John 15:26-16:15
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
John 16:1-15
"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
"And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. NKJV
When I got to this passage in our series on John’s Gospel, where Jesus begins to teach His disciples about the work of the Holy Spirit, I truly did not know how to preach it. Sermons are personal opinions that are led by the Holy Spirit, if they are to have any value.
The preacher draws from his knowledge, hopefully as Brother Walter taught last Wednesday in Colossians 1:9: knowledge gained by spiritual understanding. That text in Colossians is only one of Paul’s supporting statements of what Jesus says here in John about the work of the Holy Spirit.
In my library I have books by John Owen, Arthur Pink, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and other great men who have written entire books on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Believe it or not I have read most of these books. So how can we adequately teach about the work of the Holy Spirit in two or three sermons when these men wrote hundreds of pages on the subject? And the answer is that we cannot. All I can do is to try to preach the essence of the words of Jesus and trust that the Holy Spirit will not let me make a muddle of it.
Jesus has already spoken about the Holy Spirit in chapter 14:
John 14:15-18
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. NKJV
John 14:25-27
25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. NKJV
In these promises to send the Holy Spirit, Jesus only gave His disciples the comforting words that He would ask the Father and that the Father would send the “Helper” that would abide with them forever. The Helper, Who is the Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father in the name of Jesus and He will bring into remembrance all of the things that Jesus taught.
Now here in Chapter 16 Jesus expands on the promise to send the Holy Spirit and tells them just some of the things that He will do.
The most important and significant work of the Holy Spirit is what Jesus says in 16:14 and is the title for this message: “He Shall Glorify Me.”
I will follow an old method that I learned many years ago, which is: Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them.
So if you miss everything else that I say this morning please do not miss this single point. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ! Any preacher who emphasizes the Holy Spirit and puts Christ in the background is a false prophet.
Those books about the Holy Spirit that I mentioned bring out hundreds of things that the Holy Spirit does in the life of the believer. But there is nothing that the Holy Spirit does that does not in some manner glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
In what passes for Christianity in America today there are two extremes as regarding the Holy Spirit.
The one extreme is evident in most Baptist churches. It is a grave concern to me that in many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ live their lives as though there were no Holy Spirit.
What do I mean by that statement? I mean that far too many people attend church only just enough to keep from being thought to be a total heathen. Most of their days are lived with little or no thought of Jesus Christ. They have just enough religion to keep some kind of salve on their consciences.
So my concern for them is that they may be in the huge majority of make-believe “Christians” that Jesus said are on the broad way that leads to destruction. Those who are on the broad way that leads to destruction are comfortable enough that they are “safe.” After all, they joined the church and they were baptized. Isn’t that quite enough?
The other extreme is the abuse of the Holy Spirit, mostly in the charismatic churches, who emphasize the Holy Spirit and virtually ignore the gospel. They have what they call the “Full Gospel” implying that the Gospel that you and I have is not enough. Listen carefully to what they say and you will discover that Jesus takes the “back seat” to the Holy Spirit.
Well, I am perfectly content to say with Paul: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
So if we are to find the truth that lies between these two extremes when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit, and realizing that we are only dealing with our text in John’s Gospel and not a full topical study, of the Holy Spirit, where do we begin?
We must begin by defining what Jesus clearly implies in 15:25, viz. the doctrine of the Trinity. The Jehovah’s Witness cult almost always ambush spiritually weak Christians by challenging the doctrine of the Trinity. The “Trinity” they will say is not in the Bible. And, of course, the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible, but the doctrine [teaching] of the Trinity certainly is.
When I have the opportunity to witness to a JW and they bring up their “trinity” stunt, I tell them the word “Jehovah” is not in the bible either. This usually produces a very puzzled look on the face of the JW. Then I point out that if a word has to be in the Bible before a doctrine can be discovered then their entire scheme of trading on “Jehovah” is false. Before you think I am in error on the word “Jehovah” the answer is that the Hebrew word is YHWH, which is an unpronounceable word and by agreement we say “Jehovah.”
Jehovah/Yahweh. One of the most important names for God in the Old Testament is Yahweh, or Jehovah, from the verb "to be," meaning simply but profoundly, "I am who I am," and "I will be who I will be." The four-letter Hebrew word YHWH was the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush (Ex 3:14). This bush was a vivid symbol of the inexhaustible dynamism of God who burns like a fire with love and righteousness, yet remains the same and never diminishes. Some English translations of the Bible translate the word as Jehovah, while others use Yahweh.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
15:25 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
Here in this verse Jesus refers to the “Helper”, Who is the Holy Spirit, the Father, and to Himself. There are three Persons and yet the Bible is very clear that there is only One God.
The accusation of those who deny the Trinity is that we worship three Gods. The Muslims, the JW’s, et al, say that the concept of three Persons and One God is absurd.
Some years ago at Beeson Divinity School, I heard Don Carson [almost sure it was he] relate an experience with a Muslim who said: “One plus one plus one is three.” Carson’s answer was, “No, Infinity times infinity, times infinity equals infinity.” Of course we are not dealing with a mathematical formula but it is a good illustration.
In all of my studies on the doctrine of the Trinity I have not found anything more helpful and succinct than what Mr. Charles D. Alexander wrote in his Spiritual Exposition of John’s Gospel.
“THE ENIGMA OF CREATION is the lofty theme in the Prologue to the Gospel of John. Everywhere this Gospel is transcendental. It deals with matters which transcend all that is earthly, and plunges always into the eternal, and the meaning behind all meanings. The drama of God's life is being worked out. The natural creation has a purpose - to reveal God and provide the field on which will be developed and displayed, the manifold wisdom of God.
“The manifestation of the life of God begins in that region of NO BEGINNING, the eternal birth of the Only Begotten Son, who always WAS and ever will be, in the bosom of the Father. Proceeding from, towards, and within the communion of the Father and the Son is that life and love personified in the Holy Spirit, who is of both, yet is a THIRD, eternally proceeding in an origin which never began but always IS - and we have the glory of the Holy Trinity, one God in the mystery and the marvel of Three Persons, always at rest, yet ceaselessly working, always complete and unchanging, yet ever traveling to that glorious destiny yet to be realised, but which in the timeless, ineffable peace of the Godhead is eternally achieved and not subordinate to the alphabet [symbols and signs] of history.
“Incomprehensible? Indeed. For no-one knows the Son save the Father, and no-one knows the Father save the Son - and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. Yet though incomprehensible, God brings Himself into the sphere of existence, to be "known" In a knowledge which transcends all mental apprehension - a knowing which is itself eternal life:
This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. John 17: 3
“As the Only Begotten, the Son was (IS) always “subject” to the Father, not in inferiority of Person but in the ORDER of the Godhead, as the Holy Spirit is always the THIRD, never acting independently.
“In John, supremely, the mystery of the Holy Trinity is unfolded. In the Old Testament, this mystery is only shadowed forth in a way which requires New Testament light to make it plain. In John's writings, supremely Christ “shows us plainly of the Father” (therefore, by consequence, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit). See John 14 - 16.
“Appropriately, therefore, it had to be John who should give us in a sentence the final statement of the doctrine of the triune Godhead:
“And there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one”. (1 John 5: 7).
As mysterious as the doctrine of the Trinity may be, it is still a most important teaching that we must firmly accept if we are to have a correct understanding of our God. We will never fully understand the Trinity but we must accept the truth of the doctrine of the Trinity or we will deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So Jesus tells His disciples that they will be faced with persecution and He will not be with them. But they will have the Helper, the Holy Spirit.
15:27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
Jesus’ disciples will have to stand for Him or be found to be false. They will be called on to be advocates [defense lawyers] of the gospel because He has chosen them and the evil world system will hate them because it hates Jesus.
Now in John 16:1-15 Jesus begins to describe the work of the Holy Spirit.
1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. "And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
(1) “These things...” so you won't stumble (offended), be caught unawares by the world’s hatred. Recall the treachery of Judas. When Jesus departs from them they will have to face persecution and death.
“Stumble” [Greek: skandalizo (skan-dal-id'-zo)] (“scandalize”); means to entrap, i.e. trip up (figuratively, stumble or entice to sin, apostasy, or displeasure.
(2) Cf. 9:22, 23 Remember the fear of the parents of the “Man Born Blind”?
They would be put out of the synagogue if they confessed that Jesus was the Christ.
To be denied membership in a Baptist church may hurt our feelings but we can go a few blocks away and join another one that will be more than happy to stroke another addition to their membership roles.
But to the Jew, to be put out of the synagogue meant that His disciples must forsake all hope in Judaism. Former friends will view them as pagans. They will be cut off by family, some will be killed.
It was “blasphemy,” to say that this Nazarene is God!
Those who will persecute Jesus’ disciples will be zealous for God, but without knowledge. Think about the Apostle Paul [Saul of Tarsus] before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was eager to arrest and kill those who were in the “Way” as believers were referred to. Paul sincerely believed that he was serving God by killing Christians. See Acts 26.
(3) They have no excuse (15:22); because they rejected all of the indisputable evidence that Jesus is Messiah.
This is not the first time that Jesus says that the Jewish leaders do not know God. It is a marvel to me that the most religious men on earth did not know the true God. And yet right now in America some of the most popular preachers say things that show that they too do not know God.
Since that is so, we must be very discerning in our acceptance of what is offered as being “of God.” I will not recite my growing list of frauds that have recently been perpetrated on our generation of Christians. But beloved test the spirits whether they be of God.
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Yes, I am cynical, but with good reason. Perhaps the best way you can tell if the latest fad is false is that it immediately becomes hugely popular. Millions of books and trinkets are sold in “Christian” bookstores and then it fades away when the next fad comes along.
The most popular preacher in America today, who has the largest and fastest growing church, is selling the “prosperity gospel” and it is a lie.
Mr. Alexander said, “A lie will go around the world twice before the truth can get its trousers on.”
The reason that so many people can be deceived is because they are too busy to learn the Word of God and therefore they cannot “abide” in the Word.
Jesus said in John 8:31 that if a person abides in His Word they are His disciple. Does it not follow that if a person does not abide in His Word that person is not His disciple.
(4) When they remember what He said about affliction they will know that what He said about blessing is also true.
Jesus revealed to His disciples:
1) The world hates His disciples because they are chosen;
2) The root of this hatred is ignorance of the Father and the Son;
3) Persecution will come from those who believe they are “doing God a service.”
(A meritorious act.)
5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'
They had not asked “where” from the correct understanding but from a crude literal perspective of a physical “way.” (13:36; 14:5).
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
The disciples are troubled and their hearts are filled with sorrow because they do not yet grasp the wonder in what Jesus is telling them. How can the death of Jesus and all that He will suffer be a “good” thing?
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
“Nevertheless…”, even though you don’t ask, it is expedient (to your advantage) so that the promise of the Gospel of His Sacrifice for the sins of His people will be realized.
Jesus has promised that He will ask the Father and He will send then Holy Spirit, but it is necessary that He depart, and by that He means all that was involved in the substitution of His sinless life for the sins of His people.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
This passage [8-11] has been used in many an evangelistic appeal and surely there is truth in the statements that are made. However, the context is the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, and not for salvation but for judgment!
Here the context is the unbelieving world as opposed to believers.
Remember what Jesus has been saying about the world of unbelievers.
John 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. NKJV
The unbelieving world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth. To reprove (convict) is to bring unanswerable charges with proofs by an advocate.
An advocate produces conviction, not by making the wrongdoer feel guilt, but by strong proof. E.g., a District Attorney does not need to make the defendant feel his guilt or even to admit his guilt. He only needs to prove his guilt. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the world rebukes the world. This passage is not about the work of regeneration but the effect of His presence in the world.
“Of sin...” Because they do not believe.
John 1:10-11
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. NKJV
“Of righteousness...” The Holy Spirit proves the righteousness of Christ.
“Of judgment...” Because the devil is judged.
The passage (8-11) refers to objective consequences of the Holy Spirit’s presence on earth. The unbelieving world stands guilty of rejecting Christ. Its condemnation is attested by the righteousness of Christ. Nothing awaits the world but judgment and the devil is already judged.
Solomon, in his quest to understand everything “under the sun” [through human reason apart from revelation], did figure something out.
Eccl 8:10-11
11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
NKJV
But even if the creation continues to spin on for thousands of years more, there will be a day of Judgment, and every scoffer and so-called Christian who remained on the “broad way that leads to destruction” will each and every one do this:
Philippians 2:9-11
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NKJV
So contrary to most of the Bible commentaries, I maintain that while there is certainly the application of conviction of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment in the salvation of sinners, that in the context of this passage, that Jesus speaking about the unbelieving world that hates Him.
But Jesus does tell His disciples what the Holy Spirit will do for them and for all believers. Verses 12-15 contrast the work of the Holy Spirit in the unbelieving world with His work in glorifying Christ.
12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
“Bear” is to support as a burden; they could not retain what He otherwise would have told them, thus they need the Holy Spirit.
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
“Guide” implies what? Truth is related to written word.
John 17:17
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
1 Corinthians 2:9-11
9 But as it is written: [Isaiah 64:4; 65:17]
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
“He [Holy Spirit] shall not speak of Himself.” But He obviously speaks of Himself in the Bible. But He does not speak independently of the Father and the Son. Anytime a preacher gives the Holy Spirit preeminence over Christ you may be sure that the Holy Spirit is not in it!
In the same way, Christ does not act independent of the Father.
John 5:30
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
John 8:26
26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."
As I stated in the introduction, I told you what I was going to tell you. I have told you. And I will tell you what I told you. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Son.
That in no way diminishes the third Person of the Trinity any more than it diminishes the Son of God when He submits to the Father.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
“Declare” is to announce. While the world is busily rejecting Christ, the Holy Spirit through preaching and the writing of the apostles will glorify Christ.
So sinner, have you seen something that glorifies Jesus Christ in this message?
If you can say, “Yes,” then the Holy Spirit has been at work in this place.
If you say, “No,” then either I have not preached the truth or you are still part of the unbelieving world.
We preach the Gospel and we call on sinners to trust Jesus Christ. We do not know nor do we need to know how the Holy Spirit uses the word of the Gospel to convict of sin and brings sinners to repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ. But this I do know, that you are called on to confess Jesus Christ in a public manner and to follow Him in believer’s baptism.
The method that this local body of Christ believes to be closest to the order of the Bible is that a person should meet with the elders of the church. This meeting is not an infallible way to determine the genuineness of a person’s confession but it is surely better than what is done today in most Baptist churches in America.
Amen
Sola Scriptura 
