Glorification of Jesus Christ

Introduction: The Necessity of Sound Doctrine on the Holy Spirit

0:01 Over the past few months, in the evening particularly, are aware that we are presently engaged in our normal course of study in a consideration of the biblical doctrine of sanctification. However, due to a number of practical and mainly pastoral reasons, I have broken into that series after continuing some 20 weeks in it to consider a few facets of the teaching of Scripture relative to the person, but particularly relative to the work of God the Holy Spirit. Anyone who is half awake and aware of what is going on in our own day is conscious that clustered around this matter of the work of the Holy Spirit there is great diversity of opinion, much confusion, much perplexity on the part of some, and it's necessary for us as God's people, as in any area where there is confusion, to address ourselves to the Scriptures and seek to discover what saith the Scriptures in order that being led by them we shall be kept on the one hand from the error of running from extremes on the teaching of the Holy Spirit into a state of no fire.

1:26 And on the other hand, in our aversion against the state of no fire running into the extreme of wildfire. And so between the positions of no fire and wildfire, God's people seem to kick back and forth. And if it were simply a matter of opinions and simply a matter of seeing a few errors and truths and then rectifying them, this would not be so tragic. But always in the wake of wildfire and no fire is spiritual death.

1:54 And so my concern is, it's not an intellectual concern, it's not an academic concern, it's a concern of life and of death. It is an intensely pastoral concern that we think straight concerning the work of the Spirit that by God's grace we may experience all that He would have us experience and we may reject all that He would have us reject. And the part of true wisdom is to do both. Prove all things.

2:26 And hold fast that which is good, indicating not all is good that you put to the test. So if you only hold fast to that which is good, you throw out the junk. Now that's the standard of Scripture. So this is our concern.

Recap: Proper Approach to the Holy Spirit's Work

2:39 This is the focus of our study. And thus far in the previous two studies, and it will take me just about four minutes to give you the distillation of two hours of exposition, I've addressed myself first of all to the subject of coming to this area of truth with a proper attitude. If you're a Christian, if you read through the Scriptures, you are conscious that many people did not profit from exposure to divine truth because they came to that exposure with an improper attitude, an improper disposition of mind and of heart. And so I have encouraged you, as I have sought to encourage myself, to come to this subject with an attitude characterized by dependence upon the Spirit, teachableness, and a sanctified investigative spirit like the Bereans who receive the Word with readiness of mind but search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. They investigated by a fixed standard the Scriptures, not their experience. They investigated with persistence, day by day, and then with submissiveness. When they found these things were so, the next verse says, and many of them believed.

3:52 And then secondly, I've been emphasizing that we must approach this subjectly as a subject with a clear principle of interpretation. It's not enough to quote the Bible. Almost anything can be proved from Scripture, and the Scriptures themselves say that it's possible to rest, to twist the Scriptures to our own destruction. And therefore, in this area of the work of the Spirit, it is essential that we come to it with this basic principle of interpretation, the teaching portions of the Bible, describing and defining the work of the Spirit, must regulate our understanding of the historical portions which describe the work of the Spirit.

4:36 In other words, our theology of the Holy Spirit, and thence our experience in the Holy Spirit, must be interpreted by the prophecies of our Lord, John 14 and John 16 particularly, and by the instruction of the epistles, and then confirmed by the examination, and by the examples, and by the manifestations of God's workings as we see them in other places. But if your theology of the Spirit is extracted primarily from the historical portions, particularly the book of Acts, and then you try to fit the epistles into your conclusions, and fit John 14 to 16 into those conclusions, you come up with a defective doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and this has happened again and again in the history of the Church, and it's happening in our own day. We must not do that. The teaching portions explaining the work of the Spirit must regulate our understanding of the historical portions describing the work of the Spirit. And we looked at Acts 10 and 11 and 15 as an example of this.

5:45 And then last week, I addressed myself to the first three of five basic principles which form a framework within which the work of the Spirit is to be evaluated, and within which our experience is to develop and grow. And I shall only give them to you. First of all, we must constantly remember the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit. We're not dealing with brute force, with abstract power, but with a person, and a person who is God.

6:19 And if we keep that before us, it will serve to keep us from errors on the left hand and on the right. We'll not talk about, getting Holy Ghost power. That's blasphemous. Not everyone who says it may be guilty of blasphemy, but the statement in itself is blasphemous.

6:37 He is God. You don't get him for tingles. As I quoted last week, the man who said, his experience in the Holy Spirit was like vodka in his orange juice.

6:49 You don't talk about the Holy Spirit who is God in such degrading terms. On the other hand, you're not indifferent to him, for if you're a believer, he indwells you, and your body, he is the temple of the living God. And when the scripture says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, you're conscious that it's serious business to be indwelt by the living God. And so, in all of our consideration of the work of the Spirit, we must keep paramount in our thinking his divinity and his personality.

7:19 Secondly, we must constantly remember the absolute necessity of his work. Would there be any salvation without the Father's purposes in election? No. Would there be any salvation without the Son's purchase in redemption?

7:36 No. Would there be any salvation without the Spirit's powerful application to our hearts? No. Just as much as we need the purpose of the Father to lay the foundation of salvation, just as much as we need the purchase of the Son to erect the superstructure, so we need the work of the Spirit to put us in the house.

7:59 His work, his work is absolutely necessary from beginning to end. Even in the resurrection, it is the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead that shall quicken our mortal bodies. And then we closed with a consideration of the essential unity of the work of the Spirit with that of the Father and of the Son. It is most necessary in all of our thinking in the area of the work of the Spirit to remember that the Spirit's work here in us and in the church in time is inseparably joined to the work of the Lord Jesus in living, dying, and presently interceding, and that work is inseparably linked to the eternal purpose of the Father. Therefore, we must never think of the Holy Spirit's ministry in isolation from the person and purposes of the Father and of the Son. And Ephesians chapter...

9:02 Chapter 1 is a beautiful statement of this. John 14 has some other beautiful illustrations of it as we looked at them last week. And then we saw these have many practical implications. I don't have time to re-preach everything.

9:16 If you want to trace them out, you're visiting with us. See Mr. Rogers and he'll try to make some tapes for you even though he's behind in his tape orders. I'm sorry, Bill.

9:26 I didn't know what else to do to get myself off the hook. All right?

The Fourth Principle: The Primary Focus of the Spirit's Work is Christ's Glorification

9:32 Now we come tonight to the fourth great principle concerning the work of the Spirit, one that must be understood again if we're to be kept from errors on the left hand and on the right. And it's what I'm calling the primary focus of the Spirit's work is the glorification of Christ. We must not only constantly remember that He is God and that He is person, constantly remember that He is God and that He is person, that there is this essential unity in His work and the work of the Father and of the Son, that there is the absolute necessity of His work, but we must remember that the essential, the primary focus of the Spirit's work is the glorification of Jesus Christ the Lord. Now will you turn, please, to the 16th chapter of John for a classic passage setting forth this principle. And notice I'm trying to do what I've said you must do. Make the teaching portions regulate our understanding of the historical portions.

10:45 Now here is a teaching portion. Our Lord is predicting His own absence and the coming of the Comforter. And He says to His disciples, John 16, verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expected and obedient for you that I go away.

11:06 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 has come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now notice carefully how He does this work of conviction with respect to sin, to righteousness, to judgment.

11:32 Notice the climate in which these works of the Spirit are accomplished. Of sin, because they believe not on Me. His convicting of sin has particular reference to who I am and what I've done. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father.

11:54 Whatever conviction concerning righteousness is, it is inseparably linked to the fact of the exaltation and ascension of Jesus Christ. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world hath been judged. In other words, the conviction of judgment has distinct reference to what I have accomplished in my death. For you remember, just prior to His death, our Lord said, Now is the Prince of this world cast out.

12:27 For some of you wrestling with prophetic things, you ought to interpret Revelation 20 in the light of that. That's just a little prophetic aside. Now He goes on to say, I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. How be it when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth?

12:49 And how will He do that? For He shall not speak from Himself, but what things whoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He shall declare unto you things that are to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and shall declare to you and shall declare to you and shall declare to you and shall declare to you and shall declare to you and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine.

13:10 Therefore said I that He taketh of Mine and shall declare it unto you. Now can you feel the mood of this thing? If you were sitting there as one of the twelve or one of the eleven at this juncture, I'm not sure if Judas was still there,

13:28 and for the first time you heard these words, they sounded strange to you. Here you thought as we saw last week, the worst thing that could happen was to have Jesus leave you. Everything you knew that was worth anything, He had conveyed it, and now He says, it's better for you if I go away. And while you're reeling from that very incongruous statement that seemed to make no sense, you sort of stagger through at the count of six and you say, well, He's saying something about someone who's going to come if He goes and we'll be better off, and you miss much of the detail, but if you were half awake and half sober after those staggering words, what would you conclude from our Lord's words?

14:06 What would you conclude from our Lord's words? What would you conclude from our Lord's teaching on this person called the Comforter? Well, if you were half awake and half listening, you would conclude, as I trust you have done in this brief reading with very little comment, that the primary focus of the ministry and work of this one called the Comforter will be to draw attention to Jesus Christ and to draw attention to Him in terms of who He is and what He has done with reference to the problem of sin, with reference to the problem of righteousness, with reference to the issue of judgment, with reference to the issue of truth, with reference to things to come, His essential ministry will be, as it's stated so beautifully and summarily in verse 14, He shall glorify Me.

How the Holy Spirit Glorifies Christ

15:03 So then, in the light of a passage like this and there are many others, we are warranted to say that the primary focus, not the exclusive, but the primary focus of the Spirit's work in salvation is that of the glorification of Jesus Christ the Lord. Well then, precisely how does He do this work of glorification? Well, let me suggest at least three lines of thought. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ first of all by revealing the truth about Him.

15:38 He reveals the truth about Him as the incarnate, crucified, exalted Lord of glory. That's hinted at in this passage that we've just read. He will convict the world in respect of sin and particularly what facet of sin? The sin of unbelief.

15:58 I have come. I have given myself. I have been exalted. I offer myself and my salvation to men and they go on in their unbelief.

16:08 The crowning, the sin of all. It is that which He will bring reproof of above all else. He'll bring conviction about righteousness. Righteousness in what sense?

16:21 Righteousness in the sense that I go to my Father. That in my person, my perfect life, and by my substitutionary death, the righteousness of God has been vindicated. A basis for God giving righteousness to men has been laid. The Holy Spirit comes to testify, of righteousness that is connected with the exaltation of Christ as Savior and Redeemer.

16:46 And what is that but saying that He glorifies Christ by revealing the truth about Him. That's how He glorifies Him. Secondly, He glorifies Christ by drawing the hearts of men to trust, to love, and to obey Him. The same Holy Spirit who glorifies Christ by revealing the truth about Him by revealing the truth about Him.

17:09 by revealing the truth about Him. by revealing the truth about Him. glorifies Christ by drawing the hearts of men to trust, to love, and to obey Him. Let's look now at a historical portion, though it's found in the epistles, to see what happens when the Holy Spirit is glorifying Christ in a real-life situation.

17:30 Turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, speaks in verse 4 of his conviction that they are the elect of God. And he says, I came to this conviction on this basis, knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. Now, you see what Paul is saying?

18:16 He said, we're convinced that you were envisioned in God's eternal power, in purposes of election, because when we preached, we weren't just talking God words and gospel words and preacher's talk, we were conscious that our gospel was coming in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Well, then one asks the question, what then does the Holy Ghost do when He comes with and in the Word with power and with assurance and with conviction? Well, He tells us what He does. Having made reference, first of all, to the blameless life through which He ministered, even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake.

19:00 Now, here's what happened. And ye became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. Verse 9, For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering we had unto you, how ye turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven. You see what he's saying?

19:33 He said we were conscious that the gospel came in power, not because primarily you felt good or because you had some tremendous experience that caused you to quiver and to shake and to put footprints on the walls with great ex... No, no, he says, we were convinced the gospel came in power because the Holy Spirit who came with that gospel drew you into loving, submissive, trusting attachment to Jesus Christ.

20:09 That's His work of glorifying Christ. Not only revealing the truth about Him, but by drawing the hearts of men to trust, to love, and to obey Him. Paul states, beautifully in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He reveals the truth about Him, brings the heart to loving submission to Him, and then thirdly, He glorifies Christ by then producing likeness to Him.

20:53 Reveals the truth about Him, draws the hearts of men to trust Him, to love and obey Him, and then glorifies Him by producing likeness to Him. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Perhaps the clearest statement on this principle. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17.

21:17 Those who would want to separate dealings with the Lord Jesus and say you get Christ and you receive Christ when you get saved and then sometime later you get the Holy Spirit and receive Him in some subsequent experience as we saw last week. They rinse loose the very essence of the Godhead. Or as our Lord says, when the Holy Ghost comes, when the Comforter comes, I come and the Father comes and we come. You can't separate them.

21:43 Here you have such close identity. Verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit. Without in any way mixing the persons, there is such identity that He says, now the Lord is the Spirit.

21:59 And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord the Spirit. You see what the Spirit's ministry is? He focuses, He focuses our gaze upon the glory of Christ and while our attention is upon Christ, notice, but we all with unveiled face not beholding the Spirit, but beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. While we are preoccupied with Christ, the Holy Spirit, I say it reverently, in the shadows, is doing His work of making us more and more into the image of the very thing we gaze upon. That's His work. And He's never happier in that sense than when we are so preoccupied with Christ that we forget His working to make us like Christ.

23:15 Not forget in the sense we do not pray for His assistance. Not forget in the sense that we do not praise Him for His work. But forget in the sense that our attention is not upon seeking great experiences, but seeking greater knowledge and experience of Christ and asking the Spirit to do that work of revealing Him and conforming us more and more into His likeness. That's how He glorifies Christ.

23:48 So that in the life of the believer, the more there is of Christ to be seen in the practical evidences of the graces of the Spirit, the more men stand back and say, why, Christ must be a mighty. You ask that man, how is it that you who used to be known, you had a reputation for your quick trigger temper and your short fuse, how is it that you become so patient? And he says, ah, the Lord Jesus is saving me from the sin of my impatience. And someone says, why, He must be a mighty Savior to do that for you.

24:24 Christ is glorified. And who's produced that patience? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. You see, it's the Holy Spirit who's producing this likeness to Christ, which when seen in men, brings praise and brings honor to the Lord Jesus.

Application 1: Evaluating Supposed Movements of the Spirit

24:46 And so, in a very brief and in a very broad overview, we are warranted in making the statement and in holding it as a fixed canon of our understanding that the primary focus, the primary focus of the Spirit's work in salvation, is to glorify Christ, revealing the truth about Him, drawing the heart to trust Him, to love Him, to obey Him, and then making us into His likeness. Now, having stated the principle, I want to take some time to apply it. For again, my concern is not theoretical and academic, but pastoral and practical. And let me suggest three lines of implication.

25:29 First of all, this principle will be most helpful in this matter of evaluating supposed movements of the Holy Spirit. Here, something's going on that seems to be exciting and exhilarating, and people seem to be helped and blessed, and when you ask them, what's at the root of this, they say, this is the work of the Spirit. God the Holy Ghost is producing this. Well, the first question, not the first, but one of the questions you must address, to the whole thing, is this.

26:02 How much of the truth about Jesus Christ in His person and work is known, loved, and believed? For if the Holy Ghost is at work, He's at work as the Spirit who glorifies Christ. And the first way He glorifies Him is by revealing the truth about Him. He shall glorify Me.

26:27 He shall take of the things of Mine, and reveal them unto you. I was preaching up in Toronto, up in Montreal two weeks ago at a conference, as some of you know, three weeks ago. There were several clergymen at this conference. One of them had a big psychedelic-type badge that had a dove on it, and then something that looked like the world.

26:51 And upon inquiry, I found out what it was. It was advertisement, a way of getting people to ask, what is it? And then he could advertise this conference. It is an ecumenical Holy Spirit conference, an ecumenical charismatic conference, where Roman Catholics, Protestants, everything under the sun, are coming together in this great spirit of oneness in the Holy Spirit.

27:18 Now, mark me, mark me, the very men who stood on a Sunday and pronounced their English or Latin words over the chalice and over the wafers, and have said that by virtue, of the succession of apostolic authority, our Lord is offered up on that blasphemous altar of Rome. These men are coming together and saying, it is the Holy Spirit who has given us all this common experience in the Holy Ghost. And because we can all speak in tongues, God the Holy Ghost has united us in Christ. Now, in all fairness, that is not true of all tongue speakers.

28:01 There are some who would abominate such a thing. Let us not be unkind to them. Let us not be unkind in our criticism. But there are many, some of the leaders in the Neo-Pentecostal, the new charismatic movement, so-called, who are actually stating this.

28:20 I've heard one of the most articulate leaders who's traveled all over the world and has talked with the Pope and everything say that in a day when the Church has been divided by doctrine, what is going to unite her is this common experience of the baptism with tongues. Oh, beloved, beloved, how can that be this Holy Ghost of whom Christ speaks? He shall bring conviction of sin based upon the uniqueness of my finished work, of my exaltation to the right hand of the Father of righteousness because I go to my Father. My work of bleeding and suffering and sacrifice is done.

29:05 Rome says his work of bleeding and sacrifices is repeated upon our altars. Which Holy Ghost am I to receive and believe? And I utterly reject, without qualification, any so-called manifestation and movement of the Spirit that can be wrong at so basic a doctrine as the once-for-all atonement of Christ. There are many men whom I embrace from the heart as my brothers who don't believe the doctrine of unconditional election as I understand it.

29:47 But I love them in Christ and they love me in Christ. There are men whom I know and love who believe you can be saved and lost. And I have to call them my brother because their present confidence is in Christ and Christ alone. And though they don't know it, they're going to persevere.

30:16 And when the Holy Spirit is testified to their hearts of their absolute wretchedness by nature and of Christ all sufficient as a Savior by His once-for-all death upon the cross, and Christ is their only ground of hope, who by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified, I say the same Spirit of truth is testified to them of Christ who is testified to me. But when there's some so-called work of the Spirit that bypasses the basic doctrine of the atoning work of Christ, I reject it out of hand as being something of the other spirit. And so Roman Catholics who are getting the so-called baptism are saying that baptism has made the Mass more precious and meaningful. And I could produce quotes. It has made the Mass precious and meaningful. The Holy Ghost making blasphemy more precious?

31:20 The Holy Ghost who dwelt in Latimer and Ridley said to them, go to the stake rather than put your approval upon the blasphemy of the Mass. And you read Bishop Ryle's little book, Five English Martyrs, and he has quote after quote showing that the English martyrs, Latimer and Ridley and these others, went to the stake for this basic reason. They rejected the blasphemy of the Mass as being a foundational error that struck at the heart of Christianity. Now the Holy Ghost has turned around telling people, oh, forget all the blood of the martyrs.

32:03 They were just theological nitpicking. This all gets its experience. God have mercy upon us. If we should ever even court or flirt with such thinking for a moment, I say this has great practical implications.

32:19 This principle is helpful in evaluating supposed movements of the Spirit. How much of the truth about Christ's person and work is known, is loved and believed? Secondly, under this same first heading, to what extent are people drawn into submission into submissive, loving, trustful obedience and attachment to the Christ of Scripture? He said he's going to testify of me.

32:48 How? Not as I was the lowly man of Galilee, but he said he'll convict of righteousness because I go to my Father. I go to my Father. In other words, whatever he says of the way of acceptance, the basis upon which guilty, unrighteous sinners can be treated as righteous, it will have reference to me, not as Jesus the man, but as the Lord Jesus Christ, God's exalted sovereign and redeemer.

33:22 You see that note beautifully sounded on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit has come with such gracious and overflowing power. Peter's sermon reaches its convicting climax when the Holy Spirit through him testifies to the truth of Christ in these words. Acts chapter 2. And notice these are the last words before they are pricked in the heart.

33:49 Having brought Scriptures from a number of places in the Old Testament, Peter declares the basic facts about Christ's death, Christ's resurrection. Then he says this, verse 36, Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God hath made Him, and the Him is this Jesus, this Jesus, he said, whom you crucified, who was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, verse 23, but by the hands of lawless men crucified, this Jesus, God has made Him both Kurios and Christos, Lord and Christ, and when He spoke those things to these Jewish ears and to the ears of these proselytes gathered from all the nations under heaven, it meant one thing, the Jesus who was crucified in weakness, the Jesus who lived amongst us in Palestine in weakness, and yet in the power of the Spirit went about doing good. He has a place now of absolute dominion and power, and in Him all the glorious promises and prophecies concerning Israel's Messiah as a sovereign upon the throne, the one spoken of in the second Psalm, I will tell of the decree,

35:18 the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of my feet, the Christ of Psalm 110 that speaks of Him reigning in exaltation and power. They knew that if they had dealings with Him, they had dealings with a sovereign upon a throne who came to that throne by way of a cross and an open tongue. Now the next verse says, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. See what the Holy Spirit is doing?

35:52 He is unfolding the truth about Christ's person and work, and He's drawing men into loving, trustful submission to the Christ of Scripture so that when they repent and believe and give themselves to this Christ, they are not having some kind of a mystical, existential substitute drug experience that's making them a Jesus freak. They're not getting high on Jesus. They're being brought low to the feet of Jesus to rise new creatures in Christ Jesus from henceforth to walk under the dominion of Jesus. You see, there's much that's supposed to be the work of the Spirit, so-called great movements, this thing going on in California, written up in the magazines. And I'm willing to grant that God is sovereign, and He may be calling some of His elect in the most weird ways, but brethren, we must prove all things. And when I read the articles and the testimonies of these people, so-called testimonies, they've had most of them nothing but an existential crisis and an existential substitute drug experience.

37:19 Not the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom they are becoming attached. It is some great rock power figure, a more moral Mike Jagger. Where there is little, little knowledge of who Christ is and little evidence of attachment to the Christ of Scripture, then we have reason to question the so-called work of the Spirit. Third thing that comes under this matter of evaluating, to what extent is the moral image of Christ being reproduced in men?

38:00 Meekness, gentleness, boldness, zeal in the Father's work. To what extent is this being produced? And I've been very close to some so-called movements of the Spirit, where people were all the time taken up with describing in great detail their ecstatic coat-of-many-colors experiences, and almost reeling with the heady wine of their own pride, while they were talking about their experience in the Holy Ghost. I get the Voice magazine, official organ of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Association.

38:38 Testimony after testimony, I was nothing. But then when I got filled with the Spirit, I became this, and I had to drop the I, I, I, I, I, I, I. Oh, my brethren, the work of the Holy Spirit is to increasingly unfold the glory of Christ in such measure that we feel more and more like Peter, the son of Paul. Depart from me, O Lord, for I am an unclean man.

39:08 And if God is pleased to give us unusual experiences, we'll say with Paul, I've heard things not lawful to utter. Your secret and most intimate dealings with God are like your secret and most intimate dealings with your wife. They are secrets between the two of you. How much of this meekness, humility, is being produced?

39:40 That's the test. That's the test. Fourth aspect of this first principle, to what extent is Christ central in the preaching of this so-called movement, the Christ of Scripture? Central not magically or sentimentally, but central doctrinally.

39:59 The truths of Christ being opened up. Again, I'm disturbed when I hear people who claim to have a niche on the Holy Spirit being indifferent to careful doctrinal study.

Application 2: Implications for Prayer for the Spirit's Aid

40:14 For doctrine in Scripture is but the opening up of various facets of the glory of Christ person and work. You see how practical then this principle is? Practical, first of all, in evaluating supposed movements of the Spirit. Secondly, it has great implications with reference to our prayer for the Spirit's aid and assistance.

40:42 When we pray, O God, send your Spirit upon me. When we pray, O Father, for Christ's sake, for the sake of your Son, send your Spirit upon our congregation. What are we asking for? What do we want?

40:58 Do we want to have a full church so we look successful? Is that what we want? Do we? And God, the Holy Spirit, isn't going to pour the pearls of His power before the swine troughs of our fleshly motives?

41:14 He's not going to do that. The Holy Ghost has come to glorify who? Not your church, not your preacher. He's come to glorify Christ.

41:24 What do you pray for His assistance for? What's your motive? Is it that there might be excitement to attract attention? Or can you honestly say, when you pray for greater measures of the Spirit's fullness in your own life, and I hope you pray for that, I hope you know what it is to plead with God, O God, fill me with your Spirit.

41:46 I hope you know what it is to pray for this preacher, you who are members of this assembly. O God, come upon your servant. Fill him with your Spirit. What's the end you have in view?

41:59 Is it that the Holy Spirit might more powerfully and extensively turn all the attention to Jesus Christ the Lord? That He may, as the Scripture says, see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied? You want the Holy Spirit to come so powerfully and so pervasively in this assembly that people forget what the name of the church is and who the preacher is, and get so enamored with the Lord Jesus Christ that that's all that matters? Again, I cannot help but bring a word of exhortation to you aspiring to the ministry.

42:42 God help you if you have any other motive in praying for the endowment of the Spirit upon your ministry. God have mercy upon you if you don't pray for that endowment. And God have double mercy if you pray for that endowment for any other reason and that Christ may be magnified. That's what He's come to do.

43:03 He shall glorify me. If you think you can glorify Christ without Him, you're kidding yourself. You can say Jesus in your sermons and you can produce a bunch of people who can talk about Jesus, but there'll be no evidence that they've been drawn into loving, trustful subjection to Him. There'll be no evidence of deep attachment to Him.

43:23 There'll be no evidence of perceptive attachment to Him. Now, I've a head full of vague notions about Jesus and the cross and Christianity and heaven and hell, but it'll all be vague and nebulous and the world will excite them far more than Christ. The world will dictate their fashions, their goals, their ambitions far more than Christ. You can say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus from the pulpit, but thus the Holy Ghost is powerfully operating upon you and through you to reveal Him to the heart, to draw hearts, to love Him, and then to form men into His image.

43:59 He won't be glorified. His name will be parroted, but He won't be glorified. And recognizing then the absolute necessity of the Spirit's work, we cry to Him, yes, but for what end? Not to have a full church so we have a success image, not to have excitement, but only to the end that He shall magnify the Lord Jesus in the midst of His people.

Application 3: Implications for Powerful Preaching

44:27 And that brings me very briefly to the third aspect of the application of this. This not only is helpful in the area of evaluating supposed movements of the Spirit, not only helpful with reference to praying for the Spirit's aid and assistance, but this has great implications with reference to what constitutes powerful preaching. And I think of the words of the Apostle Paul, we looked at them this morning in another light, but I want to consider them with you again. 1 Corinthians 2.

45:04 Here's a man who knew the fullness of the Spirit in a way that perhaps few have since known it. And how did the Holy Spirit work upon this man who was filled with Him? 1 Corinthians 2.1 And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you my grace, which is the great experience in the Holy Ghost, no, proclaiming unto you the testimony of God.

45:42 For I determined to know, not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Notice what the Holy Ghost has done with him now. Two things so far. The Holy Ghost, and we won't have time, I didn't know whether I'd have two points tonight or just the one, and I think I've pretty well decided the one, because my fifth principle is the inseparable relationship between the Word of God written and the ministry of the Spirit, and here's a hint of it.

46:11 The Holy Ghost in Paul bound him to the revealed testimony of God. You see, he didn't get so irresponsibly full of the Holy Ghost that he could sail out and share his experiences as such. He said, no, I came determined to declare the testimony of God. The Holy Ghost bound him to the testimony of God.

46:33 And then the Holy Ghost told him that the central focal point of that testimony was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now notice the third thing the Holy Ghost did. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

46:56 The Holy Ghost gave him an honest awareness of his own utter inadequacies and of his own self-righteousness. I saw the Holy Ghost in Paul. I saw the Holy Ghost in Paul. And I see people overconfident and cocky because they've had some so-called experience in the Holy Ghost.

47:34 I say, you've got a different Holy Ghost from Paul. You come to Paul. You see him come into car and perhaps there are circles under his eyes. And when he goes, first of all, into the synagogue to begin to witness, he's stuttering a little bit.

47:36 And cold sweat is breaking out upon his brow. And you take him aside and say, hey, Paul, listen. Let me give you the secret of the Spirit-filled life. It's obvious you just don't know what it's all about.

47:44 Why, people will be turned off when they see you coming with hollow, sunken eyes from your fasting and your praying, and when they see you stuttering and looking weak. Why, the world needs the ebullient, cocky, affluent...

47:58 You know, this is what the world wants. Paul, the Lord uses the sharp guys. You don't look too sharp today, Paul.

48:06 Am I being unkind, beloved?

48:09 Isn't that the image created? Have you discovered the secret of the Spirit-filled life, the abundant life?

48:19 Paul turns to you and says, Look, I don't know what you're talking about, man.

48:24 The Holy Ghost has shown me that I am not sufficient of myself to account anything as from myself. And as I enter this city of Corinth, the Spirit that's bound me to the testimony of God, that's bound me to focus upon Christ, has convinced me that I wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. He's convinced me that men are dead, men are blind, men are hostile, men are enemies of God, and only God can give them life.

49:03 And so convinced of that am I that as I stand to speak, I know if He doesn't breathe in power, if He doesn't penetrate the hearts, I'm done.

49:16 That's enough to make a man tremble. Now, beloved, I'm sure I don't know it to the extent that Paul did, but the longer I live and the more I preach, the more I want to run, sometimes minutes before I have to rise to open up this book. I want to run!

49:34 I think, I think, maybe, a little bit, I've just begun to learn what Paul's talking. Now, it's in that context that he can say, and only in that context, notice, verse 4,

49:48 And my speech and my preaching, were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He was conscious that he was preaching powerfully. And if you want the best summary definition of powerful preaching that I know of, it's in that paragraph. Preaching that comes out of that womb of deep attachment to God's testimony,

50:26 determined conviction, to center on Christ, and a deep sense of utter inadequacy and utter dependence upon God. And he says, My speech and my preaching came with power. The result was, notice, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. You weren't conned into a decision by my clever, psychological manipulation of words and the people.

50:58 He said, He said, When I preached out of weakness, I was conscious that between me and you Corinthians, there was an operation of divine power. You were conscious of it, and your response was not to my cleverness, but to the God whose power you felt and knew as I preached.

51:18 Oh, brethren, without that, preaching is plain, but with it, it's the most glorious experience outside of probably seeing the Lord face to face. To be conscious, that between you and men there's an operation of divine power, and to know that their response is not to you, but to Him. I meant to bring the book The Forgotten Spurgeon to close with a beautiful illustration of this from the life of Spurgeon, so I'll spoil it by just giving the best I can from my memory. Spurgeon had been preaching on one of those texts focusing on the glory of Christ, and at this time, God was pleased to so fill him with the Spirit of God, and at this time, God was pleased to so fill him with the Spirit of God, and at this time, God was pleased to so fill him with the Spirit of God, and pour the truth through him. And he preached with great enlargement, and the sense of the Spirit's presence magnifying Christ was felt and known by all, until barely able to speak, with bated breath and with some degree of hoarseness, he concluded his sermon with words to this effect, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let His name forever live, let my name perish, let the names of all men perish, but let His name live forever. And then his wife, writing years later in the memory of this sermon and the situation so vividly inscribed in her mind,

52:46 said he then sunk, as it were, half dead into the chair behind the pew, and we were all conscious that the Holy Spirit had set before us the altogether lovely one. Beloved, that's what the Holy Spirit has come to do. He shall glorify me. He shall glorify me.

Summary of Principles and Applications

53:10 He shall take the things of mine and reveal them unto you. And so I commit to you, for your careful, prayerful, Berean-like examination in the Scriptures, this fourth principle relative to the work of the Spirit, namely, His primary focus in working in the hearts of men is the glorification of God. The glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. How does He do it?

53:38 By revealing the truth about Him, by drawing hearts to trust, to love, and to obey Him, by producing likeness to Him. And out of that principle, then, these three lines of application, if something is a work of the Spirit, you have a right to ask how much of the truth about Christ is known, loved, and believed. To what extent are people drawn into loving, trustful attachment to the Christ of Scripture? To what extent is the moral image of Christ being reproduced?

Appeal to Unbelievers: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

54:16 Second application, with reference to prayer for the Spirit, the glory of Christ must be central. And thirdly, by giving us some understanding of what true, powerful preaching is in a Biblical sense. And I would be untruthful if I were to say, I would not give you to the intent of the Spirit if I did not close by giving an earnest appeal to some of you who sit here tonight, strangers to God's grace. You've never been born of the Holy Spirit.

54:50 When I talk about loving attachment to Christ, you say, what in the world is the preacher talking about? Oh, my dear friend, that's what Christianity is all about. I don't know what you think it may be about, but it's not coming to meetings, and sitting in buildings called churches. It's coming to the experiential knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

55:11 Jesus Himself said, This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And I plead with you tonight to take seriously what the Scripture teaches about yourself as undone. You say, well, what's my great kind? My friend, your greatest crime is refusal to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

55:39 The Father says, your sin and my sin is serious enough to cause the incarnation, the crucifixion, the awful baptism of blood and of judgment upon Christ. You don't believe that. What a wicked thing. By your unbelief, by your refusal to take your place as a sinner, casting yourself upon God's mercy in Christ, you're saying, oh, that's meaningless.

56:05 See why this is the crowning sin, damns men, the sin of unbelief? Ah, dear one, turn from your unbelief. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself upon Him.

56:21 He's a willing Savior. He's an able Savior. He's a gentle Savior. He says, my commandments are not grievous.

56:29 Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me, I'm meek and lowly in heart. You'll find rest to your soul. May the Holy Ghost take the testimony of Christ and cause you to cast yourself upon Him right where you sit, even now, even in this meeting.

Appeal to Believers: Evaluate Experiences by Scripture

56:48 I call upon any of you who may to one degree or another be dabbling in some supposed movement of the Spirit that comes up woefully lacking in the light of these criteria that I've given you tonight. I don't ask you to throw over everything tonight because you heard this sermon. That'd be terrible. Don't you throw over anything you've examined carefully.

57:09 Don't throw it over quickly. Prove all things. You go home and get that Bible and get on your prayer bones before God. You go back over the verses and you see if the preacher's put anything out of context.

57:21 And if he has, chuck it out. But if what we've given are valid principles of Scripture, you better pray over them. Evaluate that thing you're flirting with or that thing you may be immersed in. And I trust you'll not be cursed with the pride that is unwilling to say I was wrong.

57:37 And again, I can only say by way of personal testimony, I flirted with things that I subsequently had to say were wrong, that I thought were the work of the Spirit. And I've had to say, no, that wasn't. And to the grief of my own heart to this day, there's some people that were burned and scarred and marred because of my own carelessness. I can say and excuse myself and say, well, if someone had told me what I'm telling you tonight, that never would happen.

58:10 But I had my Bible. And I could have discovered them then by God's grace had I been willing to take the time to. But God has put you here tonight and He's put His servant here and He's brought the principles before you. Don't, don't cripple yourself with a pride that's unwilling to say I was wrong.

58:28 That thing I flirted with, that thing I've been immersed in, it cannot be of God because the Spirit is the Spirit who glorifies Christ. And in that light, it cannot be of Him. May God give you grace to humble yourself, to acknowledge your error. And don't be afraid of truth for all the paths of truth drop pleasantness.

58:54 May God help us to walk those paths of deep experimental knowledge of the work of the Spirit in making Christ known to us, making Him precious to us, making us more and more like Him and then inflaming our tongues to speak to others of Him that they may know Him, trust Him, and become like Him too. Let us pray.