 Well, today I want to look at the topic of life in the spirit. Life in the spirit. What does it mean to be led by the spirit? We're going to be in John 15, and John 16. So if you want to turn ahead there to John 15 and 16, what does it mean? How does the Holy Spirit work through the life of the believer? Jesus talked about how the Holy Spirit would convict of sin and righteousness and all these sorts of things. But how does he work through the life of the believer? And so we're going to look at Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit out of two passages in John and then make some application for our lives today. And by way of introduction, John 15, Jesus is giving final instructions to his disciples. He's told them that he's going to be leaving, and they're feeling a little anxious about this. They're concerned. And so they're asking Jesus, how is this going to work when you're gone? How are you going to lead us when you're gone? How are you going to show us yourself when you're not here anymore? How are we going to know? And it's in the midst of these questions that Jesus gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit referred to as the helper in John 15. And we're going to look at John 15, verse 26. It says, but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. And then in John 16, beginning at verse 13, it says, however, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you. So Jesus says that there are four things, four activities that the Holy Spirit will do. In John 15, 26, he says that the Holy Spirit will testify of Jesus. In John 16, 13, he says he will guide us into all truth. And in John 16, 13, he says he will tell you things to come. And then in John 16, 14, he will glorify Jesus. And so what I wanna look at is I wanna look at each of these four activities that the Holy Spirit does through the life of every believer. And first of all, he says that he will testify of Jesus. Now the word testify refers to someone who remembers, who has knowledge of something by recollection, who can thus tell about it. And Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the spirit of truth. And so the Holy Spirit is communicating to us that which the Holy Spirit has seen in relationship to the Father and everything he says is true about Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 2, verses 10 through 12, we read, but God has revealed them to us through his spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God, for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God that we might know the things that we have freely been given to us by God. And so the Holy Spirit knows everything about God. The Holy Spirit knows everything about Jesus. He searches the deep things of God and reveals those things to us who are in Christ, to every believer. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He reveals the truth about Jesus so that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Now, how does that work in real life? He said, that's a great theory, that's a great understanding, but how does that work? Well, in John 15, 26 through 27, Jesus says, but when the helper comes, whom I was saying, he'll testify of me. And then he says, and you also will bear witness. It's the same word. When Jesus says that he will testify of me, it's the same word that Jesus uses that says that you and I will bear witness. In other words, the Holy Spirit reveals to you and I who Jesus is. And then we turn around and take what the Holy Spirit has shared with us and then share it with someone else. That's what it means to bear witness. And so we're sharing that same truth that the Holy Spirit has simply revealed to us about Jesus and we share it with our mothers, our brothers, our neighbors, our coworkers, everyone that Jesus puts into our circle of relationships. That's how it works, it's simply like that. When I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, we would go to lunch and at school, at high school, I was in high school at the time. And I would find myself in a debate with all of these Mormons that were around us. We were Christians, they were Mormons. So we would end up debating with them. And I didn't really know what I was talking about. And so I thought, I'm gonna go get educated. So I went to this ministry, it's called Ex-Mormons for Jesus. I got all of their information, I read it all. I got educated on everything that Mormons believed. And so every week when I would, or every day when I would go and I would sit at the lunch table, I was ready now, because I knew everything they believed. And I would always start out by saying, hey, well, you guys believe this. And what I realized is that a lot of Mormons don't know what they believe. And so I was educating them. I'd show them and say, did you know that you're gonna get a planet after all of this? They said, we get a planet? That's really cool. What do you Christians get? You know, it didn't quite work. It backfired on me. And then I was trying to, and I had all the Bible verses to tell them how the Bible doesn't say you're gonna get a planet. But they were just so excited to know that they're getting a planet. And I realized that this method wasn't working. And I had to change what I was communicating with them. And so I went to the Lord and the Lord just said, why don't you just tell them about me? Why don't you just tell them what I tell you to tell them? And so we would get together and they would start asking me questions. Well, what do you think of this Bible verse? And it was always designed to incite some kind of a discussion. And so I would look at the Bible verse. I said, well, you know, I'm not a theologian. I said, I can tell you what I think it means. But what I know for sure is that Jesus loves you. And he's crazy about you. And he wants to spend all eternity with you. And he's forgiven all your sins. He's forgiven all my sins. And so they would ask me and the other goes, what are you thinking about this? I don't know what that means, but I know this. Jesus loves you. And the Holy spirit began to just speak to me about Jesus and about what he had done for me and what he's doing for them. And I would just simply share those simple things that the Holy spirit would put upon my heart. And after a few days of this, I noticed my friends would come up to me and they started saying things like, you know, we know you know Jesus because of the way you talk about him. And we wanna know what you know. We wanna know that Jesus, you know. Because what we're afraid, because if we believe what you believe, we'll be kicked out of our homes. We won't be able to live where we're at. It'll jeopardize our careers. And so many of them were caught in that trap, but they could recognize Jesus. And you see, that's the work of the spirit within us. The Holy spirit reveals to us who Jesus is. And then we simply share that simple truth with other people. And it might not be the most theologically profound thing, but when people are dying and they're about to meet Jesus or go to heaven and they're unsure, what they want to know is not some theological explanation about death. They want to know what you know about Jesus and will it work for them? And you have that ability and that moment to share what the Holy spirit is saying and putting on your heart to share with them about Jesus. And you find them saying like the people said to Peter at the end of his message in Acts two, what do we do to know Jesus too? How do we do that? Now, of course, if you're wanting to learn how to recognize the voice of the spirit, you need to know the word of God. Because the word of God was written by men who were under the inspiration of the Holy spirit. And so the word of God is the Holy spirit speaking to us. The word of God is God himself speaking to us, revealing to us who Jesus is. And what I often find is that the Holy spirit will bring up the word of God to me. He'll bring up a scripture that he wants me to share with someone. A scripture that's been on my heart and I think it's just on my heart for me and then I'll realize in conversation, no, it wasn't in my heart just for me, it was in my heart to share with someone else. You know, very practical. Secondly, Jesus said that the spirit will guide you into all truth. Now, the word guide refers to a teacher, a leader or an instructor. And the word truth is a noun and it refers to proven or genuine truth. It's absolute proven and genuine truth. It's a truth that you can build your life on and of course, the truth that the spirit is leading us to is what? Jesus, right? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. You know, truth is not some kind of objective reality outside of Jesus. Jesus says what is true and what is not true. In fact, Jesus is the only one who says what is true and what is not true. And you can say, well, how can you make that statement because Jesus made everything. Jesus is the creator of the world. You wanna know about quantum physics acts Jesus, he made it, right? You wanna talk about the physical principles of the world, talk to Jesus because he invented them all. You know, if you wanna talk about scientific truth, Jesus is the one that created everything that science studies. So Jesus is the one that says what is true and what is not true. Jesus also created you. Jesus also created me. He created who we are. He created a purpose and a plan for each and every one of our lives. And so Jesus is the only one that can tell you who you really are as a person. Not culture, not the media, not news, not your friends, not tradition. Only Jesus can say that. Your emotions can't even tell you who you are because your emotions are gonna change. Only Jesus can say what is true. I am the truth, Jesus says. And the spirit instructs us in the truth according to Jesus and what he says. And this truth has three effects in our lives. First, it leads us to abide in Christ, to rest in Christ. First, John 2.27 says, but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie and just as it has taught you, you will abide in him. The result of the truth of Jesus in our lives that the Holy Spirit reveals is it causes us to abide, to rest, to be settled in Christ. Secondly, it leads us to love one another. In 1 Thessalonians 4.9 it says, but concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And so the fruit of teaching by the Holy Spirit is that we will love one another. It leads us to know the Lord. In Jeremiah 31.34 it says, no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember you or I will remember no more. And so if you're listening to a teacher, if you're listening to someone and you're not learning to abide in Christ, you're not learning to love one another. You're not learning to know the Lord. It's not the spirit of God. It's not the spirit of God. It might be scholarly. It might be interesting. It might be thought provoking. It can even be motivating. But if there's no revelation of Jesus, it's not a work of the spirit. You see, I often hear people say, well, everybody's got their take on the Bible. So I just kind of listened to whoever. But you know, it really does matter who you listen to. It really does matter the teaching that you're under. The book of Galatians addresses Paul's concern over teachers that the Galatians had listened to, were listening to. You know, when he planted the church in Galatia, Paul left instructors, pastors, teachers behind to instruct them in the way of grace to teach them salvation by grace through faith. But the Judaizers then came in and they began to teach the people that grace wasn't enough. Grace isn't enough for you. Don't you understand, we're Jews. We really know what you gotta do. You've got to obey the law. You've gotta be circumcised. You've gotta honor the Sabbath. You've gotta do all these things. And they brought them under the law. They were obligated to follow the law and to become culturally Jewish. That's what the Judaizers were telling them. And so little by little, they stopped listening to the teachers that Paul had put into their life and they started to listen to the Judaizers because they had the really deep knowledge of God. They're the ones that are really gonna instruct us in the way of God. And so Paul says to them in Galatians 6, 7 through 8, he says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And what Paul was saying to them is if you listen to the Judaizers, if that's the teaching you're sowing into your lives, then you're going to, you're sowing to the flesh. And what you are going to do is you're gonna reap into your life corruption. You know, I call the flesh, I define the flesh as man's power, man's perspective, which is legalism. And when you sow seeds of legalism in your life, it will lead to corruption. But then he says, but if you go back and listen to the teachers that I left in place, you'll sow to the spirit and that will lead you to everlasting life. One of the signs of the end times is that there's gonna be a famine of the word of God in the land. That the word of God will no longer be preached. What will be preached are great messages, great entertaining messages, feel good messages, things that make you happy, that get you excited to be alive, but that won't point you to Jesus. They won't reveal who Jesus is or who you are in Christ. It's important who we listen to. There are preachers that will stir you up to feel like you have to do something instead of abide in Christ. You know, it's free to get in, but it costs to stay. Have you heard that? There's all these membership dues, you gotta do this and you gotta do that. If you wanna stay in, if you want God's favor, it'll cost you. Gotta fast a long time. Gotta do all these, gotta serve in children's ministry. I love children's ministry, by the way. I'm a product of children's ministry. There are preachers that will stir you up against people instead of loving one another. They're more intent on being right than being loving. There are preachers that will stir you up to look at the Bible as a book of facts and knowledge instead of knowing Jesus. You know, how many of you know that it doesn't matter how marked up your Bible is, what matters is, has your Bible marked you? Are you a changed person? That's why I love the ministry here at Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, because I see the work of the Spirit through the teaching ministry of Pastor David. Every time I hear him teach, it leads me to wanna know Jesus more. He challenges me to be more loving, to love one another. He challenges me to trust the Lord. And that produces in me that solid foundation that I can build my life upon. Amen? See, that's the Spirit leading you into all truth. Thirdly, Jesus said that the Spirit will tell you things to come. Now, this is sometimes a little bit more controversial in the sense that people will often say, well, the Spirit told me this and the Spirit told me that. And it's like, well, we'll see if the Spirit told you that. Because if the Spirit told you that, then it's actually gonna happen. Now, I remember when, before I married my wife, this guy came up to me and he says, I'm a prophet. I said, oh, okay. And I said, and he says, and the Lord told me that I'm gonna marry Roxy. Her last name was Rhettling, Roxy Rhettling. And I said, no, you're not. And he says, how do you know? I didn't even know Roxy at the time. He says, how do you know? I says, because the Lord told me I was gonna marry Roxy Rhettling. And we all know who is the true prophet. You know, Jesus wasn't talking about end times prophecy either when he said that. Jesus is talking about the daily moment by moment leading of the Holy Spirit, just like he did for them while he was with them. And Jesus demonstrated this to the disciples and in Matthew 21, Jesus tells the disciples, go into the village and you'll find a donkey tied to a colt, loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything, tell them the Lord has need of it. Now, can you imagine being the disciples and Jesus says, go do this? And so they're going like, okay, we'll go. And all of a sudden they walk through the gate and it's like, whoa, there's the donkey. And there's the colt. Wow, just like Jesus said, that's a trip. I'd be tripping out right there. And then they turn and they loose it and some guy asks him and says, what are you doing with those donkeys? Oh my goodness, Jesus said you were gonna come talk to me. And he told me what to say. And then he says, the Lord has need to him. And I don't know about you, but for me, like if someone said, tell him the Lord has need of it, that I would be kind of freaking out saying like, they're gonna still jump me or something. And so the guy said, all right, no problem. And they're freaking out even more now. It's like, oh, he's gonna let us take the colt. But it was exactly what Jesus said would happen, how he played out. In the book of Acts, we see the spirit telling them things to come. The most dramatic example in Acts is the prophet Agavis in Acts 11, where he prophesied that a great famine would come throughout the world which did happen during the reign of Claudius Caesar. It actually did happen. And so we hear an example of, or see an example of the spirit telling them things that were going to come. Also in Acts 21, where Agavis takes Paul's belt and prophesies that Paul would be captured and given over to the Romans, which also happened. But you know, there was another guy in Acts nine by the name of Ananias, just a simple guy, just a regular guy praying one day. And the Lord came to him in a vision and said to him, go to a certain house where you're gonna find Saul of Tarsus. And the Lord tells Ananias that Paul is a chosen vessel to proclaim Jesus before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. And so what's interesting is while the Holy Spirit is speaking to Ananias, the Holy Spirit is also speaking to Paul saying, hey, I'm gonna send a guy to you, be waiting for him. He's gonna pray for you and you're gonna receive your sight back. And then all of a sudden it happens just like the Holy Spirit said it would. Wasn't like weird, wasn't strange. It was just simply Jesus leading his people through the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit works in our lives the same way today. Now you might be in prayer. And as you're in prayer, the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart and says, today, someone's gonna come across your path. And you might write it off and say, ah, that's not a big deal. You know, that's not gonna happen. And then all of a sudden, that person comes across your path. You're like, whoa, that was God speaking to me. You need to pay attention. The Spirit might be telling you something that's going to come. I'll often run, I'm an idea person. I have a lot of ideas. My wife is exhausted by all my ideas. But oftentimes I'll say, hey, Pastor David, what do you think about this idea? And he says, oh, it's not gonna happen. And he says it so casually. And I'll say, well, why? That's a great idea. And he really doesn't have an answer. He's just, I just don't think so. And you gotta be open and ready because it could be the Holy Spirit telling you things to come. And then there's other things. Well, he'll say, you know, you should consider this. I was like, okay, well, maybe that's the Holy Spirit showing me things to come. Just as simple as you're listening to an announcement at church and you feel that tug in your heart, the Holy Spirit leading you, that could be the Holy Spirit showing you things to come. Maybe it's more dramatic for you. You know, you have a dream or you have a vision as we see in the New Testament. And you write it off and say, oh, that's nothing. That's just a dream. I had too much pizza last night. Well, it might be the Holy Spirit showing you things to come. And there's been opportunities in my life where the same thing has happened, where God has shown me things before they're happening. And as I'm going through them, I feel like I'm watching a movie because the Holy Spirit has prepared me. Why would the Lord do that? Because he's preparing you ahead of time so you won't be freaked out when you go through it. How many times do we go through things and what freaks us out is that we don't know what's going on, right? Go like this. It's true, isn't it? If you knew ahead of time what was going on, you'd be a little less freaked out. It doesn't make it easier to go through, but it does kind of keep you from, you know, from completely losing it. And sometimes the Holy Spirit will show you things ahead of time to prepare you, to warn you, to open your eyes to what God wants to do so that when it happens, you're open to what the Lord wants to do or you're not, you know, sideswiped by it. Fourthly, Jesus said that the Spirit glorifies Jesus. Now, the word glorify is interesting because it means to value, to honor, to give praise, to shine, but it also means to have or to give a share in. In other words, the purpose of Jesus being glorified is not so that we all look at Jesus and say, wow, you're really glorious. But the purpose of Jesus being glorified is that when we see Jesus glorified, we're drawn into it. It's an invitation for us to enter into the presence of Jesus so that we can share in everything that belongs to Jesus because that's what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus shines and we go and we say, I want that and we say, Jesus, can I have that? And Jesus says, yes, you can because everything I have, I'm going to give to you. That's what he says here. He says, he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and will declare it to you. He will declare it to you. Now, the word declare refers to the proclamation or declaration of a king. Thus the Holy Spirit is the messenger who brings to you the declaration from the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So you might be in a place where you're saying, you know, I need wisdom. And all of a sudden, here's the Holy Spirit bringing you the wisdom of Jesus in that moment. You might be in a place where you're saying, I need strength right now. And the Holy Spirit is bringing to you the strength of Jesus. You might be in a place where you're saying, I need comfort right now. And the Holy Spirit is coming in and bringing the comfort of Jesus, the peace that passes all understanding. You might need healing. And the Holy Spirit comes with the healing of Jesus. In Acts three, Peter and John go to the temple. They see a man who's lame from birth, laying at the gate of the temple. And he's begging for money from Peter. And as he's walking by with John, Peter fixes his eyes on the man. And he says, look at us. And we read in Acts three, six through eight. Then Peter said, silver and gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he leaping, stood up and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And then we read just a few verses later after the man was healed that Peter launched a global healing ministry with John called the Sons of Thunder Ministries. And they traveled first class everywhere, selling their best selling book, How to Stop Being Lame. No, that's not what we read. What we read in verse 12 is so Peter saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness, we had made this man walk. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go, but you denied the holy one and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the prince of life, whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses and his name through faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And Peter says it's not by our power or our godliness that made this man walk, it's only one thing Jesus made this man walk. Jesus did it. So the Holy Spirit through Peter took what belongs to Jesus and gave it to the man, that's what happened there. Now this is an important spiritual principle because if you believe that the work of the spirit depends upon you, then you will be open to legalism. You'll be open to someone telling you, oh, if you really want to have a ministry, this is what you have to do. You'll think you have to do something before God can use you. You'll think you'll have to be holy enough or righteous enough. You'll think you have to somehow get your life together before God can use you. And I tell you what, if anyone knew Peter, Peter was not a guy that had his life totally together when God started using him. Jesus said, all that is mine is given to you by the Holy Spirit. So our part is simply to receive and to let God use us. You know, there are many here tonight and you have put yourself in a box because you believe that God can't use you for whatever reason. And the Lord is saying it's not dependent upon you. It's dependent upon me. It's the work that I have done in your life at the cross. And when Jesus declared it is finished, it was finished. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. You have been set free from the power of sin and death. And now the only thing that keeps you from stepping in to the promises the life that God has for you is whether you believe it or not. But to you who believe, he says, I've given you the right to become the children of God. And everything that belongs to God the Father gets passed on to his kids, amen? And you need to stop seeing yourself in light of what you've done and the mistakes you've made and you need to see yourself in light of who God says you are. And what God says is that you are much beloved. You are well loved. You are well loved. God says you are forgiven. God says you are righteous. God says you are holy because of my son Jesus Christ. And so we see the work of the spirit and the life of the believer. In John 15, 26, he'll testify of Jesus. In John 16, 13, he will guide us into all truth. In John 16, 13, he'll tell you of things to come. In John 16, 14, he'll glorify Jesus. And when I look at those things, I just think why Jesus would you give those to me? Why would you do that for me? Why would you do that through me? And there's one reason Jesus tells us a little bit further down in John 16, he says the Father loves you. That's why Jesus loves you. And he doesn't want us to live one day without his presence. He doesn't want us to be ruled by anxiety. He doesn't want us to be ruled by hopelessness. He doesn't want us to be ruled by fear. He wants us to go out with joy, to be led forth with peace. He wants you to know that everything that belongs to him belongs to you because you're his child. He wants you to enter into the abundant spirit-filled life. That's what Jesus wants for us. So why don't we rely on the Holy Spirit more? What keeps us from receiving it? Well, the Bible tells us that the children of Israel could not enter into the promised land because of one thing, unbelief. Unbelief kept them from receiving the promises of God. And I believe that it's unbelief that keeps us from receiving the promises of God even in the Holy Spirit. I believe the number one reason why we don't rely on the Holy Spirit is because we don't truly believe that Jesus is alive. You see, the gospel message was not confess your sins and you'll go to heaven. The gospel message was Jesus is alive and he's here right now because when I am absolutely convinced that Jesus is alive, then it's gonna change how I live. It's gonna change how I treat my wife. It's gonna change how I love my kids. It's gonna change how I am on the job. But if I don't have that awareness that Jesus is truly alive and active in my life, then I'll be okay with doing things on my own. With doing things in my own strength, my own power, my own wisdom, my own convictions. And that's what I define as the power of the flesh. My power, my perspective. Whereas the power of the spirit is God's power, God's perspective. But when I'm convinced that Jesus is alive and I believe him, then I'm going to depend upon the Holy Spirit to lead me, to reveal truth to me, to show me what's going to come to glorify Jesus. I want to close with this. It was said of D. L. Moody. Who does he think he is? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit? And someone responded by saying no, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him. Does the Holy Spirit have a monopoly on your life? Or does the Holy Spirit have to compete for attention? And I believe tonight, perhaps some of you need to simply say to God, okay, I'm done fighting you. I'm done fighting the work of the spirit. I'm done fighting your promptings. I'm done trying to do it my way. I'm gonna surrender to you. I'm gonna surrender to Jesus. And I'm going to be led by the spirit. I'm gonna enter into that abundant spirit filled life. If you're feeling burnout, if you're feeling tired, exhausted, worn out, it's because you're doing it in your own power, your own perspective. There's no burnout in the kingdom of God. You can't be overwhelmed with life when you're overwhelmed with the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit will lead you into those green pastures where there's rest.