Well, let's go back to the book
of John chapter 16. The book of John chapter 16. And I'll be making mention of
some verses here, John 16, 7 through 15. But let me focus in right
now on verse 13. And then I'll take a statement
here for the message title tonight, John 16, 13. And of course, these
are the words of our Savior, and He is speaking to His disciples,
the 11 disciples, the men who love Him, the men who believe
Him, the men who have been regenerated by His Spirit. The men who look
to Him for all of their salvation, for all of their righteousness
with God. He's speaking to these men. Judas,
He left at the end of chapter 13, toward the end of chapter
13. And now our Lord is with these men, these favored men. Men that He's loved with an everlasting
love. And so much of the things that
He has to say to them, He says to us. Because we need to remember
that all of the Scripture, the instruction of the Scripture,
and the enlightenment that the Spirit of God gives to us, it's
for us. It's for all of God's people.
It just wasn't for them. If it was just for them, we'd
be in use and looking at this passage of Scripture tonight.
But this is for you and me. This is for us who are believers.
And so the Lord Jesus says to His disciples here in verse 13,
He says, let me go back and read verse 12. I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Albeit or however,
when He, the Spirit of truth, that's the title of the message,
the Spirit of truth. When He, the Spirit of Truth
has come, He will guide you into all truth. Who's going to guide
us into all truth? The Holy Spirit. Does that mean
He's going to guide us into every bit of truth that could possibly
be made known to any sinner? No. He's going to reveal to us,
He's going to make known to us all of the truth that we need
to know. We don't need to know everything.
We need to know Him who is the truth. That's who we need to
know. We need to know the Lord Jesus.
He said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. He's the
one we need to know. There are a multitude of things
that are factual, even in the Scriptures, that are wonderful
to know, but they're not absolutely necessary. But there are some things that
are vital that we know. And if it's vital, our Lord Jesus
says, the Spirit's going to teach you. He's going to teach you. Let me talk about the Spirit
of Truth. Now, the Spirit is indeed identified in various
names and ways throughout the Word of God. He's called the
Spirit of God. He's called the Spirit of God
because He is God. The Spirit is just as much God
and we would never make Him to be less than God. He's as much
God as the Father is. He's as much God as the Lord
Jesus is, the Son of God. He's the Spirit of God. He's
the Spirit of God. He is without body. He is without
any actions like we have. He is essentially pure and invisible. and his name means this, breath. That's what the word spirit means,
breath. He's the wind, he's the wind
of God. I had Joe read to us from Ezekiel
chapter 37, and in one of those verses, Ezekiel identifies him
as being, oh breath, that's how he speaks of him, oh breath,
that's what you read to us, oh breath. When we speak about the
Spirit of God, we're speaking about Him who is the very breath
of God. Breathe on me, O Spirit of God. That's what the songwriter wrote. The Holy Spirit is the breath
of God who must breathe upon dead sinners. There's no life in us. We're
lifeless. There's no hope for us unless
the Spirit of God brings the Word of God, the Word of the
Gospel, and then breathes it into us. In fact, when Ezekiel
prayed there, in Ezekiel chapter 37, He prayed that the Spirit,
the wind, would come into these, come into these dead bones. And
that's what we need. We need the Spirit of God to
come into us because when He comes into us, He being the Spirit
of life, and He being the Spirit of truth, He will bring life
into us. And He will bring truth, the
very truth of God into us. The work of regeneration is attributed
to Him. The Savior said you must be born
again, we must be born again. It's the Spirit of God who is
active in the new birth. It is absolutely a fact that
in the new birth we're not active, we're passive. And conversion,
we're active, we repent, we believe, we look, we lay hold of, that's
in conversion. But in regeneration, there's
no part for us. There's no part for a dead man,
because a dead man can't do anything. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. That's the reason Ezekiel said, Oh breath, breathe into
these. And isn't that what we desire
for our loved ones and those who know not the Savior? We want
the Spirit of God to do for them what He's done for us. Breathe
on these slain. That's what Ezekiel said. We
died in the fall. We died in Adam's transgression. Breathe on these who died that
we might have life. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
40. I was looking at several references
today, and among those was this one in Isaiah chapter 40, speaking about the work of the
Spirit of God, the work of the Spirit of truth. Look in Isaiah
chapter 40. Look at verse three, the voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. That's John the
Baptist, we know that. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall
be made straight, the rough places plain. The glory of the Lord
shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the
mouth of the Lord has spoken it." How do you know this will
come to pass? The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The boy said,
cry. He said, what shall I cry? Well, here's the answer. All
flesh is grass. All the goodliness thereof is
as the flower of the field." Man, by nature, we think we're
lovely flowers, we're lovely green grass. I love this time
of year because I love the shade of green. The new green in the
yards, the trees and so forth. It indicates life. And that's
the way we think we are. That's the way we appear to ourselves. But really, we're like dead grass. We're dead grass. I read today
that in Jewish, whenever they had a Jewish funeral, and I'm
not sure they still do it today in our generation, but they used
to do it at least years ago, whenever they came back from
burying someone, Each one of them picked up some grass and
put it on their heads. And it indicated the grass separated. It's in your hand now and they
put it up on their heads. It indicates like that grass
is now cut off from life and it's dying. That's the way we
are. We're dying people. So he says, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is the flower
of the field. What happens? What has happened
to make the grass to be dead, to where you realize you're like
withered grass? Watch it, verse seven. The grass
withereth and the flower faded. Why is that? Because the Spirit
of the Lord bloweth, sees the wind. He blows upon it. And he says, surely the grass,
the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth. This is the convicting power
of the Spirit of God. When He comes to us, the grass
withers. You wither under his conviction,
under his convincing of your depravity. The flower, it fades. And then what happens? The Word
of the Lord, the Word of God shall stand forever. You know
who that is? That's not only the written Word,
that's the Son of God, that's the living Word. When the Lord
of glory shows us ourselves, it's then that we're made to
realize and see the living Word, Christ Jesus. He's the one we
need. He's just the Savior that we
need. The Spirit of God is the holy
breath. He is the wind of God. And He's
just as much divine as is the Father and the Son. We know that
we are Trinitarians. We believe, and as I read there
in 1 John chapter five, we believe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I read, there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. understand the Spirit of God,
He's much more than an influence. Much more than an influence.
He's much more than a force. He's much more than an attribute
of God. He's much more than that. He
certainly influences people and He certainly exercises great
authority and power, but he's more than that. He is a real
person. And he's everlasting as God. The Scripture says, from everlasting
to everlasting, thou art God. That's all three persons of the
Trinity. That's the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit as well. And as the Father hath life in
Himself, and the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, has life in Himself,
so the Holy Spirit has life in Himself also. And notice, secondly,
He's the Holy Spirit. That tells us about His very
being. About His character. His nature, if you will. He is
holy. He's not the spirit of evil.
He's not the spirit of darkness. He's not the spirit of lies. He's the spirit of holiness.
Holiness. As he said in Exodus chapter
15, verse 11, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like thee glorious in holiness? And the spirit He is
glorious in His holiness. And then He is also referred
to as the Spirit of the Lord. You remember the Lord Jesus when
He goes to Nazareth and He appears there for the first time in His
public ministry. The scripture was given to Him
And he would read that, but before that he said, the spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he's anointing me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
He said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. And you go over from
the book of Isaiah, it talks about, hey, I had the spirit
of wisdom, He had the Spirit of knowledge. The Spirit of God
was one with the Lord Jesus. And when our Savior was on this
earth, the Spirit of God upheld His manhood and ministered to
His manhood so that all that our Savior did, He attributed
to the Spirit. It was the Spirit of God who
came upon Him. The Spirit of God spoke to and
through our Savior. So you see, the Spirit and the
Lord Jesus, as well as the Father, they're vitally involved, one
with another, in our salvation. There is no salvation apart from
the work of the Father. The necessity of election. Would
any of us dare deny the necessity of God's electing grace? Well,
that's the start of all of it. That's the very beginning. And
we would never deny the work of the Son of God who redeemed
us. We're justified by His blood. And we must not deny the necessity
of the work of the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ Jesus to us. Nobody's going to heaven but
those who are regenerated. Those who believe Christ Jesus.
Those who embrace Him. It's God Himself who is doing
this great work. He set out to do this work before
He ever made the world. And He is bringing this work
to pass, and now it is His Spirit who takes the Word of the Gospel
and effectually works in the hearts of those He chosen to
salvation, those redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God, His particular
work is sanctification. He singles out, He sets apart
those who are the Lord's and He deals with them in grace and
in mercy and in almighty power to quicken them from the dead. Without the quickening work of
the Spirit of God, there's not going to be any salvation. You're
not going to heaven apart from the work of the Spirit of grace. And then He is indeed referred
to as the Spirit of grace. Zechariah chapter 12 and verse
10 says that because He's the author of all grace in us. In us. Now, don't be confused
about this. Redemption and reconciliation,
that was a work done outside of us. And we're justified by
work done outside of us by the bloody death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no question about that.
But here's the way we come to understand and realize and know
and believe Christ Jesus as the only Savior, the Spirit of God
reveals Him. And you're not going to know
Christ apart from the revealing grace of the Spirit of grace. He's the Spirit of spiritual
illumination. He's the Spirit of a hope He's
a spirit of love, he's a spirit of fear, he's a spirit of self-denial. The ability to see Christ Jesus
in his beauties, in his glories, to see the necessity of his death
is solely due to the work of the Spirit of God within us.
We must never minimize his work or even minimize the necessity
of his work. You know, there's a kind of a
controversial subject, and that is, among some people, what happens
to babies when they die? When babies die in infancy. Well,
I'll tell you what I believe, and I don't have absolute concrete,
I wouldn't stake my salvation on it. I believe they go to glory. Maybe not all of them, but I
think there's certainly a remnant, according to the election of
grace, of infants. That's why I believe there will
be more people in heaven than will be in hell. That's what
I believe. But, having said that, if that
is factual, and like I say, I'm not going to stake my salvation
on it, But babies don't go to heaven because they're innocent. They're born sinners just like
you and me. Though they don't sin after the
scriptures talk about in the exact same way that Adam did. But they're born with that Adamic
nature. They're born with that Adamic
rebellion against God within them, though they never have
an opportunity to reveal it. But they're still guilty. They're
guilty. And I know some people, they
struggle with that, but not people who understand the Word of God.
David said, he came forth from the womb speaking lies. That's
what he said. He said, I was estranged from
my mother's womb. Babies are guilty, and if they
do go to glory, I'll tell you why. God chose them. Christ died for them. The Holy
Spirit made them alive. That's absolutely necessary.
You say, well, would the Spirit of God work on an unborn infant
in his mother's womb? Ask John the Baptist. Don't ever
put God in a box. Don't ever say, well, no, it's
got to happen just exactly this way. You can't put God in a box. It's His secret. His secret work. And if they do go, it's because
God chose them and Christ redeemed them and the Spirit of God makes
them alive and they go to glory. Where, in my opinion, they don't
remain infants. to praise the Lord as adults
forever and ever. But what we're talking about
is the work of the Spirit. It's absolutely necessary. And
I'll tell you the Spirit of God is referred to in Nehemiah chapter
9 and verse 20, God's good spirit. God's good spirit. And you know
He's got to be good because He's God. Because, you remember our Savior's
conversation with those folks in the New Testament? And they
said, there's none good but one. That's God. It's another evidence
that the Spirit is indeed God, because He's good. He's God's
good Spirit. He's good because He deals with
us not according to our just desserts, but in a gracious and
in a merciful way making application to us of the merits of the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now understand, the Spirit of
God doesn't create something within us that thereby God looks
at it and looks at us and says, okay, because of that in you,
you can go to heaven. No. That's not it. The reason
we go is because of the death of the Lord Jesus. He paid our
debt. We're debt free. But the Spirit
of God must do a work within us in revelation, in illumination. Which is what He does. And that's
good. It's good. He doesn't deal with
us after our desserts. He's called the Spirit of Life.
The Spirit of life? It says in Romans 8 and verse
10, And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Do you know
what that means? Since righteousness has been
established at the cross, then the Spirit is a Spirit of life
unto us as a result of what Christ did for us. You see, this is
very evident back, if you'll go back to John chapter 16, it's
very evident in this portion of scripture that the Spirit's
dealings with us are always associated with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God doesn't work
outside of this, I don't know what you call it, framework of
the gospel of Christ. You see, His office is to reveal
the Son of God. To make Him known to us. To give
us repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus. Notice how
He says here, look at John 16 verse 7. The Savior said, nevertheless,
I'll tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to
you. But if I depart, I'll send Him unto you. If I go and die,
I'll send Him to you. But if I don't go and die, the
Spirit of God's not coming. Won't be in need for Him to come.
Because if the Lord Jesus doesn't go and lay down His life a ransom
for His people, there won't be any Savior to be revealed. There
won't be any gospel to be made known. There'll be no reason
for the Spirit of God to come if our Lord Jesus doesn't go.
That's why He says, if I don't go, the Spirit of God's not coming. Where are you going, Lord? I'm
going to the cross, and then I'm going to the Father. But
if He doesn't do that, there's no work for the Spirit of God
to do. But notice what He says in verse 8, and when He has come,
prove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." Watch it. "...of
sin, because they believe not on Me." That's His work. He's
going to convince you of sin. What sin? What specific sin? Oh, I've been a bad person, I
stole this, I stole that. What about the fact you've been
rejecting and despising the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, the real
convicting work of the Spirit of God is He shows you your bad
attitude toward God's Christ. God sent Him. He died. God's exalted Him. And you've
made nothing of Jesus Christ. You may have made light of Him,
or you just haven't believed Him, but you haven't exalted
Him. You haven't worshipped Him. You haven't believed Him. And
He'll convince you of that. The sin of unbelief. It's a horrible
thing. And then He says, He'll convince
or convict of righteousness. Why is this? Because I go to
my Father and you see me no more. I'm going to establish righteousness
and on that basis, I'm going to heaven. I'm going to the Father. And on that basis, that's how
we go. There's no other way to get there
except by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. And the Spirit
of God is going to reveal that to us. And He says, of judgment because
of The Prince of this world is judged. Who judged Him? Christ did. Christ did. And so then He says, I have yet
many things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. But,
albeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide
you into all truth. Now watch. Really, there could
have been a better rendition or a translation of the original
here. The way this, and I'm not sure
why our King James translators, overall they did a magnificent
job. God in His providence, He's upheld the King James Version
all of these years, but a better way to express this would be
this way. How be it? When He, the Spirit
of the truth, When He, the Spirit of the truth,
has come, He will guide you into all the truth. Because the emphasis
is on the truth. The Spirit of God, He's the Spirit
of the truth. And He will guide you into all
the truth. And there is only One who is
the truth. That's Christ Jesus. Now watch
how our Lord says this, He shall not speak of Himself. He's not
going to magnify Himself. But whatsoever He shall hear
from the Father, that shall He speak. And He'll show you, He'll
manifest to you things to come. And then in verse 14, remember
I said the work of the Spirit of God, His job is to focus all
of our attention upon Christ Jesus. So the Savior makes this
tremendous statement in verse 14. He shall glorify me. He shall glorify Me." And when
you hear people, Pentecostals or Church of God or these charismatics,
they're talking about Holy Ghost revival and Holy Ghost power,
and boy, I tell you, we was in the Holy Ghost last night and
like one man was talking to me recently and said, if you got
the Holy Ghost, you're speaking in tongues and all of this kind
of stuff. When you hear people bragging
on the Holy Ghost like that, Holy Ghost meeting, Holy Ghost
revival, You can be sure of this. The Holy Ghost isn't there. Where
will the Holy Ghost be found? Where the Lord Jesus is being
lifted up. When His sacrifice is being exalted. When men are preaching about
His blood and His righteousness. He shall glorify me for He shall
receive of mine And He'll manifest it. That's what the word show
means. He'll manifest, He'll reveal it to you. How do I know I have the Spirit
of God? How do I know I have the Spirit
of Truth? Are you learning about Christ
Jesus? Are you focused on the Son of God? Are you made more and more aware
of the necessity of such a Savior? Do you see more of His beauties?
More of His glories? Do you understand more of the
necessity of His bloody death? So that God can be just and justified? Do you see more of the necessity
of this substitute taking our place? and satisfying divine
justice. Oh, I am learning. It's getting
into my head and into my heart, preacher. That's the work of
the Spirit of God there. That's what He does. And you know He's called the
Spirit of Life? He's the one who created that
life in the womb of Mary. And He's the one who overshadows
us and gives us spiritual life. He's the one who was instrumental
in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God, active in
the Savior's birth, active in the Savior's life, active in
His resurrection, and now active since our Lord has gone back
to glory. revealing Him. In Psalm 51 verse 12, He's called
the free spirit. Why is He called the free spirit?
Because He gives gifts to men freely. Freely. And sovereignly. Did not our
Lord Jesus say in John chapter 3, after speaking about the necessity
of the new birth, Did He not then say, the wind bloweth where
it listeth? That's the breath of God. The
breath of God blows where He wants to. And you hear the sound
thereof, but you can't tell where it's coming from or where it's
going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The Lord,
the Spirit of God may come to one tonight and bypass somebody
else. He comes as a sovereign wind
and He breathes life into you. Isn't that what it says in Genesis
chapter 1 when God created Adam? He breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. That's what He did. So the man
became a living soul. There's a life there that will
never die. in existence there that will
never cease. Your soul. You. Because you are
a soul. Your soul has a body. The body
will someday die. Not your soul. It just goes on.
And the reason it goes on and on and on and on is because of
who breathed the life into it. God did. And so it is in the
spiritual realm. Breathe upon these, oh breath,
oh breath of God. And if He breathes regenerating
grace into you, He creates life in you. He gives you a new nature. He gives you that grace, that
grace of God. He comes in Himself. You'll live
forever. Why, it's the most foolish thing
in the world to think that one can be saved today and lost tomorrow. Only if the breath leaves you. Only if the wind leaves you.
And the Lord said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake
you. The Spirit is the Spirit of life.
And I'll tell you, He's the Spirit of Christ. He's the Spirit of
Christ. You see, our Lord Jesus sent
Him upon the basis of His substitutionary work. And there's a glorious
and blessed unity within the Godhead in this matter of the
salvation of sinners. The Spirit of God's specific
work is giving life, giving breath. Breathe. upon these dead ones. He's the spirit of inspiration.
Holy men of God moved or spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. And it says here, He's the spirit
of truth. He makes us know the truth. The
truth, certainly the truth about ourselves The truth about God,
the truth about Christ Jesus, who is Himself the truth. You
can't know Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Life comes from Him. God's ordained
it this way. There's a beautiful harmony within
the Godhead concerning this glorious salvation that we enjoy. The
Spirit of God is the giver of truth. He's the revealer of truth. And here's what it says in Ephesians
chapter 1. He seals us. He's the sealer
of truth. He seals the truth to our hearts. And we're preserved. We're preserved. We're kept by the power of God.
Oh, blessed Spirit. Thank you for your work. within
us, the work that is ongoing, because He keeps us alive. He
keeps us looking unto Jesus. He does. You see, it never has
been us, it never will be us. It's not because of something
we did, saw, understood. It's not of ourselves. It's of God. It's of God. We thank Him for the work of
salvation. Let's go to hymn number two.