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My dear friends of Carrie Duff, it is a delight to be with you, and I thank you and your chairman in particular for your kind words of welcome. Allow me to congratulate you, as I'm sure many have done, on your new capacious and eloquent, uh, situation. It is an added pleasure to be with you here, and I congratulate you too on the fact that you seem to have so many and abundant friends that are prepared to come and support you as you listen to your preacher. Now, shall we begin our studies by reading a short phrase or two from the Gospel by John, chapter fifteen.
The Gospel by John in chapter fifteen. Beginning at the verse twenty six. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me. And you also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Now, the topic that you have put before me and asked me to consider in the course of these three weeks is the topic of spiritual gifts, with special reference to the way that topic is dealt with in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen.
My approach to that will be that we shall take those chapters, and carefully and as exactly as we can, we shall trace Paul's arguments, steadily taking them one by one in their own sequence, so that we shall come as best we can, not only to what Paul says, but the general flow of the argument in what he says. And we shall try to consider what he says in all its parts in due proportion, giving proper and proportionate weight to those parts of the argument where Paul places his emphasis.
If you are intending to come or able to come in subsequent weeks, it would be a great comfort and encouragement to me, and a help, moreover, if you could have managed to have read again those familiar passages, one Corinthians twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, so that we shall all of us be prepared to listen to the detail of those arguments in those chapters. The topic of spiritual gifts, glorious as it is, has not been without its difficulties in our modern world. Many and various are the interpretations that are put upon these things.
Our task will be, as best we can, objectively to examine what Holy Scripture says, remembering that that Holy Scripture is itself inspired by the Holy Spirit. But because we have four weeks, I have taken liberty to reserve this first week for an introductory study, in which we shall not be so much concerned with the spiritual gifts that God has given to each one of us, but with the gift of the Holy Spirit himself, and in particular with those gracious, practical, active ministries which the Holy Spirit himself performs on our behalf.
You'll see, you will notice from the verses that we read, that when our Lord Jesus charged his apostles with their great task of bearing witness for him in the world, he did not phrase himself in this way, you shall be my witnesses, and in your tremendous task, pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. That would have been true had he put it that way. But he chooses to put it slightly differently in this chapter fifteen of John's gospel. He says, first, when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.
It is the Holy Spirit, thank God, upon whose divine shoulders comes the tremendous weight of maintaining witness for Christ in this world. Not to us and our weak shoulders merely is the task given, but primarily to him. He shall bear witness of me. And then of our Lord's supreme grace, he allows us to have a subsidiary part therein and says, and you also shall bear witness. So, if we are to think in these coming weeks of the gifts that God gives us, that we might fulfill our task of witnessing to our Lord, let us first think of the Holy Spirit's ministry and what his great objectives are as he sets about his task in the world and in the church.
For after all, whatever gifts we may have given us by God himself, it is the Holy Spirit who will use those gifts and activate those gifts and energize those gifts and direct those gifts. So that if we would have it, that our gifts, whatever they be, shall be effective for God in our day and generation, we would be wise, first of all, surely, to listen to what are the stated major objectives of the Holy Spirit, so that he may use us and our individual gifts in the furtherance of his own great objectives.
And here we can take comfort from the words of the Lord Jesus, can we not? He said to his apostles a few verses earlier, he said, I have not treated you as slaves, for a slave knoweth not what his master does. A slave is ordered to go there, to do this, to do that, to do the other. But a slave isn't necessarily told what the grand objective in the scheme is. He is merely told to do it, whatever it is, and to obey. I've not treated you like that, says the Lord Jesus. I have treated you as friends, and all that the Father has made known to me, I have made known to you.
In his tremendous grace, the Lord Jesus invites our cooperation, explaining to us what his objectives are, so that we may intelligently cooperate with him and with his vicar, the Holy Spirit, in knowingly, deliberately, consciously, intelligently aiming at those same objectives in the use of our gift that the Holy Spirit himself has declared that he aims at. And so this evening I cover as best I can some of the activities, the active ministries of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.
I shall not be able to cover them all, and you may well find fault with me that I've left out your favorite ones. Forgive me in advance. And I shall be saying nothing- I shall not be saying anything new. I shall be stirring up your pure minds simply by way of remembrance. But sometimes in the cut and thrust of battle, in the busyness of spiritual tasks here and there, it is possible for us to concentrate on the thing immediately in front of us and to forget the overall big objectives. It does us good from time to time to sit down from our activities and ponder anew the great objectives that the Holy Spirit aims at, and to which he graciously uses us and our gifts for their accomplishment.
First and foremost, therefore, of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the first great purpose for which he came is surely this, to vindicate and glorify the Lord Jesus. Said the Lord Jesus a little later than the verses that we read, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I go, I will send him unto you, and he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
This the prime purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And you will remember with me at this moment the tremendous event that took place on the first day of Pentecost after our Lord's resurrection, when the risen Christ poured out the Holy Spirit, and there began a new era in human history, the like of which had never dawned before. This was a world-shaking thing. This was an altogether new category of ministry, compared with which the world had not seen anything like it before.
Unique, just as the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at Bethlehem was unique. In all the annals of history, there had never been anything like it before, that the very word of God through whom the whole universe was made should become flesh and be born of a virgin, unique in all the annals of history. Unique in all the annals of history was his death. Millions and millions of men and women had died before, but never man died like this man died. The one sinless sacrifice for sin.
No resurrection like his. There had been resuscitations before, but in the sense that our blessed Lord, when he rose, had a new kind of a human body, flesh and bones still, but a glorified body. Then his resurrection, we say in the fullest sense of that word, was unique, a first in all human history. How should we possibly describe the awesome wonder of that unique event? When he who was known as the carpenter of Nazareth stood at length on the hill of Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed his apostles, and as he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
And heaven itself saw what heaven had never seen before, a human being in the very presence of God. Tell it not to the Greeks, for they'll be shocked, but tell him nonetheless. The incarnation, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord are not only unique in all the annals of history and of eternity, they have changed the very Godhead. There were times when the blessed triune Godhead was none of them human.
But now, for our sakes and our salvation's sake, the very Godhead has been changed, and the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, not only became human, but is human still. All shout with excited praise the wonder of your heart as you consider the implications of the story of the gospel. And on the day of Pentecost, when Israel was celebrating the first fruit bread of the New Year's harvest, and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven.
For what purpose came he? But listen to Peter, as he brings to his concl- the con- its conclusion his mastery sermon delivered before the Jerusalem crowds on that occasion. He said, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, this that you see is that which was profe- prophesied of by Joel. As it is written, it will come to pass in the last of the days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. This is that, said Peter. And pray, what has it got to do with Jesus of Nazareth, this pouring out of the Holy Spirit of God?
It is this, says Peter, he being raised by the glory of the Father and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this that you see and hear. In other words, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was an activity of the blessed Lord Jesus now exalted. It was the Lord Jesus who shed him forth and poured him out. And Peter therefore bids the crowd see the implication of this stupendous thing.
Therefore, he said, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. I wonder if you immediately see the connection and the flow of thought between the two. How does the fact that it is Jesus who has poured out the Holy Spirit, how does that give Israel to know that God has made him Lord and Christ? Well, pray only consider who the Holy Spirit is.
It's not so much power, is he? Like electrical power that comes from the power station, and with a flick of a switch in your home, you can turn the power off when you, turn the power on when you need it to do a bit of washing up or sawing of wood or something, and when you no longer need the power, you can turn the switch the other way and it goes off. We do need to realize this at the very start. The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal power or influence. The Holy Spirit is God, is personal.
And we need to remember it because there is an altogether different relationship between us and a mere impersonal power, and us and a person. We use electrical power. We control it. We do not use the Holy Spirit, nor do we control him. The Holy Spirit is nothing less than God the Holy Spirit. Then consider, my brothers, my sister, the stupendous wonder of this, that he who was known here as the carpenter from Nazareth has been given by God the Father to pour out none less than the Spirit of God.
Who must Jesus be if he can pour out the Holy Spirit? None ever in human history. None ever, however so exalted, be it Abraham or Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or all of them combined. None of them had power to pour out the Holy Spirit. Only one who is God himself could possibly do such a thing.
And the great demonstration of Pentecost morning was aimed primarily at this, to demonstrate before the Jerusalem and before the eyes of the world who Jesus is. God has made him both Lord and Christ. My brethren and sisters, if this be number one ministry of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, we do well to listen, do we not?
For whatever gifts God has given us, the number one objective to which he will direct all our efforts. The number one ultimate objective is the glorification of the Lord Jesus. And we shall have to evaluate our use of gift by asking ourselves from time to time, how and to what extent does the use of our gift serve this great objective?
And with that agree the words of the Lord Jesus here in chapter sixteen of the Gospel of John. He, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And now tonight, let us notice in what sense he does that. For our Lord now explains what he means when he says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. These are words that have often been repeated, haven't they? And we have heard learned and effective evangelists point out that when the message is delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit convicts the hearts of unregenerate men and women of their sin and their rebellion against God, convicts them of their sin of drunkenness and tax evasion and untruth and cowardice and impurity and all these other ugly things that the unregenerate heart gets up to.
Yes, and of course, in one sense, they're right. But when our Lord said that the Holy Spirit coming would convict the world of sin, he had one particular sin in mind, as he now explains. He will convict the world in of sin because they believe not on me. Cardinal sin. The gracious Son of God incarnate had lived in our world and spoken and preached and healed and acted. The world had viewed him and on the whole rejected his claim and refusing to believe him, had ultimately crucified him.
Could you imagine a more basic sin? Oh, what a thing it was when human hands took a tree of wood and nailed God incarnate upon it, lifted it up and sunk it into earth. Earth, the cross of Christ stuck upon our earth was but the cone of a volcano out of which erupted the rebellion of the human heart of all ages against God.
And what a ghastly mistake. To have refused to believe God incarnate. Now the Lord is risen and ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of sin in this particular primarily, that they believe not on Jesus Christ, God's son. The very presence of the Spirit here is the evidence that Christ is in glory. The fact that Christ is in glory is evidence of this next thing, of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because I go to the Father. The Lord was right then, after all. And the presence of the Holy Spirit here on earth is the evidence that Christ was right and the world was wrong. You all remember the prophetic word spoken of Messiah in Isaiah fifty, will you not? I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Eloquent description of the contumely and abuse that our blessed Lord suffered. Who shall measure the strength of his endurance and his patience when God incarnate stood before mere human creatures, and they dare dispute his claim, blasphemed his person, rough handled his body. How did he stand it? Our blessed Lord was no stoic, trying to pretend that he didn't feel the physical pain, trying to overlook the much deeper offense of their moral and spiritual hostility and their false accusations and their denunciations of this person.
The prophetic word tells us, but says the Messiah, he is near. That justifies me. Meaning that God was at his right hand, and though for the moment God the Father would allow man's evil court to condemn him, though God would allow his dear son to be nailed to a cross, though God would allow those proud, heartless men to strut up and down in front of that cross and mock him with his claim.
Pa! He said he trusted on God. Let God deliver him now, if he will have him. But see, they said, God doesn't have him. Let him come down from the cross and we'll believe him. Hey, why, you said. They said it's all a piece, you know. He said while he was here did that fanatic, he would destroy our temple and build it again in three days. Oh, granted he did an odd miracle or two, a psychological effect he had, but, uh, whereas he saved others himself, he couldn't save, could he? And all that came out of the darkness as they taunted God's son was the awesome cry, my God, why did you forsake me?
And in the shadows of the cross, as we feel the heartbeat of our blessed Lord, we know what was going through his mind. He is near, he is near, that justifies me. Three days later, God moved to justify him, raised him from the dead, and on the fortieth day placed him at his own right hand in glory, demonstrating that Jesus was right and the world was wrong.
The Holy Spirit has now been sent down to promulgate in us the verdict that has been delivered by the Supreme Court of heaven. Here on earth, to prosecute the case in favor of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And it is of God's magnificent grace that whereas the Holy Spirit is the chief advocate, pleading the case of God's risen Son before the world, he allows all of us to be junior counsel for defense, to join in the defense of the Lord Jesus, thus that his name may be vindicated.
And I warrant you, as you think of those things, though you've known them long since, your heart misses a beat or two, doesn't it? Oh, to think that God wouldn't know me. That indescribable privilege, but to be junior counsel to the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit vindicates the Lord Jesus, he will deign to use my little life and my stammering lips and my feeble actions as part of that great vindication of the Lord Jesus.
It is as we contemplate things of that proportion that it begins to put the question of spiritual gift into its true and proper context, doesn't it? All if that be God's intention. God give me ten thousand gifts. They were all too few to vindicate his dear son. Convict the world of sin, of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and of judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. We live in a serious age, do we not?
There were times when the great wrath of God was not imminent. Much as the Old Testament prophets prophesied that one day there would come the great day of the Lord, it was not imminent. But the divine councils had it that before the great day of the Lord should come, first must God become incarnate. First must the servant of Jehovah suffer at Calvary and be raised again, and the gospel be preached. And in those days, the great day of God's wrath was not imminent. Things have changed since Calvary and the Ascension, haven't they?
Listen to Paul on Mars Hill. The time of that ignorance before Bethlehem in all the nations, God overlooked. It wasn't that he said sin didn't matter, but he overlooked it. That is to say, he didn't visit the world's sin with immediate catastrophic judgment of the day of the Lord. But now there is a difference, isn't there? But now, says Paul, he commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why the hurry now? Why the change now?
Now he commandeth all men to repent, as distinct from the ages when he overlooked man's ignorance. Why? Because with the resurrection of Christ, the day has been fixed. Already the prince of this world judged, and the day has been fixed when God will judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Oh, you evangelists, what tremendous responsibilities come on your head and on your shoulders, do they not? As you use the gift that God has given you, in line with the objectives of the Holy Spirit, to convict this world of coming judgment.
But then our Lord indicated that the gracious Holy Spirit has a special ministry, not only to the world, but to the believer. And I remind you of those subsequent well-known verses where it says that, uh, he shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he taketh of mine and shall declare it unto you. To see those lovely verses in their proper context, to frame their picture in the frame that will set them off to most advantage.
Pray, let us once more remember that when he spoke them, he spoke them as the lowly Jesus of Nazareth on his way to Gethsemane and Calvary, with not two pennies in his pocket, about to lose even his one splendid robe as they stripped it off him and played dice for it. And he said, gentlemen, when the Holy Spirit has come, he shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall show you.
And then he thought he better explain what he meant by saying he shall take of mine. Mine? What had he got? Ah, says he, all that the Father has is mine. Lovely, touching words. Repeated over and over again in those last moments before our blessed Lord went up to Calvary. I have no right to go beyond my authority, have I?
I fancy to myself that in Caiaphas' court, and as he stood before Pilate, and as he hung in in excruciating pain on Calvary's cross, there surged through his heart what he told the disciples ever and again. All that the Father has is mine. Ah, think of it, my brother, my sister, stripped naked in all its shame upon Calvary's tree, and comforting himself and his apostles with this tremendous thing. All that the Father has is mine.
When the Holy Spirit came, that is indeed what he gave himself to, did he not? To impress upon the apostles and through them upon the generation of believers. The wondrous glory of the Lord Jesus, that all that the Father has is mine. One thinks of passages like the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, or the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, and who can take it in? For we're told that all this vast universe that belongs to the Father, it's all Christ's. It was made in him and through him and for him.
All that the Father has is his. Away with our sense of poverty. What wealth is here? Though, to be honest, sometimes I find it difficult. I go out of a night time and look at the stars, as is my hobby, and see the two hundred and fifty billion suns that form the Andromeda Galaxy, so far away they look but a faint smudge of cotton wool against the dark background of a sky itself full of galaxies by the billion.
And I say to myself, is it possible? Does it begin to be credible? That the maker and the owner and the goal of it all came and died, Gooding, for you. Is it true? That whereas all that the Father has is his, it is also written that we are heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The Holy Spirit come to glorify the Lord Jesus before our very eyes. Ah, my brother, my sister, if you would use your spiritual gift, whatever it be, effectively, seek that however directly or indirectly it may work, seek that you keep before you this glorious objective that the Holy Spirit has when he empowers you to glorify the Lord Jesus. What a marvelous thing it is to be used by the Holy Spirit to bring into the life of your fellow believer something of the unimaginable wealth of the Lord Jesus.
They who know me best feel so very often they must use their spiritual gift, uh, gently to chastise me and rebuke me and exhort me and correct me. And they're very wise, aren't they? I'm sure the Lord has given them the gift for that purpose, and they ought to persist in that ministry, huh? Well, I value them, of course I do. I ought to value them more. I have a kind of a natural preference for those whose gift it is to be used of the Holy Spirit, to bring a little of the wealth of God and of the risen Lord into my humdrum life.
Life is full of its pains, isn't it? Full of its problems, full of its difficulties. And sometimes, you know, we allow our Christianity to digenerate, to degenerate into a mere practical how-to Bible that settles our little problems. I was away in a country, be it nameless, and I was asked to meet some young people in a newly formed church. There were about 2 or three hundred, so I was told, but I was, I was asked to meet some of their leaders. I'd not long been converted, dear souls.
So MC they turned up, and they had questions to put to me, you'll see, and uh, how should they run their assembly, and and uh, you'll see there's one man said, I've got a broken leg, as you'll see, and and I'm off work, and another man, his wife wasn't feeling absolutely well, and uh, then the other chap had difficulties at work, and uh, oh, they had so many difficulties. And what would I advise, uh, you'll see? Perhaps, uh, they oughtn't to start the church and get going. They couldn't work for the Lord because they had too many difficulties. And being an unsympathetic, hard-hearted old curmudgeon, you'll say, of the grisly sort, I, I was getting a little agitated at this point, we'll say.
And I thought, problems, goodness me, problems, goodness me. And in the end, I lost control, and I said, I said, you know, on my parents' day, they had to be at work at six o'clock in the morning, and they had to work till six o'clock at night. And after they got home, then if they were going to the prayer meeting, they had to walk two or three miles to the prayer meeting, and it lasted till nine or half past nine and to walk three miles home, and then they had to be at work at six o'clock in the morning. Backbreaking work on minimal salary, and there was no unemployment benefit. And they didn't say, first let's get over our problems and then meet in the church. Well, the chief job of the church, as far as they were concerned, was to glorify the Lord Jesus.
And you know, it's not bad policy, is it? Our little problems, my dear good brother, uh Seventy five years from now, you won't, your problems, you'll have forgotten them. And some of you, five years from now, they'll all be over, won't they? Oh, let some of the glory of eternity seep into your very soul now, and the sheer wealth of the riches of the risen Christ and all of his wealth that are for you too, shall lift you above the mere problems and even life's heartbreaking sorrows as well. And it's this ministry that the Holy Spirit has come to perform.
I pray if God is going to give me any gift, he shall consider giving me that gift that might be amongst God's people as a someone whom, when you meet, fills you with a sense of the wealth of God's Son. And we need it in the practicalities of life, don't we? You'll see it's all right to say, oh, I believe in the Lord Jesus because he cured me of rheumatism in the little toe. Well, I'm glad he did. But you know, you're not always in the most danger when you're suffering from rheumatism in the little toe and asking, why do I have to suffer all this pain?
You could be in greater danger when you're in robust physical health, and the world is smiling at you and presenting its fair and beautiful face to you with all its innocent charms, and they are innocent, most of them, aren't they? And all its delights and lovelinesses. Life is going swimmingly, and behind it stands that reckless, devilishly clever prince of this world, who will take these innocent, lovely things and use them to draw your love away from the Savior.
Then you'll have a battle. How will you overcome the world? It won't be enough then for some bearded, gray-headed grandfather in the faith, who never knew all the temptations that you know nowadays, because they didn't have videotapes and Toyota cars, and goodness knows what else in those days. You'll say, nor had anybody seen an airplane or had, uh, holidays in, uh, uh, Costa Brava.
Mm-hmm. Came to the meeting on bicycles with carbide, carbide lamps on the front of them. Not enough, perhaps, if the gray-haired old grandfather, true enough, rebukes you and sternly reprimands you. Because mere reprimands, perhaps, wouldn't overcome the alluring lovelinesses of the world. What will overcome them? And help you to keep them in due proportion. Ah, says John in one John five, you know, it's the spirit who bear witnesses, who bears witness. Bears witness to what?
Bears witness to the deity of Christ. And why, pray, should I need to know about the deity of Christ? Well, because the secret of overcoming the world is a vigorous and unmoved faith that Jesus is the Son of God. You see, if he is the Son of God, if the whole universe and whatever other billions of universes there are, or yet shall be, if it all in fact belongs to him.
Though, for his sake, you lost everything here. You haven't lost anything, have you? Of course, if he's not the Son of God, you would be a fool to lose anything. You'd be a fool to spend a half an hour, no, five minutes of your time for Christ. Young man, young woman, don't try and do the splits, will you? Don't try to get by with a conversion that's given you a ticket to escape hell and enter heaven, and that's all you want. Until the door of hope is open for you to go, you want the world to the full, and you're trying to do the splits.
If Jesus isn't the Son of God, you'll be a fool to spend five minutes of time for him or lose a haypen. If he is the Son of God, what a consummate fool you'd be not to sacrifice for him. Is he the Son of God? You say, yes, I, well, I believe he is, yes. Do you mind my asking a question? How do you know he's the Son of God? Oh, you say, my mam told me. Well, good old mam.
Ha. That's a very good and solid reason for believing it. But you'll need to have other stronger reasons as well, won't you? I was recently at a place, let it be nameless, and in the afternoon I was surrounded by e- elegant and eager and intelligent young men and young women, and this question of overcoming the world came up, and how did we overcome? And at this juncture we were talking to one another about the secret of overcoming the world is believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And innocently, as always, I asked, and why do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
And there was silence for a moment, and then one volunteered, because the Bible says so. I said that was excellent. And twice as innocent, I said, and what makes you think the Bible is true? Ah, ah, well, oh. Yes. Why do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Have you got real six good real reasons that if you were challenged by your friend at work, and they ask you, why do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, you could say, for this, this, this, this, and this reason.
Have you got it, young man, young woman, at your fingertips? You'll need it in the battle of life. A real solidly grounded faith that can give its reasons and knows its reasons for believing that Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit has come. The Holy Spirit bears witness along with the water and the blood that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. My brother, my sister, mother in the home, teacher in the Sunday school, you who are the teaching elders in your assembly.
What a magnificent gift God has given you, haven't he? Oh, if he gives you the gift to witness to the younger folks in your assembly and to supply them with the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. Or did you take it for granted that everybody in the church would believe that, so I needn't, I needn't tell them why they should believe it.
If our young folks are going to face this modern world as this age draws to an end, they will need more than ever the church has needed to know why they believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If this is one of the major objectives of the Holy Spirit, then it follows, doesn't it, that as we use our gifts, however directly or indirectly, they ought to be aiming to contribute to this great end.
Here then, now I just list in the manner of nothing more than a list, some of those other delightful active ministries that are the the blessed Holy Spirit maintains. He brings before us the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth, doesn't he? John fourteen twenty five and twenty six and chapter sixteen and verse thirteen, Our Lord says that when the Holy Spirit is come, he shall guide you into all truth.
He shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you, and he shall declare to you things to come. The promises originally given was given to the apostles, wasn't it? They had heard him say thousands of things and do hundreds of things while he was here on earth. How should they ever remember all those? And remembering them, being able to write them down so that we in our day and generation could read them and profit thereby. Our Lord promised and gave his guarantee that their memory would be assisted by the inspiring Holy Spirit to bring before their memories everything that I have told you.
Here is the guarantee of the reliability of the gospel records of the life of our blessed Lord Jesus. And if the Holy Spirit inspired them to remember correctly, that we might know the certainty of these things pertaining to the life of our Lord Jesus. How necessary it is that constantly we survey that lovely life. Sometimes, because, uh, epistles are easier to get through in church discussions and Bible readings, the church concentrates on epistles for generation after generation and gives scant attention to the Gospels.
That's a pity, isn't it? For in the Gospels, we have that all-glorious life. Ah, to feel and sense the thrill of it when John tells you from his pen, the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we, and we, and we beheld his glory, he says, and would you believe it? We touched him and handled him and saw him and watched him and contemplated him. And the Holy Spirit has come to bring to our remembrance too, those lovely things of that perfect, sinless life here on earth, that we might intelligently have something in our mind to which we would conform.
I must aim to be like the Lord Jesus. How shall I do it unless I know what he is actually like? And then the Holy Spirit delights not only to remind us of the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth, but loves to expound to us his death upon the tree. And I think now of that beautiful passage in Romans chapter five, where, according to Paul, we are told that the Holy Spirit takes God's love for us and pulls it out into our hearts by expounding to us the logic of the love of God as expressed at Calvary.
Learning the love of God is not necessarily to be filled with all kinds of romantic feelings. Behind the love of God there is a divine and eternally consistent logic, and the Holy Spirit argues the case thus. If while you were, we were sinners, Christ died for us the ungodly, much more, now being justified, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. Oh, what a lovely, delightful ministry of the Holy Spirit. I travel from time to time, as you know, into eastern countries, and there, because of the vagaries of history, God's people, many of them, have not only suffered physical privation of extreme kind, and on top of it, persecution, but many of them have yet to learn that in the love of God, they can be completely secure, and
they live in doubt, fearing at last they may be lost. It would break your heart to stand among them, wouldn't it? And to think how much in this favored country we know. And God has not only blessed us with such immeasurable spiritual blessings, but piled on top of his mater- uh, uh, his material blessings as well, and relieved us of persecution. Oh, my brothers, my sisters, if it be true that to he- him who much is given, much will be required. What shall God require of us? Who have been given so much and have suffered so little, when others have received so little and have been given so little.
But then, lurking underneath for many a blue suit and a pretty pink dress, even in Ulster, there are believers who from time to time become uncertain of their salvation. What a delightful ministry. God give it to you, my brother, my sister. What a delightful gift to be used of God's Holy Spirit to take the love of God and pour it out in their hearts until their hearts are rooted and grounded in the security and utter assurance of the unchanging love of God. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the life of Christ and of the death of Christ.
He tells us about the resurrection of Christ, doesn't he, and that we're seated with him in heavenly places. He makes possible our worship of the Father, that we worship him in spirit and in truth. Yes, and he reveals to us the really deep things of God. For, says Paul, you know, while we preach a message to the unconverted that is foolishness amongst those who are mature, we preach the wisdom of God, indeed, not the wisdom of this world. For the, none of the princes of the world knew it, for if they had known God's deeper wisdom, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But we speak the deep things of God, for eye have not seen, neither ear heard, neither have it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has, has prepared for those that love him. You say, yes, and I'm looking forward to getting to heaven, Mr. Preacher, too, so that when I get to heaven, I shall begin to enjoy all those deep things of God. Well, so you will, but you don't have to wait till you get to heaven before you start enjoying them. Those deep things of God, listen to what Paul says, he has revealed them to us. Now, careful, Mr. Preacher, say my seniors and the more experienced and the more wise, now please, uh, tonight, uh, don't go into deep things.
Well, I know what they mean. Uh, with all the intemperance and impatience of youth, like a puppy on a lead, you know, I, I, I want to strain at the lead. Why not go into the deep things? Goodness me, if you were invited to Buckingham Palace, would you be content to examine the fur of the sentry in the sentry box outside? Well, stay there and do it along with the Japanese if you like. I should like to go into the palace, wouldn't you, and see the Queen's collections of all paintings and the silver. Oh, wow. And the deep things of Her Majesty. And the deep things of God.
Oh, you say, but no, that's too much for us. How could we understand them? Ah, but God has thought of your difficulty. He's given us his spirit, says Paul. For the spirit, he searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. Have you ever thought why there has to be a Holy Spirit in addition to God the Son and God the Father? God makes himself known through the Lord Jesus. Well, then, why do I need the Holy Spirit? Well, for this reason. God makes himself known perfectly in the Lord Jesus, but what would be the use of that if that's all there was, for how would I ever grasp all that there is in the Lord Jesus?
And so the Holy Spirit gives me the whole, uh, so God gives me his Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit coming alongside of my spirit can help me grasp the things of God. It's not left to me. I have a secret little interest in physics and cosmology, and the other year I had such a lovely experience. I was at a Christian camp way out in Japan. They'll say, I'm there, what do you think I found, if not a real live physicist walking on two legs? I couldn't resist the opportunity. Uh, when the formal part of the meeting was over, he was a good Christian man, and he expounded scripture very well.
Well, I went up to him with all my barrage of questions, you'll see, about cosmology and big bangs and black holes and goodness knows what other things, you'll see. And he looked at me benignly and smiled, and then said, well, mm, yeah, well, that's a not a very helpful question you've asked. You'll say here was me and my ignorance. I knew so little, I didn't even know the right kind of questions to ask. I'd ask silly questions about it. That's what comes when you're not an expert. How would I begin to know the questions to ask when it comes about the deep things of God. The thing about the old physicist in Japan, you see, he'd done the research, so he he knew what questions to ask, and he could lead me to fathom some of these deep things.
Oh, and the wonder of it, my brother, my sister, God has given you his Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit, he fathoms the deep things of God, and is able, by the genius of his skill, to make them real to you. What a magnificent person, and what a marvelous ministry. And finally, he's the great power, isn't he, in our lives, that we should live holy lives. For the spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and these two are contrary, the one to the other, that we should do, not do the things that otherwise we would.
Yeah? The old flesh has its desires, but then those would rise, then the Holy Spirit raises his desires in my heart, and I am supposed to cooperate with the Holy Spirit that his desire wins. I have a shower bath in my, my, my bathroom, one of these showers, but like me, it's antiquated. And I'll tell you a secret about this shower, if you wouldn't mind my now descending to bathos at the end of these solemn considerations. But whenever morning, you'll say, one goes to to take a shower.
Ah, the water out of the hot tap eventually becomes so hot it would scold the kin off the skin off you. So then you adjust the cold tap, and you think you've just got it right, and you're just getting under it and enjoying this marvelous thing, and woof, out comes water as cold as the Arctic Ocean, you'll say. Ha. And when I, I, I put that little problem to an expert in these things, he shook his wise head and he said, you'll say, Goring, you'll say the hot water comes out of the tank. I said, yes, reasonable enough. And he said, the cold water comes direct out of the mains. I said, what's that got to do with it? Where else would it come from? I bet he said, you'll say, when the cold wa- the hot water comes, then presently the main comes, woof, and it's the mains has got such force that it overcomes the, uh, hot water.
Oh, I said, is that so? So now I know why it happens, and that's as far as I've got. But I will say, so it is with us, is it not? The spirit lusts with all its old unregenerate powers. And would move me to do all kinds of things. But then, by God's grace, the Holy Spirit, he too lusts. And his lustings are stronger. God give me the grace, because I'm not a s- machine nor a shower tap in the bathroom, but a human personality.
God, give me the grace to submit to the desires of the Holy Spirit within, that his lustings may overcome the lustings of the flesh. And if that's his ministry, and if God has given us gifts, let us pray that God will use our gifts, however directly or indirectly, for the achieving of this other great objective of the Holy Spirit's ministry. And oh, how much I've left unsaid, and how poorly I've said what I have said, but you would have ca- caught the purpose of it all.
Next week, God willing, and in the following weeks, we shall be considering the gifts that God has given us, which the Holy Spirit seeks to energize and use. Tonight we have been seeking to put them in their greater context, to think of their great objectives as we find them in the person and active ministries of the Holy Spirit himself. Shall we pray? And now, Father, we pray and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thy Holy Spirit, who has inspired this Thy word that we have been studying here this evening, would now take this word and make it real, make it meaningful, and help us to grasp the great objectives of the Holy Spirit, that we may use our gifts to those same objectives, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
