But 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. 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, howbeit 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 a 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 comfort of 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? Blind
people need a guide. People who are so weak, they
can't come 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. 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 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. If 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, but 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 the truth, for he shall 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. 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 is not 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 going to stand before God perfectly conformed. completely in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I know what's going to happen to me. I'm not worried about
the future. I know what's going to 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'd
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
the... 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 haven't 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 not right. 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 don't 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, O Lord. Now, we'll see things as God
sees them. It's just we still have this flash and it's hard
to get hold of this, but we'll see things as God sees it. 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 going to 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. He's the spirit of truth. He'll
guide you. This is a promise. Thank God
for this divine guide. It'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
servants will be healed. All you've got to do is will.
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 in every doctrine is not of the
Holy Spirit. He said he shall glorify me.
This is the purpose of God, the Holy Spirit. It's 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 on the task to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ. What more glorious thing could
anybody be? God, the Holy Spirit is going
to have to do it because it's It's beyond my ability to do
this, but all 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
has everything. 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 God 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. Does the Father possess omniscience? So does the Son. Is the Father
immutable? 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 this 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
for 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. Now, 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 canon to me. That's true. His perfect life is canon to
me. But just as truly as His perfect life was canon 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 guilty. 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 his 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 it into all the 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 sitting here 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. 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 sin. 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 that 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 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 saved. 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 will glorify
all the offices of Christ as prophet, God's prophet, the Word
of God, God's priest, and God's king. 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. It
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 preach. But whatever you do, it's not
secular work. All is sacred with a believer.
You can wash dishes. You can you can dig a ditch to
the glory of God. If you're a believer, whatever
you do is it's 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. 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. 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
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, we're 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, he realized 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 till
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,
and show you things to come, and 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 can 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 hast given Me. Now 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 hast 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, the day whom you've given me, be with me where I am, why? That they may behold my glory,
which thou hast 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 have 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.