CHRIST speaks thus of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the glorious Trinity. As we have it in the Shorter Catechism, “There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” In His actings and operations the Holy Spirit is spoken of as a person. He speaks: He spoke through the prophets, and the apostles; and in the book of Revelation, it is written, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches” (Rev. iii. 6). As a person, He convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He comforts those that are sorrowful. It is as the Comforter Christ promises to send Him to His disciples who were sorrowful when He told them that He was to go away to the Father that sent Him. As a person, He was to take of the things of Christ, and shew them unto His people.
In speaking from our text, we shall notice :—
I.—That the Spirit shall glorify Christ ;
Christ glorified the Father by finishing the work which He gave Him to do. He glorified Him on earth, and the Father glorified the Son in heaven, with the glory which He had with Him before the world was, and the Spirit whom He sends glorifies Him also. Not that He makes Him more glorious than He is, but that He shows forth His glory. He shows forth in the Scriptures the glory of His person as a glory that transcends that of angels, and men. In the first chapter of Hebrews, the Spirit, through the writer of that epistle, shews that the glory of Christ far excels the glory of angels. “Being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Hebs. i. 4, 13).
Comparing Him with men, He is more glorious than any man in the Church, however good. The Jews thought much of Moses as the greatest man in the Old Testament Church, but Christ is infinitely more glorious than he. “For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses, verily, was faithful in all his house as a servant. . . . But Christ as a Son over his own house” (Heb. iii. 3, 6). Moses was only a servant in the house, but Christ was the owner of the house. The Holy Spirit in the Scriptures shews the glory of Christ’s person, of His two natures as God-man, the glory of His threefold office as prophet, priest, and king, the glory of His atoning sacrifice; and He does so that we might value Him, come to Him, believe in Him, and glorify Him. It is the Spirit in the Lord’s people that enables them to glorify Christ. Those who pretend to have the Holy Spirit and despise Christ are not taught of God; and those who reject the Scriptures in whole or in part are not led by the Holy Spirit, for the teaching of the Scriptures and of the Spirit agree, and Scripture is the medium through which the Spirit speaks, as holy men of old were the instruments by which He spoke.
II.—The manner in which He shall glorify Him.
It is by receiving of the things that are Christ’s, and shewing these things to His people. What are those things that are Christ’s? They are all that the Father has. “All things that the Father hath are mine” (v. 15). The blessings of the covenant of grace belong to the Father. The love of God, which is the source of salvation, belongs to the Father, and salvation or life eternal, grace and glory, belong to the Father. In the Shorter Catechism the blessings of salvation are spoken of as justification, adoption, and sanctification, and at death, glorification. All these are given to Christ by the Father. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things unto his hand” (John iii. 35). As Christ received all these blessings from the Father, He is rich with these blessings. No wonder that the Apostle Paul says, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. iv. 19). We are poor and miserable, but Christ is rich to supply our needs. We do not receive the blessings of salvation immediately from God the Father, but through Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and men. He received these blessings from the Father, not for Himself, but for such poor sinners as we are, and we are made partakers of these blessings by the Holy Spirit, of whom Christ says in our text, “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” There is a beautiful order in the communication of salvation to sinners. Christ receives the blessings of salvation from the Father, and the Holy Spirit receives these blessings from the fulness of Christ, and believers receive them from the Holy Spirit. These blessings are, first, the Father’s; secondly, the Son’s; thirdly, the Spirit’s; and fourthly, the believer’s. The Father was rich with these blessings, Christ was rich with them, the Holy Spirit was rich with them, and now believers are rich with them. “All things are your’s” (1 Cor. iii. 21). The Spirit glorifies Christ by taking of His things and shewing them unto us, or applying them to us in a saving manner. Before He applies them to us, He convinces us of our need of them as sinful, lost, and ruined by sin. “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Have you been convinced of your sins as a sinner, guilty and liable to be punished forever? It is the Spirit that works faith in us to receive Christ in the free offer of the gospel. It is in union with Christ the Spirit communicates to us the benefits of His redemption. The Spirit not only convinces us of our need of Christ, but He also enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Him, and He does so by means of the Scriptures, which testify of Christ as “able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him.” He shews us that Christ’s death is the only ground of salvation, and we are satisfied with that ground. By nature we are ignorant of the way of salvation, and as we are under a covenant of works we expect to be saved by the works of the law. But those who are taught of the Spirit have renounced that way and rest upon Christ alone for salvation. This is a more excellent way, a way in which we are saved consistent with the glory of God.
We have been speaking on a great subject, and we feel that it is so great that we can only touch the hem of its garment. It is in the Scriptures the Spirit shews the things of Christ, and it is by the Scriptures He applies the blessings of salvation to us. It is in the Scriptures God speaks to us now, and not as of old, sometimes by dreams and visions. The rich man in the parable thought that if a man was raised from the dead to tell his brethren on earth of the terribleness of being lost in eternity, that they would repent; but he was told by Abraham that they had Moses and the prophets, and that, if they believed not them, they would not be persuaded though a man rose from the dead. Many die, but none comes back from eternity to tell us whether they are in heaven or in hell. The only way in which we can know where they are is in the word of God in the Bible. If they gave evidence during their lifetime that they were in Christ, we conclude that they are in heaven; but if they lived carelessly, walking according to the course of the world, and died in that condition, we may conclude that they are in hell.
Though God’s people are, in a sense, poor, yet how rich they are! All that the Father hath is theirs; all that the Son hath is theirs; and all that the Holy Spirit hath is theirs. If these things are yours, think of the order in which they came to be yours. They were originally the Father’s; secondly, the Son’s; thirdly, the Spirit’s; and fourthly, yours. The glory of salvation then is due to the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and seek grace that you may ascribe that glory to them.
In Scripture the plan of salvation is ascribed to the Father; the working out of salvation is ascribed to Jesus Christ, the Son; and the application of salvation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit; and as Christ, as mediator, secured the blessings of salvation by His death, He is Lord over these blessings. As Joseph was the steward over the provision which he made for the time of famine, and as Pharaoh said to those who applied to him for food, “Go to Joseph,” so God says to sinners who seek salvation, “Go to Christ; He is the dispenser of the blessings of salvation.” And He ministers out the blessings to needy souls through the agency of the Holy Spirit, and by means of the Scriptures of truth.
It is said that Colonel Gardiner, after his conversion, devoted two hours every morning to reading the Word of God and prayer. He determined that nothing should rob him of his precious time for devotion. Hence, if his regiment had to march at six o’clock, he rose at four; and if he had to march at four, he rose at two.
GODLINESS can have no being but in a heart warmed with a sense of redeeming mercy.—Adam.
BLESSED God, thou hast often taught us lessons in the shade we should never have learned in the sunshine.—Evans.