2907. The Holy Spirit Glorifying Christ

No. 2907-50:517. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, April 12, 1891, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Published On Thursday, October 27, 1904.

He shall glorify me: for he will take of what is mine and show it to you. {Joh 16:14}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 465, “Holy Spirit Glorifying Christ, The” 456}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2213, “Honey in the Mouth” 2214}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2382, “Holy Spirit’s Chief Office, The” 2383}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2907, “Holy Spirit Glorifying Christ, The” 2908}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3062, “Spirit’s Office Towards Disciples, The” 3063}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3127, “Promise and Precedent, A” 3128}
   Exposition on Joh 16:1-14 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3127, “Promise and Precedent, A” 3128 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 16:1-20 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2307, “Greatest Exhibition of the Age, The” 2308 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 16:1-22 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3052, “Christ’s Loneliness and Ours” 3053 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 16 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2907, “Holy Spirit Glorifying Christ, The” 2908 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Joh 16 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3461, “Welcome Visitor, The” 3463 @@ "Exposition"}

1. The needs of spiritual men are very great, but they cannot be greater than the power of the Divine Trinity is able to handle. We have one God, — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, — One-In-Three, and Three-In-One; and that blessed Trinity in Unity gives himself to sinners that they may be saved. In the first place, every good thing that a sinner needs is in the Father. The prodigal son was wise when he said, “I will arise and go to my father.” Every good and perfect gift comes from God the Father, the first Person in the blessed Trinity, because every good gift and every perfect gift can only be found in him. But the needy soul says, “How shall I get to the Father? He is infinitely above me. How shall I reach up to him?” In order that you might obtain the blessings of grace, God was in Christ Jesus, the second ever-blessed Person of the Sacred Trinity. Let me read you part of the verse that follows my text: “All things that the Father has are mine.” So you see that everything is in the Father first; and the Father puts all things into Christ. “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Now you can get to Christ because he is man as well as God. He is “over all, God blessed for ever”; but he came into this world, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a life of poverty, “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.” He is the conduit-pipe, conveying to us all blessings from the Father. In the Gospel of John we read, “Of his fulness we have all received, and grace for grace.” So you see the Father, with every good thing in himself, putting all fulness into the Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus who is also the Son of God.

2. Now I hear a poor soul say, “But I cannot even get to Christ; I am blind and lame. If I could get to him, he would open my eyes; but I am so lame that I cannot run or even walk to him. If I could get to him, he would give me strength, but I lie as one dead. I cannot see Christ or tell where to find him.” The work of the Holy Spirit comes in here, the third Person of the blessed Unity. It is his office to take from the things of Christ, and show them to saints and sinners, too. We cannot see them, but we shall see them soon enough when he shows them to us. Our sin puts a veil between us and Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and takes the veil away from our heart, and then we see Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s office to come between us and Christ, to lead us to Christ, even as the Son of God comes between us and the Father, to lead us to the Father; so that we have the whole Trinity uniting to save a sinner, the Triune God bowing down out of heaven for the salvation of rebellious men. Every time we dismiss you from this house of prayer, we pronounce over you the blessing of the Sacred Trinity: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you!” And you need all that to make a sinner into a saint, and to keep a saint from going back to be a sinner again. The whole blessed Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, must work on every soul that is to be saved.

3. See how divinely they work together, — how the Father glorifies the Son, how the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus, how both the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus glorify the Father! These Three are One, sweetly uniting in the salvation of the chosen seed.

4. Tonight our work is to speak of the Holy Spirit. Oh, what a blessed Person he is; not merely a sacred influence, but a Divine Person; “very God of very God.” He is the Spirit of holiness to be reverenced, to be spoken of with delight, yet with trembling; for, remember, there is a sin against the Holy Spirit. A word spoken against the Son of man may be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (whatever that may be, I do not know,) is recorded as a sin beyond the line of divine forgiveness. Therefore reverence, honour, and worship God the Holy Spirit, in whom lies the only hope that any of us can ever have of seeing Jesus, and so of seeing God the Father.

5. First, tonight, I shall try to speak of what the Holy Spirit does:“ He will take of what is mine and show it to you”; secondly, I shall seek to describe what the Holy Spirit aims for: “He shall glorify me: for he will take of what is mine and show it to you”; and, thirdly, I shall explain how in both these things he acts as the Comforter, for we read, in the seventh verse, that our Saviour says, “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you”; and it is concerning the Comforter that he says, “He shall glorify me; for he will take of what is mine and show it to you.”

6. I. First we are to consider WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES. Jesus says, “He will take of what is mine and show it to you.”

7. The Holy Spirit, then, deals with the things of Christ. How I wish that all Christ’s ministers would imitate the Holy Spirit in this respect! When you are dealing with the things of Christ, you are on Holy Spirit ground; you are following the track of the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit deal with science? What is science? Another name for the ignorance of men. Does the Holy Spirit deal with politics? What are politics? Another name for every man getting as much as he can out of the nation. Does the Holy Spirit deal with these things? No, my brethren, “He will take of what is mine.” Oh my brother, the Holy Spirit will leave you if you go gadding about after these insignificant trifles! He will leave you, if you aim at magnifying yourself, and your wisdom, and your plans; for the Holy Spirit is taken up with the things of Christ. “He will take of what is mine and show it to you.” I like what Mr. Wesley said to his preachers. “Leave other things alone,” he said; “you are called to win souls.” So I believe it is with all true preachers. We may leave other things alone. The Holy Spirit, who is our Teacher will acknowledge and bless us if we keep to his line of things. Oh preacher of the gospel, what can you receive like the things of Christ! And what can you talk about what is so precious to the souls of men as the things of Christ are? Therefore, follow the Holy Spirit in dealing with the things of Christ.

8. Next, the Holy Spirit deals with feeble men. “He will take of what is mine and show it to you.” “To you.” He is not above dealing with simple minds. He comes to those who have no training, no education, and he takes the things of Christ, and shows them to such minds. The greatest mind of man that was ever created was a poor puny thing compared with the infinite mind of God. We may boast about the great capacity of the human intellect; but what a narrow and contracted thing it is at its utmost width! So, for the Holy Spirit to come and teach the little mind of man, is a great condescension. But we see the great condescension of the Holy Spirit even more when we read, “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called”; and when we hear the Saviour say, “I thank you, oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes.” The Holy Spirit takes from the things of Christ, and shows them to those who are babes compared with the wise men of this world. The Lord Jesus might have selected princes to be his apostles; he might have gathered together twelve of the greatest kings of the earth, or at least twelve senators from Rome; but he did not do so. He took fishermen, and men belonging to that class, to be the pioneers of his kingdom; and God the Holy Spirit takes from the things of Christ, high and sublime as they are, and shows them to men like these apostles were, men ready to follow where the Lord led them, and to learn what the Lord taught them.

9. If you think of the condescension of the Holy Spirit in taking from the things of Christ, and showing them to us, you will not talk any more about coming down to the level of children when you talk to them. I remember a young man who was a great fool, but did not know it, and therefore was all the greater fool; once, speaking to children, he said, “My dear children, it takes a great deal to bring a great mind down to your capacities.” You cannot show me a word of Christ of that kind. Where does the Holy Spirit ever talk about its being a great come-down for him to teach children, or to teach us? No, no; but he glorifies Christ by taking from his things, and showing them to us, even such poor ignorant scholars as we are.

10. If I understand what is meant here, I think that it means, first, that the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the words of Christ. If we will study the teaching of the Saviour, it must be with the Holy Spirit as the light to guide us; he will show us what Christ meant by the words he uttered. We shall not lose ourselves in the Saviour’s verbiage; but we shall get at the inner meaning of Christ’s mind, and be instructed in it; for the Lord Jesus says, “He will take of what is mine and show it to you.” — A sermon of Christ even a single word of Christ, set in the light of the Holy Spirit, shines like a diamond; indeed, like a fixed star, with light that is never dim. Happy men and happy women who read the words of Christ in the light shed on them by the Holy Spirit! But I do not think that this is all that the text means.

11. It means this: “Not only shall he reveal my words, but my things”; for Christ says, “All things that the Father has are mine: therefore I said, that he shall take of mine and show it to you.”

12. The Holy Spirit takes the nature of Christ; and shows it to us. It is easy to say, “I believe him to be God and man”; but the point is, to comprehend that he is God, and therefore able to save, and even to work impossibilities; and to believe that he is man, and therefore feels for you, sympathizes with you, and therefore is a brother born to help you in your adversities. May the Holy Spirit make you see the God-man tonight! May he show you the humanity and the deity of Christ, as they are most blessedly united in his adorable person; and you will be greatly comforted by it.

13. The Holy Spirit shows to us the offices of Christ. He is Prophet, Priest, and King. Especially to you, sinner, Christ is a Saviour. Now, if you know that he takes up the work of saving sinners, and that it is his business to save men, why then, dear friend, surely you will have confidence in him, and not be afraid to come to him! If I wanted my shoes repaired, I should not take my hat off when I went into a cobbler’s shop, and say, “Please excuse me. May I ask you to be so good as to repair my shoes?” No, it is his trade: it is his business. He is glad to see me. “What do you want, sir?” he says; and he is glad for the work. And when Christ puts over his door, “Saviour,” I, wanting to be saved, go to him, for I believe that he knows his calling, and that he can carry it out, and that he will be glad to see me, and that I shall not be more glad to be saved than he will be to save me. I want you to grasp that idea. If the Holy Spirit will show you that, it will bring you very near to joy and peace tonight.

14. May the Holy Spirit also show you Christ’s engagements! He has come into the world engaged to save sinners. He pledged himself to the Father to bring many sons to glory, and he must do it. He has bound himself to his Father, as the Surety of the covenant, that he will bring sinners into reconciliation with God. May the Holy Spirit show that fact to you; and you will leap very gladly into the Saviour’s arms!

15. It is very sweet when the Holy Spirit shows us the love of Christ, — how intensely he loves men, how he loved them of old, for his delights were with the sons of men, — not because he had redeemed them; but he redeemed them because he loved them, and delighted in them. Christ has had an eternal love for his people.

    His heart is made of tenderness,
       His bowels {heart} melt with love.

16. It is his heaven to bring men to heaven. It is his glory to bring sons to glory. He is never so happy as when he is receiving sinners. But if the Holy Spirit will show you the depth and the height, the length and the breadth, of the love of Christ for sinners, it will go a long way towards bringing all who are in this house tonight to accept the Saviour.

17. But when the Holy Spirit shows you the mercy of Christ, — how willingly he forgives; how he passes by iniquity, transgression, and sin; how he casts your sins into the sea, throws them behind God’s back, puts them away for ever; — ah! when you see this, then your hearts will be won to him.

18. I would especially desire the Holy Spirit to show you the blood of Christ. A Spirit-taught view of the blood of Christ is the most wonderful sight that ever a weeping eye beheld. There is your sin, your wicked, horrible, damnable sin; but Christ comes into the world, and takes the sin, and suffers in your room and place and stead; and the blood of such a One as he, perfect man and infinite God, — such blood as was poured out on Calvary’s tree, — must take away sin. Oh, for a sight of it! If any of you are now despairing, and the Holy Spirit will take some of the blood of Christ, and show it to you, despair will have no place in you any longer. It must be gone, for “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin,” and he who believes in him is forgiven all his iniquities.

19. And if the Holy Spirit will also take the prayers of Christ, and show them to you, what a sight you will have! Christ on earth, praying until he gets into a bloody sweat; Christ in heaven, praying with all his glorious vestments on, accepted by the Father, glorified at the Father’s right hand, and making intercession for transgressors, praying for you, praying for all who come to God by him, and able therefore, to save them to the uttermost; — this is the sight you will have. A knowledge of the intercession of Christ for guilty men is enough to make despair flee away once and for all. I can only tell you these things; but if the Holy Spirit will take them, and show them to you, oh, beloved, you will have joy and peace tonight through believing!

20. One thing I must add, however, and then I will leave this point, on which we could speak for six months, I think; that is, that whatever the Holy Spirit shows you, you may have. Do you see that? He takes from the things of Christ, and shows them to us; but why? Not as a boy at school does to one of his companions when he is teasing him. I remember often seeing it done. He pulls out of his pocket a beautiful apple, and shows it to his schoolmate. “There,” he says, “do you see that apple?” Is he going to say, “Now I am going to give you a piece of it?” No, not he. He only shows him the apple just to tantalize him. Now, it would be blasphemy to imagine that the Holy Spirit would show you the things of Christ, and then say, “You cannot have them.” No, whatever he shows you, you may have. Whatever you see in Christ, you may have. Whatever the Holy Spirit makes you to see in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, you may have it. And he shows it to you on purpose so that you may have it, for he is no Tantalus {a} to mock us with the sight of a blessing beyond our reach; he waits to bless us. Lay that thought up in your heart; it may help you some day, if not now. You remember what God said to Jacob, “The land on which you lie, I will give it to you.” If you find any promise in this Book, and you dare to lie down on it, it is yours. If you can just lie down and rest on it, it is yours; for it was not put there for you to rest on it without its being fulfilled for you. Only stretch yourself on any covenant blessing, and it is yours for ever. May God help us to do this!

21. II. But now, secondly, and very briefly, let us consider WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT AIMS FOR.

22. Well, he aims for this, Jesus says, “He shall glorify me.” When he shows us the things of Christ, his object is to glorify Christ. The Holy Spirit’s object is to make Christ appear to be great and glorious to you and to me. The Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely glorious; and even the Holy Spirit cannot make him glorious except to our apprehension; but his desire is that we may see and know more of Christ, so that we may honour him more, and glorify him more.

23. Well, how does the Holy Spirit go about this work? In this simple way, by showing us the things of Christ. Is this not a blessedly simple fact, that when even the Holy Spirit intends to glorify Christ, all that he does is to show us Christ? Well, but does he not put fine words together, and weave a spell of eloquence? No; he simply shows us Christ. Now, if you wanted to praise Jesus Christ tonight, what would you have to do? Why, you would only have to speak of him as he is, — holy, blessed, glorious! You would show him, as it were, in order to praise him, for there is no glorifying Christ except by making him to be seen. Then he has the glory that properly belongs to him. No words are required, no descriptions are needed. “He shall glorify me: for he will take of what is mine and show it to you.”

24. And is it not strange that Christ should be glorified by his being shown to you? To you, my dear friend! Perhaps you are saying, “I am a nobody.” Yes, but Christ is glorified by being shown to you. “Oh, but I am very poor, very illiterate, and besides, very wicked!” Yes, but Christ is glorified by being shown to you. Now, a great king or a great queen would not be rendered much more illustrious by being shown to a little Sunday School girl, or exhibited to a street-sweeper boy. At least, they would not think so; but Christ does not act as an earthly monarch might. He considers it to be his glory for the poorest pair of eyes that ever wept to look by faith on him. He considers it to be his greatest honour for the poorest man, the poorest woman, or the poorest child who ever lived, to see him in the light in which the Holy Spirit sets him. Is this not a blessed truth? I put it very simply and briefly. The Holy Spirit, you see, glorifies Christ by showing him to sinners. Therefore, if you want to glorify Christ, do the same. Do not go and write a ponderous tome, and put fine words together. Tell sinners, in simple language, what Christ is. “I cannot praise him,” one says. You do not want to praise him. Say what he is. If a man says to me, “Show me the sun,” do I say, “Well, you must wait until I strike a match and light a candle, and then I will show you the sun?” That would be ridiculous, would it not? And for our candles to be held up to show Christ, is absurd. Tell what he is. Tell what he is to you. Tell what he did for you. Tell what he did for sinners. That is all. “He shall glorify me: for he will take of what is mine and show it to you.”

25. I will not say more on this point, except that, if any of us are to glorify Christ, we must talk much about him. We must tell what the Holy Spirit has told to us; and we must pray the Holy Spirit to bless to the minds of men the truth we speak, by enabling them to see Christ as the Spirit reveals him.

26. III. But now, thirdly, in both of these things, — showing to us the things of Christ, and glorifying Christ, — THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A COMFORTER. Gracious Spirit, be a Comforter now to some poor struggling ones in the Tabernacle, by showing them the things of Christ, and by glorifying him in their salvation!

27. First, in showing to men the things of Christ, the Holy Spirit is a Comforter. There is no comfort like a sight of Christ. Sinner, your only comfort must lie in your Saviour, in his precious blood, and in his resurrection from the dead. Look that way, man! If you look inside, you will never find any comfort there. Look where the Holy Spirit looks. “He will take of what is mine and show it to you.” When a thing is shown to you, it is meant for you to look at. If you want real comfort, I will tell you where to look, namely, to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Oh!” you say, “but I am a wretched sinner.” I know you are. You are a great deal worse than you think you are. “Oh, but I think myself the worst person who ever lived.” Yes, you are worse than that! You do not know half your depravity. You are worse than you ever dreamed that you were. But that is not where to look for comfort. “I am brutish,” one says; “I am proud; I am self-righteous; I am envious; I have everything in me that is bad, sir, and if I have a little bit that is good sometimes, it is gone before I can see it. I am just lost, ruined, and undone.” That is quite true: but I never told you to look there. Your comfort lies in this, “He will take of what is mine,” — that is, of Christ’s, — “and show it to you.” Your hope of transformation, of gaining a new character altogether, of eternal life, lies in Christ, who quickens the dead, and makes all things new. Look away from self, and look to Christ, for only he can save you.

28. A sight of Christ is the destruction of despair. “Oh, but the devil tells me that I shall be cast into hell! There is no hope for me.” What does it matter what the devil tells you? He was a liar from the beginning. Let him say what he likes; but if you will look away to Christ, that will be the end of the devil’s power over you. If the Holy Spirit shows you what Christ came to do on the cross, and what he is doing on his throne in heaven, that will be the end to these troublesome thoughts from Satan, and you will be comforted.

29. Dear child of God, are you in sorrow tonight? May the Holy Spirit take from the things of Christ, and show them to you! There is the end of sorrow when you see Jesus, for sorrow itself is so sweetly sanctified by the companionship of Christ which it brings to you, that you will be glad to drink from his cup and to be baptized with his baptism.

30. Are you in need tonight, without even a place to lay your head? So, too, was he. “The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” Go to him with your trouble. He will help you to bear your poverty. He will help you to get out of it, for he is able to help you in temporal trials as well as in spiritual ones. Therefore go to Christ. All power is given to him in heaven and in earth. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Go your way to him, and a sight of him will give you comfort.

31. Are you persecuted? Well, a sight of the thorn-crowned brow will take the thorn out of persecution. Are you very, very low? I think that you have all heard the story I am about to tell you, but some of you have, perhaps, forgotten it. Many years ago, when this great congregation first met in the Surrey Music Hall, {b} and the terrible accident occurred, when many people were either killed or injured in the panic, I did my best to hold the people together until I heard that some were dead, and then I broke down like a man stunned, and for a fortnight or so I had little reason left. I felt so broken in heart that I thought that I should never be able to face a congregation again; and I went down to a friend’s house, a few miles away, to be very quiet and still. I was walking around his garden, and I well remember the place, and even the time, when this passage came to me, “God has exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour”; and this thought came into my mind at once, “You are only a soldier in the great King’s army, and you may die in a ditch; but it does not matter what becomes of you as long as your King is exalted. He — HE is glorious. God has highly exalted him.” You have heard of the old French soldiers when they lay dying. If the emperor came by, when they were almost dead, they would just raise themselves up, and gave one more cheer for their beloved leader. “Viva l’Empereur!” would be their dying words. And so I just thought, “He is exalted. What does it matter about me?” and in a moment my reason was perfectly restored. I was as clear as possible. I went into the house, had family prayer, and came back to preach to my congregation on the following Sabbath, restored only by having looked to Jesus, and having seen that he was glorious. If he is in the forefront, what does it matter what happens to us? Rank on rank we will die in the battle if he wins the victory. Only let the Man on the White Horse win; let the King who died for us, and washed us in his precious blood, be glorified, and it is enough for us.

32. But now, lastly, when Christ is glorified in the heart, he acts as a Comforter, too. I believe, brethren, that we should not have half the trouble that we have if we thought more of Christ. The fact is, that we think so much of ourselves that we get troubled. But someone says, “But I have so many troubles.” Why should you not have a great many troubles? Who are you that you should not have troubles? “Oh, but I have had loss after loss which you do not know about!” Very likely, dear friend. I do not know about your losses, but is it any wonder that you should have them? “Oh!” one says, “I seem to be kicked around like a football.” Why should you not be? Who are you? “Oh!” said one poor penitent to me the other night, “for me to come to Christ, sir, after my past life, seems so base.” I said, “Yes, so it is; but, then, you are base. It was a base business of the prodigal son to come home, and eat his father’s food and the fatted calf after he had spent his substance in riotous living.” It was a base thing, was it not? But, then, the father did not think it was base. He clasped him to his bosom, and welcomed him home. Come along, you base sinners, you who have served the devil, and now want to run away from him! Steal away from Satan at once, for my Lord is ready to receive you. You have no idea how willing he is to welcome you. He is so ready to forgive, that you have not yet guessed how much sin he can forgive. “All kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men.” Up to your necks in filth, in your very hearts saturated with the foulest iniquity; yet, if you come to Christ, he will wash you whiter than snow. “ ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord: ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ ” Come along, and try my Lord.

33. Have exalted ideas of Christ. Oh, if a man will only have great thoughts of Christ, he shall then find his troubles lessening, and his sins disappearing! You have been putting Christ on a wrong scale altogether, I see. Perhaps even you people of God have not thought of Christ as you ought to do. I have heard of a certain commander who had led his troops into a rather difficult position. He knew what he was doing, but the soldiers did not at all know; and there would be a battle in the morning. So he thought that he would go around from tent to tent, and hear what the soldiers said. He listened; and there was one of them saying to his fellows, “See what a mess we are in now! Do you see, we have only so many cavalry, and so many infantry, and we have only a small quantity of artillery. And on the other side there are so many thousands against us; so strong, so mighty, that we shall be cut to pieces in the morning.” And the general drew aside the canvas, and there they saw him standing, and he said, “How many do you count me for?” He had won every battle that he had ever been engaged in. He was the conqueror of conquerors. “How many do you count me for?” Oh souls, you have never counted Christ for what he is! You have written down your sins, but you have never counted what kind of a Christ he is who has come to save you. Rather do like Luther, who says that, when the devil came to him, he brought him a long sheet containing a list of his sins, or of a great number of them, and Luther said to him, “Is that all?” “No,” said the devil. “Well, go and fetch some more, then.” Away went Satan to bring him another long list, as long as your arm. Luther said, “Is that all?” “Oh, no!” said the devil, “I have more yet.” “Well, go and bring them all,” said Luther. “Bring them all out, the whole list of them.” Then it was a very long black list. I think that I have heard that it would have gone around the world twice. I know that mine would. Well, what did Luther say when he saw them all? He said, “Write at the bottom of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin!’ ” It does not matter how long the list is when you write those blessed words at the end of it. The sins are all gone then. Did you ever pick up from your table a bill for a large sum? You felt a kind of flush coming over your face. You looked down the list. It was a rather long list of items, perhaps, from a lawyer or a builder. But when you looked at it, you saw that there was a penny stamp at the bottom, and that the account was receipted. “Oh!” you said, “I do not care how long it is; for it is all paid.” So, though your sins are very many, if you have a receipt at the bottom, — if you have trusted Jesus, — your sins are all gone, drowned in the Red Sea of your Saviour’s blood, and Christ is glorified in your salvation. May God the Holy Spirit bring every unsaved one here tonight to repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless every one of you, for his name’s sake! Amen.

{a} Tantalus: Name of a mythical king of Phrygia, son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto, condemned, for revealing the secrets of the gods, to stand in Tartarus up to his chin in water, which constantly receded as he stooped to drink, and with branches of fruit hanging above him which ever fled his grasp; a rock is also said to have hung over him threatening to fall. OED. {b} Surrey Hall Disaster: On Sunday morning, October 19, 1856, Spurgeon was to preach for the first time at Surrey Gardens Music Hall. The building had seating for over ten thousand people and was one of the largest auditoriums in England at that time. The young preacher arrived early at the Hall and was amazed to see the streets and garden area thronged with people. When the doors were opened, the people entered quickly and soon the place was full. Wisely, Spurgeon started the service earlier than the time announced. He led in prayer and then announced a hymn, which the large congregation sang reverently. He then read Scripture and commented on it, and this was followed by a pastoral prayer. As he was praying, voices began to shout “Fire! Fire! The galleries are giving way! The place is falling!” Spurgeon stopped praying and did his best to calm the people, but the damage had been done. In the stampede that followed, seven people were killed and twenty-eight injured. Spurgeon tried to preach, hoping that that would arrest the crowd, but the tumult and the shouting were even too much for the prince of preachers. He then asked the people to sing a hymn as they exited in an orderly manner, and he himself left in a state of shock. He spent the next week in a broken condition, wondering if he would ever preach again.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Joh 16}

1. “I have spoken these things to you, so that you should not be offended.

The temptation is, when Christ is despised and rejected, for our hearts to begin to sink, and for our faith to fail. Therefore Christ warned his disciples that they “should not be offended.”

2. They shall throw you out of the synagogues: yes, the time comes, that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

The best of men are only men at the best, and they are very apt to fail when they find persecution hot against them, especially when even religious men, of a certain kind, consider it to be a religious duty to persecute the people of God.

3. And they will do these things to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

This verse reminds us of our Lord’s prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Persecution of God’s people usually arises from ignorance of God the Father and God the Son.

4. But I have told you these things, so that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you about them. And I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

“I was your Protector; by my personal presence, I sustained your hearts so that it did not matter what trouble you fell into; but now I am going away, and therefore I give you this warning.”

5, 6. But now I go my way to him who sent me; and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

We sometimes endure a needless sorrow, for the asking of a single question might remove it. Our Lord says to his disciples, “If you knew where I was going, and understood my motive in going, your sorrow at my departure would be assuaged.”

7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away:

“It is for your profit to lose my personal presence, precious as that has been to you.”

7. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.

The word “Comforter” might just as well have been translated “Advocate.” The Holy Spirit is that Divine Advocate who pleads the cause of God in us, and for us, and so comforts us. It is he who is now with us. If Jesus Christ were still on earth in the flesh, he could only be in one place at one time. If he were in this assembly, he could not also be in Jerusalem or in New York; but the Comforter can be in all the gatherings of the Lord’s people, and with each individual believer, the whole wide world over.

8-12. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

Teachers, learn wisdom from Christ. He did not try to teach his disciples everything at once; but, by teaching them one truth, he prepared them for another truth. Let us do the same with those whom we try to teach, let us dispense to them the simpler truths first, and afterwards those that are deeper and more mysterious.

13, 14. However when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he will take of what is mine and show it to you.

That spirit, which does not glorify Christ, is not the Spirit of God. By this shall you discern between the spirit of error and the Spirit of truth.

15, 16. All things that the Father has are mine: therefore I said, that he will take of what is mine and show it to you. A little while, and you shall not see me: and again a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.

This is what our whole life is: “a little while.” But in that little while there are little times of sadness, and little times of gladness, — little times in which we have Christ with us, and little times in which we seek him, but do not find him. Blessed be God, we are going away from the land of these changing little times up to the place where the sun shines in its strength for ever and ever.

17, 18. Then some of his disciples said among themselves, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you shall not see me: and, again, a little while, and you shall see me’: and, ‘Because I go to the Father?’ ” They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We cannot tell what he says.”

Sometimes, when you are reading the Bible, you will come across a text of which you will say to yourselves, “What is this? We cannot tell what he says.” But you do not give up reading the Bible because you cannot understand it. There is a great deal that a father says which his child cannot comprehend, yet it is a part of the child’s education to be with his father, and to hear some things that he does not at first understand; but eventually, it all becomes clear. So, believer, what you do not know now you shall know hereafter.

19. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him,

They did not ask him, but they desired to do so, and a desire is a prayer. Where our blessed Master is present, the very desires of his people are prayers, even though their lips remain closed.

19, 20. And said to them, “Do you enquire among yourselves of what I said, ‘A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

Oh, what a blessed promise!

21-24. When woman is in labour, she has sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she has given birth to the child she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a man is born into the world. And therefore now you have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and no man takes your joy from you. And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.’ So far you have asked nothing in my name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

They had asked very little, and they had never asked even that little in Christ’s name; and there are very few Christians who do so even now. They ask for Christ’s sake, which is a good plea, but to ask in Christ’s name is even better, — when you feel conscious that you have Christ’s authority to use his name, and so can put the King’s own signature at the bottom of your petitions. There are some prayers to which a man dares not to set Christ’s seal to; but when the prayer is such that Christ himself might have offered it, then we may present it in his name, and we may be certain that we shall receive what we have asked for.

25-28. I have spoken these things to you in proverbs: but the time comes, when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you shall ask in my name: and I do not say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you: for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

Here are four unfathomable depths: “I came from the Father,” — there is Christ’s eternal pre-existence. “And am come into the world,” — there is his incarnation. “Again, I leave the world,” — there is his death, resurrection, and ascension into the glory of God. “And go to the Father,” — there is his exaltation to the Father’s right hand.

29. His disciples said to him, “Lo, now you speak plainly, and speak in no proverb.

Did you never, when reading the Bible, come across a text, that was opened up to you so sweetly that you cried out just as these disciples did, “Lo, now you speak plainly, and speak in no proverb?”

30, 31. Now we are sure that you know all things, and do not need that any man should ask you: by this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

Listen, you who imagine that you are so strong in faith, and every grace, that you think you are almost perfect: “Do you now believe?”

32. Behold, the hour comes, yes, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone:

Ah, me! these were the men who said they believed in him; yet, in his time of trial, they fled like cowardly unbelievers. May God help us, and sustain us, or we shall do as they did!

32, 33. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”