He Will Lead 1974

Marie, two brief passages, one from John 14, 26, and then 15, 12 through 14. The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will declare to you things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine, and declare it to you. Now the promise that we read here is very simple, given to the apostles. That while their time of walking with Jesus in flesh and blood is about now to end, they are going to receive a new teacher, who will take them on into things that are presently beyond their understanding.

This new teacher will come to them because of the death that Jesus is about to die, and because of the blood He is about to shed. After the resurrection, Jesus gives them some more hints. He says, don't leave Jerusalem.

Stay in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high, the Holy Spirit. John and Eve baptized in water, but you're going to be baptized in the Holy Spirit very soon. And then you're going to be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, and on from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Now there are many people who seem to think that these promises of Jesus apply only to the twelve apostles, or perhaps to those who lived during that time. But until the work that Jesus has given His church is completed, as long as it remains unfinished, the promise of the Holy Spirit to teach and to guide and to empower applies to every man and woman and young person who is at all serious about giving himself over to living the life of a disciple. The promise is given, and the Holy Spirit will verily come to do exactly the things that Jesus said He would do.

Basically to lead the believer into the truth he needs to know, and also to bring him into the place of power where he needs to be, in order that the believers can be those witnesses of Jesus out to the uttermost parts of the earth. The Holy Spirit is not given to give you goosebumps. The Holy Spirit is not given in order that you may have some kind of exotic experience that you can brag about in front of your Christian friends, or to give you heart palpitations.

The Holy Spirit is given to you in order that you may be led by the Spirit into the truth you need. Body and mind into that truth, into that place of power. Now the Holy Spirit, there's no question about the Holy Spirit coming.

He will come. Often people think that's the problem. The problem is that the Spirit isn't coming to us.

Or we don't know how to get it. The Holy Spirit will come to you in ways that you have never experienced in all your life. Even if you've been baptized 50 times already.

Or even if you've been disappointed 35 times already. He'll come. That's not the problem.

The problem is will you listen when the Spirit teaches? And will you follow when the Spirit leads? There are many of us right now who are in our hearts complaining that the Holy Spirit never comes to us when in fact the Holy Spirit has come and in a thousand ways is trying to get us to wake up and listen and obey and follow. Picture yourself being awakened one night by a series of thundering explosions. You jump out of bed and run to your window and see that your whole street is ablaze with smoke and flames.

And as far as the eye can see, you can see destruction far out. There are no sirens, no fire engines, no police cars, no ambulance. The destruction is so universal that the whole city is in a state of shock.

Just then you hear a voice behind you saying, Come. Follow me quickly. And you turn and find yourself looking into the face of one who could have been a stranger who just happened to come by or he could be an angel of God.

Quickly you slip into some clothes and some shoes and you go out the back door of your house following him up the alley. Several doors from your house you see another guide almost identical to the one that's leading you trying to persuade one of your neighbors to leave her backyard. And there she stands looking at her house wringing her hands and saying, It's all gone.

What am I going to do? I can't leave my whole house. Everything that I ever lived for is in there. And you hear her guide warning her, And I can't guide you if you're forever looking back.

And one of the primary reasons why many of us are not really experiencing the leading of the Holy Spirit is because we're all the time looking back. When a man looks at a woman in lust, he's looking back. And when a woman encourages a man to look at her in lust, she's looking back.

And when you look at somebody whose circumstances seem better with covetousness or envy, you're looking back. And when we're forever comparing the present moment with the most wonderful year of our life, we're looking back. And when we're looking back, the Holy Spirit cannot lead us.

Your guide takes you up the alley and out into a main street that's now nothing but a confusion of screens and burning rubble. At an intersection, you notice an old friend who's also being literally pulled by one of these guides. And his face is just wrapped in confusion and bewilderment.

He looks up at a third-story window where a woman is screaming to him, Don't be a fool and follow him. Come up here. I'll keep you safe.

And then he glances over to some of his buddies standing in the doorway of a bar. What's your hurry, man? You better come and have a drink with us. You're going to need it.

And across the street, he looks and sees a man who's quite well-dressed, a few years older than he, waving a whole bunch of money. All this is yours, son, if you'll drive me to the bridge. And there he stands, looking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And finally, you see his guide saying to him, I can't guide you if you listen to every voice that comes along. And I don't have time to wait for you to make up your mind. And with this, he lets go of him.

And this is another reason why we're not really guided by the Spirit of God. We call ourselves open-minded, when in fact, we're so open-minded that we haven't got a mind left. We listen to every voice that speaks indiscriminately.

Voices of men, voices of devils, voices that come through the TV, voices on the radio, voices everywhere. And so now we're paralyzed with confusion and the only part of us that can move anymore is our head, as it swivels back and forth between these voices. Now your guide leads you into a part where the smoke begins to clear and the air is fresh.

And you say, safe at last, praise the Lord! And your guide says, not yet. We have a long way to go yet. But sir, can't I just lie down and rest for a little bit? Not here, not here, hurry, come on.

And you notice all around, on the grass, are spread the bodies of people who are asleep. And in the light of that glowing sky, you can see beautiful smiles on their faces. And running around among these sleepers are guides trying to get them to wake up, trying to get them to wake up.

And as you get nearer to them, you can hear some of them saying, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, we're safe at last. In a matter of minutes, that whole park is going to blow and all those sleepers are going to be ripped to shreds. But nothing seems to avail to wake them out of their sleep.

Again, one of the reasons why we're not led by the Spirit of God. What happens with so many of us, we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit for a while, until we get to the park where things seem okay. And then we just settle down and go to sleep.

And there are whole fellowships of believers that are, you know, with those marvelous smiles, saying, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And they haven't moved an inch in six months. And danger is near.

And the Spirit is trying to wake them up, but they slumber on. Following your guide, you emerge from the park to a serious set of railroad tracks. And he guides you down the railroad tracks, behind some old warehouses that haven't caught fire yet.

And at the entrance to one of the warehouses, you see a man arguing with his guide. I've had enough of your crazy direction. You don't know any more about what's happening than I do.

Three times in the last hour, you almost got me killed. Now I'm going to go in this building, and I'm going to wait it out there, and you go get lost, he says to his guide. You haven't traveled 300 yards down the tracks before that building blows and the man inside it.

And this is another problem that we all have. We always seem to think we know better. We always seem to think we have the answer.

Other people don't understand, and the other people have it all mixed up, but we know. And then when the Spirit begins to guide us along the line that does not coincide with our idea, we just switch off on our own track and let him go. It seems like for six months now the Holy Spirit's been just taking me around in circles, and I'm sick and tired of it.

I'm going to try my own way for a change. And off we go. Proceeding down the track behind your guide, you finally come to a place where two burning buildings are penetrated by that track.

It goes right in between them, and flaming bits of roof and rubble fall down like just a shower of fire coming down on those tracks. And your guide says, Don't be afraid. We have to go through there.

It's the only way. Let's go. And when you get to the entrance of this canyon of fire, you see a man and his wife arguing with their guide.

We'll never get through there, he said. And the guide says, It's the only way. Let's go.

We don't have time to waste. And how many times do we find ourselves led by the Spirit into an impossible situation that just doesn't seem to have any way out, and if we're listening to the Spirit, the Spirit is warning us, Don't try to get around this. There is no way around it.

We have to go through the fire. Let's go. And the only way we'll follow him through the fire is if we trust him.

Trust me, he said. Trust me. I'll get you through.

And there may be some of us right now who are just baffled at the entrance to one of these canyons of flame, impossible circumstances, and we don't want to move on through because we won't trust. The Spirit of God cannot guide us if we won't trust. Somehow, our guide gets us through to the other side without a singe or a scratch, and we find ourselves at the edge of a river.

A ladder proceeds down a wall where a small boat, crowded with people, is waiting. And your guide says, Get into that boat. And you say, Wait a minute, sir.

That boat's already overcrowded. Look, they're trying to bail out the water. They're never going to make it across the river.

I can't get in that boat. I'm going to wait for another boat. And the guide says, That's your boat.

There is no other. Go. And how many times the Spirit brings us to the place where the only possible way is that we just have to fit in with brothers and sisters.

And we don't want to do it. You mean I have to fit in with those creeps? And we have to lean back and forth with them and get together with them and try to bail the water out of the boat as it keeps pouring in? We don't like that. We want to wait for a private yacht to come and take us across.

But there are no private boats on this river. The only way, the only way is to fit in with our brothers and sisters. And this is precisely why the Spirit of God has brought us together.

And the only ones among us who are going to make it through to the other side are those who are truly willing to fit in with their brothers and sisters no matter who they are. And those who insist on being secret or open freelancers will never make it. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said.

He will guide you into all truth. Now in this flock we come from many backgrounds and we are very, very different from each other in so many ways. And yet God has seen fit to bring us together because we have one thing in common and that's our sin.

And if there's anybody who doesn't think he has any sin then we have nothing in common. And to every believer who is open our Lord God offers us now the blood of His Son to cover that sin. And to everyone who accepts the blood of the Lamb as the covering for his guilt God now gives His Holy Spirit today to be our guide.

Then begins the final awesome division which only God can see between those who are willing to be led by the Spirit and follow where He guides and those who refuse to be led who insist on doing it their own way. Don't say that God hasn't given the Spirit to you. He has.

Who do you think brought you here? And don't say the Spirit isn't leading you. He is. If you're willing to be led.

Of course He can't lead you if you're forever looking back or if you're listening to every voice that comes along or if you all the time want to go to sleep or if you always think you know better or if you're afraid to trust Him or if you're unwilling to fit in with your brothers and sisters then He can't guide you. But the Spirit of God will literally this day and this hour guide you if you will walk by the light you now are given and do whatever it is He's already shown you to do and there's something as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. The Spirit will lead you if you will follow.

Let's wait upon Him right now in prayer. Lord God, You know where every heart in this place is. You know the ones that are yearning to be obedient and You know that part of each of our hearts that just wants to get away and escape the whole thing.

You know how tricky we are at deceiving ourselves and passing the blame on to everybody else. We're just asking that at this moment You'll deliver us from our anxiety and our fear our guilt and our self-righteousness and enable us to see the blood as our peace with You, Father. Enable us, Father, to get our eyes off our brothers and sisters now and just on Jesus and enable us this day, Lord God to begin to hear within us and from around us the clear voice of Your Spirit.

Impart to us the wisdom to discern the voice of the Spirit from every other voice and grant us grace to follow that voice. We ask it, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.