Now, our message this morning
is just a continuation of our lesson that we had earlier in
Galatians 5, where Paul talked about the offense of the cross.
Our Lord uses the same word in verse 1 of John 16, These things
have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. Now,
our Lord had been teaching his disciples. He'd been telling
them what was about to happen to him. And he didn't just tell
them what was going to happen to them. He explained what all
these things meant, why these things were happening, how sin
was going to be put away, how salvation would be accomplished.
He says, I'm telling you so you won't be offended when they happen.
Now, the word offended means scandalized or something that
would cause us to stumble, that tripwire we talked about in our
lesson. And our Lord tells them this because the natural man
is offended. by Christ on the cross. Christ
on the cross causes men to stumble because Christ on the cross is
scandalous to the natural man. We looked at this in our lesson
this morning. Christ on the cross offends man's dignity because
Christ on the cross shows how sinful we really are. We want
to think we're better than that, but the cross tells us otherwise
and our dignity is offended. Christ on the cross offends man's
pride because Christ on the cross declares He's the only Savior
and that we're totally dependent on Him. Now that offends man's
pride. We don't want to be dependent
on anybody else. We've just got that proud streak
in us. Christ on the cross offends our
pride. Christ on the cross offends man's free will because the cross
declares God's sovereign in salvation. This one dying is the sovereign
Savior, and that offends man's free will. It's not up to me
if I'm going to accept Him or not. The question is, will He
accept me? Is His sacrifice for me? To end
Christ on the cross offends man's ability because Christ on the
cross declares that the atonement for sin is in Christ alone, and
I can't do anything to atone for my sin. Christ must atone
for my sin or I'll have no atonement. And that offends my ability.
Then Christ on the cross offends man's wisdom. Because salvation
through the substitute who died on the cross, that's just too
simple. Surely something as eternal and
weighty as salvation is more complicated than that. In God's
wisdom, no it's not. It's that simple. But that offends
man's wisdom. And then Christ on the cross
offends man's love of self. Because Christ on the cross declares,
if I'm going to be saved, I've got to go to him. That hated
man, Jesus of Nazareth, I've got to go to him outside the
camp. And that offends man's love of
self. And that scandal of the cross is just too scandalous
for this flesh to take. We hear the preaching of the
cross. What happened at the cross? What does the cross mean? And
the natural man says, I'm scandalized. That you'd say such horrible
things about me. But that's what the cross says
to us. And our Lord teaches us that. So that when he's crucified,
we won't be offended by the cross. And you and I today will not
be offended by the preaching of the cross. But we'll be blessed
by it. And we will be blessed if the
Lord ever teaches us what he really did. If he lets us see
him on the cross with an eye of faith, we won't be scandalized.
We'll be blessed. But now this teaching is necessary.
Our Lord is not just wasting his time teaching his disciples
this so that they won't be offended. Because this is just before he
went to the cross, this teaching is necessary. Because what's
going to happen? This very night, they'll all
be offended because of him, won't they? Because of what happens
to him as he's taken and beaten and tortured and killed. They'll
be offended by him that very night. And all these years after
the cross, We, you know, the disciples, they didn't understand
what was going on, even though the Lord told them. But now we
have the full canon of scripture. God just tells us in plain language
what happened at the cross. Well, why are we still offended
by it then? We understand everything that happened because we're just
like these disciples. We've got the flesh hasn't changed
just because Christ has died on the cross, the flesh. has
not changed. The flesh is still offended by
what happened at Calvary. And then next, the Lord tells
his disciples, there's going to be some things that happen.
Because, afterwards, because of the cross, there's going to
be some things that happen, and I don't be offended by them.
Verse 2, he says, they shall put you out of the synagogues.
Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God's service. Now, people are religious. But
you know religious people are the meanest, just most vicious
people you'll ever find. Persecution against believers
doesn't happen from the world in general exactly. It comes
mostly from the religious world. And it comes from the religious
world because the religious man is so scandalized, he's so offended
by the preaching of the cross that you love, that a believer
loves. The preaching of Christ and Him crucified, now that's
not going to mix with man-made religion. It's not going to mix
with workers' religion, and they hate you for it. They're scandalized
by it. And our Lord says, they're going
to put you out of their churches. They're going to put you out of their
circles. They're going to put you out of fellowship with them. Well,
good. I mean, fine, right? Who wants
them? I don't want to be there. But now that's difficult. Isn't
that difficult to the flesh? And to these Jews, Being excommunicated,
that's what our Lord means here. They're going to excommunicate
you. This is a real trial. No one could talk to you if you
were excommunicated. Nobody could do business with
you. They can't do business with you. How are you going to buy
food and clothes? This is a real trial. They can't
do business with you. Your family, they can't be with
you. Even your family can't talk to you and invite you over for
dinner. Some families even had a funeral. for you if you believe
this. Some of these Jewish families
would actually hold a funeral if you believe Christ. You're
dead to them. You were shunned and disgraced
by everybody you ever knew. Now losing your family and your
friends for the gospel sake, now that's a hard trial. Now
it is. Our Lord says they'll go so far
as to put you to death. All these disciples he's talking
to, every one of them are put to death. They all died a martyr's
death. Maybe John did. He may have died
on the Isle of Patmos, but he's excommunicated, wasn't he? Out
there on the Isle of Patmos with nobody. So why is our Lord telling
us this? Well, there's comfort in that.
When this happens to us, as difficult as that is for the flesh, don't
be offended. Don't be scandalized. Don't stumble. God said this
happened to his children. Well, aren't you comforted knowing
you're a child of God? These religious people, Now,
they're going to do this to God's people, to believers with a zeal,
a religious zeal, because they're going to persecute God's children
thinking they're doing God's service. Didn't Saul of Tarsus
do exactly that? He was out there throwing people
in prison and getting people stoned, and he thought he was
doing God's will. Now, that's just strange. That's just strange. You cannot do my will and persecute
my girls. I mean, if you think that you
can do my will and persecute my girls, you don't know me very
well. Well, if you think you can persecute
God's children and do his will, the only reason you can do that
is you don't know God. If you don't know God, you don't
know Christ, you're certainly not going to know his people.
That's what our Lord says in verse three. And these things,
well, they do unto you because they've not known the Father
or me. The religious world hates believers. You know why? They don't know
God. Now, I know that might sound
harsh, but it's not. It's just so. The natural man
does not know God, even though they're religious. None of us
know God by nature. God had to reveal Christ to us
by spirit. And they don't know God. It's
not just that they don't know God. They hate God. Our Lord
said in verse four, here's why I told you these things already,
because up to now I've been with you and all that hatred and persecution
has fallen on me. But now I'm going to go away.
I'm going to let them get their hands on me once. After that,
they won't be able to do it again. But you're going to be here.
Now it's going to all fall on you. They can still get their
hands on you. And that's why he's telling us this. So when
it happens, we won't be scandalized and think, oh, this is I must
be looking at this all wrong and leave. Now, this is why our
Lord says it's going to happen. Are you going to be offended
by it? Are you going to stumble? Are you going to be offended
when people persecute you and make fun of you? Oh, they say
you don't. Surely you're smarter than that. Surely you don't believe that.
Are you going to stumble when that happens? Now, be honest,
that's hard for the flesh to take. Somebody making fun of
you. Well, the Lord gives us some help. Look at verse four.
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall
come, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I said
not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." Now,
our Lord tells us the truth about what's going to happen in the
future. And they're bad things. I mean, what we'd call bad things,
right? Being persecuted and hated and put to death and stoned and
ridiculed and made fun of. That sounds all bad to me. Well,
when those things happen, We're going to remember, you know,
the Lord told me this is going to happen this way, said in his
word. And when we see these what we call bad things come to pass,
just like our Lord said that they would. We're going to have
very good reason to have our hope and our faith in Christ
strengthened. If these bad things that our
Lord said would happen, happen, you know, all those glorious
things that he promised. He's going to bring those things
to pass, too. And here's our comfort, here's where all of
it comes from. Verse 5, this is the best comfort
a believer can hear. But now I go my way to him that
sent me. And none of you asketh me, whither
goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Now our Lord
says, I'm going my way. What does that mean? What way
is it that the Lord's going? He's going my way. He's going
the way that only he can go. None of us can go that way. This
is the way only the Lord Jesus can go. First of all, it's a
way that he goes willingly. He's not going against his will.
He's going willingly. He's going willingly because
he loves his father. He's going willingly because
he's determined to please and honor his father. He's going
willingly because he's determined to satisfy the father that he
loves. And he's going willingly because
he loves his people. This is the only way they can
be saved if he goes his way. And secondly, his way is the
way that he is going. The Lord is going to go back
to the father. How? Through the cross. Our Lord is
going the substitutes way. He is going through God's justice. He's going through the way of
suffering and sin and death. So his elect don't have to go
that way. And it's a good thing because none of us can go that
way. None of us can. We couldn't survive. We cannot
go to God through God's justice. But in Christ, we can go to the
Father in mercy. We can go to the Father in mercy
because our Lord went to the Father through justice. He went
His way so that we can go in Him. Well, now it appears, finally,
the disciples realize the Lord is talking about His death. He's
going to go back to the Father. They're not going to see Him
anymore. It's not like He's going out of town and they're going
to have to seek and find Him. No, He's going to die. He's going
to go back to the Father. And they're sad. Now they finally
realize. We've seen this all throughout
the study of John. You see it all throughout. the
Gospels, these disciples were still hanging on to this hope
that all the Jews had been taught of an earthly kingdom. Now they're
finally realizing, not only is there not going to be an earthly
kingdom, not only am I going to sit on one of these twelve
thrones and rule the world with Christ, I'm not going to rule
the world. The world's going to hate me
and persecute me and put me to death. I'm sad. They finally
realized, oh, my Lord's not going to be here anymore, and they're
just so sad. And they're so sad, they're speechless.
They just they don't even ask any questions. And if they would
have asked, Lord, where are you going? Why are you going that
way? What are you going to accomplish
if they would have asked the right question? They had been
so happy, but they didn't ask any questions. They would have
been happy. Because the Lord would have answered
them. They would have been happy to hear salvation is finally
accomplished. Salvation has not been all these
animal sacrifices, this Passover lamb and all these things. The
salvation of God's people is finally going to be accomplished
because the sacrifice is finally going to be offered before the
Father. The blood that does put away
sin is finally going to be offered on the throne before the Father.
And I'm finally going to be accepted. I'm finally going to be set free
from bondage to the law. No more counting how many steps
I take on Sunday. No more worried about, you know,
what I'm eating. Is it right? That bondage is
finally, I'm free. What reason to be happy? The
Lord is going to go back to glory, the glory that he deserves. And
while he's there in glory, he's going to ever live making intercession
for the transgressors. That's me. I'm a transgressor. He's going to be in glory, making
intercession for me. Wow, that makes me happy. I won't be sad. But they didn't
ask, did they? They didn't ask. And you know
why? Every one of us here can understand why they didn't ask.
Because we're so tied to this flesh, we don't see the spiritual
blessing. We're so tied to this flesh we
can't see the big picture and see what the Lord is bringing
you to pass for our eternal good. All we can think about is this
temporary stuff. So verse 7, our Lord is such a good teacher. He's so patient. You see, you
didn't even ask me any questions. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I'll send him unto you. Now, not only did the disciples
not ask the right question, they didn't ask any question at all.
But our Lord gives them the answer anyway. He said, it's expedient
for you, it's absolutely necessary for you. I know you're sad, but
it's absolutely necessary for you that I go away. I know you're
sad. I know you think it's a bad thing
right now. But you're going to realize soon
your life depends upon me going away. Your salvation, the salvation
of your souls depends upon me going away. I know this news
makes you sad now, but soon you're going to realize the best news
you ever heard is I'm going my way to the Father. The best news
you ever heard. We are so sinful. We can't be
saved. any other way than Christ going
his way to the father. He's got to go to the father
through the cross. He's got to go to the tomb. He's
got to be raised from the dead and send back to the father to
intercede for his people. That's the only way that we can
be safe because we're so sinful. And if our Lord does not go away,
there'll be no sacrifice for sin. Sin will never be paid for. And I'll pay for it in eternity
in hell. If our Lord doesn't go away and
be made a curse for his people, we'll always be under the curse
of the law. We'll always be under that condemnation. If the Lord
does not go away, we'll never be justified in his blood. Haven't
we seen our study in Galatians? We can't be justified by what
we do. We've got to be justified in his blood. Well, if he doesn't
go away, there'll be no blood to be justified in. If our Lord
doesn't go away, the Father will never be satisfied for us. He'll
never be at peace with us. We'll always be at war, enmity
with God. How is peace with God made? Christ
made it, didn't he? Through the blood of his cross.
Well, if he doesn't go to the cross and shed that blood, there's
no peace with God. If our Lord doesn't go away,
we won't have an advocate with the Father. What comfort will
we have when we sin? If our Lord does not go away,
shed his blood and go back to the Father, we wouldn't have
an advocate. If our Lord does not go away,
a place in glory will never be prepared for any of his people
if he does not go away. And if our Lord does not go away,
he tells us the comforter will never be sent to us. Because
there will be no comfort for the spirit to give. Because there's
no blood to sprinkle, there's no salvation to apply. There
is no righteousness to reveal. The only comfort a sinner can
ever have is to know our sin has been paid for under the blood
of Christ. But if our Lord doesn't go away,
there's no blood to pay for our sin. You see why our Lord said
it's expedient for you that I go away. It's absolutely necessary
for you that I go my way. The sacrifice of Christ is not
something that's important, but I can get by without it. Or,
you know, well, I know it's important, but we've got to add something
to it. No. Now, I know that's the way religion
makes the death of Christ sound today, but the sacrifice of Christ
is not something we can do without. It's expedient for you. The sacrifice
of Christ is not something that's just an important part of salvation. The sacrifice of Christ is expedient,
absolutely necessary, because His sacrifice is the only way
sin can be put away. Through the precious blood of
the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed as our substitute. Everything a believer has from
God, everything, comes to us through the sacrifice of Christ.
If Christ does not go away, the Father will never deal with us
in mercy. Do you need mercy? I do. I'm very, very interested in
mercy. Well, God could never deal with
me in mercy unless Christ goes his way. God could never deal
with us in mercy until he deals with Christ, our substitute in
justice. It's expedient for us he go away.
The great transaction between the Father and the Son must take
place. The Lord Jesus Christ must die
or we'll never see eternal life. You see how expedient this is?
How necessary this is for us that Christ go away. It's necessary
that Christ die. It's necessary that the Holy
Spirit applied the blood of his sacrifice to. Look here at verse
8. He's talking here about the Comforter. I'll send him to you.
And when he's come, when the Comforter has come, he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, our Lord
says here, when he's come, the Spirit's come, he'll reprove
the world of sin. You know, he does not mean all
men of the world without exception. The word world is used in scripture
never One time that ever used to mean the whole world. It means
like or it means it doesn't mean all men out of the world without
exception. It does mean the geographical place, the globe that hangs in
space, or it means people from all over to scatter all around
the world. But it never means all men without
exception. The world that our Lord is talking
about here is a world of believers, the world of both Jews and Gentiles.
It's the world that God so loved, he sent his son to die for. This
is the same world. Whoever it is Christ died for,
that's who the spirit is going to come and reprove, convince
of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. God does not love
all men. He only loves his elect. So he
didn't send his son to die for everybody, just like he doesn't
send his spirit to everybody. Look back a few pages here, John
14. In verse 17 of John 14, even
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him. For he
dwelleth with you and shall be in you. The only way you know
him is if he dwells with you and is in you. Otherwise, you
can't know him. You don't know him. The Holy
Spirit doesn't come to all men. He comes to God's elect. And
when he comes, he dwells in the believers. He comes, he dwells
in the heart of a believer, and he teaches us some things. He
convinces, the word reproved there is to convince or to convict. The title of the message this
morning is, Have You Been Convinced of Sin? Well, you have if the
Spirit comes, because when he comes to God's elect, he convinces
us of three vital truths that he teaches us by indwelling in
our hearts. And all three of these things
relate to Christ. These truths he teaches all relate
to Christ. The Holy Spirit always and only
points to Christ. The Holy Spirit's message is
look to Christ. He's constantly pointing us to
Christ. So the Holy Spirit convinces
every believer of sin, of righteousness and judgment, and how that they
relate to Christ. Let's see if that's what our
Lord says. Verse 9. Of sin. Because they believe not on me.
You'll notice first, the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, singular,
not sins plural, sin. Sin is what we are. It's why we do what we do. Sins
are what we do as a result of the sin that we are. And the
Holy Spirit convinces God's elect that we're nothing but sin. Total
depravity. He convinces us that all we are,
all we do, all we think is sin. And we deserve to be damned. We don't deserve to be saved.
You know, this thing, well, you know, you're a good boy, you're
a good girl, and you know, you deserve to be saved. No, you
don't. Because of sin. We deserve to be damned. We deserve
wrath, not mercy. You can't deserve mercy. And
God's holy. So we're under condemnation for
our sin. The Holy Spirit convinces me
God would be just in sending me to hell. He'd be just in doing
that. And only the Holy Spirit can
convince us of our sin. I can tell you that, but I can't
convince you of it. But it's expedient. It's necessary. that the Holy Spirit convince
us of sin. That He convince us that all
we are is sin because we'll never be saved until we're lost. When
the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin and we're convinced all
we are is sin, then you know what else you're convinced of?
I don't have any hope of myself. I have to look to Christ. I have
to look to Christ to be my sacrifice If I'm convinced all I am is
sin, he's the only hope I have. And our Lord says the Holy Spirit
convinces us of sin because they believe not on me. Now, the only
way we'll ever be convinced of sin is if Christ is revealed
to our hearts. The heart, the root of all sin
is unbelief. I don't believe God. And when
I see Christ. I see. How sinful. How rebellious. How rotten I
really am. Because all this time I refused
to plead on him. Now I see. Unbelief in God's
Son and His sacrifice is so important. God will damn us for not believing
it. That's the root of all sin. This is the only remedy for sin
that God's provided. Now this is interesting to me.
It's so important. The comforter. He convicts of
sin. The comforter. It's not very
comforting to be convicted of sin, is it? To be convinced that
I'm nothing but sin? How is that comforting? How is
seeing myself as I really am having myself unveiled to my
eyes? How is that comforting to me?
It's horrible to see myself as I am. Because when we see ourselves
as we are, then And only then will we look away from ourselves.
When the Spirit shows us what we are, we'll go and look to
Christ. And He's our comfort, looking
to Christ. The Holy Spirit has got to convince
us of the bad news of ourselves before we'll ever have any interest
in hearing the good news of who Christ is. In that way, we've
been going through Isaiah's gospel. Isn't that the message he preaches?
First judgment. Once he convinces us of the judgment
for our sin that we deserve, then the good news is sweet,
the news of mercy. This is the Spirit comes and
convinces us of sin. Second, verse 10, the Spirit
comes and convinces us of righteousness because I go to my Father and
you see me no more. Now only the Holy Spirit can
convince us of what righteousness really is. By nature, we think
righteousness is a thing or righteousness is something that we can earn.
And that's not. Righteousness is a person. The Holy Spirit
shows us Christ, who is our righteousness. We think our righteousness is
good enough. Until we see Christ, we think
we're righteous until we see Christ and the Holy Spirit convinces
us we don't have any righteousness at all. How does he do that?
by showing us Christ, who is our righteousness. And when the
Spirit shows us Christ, we will be convinced of the personal
righteousness of Christ. He's the God-man. And this man
is as perfect as God, because he is God. We'll be convinced. You know, this matter of, well,
could Christ sin or did he sin? All that argument is done away
the moment we see Christ. Of course he didn't sin. Of course
he couldn't sin. I'm convinced he was perfectly
righteous. You know how I'm convinced of
that? Because the Father accepted him back to glory. He never would
have accepted him if he hadn't sinned. He's not an imposter. He's exactly who he said he is.
Because when he died, the Father raised him from the dead and
took him back to glory and seated him at his right hand. I'm convinced
of his personal righteousness. And second, when the Spirit shows
us Christ, we're convinced that our only hope of being righteous
is in Jehovah's Akinnu, the Lord our righteousness. Having His
righteousness imputed to me, we're convinced when we see Christ
that the only way God will ever justify me is by imputing the
righteousness of His Son to me. How does the Comforter show us?
How does he comfort us by showing us we don't have any righteousness?
I mean, it seems like it's uncomforting, it's uncomfortable to be shown
I don't have any righteousness. He comforts us by showing us
Christ. He shows us Christ the sin bearer. He shows us all we are is sin.
But Christ was made to be sin for his people. And after he
died, He rose again, Christ our substitute, Christ our representative
ascended back to the Father. Now, like I said, the only way
he could go back to the Father is if that sin that was charged
to him, my sin. Now, I'm pretty interested in
this because the Spirit just convinced me of sin. He convinced
me of my sin. My sin was charged to my righteous
substitute. Now, what happened to it? I need
to know that. Bob, it's gone. It's gone. How do I know that? He's sending
it back to the Father. He is my righteousness. Sitting
at the Father's right hand is my righteousness. Then I know,
I'm convinced, I'm accepted in Christ. My sin is gone and I'm
righteous. in Christ my righteousness. I'm
convinced of that when I see him. Then, verse 11, the Spirit's
going to convince of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. Now, after Adam fell, God promised Satan that the seed
of woman will come and crush the serpent's head, crush Satan's
head. Well, here's God fulfilling his
promise. When Christ was crucified, he crushed Satan's power. He
crushed his head. God has fulfilled that promise.
Well, then God's going to fulfill all of his other promises, too.
He's going to fulfill his promise to save his people and cover
their nakedness in the death of Christ. He'll fulfill both
promises. Every believer is righteous because
of the righteous life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
righteousness. And every believer is free from
the condemnation of sin. because of the death of Christ.
He died the death that we deserve. So every believer is convinced
that we're free from judgment because Christ was judged. He
suffered our judgment as our substitute. My sin was judged
in my substitute. So I'm free from condemnation.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
When the Spirit convinces us of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment, we're convinced that if God punished his son
for my sin, he'll never punish me. It's expedient for us that
he go away. See how all this is tied together?
And the Spirit must come. Now, the Spirit must come and
teach us this, or we'll never know anything. I'll show you
that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The Spirit has to come and
teach this. Now, we receive not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man, that man who has not been born
again, just that man in the flesh, He receives not the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The
only one who understands these things is the spiritual man,
the one who has been born again, and the Spirit must teach us
these things. Now look back in our text, verse
12. I told you our Lord is such a good and patient teacher. Well,
his Spirit is a good teacher too. Look at verse 12. Our Lord
says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. The Spirit is going to come and
teach us little by little. Our Lord says, you can't bear
all the things I have to tell you now, but the Spirit will
come and teach them to you later, little by little. And when you
can bear more, he'll teach you more. Now, these 11 disciples
our Lord is speaking to, these men are going to be 11 of the
12 apostles. The apostles. Well, if the apostles needed
the Holy Spirit to teach them little by little, little by little
as they could bear it, how much more do we need the same Spirit
to teach us little by little, line upon line, precept upon
precept? And that's how He teaches. And
I can tell you the lesson that the Holy Spirit always teaches.
It's always Christ. Now, the Spirit does not teach
us what the gifts of the Spirit are and how to have and how to
perform the gifts of the Spirit and how to perform miracles and
all these things, you know, healings. And the Spirit doesn't come and
show us or reveal to us what day this will happen or what
day that will happen. We don't know. The Spirit comes and teaches
us who we need to know. He teaches us Christ. Look at verse 13. How be it when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he'll 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." Now,
our Lord said the spirit of truth, he's going to come, but he's
not going to speak of himself. He's not going to make a show
of himself. He's going to show us Christ.
And this is the problem the Pentecostals and healers and all these people
have. They're looking to the wrong person. And they're looking
for the wrong evidence of the Holy Spirit. You know, they're
looking to the Spirit instead of Christ. And then the evidence
that they look for, that the Spirit is there, they're looking
for the wrong evidence. The evidence that the Holy Spirit
is moving in power. The evidence that the Holy Spirit's
done something for you. It's not that you can speak in
tongues. It's not that you can heal somebody. It's not that
you can foam at the mouth and act foolish. That's not the evidence
of the Spirit's in you. The evidence that the Holy Spirit's
done something for you is you see Christ, who is the truth.
He gives you an understanding of his word. Isn't that what
our Lord says in verse 14? He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and he's going to show it to you. When we understand
God's word, that's the evidence of the Holy Spirit giving us
an understanding. And he's not just going to give
us all truth at one time, is he? He's the spirit of truth.
He has all truth. He is all truth. But he's going
to guide us as we can handle it as he slowly takes us through.
He's going to guide us into all truth. Well, who's the truth?
It's Christ. This is who he shows us is Christ.
And he guides us. Now, who needs a guide? Well,
first of all, the blind, the blind need a guide. Somebody's
got to hold their hand and guide them or they got to have a eye
dog or something, somebody's got to guide them. Otherwise,
they'll walk off a cliff or they'll walk out in the traffic because
they're blind. They can't see. Well, we're born
spiritually blind, aren't we? If the Spirit doesn't come and
guide us, we're going to stumble off into hell. But the Spirit
comes and guides us into all truth. Guides us to Christ. Secondly,
little children need a guide. Somebody's got to hold that child's
hand because they don't have sense. Not to run out into the
street. They don't have sense. Just a
kid. Isn't that us? Oh, little children. We're little
children. We don't have any sense. What
in the world would we wander off and do if the Spirit wasn't
guiding us? Then third, someone who's in
a foreign land. needs a guide. It's hard telling
where we'd end up. If we're in a foreign land, we
can't speak the language, we can't read the signs. Oh, they've
got signs, but I can't read them. I don't understand. When we went
down to Mexico, we went off to the market, and really my greatest
fear was I'd get interested in stuff and wander off. This was
Janice's greatest fear, too. She told Dan Morgan, don't you
let him out of your sight. He'll wander off. But I was concerned
with that, too. So everywhere I went, I made
sure Cody Gruber was in one eye or the other. I had my eye on
him, because if I got separated from my guide, it's hard telling
where I'd end up. Brethren, we're born lost in
a foreign land. Oh, and we can't speak the language. We can speak the language of
the world. We can't speak the language of the Spirit. We can't
speak the language of God's word. Somebody's got to come and guide
us into all truth. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
Guides us into all truth. And last, this is not exactly
guiding someone, but I think of when you guide someone, I
think of holding their hand. You know whose hand I hold? Someone
I love. Jim, I take a walk and I will
frequently hold hands because we're in love. The Spirit comes
and guides. in love. He's not beating his
people with a rod. Get back on course. He guides
us in love. He comes to us at all because
God loves us. He guides us in love. Now, our
Lord says he's going to show you things to come. Now, don't
be mistaken by this. He's not going to show us the
times and the seasons and when Christ is going to return. He's
going to show us things to come that are a result of Christ going
away. The Spirit is going to reveal
to our understanding, not the secret things, the things of
the Word. Our Lord said he must speak of
himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that's what he's going
to speak. What's he hear? The Word of God. He's going to give us an understanding
of God's Word. Who better to give us an understanding
of God's Word? The Spirit wrote it. The Spirit
inspired those men to write God's Word. Now, have you been convinced? of sin, of righteousness and
judgment. Does the preaching of the cross,
the preaching of Christ and him crucified, does that offend you?
Is that a scandalous thing to you? Does it offend your dignity
and your pride and your self-worth and your free will and your ability?
Does the preaching of the cross, Christ crucified, Does that make
you want to look away or go away? That's what the Jews did. They
said, it's a hard saying. You can hear it. Well, if so,
it's because you don't know God, you don't know his son. The Spirit's
never done a work of grace in your heart. Or does the preaching
of the cross, does the preaching of Christ and him crucified.
Does that bless your soul? When you hear the preaching of
Christ crucified, do you think, oh, he's my hope. That's all
my hope. I'm convinced I'm a sinner, but
Christ is the Savior of sinners. I'm convinced I don't have any
righteousness. I'm convinced I can't do anything
righteous at all, but I'm convinced Christ is my righteousness. I'm
convinced I deserve to be judged. I deserve for God to condemn
me, but I'm also convinced I won't be, because Christ, my substitute,
was judged for me. When you hear Christ and Him
crucified, Do you think, preacher? Tell me that again. Tell me more
of who I am. Tell me how awful and depraved
and helpless I am. Tell me more about my nature. So I'll be forced to look to
Christ. And then tell me more about how glorious He is. How
sufficient His sacrifice is. How He went away from me. So
I'll keep looking to Him. In closing, I want you to turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This is the best conclusion to
this message that I could think of, reading God's Word. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, the
world by its wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, the preaching of the cross, to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified.
Unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
But in them which are called, and in them which the Spirit
gives life and understanding, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
is the power of God, and Christ is the wisdom of God. May God
make it so by His Spirit to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word, and how we pray that You cause Your Word to go
forth in power, that Your Spirit would take the Word of God, that
your spirit would take the preaching of Christ and Him crucified and
apply it to the hearts of your people. That we'd be comforted. That our faith would be strengthened.
That we'd see more of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray
that you'd make us faithful. Faithful to always preach Christ
and Him crucified. Do not become offended or scandalized
but to be faithful, to constantly look to Him, to constantly preach
Him who is all of our salvation, all of our hope, all of our righteousness. He is our all and in all. And it's in His precious name
we ask that you bless your word to the hearts of your people.
Amen.