Brethren, if you will put those
handouts for that hymn on the table in the back, we'll try
to sing that hymn a little more often. That's a good hymn. Adam, you're a brave man, singing
two hymns we're not accustomed to singing on a day when we didn't
have any musical accompaniment. But those are both good hymns. I appreciate you doing it. And
I'm sorry I didn't make an announcement earlier about the food today. I was expecting we would have
food today, but I know last year I think we didn't because it
was coming off Thanksgiving and I should have probably just said
we won't do it because I knew everybody would be tired from
cooking all week and stuff. But I'm sorry I didn't make an
announcement either way. So we do have a little bit back
there if you want to stay and have a snack or if you ladies
want to just take it home and have lunch for your family. and
we'll let you decide that. John 16, we'll see here how these
messages go together. I didn't plan this, it's just
how the Lord worked it. But I do see why He laid them
both on my heart. John 16, 7, the Lord is speaking
to His apostles before He goes to the cross. And 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 the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. of judgment because the
prince of this world is judge. The Lord Jesus calls the third
person in the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. The Lord calls him
the comforter, the comforter. And he truly is our comforter.
Our subject is comfort through conviction. Comfort through conviction. Now this is what is somewhat
of a paradox, but it's so true. The way the Holy Spirit comforts
God's elect is through the conviction of sin. He's going to comfort
his people through the conviction of sin, and that's the most agonizing
thing there is, is to be convicted of your sin before holy God. But it's the only way, only through
the conviction of sin, is the only way a sinner will depend
on another for all their righteousness. that Christ Jesus our righteousness,
only by the Spirit convicting a sinner that they are so thoroughly,
totally ruined in sin, that they can do nothing to save themselves,
will they trust another, the Lord Jesus, to be their righteousness.
That's the only way. And it's only through faith in
Christ that the Spirit comforts us with the only true comfort
there is, peace with God. That's the comfort, acceptance
with holy God in Christ Jesus, peace with God. So long as a
person thinks there's something about themselves that's good,
something about themselves that's commendable, something about
their works that are acceptable to God, they are not believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ and cannot. We must be convicted
by the Holy Spirit that we are the sinner. We must be made to
know what that means. Only then By the Spirit of God,
by the grace of God, by the power of God, will a sinner believe
on Christ and trust Him alone for all salvation. That's why
Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus, we must be born of the Spirit
of God through the preaching of the Word, the washing of the
water of the Word. We must be. He said, verily,
verily, and when he would say that, that meant this is a must. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water, that is the word of God, the
preaching of the gospel, and of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. Paul said in Galatians 3.11,
the just shall live by faith and the law is not of faith.
You see, like all the blessings of God, the comfort that the
Holy Spirit gives is spiritual. All God's blessings are spiritual
and His comfort is spiritual. It's experienced only by the
Spirit of God It's only in the new Spirit given by God. It's
only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the
only way that this comfort is given. The only way. The comfort
of God is, it's not natural, but it's supernatural. It's not
fleshly, it's of the Spirit of God. It's not by our works, it's
by the works of the Lord. It's all of God. It's in Christ
the truth, in Christ Jesus the righteous. That's where the comfort
is. Now, the Lord Jesus gives us
the main point here that we're going to focus on in verse 8.
He tells us when the Holy Spirit has come, he will reprove his
elect throughout the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. Now the word reprove means to
convict and to convince. To convict and to convince. The
Holy Spirit always accomplishes this work. He never fails to
accomplish this work. It's called irresistible grace. He always accomplishes it. It's
what we saw this morning, it's how he's going to deliver the
lawful captives. This is how Christ does it, through
the preaching of the word, through the Holy Spirit, creating a new
heart within us. Just like God the Father sent
the Lord Jesus Christ with the commission to come and redeem
all the elect of God, and Christ accomplished that commission.
So God the Father has given the Holy Spirit the commission to
come and regenerate and sanctify and preserve all those Christ's
redeemed and not lose one. And he shall not fail. He shall
not fail. When the Holy Spirit has come,
he might reprove God's elect. No, it says he will reprove God's
elect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now let's look
at these three things. First of all, the Holy Spirit
shall reprove, verse 9, of sin because they believe not on me,
Christ said. Until we're convicted by the
Holy Spirit, until the Holy Spirit does this work in our heart,
no sinner knows what it is to be a sinner. Until the Spirit
of God does His work, no sinner even knows what He is. No sinner
knows what it is to be a sinner. Some deny they're sinners. Some
just deny they're sinners. Others imagine sins only in their
acts. That's what Scripture refers
to as worshiping in the letter. Thinking it's only in the act
of murder that you're a murderer. And Christ said, if you're angry,
with a brother without a cause, you're guilty. In the Acts, the letter of the
law is, as long as you don't commit the act of adultery, you're
not an adulterer. The Lord said, if you just look
upon a woman, you've committed adultery. Most imagine they'll
be saved if their good outweighs their bad. And most people don't
really, don't even want to talk about sin. Let's just don't talk
about that. There's churches now. If you're
into that and that's what you want, you can find it. There
are churches that literally will tell their people, when you're
trying to witness of Christ, just don't talk about sin. People
don't want to hear about sin. Don't talk about sin. Until you
know you're a sinner, you won't need a Savior. Do you need a physician unless
you're sick? Until you know you are the sinner,
you will not need a physician. Only the Holy Spirit can convict
a sinner that sin is all we are as we are born into this world
the first time. Only the Spirit can make us know
that. Joseph Hart wrote this hymn. He said, What comfort can
a Savior bring to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. new life from him we must receive before for sin we rightly
grieve. The Holy Spirit must convict
us that only Christ put away the sin of his people. He must
reveal Christ in us and show us and teach us that only Christ
put away the sin of His people. And it's only through faith in
Christ that we have no sin. It's only through faith in Christ
that we're accepted of God while we're in unbelief. While a sinner
is in unbelief, all we are is sin. And all we can do is sin. That is it. That is all we are. It doesn't matter how religious
a man is or how good of deeds he does. All is sin. Christ said in John 3.18, he,
let's look at this, I want you to go here, John 3.18. He said, he that believeth, he's
speaking of himself, he that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. Most sin is committed in the
dark, or in secret, or in private. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh through the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But those deeds right there,
they will be reproved. They include a man's very best
religious deeds. Without faith in Christ, his
very best religious deeds are nothing but evil and nothing
but sin. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they
are wrought in God. He that doeth truth comes to
Christ Jesus the light, confessing all the works by which he is
saved were worked in God and by God, through Christ Jesus,
through the Holy Spirit, and freely given to him. He confesses,
the author and finisher of my faith is Christ, he alone. All I am is sin. All I've done
is sin. All my deeds are sinful. Even
my best deeds are sinful. All I am is sin. That's what
a true convicted sinner confesses before God. Has the Holy Spirit
read the verdict in your heart? Has He come to you in your heart
and said you are the sinner because you believe not on the Lord Jesus
Christ? That's so if you don't believe
on Christ. You're the sinner. and the sinner will cry, but
what about my good works? Look at what I've done. Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. That's the only answer the Holy
Spirit gives in the heart. I've been there, brethren. I've
been there. You've been there. When he convicted you of your
sin, you tried to find a little ground to stand on, and the Holy
Spirit just kept chipping that ground away from out from under
you. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to him must believe
that he is and that he's the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. Without faith in Christ, we're
condemned already. And until the Spirit regenerates
us and until he gives us faith in Christ, we do not know and
we will not confess that we are sin. We don't know it and we
won't confess it. That's why men don't want to
talk about sin. Because they don't want to confess what they
are. They love darkness rather than light. I did and you did
too before God called you. And when you're talking to somebody
and they start speaking in a contradictory way from this word and saying
something this word does not say, you're talking to a blind
man. Would you sit and argue with
a blind man if you were describing what that creek looks like out
there and he began to describe it like it is a dry desert. Would
you listen to anything he had to say? A blind man has got about
as much room to speak of anything in this book. He can't speak
of anything in this book because he can't see anything in this
book. He can't understand anything in this book. We must be taught
of God, and where it begins is right here. Any goodness or any
merit or anything in us that we think we have has got to be
obliterated by the Holy Spirit. Sin's got to be made to revive,
and we have got to be made to die to all pretense of any goodness
in us or any merit in us or any ability in us. We've got to be
made to see we are the sinner. People make professions of faith
for all kind of crazy reasons. To get a girl, they do it. To please mom and daddy, they
do it. To look good before a business partner, they do it. All kind
of crazy reasons people do that. But I tell you this, a person
has not confessed Christ until they've been made to know in
their heart they are the vilest worm on the top side of this
earth. and they can't contribute one thing. Until then, they haven't
confessed Him. They don't need Him. We are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, our righteousnesses
that come short of God's righteousness are like the wind, and they've
taken us away. As the Holy Spirit reproved you,
brethren, that you're the sinner, Has he made you know you're a
sinner? If he's taught you, you know that. But I'm gonna ask
the others here that have never confessed to him. Has he convicted
you that by not believing on Christ, you are right now condemned
where you sit? It's painful and it's agonizing
to find out. And I'll tell you this, the Spirit
of the Lord, He only regenerates and gives a new birth one time,
but He doesn't ever stop letting us know that we can't ever look
to ourselves. He's going to keep us knowing
we need Christ. We're the sinner in ourselves. It's agonizing. It's a painful thing to find
out, but brethren, it's absolutely necessary before a sinner will
look to Christ alone for righteousness. Absolutely necessary. Now, secondly,
that's what he says next, the Holy Spirit shall reprove his
child, verse 10, John 16, 10, of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the righteousness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, is the righteousness of God. He's the righteousness
God's provided for a chosen people so that God can accept us and
be just to accept us. Christ is the righteousness who
made his people the righteousness of God and it's manifest by this. After he laid down his life on
the cross and said it is finished and was buried, three days later
he arose from that grave and 40 days later arose and sat down
at God's right hand. God accepted him because God's
pleased in him. He bore the sin of his people,
he bore the curse that we deserve, he satisfied God's justice, God
is pleased with him, God's good pleasure was prospered in his
hand, and God raised him and seated him there on the right
hand declaring to this whole world that God has found a ransom. He's satisfied with His Son.
He's satisfied with His Son only. He came and contended with Him
that contended with us and redeemed us from the power of the devil.
That's what Christ did for His elect. Let's read it in Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53, verse 10. Isaiah 53 10 says, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, made satisfaction. He who hath put
him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bear the sin of many,
and he made intercession for the transgressors. This is what
the Holy Spirit is going to convince each one who Christ redeemed.
He's going to convince us that Christ Jesus is the righteousness
we must have. The only righteousness there
is, and it's only through faith in Christ apart from our works. Go with me to Deuteronomy 30.
I said to you earlier this morning, I said that men read the Old
Testament and they don't understand what the Old Testament means.
It's the natural deception of the heart, the deceived heart.
Anytime you see God speak of keeping His commandments, it's
the natural way of our fallen depravity to think, that means
I can do it. That's not what it means. That's
not what it means. Because it doesn't agree with
the rest of scripture. Now let me show you an example
of that right here. Deuteronomy 30 verse 6. The Lord
thy God, now listen, Moses is declaring what Christ is declaring
that Christ will do through the Holy Spirit. Christ is declaring
in our text what the Holy Spirit will do, and that's what Moses
is declaring right here, too. Watch this now. Deuteronomy 30,
verse 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
their heart to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart
and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. and the Lord thy
God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them
that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and
obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments, which
I command thee this day." You know Moses had given them over
600 commandments that God gave at Mount Sinai, not just 10.
And the Lord said here, you're going to obey my voice and do
all his commandments, which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy
God will make thee plenteous in every work of thy hand, in
the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and
in the fruit of thy land, for good. For the Lord will again
rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers.
If thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to
keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written in
the book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with
all thine heart and with all thy soul, Pharisees heard that,
they said, we'll do that. We'll do that. And when Christ
came, they said, we have done it and we don't need you. And that's why they did not attain
what God promised right here. Now here, catch this next word
and don't miss it now. God said, if you'll do my commandment,
all right, now he's going to tell us what it is. For this
commandment, which I command thee this day, It's not hidden
from thee, neither is it far off. It's not in heaven that
thou should say, who shall go up first to heaven and bring
it to us, that we may hear it and do it. Neither is it beyond
the sea that thou should say, who shall go over the sea for
us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. But the
word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,
that thou mayest do it. Now turn with me to Romans 10.
Now the Pharisees heard that, and they sought it by the works
of the law. They thought that meant, well,
there it says, if you keep the law, you'll have all this. So
they went to work working, and they missed the whole thing.
Blind as a bat, couldn't see, didn't think they were sinners,
didn't need God, because the Spirit hadn't convicted them
and convinced them, because they weren't God's elect. But for
you who he has, here's what it means. Romans 10.1, 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 it's not according to knowledge. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses described
it, the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness
which is of faith speaks on this wise. Here's what Moses said
right here. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above,
or who shall ascend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead, but what saith it, the word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth and in thy 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 hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart,
man believeth unto righteousness." That's completely diametrically
opposed to working for righteousness. That's believing Christ has already
worked your righteousness and is your righteousness. Man believeth
unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, who so
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. You see, The Pharisees
then and the Pharisees now, they read the word of God and without
the Spirit teaching us, making you see Christ's risen, has satisfied
God, when they see the word law and hear God say, keep my commandment,
they immediately think, that's something that I must do. I must
keep the law, I must save myself. No, what God said is, here's
my commandment. You believe on my son, he kept
all my commandments and all my statutes in perfection for my
people. He laid down his life and put
away all our sin for not doing them as we ought. You believe
him and you're righteous by him. That's how you keep the commandments
of God. And if you think I'm misapplying that, go back and
read the end of Romans 9. The Gentiles who did not have
the law attained to the law of righteousness, and the Jews that
had the law did not attain to the law of righteousness. Why?
The Gentiles believed God, by God's grace. But the Pharisees,
the Jews, they sought it by the works of the law and not by faith.
It's only through faith in Christ. And the Spirit of God is gonna
convince His child that Christ is His only righteousness when
He makes you see Christ has satisfied the law, God's accepted Him,
and He's accepted His people in Him, and we're seated there
with Him at God's right hand. That's what He's gonna convince
His child of. And you're gonna fall on your face and say, I
believe Him. I'm not ashamed to confess that
I'm the sinner and He's my only righteousness. That's what God's
child's gonna do. by the Spirit of God. Lastly,
the Holy Spirit shall reprove each one Christ redeemed of judgment. John 16, 11, He'll reprove of
judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now I tried
to show this in the first message. The Lord Jesus settled the judgment
of his people on the cross. He settled our judgment, brethren.
He accomplished it. He satisfied God. He put away
our sins. He made us the righteousness
of God in him. And by doing so, he judged the
devil. He bruised his head. He took
all his power away because he left no sin for the devil to use to accuse
us to God, Christ put it all away. That's what he was saying
in our text when he said, shall the lawful captive be delivered?
He said, I will contend with him that contendeth with thee,
and all flesh shall know I, the Lord, am thy savior and thy redeemer
and your mighty one. You're gonna know this. Revelation
12.10 said this, this is what happened when Christ said, it's
finished, and He arose to the right hand of God. I heard a
loud voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation and strength
in the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ, for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused Him
before our God day and night. He's already been judged. He
put away our sin and He fulfilled the law. He spoiled the devil.
And in regeneration, He takes every elect child of God away
from the power of the devil. That's what Paul said in Colossians
2.13. You being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross,
and he spoiled principalities and powers. He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He crushed the devil's
head when he did this work for us and then did this work in
our heart, revealed Christ to us. He triumphed over the devil
and made a show of it openly. And so let no man, therefore,
judge you in meat or in drink or respect of a holy day or of
the new moon or of Sabbath days, which were just a shadow of things
to come, but they all pictured Christ, every one of them. You see, the Spirit comes and
purges our conscience with the blood of Christ, and He always
accomplishes it. And He makes you to know in your
new heart, when He made you see you can't contribute, you're
the sinner, shut your mouth. But He turns you to see Christ
seated at God's right hand and makes you know He's your righteousness.
and he convinces you in your heart, judgment is settled. He has crushed the devil's head.
Devil's got nothing with which to accuse you to God. And he
says into your heart, there is therefore now no condemnation. God will not impute sin to you.
He will never, ever charge one who Christ redeemed. That's the
comfort the Comforter gives you. That's the peace He gives you.
You have peace with God, you accept it with God. The devil and his seed. Genesis
3, 15, the Lord said, the devil and his seed, the devil and his
children, they're the accuser of the brethren. The devil accused
us to God day and night. And the devil will send his seed
to accuse God's people. And when he does that, brethren,
our advocate with the Father, our righteousness, our propitiation
is Christ Jesus at God's right hand. And God declares who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. And when it comes to this earth,
and in this earth right now, just like he did for that woman
caught in adultery, Christ Jesus will stand between the accuser
and his child, and he'll say, if you're brave enough, you run
back and throw a stone. And he'll send them away packing.
Because Christ has accomplished judgment. He settled it for His
people. He's not going to let His people be judged again. Mark
it down. Now, as the Holy Spirit convinced
you, as He convinced you, when the Holy Spirit reproves the
sin of righteousness and of judgment, When he gives you faith in Christ,
the effectual result is the same as it was on the day of Pentecost.
It's always the same. Remember what happened? Peter
was sitting there preaching. He's in the middle of preaching.
He didn't stop, start giving an invitation and begging them
to make a decision for Christ and all that nonsense. He's just
preaching. He's preaching Christ. And in the middle of it, it says,
when they heard they were pricked in their heart, they said to
Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? Peter said to them, repent, be baptized in the name of the
Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, and you'll receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, which is to be sealed. After that,
you believe you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
preserved forever. He said, repent, believe Him. follow him in baptism, the Holy
Spirit will keep you the rest of your days. And then they that
gladly received his word were baptized, and that same day the
Lord added about 3,000 souls. You know what I pray? I pray
the Lord would approve you today and reveal Christ in you and
comfort you with the peace of God, peace and believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ, that He would make you not ashamed to confess
Him in believers' baptism and unite with us in the furtherance
of this gospel, preaching this gospel and hearing this gospel
and worshiping Christ through this gospel. That's my prayer.
I got one mission in life, just one. It's real simple. I want
to see Christ get all the glory in every word I preach, and I
want to see His people saved. That's it. And for you, He's
given faith. Christ commands us. Here's what
He commands us to do. He commands us to tell people
what He's done for you. Remember what He told the man?
He said, you go home to your friends and you tell them how
great things the Lord has done for thee and has had compassion
on thee. Bear witness of Him. Just tell
people what He's done for you. He commands us to continue believing
on Him and to love one another and to wait for His return. He
said in Galatians 5.5, we through the Spirit, the same Spirit that
started this work in you, We through the Spirit wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. And Christ promises us right
here, if you read on further in John 16, he said the Holy
Spirit will guide you into all truth. And he's telling us that
what the Spirit has begun in his people, he's gonna continue
it. He will continue convicting you
of sin of righteousness and of judgment and keep you believing
Christ all the way to the end, keep you loving your brethren,
and keep you all the way to the end. Listen, 2 Thessalonians
3, 5. The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. That's
what the Spirit began and that's what He's going to continue to
do. And He shall not fail. He shall not fail. That's how
the lawful captives are delivered. That's how we know He's our Savior,
He's our Redeemer, He's the Mighty One. It's all of Him. And we're
going to confess him and remember him in the Lord's table now.
This is for those that the Spirit's worked its work in. That's who
this is for. And it's not an option. Christ
said, do this. And he said, do it remembering
me. He said, you're showing forth my death until I come. Taking
this unleavened bread and this little cup of wine, showing forth
his blood that he shed for his people and his broken body that
he laid down for us. Showing his death till he come.
All right, Brother Jeff and Brother Matt, will y'all pass these elements
out?