October 29, 2023 / The Work of the Holy Spirit

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. We continue our series on the Holy Spirit today and I'm

going to ask that you take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 16 today. John chapter

John 16 · chapter mention John 16 · chapter mention

16, today's title, The Work of the Holy Spirit. How does the Holy Spirit work in our lives?

If you're using our hardback versions of the Bible that you'll find at the back, that's

page 1080 and we'll keep you apprised of what page we go to from passage to passage. But

today, John chapter 16, beginning in verse 7. You're also doing some reading this past

John 16 · chapter mention

week about Mount Everest. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, 29,000

feet. It's part of the Himalayan mountain range between Nepal and Tibet. Now if you

are a Colorado fan and you go to the Rockies in Colorado or Utah, you'll see mountains

14,000 feet, 15,000 feet at times. If you go to Alaska, a little bit above 15,000 feet.

But imagine a mountain twice as high as all those mountains at 29,000 feet. Now, in history,

6,000 people have climbed Mount Everest successfully. A few of them have died along the way, but

6,000 have climbed Mount Everest successfully. And it's really quite an undertaking to climb.

It takes two months to get to the top. It's absolutely necessary that you have a guide,

that you are trained, and that you not attempt to climb Mount Everest on your own. Never,

never should you do it on your own. As a matter of fact, I was reading an article this last

week about that and the question was asked, can an untrained person climb Mount Everest?

And the answer was very strong, very bold. And it says something like this, it would

be incredibly naive and stupid to even attempt to climb without training and without a guide.

It would nearly guarantee your failure and litter the trail with your corpse. Don't even

try it. That was a pretty strong no, I would say. Did you also know that if someone dies

on their way up Mount Everest, that they just leave the body there because it costs too

much to get it back down. And it stays in that state forever and ever because it's frozen

in whatever condition it lays down in. Probably too much information about Mount Everest for

you today. The reason I bring up Mount Everest today is because what I'm talking to you about

today is about living the Christian life at the highest peak possible. And the impossibility

of doing it without a guide, without a helper, without the Holy Spirit. Now salvation is

not climbing a mountain. Salvation is a free gift from God. When we come to faith in Jesus

Christ, He gives us that free gift. But He also, in addition to cleansing us from our

sin and making us have a right relationship with Him, calls us to a radically higher lifestyle,

above and beyond the norm. And the only way you're going to get there is with a guide,

with training, with help. And that's who the Holy Spirit is. He is our helper, He is our

guide, He leads us along the way. Now with that in mind, I want you to take your Bibles

and stay in with me as we read John chapter 16 beginning in verse 7 through verse 15.

John 16 · chapter mention

Jesus says, but I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I

do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment,

concerning sin because they do not believe in Me, concerning righteousness because I

go to the Father and you no longer see Me, and concerning judgment because the ruler

of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot

bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the

truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He

will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of mine and will

disclose it to you. And then He says, all things that the Father has are mine, therefore

I said that He takes of mine and will disclose it to you. We're going to talk about the empowering

help of the Holy Spirit today, His work in our lives. Father, in Jesus' name we ask that

you illuminate this text by your Holy Spirit. Thank you so much for giving us your words.

Thank you that Jesus said, your word is truth. Thank you for giving us the Spirit of truth

to help us as we read the words physically, you help us know spiritually, literally what

they mean in our lives. Father today, help us know we're never alone, that this high

calling you've placed on our lives is given to us with a help, the Holy Spirit. Thank

you for that. We ask this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Please be seated

if you would. Jesus has not called you to live the Christian life alone. Aren't you

glad? I mean, if you really understand what it means to live the Christian life, there's

no way that you or I could do that on our own, with our own power, with our own strength,

with our own ideas. In fact, we're the ones that trip over everything in our way. We need

a lot of help to live the life that Christ called us to. Now here we are, just mortal

human beings who were sinful, separated from God, completely estranged from who God is

and what God's ways are. The Lord saw fit to enlighten us, to turn the lights on, to

help us see who Jesus is. We put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and we receive this

amazing gift of eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And now he lives inside

of us, helping us do what Jesus never told us we could do. I said last week, quoting

a guy named Major Ian Thomas years ago who wrote about the Christ life, and he said this,

he said, you can't live this Christian life by yourself. Jesus said, you can't do it

on your own. I've never told you that you could, but I can do it in you, and I always

told you I would. I will live the Christian life through you in the form and in the power

of the Holy Spirit. So now, once we come to faith in Christ, he gives us the Holy Spirit

from Pentecost onward. That is how we receive the Holy Spirit, and now he's in us. Now this

text answers four very important questions that I'm going to walk through with you today.

Now these four questions will help you know exactly how the Holy Spirit will work in your

life, and I trust today that he'll work in your life right now, today, right here in

this room, leading you, guiding you, convicting you, opening your eyes, illuminating things

to you as we read through this today. Four questions, first of all. Why is it to our

advantage that Jesus goes away? Now Jesus opens this section of the scripture in verse

seven by saying that very thing. He says, but I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage

that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go,

I will send him to you. Obviously, Jesus is saying, the reason I've got to go away is

because I'm going to send another one like myself, and he's going to be with you all

the time. Not just from time to time, not just village to village and day to day, he's

going to be in you and with you all of the time. I'm leaving, but I'm leaving the Holy

Spirit with you. Jesus literally is saying things like this, I'm with you physically

from time to time, he will be with you and in you all the time. I minister in one place

at a time and then another place at a time. Sometimes you're there, sometimes you're not,

but he will be in you all, all the time and everywhere. He said to them, I'm asking the

Father to work on your behalf, but after I leave, you'll be asking the Father directly

and he will answer you the way he answered me. Those are pretty powerful statements.

It's expedient that I go away because if I don't go away, you won't have the opportunity

to see the power that the Spirit of God can do and things he can lead you to in your own

life. I want you to know today as we walk through this, that Jesus is leaving the place

on the planet to go back to the Father because he has finished the work of redemption. He

has finished the work of the cross. Jesus died, was buried, rose again the third day.

The book of Hebrews tells us that when he had purchased the security for our sins, payment

for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Father on high. Now that's where he

is today, at the right hand of the Father, having completely secured salvation for all

who put their faith in his name. Jesus doesn't have to do anything else to make salvation

available to you. You just have to accept the gift of eternal life. Put your faith in

him so the work of redemption is done. He'll never have to die again. He'll never have

to perform another miracle. He'll never have to do anything else to please the Father.

He's done everything necessary and when he died on the cross, he said, it is finished

and paid in full. Now that makes me happy that he has done the work of redemption. Somebody

praise the Lord. He's done the work of redemption. For him to have done that, it was expedient

for him to go away now, having done the work on the earth and let the Holy Spirit come

and do the work he is called to do on this planet and in our lives. This to his, this

to our advantage that he has gone away. This to our advantage that he is preparing for

us a place in heaven. This to our advantage that he ever lives to intercede for us as

we walk on this earth. This to our advantage that he leaves the Holy Spirit behind to be

at work in our lives. This to our advantage. Sometimes we have a tendency to say, I wish

Jesus was still here because then I could go ask him questions, but it's to our advantage

that he's left because the Holy Spirit is in your heart to answer every question you

have and every need you have in your life. The question, well number one, why was it

to our advantage that Jesus go away and the answer obviously so that you could have the

presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. The second question, really the big question

in this text is how will the Holy Spirit convict the world? Do you notice what it says in verse

eight and nine? Jesus goes on and talks about the work of the Holy Spirit and he uses the

word convict here. He says, and he, when he comes, will convict the world. I think he

gives us three phrases that give us some definition there, but let's just pause for a moment and

look at that word convict. The word convict is an important word. It means to prove one

in the wrong. It means to bring a sense of shame or guilt. Now that's not a very popular

thing to talk about today. People don't like to feel shamed and they don't like to feel

guilty, unless of course we are. If we are guilty, we need to be shown that we are guilty.

And really the way we come to the place of knowing that we need a savior is to come to

the place of knowing we need to be saved. If we come to the place of knowing we need

forgiveness of sin, we have to also first come to the place of knowing we are in sin.

So the conviction of the Holy Spirit brings us to the place of guilt and shame, falling

short of God's standard, falling short of God's glory. Do you remember when Jesus was

on the earth, he had this encounter with the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

And these men caught her in adultery, brought her before Jesus and were wanting to stone

her. And if you remember, Jesus knelt down and drew in the sand and then he stood up

and he said to all the crowd that was gathered there, many of them with stones in their hands,

he that has the first or he that has no sin, let him cast the first stone. Famous statement,

great statement. He who has no sin, let him cast the first stone. And the Bible almost

as in a pause, literally pause, and then slowly every one of them that held those stones walked

away until there was no one left. And he said, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.

That's what conviction looks like. Conviction looks like a person that's ready to do something

until they're told that's wrong. You can't do that. And the realization that comes over

their minds and over their lives, it says, that's right. I am not without sin. I can't

cast the stone and slowly dropping those stones and walking away. Conviction looks like that

when Jesus was on the planet. Now, conviction looks the same way today in the Holy Spirit's

work in our life, except in every heart and with every person and at all times that conviction

needs to take place. Not just there where the woman was caught in adultery, but in all

places and the Holy Spirit is in every heart and around every person convicting us of the

things that we need to be aware of. I think it's a powerful picture that conviction can

happen in our lives in that way. And three ways that Jesus says the Holy Spirit's conviction

comes on people today. Let me just name those three. First of all, he says that the Holy

Spirit will convict people of sin and unbelief. Do you see what it says in verse nine? Concerning

sin because they do not believe in me. For the Holy Spirit convicts us, he makes us realize

that we have something vital missing in our lives. Before you and I come to Christ, we

know there's a God-sized hole in our hearts. We sometimes describe it like that. We know

something's missing. We know we're not right with God. We're not sure exactly how to do

that. And sometimes we pursue that through religion or trying to do the right thing and

we're always missing the mark on how to make ourselves right with God. The Holy Spirit

convicts us that we're not right with God, that we have an inability to measure up to

God's standards. It's a weighty word. It's not a great feeling to be under the conviction

of the Holy Spirit, but it's the healthiest thing that can happen to us when we are far

from God. In the New Testament, when the apostles began to preach after Pentecost, Peter stood

up after the Holy Spirit had fallen on all of them and he preached a powerful message

about Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross and rising from the grave on the third day.

And those hearing the message that the Bible says were convicted of sin and their unbelief.

I think Acts chapter 2 verse 37, if you want to turn to that, it's page 1089 on the hard

Acts 2:37

back version of your Bible. And here's what it says there. It really defines conviction.

And this is an important definition. It says, now when they had heard this, they were pierced

to the heart. I've always been captured by that phrase, pierced to the heart, because

I've felt it before, because I know what it feels like to be pierced to the heart with

conviction. When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and they said to Peter

and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what should we do? In other words, not only are

they convicted, but they are moved to do something so that that conviction will turn into action

in some kind. That's what conviction is like. It's deeper than an emotional response, deeper

than a mental thought. In the King James Version, the translation is cut to the heart. In the

Derby translation, which is kind of a variant translation, it says cut to the heart with

remorse and anxiety. Now the conviction of the Holy Spirit is important in our lives,

because it says that God is speaking to us. By the way, when people felt that feeling,

when the New Testament disciples began to preach the gospel, they tried to run the disciples

out of town. In fact, in the first five verses of John 16, Jesus is warning them, this world

is not going to be friendly towards you. They're not going to like you. They're not going to

enjoy what you say or how you live, because they'll be under conviction and they won't

appreciate the conviction you're bringing into their lives by the power of the Holy

Spirit in you. They'll feel this remorse. They'll feel this anxiety. Most of us know

the statement and agree with it, that the truth will set you free, but first it probably

will make you miserable. And that's happened to me a number of times, and I'm sure it has

to you as well. It makes us uncomfortable before we realize what we need to do about

it. But I want to break these ideas of conviction down for just a few moments so that we'll

understand fully what it means. And I'm asking God today, I've asked him throughout this

day, to let the conviction of the Holy Spirit happen in our hearts, however it needs to

happen. The beauty of it is, I don't know what you need the conviction of the Holy Spirit

to say to you, but he does and will. And the power of it is, he loves you so much that

he'll say to you what you need to hear. Some things about the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit makes lost men miserable. Sometimes it makes them angry,

makes them mad. Sometimes they rage and lash out at the messengers. When I was in seminary

many years ago, I worked at Fort Worth, and I worked for a builder, and our job, my job

was to learn from this head builder, head carpenter, and our job was to renovate old

houses, turn up the sensory kinds of homes in Fort Worth. And I learned a lot from this

carpenter, but one thing I also learned is, he was an unbeliever, he hated the fact that

I was going to be a pastor and I was in seminary. And he never ceased to let me know how displeased

he was that I followed Jesus, that I knew something about the Bible, and he just assumed

that I didn't like him, didn't care for him, and so forth. And every day I dealt with this

guy. I mean, this has got to be one of the most miserable people I've ever known on the

planet. And every day he tried to cut down Jesus and mock Jesus, and I can remember him

saying, you only want to be a carpenter because Jesus, your idol, was a carpenter. And day

in and day out, I dealt with that. And the truth is, this guy, whose name was also John,

was just really lost and really under conviction. And he didn't like the fact that somebody

was actually happy in Jesus that was around him. And he didn't like the fact that I could

just handle all he was dishing out and still not retaliate in some way. And at some point,

I got another job and when I gave notice to him, I said, John, you know, it's been a real

joy working with you these last couple of years. And I said, however, I want to leave

you with this. I want to leave you with the fact that Jesus still loves you no matter

what. I learned really early on that the conviction of the Holy Spirit sometimes makes lost men

miserable, unhappy, lashing out. Sometimes people are under the conviction of the Holy

Spirit and they learn to handle it. That's an even scarier place to be. What they learn

to do is to shut off that conviction, that weightiness percent. They come to the place

where they say, I don't care at all. It doesn't make me angry, but I don't care at all. At

some point they become so desensitized to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You realize

it's going to take quite a miracle for them to ever turn to Christ. Sometimes conviction

makes people want to avoid the truth. They don't want to hear about the message of the

Bible. They don't want to talk to anybody that does believe in the Bible. They don't

really want to be around you if you're going to have some kind of a testimony or share

with them about what God is doing in your life. Sometimes they don't want to hear about

it. Now conviction also comes to the believer. Even though this portion of scripture talks

about convicting us of sin and unbelief, conviction makes believers restless. Have you ever done

something you knew you shouldn't be doing and you continue to do it and after a while

you feel that same cutting to the heart, that same conviction that says you're in the wrong.

You need to come back to Christ. You need to re-surrender that area of your life, whatever

it may be. That tug on your heart that says you're grieving Him. That's the conviction

of the Holy Spirit. Now if you don't know what that feels like, if you're in a relationship

with someone, a friendship, and have you ever had one of those moments where you've said

something to your friends you should never say and immediately you feel that sinking

feeling in the pit of your stomach, I just did something wrong. If you've ever been married

you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've said something wrong, I've done something

wrong. All of a sudden my heart begins to twist, my stomach begins to get into knots

because I have done something wrong. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is much like that. It's

not just a physical thing, it's a cutting to the heart that says I have wandered away

from Christ. I love the conviction of the Holy Spirit as painful as it is for believers

because it says to us we're wandering and someone notices and that someone calls us

back. In my reading about climbing Mount Everest, and don't worry, I will never try to climb

Mount Everest. New Year's resolution every year is not run a marathon. I've kept that

resolution every year for the last 15 years. I will make a new one never to climb Mount

Everest. Those who climb Mount Everest realize that at certain points in that climb upward,

the climb is a little less sure face and a little more steep incline and very icy. At

those points a rope is fixed upon palms that are driven into the ground and that rope is

attached to the harness of the climber. And it's given enough leeway where you have a

little room to wander along the path but not too much room. And if someone slips, that

harness with that rope attached to the fixed rope will tug you and let you know you're

wandering off the path. You're not going where you're supposed to go and in fact you're

going to a steeper incline and you may go over if you don't pull yourself back. That

tug of that rope or that climber is a life giving feeling because it says here's where

the safe place is and I'm now not in that safe place. I need to make my way back there.

That's what the conviction of the Holy Spirit is like for believers in Jesus Christ. The

tug on the heart that says you're wrong here. You're taking a wrong direction here. I'm

calling you back to my way for your life. And you ought to be grateful for the conviction

of the Holy Spirit in your life. I believe that a true believer in Jesus will be miserable

if they are at the will of God because the Holy Spirit will never leave you alone if

you're out of the will of God. And I thank God for that. I thank God for the taps on

the shoulder. I thank God for the tugs of the heart, for the cutting of the heart when

you know you're doing something wrong. And let me just tell you something today. The

wisest, best, most peaceful way to deal with that is simply turn back to Christ and come

back to him as fast as you possibly can. That's the only place for peace with God is in alignment

with him. And the Holy Spirit is telling you that. Come back, come back as fast as you

can. It may be today that God actually convicts someone in the room about some steps, some

things they're taking that is a reminder you need to come back to Christ. I love to say

it like this. If you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life, God is not done

with you and aren't you glad he's not done with you. So we have that conviction in our

lives. He convicts the world concerning sin and unbelief. The scripture also says in verse

10 he would convict people of Jesus' righteousness. I'm only going to take a little time to talk

about this because it's a pretty simple concept even though it doesn't make sense at first.

Jesus was crucified like a thief between two thieves if you remember. Pilate, when he condemned

Jesus to die ultimately did it reluctantly by saying I find no sin in him. This is not

a guilty man. And when Jesus died on the cross all that condemned him condemned him saying

that he was claiming to be God but not acknowledging that he really was. When Jesus died he was

buried, he rose again the third day. When he rose again the third day he demonstrated

that he was not like every other thief that died on the cross, that he was not like any

other mortal man that ever died and was ever laid in a tomb, that he was not like any other

religious leader that there ever was but rather he was the righteous one who overcame death

and overcame sin and stood at the right hand of God. And the conviction of the Holy Spirit

came upon all those who put Jesus to death. Actually that was the message Peter preached

in Acts chapter 2 where people said what must we do? Yes, we put him to death. He was the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

righteous one. He would also convict people of judgment the scripture says in verse 11

where they realized they were on the wrong side of the argument. He rose from the dead.

Satan, sin and death were on their side of the picture. Jesus was on the other side and

judgment was going to come for all those that were not in Jesus Christ. See the Holy Spirit

begins to bring conviction to all of us. In all situations we are in in order for us to

respond. You say well what does that look like to respond to the Holy Spirit? There's

a great text in Acts chapter 17 where Paul is preaching at Mars Hill to a group of philosophers.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

If you'll turn to Acts chapter 17 I'll show you two verses that show three ways that people

Acts 17 · chapter mention

respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You'll find it on page 1110 in the hard version

of your Bible. Acts chapter 17 verse 32 and verse 34. After Paul preached the crowd responded

Acts 17:32

this way. It said now when they had heard of the resurrection of the dead some began

to sneer but others said we will hear you again concerning this. So Paul went out of

their midst but some men joined him and believed. I absolutely love how this text opens it up

and says here's how people respond when they are convicted. Now we know externally how

they respond. Sometimes people run when they are convicted by the Holy Spirit. Some somehow

are overcome when they feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Some weep. Some talk nonstop

about a different subject. They want to put it out of their mind. Some actually act in

faith. Some change their lives on the basis of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But

they all fall into one of three categories found here. Let me give you those three very

simply first of all. If you are under the conviction of the Holy Spirit today you may

first of all resist the presence of the Holy Spirit and the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

You may resist him. I wouldn't advise that. That's not the thing you should do. But the

Bible says in Acts 17 some sneered. They made fun. They mocked the message of the resurrection.

Some sneered. Some resisted. The Bible also says a second group of people reconsidered

the message. In other words they said to Paul we will hear you again concerning this. Often

I think that takes place in a worship service or it takes place in a conversation where

conviction happens. It might even happen in your quiet time or in your prayer life where

you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and you say you know this is just too hard

for me to deal with right now. I'm going to go away and reconsider this a little later

and a little later you might come back. You might not come back to that subject, that

topic but reality sometimes we put it off because we're not quite ready to give in to

the ministry or the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Some resist. Some reconsider. Finally

some actually repent. Some repent. Notice what they said in Acts 17 again. Some men

joined him and believed. That is they turned. They changed. They said no longer will I just

say I'm going to reconsider this. No longer will I just resist that I'm going to turn.

I'm going to repent and I'm going to believe and join the message that Paul preached. Just

know this when you're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit you're going to respond

one of those three ways. You're going to resist him. You're going to say I need to reconsider

this or you're going to repent. Always he wants us to turn to him. The conviction of

the Holy Spirit is very very real. Third question. How will the Holy Spirit guide the church?

Notice in verse 13 he goes on and he says but he when the Spirit of truth comes he will

guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own initiative but whatever he

hears he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come. Listen let me just say

again and I've said it a number of times and the reason I've said it a number of times

is because Jesus says it repeatedly. The Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth will guide you

day in and day out. He will lead you through everything you need to be led through as a

believer in Jesus Christ. Imagine climbing Mount Everest. Imagine looking at the guides

that are going in front of you. Imagine looking where their feet are being placed in the snow

or on that mountainside and realize that for you to survive you have to follow someone

who is your guide and you put your feet in front in that same place that the Holy Spirit

is going before you is putting his feet so that you might know how to walk. He is your

guide in every way and he will guide you to be doing exactly what Jesus said you should

do. Everywhere in John chapter 14 and John chapter 15 and John chapter 16 you have this

John 14 · chapter mention John 15 · chapter mention John 16 · chapter mention

idea of the dependence of the Holy Spirit upon the Father and the Father on the Son

and the Son on the Holy Spirit. They are interdependent. They are harmonious. They are connected. They

are indivisible. They are aligned. They are unified. What one says the other says and

there will be no variation in that. There are times when people explain something that

they experience in life as something the Holy Spirit does that flies in the face of something

Jesus or the Father or the scripture says and I always bring them back to what did Jesus

say about the work of the Holy Spirit and always he brings us back to a reliance on

the word of God. There is no inconsistency in how he is going to work in your life. There

is no independence in how he is going to work in your life. There is no disconnect. Jesus

gives even more clarity in John 17 where he says in a high priestly prayer sanctify them,

that is the believers, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is the truth. Let me just

say something to you very plainly. Truth is not found first in the church. It is not found

in the preacher. It is not found in the tradition. It is not found in the pope. It is not found

in your heart. It is not found in your feelings. It is not found in nature. It is not found

in science. Truth is found in the word of God. Did you hear me today? Truth is found

in the word of God. It is the basis for everything we believe. You must know your Bible and the

handbook, the guidebook for getting to the top of the Christian life is this book you

hold in your hand inspired by the Holy Spirit given to us, illuminated day by day, week

by week so we know how to walk with Him. I thank God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit

and the alignment of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fourth question,

how will the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus? You notice what it says in verse 15, He will glorify

me. Jesus is now talking about the Holy Spirit. He will glorify me for He will take of mine

and will disclose it to you. Now what does glorify mean? I mean we used the word glorify

quite a bit, don't we? We sing songs and these songs say something about glorifying

God. The angels when they came to announce Jesus' birth said glory to God in the highest.

We're taught to do all things to the glory of God. We glorify Him through words of praise

or through songs we sing. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that you should let your light so

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify my Father who is in heaven.

How do we glorify? What does it mean to glorify? Let me give you some words to define that

because the Holy Spirit is going to be glorifying Jesus through your life and you need to know

these words. Here's what glorify means. To glorify Jesus means to recognize and reveal

and reflect Him for who He is. Not complicated. You're a reflector of the character and the

nature and the glory of Christ. You are to recognize, to know Him, to get to know His

character, get to know who He is, what He says, how He speaks, how He lives and what

He wants to do in your life. You need to come to know Him. You recognize Him. Then you reveal

Him and then you reflect Him day in and day out. Now that's what the Holy Spirit is going

to do for Jesus as well. I broke it down into three words that I can remember. For me to

glorify Jesus and for the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus in my life. He will help me know Jesus,

help me show Jesus and help me grow like Jesus. I mean I need three words that simple. Can

you remember those three? Know Jesus, show Jesus and grow like Jesus, to be like Jesus.

That's what the Holy Spirit is always going to be doing in your life. I read a guy's writing,

a guy King who once said that there were three ways that the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.

And these are the three things he said. I love the three. He said the Holy Spirit glorifies

Jesus in these three ways. He wrote a book about Jesus. He helps believers become like

Jesus. He finds a bride that is the church for Jesus. And you know the church is just

us, the called out ones. Let me give you a statement today. If you're writing notes,

this is a great statement. To summarize everything that I've been talking about today, the Holy

Spirit is at work in your life when you are reading His book, letting Him change your

life and being the church. When you are reading His book, letting Him change your life by

conviction and by the transformation that comes from conviction and by being the church

itself. So my question to you today is are you letting the work of the Holy Spirit take

place in your life? Are you letting Him help you live the life above and beyond the life

that you had before Christ and the life that everybody else has? We ought to be called

to something higher as followers of Jesus Christ. Or it may be today that you're trying

to live this life without the book and without the Spirit and without the church. You just

can't do that. You have to have those three in order to live the life God's called you

to. You know a number of years ago when I first started pastoring, we had a revival

in the church I was pastoring in Oklahoma. And for some reason the guy that was supposed

to preach and speak didn't show that day. And we went into an emergency mode. We'd publicize

this revival for quite a while. And so there I was a week off where I didn't prepare to

preach and the guy that was didn't show up. And so I thought it's going to be interesting

service this Sunday morning. It was in one service and there were three people that I'd

ask to come and stand up and simply tell the story of how they came to faith in Jesus and

how the Holy Spirit brought them to that place. And this was back in the days where the preacher

sat in the chair on the stage if you remember that. Sit on that little chair back there

and watch people's back as they talked. And as the first guy got up to speak I realized

I cannot understand a word this guy was saying because I can't read his lips in the back

of his head right. So I come down to the very front row here. And this guy's name was Steve

and Steve gave a crystal clear testimony of living his life as an adult without Christ

but thinking that he was good enough just as good as all the other church members in

the church that he attended. And as Steve began to talk it became apparent that he became

a believer as an adult in spite of being a really good guy. He came to the place of realizing

by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that he was lost and separated from God in the

middle of the service one day and realizing that piercing to the heart and that conviction

that he had never believed in Christ and never trusted in Christ. And so he was telling that

story. As he told that story I was sitting on the front row and I happened to look across

the congregation. It was kind of set up like this and I happened to look at a young woman

sitting next to her husband. Her husband was a young deacon in our church and she had the

most painful expression on her face I ever have seen anybody in church. Now I see painful

expressions from time to time when I preach from time to time. I want you to know sometimes

some of you have painful expressions on your face but this woman was in pain. I mean she

was seriously hurting and it wasn't physical pain it was spiritual pain. And I wasn't

surprised that by the time the service ended we gave an invitation and she jumped up out

of her seat and almost ran to the front and said I realized when Steve was talking that

I'd never come to faith in Jesus and I kind of knew that inside of me but she said at

that moment he was talking and the Holy Spirit told me that's right you have never put your

faith in me. She said it was as crystal clear as a bell and I give my life to Jesus today.

What a powerful picture of how the Holy Spirit convicts people's lives. And that's how he

wants to convict you either to come to Christ or to stay in Christ. If you've never come

to Christ today I want to tell you the Holy Spirit may well be saying to you you've never

taken the step of faith. You're close but you're not in. You're close to accepting me

as Lord and Savior. You speak favorably of me. You read the Bible from time to time.

You worship for the rest of the people but you've never ever taken this step of faith

that puts all your trust in me. He may well be saying that today. And in just a few moments

when we close this service I want you to talk to somebody. We have decision stations available

for that. Please don't resist the Holy Spirit. Some of you in this room today are believers.

You've come to faith in Jesus and there's portions of your life that you are sold out

for Jesus. You've surrendered for Jesus but there's also portions of your life that I

don't know about but that God does. And he's speaking to you today and he says to you,

repent. Don't resist me. Don't put this off. Repent. Get this out of your life or I'll

never be able to use you the way I could if you allowed me to fill you completely. And

my encouragement to you today is don't resist him. Don't reconsider for another time. Repent.

When you sense that in your life it's not a game. It's not a show. It's not by manipulation.

It's because he's in you or he's convicted you to come to him. I'm going to ask you in

just a moment to stand. Why don't you go ahead and do that right now. And as we stand I'm

going to ask you to be as quiet as you possibly can today when we exit. Sometimes when we

close in prayer we begin talking but I just really sense today I want you to have a moment

or two of silence. It could be that you want to stay in the room and just think through

what you may be sensing right now. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you in some way

that's what you need to do. It may be that you want to stop by the decision station and

talk to somebody on your way out because they're equipped, they're ready to talk to you about

giving your life to Christ or surrendering some aspect of your life to him if there's

an area you haven't. I still invite you to our guest reception room afterwards but I

want you to have the opportunity to act on any conviction of the Holy Spirit that he

may be exercising, any work he may be doing in your life. I want you to be grateful for

it. I want you to realize it's because he's singling you out because he has an incredible

purpose and plan for you. Much better than your own. It was you let him have his way.

Father in Jesus name today I'm going to close with this prayer and I'm going to ask you

because we're at this text and because this text emphasizes the conviction of your Holy

Spirit and we've taken some time to talk about what that means Father today that you would

do the convicting work that Jesus said you would do Holy Spirit and I pray today that

as we are convicted in this room in whatever way that you would allow us to respond freely

to you not resisting not reconsidering but repenting turning away from whatever to put

our everything in you and Lord I ask that you allow us to be bold enough courageous

enough to do it because it's you that calls us to it not because it was the topic of this

message today but it's because of the presence of your spirit in our lives. I thank you Father

that you are real that this is real that you care that you love us that you call us to

the highest possible life and you will help us get there help us surrender to you we ask

this in Jesus name amen. God bless you.