He Will Glorify Me - [John 16:12-15]

Well, a year ago, Janet and I had the opportunity to go to Scotland and, you know, as I sat there this morning, I just thought this was just like our trip to Scotland because it sounded that kind of bluegrass stuff, you know, you get a lot of banjo and whatnot over there and so that was a lot of fun.

And I heard you guys starting to clap, I don't know what was up with that. Well, it might seem, you know, like last week and this week that I'm kind of going after charismatics, I'm not so much. But if you go to a lot of churches that focus on the Holy Spirit, I think they're sort of missing the point of what the Holy Spirit actually does, what He is about.

And if I ask this question, what is the Holy Spirit doing right now, and this isn't some kind of, you know, Pastor Mike Sinclair Ferguson thing, sorry. What is the Holy Spirit doing right now? And the answer, I think, is in our text this morning, but I'm going to give you some other answers.

I went to Charisma Magazine and they list 33 actions He's taking right now. And you know what? I have to say, I read over the list and I thought most of these are pretty good and there was a reason why they're pretty good.

They were found in Scripture. Let me just read you a couple of them. In number 7 of their list of 33, He testifies of Jesus. Amen. I'm getting charismatic. He prays for us, Romans 8, 26. He produces fruit in us.

Good. Number 24, He gives gifts, 1 Corinthians 12. He absolutely does that. The question would be what gifts, but we're not going there. And number 30, He seals us. He seals us. That's in Ephesians 1, 13, right?

The Father chose us before the foundation of the world. Christ came and He died for us. And then the Holy Spirit seals us. Now one I really didn't care much for, even though there's a Bible verse attached to it.

He casts out demons. And we talked about that a little bit last week. And the verse they give is Matthew 12, 28. You should know right away that you're in a little bit of difficulty because when I say Matthew 12, 28, you should be thinking, wait a minute, Jesus casts out the devil.

Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, right? But we have no indication. Here's the problem. You know, you talk about a narrative passage. You can't take that narrative passage and as Pastor Mike likes to say, make it walk on all four legs by saying that we ought to do the same thing.

It's just not right. We don't have any instructions on how to cast out demons or anything like that. And no instruction to even do that. But I also found this one. One innovative author. If you're an innovator in the church, you probably need to get lost.

One innovative author suggested networking to nurture innovative ministries. Here's what he said. The Holy Spirit is doing a new thing in the San Francisco Bay area. No he's not picking up the needles on the street.

Unprecedented numbers of Christian men and women, both inside and outside of the church, are seeing visions and dreaming dreams of innovative ways to spread the kingdom of God. They want to launch, reform, and revolutionize churches, schools, businesses, and non-profits.

They are re-imagining, this is my favorite part, they are re-imagining how we can preach the gospel. I don't want anybody to re-imagine that. There's one way to preach the gospel, and that's to preach the gospel.

Re-imagining how to preach the gospel, cure addictions, end poverty, reconcile races, and save the lost. That's a nice kind of summation. He says, if even a fraction of them succeeded, it would be like heaven on earth.

Let me tell you when heaven on earth happens. In heaven. That's when heaven on earth happens. Until then, this world is going to get worse and worse. Until it gets better when the Lord returns. But I'd like to suggest, if the Holy Spirit is doing anything new in San Francisco, it isn't going to be doing anything like what he's suggesting.

It's going to be the old, old story. It's not going to be visions and dreams. It's going to be how the Spirit works. What's he doing today? Today, he is glorifying Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's what he does.

Let's turn to John 16, as we continue in that chapter. We could say he does a lot of things, but I think you're going to see, even today, I mean, I can't fully develop this because I think it would be probably close to a book, but here's what he does.

He glorifies Jesus Christ, even in us, through us. This is what he does, his role, his job, his purpose. John 16, verses 12 to 15. Our Lord says, But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Now, last week, we looked at verses 8 through 11 of John 16, and what we saw, first of all, I talked about what the Holy Spirit does not do, and then we focused on what he does do, that he testifies about Jesus Christ, and specifically last week, when he is testifying to the world, that is to say, to the world at large, he convicts the world concerning sin.

There is a universal sense in which all people know that they are guilty. He also convicts the world concerning righteousness. Everyone knows that they have a need for righteousness, which is why, no matter what religion you look at, there is always this kind of treadmill of works righteousness, right?

They are trying to please God, even if they do not know who God is. We also saw that he convicts the world regarding judgment. I mean, if you do not understand that, then you have never been around a dying person, and the panic that sets in because they know that they are about to meet their judge.

Now, if a Christian is about to die, there ought to be a calmness because they know that they are not going to see their judge, they are going to see their advocate, their counselor, their friend. So, we conclude by saying that everyone has sin, needs righteousness, and is facing judgment.

Now, in our text this morning, Jesus shifts from a broad focus, when he is talking about the world, to a very narrow one, to believers, and really is focusing in many ways on just these 11 men right here.

And I just have two statements, two statements, so it will be very brief. Two statements about how the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. Again, that is his main purpose, is to glorify the Son of God. So, firstly, first statement.

The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through believers, through believers. Now, specifically, and I am going to talk a lot about the disciples this morning, specifically through the disciples, but by extension to us as well.

The disciples were not ready for more information. Look at verse 12. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Okay, we have talked about how the disciples are downcast. Jesus says, you know, do not let your hearts be troubled.

Why? Because their hearts are troubled. He has told them that he is leaving, and they are feeling that. They are concerned, and they are concerned about themselves. What is going to happen to them next?

And one of the things that Jesus already told them, is that he is going to send the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is going to bring to their minds the things that he is telling them right now. Why?

Because they are so consumed by what is going to happen to them, that they are hardly even paying attention. They are certainly not going to retain these things. So, the Holy Spirit is going to come back and remind them of these things.

But Jesus says, in our passage this morning, that he has many things to say to them. He then says, but. It is that word I like to underscore sometimes, because it is a sharp contrast. He says, I have many things to say to you, sharp contrast.

In other words, I cannot say them to you, because you cannot handle the truth, I guess we could say. The present tense do not have the power. It is a verb from which, again, we get the word dynamite. They do not have the ability, the capacity.

And then he says, to bear, or the verb can also mean to carry. It is the same verb in which John will later describe Jesus carrying the cross, as he is going up to be crucified. So, it has that kind of weighty context.

But he says, you cannot bear them. You cannot handle the burden of these words, these things that I want to say. And here is the point. There will be a time. He says, you cannot do it now, right? But there will be a time when you can.

He wants them to know that there will be a time where they will hear these things, but it is not yet. Well, why not now? Are they too immature? I used to do this with the kids all the time. Well, we will talk about that later, right?

You cannot handle it now. You are eight years old. You want to know about dating. We are going to wait a while to talk about that, right? Until you are like 28. I think that was about right. That is when we sat down and had that discussion.

Well, what is going to change? What is going to take them from not being ready to being ready? What is going to make them able to bear the burden of these things that Jesus cannot tell them right then?

Well, the answer is in verse 13, right in our text. When the spirit of truth comes, what he wants them to know, what he wants to teach them, they will be taught. But that is going to happen when they are transformed, when they are enabled, when they are strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

By their comforter, by the one who comes alongside the paracletes. As he, the Holy Spirit, replaces Jesus as their primary teacher. When they are no longer in this downcast mood, this downcast attitude.

Notice that Jesus here describes him as the spirit of truth. Now, firstly, I just want to point out that spirit, again, is gender neutral. Neither male nor female. So you might think, well, if you are just studying this in the Greek, you might look at that and you might go, well, maybe the Holy Spirit is a force.

Maybe he is just going to bulk them up, strengthen them that way. Just give them this energy. Except, he turns right around, the next word after when the spirit of truth comes, not it, but he. Definitely male.

And there is a neuter pronoun available, but that's not used. He is used. Why? Because he is a person. This is how God represents himself. He. Not she, and not it. And being the spirit of truth, he cannot lie.

He is fully God. Furthermore, he is the only trustworthy source of information about the Father and the Son. To whom else would you go to? The answer is you can't go to anyone else. I had a sad, rather sad phone call this week.

I was talking to somebody in the family and a relative had died, has died a couple of years ago. And his wife recently consulted a spiritist because she wanted to hear from him. And I heard that and I just thought, why would you go?

You are just consorting, you know, you are consulting with demons. When people look for extra biblical revelation, they are just opening themselves up to demonic activity. There is one source of trustworthy information and that is the spirit revealed scripture, the word of God.

But notice also that the spirit comes in his fullness on the day of Pentecost. We talked about it last week, how he then comes to the church in a new way. Pentecost being the dawn of the church age. Well, what's going to happen?

What's going to be new? They are going to be able to bear these truths, but what else is going to happen? Look at verse 13 again, second half of it. He, the Holy Spirit, will guide you into all truth.

Now, as I sort of alluded to earlier, Jesus had said something similar earlier and it was in chapter 14, verse 26. You don't have to turn there, I'm going to read it. 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 that I have said to you.

Now, a little bit different, but again, what his emphasis there was on the things that they weren't grasping, that he was saying to them right now and the emphasis in chapter 16 is on future teaching.

But in bringing back, if you recall back to chapter 14, when we talked about this, he was going to bring back to their memory all that Jesus had told them, why? To make sure that when they recorded the gospels, that we had the exact words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what we have in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are those words of Jesus. God, the Holy Spirit, perfectly recounts to the disciples what Jesus had said. Matthew and John wrote their own accounts, the apostles.

Mark basically served as Peter's secretary. And Luke interviewed eyewitnesses to the life and ministry of Jesus and was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But these 11 men did not know that they even needed to remember everything.

I'm sure they weren't sitting there thinking, this is valuable historical information. This is data that's going to shape and change the world. They weren't thinking that at all. They were just focused on themselves.

But God knew exactly what they would need and what we would need. We needed to know about the life and ministry of Jesus from the eyewitnesses. We need to have assurance that he is who he says he is. We needed to hear the very words of the Lord himself.

And the Holy Spirit guaranteed that we had these four gospel witnesses. But here in verse 13, we have something more. Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit will arrive in his fullness, as I said, on Pentecost.

And then he's going to guide these disciples into all truth. Now, I want to just give like a little disclaimer, a little asterisk. This isn't a promise to us that every single Christian who's wrestling with any kind of decision can say, Oh, Holy Spirit, lead me into all truth.

I need to know whether I should ask this girl out. I need to know which car to buy. I need to know if the sale of the house is going to go through. This is not a reference to a still small voice. I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to lead me into the truth about the answer on this exam.

Study, kids. That's the answer. That's not how we do things. This is Jesus' promise in John chapter 16. To the disciples standing before him or sitting before him or laying on the floor, whatever they were doing.

Just as John 14, 26 was a promise that he would, by the Holy Spirit, give us these four gospels. This promise concerns the remainder of the New Testament. All truth, all necessary truth for life and salvation.

Copy this off somebody's wall. Actually, you know, every once in a while you find something useful on Facebook. How about this? I'm sure it's been replicated in many places. But Jesus is predicted in the Old Testament.

Jesus is revealed in the gospels. Jesus is preached in Acts. Jesus is explained in the epistles. And Jesus is expected in Revelation. All of Scripture testifies to Jesus Christ. Thus, the Holy Spirit being active in all of Scripture glorifies Jesus Christ.

Now, in verse 13, towards the end there, we see this. For he will not speak, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will not speak on his own authority. For whatever he, or but whatever he hears, he will speak.

And he will declare to you the things that are to come. Now, when we read that initially, we might think it's some kind of comprehensive prophetic word that we're going to get to know everything that's going to happen.

And that's not the point here. He was going to aid these men, these 11 disciples, in understanding what to do and what to say and also what they should anticipate in terms of the church. I mean, when you read through the epistles, even though Paul's not there, Paul gets his own special sort of discipleship with Jesus in the wilderness for three years.

But these men are, in effect, made prophets. They get this special instruction. They get this special tutelage of the Holy Spirit so that they can, they will receive these things from the Holy Spirit.

And then he will declare to you the things that are to come, talking about the entire church age. And when John writes Revelation, it is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus here tells John, right, he's sitting there, he's in the upper room, and here he's telling him that the Spirit is not acting independently.

When John receives these visions and these words that become the book of Revelation, the Spirit is not acting independently. This is nothing that he doesn't hear from the Father or hear from the Son, but in perfect harmony with the Father and the Son.

The Trinity always works in perfect harmony. That's something we're going to see developed a little bit more. But for a moment, I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 2, as we think about the importance of Scripture and what a blessing it is to have, and how Jesus is even foretelling, in a general way, Scripture.

1 Corinthians 2, I'm going to read verse 9, and then I'm going to continue from there. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

These things God has revealed to us, this is Paul writing, but when he says to us, this refers to the apostles, through the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

For who knows a person's thoughts, except the spirit of that person which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, not this false spirit of the world, but the Spirit of truth, right?

The Spirit who is from God. That we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

To those who are spiritually mature. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. Here's the point. Jesus says these things in John, and then we see Paul basically repeating this, with a little different emphasis, but in the letter to the Corinthians.

And he says, who has understood the mind of the Lord? That's a rhetorical question. Who understands the mind of Christ? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then reveals the mind of Christ to us. And so what does he say here?

But we have the mind of Christ. Well, how do we have it? Through these words, these instructions that we have been given by the apostles through the Holy Spirit. He gave these spiritual truths to them, and then they give them to us.

But continuing on in 1 Corinthians, look at chapter 3. But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual. Imagine getting that letter, you know, to your church, you know, from the apostle. I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people.

But as a people, or as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ, you guys are babies. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now, you are not ready. He has things he wants to tell them, but guess what?

They can't bear them. They're not able to bear them. Why? Because they're weak. Well, why are they weak? I remember the first time I went to the gym. I won't tell you how old I was. I was pretty old though.

And, you know, everybody's like throwing up these massive weights. And I thought, you know, well, I'll just see how much I can do like these other guys. It did not go really well. Why? Because I wasn't ready for it.

I hadn't been doing this. I hadn't been preparing myself. And if you think, you know, I'm just going to start with, I don't know, Turretin's systematic theology, it might be a little baffling to you, right?

Most of you are like, who's Turretin? He's a reformer. Don't worry about it. We'll get to that next week. Here's the point. We say that we love the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would we not pursue the truths that he has freely given us in his word?

We can have the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the mind of Christ. Within our human limitations, we can think the thoughts of Christ. We can think as he does. We can have that level of discernment.

Certainly, we're tainted by sin, but we can do a lot better than we're doing right now. We can understand the word of God. We have the Holy Spirit to lead us into the very thoughts of God. But we cannot do that while we're just acting as infants.

You can't take a nine-pound baby into the gym and say, show me what you got, kid. And that's his point. He says, look, I want to give you guys more, but you're not ready. You're infants in the faith.

You should be growing. There's a, you know, a kind of a goading there. You should be growing, but you're not. You guys are fleshly. And it's okay if you're a new Christian, if you're a baby Christian, if you're new to the faith, to be a baby, right?

To only be able to handle milk. But we have no excuse for not growing in the faith and knowledge of our Lord. We have everything we need. We have the Bible. We have the Holy Spirit. We have an untold number of books by gifted men throughout the centuries, really.

Even at this church, we have home groups, Bible study, Sunday school. We're going to have a, just a little, you know, inside baseball for those of you who, the elect who are here this morning. We're going to have a series of Sunday evening services coming up, or we're going to talk about some very challenging issues in the church today.

I think they'll be edifying, but we are to grow. We're to long for the pure milk of the word, right? We're to grow and be strengthened so that we can handle meat. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through believers.

This is what he does. He sanctifies us. He molds us. He shapes us into the image of the Son. And he does so by putting his seal on the New Testament, by putting his breath into the New Testament, as it were, which testifies of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament is the means by which we learn about Jesus Christ, what he did, who he was, and what it means to be in Christ, right? When we read the epistles, when we read about the churches, we see about what it means to be in Christ, and we're challenged in various ways to grow in Christ.

So the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through believers, both through the disciples and then through us. Christ is glorified as we grow in him, as we grow to know more about him. Our praise is deeper even.

Second statement about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus by declaring the truth. And, I mean, I could have gone some long statement about the inner Trinitarian transmission, and that's what we're going to look at.

He's going to declare the truth. Look at verse 14. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. What we see in verses 14 and 15, in just kind of summary statement, is the Trinity working together in perfect harmony.

If we think about it this way, what did Jesus come to do? Why did he come to earth? We know it was to save us from our sins. He came to redeem, to seek and save that which was lost. He came to do the Father's will, though, ultimately, right?

After telling the disciples the time had come for him to be glorified, in John 12, 23, he said this in 27 and 28 of chapter 12,. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?

But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, the Father's voice. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. This is why he came, was to glorify the Father.

And if we look at how he submitted to the Father's will and how he glorified the Father, he did it in word and in deed, and even in what he taught. Listen to John 3, 34. For he whom God has sent, Jesus, utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

In John 5, 19 and 20, we have an exhibition of how he does exactly what the Father wanted him to do. So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

And look at how he teaches in John 7. So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. This is how he glorifies the Father, even in what he heard. John 8, 26. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true.

And I declare to the world what I have heard from him, from the Father. There are many other examples. There was a whole list of them. Jesus came to glorify the Father. He did not speak on his own initiative.

He did not teach on his own initiative. He did not do anything on his own initiative. And the Holy Spirit, similarly, will come to glorify the Son. That's why he came. He does not speak on his own initiative.

In fact, Jesus says the Spirit will, D .A. Carson said this, Quote, Ensure that all the revelation bound up in Jesus' person and mission, in other words his work, are pressed home on the disciples. So the Holy Spirit's role in the Trinity is not to be the center of attention.

And so that's why when I'm critiquing the Pentecostal movement and charismatic churches, it's because they've got the wrong emphasis. The emphasis is never on the work of the Holy Spirit, the visible work.

It's always the Holy Spirit pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, when I talked about John the Baptist, and I said, you know, basically dare to be John the Baptist. Why? Because his whole life pointed to Christ.

And in this role, the Holy Spirit's whole reason for coming to the church is to point to Jesus Christ. When I said John the Baptist spent his whole life pointing to Jesus, did that diminish John the Baptist?

If you recall, Jesus said what? He said John the Baptist is the greatest of all born by a woman. In other words, the greatest man to ever be born. The greatest mortal ever born. John the Baptist. And yet all he ever did was point to Jesus Christ.

When the Holy Spirit points to Jesus, it doesn't diminish him. It fulfills him. It fulfills his role. Jesus also says in verse 15, all that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Not only will the Holy Spirit tell the disciples all that Jesus is and all that he did, all of his words and his mission and the scope of his being, but he will tell us all what we can know about the Father.

If you think about it again, Jesus said, I get everything that I know is from the Father. Everything I do, I've seen him do. That's what I do, et cetera, et cetera. Well, all of that is what he calls mine.

Right. And what does he say? He says the Holy Spirit is going to take what is mine, the knowledge of the Father, and declare it to you. So he's not only going to tell them about Jesus, he's going to tell them about the Father.

Jesus sees and hears the Father. He does and he sees and says what he hears. He says that the Father has given him all things. Then he gives these things to the Holy Spirit, who also tells us what we can know about Jesus.

That's why we have the scripture. You can put it another way. The Father sent the Son to reveal whom? The Father, right? If you've seen me, you have seen the Father. The Father and the Son then send the Holy Spirit.

So that we might see and know the Father and the Son. He reveals the Father and the Son. Now, how do we know that the revelation is complete? How do we know that there's nothing else to say? That the Holy Spirit has completed his work and that there's nothing else to say other than to keep pointing people to the word, keep convicting the world, that kind of keep witnessing to the world.

How do we know that there's not going to be any further revelation? Well, I've mentioned this before, but it seems the Bible itself seems to say that. In Hebrews 1 and 1 and 2, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. The final word, in other words, was Jesus Christ. The final prophets were the apostles.

There's nobody else. Revelation 22, 18, familiar? I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds them, God will add to them the plagues described in this book. People say, well, sure, that's just regarding the book of Revelation.

Okay, but it's also the last book written about 95 AD. There could be nothing else written. Why? Because all the other apostles were dead. This is it. More conclusively, just than that evidence, there's nothing left to reveal.

We have everything we need to know about the Father and the Son. How do we know that? Because the Son has promised us this. That's why he sent the Holy Spirit. Scripture is a product of the Trinity. The Father, revealing the Son, showing him, the Son, what he wants, telling the Son what he wants.

The Son then gives these things to the Holy Spirit, who then talks about the Spirit, or talks about the Son and the Father. Furthermore, the human agents of Revelation, the 11 disciples, since we know that all the New Testament was written by them and their close associates, with the exception of the apostle Paul that I already mentioned, he was taught by Jesus himself, so we know the canon of Scripture is closed.

There's nothing else left to be said. These men are gone. This also means, of course, that there can be no conflict between the red letters and the black letters. This has really become in vogue now. I'm a Jesus follower.

Well, what does that mean? It means that I really pay attention to the red letters. They're more important than the black letters. Paul created Christianity. Jesus was nice. Paul was not so nice. Here's the problem.

We have the same divine author of the red letters and the black letters. These are all written by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The same source. There's an idea that's popular among some atheists that Christianity, as I said, is invented by Paul, one which stole from other religions.

I used to listen to this all the time. Well, you know, Jesus is just like so-and-so, and there's this, that, and the other, and this religion and that religion. There's this idea that religion has kind of evolved, and one of the greatest or one of the latest evolutions of it was Christianity.

But in the upper room, in this discourse here, when Jesus is talking to these 11 men, if you were sitting there and you were listening, and let's say you were an investment banker and you were looking to invest in a religion, you'd listen to Jesus, the leader of this little band, and you'd listen to him say, well, here's what's going to happen, fellas.