Would you turn to John chapter
16. John the 16th chapter. I want to attempt to preach upon
this subject. What the Holy Spirit does for
us. And let's begin reading in verse
12 and read down through verse 15. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. I'll 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. He shall glorify me. For he shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. All things that the father hath
are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. What does the Holy Spirit do
for the believer? What does the Holy Spirit do
unto the believer? We know that the Holy Spirit
is the third person of the blessed Trinity. God is one God revealed
in three distinct persons. God, the father. God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Now, why do we know that? One
reason, the Bible tells us. We'd never know that about God
unless he made that known to us. And he has made it known. And the Holy Spirit is the author
of spiritual life. He births us into the kingdom
of heaven, placing the life of God in our soul. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. And he teaches us. He gives us
life and it's only that new life that really ever learns anything.
Truly. It's only that life that he puts
in when he births us into the kingdom. That's what learns something. The flesh never learns anything.
It never changes. It's incapable. But that new
nature, it learns. Let's look at verse 12. He says,
I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear
them now. You know, there are things that
I grasp now that I didn't used to be able to grasp. You know,
that's true with you. There are things that he said
you can't bear now, but you will. How be it verse 13 when he. The
spirit of truth is come and how I love this name for the Holy
spirit, the spirit of truth. He's certainly not the spirit
of error, but truth, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of God,
the Holy spirit, the comforter, this divine person. When he has
come, he will guide you. And this is a promise. He will
guide you into all truth. Now, who needs a guide? Well,
blind people need a guide. People who are so weak, they
can't go along the way, they need a guide. People who are
ignorant and don't know which way to go, they need a guide.
People that fit that bill for all three, they especially need
a guide. I need him to guide me. I don't have the spiritual
understanding, discernment, whatever. I need him to guide me. And here we have this promise.
He shall guide you into all truth. Notice it says he will guide
you into all truth, not merely giving you correct definitions
of truth, but into the truth, an understanding. an actual understanding
where he teaches it. You know, we've all heard that
saying, you can take a horse to water, but you can't make
him drink. He can't. He can't. And he can guide us. And he does guide us into all
truth to where we actually have an understanding, a spiritual
understanding of the truth. And notice it says he shall guide
you into all truth, not truths, but truth. You see, the truth
is made of many truths which make the one truth. And if you
leave out any of those truths, you no longer have the truth. He will guide you into all truth. And notice the word all. He will
guide you into all truth, not 99% of the truth, but all truth. You see, when God teaches us,
we believe all the truth. Everything God says, we believe.
Everything God says, we bow to it. He says it, we believe it.
He guides us into all truth. There's nothing in God's word
that we don't believe. We bow to everything God says.
We might not understand it all, By His grace, we bow to whatever
He says. He guides us into all truth. And look what it says next. How
be it? Verse 13, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He
will guide you. Aren't you thankful for this
divine guide? What if you were dependent upon
me to know God? You'd be in trouble. You'd be
in trouble. I'd be in trouble if I were dependent
upon you. But God, the Holy Spirit, takes the Word and He guides
us into all truth. And notice what it says next.
It says, He shall not speak of Himself, only what He hears,
the Word of God. Now, wherever you hear a preacher
who speaks more of the Holy Spirit than he does of Christ, guess
what? That preacher doesn't even know who the Holy Spirit is.
And that preacher does not have the Holy Spirit. He will guide
you into all truth for he should not speak of himself. You hear
a preacher talking all the Holy Spirit this, Holy Spirit that,
they don't know who the Holy Spirit is. If they have the Holy Spirit,
they'll seek to glorify Christ. That's who they'll speak of.
So you see, this is the Spirit's divine purpose. He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what it says next in verse
13. It says, He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He
shall hear, that shall He speak. He hears the words of the Father.
He hears the words of the Son. That's what He speaks. And next
it says, He will show you things to come. Now, I love this. If
you're a believer, you know what? You're a true prophet. You know
the future. Isn't that what prophets know? They know the future. If you're
a believer, you know the future. And I love to think about this.
I know the future. I know. regarding everybody that
Jesus Christ died for. Everybody that he represented,
they're gonna stand before God perfectly conformed to his image. Accepted, justified, complete
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know what's gonna happen to
me. I'm not worried about the future. I know what's gonna happen. Now, the only reason you worry
is sin. Isn't that so? That's the only
reason you'd worry, is because you'd be afraid you have some
kind of sin. But if you know you don't have any sin, you truly
have nothing to worry about. Now, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I have no sin. And that's why I can look to...
I know what's going to happen on Judgment Day. God's going
to look at me. and he's going to say to Todd
Divert, well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. Now, somebody says, how in the
world can he say that to me? I'll tell you how he can say
that to you, because if you're in Christ, you have done well. Everything
that Christ did, you did. When he kept the law, you kept
the law. When he honored the father, you
honored the father. You see, he did what he did as
a representative man. And my life, My righteousness
is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my life
before God. So I can look at Judgment Day
and I'm saying, put it all up, put my life on the screen. Put
it all, every thought, every motive, put it all up. It's all
going to be good. That's why I'm going to hear
Him say, well done thou good and faithful servant, because
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness
before God. I know everybody that God has
saved, all of God's elect, Every one of them are going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know what
my future is. I'm going to be perfectly conformed to Christ.
I'm going to spend eternity worshiping Him, glorying in Him, beholding
His beauty. And I know what's going to happen
to everybody outside of Christ. Everybody outside of Christ is going to
be sent to hell. And they're going to deserve
it. And I don't understand this now. I don't understand this.
I can't get hold of this. But when I see somebody sent
to hell, even somebody I knew on earth that I love, I'm going
to say, righteous art thou, Lord. Now, we'll see things as God
sees them. It's just we still have this flesh and it's hard
to get hold of this, but we'll see things as God sees at the
end. And we're all we're going to rejoice in everything he does.
I know the future. He'll show you things to come.
I know that there's going to be a resurrection of the just
and the unjust. The believer will be raised incorruptible
in the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know what's going
to happen tomorrow. His will. Everything that happens
is His will. Doesn't matter what it is. He
did it. So I know what's gonna happen
tomorrow, neither more nor less than His will being done. He'll
show you things to come. And if you're a believer, you
have this confidence. You know the future, don't you? And you
can look at the future with confidence. He will show you things to come. Beloved, faith comprehends the
future because the future has already been declared, hasn't
it? I'm just giving what the Scripture actually teaches. Now,
verse 14. Here's the chief office of the
Holy Spirit. Now, He's the Spirit of truth. He'll guide you. This is a promise.
Thank God for this divine guide that's going to guide me. He's
going to guide every one of God's people into all truth. He'll
show us things to come. He shows us the future so we
know the future. We don't have to fear. I'm perfect
before God. Don't have a thing to worry about.
Footloose and fancy-free. I'm carefree in the sense of
I have no cares. Christ Jesus is my Savior. Now
what he says next, he says, He shall glorify me. And here we
have the chief office of the Holy Spirit in a four-word sentence. He shall glorify me. Now any teaching or preaching
that does not glorify the Lord Jesus Christ is not of the Spirit
of God. Teaching that makes man's will
and not Christ's will, the deciding factor in salvation is not of
the Holy Spirit. God's not in it. There's no truth
in it. You know, the leper understood this. The leper said, Lord, if
you will, You can make me clean. He understood that. He knew it
had nothing to do with his will. The Roman centurion understood
this. He said, I understand authority. I know, I say that one soldier,
he go and he goes to another come and he comes. I understand
authority. All you have to do is speak the word only and my
servant shall be healed. All you've got to do is will
it. It's not up to me. It's up to you. Teaching that emphasizes
the Holy Spirit is not of the Holy Spirit. Any teaching that
doesn't give Christ all the glory and every doctrine is not of
the Holy Spirit. He said, He shall glorify me.
This is the purpose of God, the Holy Spirit, is to glorify the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, what I'm
trying to do now, I realize I'm not up for the task to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. Glorious thing can anybody be
up? God the Holy Spirit's gonna have to do it because it's it's
beyond my ability to do this But oh, I pray that God will
take his word and enable us to see something of the glory of
Jesus Christ That's what God the Holy Spirit does. He shall
glorify Me look in verse 15 all things that the father hath are
mine Now do you see what the Lord says? What does the father
have? He is everything. He owns the universe. It's His. Christ says everything
that He has is mine. Does the Father possess sovereignty?
According to the scriptures, is God sovereign? That means
does He control everything? He's the first cause behind everything.
Well, Christ is sovereign. Is the Father all-powerful? Is
He able to do whatever He wills to do? Is He truly all-powerful?
Yes, He is. You know that. So too is the
Son. Is the Father just? Well, you know He is. Is the
Father righteous? Is the Father holy? All that
the Father is, Christ says, is mine. You see, in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. All that He has is
mine. Does the father possess omniscience? So does the son. Is the father
immutable? Well, of course, so is the son. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. The Holy Spirit delights in glorifying
Christ. He glorifies his deity. He glorifies
his humanity. The word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us. I love to think of the incarnation
of Christ. Jesus Christ. Oh, if I have the Holy Spirit,
what I'm going to do by His grace is I'm going to glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ. Think of His person. He's God. He's the creator of
the universe. He's man. He's the God-man. Great is the mystery of godliness. How the Holy Spirit delights
in glorifying the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He glorifies the beauty of
his character. Holy yet meek and lowly and humble
and approachable, just yet merciful, omnipotent. Yet meek, high and
lofty, yet the friend of sinners. How the Holy Spirit delights
in glorifying the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how
the Holy Spirit delights in glorifying the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've already touched on this, but his life. His obedience. That's my justifying righteousness
before God. And this is where our confidence
comes from. There's a reason I'm not afraid of judgment because
the life of Christ is my righteousness before God. I'm justified. That
means I'm not guilty. That doesn't mean I'm treated
as if I'm not guilty. It means I'm not guilty. I'm
perfect in God's sight with His righteousness. I can come boldly. And how the Holy Spirit delights
in glorifying the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love to
think of His life. That's my life before God. And
that's why I'm not ashamed. Don't have anything to be ashamed
about. His life truly is my life before God. And how the Holy
Spirit delights in glorifying the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, I love to think of his incarnation. I love to think of his life,
but I can't think of him apart from thinking of his death, and
how the Holy Spirit delights in glorifying his death. Now,
let me remind you of a few things concerning his death. You go back to Golgotha's Hill,
and there were three crosses on that hill. Remember that?
There were two thieves with the Lord in the middle. Now, on one
of those crosses, We have a man dying in sin. As he lived, so he died. He lived in hatred and rebellion
toward God. He lived despising God. And as
he lived, so he died. We have a man dying in his sin. Now, we also have a man dying
for sin. What does that mean? This is
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's dying for sin. You see, the sins of God's elect
literally became His. Now, I've been talking about
His life, His perfect righteousness being counted to me. That's true. His perfect life is counted to
me. But just as truly as His perfect life was counted to me,
my sin, my evil, became his, so that
he became guilty before God. It really was his. Just as I made the righteousness
of God in him, he was made sin. He was made guilt. And we have
him dying for sin. The reason he died is because
he deserved to die. My sin became his. God's wrath
came upon him. He died for sin. Now, we have
This one dying in is sin. As He lived, so He died. And
then we have this one dying for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why He died. And thank God on that third cross,
we have a man dying unto sin. You know what that means? As
guilty as this man was, the Lord said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. We have a man dying
unto sin. Oh, I love to think of the thief
on the cross. You know, really, there's a man that you and I
ought to be able to identify with. Thief on the cross. Sinful. Weak. nailed to a cross. And yet that man saw by the revelation
of the Holy Spirit. Remember, it's the Holy Spirit
who guides into all truth. The Holy Spirit taught him who
this man on the cross was. And there's not a greater instance
of faith in all the word of God than this man. He saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he knew he was God. He said,
don't you fear God seeing you're in the same condemnation? He
knew he never sinned. He said, this man has done nothing
amiss. He knew he would be successful. He didn't even suspect that he
would be unsuccessful in what he's doing. He said, remember
me when you come back in your kingdom. I know you're going to come as
a mighty reigning king. Remember me. He knew that. And
he knew he was Lord. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Now, this thing. The reason he
is what he is, the reason he's going to come with the Lord into
paradise is because of that one dying for sin. How the Holy Spirit delights
in glorifying Christ in his death. What did Christ accomplish in
his death? Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 14, For by one offering, that's talking
about His death on the cross, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. That means I've been perfected
by what He did outside of my personal subjective experience.
I've been perfected by what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Oh, the
the Holy Spirit delights in glorifying the death of Christ, and how
the Holy Spirit delights in glorifying the resurrection of Christ. You know, when our Lord died,
He went into that tomb with our sins. He was raised from the dead.
You look in that tomb, what's there? Absolutely nothing. You see,
He put away my sin. And the resurrection proves that.
When He was raised from the dead, He went into that tomb with my
sins. But when He was raised from the dead, you see, the Father
was completely satisfied with what He did. What did He do?
He put away my sin. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and in Him is no sin. He took away my sin. I have no
sin. And this is what the resurrection of Christ tells us. He was delivered
for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. And oh, how the Holy Spirit delights
in glorifying the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the Spirit of God delights in showing us Christ
is my salvation. As simple as that is. He delights
in showing us that Christ is the only object of my faith. Believe in Christ. What else
do I need? Not a thing. God the Holy Spirit
delights in showing us. God the Holy Spirit delights
in showing us of the present intercession of Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ, oh, I know Him. I know Him. And I know where
He is. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father representing me. And He's representing all of
His people. I'm safe. I'm secure because the Lord Jesus
Christ is representing me as my great High Priest. And God
the Holy Spirit delights in showing His glorious intercession. God the Holy Spirit glorify all
the offices of Christ as prophet, God's prophet, the word of God,
God's priest, and God's king. And the chief work of God, the
Holy Spirit is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that? Okay. What should our chief work be? Anything different? What should
our purpose be? In this church, what do we want? Whatever glorifies Him. If He's
glorified, we're satisfied, aren't we? Don't really want anything
else. Whatever glorifies Him, that's
fine with me. That's what I want in this church. In our homes, what do we want? In our homes, with our husbands
and our wives and our children, or if we're by ourselves, doesn't
matter. In our homes, what do we want?
We want the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to glorify
Christ as a spouse, as a parent, as a child. In our jobs, I want
the glory of Christ. in what I do for a living. Now,
I know you say you don't do anything for a living. Yeah, I do. I preach. But whatever you're doing, it's
not secular work. All is sacred with a believer.
You can wash dishes. You can dig a ditch to the glory
of God. If you're a believer, whatever
you do has got such significance because it's You're serving the
Lord Christ, and you're to do what you do for His glory. So
you seek in your job, whatever it is you do, may God give us
grace to do it for His glory, to glorify Him in it. In our
character and conduct, we want the Lord Jesus Christ to be glorified,
to truly reflect His image in this world by my attitude, by
the way I treat you, by the way I treat others. In our doctrine,
whatever our doctrine is, the glory of Jesus Christ is the
sum and substance of it. In our preaching, the glory of
Jesus Christ is all we care about. It's all we want to see take
place. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in our faith,
in our personal faith, I so much want to be this little child that simply rests in Him. Knowing
he's in control, being totally carefree, resting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Really believing that his righteousness
is my only righteousness. Really believing that his shed
blood has put away all my sins. Really believing that right now
He sits at the right hand of the Father as my representative
and I do not know, I do not need anything else. I want to simply
glorify Him by trusting Him. Don't you want to be somebody
who just simply believes Christ? You know, I want to be an effective
preacher. No doubt about that. I want the
Lord to bless my preaching. I greatly desire that. There's something I want more
than that. I want to be a believer. I want to be a Christian. I want
to be somebody who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. How our faith
glorifies him and how our humility shows his glory. I read that
passage of scripture, not unto us. Not unto us, O Lord, but
unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's
sake. You know, I want to be a humble
person. I want to... I don't want to act humble. That's
hypocrisy. I want to be humble. How true
humility glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. And how the lack of it
dishonors. Him. All we do were to do for
His glory. What power there is in doing
something for Christ's sake? Having to have no other reason.
What would you not do? I want all of us to think about
this. What would you not do for Christ's sake? If Christ said, jump into hell,
if He said it for His sake, by His grace, you realize by His
grace, but for His sake, you do it. how his glory will be seen in
our final salvation. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty, not my own. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then Lord, shall I fully know,
not to then, how much I owe. And this is the work of the spirit
of God. He'll guide you into all truth. He shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.
He'll show you things to come. He'll show you the future. He
shall glorify me. And you know, this is the employment
of heaven. Would you turn with me to John chapter 17? Verse 24. Father, I will. Now, before we go on reading,
who is the only one who could speak to the father like that? What if I said, father, I will
that you do this. That would be utter blasphemy,
wouldn't it? For a mere man to say that to
the father. But this is the Lord Jesus Christ
equal with the father. And he can say, father, I will
that you do this. And the father says, I'll do
it. Father, I will. That they also whom thou has
given me. And this is one of six times
this phrase is used in John chapter 17. Those the father gave him.
This is talking about God's elect. Those the father gave him before
the foundation of the world. Every believer. Father, I will
that they also whom thou has given me. Be with me. Where I am. Not where I will
be, but where I am right now. Now listen, wherever Christ is,
that's where I'm at because I'm united to him. This is not talking
really about future. It's talking about right now.
I will, that they whom you've given me be with me where I am.
Why? That they may behold my glory,
which thou has given me. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee. And these have known
that thou hast sent me. And I've declared unto them thy
name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them. What's the employment
of heaven? beholding His glory. He, God the Holy Spirit, shall
glorify me. And that's what I want to do
too. I want to be somebody who glorifies
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.