John 16, taking up this study of this
paschal discourse again. And I remind everyone who hears
this, who perhaps hasn't gotten in on any of the previous messages,
or just for remembrance sake, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
not talking to everyone here. to everyone without exception.
He's not talking to everyone. He is talking personally to his
disciples here. And while he makes direct references
to them and what they are going through and what they will go
through, it is also prophetical of what we are going through
and what we will go through, so it is meant for all of God's
disciples, all of God's people, as well as these disciples here
when he spoke these words to them. Now, he had, refresh your
memory, he had been talking or telling them about his departure,
about going back to the Father, and in their sadness, they were
very sad about it and confused about it, and in their sadness
and their confusion, he began telling them of the coming of
the Holy Spirit, who would do some wonderful things for them.
Now, if you got in on the study in verse seven, you may have
received a blessing from when he talked about the expediency
or the necessity of Jesus Christ of himself going back to the
Father. that the Holy Spirit would come
you remember that you remember that message well he said some
things like this that the reason why he had to go back to the
father and the reason it was necessary for him to go back
was for him to complete that work of salvation to go back
to the father to present his blood of whatever went on between
him and his father that transaction He had to go back to the Father,
not only that, but to become our intercessor, our mediator,
one mediator between God and men, the man, one man, not Mary,
not the priest, but the man, Christ Jesus. So the man, Christ
Jesus, had to go back to the Father. He couldn't stay here.
He had to go back to the Father. And he had to go back to become
Lord over all, to rule, to reign and to rule, to oversee everything
in an unlimited sense that is not just limited to a body like
he was on this earth. But he had to go back and take
up his abode with the Father again in an unlimited capacity,
not made a little lower than the angels, but Lord over all
in that great that great arm that John saw him there in Revelation
1. And then he had to go up there
so that he could send the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit would come
and take the things of Christ and show them to us to bring
to our remembrance these things, to lead us and guide us in all
truth, to convict, to convince, to give faith. to apply the gospel,
to seal us until that day of redemption, and to bring in a
world of people, a people from throughout the world, through
the preaching of the gospel, by spreading this gospel out,
by the Holy Spirit being in so many places at one time. So that
Christ had to go back to the Father in order for these things
to take place. And then, in verses eight through
eleven, Verses 8 through 11, he began referring back to the
world that he spoke of in the first few verses. He said, The
world will put you out of the synagogue, and so forth. And
then he kind of stops and pauses and gives some words of comfort
and cheer to his disciples, and then he gets back to the world.
And he says, When the Holy Spirit has come, not only will he do
some things for you, but he's going to do some things out in
the world. He is going to reprove the word of sin. Now, listen,
I remind you, many times when the scriptures are talking about
the world, such as John 3, 16, or verses like that, the world,
God so loved the world, you know, I just, I remind you, that he's
not talking about every single individual with every limb. He's
talking about, he's not just talking about the Jews. He's
not just talking about the Jews, and I think it's the same context
here. He was telling his disciples,
who were all Jews, every one of these disciples were Jews,
and he said to them that, no, the Holy Spirit's going to come
and going to take this gospel throughout the world, Gentiles. Even the disciples were prejudiced
for the Jews, against the Gentiles. So he's telling them, no, the
Holy Spirit's going to come and spread this gospel throughout
the world to the Gentiles, people. And he'll reprove the world of
sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now, in verse 12, that's where
we left off, verse 11, and we get back to verse 12, and he
gets back to talking to his disciples personally. He alluded to this
preaching of the gospel, and that's the reason I preached
it on Sunday morning, because of how it's an evangelical message. It's just all people. But back
here to verse 12 again, he starts talking to his disciples personally.
Verse 12, now let's look at it. Now he says, I have yet many
things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Now remember,
he's talking to this little band of fishermen here that he had
been dwelling with for so long. But the fact that these, he says,
you're not able to bear the things that I need to say unto you. Remember, Judas was gone. There's
just eleven of them now. Even after three and a half years
of close personal communion and listening to him speak personally,
they still weren't able to bear and understand and enter into
some of the things he was saying. They weren't able. They were
in no condition to receive or hear further revelations from
him. This proves their need, their desperate need of the Holy
Spirit. That's the reason he left. so that the Holy Spirit,
who is the great teacher, would take these things and show them
unto these disciples. And this same thing applies to
us. How long have some of you been listening to the gospel?
There may be some here who have just been here a short while.
And this applies to our ignorance, our ignorance of the truth of
the gospel. His ignorance of the truth of
the gospel, of who God is, of who he is, and who Christ is
and what he did, actually did, that shows me his desperate need
of the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit must teach
that person. Same thing with us. Our dullness
of hearing. Our dullness of hearing so often.
This indicates to me. We desperately, we still desperately
need the Holy Spirit, don't we? Even after three and a half years,
thirteen and a half years, twenty-three and a half years, some of us
are very dull of hearing. Paul said that over in Hebrews
13, when for a time you ought to be a teacher. Well, he said,
I have many things to say unto you, but you're still dull of
hearing. Well, this still applies in a great sense, doesn't it? Christ said, I have many things
to say unto you, but you cannot This tells me that the disciples
desperately needed the Holy Spirit to come teach them. Verse 13,
look at it. Now, let me say this, the apostles
couldn't tolerate the thought of Christ leaving. It bothered them. They couldn't
tolerate the thought of it, plus their minds and their hearts
were still thinking along the lines of most Jews. They were
still thinking that Christ was going to set up an earthly kingdom.
When he said, in another place, my kingdom is not of this world.
If it was, my servants would take up, if it was, he'd have
rode in on a white horse, wouldn't he? Instead of being born in
a stable. He wouldn't have gone to that cross. He wouldn't have
died. He wouldn't have set up his kingdom.
No, his kingdom is spiritual. And these apostles, though, they
were still thinking along these lines, much like today's religion
is taken up with prophecy and civil and moral issues, when
there's one thing needful, there's one thing needful, men need to
know, vow to, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their only
hope, their only righteousness, as their salvation. And that's
primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, verse thirteen,
he says this. He says, You cannot bear these
things that I need to say unto you. Howbeit, though, when the
Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. He's called the Spirit of truth,
the Holy Spirit. Now, you remember in 1 John 4
where it says, Try the spirits, speaking of preachers. and every
spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God,
and so forth. He talks about the Holy Spirit.
Well, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. Who is the
truth? Christ. He's the Spirit of Christ,
right? He's the Holy Spirit of Christ.
But He's the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth. Now listen
to these things. You'll be surprised to hear all
of this. He said, when the spirit of truth has come, he will guide
you into all truth. Now, Moses, listen to this, Moses,
as far back as Moses, the first books of the Bible, Moses spoke
of false witnesses. Moses spoke of a false report
being made. David, go to the psalm, David
said he hated every false way, meaning there were false ways.
Jeremiah warned of false dreams. dreamed by false prophets didn't. And he spoke in another place
of false burdens. I hear people, don't you hear
them with this burden of the Lord, you know? There in Jeremiah
23, he said, don't talk to me about your burden, your burden
for the Lord. And he derided that false burden,
this so-called burden that some religious people have, false
burden, false pretense of religion. Jeremiah warned of that a long
time ago. Ezekiel, he spoke of false divinations. Christ himself came and he said,
Beware of false prophets which come in sheep's clothing. They
look good, but they're false prophets. He said there are many
false prophets have gone out in the world. He even talked
about many false Christs. I read it in the paper the other
day that somebody said that There's a fellow somewhere who claims
to be the Christ, and he's getting a following. He's getting a very
large following now. Paul? Paul spoke of a false gospel. He called it another gospel.
False gospel. Everybody's talking about the
gospel now. And I automatically, when somebody says, the gospel,
I'm automatically, I say, now which one? Define it. There's
many. I mean, there's many different
gospels out there. False gospel. Paul talked about
false Jesuses, didn't he? Another Jesus to come. Any time
a man starts talking about Jesus, I don't know if he's going to
win it. Which one? Because it's false Jesuses. John
said many false prophets are going out into the world. So
any time a man takes the title of reverend or doctor or whatever,
I immediately think, he's suspecting it. Let's prove, prove yourself.
Try the spirits, that's what it means. Judge, judge righteous,
judge. How now? Okay, and this is important.
This is important to all of us. How do we discern? How do we
discern what is the truth? Did you hear all those things
he spoke of all the way back from the beginning? False this,
false that. How do you discern? How do you
know what is truth and what is error? How do you know what's
true? Well, it's not so much what. Who is truth? And this is what he's talking
about here. Christ said in John 14, 6, I am the truth. I am the
truth. And the truth of the gospel,
the truth of how God saves sinners, the truth which if a man knows,
he'll be set free, is a saving knowledge of the person and the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the truth. That's the
truth. And every spiritual instruction
Listen, I've weighed every word that I've put down on paper this
evening. I've weighed it very carefully. Every single spiritual
instruction that anybody gives, it better in some way point to
Christ. If you talk to myself, it better
in some way point to Christ, or it's suspect as to whether
or not it's truth or not. It better relate to Him, because
He is the truth, right? And the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
is the Spirit of truth and bears witness of OK? Now Christ said in John 14, 6
again, He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. OK? Do you want to know the
truth? Do you want to know the true
gospel? Do you want to know the true
Jesus? Do you want to know the true
work of the Holy Spirit? Well look at verse 13. Let's
continue. It says that he will guide you into all truth, for
he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear.
That's what he'll speak, and he'll show you things to come.
He shall not speak of himself. You want to know the truth? The
true gospel, and this is the primary meaning of this right
here, the true gospel, the true work of the Holy Spirit is a
message According to the scriptures. According to the scripture. That's
what the true gospel, that's where the true gospel comes from.
The word says if a man, if any man speak not according to my
word, it's because there's no light in him. No understanding,
no truth, no spirit of truth or understanding in him. To speak
not according to my word, there's no Any time a man says, I think,
any time a man just reads one verse of Scripture and closes
a book or whatever and doesn't dwell, doesn't search and dig
and diligently compile a message from careful study of the Scriptures,
you have reason to suspect his message as being the truth. The true Christ is the Christ
revealed in the Scriptures, right? True Christ is revealed in the
Scripture, and He's not revealed as some, like they say today,
some weak, effeminate, frustrated, helpless failure, is it? That's not the Christ of the
Scripture. And any man that preaches some Jesus as being that way,
that tells me right there, that's not truth. That's not true gospel.
That's not true Jesus. It's not the one in the Bible.
It's another Jesus. The true gospel is the gospel
that saves, the gospel that saves. The true Jesus is the one that
shall save his people from their sins, according to what the Scripture
says, by his righteousness, by his imputed righteousness, by
his shed blood for the remission of their sin. And the true work
of the Holy Spirit is wholly taken up with Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Not only is this saying here
that the Holy Spirit is not going to speak his own words, but whatever
he hears from Christ himself, whatever he heard Christ say,
he'll take those things and bring them to remembrance to the people.
That's what the Holy Spirit does through the Word. He takes the
Book, the Word. God hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, which is the Word. And the Holy Spirit
takes the Word of God and preaches and saves people. It's the reason
for preaching the gospel God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching, because it's the work of the Holy Spirit. That's
the importance of it. That's the means, the method
that God has chosen. Because the Holy Spirit doesn't
just take His own Word, doesn't just speak to a man in or outside
of the book. And you hear people claiming
it all the time, don't you? God spoke to me. The Spirit moved
me and spoke to me. Well, if it's not according to
this book now, he didn't. If he's not quoting scriptures
to you, he's not speaking to you. Right? As it says here,
he'll not speak of himself. Right? But he'll take the things
of Christ. He'll not speak of himself. Whatever
he hears, what did he hear? Things Christ said while he was
here on this earth and perhaps even now while he sits on the
throne. But, you know, the book says that if all the things were
written that he did and said, the world couldn't contain all
the books. Well, the Holy Spirit, though,
takes the things of this book that Christ said and shows them
to us. He doesn't speak of himself.
That is, his own thoughts and so forth. And any man who comes
up with any new revelation, or I think, or this is what God
told me, Shut him off. Turn the dial. Get up. Leave. Something. He's not a true spirit,
is he? And he's not from the Holy Spirit.
Well, here's the work of the Holy Spirit, verse 14. The Holy
Spirit will take you, will show you things to come because he'll
glorify me. What things are going to come?
They'll all behold my glory, Christ said. All the world is
going to behold my glory. That's what's coming. That's
what's coming. They'll all look on him whom
they have pierced, the scripture. He'll glorify me. He'll tell
you things to come. What's coming? He's coming. And
he shall glory. The Holy Spirit is taken up with
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll glorify me. He shall receive
of mine and show him unto you. Now, John 14, 10 says this. Christ said, Words that I speak
unto you, I don't speak of myself. Even Christ said this. He said,
The words I speak, I speak not of myself, but the Father that
dwelleth in me. So here you are. Do you remember us reading there
in those passages there in John 5 and John 7? A man bear witness
of himself, his witness is not true. Do you remember that? OK. The same applies to a preacher. But it applies to Christ. Christ
applied that to himself there, didn't he? He said, I don't bear
witness of myself. I believe that's the reason he
didn't cry or lift up his voice in the streets like Isaiah prophesied
of, because he'd been bearing witness of himself, as opposed
to the Father. But the Father one day, a couple
of times, from heaven itself, said, He bore witness of his
Son, didn't he? This is Him. That's Him. And then he said, the works that
I do. But more than anything, the scriptures. He said, all
the scriptures prophesied me. Moses wrote of me. They all wrote
of me. I don't bear witness of myself.
Oh, there's coming a day when he's going to bear witness of
himself. But then and now, the scriptures, the Father, the Holy
Spirit. See, Christ did not bear witness
of himself, but the Father bore witness of him. The Holy Spirit
doesn't bear witness of himself. He bears witness of Christ. It's
kind of like a loving relationship. You want to brag on one another. Christ was bragging on the Holy
Spirit. He'll guide you in all truth. He's the Spirit of truth.
He'll show you all things. The Holy Spirit doesn't talk
about himself like these Pentecostals and Charismatics claim. And by
talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit
wouldn't allow that, would he? Would he, Stan? I don't know. Sure not. Anyway, the Holy Spirit
wouldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow me to talk
about him, say. Would he? That's not what he came to do.
Don't be talking about me. Just like that prophet, whoever
it was, that John fell down and bowed before in the Revelation.
He said, I'm bowing before me. Bow to him. And that's what the
Holy Spirit does. Don't talk about me. I didn't
talk about me. You talk about him. I talked
about him. Even the Father talked about
him, because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. The three of us are talking about him, or the two of us are
talking about him, and he's talking about the Father. For you see,
even so, the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ, His Word,
His work, and shows them unto us, and He brings to remembrance
all things whatever Christ says. And the true Spirit-led preacher,
the true Spirit-led teacher, the true minister of the gospel
is not telling his own dreams, but he has the Word of God and
he preaches it faithfully. He that has a dream, tell it
and tell his dream. I heard Oral Roberts use that one time as
an excuse to tell his dream. That's how they corrupt the Word
of God. His own mouth condemned him,
didn't it? He said, you know what Scripture
says? He said, I have a dream. I dreamed a dream last night.
He said, you know what Scripture says? He that hath a dream, let
him tell a dream. Goodness gracious. That's how confused these fellows
are out there. Know what it says? He that hath
a dream, let him tell his dream. But he that hath my word, let
him preach my word faithfully. Tell my word. He said, I hear
what the prophets are saying. They're prophesying dreams. They
prophesy falsely in my name. I didn't speak to them. I didn't
call them, God said. They're telling a dream of their own
hearts. But my words, that's the standard. That's the test.
And he calls it the word of truth. He said that over in Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 13. He said the gospel of your salvation,
the word of truth. He said, You trusted in Christ
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
Ephesians 1 verse 13. Now look at verse 15, Now he
shall glorify me, and you will receive of mine, and show them
unto you. Now he said, All things that the Father hath are mine. All things that the Father hath
are mine. Therefore I said that he shall
take of mine, and shall show it unto you. All that the Father
has are mine. What things? What does the Father
have? What does the Father have? All power? Christ says it's mine. All power is given unto me. Didn't
it? Didn't it say that? All authority? He's got all authority. God hath
made this same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and
Christ, Messiah. All wisdom? Yeah, it says in
him. dwells all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. All life? Yeah, in Him was life,
and the life was the light of the world. Isn't that in the
Father? How about righteousness? Is the Father righteous? Yeah.
Well, the Scripture says, in Him is wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily is in Christ. Why? Because Christ is God. That's why. Christ is God. He said, all the things that
the Father hath are mine, all things. That's why I said unto
you, that's why I said unto you that he'll take up mine and show
it unto you. Why will the Holy Spirit talk
about Christ? Because Christ is God. That's why. He's on the throne. I and the
Father are one, he said. And that true spirit, that true
religion, is taken up wholly with the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ in this thing of salvation. These so-called
Jehovah's Witnesses that deny him, the Mormons that deny him,
Catholicism that denies, the Lordship, the Messiahship, the
redemption, full and complete redemption, the one and only
mediatorial work of Christ himself deny the truth. They're not of
God and not of the Holy Spirit. Not of the Holy Spirit. Okay.
Now, he said earlier, we started this out by looking,
he said in verse 12, you cannot bear these things. You're not
able. They weren't able to comprehend what he was saying. They weren't
able to comprehend his glory and his majesty. He had a body. They were looking at a man, Henry,
like you and I, even though they saw him do such marvelous things,
walk on the water, raise the dead, heal blind men, just go
over to a coffin and raise a little girl out of the coffin, turn
water into wine, all these things. Even though they saw all these
marvelous miracles that he did, they still could not get into
their head who he was. You remember over there in chapter
14, or chapter 13, when they said, Show us the Father, and
we will be satisfied. Philip, I am the Father, he said. I am the Father. Well, they weren't
able to comprehend His glory and His majesty, but when the
Holy Spirit finally came, they did. When the Holy Spirit finally
came in time, He led them and guided them into all truth. And
just like young believers, Young believers aren't able to comprehend
the gospel fully, but in time, what happens? The Holy Spirit
takes the gospel. If they sit down on a steady
diet of gospel preaching, their eyes start opening, their ears,
their understanding, their hearts receive these things, their faith
grows, become nourished, and they begin to really see the
glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. Look through the work
of the Holy Spirit, the same thing. These fellows weren't
able then to hear some of these things, just like young believers
aren't able to fully comprehend all these things, nor enter into
the joy, and the comfort, and the peace of it. A young believer
just cannot have the peace, and the comfort, and the assurance,
and the joy, and the experience, the reality of this thing like
somebody who's been walking with Christ a while, whom the Holy
Spirit leads and teaches. Well, when is a man saved? When
is a man safe when he believes some facts? I wrote these things
down thinking that somebody was going to be here, but they're
not. But we need to hear it anyway. When is a man safe when he believes
some facts? No, no, it's not facts. That's it. With the heart, scripture
says, a man believes. Not in the head, although there's
some things to be believed in the head. When is a man say when
he repeats some words now repeat after me. God have mercy. God have mercy. I'm a sinner.
When he repeats some words? No. No. You don't draw near with
your mouth. Salvation is not in the words
of the lips. It's faith in the heart. When
is a man say when he decides for God? No, that's not scripture. That's not scripture. No, it's
when God decides to reveal Christ to him, to reveal the gospel
of that person. When does a man say when he's
baptized? When he's baptized in water? No, no. No, it's when
the Holy Spirit baptizes him in the blood of Christ, baptizes
him in the faith. It washes his sins away before
a holy God. Now, a man, a woman, a boy or
a girl is saved when it pleases God to reveal Christ to their
heart. That's when they're saved. When
he reveals Christ as their only hope, their only righteousness,
their only acceptance with this holy God, their only acceptance
against this holy God they've sinned against, read that article
on the back of the bulletin. Have you read it? It explains
this very, very completely, what I'm trying to say. When a man
and a woman, a boy or a girl, are saved when it pleases God
to reveal Christ to their heart, to reveal Christ as their only
hope before this holy God whom they've sinned against, their
only hope of righteousness, their only hope of acceptance with
this holy God. That's when a man or a woman
or a boy or a girl or a young person is saved. That's when
they're saved. We're saved when it pleased God,
first of all. God had to choose. God had to
decide. Him or we're saved when God decides
to save us. And He decided that a long time
ago. But He decides in time to send the Holy Spirit to us just
like these disciples. The Father, the Lord, Himself. You go to them. And the same
thing happens with anybody that He saves. Christ, the Lord, the
Father, say, OK, Holy Spirit, go to Henry's sword now. He's
ready. He's ready. He's thoroughly sinful. He's in the gutter right now.
Now go show him where he's at. Show him he's in the gutter.
And the Holy Spirit does, doesn't he, Henry? Takes the law of God
and breaks it. It shows you this holiness of
God and shows you your utter depravity and sinfulness before
Him. And He said, Now, Holy Spirit, take the things of Christ and
show them to Him. Show them how that Christ is
able to save, to the gutter most, them that come unto God by Him.
Show Him that. Show Him. And the Holy Spirit
did. It showed old Henry that Christ came to save sinners,
even the chief, like you prayed tonight, the worst of the bunch.
Show Him that. And He does. And he does the
same thing for everybody he saves. That's when a man is saved, when
God decides to send the Holy Spirit to this man or this woman
or this boy or girl. When God decides. Not when a man up and
decides himself. It's not of him that willeth
or him that runneth, is it? Not of the will of flesh, not
of the will of man, but of God. Right? Scripture couldn't be
any plainer, could it? It's when God decides. When is
a man saved? When is somebody saved? When
Christ comes down here and lives and dies for them. This is what
we talked about. the means and the method, predestination,
all that. We're creatures of time. God
and God known unto God are all His works from the beginning,
but we're creatures of the flesh and of time. These things had
to take place in time because we're flesh. There had to be—oh,
even though Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world, we were born, we lived in this world. We had to have
a Lamb. We had to have God's Lamb. Christ had to come down
here and actually die for us. And we have to actually believe. We have to actually believe.
But really, it's not us that believe. God had determined before
the foundation of the world to give faith to those chosen people
that he sent Christ to die for. But anyway, Christ comes down.
When is a man saved? When he pleases God. When Christ
comes down here and lives and dies for that person. And when
the Holy Spirit finally reveals the gospel and gives faith to
that person. When are we saved? When the Holy Spirit gives us
faith, when we believe. When we say, when we believe.
There's a sense in which we have been saved in the eternal mind
and purpose of God, we have been saved. Eternally justified. Romans 10 speaks in the past
tense. I mean, justified, he glorified. Past tense. When is a man saved? Well, there's a sense in which
we have been saved. We were saved in eternity past.
We were saved when Christ died on the cross. made that great
transaction between Him and the Father. And we're being saved
right now. We're being saved. We're being
conformed to the image of Christ. We're being taught. We're being
led. We're being given faith. We're growing in grace and in
the knowledge and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's
a time coming when we finally will be saved, finally. We'll put off this body of death
and we'll be saved forever then, forever. And it's threefold salvation,
but it's all in the mind and purpose of God. That's just the
way it is. Salvation is of the Lord. That's what all this is saying
now. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the work of the Holy Spirit is to show that to men. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit, to show that to people, to show it to
them. Because then and then only is
somebody going to appeal to God for their salvation, right? Only when the Holy Spirit shows
men that they can't save themselves, only then will they appeal to
the one who can. If men don't firmly believe and
persuaded that they are without hope, without God, without any
righteousness, they're not going to appeal to the Lord their righteousness,
right? They're going to try to establish
their own righteousness. They're going to make up all,
they're going to imagine all sorts of ways to get to God. But it's not the way. It's not
the truth, because there's one. And God, the Holy Spirit, reveals
that to everybody. It's the reason knowledge is
important. But he puts it down in the heart. He goes far beyond
just the knowledge. A knowledge, but a love. Knowledge
of the truth, but a love of the truth. That's what he said over
there in 1 Thessalonians about some folks. They receive not
the love of the truth. There's some closet Calvinists
out there who will, you know, agree at least with you a little
bit, but when they get up in the pulpit or out in public,
they won't admit to it. That's not salvation. No, that's
not salvation. It goes far beyond a knowledge
of the truth, but it goes down to a love of the truth, a convinced,
being firmly convinced and persuaded. And here I stand, like Martin
Luther said, here I stand. I can do no other. Salvation
is of the Lord. You may not be able to perfectly
explain it, and you certainly can't convince anybody of it,
can you? Because the Holy Spirit had to
do that to you, old hard head, old wood head. Didn't He? Had to do the same thing to you,
and you try your best to convince somebody. You can't do it, can
you? Oh, I've talked to people. I've had more liberty sometimes
talking to people one-on-one than I've ever had in a pulpit.
God's going to save this person. But now it's like falling on
deaf ears or something. Because I can't do a thing. You
can't do a thing. The Holy Spirit has to do it.
Salvation is of the Lord. The Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit, the Lord, God. And the work of the Holy Spirit
is to show this to man, primarily. To show this to man. That's his
first work. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He shows that to everybody, because
all things were created by him and for him. All things were
down under his praise. All things consist in and by
him. He hath created all things for
himself, even the wicked for the day of evil, etc. And all things, everyone is saved. Everyone who is saved and everyone
who will be saved will be saved according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the what? The glory of His grace. That's what it's all about. That's
what this whole thing's all about. Father of the spirits, like John
said, what's their message? Listen to their song. Is it middle
C or is it out of tune? You just can't quite put your—somebody
was—Charles was saying, I heard some fella say some good thing.
Well, he might have been preaching C-sharp or C-flat, C-minor. He wasn't middle C. There's a
difference, isn't there? Some of you know what I'm talking
about. A fella might have been—some fellas, some preach A-minor,
you know. I mean, we're close. But some
people, they get close. They get close, and they get
right down. They talk about salvation of the Lord, salvation by grace,
getting into the mercy of God, and get down to the end of their
sermon and say, now won't you please accept Jesus? Now, what were
you talking about a while ago about God's salvation being the
mercy and grace of God? Salvation of the Lord? What do
you mean I've got to accept Him? Sounds to me like He needs to
accept me. That's C sharp. Christ plus. Or C minus. Christ minus. that he didn't
finish the word, you know. Middle C, that's the message.
Try the spirits. Try them. See what they're saying. See if their spirit bears witness
with the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit bears witness
of Christ. That's the message of the Holy
Spirit, and that's the message of every spirit that the Holy
Spirit sends. All right. Let's stand and sing. Let's sing this song. We Know
Well, 125. They normally sing this as an
invitation. But the message was an invitation.
I'm not going to stand down here fun, Rick. We got in on a fellow
doing this. It's been a long time since I've
seen this. Since I was a little boy, I guess. We got in on that service, didn't
we? And this fella, slick back and gray hair, you know, had
to look on his face, didn't he? And you got to hold your hands
a certain way, too, when you give the invitation. Didn't he,
Rick? I'm not exaggerating. This is
exactly what he was doing, wasn't he? And he gave that invitation.
And he knew right when to say the right words, didn't he? He'd
sing his song, Jesus paid it on. He said, now won't you come?
Jesus paid it on. All to him I owe. Now, you know you owe Him, don't
you? Now, come on down front now and accept Jesus. See? Oh,
it's just such a put-on. We don't give invitations like
that. You know, God really, the Gospel, the Gospel is not really
an invitation now. It's really not. You don't find
that in the Scripture. You really don't. God commandeth
men everywhere to repent. The kings don't give invitations.
No, he doesn't. He really doesn't. And I challenge
you to find that in the scriptures, the word invitation. It's not
there. It's not there. God commendeth men everywhere
to repent. If God just invites me, I'm going
to come. But if he goes out and compels
me by his Holy Spirit to come in, like that king did to those
in the highways and the hedges, compel them. You know what that
means? Compel them. Jerk them up by the hair of the head if
you have to. Compel them. That'd compel me. Get in by and
compel them. Paul said, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We don't ask. We don't beg.
We're ambassadors. We're commanding. We're telling,
we're warning men. Flee from the wrath of God. We're
not begging. Please won't you accept. No,
we say, you better bow down. Isn't that what we're saying,
Henry? It sounds hard sometimes, sounds
cruel, sounds undiplomatic or whatever you want to put it,
hard shell, but that's it. Because our God's not a beggar
and neither are we. And we're compelling them. But the message, that was the
invitation, not the song. Don't come down to me either.
Come down, come to Christ. Go home, get in the closet and
meet the Savior. Okay, let's sing this. Stand
with me and let's sing a couple of verses. I hear the Savior say, my strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray, find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Third verse. For nothing good
have I, whereby thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments
white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all
the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in hymn complete, Jesus died, my soul to save. I still repeat, Jesus paid it
all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white. Thank you.