The Holy Spirit's primary work is to glorify Christ and testify about Him, not to draw attention to Himself, as illustrated by the anonymous Old Testament servant who constantly referred to his master. The Spirit also illuminates and guides believers into truth through the Holy Scriptures, bringing Christ's words to remembrance and revealing future events. Furthermore, the Spirit indwells believers, abiding with them, alongside them, and within them, providing comfort and eternal security. Finally, the Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, a crucial work for true repentance and regeneration.
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different relations of the Holy Spirit than the teaching of our Lord. First of all, in relation to himself, he uses two terms. He said, he shall glorify me. He shall testify concerning me. You know, this is most important. When God, the work of the Holy Spirit today is to keep himself in the background, but wherever we hear any ministry, in relation to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, glorifying him and testifying concerning him. That is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. His great work today is to glorify Christ and to testify concerning him.
Some time ago I was at a conference. There was a preacher there that spoke for an hour. There was a young preacher sitting by my side and I noticed he was writing very busy in his notebook. And I was very interested in knowing what he was writing. After the conference meeting was over, we were walking down the corridor. I said, George, tell me, what were you writing in your notebook? I'd like to see your notes. He said, come over here and I'll tell you. And he opened the notebook, he said, you know, every time that that man used the great big personal pronoun I, I read a note of it. And he said, in the course of an hour, he had used it one hundred and forty-five times.
Now I leave that to your judgment, whether that was the ministry of the Holy Ghost or not. Wherever you find anybody exalting himself and making himself important, just as full of self-conceit as he can possibly be, that was not the ministry of the Holy Ghost. The preacher or the man who opens the bridal is great responsibilities to glorify Christ or to testify concerning him. The Holy Spirit always keeps themselves on the background on all the types and illustrations of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. They are all anonymous types. You remember, for instance, in Genesis chapter twenty-four.
You remember the man who went down to find a bride for Isaac. Well, we say that was Eleazar. Well, it could have been and likely was. But you don't find his name there. He keeps himself completely out of the picture. And if you read that great chapter down, you'll find that eighteen times he uses the term, my master, my master, my master, my master. What he has to say there is always to glorify his master. You know, anytime any man gets up to minister the word or to preach the gospel, we always listen very carefully. And if he glorifies Christ, and he testifies concerning him.
Well, you can bow your head and thank God. That is the ministry of the Holy Ghost. The first great ministry of the Holy Spirit of God is to glorify Christ and to testify concerning him. And the Lord, he presses that on to you and to me too. He said, and you also will testify concerning me. And oh, what a lovely thing it is to see any man getting up and opening the book and speaking about her blessed Lord. That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now the second is in relation to the Holy Scriptures. And you would notice again in reading these passages that there are three terms that are used in relation to the Holy Spirit of God and the Holy Scriptures.
He shall bring all things to your remembrance. That's the Gospels. He shall guide you into all truth. That's the Epistles. He shall show you things to come. That's the Book of Revelation. On these three terms that the Lord uses here in relation to the Holy Spirit, on the inspiration of the Word of God, it covers the whole of the New Testament scriptures, He shall bring all things to your remembrance. You know to me it's a remarkable thing that in John's Gospel it must have been written about sixty years after the events took place. Most of the men who are competent to judge, they say that John's Gospel was written in the later years of John's life.
He lived until he was nearly a hundred years of age, and it's very likely that the Gospel according to John was written in the last decade of John's life, possibly nearly sixty years, after the events that are recorded in the book took place. And yet, how did he give us that great high priestly prayer of our Lord? Why, he remembers even the very gestures of the Lord, where he lifted his eyes to heaven. John never forgot that. He lifted his eyes to heaven. He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify me. Do you mean to tell me that an old man, coming up to a hundred years of age, can remember clearly every word that the Lord spoke?
How was it done? It was supernatural. It was the Holy Spirit. He shall bring all things to your remembrance. And all I'm awfully thankful. I have not read high priestly prayer today, and all the details concerning it we have recorded infallibly in God's word. He shall bring all things to your remembrance. He shall guide you into all truth. and all what the Lord is laying down here, the fundamental basic principles concerning the Holy Spirit and concerning the truth. We find that in the fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Peter, the Apostle James, the Apostle Jude, and these men that were responsible for the writing of the New Testament that were guided infallibly by the Holy Spirit of God, He shall guide you into all truth.
And then thirdly, He shall show you things to come. That's the book of Revelation. You know, we have a divine timetable in the Bible. And thank God, God is still in the throne. And that timetable is being worked out to the very minute. And when the moment strikes, we believe that the Lord will come. And then those great events that are described so minutely in Revelation concerning the tribulation days. from chapter six through chapter nineteen. They're so minutely described and all compressed into a period of approximately seven years. How was it done? It was the Holy Spirit of God.
We needn't be in the dark today, as to the nature of the world in which we live, or these great events concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus. It's all they've done in Holy Scripture. And we have God's timetable here, and the one responsible for it is the Holy Spirit of God. He shall bring all things to you, remember. He shall guide you into all truth. He shall show you things to come, covering the whole of the New Testament. Now the third application of the truth concerning the Holy Spirit is in chapter fourteen, where we read here of three prepositions that the Lord uses in relation to the believer. I will pray to Father, he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
Now notice that little word with. He shall abide with you forever. Now the preposition with is used twice here, but there are two entirely different prepositions. I don't want to be technical here, but I think that is very, very important. to notice the difference between the two prepositions in this verse and then the next verse. The preposition here, the comfort of it in, may abide with you forever, is a preposition metta. I wonder how many here this morning have a Newbury Bible, especially an old copy of it. If you do, and you look at the different prepositions that are used in the New Testament, Mr.
Newberry points out that this word, Meta, it means among or in the midst. And I believe that that's very important to notice. Among or in the midst. He will be among you forever, in the midst of you. Oh, here is the Holy Spirit of God corporately among the people of God. And, you know, as we gather together in the Lord's day, and as we sit down to remember the Lord, He's there. You know, He's there not only individually in each one of our hearts, but He's there among you. And it's always a delightful thing as we sit down at the Lord's table.
And for the Holy Spirit is presiding in that meeting, and the Lord Himself is in the midst, the Holy Ghost is there too, among you. And it's a delightful thing to see without any pre-arrangement at all, as we sit there at that period of worship, sit there to see the Holy Spirit of God presiding and moving among his people, leading one brother to get up and give out a hymn, another one to get up and worship, another one to open the Scriptures and possibly give some little leading theme that will be carried out throughout the whole meeting. Who's responsible for that? Do you think there's any human being responsible for it? I'm saying, God, the Holy Spirit is there.
You know, to me, the Lord's Supper is just a little empty room of heaven. And whenever we allow the Holy Spirit of God to preside, He is among us, corporately, not only individually. in our hearts, but at the same time he's there leading and guiding the worship as we gather together at the Lord's Supper. So that little word meta, as Mr. Newbury points out, among or in the midst is most important. The Comforter, I will give you another Comforter that he may abide among you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, may they know of him.
but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you. Now the word here is parah. It's a different preposition, and it means along spina. Again, if you look at Mr. Newbury's translation, on the different prepositions that are used, he points this out, parah, along spina. You know the word paraclete is the one who's called along spinae to help. You know, in every problem and difficulty, that we have in our lives down here. The Holy Spirit is there. He is another comforter, another paraclete. And the word with here is parac. That he's alongside of us in every problem and difficulty that we have in our lives down here.
And then the future. And shall be in you. And again, a different preposition is used here. And it just simply means, just as our word in is, and the Greek preposition is almost exactly the same. It just means in. So here we get three prepositions in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit. in relation to the sin. Among, alongside of, and then in you. You know the characteristic thing about the work of the Holy Spirit today among the people of God is that he's in. He comes in permanently to dwell.
Now we were pointing out on Sunday evening that in the Old Testament the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer at that time it was intermittent and it was temporary. As a matter of fact, David, you remember he prayed, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. And we can never pray that. You know, one thing that happens, when we trust the Lord Jesus as our Savior, he comes in, and he comes in to dwell. And he's permanently in my heart. And my heart is the inner shrine of the Holy Ghost. The Apostle Paul mentioned this in First Corinthians chapter six. He says, no ye not? No ye not, don't you know?
that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost? And actually the word that he uses there for temple is the inner shrine. And the Holy Spirit has come in, and is in my heart today, permanently, and he will never leave. So these are the three great prepositions here, and something entirely new is this little word, in. He's in, permanently to dwell, and thank God he will never leave. Oh, what a wonderful comfort it is to think. that the believer is eternally secure, sealed by the Holy Ghost, the scent of the Holy Ghost upon him and the Holy Ghost in him permanently to dwell. Now just a little word about the final passage, the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.
The Lord Jesus, he says here, It's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send them unto you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sins, of righteousness, and of judgment. I would just like to say here, beloved brethren, those that have the responsibility for the proclamation of the gospel today. And I want to take this to myself. There is one thing that we need to learn today. It's the Holy Spirit of God that's responsible for this great work of conviction. Now, we cannot do it. All we can do is try to keep ourselves clean and try to keep ourselves in the condition and fellowship with God and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God.
But it's only the Holy Spirit can convict a person of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. You know, sometimes there's a very superficial gospel preached. When we talk about the four spiritual laws and you sit down beside a person, do you believe this? Do you believe that? Do you believe the other? Oh, yes, of course I've heard. Well, then you see it. You know, that kind of thing, I believe, is making false profession today. And I think that we all need to get down again to what the Word of God says in connection with the proclamation of the gospel. We have to depend entirely on the Holy Spirit of God to convict a man. To convict him of a sin. and that there may be real true repentance before God.
And then when they get into that helpless condition, convicted of their sins, then the Holy Spirit can go forward and do that work of regeneration. Again, regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Every time I look at this passage, I think of something that happened in my native land many years ago. There were two men that were students in Trinity College in Dublin. And one was a man called Oscar Wilde, and the other was a man who later became known as Sir Edward Carson. Carson was a lawyer, and Oscar Wilde was a writer. There were fellow students in Trinity College.
Now today in the United States and English classes, the writings of Oscar Wilde is required reading in the English classes. He was a man that was guilty of one of the vilest, most abominable sins that it's possible to be guilty of. I don't want to go into detail about it. But you know, Oscar Wilde, he was indicted for that sin, brought up a court of court. And unfortunately, the man who was the crown prosecutor was Sir Edward Carson. Now Wilde was a smart kind of a man, always ready with an answer. on a man who could make people laugh at the turn of a word.
The trial lasted for three days, but the first day, Carson, as he started to examine his old friend, Oscar Wilde, you know, everything that Carson said, he turned it into a joke. I mean, the whole court and uproars of laughter at the very smart thing that he was able to say. Carson kept his head. He was a man that he wasn't that type of cracking jokes to make people laugh, but he was a real lawyer. One question after another. The second day, he got a little bit nearer the point. Question, question, question. There wasn't so much laughing that day.
But on the third day of the trial, Sir Edward Carson, he came to the crux of the matter, said, while... He said, on a certain day, at a certain time, did you do so and so? Wilde put his head down, and he brought it right to the point, and he brought up witnesses to prove what he was saying, and they left him a broken man. And he put his head down, and he started to weep. And then he was given a prison sentence, and he had to serve time for that horrible, wicked sin that he committed. So that's conviction. You know, to be indicted for a crime, that's one thing, but to be convicted is another.
And as the Holy Spirit of God can not only indict, but also can convict. And this is a lesson I want to learn. I know in all our service for God, and particularly in the preaching of the gospel, let's go in for this great work of the Holy Spirit. convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because I believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to the Father. Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the world. Now, just a word in closing. These are the four great angles of the work of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of our Lord.
First of all, in relation to himself. he shall glorify me. Secondly, in relation to the Holy Scriptures, he is the one who not only inspires, but who illuminates and who interprets the Word of God. And then thirdly, in relation to the believer, the Lord is laying down here the basic foundation principles concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in the present dispensation. And then, lastly, the work of the Holy Spirit in the world to convict a world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, And then, of course, to reveal Christ to them. Suppose we think of these things, we just bow our heads and we thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit at the present time.
May God bless his word. Shall we pray? We are God and Father. And again we bow in thy presence in the name of the Lord Jesus. We do thank you for thy word. And we thank you for this gracious, kindly ministry of our Lord in the upper room. Our Father, it comforts our hearts today. We thank thee that he is the one who not only dwells in our hearts, but the one who has been called alongside to help. And our Father, how often in our life here below that we have needed that comfort and help and encouragement. We thank you that you have given everything that we need that pertain unto life and godliness.
And, Father, we do pray that thou will help us to practice what we know, not only to learn these things intellectually, but, O Lord, we do pray that we may sincerely try to carry them out in our hearts and lives and our testimony for thee. I recommend us to thee asking thy blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.