Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 42. And while you do that I'll let
you know that we've decided on a date and some preachers for
our conference. The date will be February the
6th, 7th, and 8th. That's the first full weekend
of February, 6th, 7th, and 8th of February. And three men that
have agreed to come are David Edmondson, which most of you
have not met, but you can go online and listen to him. He's
been a good friend and a faithful gospel preacher. He's in Madisonville,
Kentucky, where Maurice Montgomery used to pastor. And Mike Walker
is in Cottageville, West Virginia, and he's going to be here, and
Todd Nybert. Todd Nybert will be here. So
our schedule will be the same as usual, Friday night, Saturday
morning, and Sunday morning, and those men will be here, Lord
willing, to preach Christ to us. You have your Bibles open
to Isaiah 42 for our scripture reading. Let's read together. How oftentimes we say, look to
Christ. Well, that's what this phrase
means. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him.
He's the Christ, the anointed. And he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He's going to fulfill the law.
He's going to be a successful mediator. He's going to bear
the responsibility of both sides of the equation, and he's going
to bring sinners back into fellowship with God. He shall not cry, nor
lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. He's
not going to go around begging men to let him have his way.
No, he's very confident in his ability. A bruised reed shall
he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." Now
flax is that material that they would use for a wick in an oil
lamp. And when the oil ran low, the
flame would begin to flicker out. Perhaps that is a picture
of you this morning. It's a picture of me often. Oil
runs low and the flame gets very low. And normally you would wet
your finger and put it out. He says, I won't do that. I won't
do that. I'll put more oil in the lamp. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. Verse 4, He shall not fail. nor be discouraged, till he hath
set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his
law. Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens and
stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth, and that which
cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
and spirit to them that walk therein, I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither any praise to graven images."
What a glorious promise. This is the better covenant based
on better promises. That's the fulfillment of what
the Lord Jesus Christ did as our mediator. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that we have an advocate with Thee. One who is able to mediate. One who has succeeded in satisfying justice and judgment. We pray that You would Lift Him
up in our hearts. We pray that You would give to
us the faith to believe Him. We ask it in His glorious name.
Amen. Let's stand together again. We'll
sing the hymn found on the back of your bulletin. Will you open
your Bibles with me to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. Verse 8, And when he is come,
he will reprove, that word is convince, convince. Irresistibly and undeniably he
will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now a couple of weeks ago we
looked at John 3.16 and I said that the word world is
no place used in the scriptures to describe each and every individual
person of the world. And the way it's used in John
3.16 is the same as the way it's used here. People want to use
John 3.16 and say, well, God loves everybody in the world.
wants everybody in the world to be saved. And here he says
that when He, the Spirit of God, has come, He will convince the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. I have one question
for those people. Has He done that? Has He convinced
every person in the world of their sin, and of His righteousness,
and of judgment? of sin because they believe not
on me, of righteousness because I go to my father, and of judgment
because the prince of this world is judged." Now our Lord is telling
us what the Holy Spirit is going to do when He comes for those
that He has chosen out of the world. And so the question that
I have for myself this week in preparing this message and for
you this morning is the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. I had somebody ask me this week,
I invited them to come to services and they said, well, do you all
speak in tongues at your church? And I said, well, sorta. We speak English and Spanish
and we speak a language that you probably wouldn't understand
anyway. But, you know, they wanted to go someplace where there was
an obvious manifestation of the Spirit of God. Paul said in Romans chapter 8,
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. We've got to have the Holy Spirit
if we want to be in Christ. There's no being in Christ apart
from the Holy Spirit. The Lord told Nicodemus in John
chapter 3, He said, lest you're born of the Spirit, you cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. In Ephesians, the Lord speaks
of being filled with the Spirit, and in Galatians chapter 5, He
talks about the fruits of the Spirit of God that are in the
believer's life. In Romans chapter 8, He says,
There is now therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but walk after the Spirit. So
this matter of having the Spirit of God is essential to salvation. In 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 11,
Peter speaking of those Old Testament prophets and he says, and the
Spirit of God that was in them. Do I have the Spirit? How do I know? What's the evidence
in my life? that God has given to me His
Holy Spirit. Is it some ecstatic utterance
of an unknown language? Is it acting foolishly or doing
something that men do in order to pretend they've got the Spirit
of God? Is that how we know if we have
the Spirit of God? Most of that kind of stuff is
just a facade. You know that. It's fake. It's a cover-up. It's a front
in order to pretend that they've got something that they really
don't have. What does the Word of God say about the evidence
of the Holy Spirit in the life of his people. I want to know
what that evidence is and I want to know if it's evident in my
life. Let's begin reading in verse
1 of chapter 16. These things have I spoken unto
you that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will
think that he's doing God's service. They're gonna hate you. They
hated the master. They're gonna hate the servant. Don't be surprised
by it. And these things will they do
unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. Men by nature hate Christ. They hate Christ. They come into
this world, all of us come into this world as God-haters. And
if the Lord doesn't give us his spirit and give us life, give
us love for Christ. But these things have I told
you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them. But these things I said not unto
you at the beginning because I was with you. Now he's about
to depart. So he's telling them some things that he hadn't told
them before because they didn't need to worry about it. He was
there with them. He was their comforter. But now
I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you ask me, whither
goest thou? But because I have said these
things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart." He's making it clear
to them that he's about to depart, and they're becoming very sorrowful.
Nevertheless, nevertheless, I tell you, that it is expedient for
you that I go away it's necessary for you that I go away for if
I go not away the Comforter will not come the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit
that's who he's speaking of here I have to depart and then I'll
send him unto you and he came in the full power of his glory
on the day of Pentecost and he continues, he continues to enter
into the hearts of God's people every time that he saves one
of them. When he has come, when he has
come, when he's come into the world, he will convince reprove. He will convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin? Because they believe not on me. Have you ever been an unbeliever? You ever been an unbeliever?
Just couldn't believe. You didn't believe. The only way to have your sins
forgiven, the only way to have your sins
forgiven is to believe that faith is beyond your ability. It's beyond your reach. I will convince them of their
sin because they believe not on me. Now I know that we think
that my problem is my, whatever it is, my impatience, my pride,
my unforgiving spirit, my anger, my fear, my materialism, my lust,
my addiction, whatever it is. If I could just get that sin
under control, then everything else would be fine. The truth
is that those are nothing but the symptoms of unbelief. They are the symptoms of unbelief. The fountain of all sin is unbelief. The cause of all sin is unbelief.
It is the sin that doth so easily beset us. Truth is, that if we had perfect
faith, we would never sin. If we had perfect faith, we would
never sin. And that's what distinguishes
the Lord Jesus Christ from us. He's the one, the only one, that
believed God perfectly. To His dying breath, Father,
into Thy hands I commend my spirit. He's the only one that was without
sin, because He had perfect faith. Job said, though he slay me,
yet will I trust him. And yet, if you read on in the
book of Job, you'll find that Job didn't trust God. There's
only one. There's only one that lived up
to that declaration. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. The Lord Jesus Christ trusted the Father even when
the Father pulled the sword of justice and buried it into the
heart of His own Son. He trusted God. He believed God
perfectly. There's our problem. When the
Spirit of God comes, He will convince the world of sin because
they believe not on Me. Have you been convicted of your
unbelief? In salvation? Have you ever been
an unbeliever? Have you ever been an unbeliever? Don't you love that story in
Mark chapter 5 when Jairus comes before the Lord and he falls
at his feet and the scripture says, He besought him greatly
and cried out to him, My little daughter lieth at the point of
death. Would you please come and lay
your hand on her that she might be recovered. And the Lord said,
I'll come. And God, in His wise providence,
interrupted that trip back to Jairus's house with the woman
who had the issue of blood. Can't you see Jairus, as the
Lord's dealing with this woman with the issue of blood, he's
pulling on the Lord, no, come, come, my daughter. And then as
soon as the Lord heals the woman with the issue of blood, a servant
comes from Jairus' house and says, trouble the master no longer,
your daughter is dead. I mean, the life came out of
Jairus. And our Lord looks at him and
he says, be not afraid. Only believe. Only believe. All to be able to believe God.
Lord, that was my problem in my lost condition. I didn't believe. i didn't believe that i had an
advocate with the father i didn't believe that he was my mediator
i didn't believe that he was all of my righteousness i didn't
believe that he i couldn't believe i couldn't believe john chapter eleven our lord again delays before
going to Bethany to meet with Mary and Martha over the word
that had come to him that their brother Lazarus was sick. And
he waited until Lazarus died and was in the grave three days.
And then he came. Martha met him. Lord, if you
had been here, my brother would not have died. And our Lord said,
thy brother shall rise again. And Martha said, I know that
he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. I believe in that. I've got some
understanding of Bible doctrine. I know there's life after death
and there's a resurrection and that gives me some hope. And our Lord looked at Martha
and said, Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
Martha, do you believe who I am? And she said, Yea, Lord. I believe
that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. I believe that you
are successful in whatever you set out to do. I believe that
you are my only hope of righteousness before God. I believe. Turn with me to Mark chapter
9. Now, at this point in talking
about the importance of believing, most men would gen you up into
some sort of a commitment. I'm going to believe. I'm going
to believe. I'm going to commit myself and
rededicate myself, and I'm just going to believe God. And I'm
here to tell you, you can't believe. You can't believe. You are completely dependent
upon the Lord for the faith to believe. I'll not share my glory with
another, and that will be just read in Isaiah chapter 42. I
am the Lord. That is my name. I will not share
my glory with another. Look at Mark chapter 9 at verse
20. And they brought him unto him,
remember the disciples, they had brought a young man that
was possessed with demons to the disciples and the disciples
couldn't cast out the demons. And so in verse 20, and they
brought him unto Christ. And when he saw him, straightway
the Spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how
long ago has it been since this came unto him? And he said of
a child, and oftentimes it would cast him into the fire and into
the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Don't call my ability into question. What did this father say? Lord,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Straightway
the father cried with tears." This is our problem. Our problem is unbelief. Our
problem is not what you think it is. It's unbelief. It's just unbelief. Lord, give me faith. Help thou
mine unbelief. If God gives us the ability to
believe Him, I tell you, well, like I said, if you could believe
God perfectly, you would never sin. Ever! It's the cause of all our problems.
Just not believing God. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. Chapter 3, verse 15. While it is said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the day,
as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
did provoke, albeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But
with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest? But to them
that believed not." They didn't believe Christ. They
didn't look to Him as their only hope of salvation. They didn't
believe that the only hope of being reconciled with God is
for Him to fulfill both sides of the broken relationship and
to become their mediator. They didn't believe it. Verse
19, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. And then in chapter four, he
goes on to tell us that what faith is, is trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ as your rest before God. He's your Sabbath. He's satisfied all the demands
of the law. You say, what do we believe?
Well, it's more of a matter of who do we believe? One can believe
in the sovereignty of God without bowing to the God who is sovereign. One can believe in the doctrine
of total depravity without being broken of their own depravity. Oh, to believe what God has said. To believe that God is sovereign. and that he has the sovereign
right to choose a people according to his own will and purpose. That'll bring you to his feet.
To believe that Christ's perfect life of faith and obedience has
fulfilled everything that God requires for you To believe that
he's the end of the law for righteousness, that he's satisfied divine justice,
that he walked the winepress of the fury of God's wrath all
by himself, that his shed blood is a covering for our sins. Oh, to believe God. To believe
God. To believe that God is satisfied
with Christ. and that I am satisfied with
Him. To believe that He returned back
to glory as a successful Savior, presenting Himself before God
on behalf of His people. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. For they that cometh to Him must
believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them who
diligently seek Him." Faith is the substance of things hoped
for. It's the evidence of things not seen. By it, the believers
were justified. They believed God, as do all
believers. The Lord said when he sends this
comforter he's going to convince the world or those of his out
of the world of sin because they believe not on me. Now you've
got to be convinced that you're an unbeliever before you can
become a believer. That's why I ask you have you
ever been an unbeliever? And then once you become a believer,
you've got to be convinced that your unbelief is your biggest
problem. And it's the cause of all your
other problems. Every problem you've got, every problem I've
got, is rooted in our unbelief. So what's the evidence that I
have the Spirit of God? He's convinced me of that. I'm
convinced. I'm convinced that Christ is
my only hope of salvation and I'm convinced that I've got to
keep coming to Him because I've got this flesh of unbelief that
I just can't shake. He will convince the world of
sin because they believed not on me. Has God made you to be
a sinner? Has He caused you to know that
your unbelief is your problem? And has He given you faith to
rest in Christ for the hope of your salvation? Can you say,
I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day? I know He succeeded in what He
came to do. So to be the first evidence that
I have the Holy Spirit is that I've been convinced of my unbelief. And that is the root cause of
all my sins. The second evidence of having
the Holy Spirit is to be comforted by His righteousness. He will
convince the world of sin because they believe not on me of righteousness. There it is. We're back in our
text now in John chapter 16. John chapter 16, verse 10. of righteousness because I go
to my Father and you see me no more." Do you believe that when the
Lord Jesus Christ ascended back into glory as the living Word
of God, that He returned not void? My word shall accomplish that
for which I send it. It will not return unto me void."
Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself
back to the Father after His ascension, that He presented a perfect righteousness
that was sufficient for the salvation of all of God's people? do you
believe that he presented himself for you for you is he your righteousness
before God or are you still trying to establish your own righteousness
being ignorant of the righteousness of God turn to me to Romans chapter
10 Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord Our Righteousness? Are you resting in Him for all
your righteousness before God? He will convince the world of
sin because they believe not on Me. And He will convince them of righteousness
because I go to my father. Look at Romans chapter 10. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved for I bear them record. They have a zeal of God
but not according to knowledge. Oh, how many people does that
describe? Oh, they're very religious. They're
very religious. They've got the talk. They've
got the walk. They've got all the outward. They're trying to
prove to themselves and everyone else that they're saved. That they're believers. They're
on their way to heaven. But they're without knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. What is God's
righteousness? Well, who is God's righteousness?
They don't know Christ. Remember the first verses in
John chapter 16 the reason they hate you is because they do not
know the father nor me They don't know me So they're going about
trying to establish their own righteousness Having not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God To submit oneself Lord I have
no righteousness I Lord, I can't stir up faith within me. I can't
bring about any righteousness that will make me acceptable
to Thee. This is the evidence of the Spirit of God, of righteousness,
because I go to my Father. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses described
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
these things shall live by them. In other words, if you're going
to be saved by the law, you've got to be saved perfectly by
the law. But the righteousness which is
of faith, this is the better covenant based on better promises
in the fulfillment of what the Lord Jesus Christ did as our
righteousness. He fulfilled the law. The righteousness
which is of our faith, speaketh on this wise say not in thine
heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down
from above don't even perish the thought don't even entertain
the idea what can I do to make what Christ did work for me what
can I do to bring him down to me Or what can I do to who shall
ascend into the deep? That is to bring Christ up from
the dead. What can I do to make the death of Christ? What can
I do to make his ascension work for me? What can I do to make
his death work for me? That's what religion's all about.
God's done his part, now you gotta do your part. What can
I do to make what Christ did work for me? That's not faith. You can't do anything. You can't
do anything. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee, even in thine mouth and in thine heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God
has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." With the heart. Lord, you've
got to give me faith. so that I can trust Christ as
my righteousness before Thee." If He does, He's going to give
you that faith by His Spirit. By His Spirit. Convicted of unbelief. Comforted by righteousness. There's no other comfort. Oh,
there's no comfort in trying to keep the law. There's no comfort
in believing that somehow my religious behavior and activity
is earning me favor with God. There's no comfort in that. But
there's great comfort in Christ. There's great comfort in Him.
He's our mediator. How do I know if I have the Holy
Spirit? He has convicted me of my unbelief. He has comforted my heart with
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has convinced me of judgment. Go back with me to John chapter
16. Verse 11. Here's the three things
the Lord said the Holy Spirit was going to do. He was going
to convict the world of sin because they believe not on me. He was
going to convict the world of righteousness because they go
to my Father, and of judgment because the Prince of this world
is judged. Judgment's been satisfied. The tribunal of divine justice
has considered all the evidence The gavel of God's judgment has
fallen. All are silent before Him. The
sentence of death has been rendered." Isaiah put it like this, "'Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken.'" Satan
is on death row. The date of his execution has
been set. There's no appeals, there's no
loopholes in the law, there's no please for mercy. We're just waiting, waiting. Judgment's been, look, of judgment
because the prince of this world is judged. Now if the prince
of this world is judged, then what's that say about the world?
What's it say about the world? You know, you just don't polish
brass on a sinking ship, do you? Just don't do it. Why would you
put down roots in the prince? I'm convinced. We were talking
about this before the service. Perhaps this is the day. The prince of this world is judged.
I'm convinced of that. Are you convinced? that this
world is under the sentence of judgment of God's judgment that
one day maybe today he's gonna rain fire from heaven and consume
this world and only those who have the Spirit of God will be
saved Only those who have been convicted of their unbelief and
comforted by the righteousness of Christ and convinced that
Satan and this world is under the wrath and judgment of God
will be saved. That's the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. We live in this world with that conviction. Turn to me to Hebrews chapter
11. Look at verse 13. not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have opportunity to have returned. In other words, if
your heart's still in the world, you're going to go back to the
world. If you can leave the gospel, you will leave the gospel. But
now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly, wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city. a city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God." Has the Holy Spirit convinced
you that this world is not your home? Has He convinced you of
that? Has He made you to be a pilgrim
and a stranger in this world? And has He put in your heart
a longing for a better country? A place where there's nothing
but righteousness. A place where we'll see Him as
He is and be made like Him. He said, I go and prepare a place
for you. I'll come again and receive you unto myself so that
where I am there you may be also." There's our hope. How do I know
if I have the Holy Spirit? He's convicted me of my unbelief. He's comforted me with the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and He's convinced me that this world
is not my home. It's under the judgment of God. And I have a city whose builder
and whose maker is God. It's expedient for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But when He comes, When He comes,
He's going to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father. And
of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. Has
the Holy Spirit done that for you? Has He done that for you?
If He hasn't, ask Him to. Ask Him to. Oh, no one's ever asked for the
Holy Spirit that didn't get the Holy Spirit. No one has. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, You've said that if we be an
evil, know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more
will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him? We need the Comforter. We need
Your Spirit to give us faith to believe Thee. We need Him
to comfort us in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we need Him to deliver us from this world by convincing us of
its judgment. We pray that you would do it
for your glory. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. I