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THE HOLY SPIRIT GLORIFYING JESUS IN REVIVAL!

(SERMON NUMBER 6 ON REVIVAL)

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Evening, August 24, 2014

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).


Sometimes people ask me how you can tell whether a church or religious group is right or wrong. I’m going to give you the rule that I have used all my life. The spirit that does not glorify Christ is not the Spirit of God. That’s the key! That’s the way you can tell the difference between the spirit of error and the Spirit of truth!

For some reason I have always been able to tell the difference between the spirit of error and the Spirit of truth. It must have its roots in unconditional election – because I was raised among heretics and cultists! Yet I knew, even before I was saved, that the test was what they said about Jesus. Did they glorify Jesus or not?

Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit – “He shall glorify me.” Unfortunately the word “glorify” has dropped out of conversational English. The Greek word translated “glorify” means “to esteem, to honor, to give praise.” Jesus said of the Holy Spirit – “He shall praise and esteem, and give honor to me.”

You don’t have to be a student of comparative religion to see which groups don’t do that! The various cults say Jesus is a created being or a lesser spirit. The Koran makes Him a mere prophet. The Mormons make Him a created being, the brother of Satan. Theological Liberalism makes Him a teacher, nothing more. None of these aberrations worship Jesus as the God who created the world, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Saviour of mankind! Every cult, every false religion, and every Christian deviation, portrays Jesus as less than He really is. Among all the “spirits” in this fallen world, only the Holy Spirit gives Jesus the honor, praise and esteem that He deserves. So, I must say again, Any spirit that does not glorify Jesus as the God of time and eternity, is not the Spirit of God. And even those who claim Him as God, but extol the Holy Spirit more than Jesus, come dangerously close to theological error and soul-damning heresy! For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself told us,

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

Jesus comes to bring us to the Father. But the Holy Spirit comes to bring us to Jesus. That is why you must have the Holy Spirit. He is the one who invites you to Jesus, and Jesus is the one who unites you to the Father. All three persons of the Holy Trinity are necessary in the salvation of a sinner. The Father predestines you to be saved. The Son atones for your sin on the Cross. And the Holy Spirit reveals the Son to you, and draws you to Him for cleansing in His Blood!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
   (“The Doxology” by Thomas Ken, 1637-1711).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, Amen.
   (“Gloria Patri,” source unknown, early 2nd century).

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

See how wonderfully the three persons of the Trinity work together! The Father glorifies the Son. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus. Both the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ glorify the Father! These three are One in essence, united in substance, uniting in the salvation of lost sinners!

Tonight we will look at the work of the Holy Spirit. He is not just a power or an influence. He is God. We must speak of Him as God the Holy Spirit. Without Him we can never know Jesus in any real way. I want you to think about what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus said, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Dr. John R. Rice said, of this verse, that the Holy Spirit “comes to talk about Jesus and comes to reveal the Lord Jesus” (The Son of God, A Commentary on John, Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1976, p. 321; note on John 16:14).

The Holy Spirit comes to reveal Jesus to us. That should also be our main subject as preachers. We should work with the Holy Spirit to make known the Lord Jesus! We can get to Heaven without knowing many things. We can be saved without knowing much about Bible prophecy, or demonology, or science, or politics. But we can never get to Heaven without knowing Jesus! I like what John Wesley said to his early Methodist preachers, “Leave other things alone. You are called to win souls.” Amen! The Holy Spirit will bless our preaching if our main message is centered on Jesus Christ! That’s why the Apostle Paul said, “We preach Christ crucified...Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:23, 24). “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:31). Mr. Griffith just sang that beautiful old German song, “When Morning Gilds the Skies,”

When morning gilds the skies, my heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised;
Alike at work or prayer to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised.

Be this, while life is mine, my [song of praise] divine,
May Jesus Christ be praised;
Be this the eternal song, through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised.
   (“When Morning Gilds the Skies,” from the German,
      translated by Edward Caswell, 1814-1878;
      altered by the Pastor).

Then, too, the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to simple people. “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” Yes, “unto you”! He comes to those who have no training, who have never been to Bible school or seminary! I have known men who were highly trained, but did not know Jesus Himself!

In a real conversion, poor people, and people with no education, are drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit. In conversions, people are drawn to Jesus one by one. In revival many people are drawn to Jesus together, in a short time!

The Holy Spirit took twelve poor fishermen, and revealed Jesus to them one at a time. They were the Apostles. But on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit drew 3,000 people to Jesus! Oh, may we pray that ten or fifteen people coming to our church may be drawn to Jesus, and have Jesus revealed to them, by the Holy Spirit! May He glorify Christ by taking the things of Christ and showing them to you. Then you will be enabled to sing,

Alike at work or prayer to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised.

Also, the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus as the Saviour. That was something I had great trouble understanding. I can’t believe that I never heard salvation preached. But my mind was clouded over. I thought of Jesus as a martyr. I was angry with those who crucified Him. Why did they kill this great and good man? I thought of Jesus like He was an early version of Abraham Lincoln. Jesus was a great and good man who was killed because He was good. Lincoln’s assassin actually shot and killed him on Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. So, that’s how I thought of Jesus. He was a great teacher, and a sinless man. I would have said that He is the “Saviour,” but I didn’t know what that meant. Like the unbelieving Jews that Paul spoke of, there was a “vail” upon my heart, hiding the Saviour from my mind (II Corinthians 3:15). I kept trying to be a Christian by being good, and by dedicating myself more and more. I remember seeing Dr. Tom Dooley interviewed by Jack Paar on the “Tonight” show. He was a Catholic medical missionary to Laos and Vietnam. He wrote a book called “The Night They Burned the Mountain” about the Communists and the Christians in the mountains of Vietnam. I distinctly remember thinking, “That’s what I want to do. I want to be a missionary. I will follow Christ as a missionary and then I’ll be a Christian.” I couldn’t get that out of my mind. I would become a Christian by following Jesus in some great humanitarian work! I was absolutely blind concerning Jesus. I was sure I could save myself by following the example of Christ. The Apostle Paul described me exactly when he said,

“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (II Corinthians 4:3).

To this day I am amazed at how blind I was! But the Holy Spirit took the vail away, and shined His light, and I saw Jesus as the Saviour! Only then did the Gospel make sense!

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

And finally, the Holy Spirit shows us the love and mercy of Jesus. I would never have thought of Christ’s love and mercy toward a sinner like me, if the Holy Spirit had not revealed His love to me. That’s when I first saw the importance of His Blood. Before, it was the blood of a martyr, like the blood of Lincoln, or the blood of Dr. King, or the blood of a martyred missionary. But when I was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, I knew in my heart,

“It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

“This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

When I was saved, I immediately saw the glorious Blood of Christ. I bathed in His Blood! Every day seemed like “Good Friday” because I walked and lived and sang about the Blood of Jesus! I sang this old Gospel song until my throat was sore!

Down at the cross where my Saviour died,
Down where from cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His name! Glory to His name, Glory to His name,
There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name!

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His name! Glory to His name, Glory to His name,
There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name!
   (“Glory to His Name” by Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929).

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

Oh, how I pray that the Holy Spirit will show you the Blood of the Saviour! You’ll never stop thinking about Christ's Blood when you see it! You’ll never stop singing about it when the Spirit of God shows it to you! Hallelujah! The moment you trust the Saviour you will be able to sing,

There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the Blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the precious Blood of the Lamb.
   (“There is Power in the Blood” by Lewis E. Jones, 1865-1936).

I know that all this talk about the Blood of Jesus must sound wild and strange, and even weird, to those of you who are unsaved. But when the Holy Spirit draws you to Jesus, and your sins are washed away by His Blood – you will sing about His Blood and talk about His Blood for the rest of your life! Hallelujah!

I had planned to say much more in this sermon, but I feel I must end right now. We have been praying and fasting for God to send down a mighty wave of the Holy Spirit in revival. But what is revival? I think Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave a good answer. He said, “Revival, above everything else, is a glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is the restoration of Him to the centre of the life of the Church” (Revival, Crossway Books, 1987, p. 47).

I think he was exactly right. “Revival...is a glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Our text said much the same thing,

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

In a single conversion, the Holy Spirit causes one person to see Jesus and glorify Him, and magnify Him, and "brag" on Him, and sing about Him! In revival, the Holy Spirit causes many people to see Jesus, and glorify Him, and magnify Him, and “brag” on Him, and sing about Him, and dwell on Him – on His sacrifice on the Cross, and on His Blood, shed so our sins could be pardoned and cleansed.

There have been hardly any hymns or Gospel songs written about the Blood of Christ for over a hundred years! Why? Because we have gone through a long, dark period without revival. Preachers now seem to think that revival is centered on the Holy Spirit. But they are wrong. Our text shows that they are wrong.

“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

Surely there is a need to preach more on Jesus Christ Himself! Surely you need to think more about Jesus Christ Himself! Surely every unsaved person needs to be brought face to face with Jesus, for He is the only one who can pardon your sin and save you from misery in this life, and Hell-fire in the life to come! Surely, our churches need more songs like this one from Dr. John R. Rice,

We have a story of love past all measure.
We tell how sinners forgiven can be.
There is free pardon, for Jesus has suffered,
And made atonement on Calvary’s tree.
Oh, what a fountain of mercy is flowing,
Down from the crucified Saviour of men.
Precious the blood that He shed to redeem us,
Grace and forgiveness for all of our sin.
   (“Oh, What a Fountain!” by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).

Sing the chorus with me,

Oh, what a fountain of mercy is flowing,
Down from the crucified Saviour of men.
Precious the blood that He shed to redeem us,
Grace and forgiveness for all of our sin.

If you miss the love of Jesus, nothing else can help you! If you miss the cross of Jesus, nothing else can comfort you! If you miss the Blood of Jesus, nothing else can save you! Come to Jesus. Trust Him. Nothing else can help you! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Dr. Chan, please come and lead us in prayer. Amen.

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: John 16:7-15.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“When Morning Gilds the Skies” (translated from the German by
Edward Caswell, 1814-1878; altered by the Pastor).