We have, for several Wednesday
evenings especially, thought about the Holy Spirit and believers. The Holy Spirit, we know, is
God. That he is one with the Father
and with the Son. That there is one divine essence. The scriptures use the term Godhead. The Apostle Paul uses that, and
also Luke in the book of Acts. The Godhead, which of course
refers to the divine essence, the divine being, God. There's a trinity of persons
in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And
we have been looking at the Holy Spirit in believers, the work
of regeneration, the work of regeneration and the saving of
a soul. That work is ascribed to God
the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke unto
Nicodemus about the absolute necessity of the new birth, but
no one can birth himself. The new birth is the work of
the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said, that
which is born of the Spirit, that is of the Holy Spirit, is
spirit. We also have looked at that new
covenant promise in Ezekiel chapter 36, where God said, a new heart
also will I give you. That's the new birth. And a new
spirit will I put within you. And this is important to be reminded
of. And at the same time, now the
scripture doesn't say at the same time, I've added that, but
it is true that when God puts a new heart and a new spirit
within a person, when a person is born of the spirit of God,
and I will put my spirit within you, that God, the Holy Spirit,
he comes to indwell every believer when A person is born of the
Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit in regeneration. He's the one
who creates a new heart and new spirit in his people, and he
comes and he dwells in us. There are three things we have
seen in the work of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration,
and that is he uses the gospel, and I've referred to this old
Puritan's Word several times how that the Holy Spirit comes
riding in the gospel chariot. In other words, as the gospel
is preached, as the gospel goes out, God the Holy Spirit blesses
the gospel and works effectually. The effectual call is wrought
by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This work This work of the Spirit
is a work that he uses the gospel and he puts forth his power,
and it is amazing power. It's a miracle of grace. The. It's hard work. Our walk in this life. It begins
in conversion and it ends in glorification. Our walk does. Now our life never ends, does
it? He gives unto us eternal life. When a person is born of
the Spirit of God, we receive eternal life. We pass from death
unto life and this life is eternal life. You know, when a child
of God passes away, we use that terminology, passes away, they
leave us, but they pass on to the other side. That's the way
we used to refer to it. They cross over, but they don't
die. The Lord Jesus Christ said, whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. They don't cease to
exist, cease to live when this body dies, but we go to be with
the Lord. But as long as we're in this
world, when we begin our walk until that time when the Lord
calls us away, we are to walk in the Spirit. And the same thing,
same three things, as we began this life, by the power of the
Spirit, with the Word of God, by the grace of God, so our walk
is to continue by the Holy Spirit, looking unto the Holy Spirit,
using the Word of God, and giving us power to live the life that
we are to live, this new life, and it is always by grace. Our walk is always by grace. Now I want us to look at three
things tonight that God the Holy Spirit does in believers. And these three things are certainly
wonderful truths. There are many other things that
He does, but we're just going to look at these three tonight.
I want you to turn with me, if you will, to John chapter 16. The first thing I want us to
see is that God the Holy Spirit who comes to live in us as we
begin our walk, He will guide us. He will guide us. It's good to have a guide, isn't
it? It's good to have an infallible guide, God the Holy Spirit. He will guide us. Notice in John
chapter 16, let's just read verses 12 through 14. Our Lord said,
I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear
them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, that's God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, when he
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. The Holy Spirit will guide us
into all truth, all truth that is necessary. You know, infidels
have taken this scripture and they've tried to say, well, you
know, does that mean he's going to guide you into all truth? Brain surgery, for instance?
No, of course not. It means that he will guide us,
his people, into all truth that is necessary for us as we walk
in this world. As we've begun with the Word
of God, He's going to guide us as we walk through this world
into all truth. Now, in John chapter 17, in our
Lord's Prayer. You know, Pilate asked the Lord,
what is truth? Remember that? When the Lord
Jesus Christ stood before Pilate. And Pilate asked Him, Art Thou
a King? And He said, Thou sayest. And then he said, for this truth,
I have come into the world. And Pilate said, what is the
truth? What is the truth? That's a good question, isn't
it? If people would ask that question in sincerity, what is
the truth? Well, we have the answer. The
Lord Jesus Christ in his prayer said, sanctify them through thy
word. Thy word is truth. Where do we go to find the truth?
We have it in the word of God. God's word is the truth. I want
you to look back a page to John 14. And I just want to make this
comment on this verse, John 14 in verse 26. But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you." Now this is a promise to us, but it is
a special promise to His 11 disciples. Why do I say that? Because He
said He will bring all things to your remembrance. They had
walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years, approximately,
and how could they remember everything? so that they might write the
gospels. How could they remember that?
God, the Holy Spirit. This is another work of God,
the Holy Spirit, isn't it? The inspiration of the scriptures,
the truth. How do we know this is the truth?
Because this is the word of Him who is the Spirit of truth. God,
the Holy Spirit, the comforter that our Lord promised. And He
enabled these disciples bringing things to their remembrance and
teaching them. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
prayed for you. He prayed for you. He prayed
for me. If I'm a believer, if you're
a believer tonight, in His prayer in John chapter 17, remember
He said, I pray not for these alone, but for those also who
shall believe through their word. I've never heard God speak. not
with an audible voice. I've never seen God. I've seen
the handiwork of God, and I thank God He's given me eyes to see
that and to know that is God's Word. But why do I believe God? Why do I believe Christ? Why do I believe The truth of
the work of God in the soul, because I believe through the
word which the apostles wrote, that which was inspired by God
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides us. He
guides us in and by his word. This is something we always need
to emphasize. He guides us. We have this promise
that He will guide us. He lives in us. He will guide
us. But He uses His Word. He uses the Word to guide us. People have made shipwreck many
times on this very issue. They think that God is going
to guide them by special signs and things of that nature, phenomena. that they see. No, God is going
to guide us with His Word, by His Word. I want you to look
with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now the lost, the unregenerate,
they consider the gospel to be foolishness. That's what the
Apostle Paul tells us here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and
we know it so. They consider it to be foolishness.
They seek after the wisdom of this world, which they think
is the greatest wisdom. You know, the wisdom of Plato
and Aristotle and people like that. They think that Those philosophers,
they were just seeking for the truth. They didn't have the truth. We have the truth. And Paul,
here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, no doubt, he tells us explicitly
what he preached. What he preached. He preached
the gospel. What did I say? The Holy Spirit
uses the gospel. This is what Paul preached. This
is what he determined to preach. Notice that in verse two, for
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And Paul did not depend upon
his ability to speak, his ability to entertain people. In fact,
he confesses here he was among them with weakness, fear, and
much trembling. He was thankful for that. because
his purpose was that the faith of the Corinthians would not
stand in the ability of men, but it would be the gospel that
worked in the hearts of his hearers. You notice he said, my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power. And here's the reason, that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God. Men, in our generation at least,
the last generation, so-called evangelists and preachers, have
come up with all kinds of gimmicks to try to get people to make
a decision for Christ, Their faith doesn't stand in the power
of God, but rather it stands in some man-made system or gimmick
or something like that. Howbeit, now notice verse 6,
howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Now what
did he preach? He preached the gospel. He determined
not to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But now he refers to this as
the wisdom, the greatest of wisdom. Now, the world doesn't see that.
The world thinks the message of Christ, the message of the
cross is foolishness. But Paul says, albeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect, mature, Yet not the wisdom of
this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, in a hidden, even
the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto
our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. Remember
a mystery in the writings of the Apostle Paul. It's not like
We think of a mystery, you read a mystery book and you don't
know who did it. You're kept on pins and needles
until you get to the end. No, a mystery in the writings
of Paul is the truth that man could never have known if it
had not been revealed by God. That's what the word mystery
means. Which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. Now, watch this. Now this is
a scripture that's taken out of its context quite often. But
as it is written, I have not seen nor hear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. People use this scripture to
speak about heaven many times. And certainly what the scripture
says is true, there's much about heaven we don't understand, we
don't know. But, notice, what Paul is talking
about here, God hath revealed unto us by His Spirit. For the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of
man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. We're talking tonight about the
Holy Spirit, about Him leading us. Which things... Verse 12. Now we have received
not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God, that we might know. He guides us into the truth,
that we might know the things which are freely given to us
of God. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man, notice this, the lost man, the man who's not been
quickened, made a liar, he receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they're foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they're spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ. The wisdom of God. The Holy Spirit
teaches us. He leads us into the truth. He uses the word to teach us,
to show us. Look in Ephesians. I want you
to see this. Ephesians chapter one, just a
moment. I want us to see something else
about the Holy Spirit guiding us into truth. You notice, and
you're very familiar with this verse, verse three tells us,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. Now that's a truth. That's a
truth. Every child of God has been blessed
with all A-L-L, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. But now, do we know all these
things? We've all been blessed with them, if we are God's children.
He's blessed us with all, but do we understand? Do we know
these things? The Holy Spirit leads us. And look down to verse 18, in
the same chapter, And this is part of Paul's prayer for these
believers. These same believers who have
been blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. But now notice he prays for them. And this part of his prayer,
this petition that we want to see is the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches, and here it says spiritual blessings,
Paul's now praying that they might know what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Now, point this
out to us because now we have prayer introduced. We have the
Holy Spirit who's guiding us He uses His Word, but we see
prayer is also part of Him guiding us. And this, the reason I want
to point this out, is because we see God teaching us, guiding
us, but we see we have a responsibility. When prayer is brought into it,
now prayer is something that we do. We pray. We pray for ourselves. But that's
not all. Not only do we have the promise
that He will guide us into all truth, that He uses His word,
but we have a responsibility. It's not like it's something
that's automatic, is it? That a person is born again of
the Spirit of God, and yes, God comes to live in us, and just
automatically, we're guided into the truth. understand the spiritual
blessings that we've been blessed with. We have a responsibility. We have a responsibility, first
of all, to read the Word of God. If He's going to use His Word
in teaching us and guiding us, then it's my responsibility to
read His Word. We have a responsibility to hear
His Word. Look in Ephesians 4, just a moment.
When Paul speaks about the purpose of ministers, you notice he says
in verse 11, he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors and teachers, but what for? Notice, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body, for the building up of the body of Christ. So we see these two truths about
the Holy Spirit and Him guiding us. He will guide us with His
word, but we also see we have a responsibility. We have a responsibility. We should ask for His guidance. We should read His word. We should hear His word. The
man that God has put into the ministry to proclaim the gospel. All right, I want us to go on
to a second thing. He will strengthen us. God, the
Holy Spirit, He comes to live in us. He will guide us. Number
two, He will strengthen us. And I quote the Psalm, Psalm
27 and verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord,
the Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I just finished reading 1st and
2nd Samuel within the last couple of weeks. And you know, in those
two books, we have the life of David recorded. And one thing
about the life of David, you have to admit, it was full of
ups and downs, ups and downs, just like your life, just like
my life. It was full of ups and downs.
When I think of him writing Psalm 23, and I don't know the time
when he wrote that psalm, I like to think maybe he wrote it when
he was still at home, tending his father's sheep. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. Once he
left his father's house, His life was full of ups and downs. Maybe he reflected back how his
life had been when he was beside the still waters, tending his
father's sheep. But one thing is sure, his life
was much like your life and much like my life. It was full of
ups, full of downs. And it must have been that he
learned of the restoring grace of the Holy Spirit. He restores
my soul. The Lord is my strength. I want you to look in 1st Samuel
with me. 1st Samuel chapter 30. This is one of those downs we're
looking at in the life of David. This is one of those downs. I
mean, this is down, down, down. You know, he'd gone off to live
in the land of the Philistines. He was marching off to war with
them, him and his men, marching off to war with the Philistines
to fight against Israel. And the lords of the Philistines
said, he's not going with us. He's not about to go with us.
How much better way for him to endear himself to the king of
Israel if when the battle starts, he starts fighting against us
on their side? No, you send him home. So that
governor, or whoever he was under which David had been living,
said, I know you're a fine man, I can trust you, but they don't
feel the same. You go back home. And when he
got back to the city that he lived in, everything was gone. He had two wives at this time.
I think he had some children already. And all the wives and
children of all of his men, all of their material possessions,
everything was gone. And so what happened? Well, the
men, they were very upset. They began to speak about stoning
him, killing him. They felt like he was the one
who was responsible for bringing them all down into this situation. Look in Psalm 30, I mean 1 Samuel
30 and verse 6. David was greatly, not just distressed,
he was greatly distressed, greatly distressed. For the people spake
of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved,
every man for his sons and for his daughters. But now notice
this, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. This Hebrew
word, which is translated encouraged, If you look in Strong's Concordance, the first meaning of all is to
fasten, F-A-S-T-E-N, fasten upon. He fastened himself upon. He encouraged himself in the
Lord. It means to seize and it also
means to be strong. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God who was His strength. God, the Holy Spirit, lives in
you, He lives in me, He lives in all of His children, and He
will be our strength. Now, I look in the concordance
at the word help. You know, one of the titles of
the Holy Spirit is helper. The word comforter, it could
be translated helper. He's our helper. I looked up
the word help just in the book of Psalms, and you would be surprised. I encourage you to do this. Just
turn to the book of, with your concordance, the book of Psalms
and see how many times David cried for help. And then look at how many times
he confessed the Lord helped him. The Lord was his help. I think of that Psalm 115 that
speaks about those Those idols, you know, false idols that people
worship. But let me turn there, Psalm
115. It begins by saying, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy
mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? Maybe something had happened.
Maybe something, one of those down times. Where's your God
at now? This God you've been talking
about is your help that'll sustain you, will keep you. Where's he
at now? He's in the same place he's always
been. He's still in the heavens upon
the throne, reigning over all his creation. Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. And then, you know, it speaks
about those idols, those false gods. But look down to verse
9. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their
shield. This is a promise. He is their
help. Who? The Holy Spirit, the Lord,
who lives in us. Look at verse 10. O house of
Aaron, these are the priests. We've been made priests unto
God, haven't we? Trust in the Lord. He is their
help and their shield. And verse 12. The Lord hath been
mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless
the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. And then there's a Psalm 146
in verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Happy is he. Blessed is he that
hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord. Well, I've got to move on to
the third thing. He will guard us. Now, He will
guide us, He will strengthen us, and number three, He will
guard us. Look with me to Ephesians once
again. Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four and verse
30. The apostle says, Engrave not
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. All believers are sealed. Now
the seal is God, the Holy Spirit. And the seal, of course, shows
ownership and it shows protection. But notice, notice Paul says
he shall, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day
of redemption. No one who is sealed will ever
be unsealed. Let me say that again. No one
who is sealed, that is God the Holy Spirit, and dwells that
person will ever be unsealed. The Holy Spirit will ever leave
that person. He will guard us. We are kept
by the Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. You say, what
day is that? Well, when Paul speaks about
redemption to believers, he's talking about the redemption
of the body, isn't he? We've been redeemed at the cross
with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but our bodies will be
redeemed, reclaimed from the grave. And we are sealed, God the Holy
Spirit seals us, yes, our soul and our bodies unto the day of
redemption. I remember hearing a story years
ago, a true story about a young mother who lost a child, her
child died, a young child. And they were going to have the
funeral and she just, there was just no way. There was no way
that she could allow the body of her child to be taken out
to the cemetery until she was shown this verse of scripture.
Her thought was, I cannot leave my baby out there alone. He's not going to be alone. God,
the Holy Spirit, has sealed us body and soul unto the day of
redemption. And when that day comes, when
the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again, our bodies will be redeemed
from the grave. I know it seems an impossibility.
It is an impossibility, isn't it? The resurrection. It is an
impossibility if God was not all powerful, but he is. And every person's body somewhere
is still here, except for Elijah and Enoch. The remains are here
somewhere. And God's people, their bodies
are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Well, I pray that the Lord will
bless these thoughts and words to all of us here tonight. Let
us remember, let us always try to be reminded every day that
God the Holy Spirit lives in us and he will guide us, he will
strengthen us, he will guard us, he will keep us from all
evil.