Transference Of Truth

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. This is your friend, Bob Cook saying, how in the world are you? I trust everything’s alright at your house. So glad to be back with you, and I want to turn with you now to John chapter 16. The Gospel of John, chapter 16. We’re talking about the work of the Holy Spirit as presented in these verses. This isn’t all of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, there’s lots more in the blessed book we call the Bible, God’s inerrant, infallible, eternal Word. But this is what it says in John 16. When we left each other the last time, I was talking with you about the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He guides you into knowing that you belong to the Lord Jesus. He guides you in your decisions in life. He guides you in understanding and transmitting the Word of God. He guides you, as you know so well, some of you, even in your prayers.

The Book of Romans, chapter 8, says, “Likewise the Spirit helps our infirmities.” That’s a long word meaning ‘weakness.’ “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts,” that’s God the Father, “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because He, the Spirit, maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” And John says in his first epistle, “We know that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if He hear us, we know we have the petition that we desired of Him.” And so the Holy Spirit of God enables you to pray according to the will of God, so your prayers’ll be answered. We know not what to pray for, as we ought.

Just ordinary life teaches you that a little child doesn’t know what is best for him or her. I was picking up a loaf of bread and some milk at the store the other day and I saw this mother with her little two- or three-year-old. And there’s a big candy display right there by the entrance of the store, and the little boy saw this, and he grabbed some. He said, “Oh, mama, I want some.” She said, “Not now, because you’ll spoil your supper.” Well, he was putting up quite a fuss, but she was quite firm about it, and said, “No, not now, this is not the time for candy, later on.” Well, she knew better. If he filled his little tummy with some candy then he wouldn’t eat his spinach. [chuckle] “Who wants spinach?” I hear somebody saying. [chuckle]

So, you remember that Thurber cartoon where the man had a plate of vegetables in front of him, and his wife was saying, “It’s broccoli, dear.” And he says, “I still say it’s spinach and get it outta here.” [chuckle] He wasn’t gonna have any part of it. Well, little boys and little girls don’t know what’s best for them and parents have to make the choice. But you and I are just boys and girls grown tall and a little older, and we still don’t know many times, do we, what’s best. Oh, you and I have prayed many times, I’m sure, “Lord, do this or do that for me, or give me this or give me that.” And God didn’t do it and you wondered, you said to yourself, “Why are my prayers not answered?” Remember what our Lord Jesus said, “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him?” He said, “Of you who are fathers, if you have a child that asks for bread are you gonna let him pick up a stone and try to eat it?” It looks like a loaf of bread, but it isn’t. You wouldn’t let him do that.

“If he wants a fish are you going to let him pick up a snake instead thinking it’s an eel?” No, you’re gonna bat his hand away and say, “Don’t touch, it’ll bite you. That’s a snake. We’ll get an eel at the market before we go home.” If he wants an egg and he sees this little blue, or brown, or black thing that’s curled up there, it looks like a bird’s egg, and he reaches for it, you say, “Oh, no, don’t touch him, that’s a scorpion, he’ll sting you. We’ll get you an egg.” See, you make the choice, don’t you, for those for whom you’re responsible. And your Heavenly Father says, and we have the authority then of our blessed Savior, who said, “If you do it, if you give good gifts to your children, and you’re sinners, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him?” So the Holy Spirit guides us in praying. You can depend on the Spirit of God to guide you in your prayers. I’ve found times when I was praying very earnestly, but the prayers weren’t getting anywhere. They seemed to be bouncing back at me from the ceiling. I had no liberty or freedom in praying, even though I was quite earnest in wanting what I was asking for from God.

And then as I waited before the Lord, and changed my perspective, and my attitude, and changed my prayer, frankly, there came freedom, and release, and the assurance that God was indeed answering my prayer. I’ve had this happen times without number. The Holy Spirit guides you in praying. Let Him do it. He will whisper to you, “No, not that, that’s not for you.” He’ll whisper it to you, you’ll know down deep in your heart when you’re praying what is or isn’t in the perfect will of God. And you can have the assurance that the Spirit of God interprets your prayers. “We don’t know what we should ask for, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.” The interpretation that the Spirit gives is always in line with the will of God. You can trust yourself to the blessed Holy Spirit when you pray, when you read your Bible, when you make decisions in life, and even when you’re kneeling at the cross and asking, “Am I one of yours, dear Lord?” The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. The Holy Spirit guides you into effectiveness of Christian service.

You know what happened when the baby church there at Jerusalem was the recipient of God’s Holy Spirit coming upon them on the day of Pentecost. And again and again in circumstances that followed, in days and months and years that followed, there was evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in their service and in their speech. Paul said, “I labor according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.” The Spirit of God working in and through you. Jesus said to His disciples, “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” And so you can depend on the Spirit of God to guide you in what you say. One of the awesome things that always shakes me up is that people will come to me and say, “You said something to me 30 years ago that made a difference in my life.” And I would think, “My Lord, what in the world was that?” And then, they would say something about what I had remarked to them in a conversation. Not planning anything, it wasn’t supposed to be a profound utterance. It was just something out of my heart at the time that the Spirit of God used to fasten upon the mind and memory of the hearer, and it made a difference in their lives.

Let the Spirit of God guide you into speaking God’s truth, and praying God’s will, and deciding God’s way, and rejoicing, and being part of God’s wonderful family. Remember, it says, “He’ll guide you into all truth.” The Spirit of God always guides in line with reality with what God is and what God wants. Truth. Now, this is where we differ, of course, with many of the liberals of our day, who have a moving target, and truth for them happens to be the latest scientific discovery or something that is relevant, they say, to their own human experience. Well, if you’ve got that kind of shifting sand upon which to stand, you’re always going to be wobbly in your decisions. No, the Word of God is firm and endures. The truth of God is real and eternal. And the Holy Spirit of God will always relate you to eternal matters. You wanna remember that? The Spirit of God never will lead you to trifle with matters that have to do with eternity and with your own destiny. He will always guide you into all truth, truth. And it says, “He will show you things to come.” The Spirit of God will guide you in knowing which way you’re moving.

This is a great comfort to me, to know that God has given to me, though the years, a little insight now and again as to what He was really doing with me. What a joy it is to realize that it is indeed God. Philippians 2:13, “God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” The Holy Spirit of God who indwells the believer does that for us. Well, take hold of this truth, yield your heart and life completely to the blessed Holy Spirit and let Him guide you into all truth. Now, we read in verse 14, “When He is come He will glorify me for He shall receive of mine and show it unto you.” How does the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus? Now, our Savior is no longer physically in the world. He ascended 40 days after the Resurrection, and He’s now at the right hand of God the Father. He’ll come again in power and glory, and we wait for His second coming. Who then is left to bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ? You and I are the ones. He said, “The Spirit of God is gonna glorify Christ.” How’s He gonna do it? He shall receive of mine things that belong to Jesus: Truth, power, presence, ministry, effectiveness, joy, peace, everything.

He’s going to take that which characterizes the Lord Jesus and show it unto you. See, the Spirit of God glorifies the Lord Jesus by showing people all around you what Jesus is like. Can you take that in? “He glorify me, because the things of me He is going to take and show them unto you.” Announce them right down the straight line. There’s gonna be no loss in transference. When the Spirit of God takes hold of your life, there won’t be any loss in transference of the truth, but Jesus our blessed Lord will receive the glory when your light shines brightly because the Holy Spirit lit it up. What do you think of that? We have the word ‘evangelize,’ ‘euangelo,’ this word ‘show’ is ‘onangelo.’ It’s going to be right straight along the same line. It’s gonna reflect back from Jesus onto you. You are gonna be the reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ and thus, people will honor Him and glorify Him. They won’t say of you, “What a wonderful person.” They’ll say of Him, “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord.” It’s a great truth, isn’t it?

Dear Jesus, we worship and love and honor thee. We thank thee for the blessed Holy Spirit who helps us reflect something of what thou art. Keep on, dear Lord, working in our lives. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!