All right, turn with me to Acts
chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. I want to read one verse of scripture
with you here in Acts 19. It will be a springboard from which
to bring the remainder of the message. Acts 19, let's read
verse 2. Well, let's read verse one with
it to give the setting here. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper
coast, came to Ephesus. And now this is Paul's first
arrival at Ephesus. And he found certain disciples.
And he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since
you believed? And they said unto him, We have
not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghosts. Now, that's a tough portion of
scripture. Have you ever looked at that
and had a problem with it? I'm sure there are other verses
of scripture concerning the Holy Spirit, and this is a very, very
difficult subject. urge you to give me your undivided
attention. Now there's a great deal of ignorance
concerning the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God today. A great deal of ignorance and
there's a great deal that's ignorantly said about the Holy Spirit. Men
reveal their ignorance by what they say about him and what they
say they're doing in his name. And the reason that so many men
and even some women. Talk about and claim the power
of the Holy Spirit. And get away with it. Is because
people are so ignorant concerning the Holy Spirit. So very confused
about the Holy Spirit but I will coin the words of the Apostle
Paul that we read a moment ago and Peter said the same thing.
Brethren I would not have you ignorant. About these things. And I don't believe that. I believe
most of you are not ignorant concerning these things but you
may be somewhat confused by certain passages of Scripture like this
one here. And I would not have you ignorant.
Now it is clear that Pentecostalism. And the charismatics charismatic
movement has swept the world. It's clear, isn't it? It's clear.
It has infiltrated even some of the most seemingly conservative denominations
and so forth. Roman Catholicism is even being
caught up in this wave. The world is taken up with so-called
miracle deliverances, healings, tongues, Holy Spirit, anointings,
and wildfire and so forth. You know it's so. You know it's
so. It is a religion today of signs
and wonders, isn't it? Everybody's looking for signs
and wonders. That brings to mind the verse
of Scripture that our Lord said. Does it bring to mind, when I
said that to you, did you recall a verse of Scripture that our,
something our Lord quoted about signs and wonders? Hmm? He said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign. He said, but no sign will be
given except the sign of the prophet Jonas, which is a typical
sign of the death of the Lord Jesus and the burial and the
resurrection of the Lord. But I tell you what, we've been studying
1 Thessalonians where it says that God shall send them strong
delusions and signs. Our Lord said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeks after signs. I tell you what, this is indicative
of our generation. The religion that goes on today
is a religion of feelings. Everybody wants to feel something,
don't they? If you're not feeling something, if you're not getting
all caught up in feeling this, then you must not have the Holy
Spirit of God and so forth, right? Well, it is not feelings that
the Lord uses. It's not feelings. It's not feelings
of hysteria, feelings of emotion, bodily sensations and so forth,
but the Lord himself said, you shall know the what? What will
set you free? What is it? You see, it's because of men's
lack of the truth that they are so taken up with these feelings.
Right? Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. I'm going to give you several
verses of Scripture. From this pulpit, I never want
to tell you what I think. Never. I only want to bring you
what this book says. If all we do during this time
is read scriptures, then we'll profit more. So I try to make
these messages, I try to have them filled with scripture, scripture,
scripture, scripture, comparing scriptures to scriptures. Most
of the so-called preaching that goes on today, they take one
verse here and there, and they fly off the handle, you know.
But I want to back up everything that's said, every point that's
made with Scripture. Okay? 1 Peter 1, look at verse
13 with me. Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. Don't writhe around
on the ground like possessed with the devil. Be sober. Sit up straight with a Bible
in your lap and let's look and see what God says. Be sober. and hope to the end for the grace
that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Look at verse eighteen. You were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation or life received by tradition from the
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. who barely was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him is the gift of God, of Christ, the
Holy Spirit, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from
the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God." Now, look at this, verse 22, "'Seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth, through the Holy Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by what? Feelings of the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this is the word,
verse twenty-five, the word of the Lord. This is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. Gird up the lawns of your You need to know the truth, the
word, the gospel. That is what saves. The truth,
the word, the gospel is what saves and it is what satisfies
every believer. The believer doesn't need feelings.
True worshipers, it says that ours come and now is, Christ
said, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the father seek as such to
worship him. In other words, they don't need
all the trappings of religion, don't need all the wildfire and
all the emotion and all this cheerleading and ballgame atmosphere
to get them in a spirit of worship. What gets us in a spirit of worship?
Right here. sober, looking at the Word of
God, quietly pondering what it said. And then the Word comes
into mind, and you consider it with your mind, and you search
the Scriptures to see if these things be so, and the Holy Spirit
applies it to your heart, and your mind says, that's so, that's
what I need. And it becomes planted in there.
Then it manifests itself outwardly, but not in the way that they're
saying it does today. You don't find that anywhere
in the Scriptures. This God's not the author of
confusion I'm not I'm getting ahead of myself here. Martin
Luther you know his his famous poem he said feelings come. I
probably quoted this more than anything I know feelings come
and feelings go. Are you looking for a feeling.
Jack Daniels will give you a feeling. Bad pizza the night before will
give you a dream, make you see visions, make you feel like you've
heard somebody talking to you. Feelings come. Feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My hope
is in the Word of God. There's nothing else worth believing. How about you? How about you? Don't trust your
feelings. Trust the Word of God. Don't
trust the spirits. Try the spirits, John said in
1 John 4. Don't trust the preachers. I'm a preacher. You better believe
me. That's not God's anointed. Who says you're God's anointed?
Prove it. Let's hear what you have to say here. And I'm going
to take the Bible and open it and see what you're saying is
true. I'm going to try you, man. You call yourself a preacher?
I'm going to try you. I'm not going to trust you because
you say you are one. Because you wear the garb. Because
you look the part. Because a bunch of people are
following you. A bunch of people followed Jim Jones, too, didn't
they? A bunch of people following the Pope. A bunch of people followed
every guy that come down the pipe. Christ said you let a man
come in his own name, and the whole world followed him. A man
come in the name of God, and he has a hard time getting ahead.
Even the Son of God. Twelve men, and they all left
him. That was according to the purpose
of God. Don't trust the Spirit. Try the Spirit. Don't trust an
experience. Trust Jesus Christ the Lord,
who he is and what he's done. The truth, knowing the truth,
is what sets you free from ignorance. It's what sets you free from
bondage to preachers. Right? Knowing the truth is what sets
you free from the bondage to every wind of doctrine comes
along. He's preaching the Bible. It must be so. Maybe not. Maybe not. Look it up for yourself
in the Bible. Don't trust it because he's quoted
it. I see these guys, I've watched these guys on TV before, and
I've heard them quote scripture, you know. And I've got my Bible
out and said, let's see what you're saying here, but see if
it's in context with what you're quoting there to the people.
You'll say, you know what it says over in Job or the Book
of Proverbs or whatever. And I'll say, let's see what
it says over there. And not only do they misquote it sometimes,
but they take it totally out of context. Pull it totally out
of context. And you see, the average person
out there just received, what's the word of God? The truth, if you know the truth,
it'll set you free from that bondage to these, to anything
that goes under the name of religion. You see, many are ever learning. They have seminars, share sessions,
you know, all of these things, and Bible studies, and so ever
learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Paul
said it, didn't he? The truth. ever learning, but
never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Subsequently, they
are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine that comes down
the pike. Isn't that what Paul said? They're tossed to and fro with
every wind of doctrine that comes along because they never come
to a knowledge of the truth. They're not grounded and settled.
Christ said this. And I quoted it already, but
he said, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth in spirit. In spirit, small s, that
means from the heart, inward worship. God is not worshiped
with men's hands. You don't worship God this way.
Come on now, everybody, let's clap, give Jesus a hand. You
know, God is not worshiped with men's hands. You know what the
scripture says? He's worshipped from the heart. You can worship
God more from the heart silently than you can screaming your fool
head off. Spurgeon used to say, an empty
bucket makes the loudest noise. God must be worshipped in spirit,
that is from the heart. This is where worship starts,
in the heart, inward worship, true seeking after God. You can
fake, anybody can fake all this outward stuff. And he said, in
truth, you cannot have worship except it be in the heart and
in the truth. They're inseparable. Now, you
hear a lot of talk today about worshiping the Spirit, but you
don't hear much of the truth being preached to you. Huh? There is a right way to worship
God, based upon the Scriptures. And there's knowledge that's
involved. Knowledge is involved. Understanding. Do you understand
what you read? That's what Philip said to these
Ethiopian eunuchs. Do you understand? No. How can I except some man show
me? So beginning with that passage
of Scripture, Philip preached him a message from Isaiah 53.
And he said, I understand. I see Jesus is the Christ. Here's
water. I want to be baptized and confess
him. What a message that must have been. He just didn't say, believe on
Jesus, you know, he preached the truth to him of who he was,
who God is, who Christ is and what he did. Discernment, knowledge,
there must be some understanding, right? If it's not necessary,
throw the Bible away, throw the epistles away. Just give us the
account of the Gospels, throw the rest of it away, right? Just
give us the account of the crucifixion. If that's all that's necessary
to believe, the fact of the death and burial resurrection of Christ,
what's the point in the rest of it? You see, we talk about feelings. Our religion, you know, Baptists
have a bad name all over the world. You know, cold day. I've
heard Jimmy Swagger and all these guys make fun of it. They all
like to pick on Baptists. The reason I like to get rid
of the name of Baptist is because we don't anymore believe and
associate with what goes under the name of Baptist today than
we do Catholicism or Methodism or whatever. It doesn't even
resemble what the old Baptists used to believe years ago. The
old, old Baptists a year, a hundred, two hundred years ago believed
something. They believed sovereign grace and preaching. But people
make fun of Baptists, you know, dead, dry Baptists. You know, they make fun of how
we sing and all that. Our religion is not without feeling. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel
for a man's religion that didn't have some feeling in it. As a
matter of fact, Christ said in a letter to one of the churches
in Revelation 2, he said, because you're a lukewarm, I'm going
to spew you out of my mouth. You're not hot or cold. He said
to another group of people, we've piped unto you and you haven't
dinked or lamented. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel
for somebody's religion who never feels, who the gospel never makes
an impression upon them, who never responds to a message.
I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for anybody's religion in here.
or anywhere whom the gospel does not make an impression upon,
who I never see a tear running out of their eye, never see a
smile on their face, never see a nod of the head, never see
a little bit of that joy of the Holy Spirit. I wouldn't give
you a plug nickel for that man or woman to receive a plug nickel. But our feelings must be based
upon it. must be based on the truth. There's
no real worship without the spirit, heart, feeling, and there's no
worship without the truth either. And this is the primary work
of the Holy Spirit. The primary work of the Holy
Spirit of God is to, Christ said, to guide you into all what? Truth. Isn't it? We're going
to look at several scriptures like this. Christ called his
Holy Spirit, he called the Holy Spirit three times the spirit
of truth. Three times Christ called him
the spirit of truth. Three times. Not the spirit of
feelings. Never says that. Never says the
spirit of excitement. Certainly not the spirit of confusion.
Not the spirit of hysteria. Not the spirit of tumult or mania. Spirit of truth. Spirit of truth, because let
me tell you why, part of the reason. Only the Holy Spirit
is going to guide you into all truth. There's another spirit
who is out there to keep you from the truth, to keep the truth
from you. Satan, whose ministers have transformed,
who is His ministers have transformed themselves into angels of light,
it says. His grand design is to keep you
from hearing the truth, which will set you free. He'll give
you a feeling. He'll get you all caught up with
your religion, your wildfire, and all that. You might be so
zealous, so excited, so thrilled, so feeling so full of the Spirit,
but it might be the wrong one. Right? Only the Holy Spirit will guide
you into all truth, the truth to know the true and living God.
Didn't Christ say in John 17, 3, this is eternal life, not
a feeling, but to know Thee, the only true God. You see, there's
another God out there. There's many gods. There's false
gods. People claim to be worshipping God. Paul said in Romans 10,
1, I bear them record, they have a zeal for God, but it's ignorant,
they've got the wrong one. He said in Acts, didn't he, when
he went through Mars Hill, he said, you're worshipping a God
you don't know. I want to tell you about the
unknown God. Only the Holy Spirit will tell
you about the true and living God. One God, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. One spirit, one hope of your
calling, one, one, one. The truth about sin, what it
is, not in a bottle or a box, it's in the heart. Sin's not
in a bottle. Sin's not in a box. Sin's in
the heart. Isn't that what Christ said?
Not what goes in here defiles a man. What comes out of here
is what defiled him. He's defiled already. But another spirit wants
to make you think that sin's in this. If you quit this, you
quit sinning. Nothing could be further from the truth. Then
you're all caught up with the worst of sins, self-righteousness. And God said that stinks more
than the rest of it. Only the Holy Spirit will show
a man or a woman that. Righteousness, the need for righteousness
and judgment, the need for righteousness. I'm not talking about the best
you can do. I'm talking about the best that God does. He said
it shall be perfect to be accepted, didn't he? Righteousness. It's
mentioned more than 500 times in the scripture, and you rarely
hear it mentioned at all from the pulpit. Righteousness, what
does it mean? We've got to be best we can? We've got to live righteously
according to the law? Can't do it. Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, Titus said, but according to
thy mercy thou hast saved us." Only the Holy Spirit will reveal
that to a man or woman. It's not pure righteousness.
You don't have it in a filthy rag. You've got to have somebody
else's. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He came. Why did He
come? To set an example? Show us how
to live a good life? No. That we might have life. Isn't that what he said? I'm
not come to show you how to live, although he did. But that wasn't
the principal reason. The principal reason Christ came,
he said that they might have life. They're dead in sins. God's
going to judge them, send them to hell, if I don't live as a
man perfectly in established righteousness. It behooves us
to fulfill all righteousness, he said. I must fulfill the law. Why? For his sake? No, he didn't
have to. He wrote the law. for these people
who had broken it. Broken it. He said, now I've
fulfilled it, now I give this to you, now I'm taking your sin
upon me and I'm going to be punishing you. Only the Holy Spirit will
reveal that to men and women. Are you with me? And judgment? You need to have your sins put
away? All right. I've got three big
questions here. I haven't even got to them. Now,
I've got to be brief. I've got to hurry. It's a big
subject, you need twelve, you need a series of twelve messages
on the Holy Spirit, twelve hundred. Number one, let's ask this question,
who is the Holy Spirit? Turn with me to Genesis one,
Genesis chapter one, who is the Holy Spirit? Sorry about that,
Mindy, that was my introduction. She always says, these preachers
always, they spend thirty minutes on their introduction. And then
I get to point one. I just did that. I'm sorry. I
had a little liberty talking about those things. And I don't like that either,
you know, because when I get to point one after 30 minutes
later, you say, oh no, how much longer now? That was just the introduction.
I better get comfortable. Who is the Holy Spirit? Well,
he's one of three persons in the Godhead. Trinity. Trinity. Well, you say that word's
not in the Bible. It certainly is implied. Three
people, one God. Look at verse one. You'll see
all three persons of the God here in the first three verses
of Genesis. You know, it was my wife that
pointed this out to me the first time. In the beginning, God,
there you have the God, the Father, the Creator,
created the heaven and earth. And the earth was without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the
spirit of God. There you have the Holy Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the water and then God said,
God spoke the word of God. There you have the son of God
whom John 1 says in the beginning was the word, the word was with
God and the word was God. Right? All things were made by
him and without him was not anything made which was made, the word,
God said. Right? Look at verse twenty six. God
said this, let us make man, didn't he? Who? God and the angels? God and the cherubs, the seraphims? God and the angelic? Us. Who's us? Well, these fools out
here try to make that sound like it's just a figure of speech.
Well, let us be going, you know, that sort of thing. No, God said
let us. Who? trying God to follow the
son of the Holy Spirit to get let us make man and you also
find over in chapter three it says where the in verse eight
the voice of the Lord God came walking in the cool of the day.
Who's that? You better believe the voice
of God a voice walking who ever heard of a voice walking I have
that which we've seen that which we've heard we've. Isn't that
what John said? He walked this earth, the voice
of God walked this earth, the word of God walked on this planet,
just like he did in the garden. There's many Old Testament appearances
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many. All right, three persons,
but one God. One God and three persons, all
equal in power, but distinct offices and work. 1 John 5, 7
says this, and many of you can quote it, there are three that
bear record in heaven. Father, Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. What need have we of any further
witnesses in 1 John 5, 7? And those people that won't have
that, they're just lost. They're just unbelievers, that's
all. Now, we're not called upon to fully understand that. Can
anybody understand how that one can be three and three one? Would
somebody come up here and please describe this to us? It can't
be done, can it? God does not call upon us to
fully understand it. Can thou by searching find out
the Godhead to perfection? Huh? Canst thou by searching
find out God unto perfection? No way. We don't even know that
much. Paul said, we see in part, we
prophesy in part, we know in part, we prophesy. All God requires
us to do is believe it. And I don't understand that,
so I won't believe it. Then you're not a believer. Now, many talk too much of the
Holy Spirit. Can you do that? You sure can,
at the exclusion of the two persons of the Godhead. You can talk
too much of God, apart from the other two persons. Jews do. They
don't even acknowledge the Son of God. They don't acknowledge
the Holy Spirit of God. Jehovah's Witnesses don't even
acknowledge that the Holy Spirit exists. So-called Jehovah's Witnesses
rustle out. You can talk too much of the
Holy Spirit, and you can talk about him not at all. See? Not believe him at all. You can
attribute the wrong things to the Holy Spirit. That's what
Christ said was a sin against the Holy Spirit. And you can
attribute nothing at all to the Holy Spirit. That's blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit, too. I hope I'm not losing you here. The Holy Spirit is one of three
persons, distinct persons, in the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is equal in power
with God the Father and God the Son. equal. He is sovereign. The Holy Spirit is sovereign.
Just like God the Father, just like God the Son. The Holy Spirit
is deserving of all honor, praise, and glory, just like God the
Father and just like God the Son. He is equal. Let me show you this portion
in Romans 8. There's no clearer passage of Scripture in the Bible,
to me anyway, that speaks of the distinct personality of God
the Holy Spirit. Like I said these so-called Jehovah's
Witnesses or Russellites they and you know I don't apologize
for calling names that's a sect that's a cult they're false prophets
it's damnable heresies doctrine of devils is what it is. Don't receive them into your
home don't let them God speak. I don't apologize for calling
a wolf a wolf. Not at all. That's what a watchman
is for. Not to watch tire society. Romans 8, you know, they deny
the existence of this separate person of the Godhead or this
person, personality. Romans 8, 26 and 27 is as clear
a passage. And Romans 8, the Holy Spirit
is mentioned 19 times. they believe that this is just
talking about. Now, the spirit helps our infirmities,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the
spirit itself or himself, itself, itself, spirit itself. He has a self, doesn't he? Maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now
look at verse 27. And he, that is God, that searches
the hearts, knows what's the mind of the Spirit. Are you with
me? Some of you don't look like you're
with me. God knows and searches the hearts. He knows what is
the mind of the Holy Spirit, this other person of the Godhead. He talks to me speak to their
one man because he he he itself he person makes intercession
for the Saints according to the will of God you see the separation
of persons there he itself God he it Y'all don't need those proof
texts, but that's what that is. Romans 6 and 27. And I speak
to them who believe, and the rest I pray to reprobate. Second question. What is the
work of the Holy Spirit? The person of the Holy Spirit
is a distinct person of the Godhead, one of three people in the Godhead,
equal, co-equals with God the Father and God the Son. What's
the work of the Holy Spirit? Number two. What is the work
of the Holy Spirit? Now, there are many things and
there are too numerous to mention, too numerous to mention and too
mysterious to find out to perfection. My, my. He is called the Spirit,
isn't he? And I'm flesh. We're carnal,
right? That which is flesh is flesh,
that which is spirit. How are we going to find out
much of anything about the Spirit? Just what we read here. That's
what we read here, but from God's word, we do know the principle
work of the Holy Spirit, John 14. And it's not. To make people talk in and say,
laba, daba, haba, haba. All of the money, but that day,
what is it that one guy says every time, says the same thing
every time, doesn't he know any other tongues in that Rick, you
know? Oh, what's his name? Bob Tilton. The same thing about his mouth
every time he starts. Every time he starts his so-called. Gibberish foolishness you know
Anna can speak that can't you he speaks better than he does.
John fourteen of the disciples were ignorant of what Christ
was doing, where he was going. They were seeking some understanding,
some assurance of who God is and their interest in God and
their salvation and all that. Christ, he was going to leave
them and they were worried and they were concerned. He said,
I'm going to prepare a way for you, a place for you, going to
the cross, what he was saying. And then he said, I'm going to
heaven itself. to ensure your entrance into
it and Thomas said in verse five Lord we don't know where you're
going how can we know the way Christ said in him I am the way
the truth and the life no man comes under the father but by
me. Well you can get to God he's saying is if I take you. If you'd
known me, you should have known my father. Philip said, show
us the father, show us God. That's what we need. We need
a special revelation of God. And Christ said in John 9, have
I been so long time with you and you don't know me? Philip,
he that has seen me has seen the father. What's he saying
there? I'm God. How clear does he have
to make it? The Pharisees asked him the same
question. If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. He says, I told
you, and you don't believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep,
I told you, they hear my voice and they follow me. They know
I said I'm God. They believe it. Philip, though,
he was confused. They were all upset. He was leaving.
Philip, I am God. I am God. Believe me, verse 11,
that I am in the Father and the Father in me. How blame could
he get, Henry? Verse 15, Now if you love me,
keep my commandments. Listen to what I say. Believe
what I say. Believe who I am. Keep my words. Keep my words. Take them to heart. Believe what
I say. Believe who I am. He said in John 8, 24, If you
believe not that I am he, I am, you'll die in your sin. All right
now if you love me verse fifteen keep my commandments you do what
I say you believe what I say in verse sixteen and I will pray
the father and he will give you another comforter. May abide with you forever even
the spirit of truth. Now he said the first thing he
said was the Holy Spirit called it a comforter comforter you
say he said another comforter that. The worst while Christ
was with me listen to this now since Christ himself was with
the disciples they didn't need the Holy Spirit. Did they? Christ was with them. He was
their comforter. He was their wet nurse. He was
their mother, their father, their husband, their brother, their
friend, everything to them wasn't it for three and a half years.
They didn't need the Holy Spirit. He said, I'm leaving you now.
And they said, oh, don't go. He said, I'm sending you another
comforter. I've comforted you up to this point. I'm going to
send you another one. And I'm going to call him the Spirit
of Truth. Truth. Spirit of Truth. And verse 26,
And the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he'll teach you. He's going to teach you
something. The whole thing. What's he going to teach? He's
just going to remind you what I said. I've already talked to
you bring to remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you look over
John sixteen verse eight John sixteen eight. I quoted this
while ago when he has come the Holy Spirit he will prove the
world of sin of righteousness and of judgment sin and it's
all related to Christ sin because they believe not only of righteousness because I go
to my Father, and you see me no more of judgment because the
Prince of this world is judged. So the principal work of the
Holy Spirit, and I'm going to have to quit, I'm not going to
be able to finish this message. I'll have to take it up Sunday
night, I reckon. But the principal work of the
Holy Spirit is to teach, to instruct, to guide into truth. And what
is truth? Who is truth? Is a better question. Christ said it there in John
14, doesn't he see? I am the way, the truth. Do you remember when Pilate asked
him that? What is truth? He wouldn't answer him. Pilate
wasn't one of his. It's not given unto him. I thank
you, Father, you've hid these things from the wise and the
prudent, from the rulers and the princes of this world, and
revealed it unto babes, fishermen. tax collector truck drivers gas
station owner Christ and I'm the truth. Of the truth. The truth of God's word the word
of truth. And I will say this in closing.
If you show me the man. You show me the man who is preaching
these things that I've been preaching. Show me the man who's clearly
setting forth the gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Christ,
and I'll show you a spirit-filled ministry. Spirit-filled ministry. He may not look like it to the
out to the outward appearance to the world. I know he's he's
he's not who's what this vain babbler will say. What they said
about the great illustrious apostle Paul didn't. What's this vain
babbler going to say? What's he got to say? He doesn't
got the spirit. Great is the goddess Diana. What's this guy going to say?
Look at him, he's just sitting on a rock teaching us. They said
the same thing about the Son of God, didn't they? They didn't
see anything in him either. Well, he's not very dynamic,
charismatic. They saw his signs and all that,
but that didn't, that didn't. He said, Christ said, when they
said, show us a sign, Moses gave us a sign. Moses gave us a sign. He smoked the rock and water
came out of the rock. You know, if Christ wanted to
reveal the gospel to him right there, he sure could have, couldn't
he? Yeah, Moses showed you a sign. The only reason that water came
out of the rock was as a sign of me, who's the water of life,
not just a sign, a wonder, so you'd believe, see the fire up
top. Christ said, no, you're not going to get a sign. You're
not going to get a sign. Show us a sign. He said, you wouldn't believe
if one rose from the dead. One rose from the dead. But we believe. Why? Well, we've never seen. We've
never seen Christ with these eyes. Heaven. I've never seen
anybody raised from the dead. I've never seen any blind healed.
I've never seen the lame walk. Literally. I've seen people claim
to do so on TV, you know, but that's all a setup. I've never
seen any of that. Have you? I've seen some people
healed. I've seen some people miraculously healed, cured of
cancer by the Don Fortner, by the Todd and Ivor and the Ferris
One. I've seen the Lord use means of doctors and medicines and
hospitals and this and that and the other. I've seen that, too.
The Lord gets the credit and the glory for that healing, too.
The Lord said, I heal. I wound, I heal, I kill, I make
a life. The Lord gets all the glory for
all healing. I have seen people healed, but
not in the way that the Lord did it back then or the way some
of the disciples did it, but I believe Do you? I believe the Lord Jesus Christ
just as much as they do. Why? Right there. The truth. The Word. The Word. God said it's coming
a time when I'm going to write my law in their hearts. In their
hearts. And we'll talk about these miracles
and tongues and all that a little more Sunday night. They were
given, they were given us credentials. to people who did not have this
book. Now, Peter said, we've got, we don't need those things.
We've got something else to do. You can fake these other things
like people are doing today, but you get people opening a
book and looking into it, you're not going to fake anything, are
you? They've all got the same rules,
the same guidelines. You see what I'm saying? Those
things back then were given before you had this completed. And men
went around and these were verifications of their apostleship and so forth,
the raising of the dead, and incidentally, I quit. I quit. Stand with me. Dear Lord, we thank you so much
for revealing the gospel to us. You didn't have to. You could
have left us in the darkness of religion and superstition. vain traditions received from
the fathers, handed down from generation to generation through
various denominations and different old wives' tales, and this and
that and the other. Lord, in your sovereign
pleasure, your goodwill, your mercy and grace to us, you have
revealed the truth, you have revealed Christ to us, but we
are not We're very satisfied. We're complete in Christ. We have need of nothing. Very
happy, very content in knowing him. But we're not content with
how much we know of him. And we want to know him more. We want to know Christ. We want
to know him, the power of his resurrection, to be conformable
at his death. and be conformable to his person. We want to be molded and made
and shaped into the image of the blessed Son of God. And you
do all this. You enlighten, you instruct,
you comfort, you lead, you guide, you conform, you mold, you make,
you predestinate, all through the preaching of your Word. And
all of this is through and in the hands of your sovereign Holy
Spirit. So we ask you that you would, by your Spirit, by your
power, that you would reveal the truth unto us, not leave
us in darkness or ignorance, as so many others are. Our gospel
be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, whom the God of this
world has blinded their minds. But Lord, we see the light of
the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we thank you. That's all from your hands. And
we praise you and give you all the glory for this. We didn't
figure this out on our own. What do we have that we have
not received? So we give you all the glory and honor for it. Go with us through the remainder
of this week and let these things take root in our hearts and corrupt
the seed. Bring us back to this Lord today
to worship you once again. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen.