Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue preaching through the
gospel of John, and we're in chapter 16. I'm going to begin
around verse 12, and I'll back up and make some comments about
prior verses that I've already preached on because I want to
emphasize some things concerning this subject, the spirit of truth,
the spirit of truth. Now, we're talking about the
Holy Spirit. the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. The Holy Spirit is the third
person of the Holy Trinity. And you know, the Bible, and
basic to what we know as Christianity, presents God in three persons. Now, that's not three gods. I've
emphasized that on this program so much. When you talk about
the Trinity, the Trinity is really beyond our understanding, humanly
speaking. And yet, this is how God reveals
Himself in His Word. As God the Father, representing
the sovereignty, the sovereign authority of the Godhead, And
then God the Son, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
mediator between God and sinners. There's one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as God the Son, is absolute deity. He's not a lesser God or anything
like that. There's not three gods, there's
only one God. But he subsists in three persons. And God the Father, God the Son,
and then God the Holy Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit is the
one who applies powerfully and invincibly and irresistibly all
the blessings of salvation which the father purposed and put into
motion before the foundation of the world and so the holy
spirit applies it and the work of the son the lord jesus christ
who set forth the the ground of salvation by his obedience
unto death and that's why he had to become man God, man, but
the Holy Spirit applies those blessings of salvation to his
people and in time. And the Holy Spirit, along with
the Father and the Son, all three were active in the creation of
the world. All three are active in the salvation
of sinners in their particular offices. The Holy Spirit is not
an influence or some kind of a ghost, even though in the Bible
he's called the Holy Ghost because he's a spirit. But he's not a
ghost like you think of in these horror movies, you know, like
somebody who's come back from the dead. That's not what he's
like. He's God, he's the third person of the Godhead. So this
is essential to our understanding of the Bible, our understanding
of God, what limited understanding we have, and our understanding
of salvation. In here in John chapter 16, John
is talking about, he's telling the words of Christ as taught
to the disciples concerning the comforter who is the Holy Spirit
and how he will come as the spirit of conviction and the Spirit
of Truth. And I preached on these last
time. Look down at John 16, verse 8. It says, when He has come, that
is the Holy Spirit, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment, those three convictions of sin because they
believe not on me, He said, of righteousness because I go to
my Father. And you see me no more. He goes
by way of the cross, by way of death, whereupon he was raised
from the dead and ascended unto the Father. And then verse 11,
of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. And
that is the fact that God's people, His elect, the ones whom He gave
to Christ before the foundation of the world, and sent Him to
die for on Calvary, and for whom He lived and died and was buried
and rose again, for whom He is now seated at the right hand
of the Father, making intercession, that those people have already
been judged in Christ for all their sins. Their sins were imputed
to Christ and His righteousness to them. So the Holy Spirit comes
to give life, spiritual life in the new birth. And he does
it through the preaching of the gospel. That's why I quote quite
often on this program, Romans 1, 16 and 17, where it speaks
of, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the
good news of the glorious person. and the finished work of Christ.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and the Greek or the Gentile also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
or the justified shall live by faith. And so the Holy Spirit
uses the truth of the gospel to bring sinners into life, eternal
spiritual life, and to bring them to a saving knowledge of
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives the gift of life from
Christ. Often I've told you on this program
how in the life of a person, a sinner saved by grace, there
are two things that must take place. Number one, there's a
legal matter that must be settled because God is a just God. Yes, he's a merciful God, but
he's also a just God and he must punish. sinners with eternal
damnation if sin is imputed, charged to them. And to those
to whom He does not impute sin, He imputed that to Christ and
Christ had to die. The wages of sin is death. And
He did that on the cross. That's the legal aspect of salvation. It's called justification and
redemption. God justifies the ungodly. That means He forgives us of
our sins on the ground, the legal ground of the blood, the death
of Christ. And He declares His people righteous
on the legal ground of Christ's righteousness imputed. And that's
a work that is totally, that is done totally by Christ Himself,
singularly, without any help or any cooperation from His people. And that's the ground of salvation,
the ground of justification. The second thing that must take
place is a spiritual matter. And because we fell in Adam into
spiritual death, spiritual death and depravity, and we're born
spiritually dead and depraved, We must be born again. We must
be given spiritual life from the dead. And Christ sends forth
the spirit of truth to do that. Listen to what he says in verse
12 of John 16. He says, I have yet many things
to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Now people speculate
over what he's talking about. but he's talking about matters
that they learn later concerning the kingdom. You know, they were
not settled on what the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God
was all about. But look at verse 13, and here's
where I got the title of the message today. How be it when
he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. And
so the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And when it comes to
applying salvation and the benefits and blessings of it to each and
every one of God's chosen people for whom Christ died, and that's
what he does. The Bible says in Romans 8, 10,
the body is dead because of sin, this physical body. The reason
we get sick and die physically is because of sin. But that's
not an eternal death to those who are in Christ. It's not a
spiritual death, or damnation, or condemnation. It says in Romans
8, 10, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, is life, eternal spiritual life, because of righteousness. And where are we going to find
righteousness? Not in ourselves. Not by our works. We find righteousness
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10 4 says that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So
the Holy Spirit comes forth from Christ. And you'll hear me talk
about imputed righteousness quite a lot on this program. That's
the merits of the obedience unto death of Christ. the quality,
the worthiness, the merit of His obedience unto death, imputed,
charged, accounted to His people for their justification, for
their salvation. And so that righteousness is
the ground of our salvation, and it's the source and power
of spiritual life in the new birth. So how be it when He,
the Spirit of truth, is come? He'll guide you into all truth.
Now He'll guide you first under the gospel. Over in the book
of Romans, chapter six, when we talk about the work of the
Spirit, The first work of the Spirit in the life of one of
God's chosen people, whoever they are, and there are a multitude
of sinners which no man can number. They're out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. They're the elect of God. They're
the redeemed of the Lord. and God in Christ will send the
Spirit to them to apply it. The first thing that the Holy
Spirit does is a work of providence where he works in the life of
God's chosen people at an appointed time to first bring them under
or in contact with the true gospel. That's why he's called the Spirit
of Truth. You see, you must hear the gospel. The true gospel,
not a false gospel. The Bible says that faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And if the gospel
is hid to you, and you go through life never hearing the true gospel,
or go through life without the power of the Spirit, rejecting
the gospel, There's no hope of salvation for you. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. It's the word of truth. Begotten
again, James 1.18, we're begotten again, born again, by the word
of truth. Now that's not just a preacher
preaching, that's communicating the gospel, but it's in the power
of the Holy Spirit. And over in Romans chapter 6
and verse 17, listen to these verses. Paul writes, but God
be thanked that you were the servants of sin. Now, in the
context here, a servant of sin is a spiritually dead, unregenerate
sinner, an unbeliever. He doesn't believe. He's a slave
to sin. He goes on, he says, but you
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, that's the
truth, the teaching, the gospel, which was delivered you." Now,
when the Holy Spirit brings a sinner, raises that sinner from the dead,
and that's what the new birth is. It's a literal spiritual
resurrection from the dead. The Spirit imparting life to
a dead sinner, spiritual life. And that life is known by the
knowledge that He gives. And that's what in the Old Testament,
the Lord prophesied that through Ezekiel and Jeremiah. I'll put
my spirit within you. I'll give them a new heart, a
new mind. And so that form of doctrine
is the true gospel. That doctrine is teaching and
it's truth. Now there is false doctrine,
but he says that form of doctrine, which was delivered you. Now
the gospel must be delivered to God's people. It must be communicated
to them in the power of the Spirit. But the original language of
this verse is a little different. It's not contradictory, but here's
how it would read literally. Go back to verse 17, Romans 6.
Let me read it to you, having the original. And he says, but
God bethink that as you were the servants of sin, lost in
your sins, but you have obeyed from the heart, that's the new
heart given by the Spirit, the mind, the affections, and the
will, that form of doctrine, whereto you were delivered. You see the difference? In other
words, yes, the gospel must be delivered to you, but you've
got to be delivered to it. By the power of God in His providence,
God is going to bring His people to the gospel. And they're gonna
hear it. It may be sitting in a church
service, listening to a preacher. It may be sitting in a Sunday
school situation, listening to a teacher. It may be a one-on-one individual,
like Philip preaching to the Ethiopian. It may be Peter preaching
to Cornelius. It may be on television or on
the internet. But the first thing the Holy
Spirit's going to do is a work of God's governance here on earth
by bringing his people to be connected and to hear the gospel
in the power of the Spirit. You gotta be where it is. And
He's gonna bring you where it is. So when He says this, and
we'll read on to Romans 6 and verse 18. He says, being then
made free or liberated from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
To be liberated from sin is not to be made sinlessly perfect
because there's no such thing on this earth for a sinful human
being. You're not even a sinner saved
by grace. We're all sinners. We're either lost in our sins
or we're sinners saved by grace. But we're sinners. The only way
that sinners saved by grace will be totally perfect and delivered
from all corruption of sin is when they die and go to be with
the Lord. And then we'll know as we are
known, as the Bible says. We'll be sinlessly perfect then.
Right now we're sinlessly perfect legally in Christ because God
does not impute my sins to him. I'm still a sinner. But God does
not impute my sins to me. He doesn't charge me. He doesn't
remember them anymore. That means he doesn't hold them
against me. The Bible says, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that does. That's
the legal aspect. But as to my person here on this
earth, I'm liberated from sin only in the sense that I see
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of His person, the
power of His blood, the glory of His righteousness, as putting
away my sins and making me free by His grace. Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith you've been made free, the liberty that's
in Christ. I'm free, liberated to obey God
now in a way that's acceptable Not because there's any merit
or earning power in my obedience, but because now God has replaced
that old legal mercenary motive with the motive of grace and
gratitude and love. And so I look to Christ. I'm
liberated in that sense. I'm no longer in the darkness
of ignorance and unbelief that kept me as a servant of sin. I'm now liberated, I'm a servant
of righteousness. What is a servant of righteousness?
It's a believer. Sinner saved by grace. Now go
back to John chapter 16, look at verse 13 again. It says, how
be it when He, the Spirit of truth, And understand what I'm
saying. The Holy Spirit does not give
life in the new birth, regeneration and conversion, under the preaching
of a lie. If you're in a church service,
let me say this. I'm not getting off the subject
here. If you go into a religious service,
How do you gauge the presence of the Holy Spirit? Is it by
feeling? Music that sends chills up your
spine? Is it by dancing or what people
call working a miracles? My friend, none of those things,
none of those things are valid if the truth is not preached
from that pulpit. If the true gospel is not preached. The Spirit is absent. He is the
Spirit of truth and a lie will not get it done. So I don't care
how you feel when you go into those services. I don't care
how high you get or how happy you get. If the true gospel,
the truth of the Bible, All of it is, if it's not being preached,
the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, is absent. And you're
being deceived. I know that sounds harsh, but
it's the truth. Look at it again, verse 13 of
John 16. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He
will guide you into all truth. He doesn't guide you into a lie.
false gospels of salvation by the works or the wills and decisions,
the salvation conditioned on sinners. That's false gospels. The true gospel is salvation
conditioned on Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh. and
who went to the cross as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer
of his people, and he satisfied God's justice by the shedding
of his blood and brought forth a perfect righteousness whereby
God is just to justify sinners like me, like us, like me and
you. And that's the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, from the
knowledge of God revealed in His Word to the knowledge of
God received in the power of the Spirit. Now he says here,
the Spirit shall not speak of Himself. Preaching the gospel is not pointing
sinners to some work of the Spirit. as apart from Christ. The Spirit will always lead God's
people and God's preachers to preach Christ, to cling to Christ,
to stick to Christ, to glorify Christ, to honor Christ. It's
all about Christ. He shall not speak of himself,
that shall he speak But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. Now
this is speaking of the Spirit's subservience to the Father and
the Son. Not that he's not equal in deity. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit are co-equal in every attribute of deity. But for the
purposes of the salvation of God's people, The Son became
subservient to the Father, and the Spirit became subservient
to the Father and the Son. And He is sent forth, commissioned,
and what He hears. He already knows it. He's omniscient,
just as the Father and the Son are. But he hears it from the
authority of the Father. The Father said at Christ's baptism,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.
And the Spirit descended on Him like a dove. And the Spirit points
to Christ. And He'll show you things to
come. Things that are going to happen. Things that have happened. You read the Scriptures. And
go on in verse 14. Here's what Christ says. Listen
to this. He shall glorify me. As I said, it's all about Christ.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's His person and His work.
The only access and acceptance that sinners like us have to
God the Father is through the Son and based upon His blood
and righteousness alone. And that's what the Spirit teaches
us in the Gospel. And that's how the Spirit glorifies
Him. Lifting up Christ. Christ has
the preeminence. And that's what the Spirit does.
Verse 14, he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. He's gonna receive the things
of Christ, Christ in his mediatorial glory as co-equal with the Father
and the Son, the Spirit will do this and he'll show it unto
God's people, he'll reveal it. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation because it's a revelation. a revelation of the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. And verse 15, he says,
all things that the father hath are mine, they're given unto
him because of his work on the cross, successful work. And therefore
said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. He's gonna take of the things
of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? What did
he do? Why did he do it? Who did he
do it for? And where is he now? The Spirit's
gonna show God's people those things in the preaching of the
gospel. And Christ says here in verse 16, a little while and
you shall not see me again a little while and you shall see me because
I go to the Father. He's gonna go away, he said that.
He's coming back again. and then he's going to ascend
unto the Father, but he'll send the Comforter, and he'll show
these things. He'll glorify Christ. He's the
sovereign agent. His work in the salvation of
God's people is irresistible, invincible, undeniable, and he
is the Spirit of truth. Not a lie. He doesn't work through
false preachers. He works through the preachers
and the witnesses of God in Christ. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.