If you will, let's open our Bibles
tonight to John chapter 16. John chapter 16, and this evening
we'll take up where we left off last week, this evening with
verse 15, or verse 8, through verse 15. We know that's a connecting word
and just above this and where we ended last week, the Lord
Jesus Christ told his disciples that it was expedient for them
that he go away because his exaltation would result in him sending God
the Holy Spirit. Now we know that his exaltation
did take place because God the Holy Spirit was sent on the day
of Pentecost. Now you recognize that this does
not mean that the Holy Spirit was not already here. If you
look back in John chapter 7, we all recognize this truth that
our Lord is not teaching or saying that God, the Holy Spirit, was
not already present. God is omnipresent. And the Holy
Spirit, yes, He is God. Here in John chapter 7, in verse
38, our Lord said, He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then John
explains what was meant by that. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because the Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, in our translation, we have
the word given inserted there by the translators. And obviously,
there was a need for a word. Because certainly John was not
saying, for the Holy Spirit was not yet. He was not saying that
He did not yet exist. He is eternal. The eternal Spirit. Eternally one with God the Father
and God the Holy Spirit. But He was not yet given. Not yet given as He would be
given when the Lord Jesus Christ was exalted on high. I noticed this morning a hymn
that we sang, Crown Hymn with Many Crowns, and really one of
the stanzas, I hadn't noticed this before, but it tells us
this very thing. The last verse says, crown him
the Lord of heaven, one with the Father known, one with the
Spirit through him given. One with the Spirit through him,
the Spirit through him given. from yonder glorious throne,
from him being exalted to God's throne upon high. Now, as I said,
we know that God the Holy Spirit is everywhere present. Remember
in one of our favorite Psalms, Psalm 139, the Psalmist David,
he asked this question, whither shall I go from thy spirit? Where
could I go from thy spirit? That's not possible. Whither
shall I flee from thy presence? He's present everywhere. It's
foolish to think that any of the Old Testament saints were
not convinced of sin and of righteousness and of judgment just like we
read here. Notice on as we read in verse
8, And when he is come, he will I like the word convince better. He will convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The saints in the
Old Testament, they too were convinced of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Think about this. Solomon, when
he dedicated the temple, part of his prayer was that when men
prayed toward that temple, and of course toward the altar there,
the sacrifice that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ, that they
would do so knowing, now listen, the plague of their own heart. Now we've all heard of plagues. Plagues are awful and plagues
have taken away many people when they visited a location. But
there's one plague that all of us have, and that is, as the
old Puritan writer said, the plague of plagues, the plague
of sin. How was Solomon convinced of
sin by God the Holy Spirit? He's the only one who can, but
thank God he does. We'll see that in just a minute,
a little bit more. You know, one of the Proverbs
says, Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness. Now
that's just true. Most men, you and I, we're included. Most of us, let me read it like
this, paraphrasing it. Most of us will proclaim our
own goodness. But, Solomon said, a faithful
man, who can find? Well, I'll tell you where you
will find a faithful man. You will find a faithful man
who confesses the truth of his sinnerhood when he is convinced
of sin by God the Holy Spirit. And the same thing of righteousness. David, in one of the Psalms,
he said, this is what I've determined. This is true of me from now on. I will speak of thy righteousness,
and of thine only." Well, how did he come to learn about the
righteousness of God? The same way you do, the same
way I do. By God the Holy Spirit, from
the Word of God, the Word which they had, which pictured the
coming Savior, who would establish righteousness. Remember, that's
one of the things that we're told in Daniel chapter 9 concerning
the Messiah. He shall bring in an everlasting
righteousness. I believe there's six things
there that would be accomplished by the coming of the Messiah.
And one of those is He will bring in an everlasting righteousness. That's Daniel 9, 24. And then
of judgment, of judgment. Our Lord here says that when
He has come, He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. And I say that the Old Testament
saints, those believers, those people of God and lived in that
dispensation, they too were convinced of sin and righteousness and
of judgment. Solomon, again, he wrote this
in Ecclesiastes. He said, God shall bring every
work into judgment. every work into judgment, with
every secret thing. You know, men like to do things
in the dark, don't they? They advise you if you have property
that you want to protect, shine lights on it, put the spotlights
on it, you know, that kind of deters criminals from trying
to go there and get in there. Why? Because men love darkness
because their deeds are evil. And every secret thing, men go
into their rooms and they close the door, pull down the shades,
turn off the light, and believe that no one sees. Even those things, every secret
thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. So yes, those
in that dispensation, they too were convinced of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. What then does the coming of
the Holy Spirit in this place, what does it mean? It had a special
application to the Holy Spirit's work in the Jews on the day of
Pentecost. Yet, at the same time, and many
times you will hear preachers and commentators even, they don't
show that it had a special reference to the Jews, they just show the
part that it applies to all men, that God saves in saving a sinner. Well, let's look at these two
things tonight. First of all, He shall do His
work of convincing. God the Holy Spirit, He shall
do His work of convincing, and then secondly, He shall do His
work of guiding into all truth. Let me read the whole passage
again. And when He has come, verse 8,
He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and
of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me, on righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and you see me no more, of judgment,
because the Prince of this world is judged. 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. God the Holy Spirit will do his
work of convincing. He shall convince the world of
these three things. First, sin. And let's look at
this first as applied to the Jews and then second in saving
of a sinner. The Jews would be convinced of
sin, you notice, because they believe not on me. Now this began, of course, on
the day of Pentecost, when they heard that sound of a mighty
rushing wind. And then Peter and the others,
they began to speak in languages that the people who were assembled
there in Jerusalem could understand, their own languages. And Peter
goes on to say, you men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him. In the midst of you, as you yourselves
know, you know this, Peter said, this Jesus of Nazareth, he was
a man approved of God among you, and that was evident by the signs
and the wonders that you saw him. Even Nicodemus, when he
first came to the Lord, you remember, that's what he said. He said,
Master, we know. Now he's a Jew, he's a Pharisee,
he's a leader among the Jewish people, and yet he said, we know
that thou art a teacher come from God, because no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Our Lord
said He will convince the world of sin. That here was a man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was approved of God among you, this
is what Peter is preaching that day, whom God raised up, therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. They saw, they saw the tongues
of fire, and they heard, they heard the sound of the rushing
wind, and they also heard those disciples teaching and preaching
in their language, in the language of the people who were assembled
there in Jerusalem. Now the scripture here says the
next verse, now, now, after Peter had said this, now, when they
heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto
Peter and unto the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? What shall we do? When He has
come, He will convince the world of sin, and of sin because they
believe not on me. You've seen the signs, you've
seen the miracles, you've seen everything, and now the pouring
out of the Holy Spirit, all which testifies to the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that was His work among
the Jews, convincing them of sin, but His work in the saving
of a sinner, he also convicts of sin. He convicts us of our
sin. Original sin, first of all. He convicts us that this is something
we brought with us. I don't remember my mother ever
trying to teach me to lie. I remember getting a few spankings
maybe for not telling the truth always. This is original sin,
something I brought into this world with me. It's part of me. You see, a lot of people are
convinced of sins, plural, because they did this, that, or the other,
but the Holy Spirit, He convinces us of our sinfulness that we
have inherited. We may not know the terms, the
terminology at the time, But we recognize that I am a sinner. It's not just what I do, it's
what I am. That's my problem. He convinces
the world of sin. Original sin and, yes, actual
sins. He convinces us of our, and I
think I made this word up, sinnerhood. Our sinnerhood. We are. sinners, and he convinces us
of that. That's one reason among many
that these people who teach that a believer can live without sin
are just as deceived as it's possible to be deceived. The
Holy Spirit, he convinces us of our sin, our sinfulness. Do you know if you were about
20 years old tonight and you had just gone through a very
thorough physical exam and the doctors, they said, boy, you
are a specimen of the great, great health that everyone would
desire to have. You've got a long life before
you. And then someone said, you know
what, I heard that Someone has finally found a cure for cancer. That person who's 20 years old,
they'd probably go in one ear and out the other. But I tell
you what, there's people in hospitals tonight. There's people on sick
bays tonight. If they heard that, that would
be good news. Good news! And that's what the
gospel is. a sinner. It's good news because
it tells us of one who did something for us that we could not do for
ourselves. That's good news. I can't remember
offhand if it was William Tyndall or John Wycliffe, both of these
men translated the scriptures into English, but one of them
in their translation, they translated the gospel as that which would
cause you to sing and dance and just jump around, you know. Good
news! Good news! It is to a sinner,
but to a person who's not a sinner. It's just kind of like water
off a duck's back. Holy Spirit, when He's come, when He comes
to an individual, one of God's chosen, He will convince that
person of sin. Number two, of righteousness.
His work in the Jews, they would be convinced of His righteousness. Remember, they accused Him of
being a sinner. They accused Him of blasphemy.
They accused Him of doing many of the miracles, or doing miracles
rather, by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. But
Peter on the day of Pentecost was used by God the Holy Spirit
to prove that none of this was so. None of this was true. He
convinced them of his righteousness. He was a man approved of God
among you. And they were convinced of his
righteousness, for now he was in heaven. And they knew enough
to know that for anyone to go to heaven, now they didn't believe
very many people would go evidently. They said if only two men go,
one will be a Pharisee and one will be a Sadducee. But now it
is obvious, it is evident to all of them that yes, Jesus of
Nazareth, who was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem, that
now he's seated on the right hand of the majesty on high. That means He's righteous. If
He were not righteous, He would not be there. He was approved
of God among you. They were convinced that He was
a righteous person, for He was now in heaven, and this was manifested. It could not be gainsayed because
God the Holy Spirit was poured out. Well, how about his work in the
conversion of sinners? He convinces a man that he's
guilty of being a sinner. He convinces sinners that to
stand before God, they must have a righteousness. For you to stand
before God, for me to stand before him and be accepted, We must
have a righteousness, a righteousness that God will accept. And he convinces us that we'll
never be able to, by our obedience, produce that righteousness. We
give up on that, don't we? We gave up on that years ago
when the Lord saved us. We recognize we could never,
by our obedience, please God, make ourselves righteous so that
we would be accepted in His presence. But He convinces us that the
righteousness which we must have, which we need, is outside of
ourselves. It's in heaven. It's at the Father's
right hand, Christ. He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He convinces us of that. I know every child of God in
this building tonight is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that
the righteousness that you need, you only may have in Jesus Christ. You're not going to obtain it
by your works. I don't care what you do. And
people do a lot of things, don't they? We see it on the news.
We've been in places where people have used different methods to
try to appease God, to try to satisfy God. I remember a woman
who worked in our homes years ago, in our home, when we first
went to Mexico. And I followed her one day. We've
tried to witness to her and tell her about Christ, but it's a
special, I think it was Good Friday. And I followed her one
day and I watched her go into this temple and get down on her
knees. And it wasn't a carpeted place
like this. It was rocks, you know, and stone
pathway and crawl on her knees. Victoria, you remember Victoria,
crawled on her knees. Why would she do that? Up to
the altar, what they call an altar. We have an altar, but
our altar's in heaven too, isn't it? We don't have one down there
at the front of the building. An altar is for a sacrifice,
and our sacrifice is in heaven. Yes, people, and that was just
a light thing that she was doing. We've seen people walk over coals,
haven't we? People make all kinds of promises. All kinds of promises. I saw
the tail end of a movie one time. I don't know the name and I didn't
see the whole thing, but I believe, I believe Clint Eastwood was
playing, I believe. But he was out there off the
coast in the ocean about to drown. And he started making promises.
Lord, if you'll save me, I'll give you 95% of everything I
have. And the closer he got to the
shore, He started dropping that percentage down until he got
up on the shore. And he had not been concerned
at all. He knew he was going to be saved.
People promise a lot. But our promises are about as
good as last year's bird's nest, as they say. But thank God for
his promise. And not only that, judgment. Judgment. He'll convince the
world. He convinced the Jews of judgment. Peter ended his
message with these words. He said, let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And as Lord, he's on
the throne. Lord and Christ. You'll meet
him. You'll meet him again. You put
him on the tree. Peter said, God put him on the
throne. Brother Ralph Barnard used to
say, when people would say, make Christ your Lord, he'd say, honey,
God beat you to it a long time ago. He is your Lord. He is every man's Lord. And yes, there is a judgment
to come. They were pricked in their hearts.
and in his work in converting a sinner. I like what John Gill
said about this. He said this can be applied in
two ways, this convince the world of judgment. He said he convinces
sinners of wrong judgments, first of all. Before his work, before the work
of God the Holy Spirit in the heart, a man judges wrongly about
God. He judges wrongly about God. He thinks of God, he sees God
like himself. That's what God accused man of,
isn't it? In Psalm, I believe it's 50,
thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as thou art. I believe it was Martin Luther
who told Erastus Erasmus, your God's too small. Your God's too
small. I'll share this story with you.
Brother Rick told me this just before we came in. But the message
this morning, what I said about people placing their God in a
certain place, he told me he was working on a job years ago
in Virginia. And the lady he was working for
asked him, would you make a box for my God? He said, what? Would you make a box for my God?
And he said, well, how big do you want it? She said, well,
about this big, about this high. He said, your God's not very
big, is he? It's funny to us, but it's sad,
isn't it? It's sad. People think God is
like we are. And because we can be bribed
and be deceived and be cheated, we think, no, no, that's not
true about God. These judges, they'll give you
leniency if you turn state's evidence, you know, and testify
against your buddy that you were guilty with. Well, God doesn't
need any of that, my friends. No. There's a judgment to come. It's appointed unto man once
to die. But after this, the judgment. And I tell you, men judge wrongly
about their state before God, trusting in their own goodness,
their own goodness. But then his convincing work
causes them to judge rightly about the gospel. When he has come, his work was
especially to the Jews, but also applicable to all the sinners
that he saves. Number two, his work of guiding. Notice he said that when he,
the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. Now the apostles that he said
these words to, the 11 disciples, they knew the gospel. But their
knowledge in some matters would come after the Lord's ascension
and God the Holy Spirit was sent. Let me show you one example.
Keep your place here just a minute, but look over in Acts chapter
10. He shall guide you into all truth. As I said, they knew the
gospel. They knew the gospel, but there
were some things, and especially concerning that old dispensation
coming to an end, that they didn't understand at this time. Peter didn't understand that
that middle wall of partition, and he wasn't alone. That metal wall of partition
which had separated the Jew and Gentile, that's coming down. That's taken down. And so God, the Holy Spirit guided
them. We have this illustration here
concerning Peter. It says, on the morrow, Acts
chapter 10, verse 9, on the morrow, as they went on their journey
and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up unto the housetop
to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, and
would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.
And he saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto
him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and
let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed
beasts of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, Fouls of the
air. You say, what does that represent?
You, me, Gentiles, Gentiles, dogs. There came a voice to him, rise
Peter, kill and eat. Peter said, oh, not so, Lord. You see, he's going to be guided
by God, the Holy Spirit. Not so, Lord, for I've never
eaten anything that is common or unclean. That's what the Jews
considered, right, about the Gentiles. And there was in their
dietary law certain animals they could not eat. They were unclean
animals by the law. And now here there's a sheet
let down from heaven and a trance, of course. And do you notice
it came down three times? This was done thrice. You say,
what does that mean? Well, let me just Hint. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Each person in the Godhead has
a part in a man's salvation. The Father chose, the Son redeemed,
the Holy Spirit calls. This sheet was let down three
times, and I noticed something else. Nothing got out of that sheet.
There was no animals that got out of that sheep. What does
that speak to us of? It speaks to me of God's purpose,
His eternal purpose, that every one that the Father gave unto
the Son is going to be securely kept. Now, while Peter doubted in himself
what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the
men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's
house, and stood before the gate, and called and asked whether
Simon, which was surnamed Peter, was lodged there. But while Peter
thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, you see
God the Holy Spirit? He shall guide you. And the Spirit
said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore,
and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing. Could
an apostle doubt? Well, evidently he could. Doubting
nothing, for I have sent them. And Peter went down to the men
which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, I am he
whom you seek. What is the cause, wherefore
you are come? And you know the rest of the
story. How, they said, well, Cornelius, our master, sent us
to you. And he was praying, and God told
him, in a vision to send for you, and you would come and you
would tell us. You would tell us what we are
to do. Once again, we see God doesn't use angels. An angel
said that to Cornelius. God sent an angel to tell Cornelius,
send to Joppa for Peter. God uses men to preach the gospel,
not angels. A holy angel could not sympathize
with you or with me, not in the least. Why? Because they've never
known anything but absolute pure holiness. And you and I, we've
never known anything but absolute sinfulness. He uses men in preaching the
gospel. He will guide you into all truth. Now how does he do this? He does
this by opening the understanding. Opening the understanding. Making
things clear. And he leads in the way that
we should go. He leads us by his word which
he has inspired and given unto us. And you and I know this.
God will never lead you to do something contrary to his word.
That's not the way he leads. He leads using his written word. And let me close with this. He
said, the Holy Spirit will glorify me. He glorifies Christ in testifying
to his person. Once again, that hymn we sang
this morning. I love to sing these hymns that
praise the Lord and give glory to him, but I was especially
taken by that part I mentioned just now about the Holy Spirit
being given by him, but one other part really stood out to me this
morning. No angel, no angel in the sky
can fully bear that sight, but downward bends his wandering
eye at mysteries so bright. unfallen angel in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ, what does he do? He covers his face,
right? He covers his feet. He shall glorify me, his person. He tells us who he is, he's God,
Almighty God manifest in the flesh. He glorifies Christ in
testifying to his finished work. His work is finished. He cried
from the cross. It is finished. He glorifies
Christ in testifying that He is the only Savior. He's not
one Savior. He's the only Savior. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. And he glorifies Christ in making
his people willing and bringing them to Christ. Our Lord said,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. And God the Holy Spirit makes
his people willing in the day of his power and brings us to
Christ. I pray the Lord will bless this
word this evening.