Understanding The Holy Spirit’s Role In Guiding Us Into All Truth

What if the Bible doesn’t truly open until the Spirit does the opening? We take that question straight to John 16 and follow the thread through Genesis, Matthew, and Acts to see why the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but the divine person who convicts, guides, and glorifies Christ. Along the way, we trace the Trinity at work—Father, Son, and Spirit in creation, at the Jordan, and in the Great Commission—so we can understand how God reveals Himself and how His Word presses into our conscience with living power.

We share how the Spirit brings the Word from page to heart: exposing sin, illuminating righteousness, and reminding us that judgment has already been pronounced on the prince of this world. Acts 5 confronts our easy evasions: to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. That moment in the early church shows the Spirit guarding holiness and reveals why His deity matters for everything—new birth, sanctification, assurance, and the church’s witness. If He were not God, He could not reveal God, regenerate the heart, or guide us into all truth. Because He is God, He speaks, teaches, comforts, can be grieved and resisted, and leads us to Jesus across Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

This conversation turns practical and pastoral. We urge believers to yield—do not grieve Him with hidden sin, do not resist Him with pride, do not quench Him with distraction. Let Him confront, command, convict, and call, because the Spirit of God always leads to the Son of God, and the Son brings us to the Father. And if you’re searching or standing at the edge of faith, hear the invitation of grace: repentance is not self-cleaning; it is turning to Christ who saves by His cross and resurrection. Press play for a clear path to deeper surrender, a richer reading of Scripture, and a steadier walk in step with the Spirit.

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hello, and welcome back to Word from the Word of God. I'm truly grateful you all joined me today, wherever you may be or whatever you may do, maybe you're driving or working, resting, or just listening in the quiet moments of your day. I want to thank you each one for joining us and opening up your hearts with me to the Word of God. As we continue in our Without Excuse series, which we have been in for some time, the Lord has directed my heart to pause here today and consider the one who brings the word to life off the pages of Scripture, the Holy Spirit of God. This truth is foundational to everything that we have studied, everything that we've ever studied, not just in this series, but everything that we have covered for over two and a half years through the Word of God, the words from the Word of God. It's foundational for that teaching all the way up to today, and even going further in the future and what lies ahead of us in every message series and even in this series, according to the Lord's will. So before we go any further today, I as always I want to anchor our hearts. I want to anchor our hearts and the authority of this message in the Word of God by examining the very words of Jesus Christ Himself concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit. If you will turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 16, the Gospel of John chapter 16. There we'll be reading verse 7 down through verse 15. For the sake of time, I'm going to go ahead and start reading, but I invite you to pause the broadcast and turn over there and then come back and read along with us. Jesus says here, now then in context, these are his last words spoken before he would go to Calvary's cross and pay the sin debt of the world in full by the death of his body and the blood, his blood shed there, every drop in the ground that day, to pay our sin debt in full, that we might live through him, that he came to seek and to save that which is lost, and I praise God for that. But he says right here, beginning in verse seven, he says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove. Now that word carries the meaning of conviction or laying open something that's hidden. Of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and ye see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, how be it? When he identifies here who he is speaking of, who the comforter is, who the he is that he is referring to, when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. Notice that. Not partial truth, not certain truths, all truth. And we know from what we've examined that the word of God is truth. As Christ would say there in John 17, I've sanctified them with your word. Your word is truth. Not the truth is truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth. So you see, the Holy Spirit, what he's telling us here, the Holy Spirit reveals all of that truth to us. And he says, For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. Verse fifteen, all things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Nothing held back from us, folks, all truth continually. All we have to do is open our hearts to it. But you know, these are some of the most important words Jesus ever spoke about the Holy Spirit. Words that reveal the very third person of the tribe and Godhead. The one who, as he says right here, the one who basically brings the word of God to life off the pages of scripture. The one who bring the one who convicts the world. Convicts the world, think about that, of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The one who guides into all truth. And I stress that all truth. The one who glorifies Christ and the one who speaks to our hearts from the through the scriptures. In our last message, we saw how that the word of God confronts the soul. And we looked at Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 and 13. Remember that it is a sharp two-edged sword cutting down to the asunder of the soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, piercing, dividing, discerning, exposing, and leading every person and every act and everything we've ever done naked and opened unto the eye of Him of whom we have to do. Him of whom one day we will stand before in judgment. But the word of God just doesn't confront the soul alone. It doesn't confront us by itself. Yes, it is living and it is powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. That cannot be denied. But it doesn't just confront in it of its own. Because the Spirit of God, as Christ is telling us here in chapter 16 of John, is working through it, carrying it with divine power into the depths of the human heart. The Bible is not merely a book, as all the evidence that we have examined has proven beyond question. Rather, it is the living revelation of God to us, and what a blessed revelation that is. God's love letter to us. And it is the Spirit of God who makes that revelation effectual, applying the truth of Scripture to the mind, awakening the conscience, and opening the hearts to the reality of God. Jesus tells us here in that the Spirit in this passage, the Spirit reproves the world. He convicts the world. That means he presses the truth of Scripture above all other opinion upon the conscience. He guides into all truth, meaning he illuminates our mind and our hearts to the things of God, the truth of God. He guides us into all truth, illuminating our hearts. He glorifies Christ by showing him to us, revealing him throughout the word of God to our hearts, from Genesis to Revelation. And he is there, folks. All you have to do is prayerfully search for it, and then he is there. You don't have to go far in Scripture to find Jesus Christ because he's from Genesis to Revelation. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit is the one who takes the written word and carries it into the soul with heavenly authority, opening our spiritual eyes, awakening our inner being, and revealing the very heart of God. Have you ever thought about that? Revealing the very heart of God, how he reveals his very heart to us in this love letter that we call the Bible, the book that he has given us, the eternal book that will stand and endure forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but Jesus, my word shall not pass away. Isaiah and Peter would tell us, Peter quoting from Isaiah, that the word of God, the word of our Lord, shall endure forever. It is an incorruptible seed which you can be born again by. But as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. So until we understand who the Spirit is, and that's the significance of the message today, understanding his person and his work. Because until we understand who the Spirit is, we cannot rightly understand how the Word of God confronts the soul, how it commands the soul, how it convicts the soul, and how it calls the soul to Christ. So today I invite you to listen along with your heart open because the Spirit of God is speaking through His Word. He is speaking to you and He is speaking to me as we stand together under the same voice of God. And if the Spirit of God is speaking, then we must ask, who is the Spirit of God? The answer to this question, and to answer it, we turn as always to the Word of God, which reveals that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is God, the third person of the Godhead. Uh I want to say this as we begin. You know, if we're going to hear his voice in the word, then we must first understand the one who speaks. Because if we misunderstand the Spirit, we will misunderstand the Word and His Word. First of all, the Holy Spirit is not, and I I emphasize that, is not an it. He is not a force, he is not an energy, he is not just a feeling, he is not an influence, nor is he an impersonal power. The Holy Spirit, according to God's word, is God, the third person of the tribe Godhead. And the scriptures reveal this with absolute eternal clarity. If you will look with me in Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, they're looking at verses chapter 28, verse 18 through 20. And again, these are Matthew's recording of the words that Christ has said. He said, Um, and all Jesus came and spake unto them. This is after he's been crucified, resurrected, he's getting rigged to his sin. He says, All power is given me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name, not the names, plural, be named, singular of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Jesus says right here, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Three persons, but one name. Not names, like I said, plural, but uh name, singular, declaring one name for three persons in equal glory, equal in authority, and equal in deity. The Spirit stands side by side with the Father and the Son, not beneath them, not separate from them, but one with them. This is the doctrine of the Trinity or the triunity of the Spirit of God. One God and three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is the unity of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit is not only declared by Jesus, but it's revealed throughout Scripture. Did you know that? Turn with me, if you will, to Genesis chapter one. Let's read the first three verses there, and then we'll kind of expound on these verses. We're going to go to Genesis 1, uh, and then hold your place there because we're going to come back to it, but then uh turn over to John chapter 1, the gospel of John chapter 1. But beginning here in Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, the word of God tells us in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Then if you will turn with me to John chapter 1, verse 1, where he says, In the beginning, does that sound familiar? Does that sound familiar? In the beginning, in the beginning, but John tells us something great and remarkable here. He says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was was life, and the life was like to me in light of men. In the beginning, in the beginning. So we see the Trinity as revealed here in Scripture in the beginning of all places, in creation of the world and universe. In the opening verses of scripture, the child of Godhead is already there at work. The Father creates, he says, in the beginning, God created, and that word created is bara. That means he created something from nothing. Then the spirit moves upon the face of the waters as it was with it was in the dark and without form and without void, and it was void. But this then the Son creates as well, cause God speaks the word was there. Because John was telling us in verse 14 that identifying the word as Christ, he said, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. I'm sorry for the technical difficulties we're having, so just bear with me. You know, what I'm saying here, creation is a work of the one God carried out through, as named here in Scripture, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit acting together in creation. Not only that, but in the creation of man, if you will turn with me back over to uh Genesis chapter 1, and let's read verses 26 and 27. The word of God tells us here, and God said, and listen closely, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, so God created man in his singular, in his own image. So it's singular there, but it's plural, uh speaking of more than one in verse 26. But it says right here, so God created man in his own image, singular, in the image of God created he him, male and female. Notice that no matter what man says, God created male and female created he them. What we're trying to show here is the Trinity, the triunity of the Godhead was there in the creation of man, the creation of humanity. When God creates humanity, the language becomes unmistakable. Let us make man in our image. God is not speaking to angels because angels do not create. Angels are created beings, and man is not made in their image. We're made in God's image. This is God speaking within the Godhead. One God, plural language, shared image, shared glory, and shared creative act. Humanity also bears that triunity, the image of the tribe of God, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then you have in Matthew, turn with me over to Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3, we see the Trinity present again. Let me pull my Bible over here where I can see the light. The word of God tells me here. I got three Bibles running here, so y'all bear with me. And I know you can't turn there that quick, so I'm gonna go ahead and read. But Matthew, the gospel, Matthew chapter 3, we're gonna look at verse uh 13 through verse 17. The word of God says, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee, the Jordan, uh unto John to be baptized of him. But got John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering and said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, then he suffered him. And now listen to this verse 16 and 17. Listen to this. He says, And when Jesus went, when Jesus uh was baptized, went up straightly out of the water, the Son of God is coming out of the water. Lo, the heavens were opened unto him. Speaking of John the Baptist, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw. John saw the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God descending like a dove. So you have the Son of God coming up out of the water, you have the Holy Spirit of God descending from heaven like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son, the voice of God the Father, the Trinity present at the baptism of Jesus Christ. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So you see, not only is the Holy Spirit declared equal by Christ there in Matthew 28, but he is revealed in the unity, the trying unity is revealed throughout Scripture. Uh and then we go on to move on for the sake of time. You know, these scenes, though, as we look at them, are not just symbolic. They are true happenings. You can't deny creation, you can't deny the creation of man, you can't deny the baptism of Christ at the Jordan River. It's all documented history. Not only that, but it's living truth. It's living proof of what God is telling us and giving us his living revelation of himself in the letter that we have before us. So beautiful. And it is the Holy Spirit that brings these truths to life. So we see not only that, but we see the Trinity working in our very lives today. The scenes are not symbolic, they are a revelation from God. They show us that the Spirit is not an it. And I want to repeat that because I've heard so many times in my time in ministry people calling him an it. He is not an it. He is not some mystical force, not a mystical influence, but a divine person who stands eternally with the Father and the Son. Not only that, but the Spirit in the scriptures is called God. Turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 4. But a certain man named Ananias, verse 1 of Acts chapter 5. Excuse me. I just say Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 4. But a certain man named Named Ananias with Sapphire, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to, notice this, the Holy Ghost, lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast lied unto men, but hast not lied unto men, but unto who? Unto who? God. This is one of the clearest, most direct declarations in all of Scripture that the Holy Spirit is God. Verse 3, Peter said, You've lied to the Holy Ghost. In verse 4, he said, You've lied unto God. Peter does not correct himself. He didn't say, oh, well, that's that's a misconception or or that's that's conflicting information. No, he doesn't correct himself. He does not change the subject. He does not say you lied to the Spirit and also lied to God. He equates the two. To lie to the Holy Ghost is to lie to God. That's the scripture reveals and implies fully. And it is the Spirit that brings this word to life in our heart. This means that the Spirit is not a mere representative of God. He is not a distant messenger of God. He is not simply God's power or God's influence. The Spirit is personally present, personally aware, personally offended, and personally identified as God. And notice something else. Peter says, Why has Satan filled thine heart? Ananias is not just what he did was not just financial dishonesty. It is spiritual hypocrisy in the very presence of God. He wanted the appearance of full devotion with only partial surrender. And many of us fall under this today. And it is the Spirit that brings us under that conviction. So Peter says, you didn't just lie to men, you lied to the face of God Himself, the Holy Ghost. This shows us that the Spirit is present in the church because we're talking about the days, early days of the birth of the church. He's present in the church. The Spirit is aware of the hearts of men. The Spirit is the one before whom all pretense is exposed. The Spirit is the one who guards the holiness of Christ's body. The holiness of Christ's body. So be very careful not to separate God and the Holy Spirit because they are one. They are one. We're not making a today, we're not making a cold doctrinal statement. I want you to understand that. The Spirit is God, is the God who I want you to take this into consideration as we look at these points here. Think about it. Once you're born again, you're born from above, you're born, reborn of the Spirit, the second birth. The Spirit of God is the one who dwells in and walks alongside of God's people. He is the God who knows our hearts. He is the God who will not be mocked. He is the God who demands truth in all the inward parts. And if you're lying to the Spirit, you're lying to God. If you're resisting the Spirit, you're resisting and grieving God. If you're uh disobeying the Spirit, you're disobeying God. So they're one in the same. Three persons, one Spirit. You say, well, I wish I had more clarity. Well, I do too, but that's the thing of Scripture. We we don't have all the answers here. Do you ask me to explain this other than to take it separate from the scriptures and explain it? I couldn't do it. Neither can you, if you be honest. Neither can anybody, because this is of God, and He's trying to tell us the truth today. He is one God in three persons. One Spirit, or excuse me, one Spirit in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So grab your pencils and your notebooks and write these down. The Spirit speaketh expressly. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1. He wills things. That means he has a will. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 11. Says, grieve not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can be grieved, Ephesians 4.30. He can be resisted, as Acts 7.51 tells us. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. He teaches. In John chapter 16. Not only that, but the Bible says he comforts. Jesus said there, and he says, another comforter will come. If I depart not from you, the comforter will not come. That comforter, that's speaking none other than the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside, the one who walks with us, the one who dwells in our hearts and walks by us to help every day. And not only that, Jesus said there in John chapter 16, he will guide you into all truth. So he's here to guide. These are not the actions of an impersonal force. These are the actions of the divine person of the crown God, the third person of the Godhead. The Spirit is eternal, omnificent, omnipresent, and holy. I don't have time to go into those scriptures, but I will give you some scriptures to write down along with these. Omnipresent. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Psalm 139.7. Holy, the very name of the Spirit is Holy Spirit. He is holy and righteous, meaning he is holy God, righteous God. He is not a part of God, he is fully God. So why does all this matter? If the Spirit were not God, he could not reveal God. He could not convict the world. He could not open the scriptures. He could not draw sinners to Christ. He could not regenerate the heart. He could not sanctify the believer. And most importantly to me, and I believe it's important to you, he could not seal the redeemed. He could not empower the church if he were not God. But he is divine in every way, and he is God. As we continue on, I want to give you an exhortation of the true born again believers as we close today. I'm sorry I went a little long, but I believe the Lord has truly spoken to our hearts. At least he has the mine, I pray he has the yours. Beloved, and I speak to those who are born again. If you are truly born again, if the Spirit of God truly dwells in you, then this message calls you to a deeper surrender. The Spirit who moved at creation, the Spirit who descended upon Christ from heaven, the Spirit who breathed out the scriptures that we have already proven that he is the author of Scripture, as he carried the men along and revealed the words that they should write down. That means we believe in the plenary or the complete inspiration of Scripture. Every word is infallible and inerrant. The Spirit is the one who convicts, the one guide who guides, the one who teaches, comforts, and sanctifies. That same spirit lives in each one of you and me. He lives inside of us. He dwells. As Paul would say, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So cling to his word, yield to his voice. Do not grieve him with hidden sin. Remember, everything is open and naked unto him of whom we have to do. And when you're doing things that you're not supposed to do, you're grieving God, you're grieving the Holy Spirit. Do not resist him with stubborn pride. Do not quench him with worldly distractions. Let the Spirit confront you, let the Spirit command you, let the Spirit convict you, and let the Spirit call you. For the Spirit of God will always lead you to the Son of God. And the Son of God will always bring you to the Father. Praise God for that. Walk in the Spirit, live in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and let the Spirit glorify Christ in your life today. And to every soul listening that has never been born again, never accepted Christ into your life, never repented and received Christ by faith, to every heart still carrying its sin, to every person who knows about God but does not know Him, does not have a personal relationship, the same Spirit who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment is the same spirit who presses the word into your conscience today, the same spirit who reveals Christ to you wherever you may be. He is speaking to you right now, right now in this very invitation. Now I know this hasn't been an evangelistic type message, but you must understand you must be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said you must uh be born, you must be born again to see the kingdom of heaven. And then he tells us on there in John chapter 3 how we can be born again. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That is the Spirit speaking to your heart through that scripture today. He's speaking to you right now, not to condemn you. Yes, you're in sin, but we've all been there. And we still, if we're honest, commit sin every day. There's nobody perfect. But we we strive to please the Lord because we're born again into his family. But you're away from the Lord. You have not received his son. You don't have that relationship, but the Spirit is not trying to condemn you. He's trying to call you, He's letting you know the life you're living now is not right, and you're condemned. You're under condemnation, you're under the penalty of death. And without Christ, you will die and go to hell. That's the truth of Scripture. He's not trying to shame you, but to save you. He's not trying to push you away, but to draw you to Jesus Christ, the only savior of sins. Folks, I thank you so much for joining us today. Uh, you know, it's been such a blessing to my heart, and I pray it has been to yours. I'm again apologize for going a little bit long again, but I believe the Lord has spoken to hearts. And if you have never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is another scripture I want to run put upon your heart today. Repent ye therefore. This is Acts chapter 3, verse 19, so you know I'm not, you can go back and find it. Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Repentance is not, and I repeat, not cleaning yourself up. It is not earning God's favor. You can never do that because the Bible says you're enemies of God in your current state, in your sinful nature. It is not performing religious works. I'm not talking about getting your name on a church roll or anything like that. Those are good activities, but you must first receive Christ into your heart. That's why it's important to understand repentance is simply this: turning from your sin and turning to God by fleshing your faith in Christ, resting your whole soul, trusting everything on Jesus Christ, his blood, his cross, and his resurrection. You can't earn it, you can't buy it, but it's all by free grace, given freely. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man shall boast. Don't ever let everybody ever tell you you gotta clean yourself up to get saved. No, that comes from the inside out once you receive Christ. The Holy Spirit moves in and then he guides you the rest of the way. But you must first let Christ in. You must repent and turn to him by placing your faith in him. Father, we thank you for this message today. I thank you, Lord, for the truth of your word. I thank you, Lord, for your spirit that that guides us into all truth, that brings us all under conviction for our sins. Lord, I just thank you so much for the power we have. Lord, that all that you have revealed to us over these past messages, Lord, about your living revelation to our hearts, Lord, through your word, the love letter you've given us to live by, Lord. Lord, I pray for sinners today, wherever they may be, Lord. I pray, especially for that one that's closest to hell today. I pray, Lord, that something was said and something was done in this message, Lord, that would draw them, that the Holy Spirit could use by the scriptures to draw them to the saving knowledge, Lord Jesus, of your gospel. And I pray for every true born-again believer today. I pray that we would be settled to serve you, knowing that everything is open unto you that we do. There is nothing hidden that we can fool man, but we cannot fool you. Lord, help us to live righteous and holy until you come. And as John prayed at the end of Scripture, even so come, Lord Jesus, even so come. And may you find faith when you come and find us watching when you do come. In your name I pray, and for your glory. Amen.