The Holy Spirit's Chief Office

Turn to John 16, if you will. John 16. I'm going to read verse 13, 14,
15 again. It may be that God will visit
us with his presence and with his power. I think sometimes
we just meet in the strength and energy of our flesh. With John 16, 13, how be it when
He, 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 to you. Now my dear friends, we have
here the Trinity. That's what we're reading about
here. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, All things that the Father hath
are mine, He the Holy Spirit shall take of mine and shall
show it to you Now you have the Trinity. I don't profess to be
able to understand the Trinity Because I can't understand it.
I'm not going to deny it. I Don't profess to be able to
explain the Trinity father son Holy Spirit. I don't really know
how to say it I hear people trying to figure out ways to express
in words the Trinity, God as Father, as Son, as Spirit, God
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, God Father, Son, and
Spirit. I really don't know, but I do
know that it's here. I'm looking right at the Trinity
expressed in the Scripture. And I don't know how there can
be any praying or preaching or study or salvation or intercession
apart from the Trinity. I take this business of praying.
How does a man pray who ignores the Trinity? I know there are
plenty who do. They say the word Trinity does not occur in the
Bible. Well, it doesn't. The word doesn't, but the fact
does. The truth of it does. How do you pray without the Trinity?
The Lord Jesus told us to pray our Father. When you pray, say,
Our Father, which art in heaven. If you do away with the Father,
to whom do you pray? Our Lord Jesus, look across the
page there at verse 16, the last line of John 15, 16. He said,
Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to
you. Now, in whose name do we pray
if there's no Trinity? To whom do we pray? In whose
name do we pray? And then a third question is,
how do we know what to pray for? It plainly says, if you'll turn
to Romans chapter 8, turn over there just a moment, Romans chapter
8. It says here in verse 26, the Spirit, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought. We don't know. But Spirit knows. And the Spirit himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints. As Brother Barnard
said, prayer's got something to do with the will of God according
to the will of God. And prayer's no good if it's
not in God's will. So how does one pray who ignores
the Trinity? Our Father, whatsoever you ask
the Father in my name, it shall be done. And then the Holy Spirit
teaches us the things for which we should pray. How does one
preach who ignores the Trinity? Look at verse 15. All things
that the Father hath are mine. All things belong to the Father.
They always have belonged to the Father. And the Father hath
given them into the hands of the Son. That's what Scripture
says. The Father hath committed all things to the Son. Christ
said all things that the Father hath. He's the owner of all things. He's the creator of all things.
And He hath given them into the hands of the Son. When the Son
accomplishes His work of redemption in In fullness, he said, he shall
deliver all things back to the Father. And then he says, the Holy Spirit
takes of mine that which the Father hath committed to the
Son. The Holy Spirit takes and reveals
to us. That's the Trinity. How do you
preach if you ignore that? Look back at John 6. John chapter
6. In verse 37, all that the Father
giveth to me shall come to me. How do we ignore the Father and
the Son there? And then John 6, 44, no man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in the
Prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man that hath heard
and learned of the Father cometh to me. You can't preach without
preaching the Trinity. How is one saved who ignores
the Trinity? What is the basis of your redemption,
who ignore the Trinity? Turn to Ephesians 1. Let's just
pick up a verse or two here. In Ephesians chapter 1, verses
3 through 6, here you have plainly declared, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. He chose
us in Christ. All right, look at verse 7. In
whom we have redemption through his blood. Now we're not talking
about the father there because the father didn't come down here
and shed his blood. The son did. The forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. And then verse
13. In whom you trusted. You trusted the son, didn't you?
After you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation
in whom after You believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise Okay, you can't Pray you can't preach. I don't know
how you can be saved without the Trinity You say you belong
to the Son by whose authority Well, the Heavenly Father gave
me to the Son. You say you were awakened and
came to knowledge and heard the Gospel and believed? Who revealed
it to you? Scripture says the Holy Spirit.
How does one study the Scripture apart from accepting or believing
the Trinity? Turn to 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. How do you actually Study the
scripture when you deny the Trinity listen to this how do you explain
verses like this? Well, there's one God and one
mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus The Lord
Jesus Christ is not the father He's the mediator between men
and the father, but it plainly declares that Turn back to John
14 and listen to our Lord here in verse 16 through 18 now listen
carefully this this is Christ our Lord speak He is very God
of their God the brightness of God's glory Express image of
his person and yet he says in verse 16 John 14. I will pray
the father and he will give you another comforter and that he
may abide with you forever 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
I'll not leave you comfortless I will come to you I will come
to you and then our text so Our text
says, verse 13, when he, the spirit of truth, is come. All
right, when he's come, there you have the Trinity. Now what
is the chief office of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit shall
come, Christ said, and what is his chief office? Now, it'd take
years to preach all that we need to say about the work of the
Holy Spirit. But what is his chief office,
the chief work of the Holy Spirit? I believe it's revealed in verse
14. He shall glorify me. He shall
glorify me. Now, keep this in mind. And always
keep it in mind and never forget it. Listen carefully. That which
does not glorify Christ, I don't care if it's a sermon, or a prayer,
or a song, or good deed, or guilt, or what it might be. That which
does not glorify Christ is not of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit always glorifies Christ, no matter how good it looks,
no matter how sweet it tastes, no matter how wonderful it sounds.
If it does not glorify Christ, I can assure you it is not of
the Holy Spirit. And that which truly glorifies
Christ, the word is exalts Christ, calls attention to Christ. That
which truly glorifies Christ is of the Holy Spirit. Now here
are four things I want to look at right here, four things that
I think are mighty important to me and to you. Remember this
in regard to all ministers and all ministries. That which does
not glorify Christ is not of the Holy Spirit. It says here,
He shall glorify me. Christ said, I'll pray the Father,
He'll send you another Comforter that He may abide with you and
in you. And He's going to take the things of mine and show them
to you. He's not going to speak of Himself. He shall glorify
me. Now you take all ministers Now,
there are many of them. There are many ministers and
ministries in this world, and they're very different. They're
different from one another. But this truth will always help
you to judge the minister that is of God or the ministry that
is of God, and that is this. He glorifies Christ. That minister
which makes much of the Lord Jesus Christ is of the Holy Spirit. And that ministry which ignores
Christ or pushes Christ to the background or preaches a faith
without Christ is not of God and not of the Holy Spirit. Now
listen to the Apostle Paul. I am determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that ministry
which makes much of Christ He takes any and all scripture,
whether it be from the Old Testament or the New Testament, whether
it's in season or out of season. He will take all scripture and
he will glorify Christ. He will magnify Christ. He will
exalt Christ. This is the theme of that minister
or ministry which is motivated by the Holy Spirit. Turn to the
book of Acts. The book of Acts, I believe it's
chapter 8. I want you to listen to something here. Acts 8 verse
35. Now what I'm saying is this,
whether that minister is preaching on creation, whether he's preaching
on the temptation and fall in the garden, whether he's preaching
on the nation Israel, whether he's preaching from the Old Testament
or New, regardless of what he's preaching about, giving, baptism,
large table, witnessing, Holiness, sanctification, justification,
it doesn't matter. Whatever subject, whatever illustration,
whatever scripture, he'll preach Christ. And if he does not exalt
Christ and glorify Christ, you can be sure the Holy Spirit is
not in him. Now listen to Acts 8, 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
Now here's an Ethiopian eunuch riding along in a chariot reading
Isaiah 53, reading an Old Testament prophet, an Old Testament scripture. And one of God's servants, we
know Philip was of the Holy Spirit, we know God brought him there.
The Holy Spirit took him to that place and took him away. And
he sat down and the fellow was reading the scripture and he
said, you understand what you're reading? He said, no I don't.
He said, let somebody show me. So Philip began at that same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And that will be a test
to which you can put any minister that you listen to. We were talking
a little while ago, someone was talking about hearing ministers
and hearing with a critical ear. That's all right. If this is
the type of ear that you listen with, you listen for that note
which glorifies Christ. If it's not there, he's not of
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ,
and I don't care what subject he's on, it doesn't matter where
he's preaching, it doesn't matter to whom he's preaching, if he
does not glorify Christ. Well, I can assure you he's not
of the Holy Spirit. There's just no such thing, because
the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. That's what Christ said here.
Our Lord said, He'll glorify me. All right? Not only the minister, but you
can remember this in regard to all religious movements. Doesn't
matter whether it's Catholic, or Baptist, or Pentecostal, or
Presbyterian, or Seventh-day Adventism, or Jehovah Witness,
or whatever it is. There are a lot of religious
movements, and we can judge them all by one standard. If these
movements are of the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit is in them,
if it's truly the Spirit of God. Now, the Scripture says, turn
to the book of 1 John. The 1 John, if I can, verse,
chapter 4, verse 1. Now listen to this. Verse, 1
John 4, 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit. But try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out
into this world. It's not of God. There are many religious denominations
and movements and organizations and we're prone to look on them
hopefully. I know you do and I want you
to, but Bradley, let's put them to this test, always to this
test. Do they preach Christ? Do they
magnify Christ? Do they glorify Christ? I mean
from first to last. Do they glorify Christ or do
they glorify something? Is something else the primary
object? Now I'm afraid it is. I listen
and watch groups that I believe their primary objective, concern,
interest is the healing of the body. I really do. I watch them carefully and listen
to them. And they have more to say about
the healing of the body. When they talk about Christ,
he's Christ the healer. He's not Christ the redeemer.
Christ the sovereign. There are others who magnify
the law and morality. They're going to legalize morality
and they're going to bring in morality and bring in obedience
and these things. Even the law of God is not to
be glorified. Christ is. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our motive. Christ
is our object. Christ is our strength. Christ
is our righteousness. I hear preachers, and fine and
good when they demand obedience to God's laws and to man's laws,
that's wonderful. But it's not of the Holy Spirit
if Christ is not the central figure. Is it a ceremony or a
day? Seven-day Adventism, what does
that tell you? It tells you their emphasis is
on a day, not on a person. Prophecy, doctrine, theology,
brotherhood. I hear a lot of, sounds good,
let's all get together in a unity of the faith, let's bridge the
gaps, let's bring our hearts together, that all sounds pretty,
but where's Christ? unity, brotherhood, sounds beautiful,
sentimental, sweet, but it's not of the Holy Spirit if Christ
is not glorified. This is a test to which you can
put every minister and every ministry and every movement. Then there are those who the
primary object, it seems to me, is to actually exalt the Holy
Spirit and His gifts. And Christ plainly says here,
He shall not speak of Himself. He will not call attention to
Himself. He will not lift up Himself, but He shall glorify
Me. Satan is subtle. He's crafty. He's an imitator. He's one who
will move into spiritual areas and destroy them. So you can
put this test to every movement. Does it glorify Christ? To every
minister, listen to a song. You can thumb through this very
book right here and find songs that in no way do they glorify
me, bearing my trials. You can sing about your trials. You can sing about trials that
God sends and call attention to the one being tried instead
of the one doing the trying. That's right. You can even sing
about faith and call attention not to the one who gives faith
or who is the object of faith, but the one who does the believing.
And that does not, that's not of God. I don't care who's doing
it, how pretty it sounds, it's not of God. It's just not of God. That which
is of the Holy Spirit will glorify Christ. If it does not glorify
Christ, it is not of the Holy Spirit. He shall glorify me. Thirdly, remember this when you're
listening to ministers. Remember this when you're making
contributions to movements. There's programs, I hear them
on WPAY, FM, this fellow supporting orphans all over the world. Sounds
good. A lot of people sending their
money. He talks about the thousands of orphans. But Christ is not
glorified, Christ is not mentioned. Christ is not preached. Is it
of the Holy Spirit? Preach? That's bound to be good
if you're feeding hungry children. Well, bound to be good, but is
it of the Holy Spirit? Not if it doesn't glorify Christ. Whatever you do, in word or deed,
do it for the glory of Christ. Remember this thirdly in all
your comforts. Now all of us need comfort. We're
looking for comfort. We're looking for assurance.
Assurance of spiritual life. Assurance of hopeful eternity. We want assurance, but I warn
you, And I warn you solemnly and sincerely, this subtle deceiving
adversary is going about seeking whom he may devour, and any hope
or comfort which you have, no matter how sweet, no matter how
precious, no matter how emotional, no matter how sentimental, if
it does not exalt and magnify and find its reason and hope
in Christ, it is not of the Holy Spirit. That's right. If my hope, if my comfort, if
my assurance is not in Christ the sinner's substitute, Christ
the thief's ransom, Christ the harlot's redeemer, Christ the
publican's savior, Christ the sinner's substitute, if my hope
and my assurance and comfort is drawn from any experience
in prayer, or any experience at a mourner's bench, or any
experience in a religious emotional service, or any sweet feeling
that I have experienced. It's not of the Holy Spirit.
It's a demon spirit. That's true, Charlie. It's a
demon spirit. The only comfort that a real
sinner can find is Christ died for my sins. and was buried and
rose again and is at the right hand of God pleading for my redemption. And this world is being swept
in a flood of religious emotionalism, sentimental foolishness, how
sweet, how precious, oh how dear it all is, how rotten it all
is. That's what it is. Comfort, assurance, confidence. Beautiful. We want beautiful
services and beautiful buildings and beautiful candles and beautiful
prayers and beautiful sermons and beautiful fellowship. We
need a crucified Redeemer. That's what we need. We're hell-deserving, ill-deserving,
undeserving, rotten sons of Adam who need somebody to come down
here and lie down in the cesspool of iniquity and take our stripes
that by his stripe we might be healed. And all this sweet sentimentalism. You look at what we call religion
today. It's a sissified, sentimental
foolishness. That's what it is. It's all of
this put on. Piety. Phony? It's as phony as
Satan. And the only one who can discern
the difference is a Spirit-taught man or woman. You can see through
that veneer of hypocrisy and Phariseeism. You can see through
that outward veneer of religiosity. And you can see the rottenness
and dead men's bones inside. My comfort, my comfort's not
a sweet prayer somebody said, my comfort is a suffering substitute
hanging on a cursed tree outside the city walls of Jerusalem dying
for my sins. What is my comfort? It's not
some sweet sentimental sermon or some decision I made one time.
It's at the right hand of God. I have a high priest who has
suffered and tried and tempted in all points as I am, yet without
sin, who dares on the merits of his blood to call my name
and ask God to forgive me. That's the foundation. And you
remember this, any comfort, any comfort, religious comfort, that
you try to find in feeling, experience, decisions, sentimentalism, emotionalism,
or anything, if it does not glorify Christ, it is not of the Holy
Spirit. Satan gave it to you, and Satan
will help you hold on to it and laugh at you as God casts you
out of his presence at the judgment. All right, the fourth thing.
Remember this. He shall glorify me, Christ said,
the Holy Spirit when He comes. I don't know what spirit you
got, but I know one the Lord says is going to glorify me.
I don't know about that spirit, you know, that comes and gives
you all these sweet feelings and wonderful visions and all
of these revelations and these new things, but I do know when
the Holy Spirit comes. Whether it's into preaching,
praying, singing, or whatever it is, He's going to magnify
and exalt and glorify the Son of God, the sinner's substitute. Now remember this, fourthly,
in all controversies. Now we better listen right here,
and we better listen good. There are a lot of religious
differences. It may be you've got a religious difference right
now with somebody. There are a lot of hurt feelings.
It may be you got hurt feelings right now. There are a lot of
divisions in what we call religion. Paul said you're divided. One says I'm of Paul, one says
I'm of Apollos, one says I'm somebody else, you know, a lot
of divisions. Let me say this. Most of these
religious differences and divisions and controversies are not of
God at all. We like to think that that it
is of God. We like to think that we're doing
what we're doing because we're right, because God led us, because
we're standing for the truth. But most of the time we're just
standing for our old sinful self. That's all. You know how you
can tell? You know how you can tell? You
know how you can tell? It's what you're doing glorifying
Christ. Is it glorifying Christ? Say
you get married at the preacher of the church or somebody, song
leader, somebody at church, and you quit. Does that glorify Christ? Does your staying home glorify
Christ? Does your not speaking to that man glorify Christ? Does
your carrying those hurt feelings and chip on your shoulder, does
that glorify Christ? Does your going out and meeting
with a group of people in your home because you can't get along
with other Christians, does it glorify Christ? Well, no preacher
doesn't, and it's not of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
hasn't got a thing in the world to do with it. It's satanic.
That's right. God's not in it. God's not in
it. I get mad and resign this church
next Sunday because somebody didn't do something I wanted
them to do, and I felt like doing that, and I'm glad I didn't,
glad God didn't let me, because that's satanic. The only way
in the world that we can have division and controversy, and
it be of the Holy Spirit is for the results of it to glorify
Christ. And I'll guarantee you, if the
results of that division, if the results of that controversy,
if it glorifies Christ, then it was of the Holy Spirit. If
it does not, God wasn't in it. And we shall pay the fare to
Tarsus. That's when Jonah left. When
God sent him to Nineveh and he decided to go somewhere else,
it says he paid the fare, and he sure paid it. And when we,
God sends us to Tarshish, or Nineveh, and we go to Tarshish,
we'll pay the fare. God'll see that we paid it. All
right, the Holy Spirit, what's his chief office work? To glorify
Christ. All right, the second, look at
our text again, John 16. And this is serious. This is
the heart of this thing. He shall glorify me. Now how
does he glorify Christ? I want you to listen to this.
For he shall receive of mine and show it to you. How does
the Holy Spirit glorify Christ? He shall receive of mine and
show it to you. Does that mean anything to you?
Look at John 14, 26. Let's see if we can get some help here. John 14, 26. But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father shall send in my name.
John 14, 26. He shall teach you all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you, when the
Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. Now listen to me, I'll make this
brief. What does He do? Does He go out and get some kind
of measures or means to glorify Christ? No, sir. You know how the Holy Spirit
glorifies Christ? You know what he uses? He comes to Christ himself. He comes to Christ himself. Christ
is his own glory. Christ's glory is who he is and
what he is and what he has and what he has done. That's what
glorifies him. There is no greater glory than
his own glory. When the Holy Spirit is sent
to glorify Christ, he doesn't go out and get some person to
glorify Christ, or some grand entertainment to glorify Christ,
or some new revelation to glorify Christ, or some miracle to glorify
Christ. He comes to Christ himself. He
shall take the things of mine and glorify me with myself. What
do we mean by that? Well, Christ needs no novelties
or inventions or sensational revelations to glorify Him. His
person is His glory. Turn to Hebrews 1 and listen
to this. Hebrews chapter 1. This is a vital truth right here. Hebrews chapter 1, in verse 2,
it says, God hath in these last days, Hebrews 1, spoken to us
by His Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory." His son is the brightness of God's glory, Christ
himself, in his person, his deity, his divinity, his incarnation,
his perfect life, his death. Oh, Paul said the glory of the
cross, his resurrection, his ascension, his intercession,
his second coming. You know, the things that glorify
Christ are in Christ. Now, the glory of kings, what's
the glory of the king of England? Well, it's his wealth, his possessions,
his gold, his silver. Christ glories himself. What's
the glory of an athlete? The glory of an athlete is his
strength, his records. The glory of Christ is himself.
What's the glory of a wise man? The glory of a wise man, his
inventions, his cleverness, his education. Christ's glory is
himself. You see that? So the preacher
who glorifies Christ will preach Christ. That's what Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.
I'm determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It may seem simple to you, it
may seem trite to you. But if you want to glorify Christ,
preach Christ. If you want to bring glory to
Christ, preach Christ. If you want to glorify the name
of Christ, sing about Christ, about Christ, not his benefits,
not his blessing, himself. That's what he says here, he
shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and show it to
you. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That answers your question, Eddie. And that fellow says, oh, we
all know that. Yeah, just push it to the background. Now let's
talk about something else. Not if you're going to glorify
Christ. Himself. His chief glory. His deity. His incarnation. His perfect
life. His death. His burial. His resurrection. His intercession. His second
coming. His presence. His power. His authority. His
sovereignty. His omniscience. His omnipotence.
His omnipresence. His glory, Christ's glory, is
Himself. If you want to glorify a man,
you bring him presence. If you want to glorify Christ,
you receive His blessings. That glorifies Him. All right,
last of all, and I'll quit. To whom and in whom does the
Holy Spirit glorify Christ? Now, He is the Holy Spirit. His
chief object, or His chief office, is to glorify Christ. And the
way that he glorifies Christ is to take of Christ himself. Christ himself. He is his glory. His glory is himself. His love. His power. His wisdom. Himself. His grace. His mercy. You've got a thousand
subjects and all of it is his. When the Apostle Paul taught
giving, he taught it based on the gift of Christ. Thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. When the Apostle Paul taught
love, when our Lord taught love, he said, love one another as
I've loved you, as I've loved you. When he taught forgiveness,
it's forgive one another as I've forgiven you. When our Lord taught preaching,
He said, as my Father sent me, so send I you. Everything's Himself. Alright, to whom does the Holy
Spirit glorify Christ? To you. He will guide you into
all truth. What's the first thing the Holy
Spirit does in glorifying Christ? Well, look at verse 8. He shows
us our need of Christ. He shows us our need. When he's
come, he will convince or reprove the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. The Holy Spirit, first of all,
comes to us in glorifying Christ and shows us our need of Christ. He convinces of sin. Original
sin, actual sins, especially unbelief. Who is the object of
faith? Christ. Who is the object of
unbelief? Christ. Of sin, because they
believe not on me. That's where this whole, this
is the granddaddy of all sin. You can talk about all of the
murder and kidnapping and and thievery and robbery and adultery
and all these sins you want to, but the essence of all sin is
what? Unbelief. Unbelief. They don't
believe God. That's the essence of it. And
that's where the Holy Spirit comes and does his convicting
work. They don't believe in me, Christ said, of judgment, of
righteousness, because I go to my Father. Whose righteousness
we're talking about here? Well, two people. Talking about
our lack of it and His perfect righteousness. When he convinces us of our lack
of righteousness, he convinces us of Christ's perfect righteousness.
I go to my Father, I've died, buried, been risen again, and
the Father hath received me and accepted me as the perfect justification
in righteousness. That's the basis on which the
Holy Spirit convinces the world of righteousness, on the basis
of Christ's perfect righteousness, of judgment. Because the prince
of this world is judged. Who judged him? Who cast him
out? Christ did. Christ did. All shall be judged. Christ is the judge. The Father
judges. No man has committed all judgment
to the Son. So the work of the Holy Spirit
in convincing us of our need is not we need salvation, we
need Christ. It's not we need a way to heaven,
we need Christ. It's not we need life alone,
we need Christ. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. Of judgment, because I've judged
the prince of this world and cast him out. And then the Holy
Spirit, watch verse 13. It says, When he is come, he
will guide you into all truth. He'll not drive you into it.
He'll not force you into it. He'll guide you into it. The
Holy Spirit guides us into the truth of redemption, into the
truth of justification, and then he says he will take the things
of mine and show them to you. Now watch verse 12. Our Lord,
we're not born mature, we're not born adults, we're born babes. And in the kingdom of God, our
Lord said to his disciples, who had been with him three and a
half years, three and a half years at the feet of Christ,
He said in verse 12, I have yet many things to say to you. You
cannot bear them now. You're not prepared for them.
You're not ready for them. Now how is he going to reveal
them? His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit shows us our
need of Christ. His Holy Spirit brings us, guides
us into the truth of Christ. And then His Holy Spirit takes
the meat of the Word. revelations of the Word and reveals
them to us day by day, step by step. Have you not, let me ask
you this question before we quit. Have you not in your life, your
spiritual life, your life of faith, have you not owned the
doctrine or truth to be a part of the Word of God? You've owned
it to be a part of divine revelation and you had a grip on it. But
in God's good time, when the Holy Spirit in His grace and
mercy came and really revealed it to you, and it got a grip
on you. Do you know what I'm saying?
You've studied the Word and you've come to see, oh any, just pick
any of them, say the doctrine of justification. And you've
received it as a part of divine revelation, the scripture, and
you've held on to the doctrine of justification, but then maybe
one night, maybe during a service, maybe reading the Bible, maybe
preaching a sermon, suddenly the Holy Spirit brought you not only to receive
the doctrine, but to experience it. And you no longer had a grip
on it, it had a grip on you. It just encompassed you and filled
you. You know what I'm talking about?
That's what he's talking about here. The Holy Spirit will take
the things of mine. And he's not going to give you
the whole thing in one lesson and say, there it is, and zip
your head open, stick it in, zip it back. No, he's going to,
in his own good time, when the lesson will be learned and learned
well, And when it will be experienced and when it will be entered into,
then he'll teach that lesson about Christ, that truth about
Christ. But I'll give you the measurement even for that, even
for learning, studying. We said we'll measure ministers
and ministries and movements and comforts and controversies. I'll tell you something else
you can measure too. Anything you're privately studying, any
book you're reading, any literature that comes into your home, religious
literature, does it glorify Christ? If it doesn't, it's not of God.
If it doesn't glorify Christ, it is not of God. No matter how
pretty or sweet or precious it might be, if it does not glorify
Christ, it's not of God. In our thoughts, in our faith,
in our meditations, in our innermost secret person, may we love and
exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, resting in Him, trusting
in Him, waiting upon Him. Grant, O Lord, that before thee,
in thy presence, that we may have a total honesty, an openness
of heart and soul and mind, confession of our sins and of our need,
and yet be able to say, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou
knowest that I love thee. Christ is my hope, I'm nothing,
less than the least of all the same, not worthy to be called
a child of the King, chief of sinners. Yet I find Christ died
for the ungodly. When we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. He pleads our cause, not our
merits, our cause. And he pleads his wounds and
his righteousness. O Lord, grant in our prayers
and in our thoughts and in our worship we may glorify Christ.
We're nothing. We have need of all things and
the least mercy. the least mercy. We're not worthy
of it, but we receive it from Thou bountiful hand through Christ
Jesus the Lord. O God, in our worship service,
in our preaching, in our singing, may we glorify Christ. In our
gifts, in our good works, in anything that we do, grant that
we may be able of Thy Spirit to do it for the glory of Christ
our Lord. Oh God, let us weigh our motives, our attitudes. Even those sweet comforts and
assurances, let us be sure that the foundation of them is Christ.
Let us not be deceived. Let us not perish hearing these
say, depart from me, I never knew you.

The Holy Spirit's Chief Office

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The Holy Spirit's Chief Office

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