. If they know Jehovah, they know
Christ, because Yahweh is Jesus Christ. They wanted to sing. If men really knew the Holy Spirit
of God, if they really were indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God, they'd
know Christ. They'd hear Christ. They'd worship
Christ, because they wanted to sing. If you know Christ, you know
the Spirit. Or rather, you know or are led by the Spirit. If
you know or are led by the Spirit, you'll know Christ. That's what
Spirit does. Listen to this. Scripture says
in Colossians, "...in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead."
What? Bodily. "...in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead." They're talking about the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit in Him. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. These three are one bodily. Now, this is what throws me in,
you see. Christ had a body. God took a
body. The Holy Spirit was in a body. This is what throws men, okay? They say, he's just a man. Look
at him. There he is, a body. He's not God, but he has a body.
That's what one woman argued with me one time. She said, the
scripture said, no man has seen God at any time, nor can see
him. God is spirit. I said, that's
right. You can't see God in his purest essence. God is Spirit. But if God puts on a body, you
can see Him, can't you? Otherwise, when we go to be with
God, we'll never see God, will we? No man has seen God, nor
can see God. We're going to see God. Didn't
Job say that? He said, In my flesh, yea, with
these eyes, I'm going to see God, and who is He? He's my Redeemer. He's Jesus Christ in a body. There's a man up there, but he's
more than a man. He's God, manifest in the flesh. A body. And God is spirit. So for Christ to dwell in spirit
with these apostles and with us, he's going to have to leave
his body, isn't he? Look at it again. Let's read
it again here. Let's read it again here look
at it and it just kept popping out to me as I read it a moment
ago. He said when he said in verse seventeen the world cannot
the spirit of truth. Well let's start over verse sixteen. I'll pray the father and he should
give you another comforter capital C person that he may abide with
you forever. the spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him. But you know him, he dwelleth
with you." What do you mean? I didn't think he was coming
until you left. No, he's with you. But you said you're leaving,
then you're going to send him. He's already here. Isn't that what he's saying, Joe? He's
with you. Can a person know if the Holy
Spirit is in him or not? If Christ is in you, he is in
you. Read on. You know, and he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comforted,
as I will come to you. How? Not in the body, but in
the spirit. Verse 19. Yet a little while,
and the world seeth me no more. But you see me He said the exact
same thing he said in verse seventeen. The world can't see. They didn't see Christ as God.
They just saw a man. They don't see Christ as a spirit
now. They just think he's, that this is some kind of, I don't
know what they, well, you know what they think. That the Holy
Spirit just makes you talk funny and do stupid things. Not so. Christ didn't do that, did he?
Christ didn't make anyone talk funny, he made them talk right.
He loosened their tongues and they spoke right. They spoke about him. And he clothed, sat them down
and clothed them in their right minds, not made them roll on
the floor. Well, God is spirit, so for Christ
to dwell in spirit with us, he's got to leave his body, doesn't
he? Now what's the point in all this? Why say all this? Just trying to prove to you that
Christ is? Well, the point in all this is giving all glory
to Christ. That's the point in everything
we do. That's the point in all preaching, is to give all the
glory to Christ, isn't it? Men are taking away the glory
of Christ and giving it all to the Holy Spirit today. Aren't they? Are you with me? Does this matter? People, this
has swept the country and the world. This spirit. You see a
sign out here on 220 driving by Nancy's old workplace? Catch
the Holy Spirit and fire, you know. Get it. It's in here like
it's a it. It's a thing. I'm sure other
preachers say it's a thing. Get it. You got it? Get it. I got it. You got something all
right. It's not the Holy Spirit of God,
because if it were, you'd be filled with Christ. You'd be
preaching Christ, and the people would know Christ. And they wouldn't
put that on their bulletin board. Because it ain't a it, it's a
who. And it is Christ. That holy thing is Christ. Christ,
Christ, Christ is all and in all. Is this important? Christ must have the preeminence
in all things, not the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit's around,
he's not speaking of himself, is he, Rick? He's taking what?
The things of Christ and showing them to the people. When Jehovah
is present, he's not talking about Jehovah, Jehovah at the
exclusion of Christ. He's talking about Christ, because
no man knoweth the Father except through Jesus Christ. When God's
speaking, he's speaking about his Son. And all men should honor the
Son as they honor the Father. All right? Look at verse nineteen. He said, I won't leave you. And
verse eighteen, I'll never leave you. Well, he did, didn't he?
No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He can't lie. He said, I'll never
leave He didn't leave them, John. He stayed right there. But wait
a minute. He ascended back to the right
hand of the Lord. Yes, he did, but he never left.
Verse 19, "'Yet a little while,' because he'd lied if he had,
and he said, "'I'll never leave you, nor forsake you.'" Verse
19, "'Yet a little while, the world seeth me no more, but you
see me, the world seeth me no more.'" But you see me, do we? Yes, we do. I see. Do you see? Do you see Christ? Yes, by faith. By faith. Listen. The world says seeing is believing. No. That's flesh. Flesh is seeing is believing. But the scripture says, and faith
says, believing is seeing. The world says, prove it, and
I'll believe it. I just came back from Illinois,
and you know what they call it, or is it Missouri? It's Missouri. You know what they have on their
license plate, what they call that state? The show me state. I told those people at that church,
I said, boy, you ought to, if it wasn't against the law, I
believe I'd paint through that. Show me state. The world says prove it, and
I'll believe it. Christ said this, didn't I say
unto you, if you believed, then I'd prove it? Believe, and I'll show you the
glory. You see the glory of God? Not
if you see, then you believe. No, sir. If you believe, then
you see. And this is why faith is a gift
of God. Because nobody's going to believe
unless God says, believe. Unless God first says, believe. And he does this by his Spirit. Who? The same one that said,
follow me. Well, who are you? Where are
you going? They didn't say that, did they? Did they? Well, wait
a minute. Wait a minute, preacher, we don't
know who you are, we don't know where you're going. They said
that later, didn't they? They said that here. But at first
they didn't when he called them. He said, follow me, what'd they
do? Buddy, they followed him. And that's the reason faith coming,
you know, by the power of God. And then he shows himself, reveals
himself. Well, listen to this. Let me give you an illustration.
Christ hides himself from the world, but he reveals himself
to his people. Turn over to John chapter 7 with
me. Just back a few chapters. John chapter 7. Christ hides
himself from the world and reveals himself to his people. Many are
called, yes, but few are chosen. Chosen what? Didn't He say, you're
chosen to believe Me? Remember that? I've chosen you
that you should believe Me and know that I am He. Didn't He
say that? Many are called, yes, the Gospel,
the Word, Scriptures, nature, everything calls men to believe
God, but yet only a few are chosen by His grace to actually believe
Christ, trust Christ. He does that choosing, doesn't
He? Look at John chapter 7. Look
at verse 2 through 5. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto
him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also
may see the works that thou doest. Go do something in front of everybody,
what they're saying. Go show yourself publicly. Do
these works publicly. Read on. Verse 4, read it with
me. There's no man that doeth anything
in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. In other words, if a man wants
to be known, he's going to do what he does publicly for everybody
to see. If thou doest these things, thou
shalt not believe him either. He's brothers. He's earthly,
fleshly brothers. In other words, they said, go
up to Judea and get on a big stage and show everybody who
you are and tell them who you are. If you want everyone to
know who you are, tell them. Show them. But he didn't. Why? He's not trying to get anybody
to believe on him. He's not trying to tell the world
who He is. He came with a specific people
in mind. He knew every one of their names,
knew where they'd be found at that particular moment, and went looking for them. He
said, the good shepherd seeketh his sheep. They're lost, and
when he findeth them, But they don't find him. They don't see
the light. The light comes to them. He finds
them. He goes looking for them. They
don't call on him. He calls them. Matthew! Follow me, Matthew, back! He comes, buddy. Why? This is the great chief shepherd. This is God. Zacchaeus! down. You're one of my sons. I'm going to your house." Well,
he didn't invite Jesus into his heart or his house. That ain't
salvation. That's when the Lord of glory
comes to him and says, I'm coming to you, to your house and in
your heart. See, Joe, when I say all this,
giving Christ all the glory, and you like it And those that
love Christ love this. Those that love man more than
God, they balk at this. They say, you're giving men,
giving what? I'm giving Christ all the glory
here. That's what this is all about. And God's sheep love it. They're going to sit for all
eternity and listen to whoever's going to do it, I believe it's
Christ, talk about himself. Talk about Christ, and nobody's
going to want to hear anything about Moses or Abraham or Joseph
or anybody else but him. Nobody's going to bother them.
Say, well, you don't, you leave man a puppet. You leave him helpless. He is. Well, you're saying it's all
in Christ's hands. It is. He did not seek to be known of
this world. Let me give you an illustration.
Suppose someone doesn't, someone in, name a town. What's a town in
the back hollers of Virginia, Henry? Give me one of the little
towns up in there that I don't know anything about. Where are
you from? There is one. See, it was somebody up there.
doesn't know who I am. And they just don't believe it.
And they tell somebody else, I don't believe he's, who he
says he is. Don't believe it at all. What
am I going to do? What should I do? Well, I'm just
going to stop what I'm doing, and I'm going to run up there
to, what's the name of it again? I already forgot it. Cornflake? I'm not making fun of you home
town, buddy, really, but we're nobodies from nowhere. Ashland? I'm going to stop everything
I'm doing. I'm going to run up into that holler and I'm going
to prove myself to that fella. Huh? Now, it's me. You just better
believe from here on out that I am who I am. Who cares? Do I care? Is God Almighty going to stop
what he's doing because everybody doesn't believe who he is? Is
God going to prove himself to every son of Adam because they
don't believe who he is? He doesn't care! Really! He doesn't care! But he careth
for his own, and he's going to reveal himself
through his own. It's up to them, not to every
son of Adam, but to them. And comes to them and says, now,
do you know who I am? They say, yes, sir, I do. You see, he's not running around
trying to get everybody to believe on him. That's this pitiful fellow
named Jesus somebody made up. That's this pinhead God who ain't
God at all. But his sheep, his elect, those
that God gave him, buddy, they're going to know him. They're going
to come to him. He's going to call them. They'll know him,
hear him call. He's going to dwell with them. And they in him. Look very quickly,
John 9, look at verse 19, John 14, 19. He says, A little while,
and the world seeth me no more. But you see me, because I live,
you shall live also. But where's the gospel in it,
John and David? Because I live, you shall live also. Well, if
you live right now, you'll be saved. No. Scripture says, Christ
said, because I live, you shall live also. If you live the victorious life,
then you'll be a Christian. No, because Christ lived the
victorious life. Therefore, I am a Christian. Therefore, I live. Because I live, the Christ said,
for you as your substitute, as your righteousness. Therefore,
you have won. Because I died for you, for my
people as their sin sacrifice, as their lamb blood atonement,
therefore they have won and their sins are gone. Because now I
live eternally, ever live, to make intercession for them. And
I pray for every one of my people, and God hears every one of my
prayers, and God grants everything I ask Him for every one of my
people I pray for. Therefore, they're going to be
with me, because I said I will that they be with me where I
am. Therefore, every one of them
is going to be with Him where He is. And even right now as
He is, so are we. Because he said that. Why do God's people smile and
laugh, and why does this give them joy? Why does the world
say, we've heard that before, to get on to something else?
They don't know him. They don't see his glory. That's
what he said here. But you see him. You know him. The Holy Spirit, he dwells in
you and with you. Who is he? He's Christ. This whole thing's about Christ. This whole thing's about Christ.
Yes, it is. At that day, verse 20, you shall
know that I am in my Father, and you in me. You'll know. At that day, I believe he's speaking
chiefly about Pentecost, because just after he left, Soon as he left, just a day later
at Pentecost, they knew that he hadn't left at all. Didn't
they? Didn't they never? They knew
he hadn't left at all. They saw his power. He was with
them in spirit. I'm going to close with Luke
10, OK? Over there to Luke chapter 10,
I'll close with this. Luke chapter 10, let's close
with this. Do you know Christ? We ask you that. Do you know
Christ? Do you know the Spirit of Christ? Does he dwell in you, the Spirit
of Christ? If you do know Christ, if you
do know the Spirit of Christ, flesh and blood didn't reveal
unto you. A decision for Jesus didn't effect that. No profession of faith did that.
Look at Luke 10, verse 22. It says here, All things are
delivered to me of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son
is, but the Father. You see that? No man knoweth
who the Son is, but the Father. And who the Father is, but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. See, Christ is the great revealer
of God, even of himself in spirit. Christ reveals himself to whom
he will. There's a scripture, and I'll
close with this illustration, there's a scripture that says
he is able to present us faultless, blameless. Unblamable, unapprovable
before God's sight. Who is able? Christ is able to
do that. He's the only one that can present
us to the Father. To the Father. Kings, you see,
you don't introduce yourself to the King. If you wanted, even now, to go
over and meet that woman who calls herself Queen and who the
British government calls Queen. If you wanted to see her now,
you couldn't just run up there and say, hey, Liz, here I am. Could you? You couldn't even
tell her secretary. I've decided to let Liz give
me a personal audience. You couldn't do that. You couldn't
tell anybody anything. You're not going to see that
Queen. You're not going to have an audience before her unless
you are presented to her. unless she says, unless she decides,
I have decided to allow such a woman to enter into my royal
presence at such and such a time that I see fit and in such a
way that I see fit. and in every single aspect which
I lay down as orders to that person. They're not coming in
unless they come exactly like she says, when she says, who
she says. That's salvation. You remember the king, Deborah,
who had to hold out his golden scepter? And hold out his golden scepter,
too. Well, that's Christ. He's the
King. He's King of kings and Lord of lords, and he's the only
one that can present us. We've got to be presented. We've
got to be introduced to the Father. He's the one that has to do it.
He's got to do it. And like I said, I said all this
for Christ's glory. He gets all the glory here. And
I said this for your comfort, because some of you have been
indeed introduced to the Father and presented faultless and shall
be presented faultless. And if he revealed himself to
you and gave you his spirit, he did. If he revealed Christ
to you, his spirit's in you. That's how you know. You're a blessed people. Wednesday
night, I'm going to talk more about how do I know that Christ's
spirit's in me? Wednesday night. Does that interest
you? How do I know that I'm being
led by the spirit of Christ? How do I know the spirit's in
me? Romans eight said, If any man hath not the spirit of Christ,
he's none of his. We need to know. We need to know. Do you love Christ? You know, you know, if you do.
There's a spirit of Christ dwelling in you. If you love Christ, he's all
right. Joe, you have a pen already picked out? What is it? 129. 129. Stand with me. 129 at the cross. Let's sing the
first and the second stanza. It was there by grace now. First
and the second. What happens if my Savior leaves,
and with my sorrows dries? Would He leave on that sacred
day, or such a world as thine? At the cross, at the cross, where
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart pulled away,
It was there, my grace, I received my sight, and now I am happy
all the day. Was it for Christ that I had
to be grown up? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. At the cross, at the cross, where
our birth saw light, then the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by grace I received
my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Thank you and your
distance. Thank you. you