You can turn back to John 16. I'm going to use several portions
of Scripture, so you be ready to use your Bible this morning. The title, the message, is this, the Holy Spirit. I read to you in John 16, in
verse 13, how be it when He, the Spirit of truth, He's the
Spirit of truth. When He's come, He will guide
you into all truth. We are not left on our own to
find the truth. Thank God for that. He says he
will guide you, he will direct you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show
you things to come. Now, where the word of God says
the Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself does not mean that
he is not to be spoken of. It's like we're not supposed
to mention his name. That's not so. That's not so. He has a very important part
in salvation. Our Lord said, it's expedient
for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
shall not come. The work is not finished. You
can't be saved. You'll not be saved. Not without
Him. Not without Him. He has a very important part
in salvation. Without Him, no one would be saved. We would
not be born again. We are not born by making a decision. We are born by the Spirit of
God. God the Holy Spirit. We would
not know Christ. We just read, he shall take the
things of mine and show them, reveal them unto you. It would
not be possible to know the Lord Jesus Christ apart from the Holy
Spirit. You wouldn't know him. He's the one who reveals him.
Now let's look this morning, and this will be more of what
I would call a Bible study. a sermon, and we're going to
turn to several portions of Scripture. I want us to look at what he
does for us in salvation. Now, the first thing that we
have to realize is this. The Holy Spirit is a very real
person. He is not an influence. He's
not an influence. He is a real living person. who is God. You've got the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but there's only one God, and
He is a very real person. Paul said over in Galatians,
as I read to you earlier when we saw this last week in verse
18, chapter 5, but if you'd be led of the Spirit, you're not
led by an influence. You're led by a living person
that dwells in you who is God. He's a living and real person
and he has all knowledge. He has all knowledge. It says
in 1 Corinthians 2.11, for what? Man knoweth the things of a man
save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so, the things
of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. He knoweth all
things. He's perfect in knowledge. And
he has a will. Turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1
Corinthians chapter 12. He has a will, and his will is
sovereign. In 1 Corinthians 12, in verse 11. Paul's speaking about gifts,
gifts of the Spirit, but all these work with that one and
the same Spirit. He's the one who gives the gifts,
whether it be preaching, or the gift of prayer, or giving, or
whatever it is. He's the one who gives it, dividing
to every man severally as he will. As he will. He has a will, and
it's a sovereign will. And he gives gifts and abilities
as he will. He makes one a preacher. He gives
the gifts to pray, the gifts to give. I mean, all these gifts
are given by him, and he gives them sovereignly. And he has
feelings. He has feelings. Look over in
Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4. Look in verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God. Grieve not. He has feelings. It says here, don't grieve him. If we can grieve him by, of course,
by sin, a bad attitude, neglect, He says, do not grieve. Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day
of redemption. He's in you. You have him. You
know, he doesn't come and go. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit. He says, don't don't grieve him.
And he's the author of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is the
author of this book right here. It says over in 2 Peter, Chapter
1, verse 21, that holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. Men did not just write this book.
Men wrote this book under the direction and the power of the
Holy Spirit. He's the author of this book.
He is. And He is the Spirit of God.
He is the Spirit of God. Now he has a work to perform. He's a real person. He has all
knowledge. He has a will. He's sovereign.
He has feelings. He's offered this book. And he
has a work to perform. The Lord said, it's expedient
for you that I go away. If I don't go away, he can't
come. And he has a work to do. He has a work to do. And first
of all, It's to quicken dead sinners. It is not my responsibility,
nor is it in my ability, to quicken anyone. I can't give you life. He can, and he does. The Scripture says in John 6.63,
it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profits nothing. It
is the Holy Spirit that gives life. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter two. In verse one, and you hath he
quickened. Who quickened you? The Holy Spirit
of God. He gave you life. Who were dead
in trespasses and sins. Without him, you wouldn't have
life. You wouldn't be quickened. You
would not be born again. This is his work. This is what he does. You know,
men, many, stand behind a pulpit and they're trying to do his
work. I could, listen, I can make you feel bad. I can probably
make you feel, if I worked hard enough this morning, I could
probably make you feel bad. But I can't convict you of sin. I can't reach into that heart.
I cannot reach into your soul and really show you who you are
and what I am by nature. I can't do that. I can tell you
about it. I can take the Word of God and
I can tell you about it. But he takes the Word of God
and he quits. It's like a two-edged sword in
his hand. He cuts. Dividing this as asunder, he can reveal, and he does reveal,
who and what I am by nature. And apart from him, I never see
that. Like I said, we can feel bad about things, but that's
not conviction of sin. That's not a real conviction
of sin. It's a real conviction of sin.
It says they will weep when they look on him, they will mourn
when they look on him whom they pierced. A real conviction of
sin is always tied to Christ. It's always tied to the cross.
Look what my sins did to him. What does the cross say about
me that such a one had to die such a death? He convicts of sin, righteousness,
and judgment, back over to John 16. And when He is come, He will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment,
of sin, because they believe not on Me. You see, when you really begin
to understand something of sin, you begin to understand of unbelief. Not to believe God? To call God
a liar? I told a man one time, I told
a man, this has been years ago, he was making fun, I was talking
to him about salvation, he started making fun of salvation. He started
making fun of the word saved, you know, he started making fun
of the word saved, oh I'm saved, or not saved, and he's just making
fun of it right there. in front of me, because I talked
to him about the gospel. And I said, well, if you didn't
hate God so much, you wouldn't make fun of me. And then I made
him mad. I made him mad because he said,
I don't hate God. I do not hate God. There was
a time I didn't think I did either. There was a time I was lost as
lost as a goose in a snowstorm. But you could have said to me,
you hate God. And I said, I don't hate God. Just because I don't
go to church doesn't mean I don't hate God. It means I hate God.
No, by nature, we are born with enmity. We are born at enmity
with God. We are natural born haters of
God by nature. And you don't understand that
until he convicts of sin and of righteousness. You don't have
it, and you need it. But there is one who hasn't.
There is one who is righteous. There is one who is my righteousness.
And apart from the Holy Spirit convicting me of sin and righteousness
and judgment, I wouldn't know that. I wouldn't know that. God would still be a God of my
imagination. I still believe that He wouldn't
have saved me if I let Him. He's just dying to save me if I let
Him. No, He's going to save you if
He wills. If it's His will to do so, He's
going to do it. He's going to do it. He'll have
mercy on whom He'll have mercy. He'll have compassion on whom
He'll have compassion. And whom He will, He hardens. That's the
God of this Bible. It says over in 1 Corinthians
2. Let me see where I want to start
reading. Look at verse 9. But as it is written, I hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, by the Holy
Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. But God revealed them unto us. He's revealed to us, he's revealed
to his people what they have in Christ. We
have in him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. We know there's a new heaven
and a new earth. We know there's going to be a new heaven and
a new earth. And we know that when we leave this world that
someday we're going to be united to a new body. How do you know these things?
He's revealed them unto us by his Spirit. It says here, I have
not seen that his human eye has not seen, and the human ear has
not heard, and it has never entered into the natural heart of a man
the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God
has revealed them to us. We do know something about it.
We know what we're talking about here. We know what we're talking about.
Because He's revealed them unto us by His Spirit. He reveals
the things of God. He reveals the things of Christ
to us. And then we're sealed by Him. Look over in Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. It says, "...in whom ye also
trusted," in verse 13, Ephesians 1, 13, "...in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise." You're sealed with Him. He's
in you. He's in you. He dwells in you.
Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I said He dwells in you. I want to show you a scripture
here. for your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6, look in verse
19. Well, let me go back up here to see. I want to really start
reading from here. Look at verse 16. What? Know ye not that he
which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two, saith he,
shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. Now, flee fornication. Every
sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits
fornication sins against his own body. What? Know you not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? He dwelleth right in you. He
lives in you. Don't you know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own." He owns you. He owns that body that he indwells. He's not your own. And then he
exalts Christ. Look back in John 15. In John
15, verse 26, But when the comforters come,
and this is how you'll know, here's how you know that the
Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is among us. It's not an emotionalism. It's not speaking in tongues. That's not what it is. It's when
Christ is preached and exalted. That's how you know that the
Holy Spirit is present. But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me."
I'm the message. Christ is the message. Christ
is the one exalted. Who's getting the glory? Who
is going to get the glory in the message? Us or Christ? Like I said, when I grew up,
when I was really young, I remember being in a few services that
were wild. I remember them being wild. I'm not going to name the place.
I can remember them being wild, and they thought that was the
spirit of God's presence. His presence is known by the
message. It's known by the message it's
preached. He shall testify of me. He shall take the things of mine
and show them unto you. He will exalt Christ. When Christ is exalted, when
the Son of Man is lifted up, when His person is preached,
His work is preached, His righteousness, who He is and what He did, That's the evidence of God's
Spirit being among us. He exalts the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he teaches us the truth, as it says in John 14, 26. Just
back a couple pages. John 14, 26. But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said to you. That's what he'll teach, the
truth, the truth. Then he comforts. He's a spirit
of comfort. He's called the Comforter. But
look over in Acts chapter 9. As I said, you're going to use
your Bibles this morning. In Acts chapter 9, look in verse,
I believe it's 31. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and they were edified. They had
been under a lot of persecution, but now they were given rest.
Who gave them that rest? Who quieted things down? The
Spirit of God did. And walking in the fear of the
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, When you're going through a trial,
a hardship, a heartache, and you ain't going through that,
you find comfort. You truly have some peace and
some comfort. Where is that coming from? Your
makeup? The way you were raised? That comes from the Spirit of
God who dwells in you. Comforting, giving us peace,
even in the midst of a storm. In the midst of a storm, you
can have some real peace, some real quiet, some real comfort. That's coming from Him. Him. And He guides us. He prays and
guides us in prayer. Look over in Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, also, He helps our infirmities. Most of the time we don't even
realize it, but He's helping us. He's helping us. He's bringing
us through. He helps our infirmities. We
know not what we should pray for, as we ought. We pray, Lord,
take it away. Don't. He's praying to give him
strength to keep going. Give him strength to keep going.
I pray, the Lord said to Peter, Peter, Satan has desired you
to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, but your faith fell
not. He does the same. He does the
same. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought to pray for, what's good for us. But the Spirit
itself, the Holy Spirit, makes intercessions for us. And listen,
He does this with groanings, with such fervency, which cannot
be uttered. He's praying for us. That's amazing. Our Lord makes
intercessions for us. He's our intercessor. He's our
high priest. And then here we have that the
Holy Spirit also intercedes for us, and He does so with groanings,
with such groanings, with such fervency that it cannot be put
into words. How powerful is that? That's the reason you and I don't
collapse under trials when they come and are heavy. We don't
fall to the ground and collapse and just give up and quit. He's
interceding for us with groanings that can't even be put into words. And He's the one who enables
us to worship. If we, this morning, I pray that
we are, but if we truly worship God, He's the leader of the services. He's the one who enables us to
truly think upon Him. He's the one who enables us to
truly praise Him. He's the one who enables us to
truly sing these songs of praise to Him with understanding and
with the heart. He enables us to do it. And then he's the one who appoints
ministers. Look over in Acts 13. In Acts 13, you know, no one can make a preacher
of the gospel except God. No one. Seminaries cannot do
that. You know, it's good to have an
education. Cheer up the English language. But only God can make
a preacher. Only God can do that. Only God
can give power to the message. Shouting, screaming doesn't do
it. Doris told me one time, she said,
when in doubt, shout. And that's about the truth of
it. You watch these guys on TV, they
just get louder and louder. That's not power. Wasn't Elijah
in that cave? And he said the whirlwind came,
and the Lord was not in the whirlwind. Then the fire, and he was not
in the fire. But then he heard a still, small voice. The Lord
just needs to speak. He didn't need to shout. If he
speaks in power, if he just opened your heart like he did Lydia.
Paul's standing there preaching, no microphone, just standing
there preaching to these women. I'm sure they would probably
just gather around. And he's standing there talking like I
am, and the Lord opens her heart. Just quietly. When I read that,
I just get this quiet, The Lord just so gently speaking
to her. Now some people like that Philippian
jailer need an earthquake. But it's not my voice that shakes.
It's not my voice that shakes. It's His. And all He needs to
do is speak. But He appoints ministers in
Acts 13. Look in verse 2. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them
away. So they, being sent forth by
the Holy Spirit, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they
sailed to Cyprus." The only man you want in this pulpit. is one that God has sent, one
that God has called, one that the power of the Spirit of God
is on. That's what you want. I don't
want someone just as eloquent. There are some men I've heard,
they don't preach a lick of anything. But, boy, you can listen to them.
They've got a good delivery. They have a great delivery, but
they don't have a message. And that's deadly. That is deadly. It's like being charmed. It's deadly. You want one that
God has sent. And those who preach in the power
of God's Spirit are sin of God. He appoints ministers. And then
He reveals where we are to labor. Look in Acts 16. We're not out here just shooting
in the dark. We seek His leadership. We trust
His leadership. In verse 6, Now when they had
gone throughout Persia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia after they were
come to They are saved to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered
them not." You see, he guides and directs where the message
is preached. He has sent the message, the
gospel here in Ashland, for a long time. Because for one reason,
he has people here. He has sheep here. That's why. But he's the one who sends the
gospel, the laborers, where they are to labor. You don't just
throw a dart at the map and let's go there. No, he guides and directs
and leads. You pray about it, seek his face
about it, and trust his leadership. And it says, they passing by
Nyssa came to Troas. As they're going down through
there, Now to verse 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, since I mentioned
her name, the seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she
attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul. You know this woman was from
Asia. He said he forbid them to go
to Asia and sent them down, sent them to this place, and the Lord
opened the heart of a woman that was a businesswoman that was
from Asia. Then later on they went to Asia. He's in the control of this whole
thing. He's in control of it. And then he's the one who directs
our decisions in the church. Look over in Acts 15. Go back
here in Acts 15. Look in verse 28. Remember they went up to Jerusalem
to settle this matter over circumcision and that? But he says here in
verse 28, for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to
lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. He directs the decisions made
in the church. He's the one to do it. Do we really know what to do? We don't know what the next minute's
going to bring. Now we can pray and we do what we know or believe
the best thing to do, what we feel led to do. He knows exactly
what to do. Exactly what to do. He's the one who gives gifts.
I read that to you earlier. He gives gifts severally as he
will. And he's the one who gives the
message. The message. When I go home, I'm learning, especially learning
this the longer I do this. I'm not saying, what am I going
to preach on next? I say, Lord, what's the message?
What's the message to preach Sunday morning? What is the message
to preach Sunday night? What is the message you'd have
me to give to the people? It's not just trying to find
a message, it's what is the message. From what portion of the scripture
am I to preach Christ from this morning? He's the one who gives the message.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all have a great
part in our salvation. It's expedient for you that I
go away, or he's not coming. And none of these things will
happen that we've just looked at. We are not saved apart from
any of them. We are not saved apart from the
Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. The whole Trinity, the
whole Trinity is completely involved, absorbed into the saving of sinners. He has an important work.