It would be in John chapter 16. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
preparing His disciples for what they will suffer. And He says
here in verse 1, These things have I spoken unto you, that
ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever..." The Lord said He sent forth His
Son that whosoever will believe upon him, have everlasting life. Most people say that means everybody.
This doesn't mean everybody when he says whosoever here. But there
will be some. Whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service. Just as it was religious men
and women that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ calling on
the name of Jehovah. He says, men will do the same
to you thinking they are doing service to God. And then he declares
why they'll do this. Verse 3. And these things will
they do unto you because they have not known the Father, nor
me. And these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told
you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. They didn't need
to be fearful of these things while the Lord Jesus Christ bodily
walked with them. How many times do you see in
Scripture where it says, and they would have laid hands on
Him, but He went out of their midst. His hour wasn't come. He's the one controlling those
that would lay their hands on Him, but not until the time appointed. And when He was with them, He
had no need of telling them these things. But He says, But now
I go my way to Him that sent me." Now, he's never specifically
telling them here where he's going, but he says quite specifically,
I go my way to Him that sent me. And none of you asketh me
whither goest thou. And here's why they didn't ask
him where he was going. They weren't thinking about where
he was going. All they were thinking about was what he just said. You're going to be put out of
the synagogues. And those that kill you are going
to think they're doing God's service. And so therefore, but
because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled
your heart. Sorrow filled their heart because
they found out they were going to be despised and rejected of
men. They were going to be put out
of the synagogues. Now that's more than just what,
if you was to get kicked out of an assembly somewhere, they
get kicked out of the synagogue, they lose their citizenship.
Everything is gone. And he said, and some of you
is going to even be killed. And they were particularly sorrowful
because he wouldn't be with them, his bodily presence wouldn't
be with them. Now these fellas, now get this,
these fellas were fishing three years prior to this. Now they
could tell you anything about how to catch a fish in the Sea
of Galilee. But they knew they didn't have
any power to do this thing that Christ was telling them to go
do, and that's to go forth and preach His Word in the midst
of this reception that He's telling them about. So you can see why
they would have such sorrow and be filled with sorrow at His
departing from their presence. But He tells them next how they'll
stand and how they're going to preach in His name. He says,
verse 7, nevertheless I tell you the truth. I'll tell you
when the truth, when he who is the truth says, I'll tell you
the truth. You can bank it, you're about
to hear the truth now. He said, 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." Now, He doesn't say He's going to die. He says,
I'm going away. I'm departing. He's going to
the cross to willingly lay down His life to take their sin upon
Him. and to lay down His life in their
room instead as their substitute to bear the wrath of God in their
place to put away their sin completely. And He's going to the grave,
but He's rising from that grave to the Father for our justification,
the Scripture says, to declare them justified. He's rising to the Father. That
means They're justified. Their sins put away by what he
is doing. That's why he said, it's expedient
for me to go where I'm going. And he says, and after I go where
I'm going, I'll send forth the comforter to you. This is declaring
something to them that they didn't quite understand yet. It's declaring
to them that all power in heaven and earth is about to be given
Him because of what He's about to do. And He says, therefore
I'm going to send a comforter to you. Look back at John 14.
Look there in verse 17. He said this in verse 16 there.
He says, I'll pray the Father and He will give you another
comforter. The word is intercessor, counselor,
advocate. And He says, I'll give you another
one. That's what He had been when
He was with them. That's what He had yet been when He went
to the Father. He would be their advocate with the Father, their
comforter, their intercessor with the Father. But He says,
but I will give you another one to abide with you And He says
that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom
the world cannot receive. These are those that He warned
them about that would kill them. That would kill them in the sin
of God. He said, they're going to kill you because they don't
know you. The world can't receive this Spirit I'm giving. And He
says, Because the world seeth him not, neither knoweth him,
but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And he says, I will not leave
you comfortless. The word is, I won't leave you
as orphans, but I will come to you. So he's saying here, when
I send this comforter to you, I'm coming to you in the person,
the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and I'll abide
with you and in you. And that's how you're going to
be carried through this mission you're going on. Now. Now he
says here in our text what the Lord Jesus says that the Spirit
would do as they went into the world to preach the gospel of
Christ. And this is our text this morning. I want you to look here with
me at verse 8. John 16, verse 8. And when He
has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. This word reprove means convict
and convince. Convict and convince. When the
Holy Spirit has come, he will convict and he will convince
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, this convicting
and this convincing by the Holy Spirit works upon sinners in
two ways. First of all, to some, it is
that Holy Spirit conviction and persuasion, that overwhelming,
irresistible conviction and convincing that results in a sinner turning
from his vain works, his vain way, to faith in Christ and trust
in Him alone. It's that work whereby God makes
His people, Christ makes His people willing in the day of
His power. Not gives them a choice to where
they can choose Him or reject Him, makes them willing to do
nothing but cast all their care upon Him. and then to others
as the general call goes forth by the Holy Spirit, by, through
the vessel that he sent to deliver it. As the Holy Spirit sends
forth the word, though men cannot refute the person and work of
Christ, though they can't gainsay against this word, can't say
anything to deny it, and have any ground to stand on. Yet they
harden their heart in willful rejection, willful rejection
against Christ and say no. Now let me show you that in 2
Corinthians 2, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now turn and look at these scriptures
because I don't want you to take my word for anything. I want
you to hear what God says and I pray this morning that He'll
do this through the Spirit for somebody here. Here's what he
says, 2 Corinthians 2.14. Paul said, now thanks be unto
God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, always,
and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every
place. Paul said everywhere we go and
preach, he always makes it successful. You mean they have people just
falling out believing everywhere they went? I know what he said,
but he said he's always he makes it to success always Wow look
for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ This gospel comes forth
and it's a success because it goes up to God and God's sitting
there listening going That's all about my my son and whom
I'm well pleased and I'm delighted It's a sweet savor to me and
he says I in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death. They hear it, harden their hearts
against it, say, I'll not have that man reign over me. But to
the other, the saver of life unto life. And he said, and who
is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient to go on an
errand like that? Well, down in chapter 3 of verse
5, he says, our sufficiency is of God. And that's what the Lord
Jesus Christ is telling His disciples here as He's preparing to go
to the cross and preparing them for what they're going to encounter
when they come before sinners preaching Christ and Him crucified. Some are going to hate you and
they're going to drag you into the synagogues and they're going to kill you.
You're going to die, Peter. You're going to die. But you're
going to have the grace and the strength to go forth and preach
this word by my spirit dwelling in you. And those that hear you
are not going to be able to do anything to you until I allow
it because of that same Holy Spirit. And I'm going to call
out my sheep by that same Holy Spirit. Now I'm getting the picture
that God is in control of things. I'm getting the picture God's
gonna do what he said he's gonna do. The truth said, I'll tell
you the truth. This is happening now, this is
how it's gonna happen. Now that's a saver of life unto life unto
a poor, helpless, vagabond sinner. But that's a message of just
greats against a proud, stout-hearted rebel against God. He said, no,
I don't want God having his way. But now let's see what the Holy
Spirit's gonna do. Verse 9, he said he's going to
convince the world of sin. Now let me say this to you. I
want to look at this passage as it pertains to the Holy Spirit's
work of grace in the hearts of all who are saved by Christ through
faith. That's how we're going to look
at this this morning. Now verse 9, he says the Holy
Spirit will convince the world of sin because they believe not
on me. Now the Holy Spirit shall convict
and convince overwhelmingly sinners that their chief sin is not believing
on Christ. You see, we don't have any idea,
in the manner in which we're born into this world, we don't
have any idea what sin is. We know there's a difference
between right and wrong. We know that's born on a man's
conscience. In Romans chapter 2, Paul said,
the Gentiles who don't have the written law, when they do the
things that are contained in the law, they don't have God's
law, but they know not to go out and steal a chicken from
somebody. They know not to go out and steal somebody's apples
off their apple tree. And when they do those things
and they bring one another before their lawyers and they accuse
or excuse one another, they show they have the law of right and
wrong written on their conscience. But it takes something besides
that. That's not what's in it. With
that knowledge, you know what we'll do? We'll decide, well,
I went out Friday night, Saturday night. Man, I tied one on. I
got drunk as a... sprayed cockroaches Friday night.
I feel so bad about it today, man. I woke up, my head's killing
me. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm turning over a new
leaf, man. I'm quitting. I'm going cold
turkey from here on out. And then we start looking at
the drunks out there that are going out and doing it, and you
start thinking, boy, I don't do that anymore. And I'm righteous
for not doing it. I used to do that. How do I stop
that? And then something else will come along and you'll stop
that. And you'll think you're righteous because you stopped
that. And the Lord says the reason they do not know, the reason
they don't understand is because the Holy Spirit must come forth
and convict them in the heart. You have never trusted Christ
Jesus the Lord. Oh, you mean I got to be convicted
of the fact that I really have never trusted Christ Jesus the
Lord? You've got to be convicted and
convinced that you have never trusted Christ Jesus the Lord. Well, I did so and so and so. Hey, listen, the Pharisees said,
Look at all we do. We come from Father Abraham.
We've never been in bondage to any man. We're not sinners like
the Gentile dogs out there. We've been worshiping and serving
Jehovah all our days. Who are you to tell us we don't
know God? And he said, Christ the truth
said, verily, verily, the truth said, I'll tell you of a truth.
You are of your father the devil and you're doing the works of
the devil. My word has no place in you. You won't believe on
me. Turn over to John chapter 3. Now you know throughout the book
of John the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about the work of
the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus came to him and Nicodemus
called him a master. Nicodemus was a preacher, a teacher
in Israel. And he comes to him and calls
him master. And the Lord Jesus said, why
do you call me master? You can't see the kingdom of
God unless you're born of God. You don't even know who you're
talking to unless I reveal myself to you. Why are you calling me
a master? Because he was trying to do what men think is virtuous
and righteous and putting on this pretense of piety. But the
Lord says, no, no, no. You've got to be born from above.
You've got to be born of the Spirit. And here's why. Look.
John 3.16, 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. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not, he's
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Well, why don't everybody do
that then? Don't forget the context of who
he's talking to and what he's saying. He's saying you've got
to be born of God or you won't come to Him in truth and in spirit.
And he tells us here in verse 19, and this is the condemnation. Here's the condemnation. Here's
why God didn't have to do anything to condemn the world. Because
this is the condemnation. That light is coming to the world. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
and men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. You mean a bunch of whoremongers
and harlots and and that sort of thing. He's talking about
the Pharisee He come out the righteous of the righteous. You
don't have to be saved from your sin You confess you you confess
that you'll admit you're a drunk or an adulterer or a harlot What
you won't confess is you can't earn any righteousness. I You
won't confess that and he says they won't come because their
deeds are evil for everyone that doeth evil Hated the light neither
cometh to the light lest his deeds should be exposed for what
they are. You see, here's what's going
to happen. If I come along with my deeds
and my righteousnesses, and I come out into the light, and I bring
my righteousness to the light, which is Christ the Lord. Christ
the Lord, who is the light, is going to make my righteousness
look like filthy, stinking, dirty, worthless rags. And therefore,
until He has convinced me, convicted me in my heart that I don't really
believe Him, and convinced me in my heart that I don't really
trust Him, you know why I won't come to that life? I don't want
my righteousnesses to be discovered as dirty, filthy, stinking rags. So instead, Now the spray cockroach
who got drunk as a skunk on Friday night, he won't come into the
light because that light comes on, he's going to scurry under
a rock or scurry under the refrigerator or scurry someplace so he can't
stay, so he can stay in the darkness because he likes it. He loves
the darkness. That's where he likes to stay
and he won't come to the light. So God said, Christ said, but
when the Spirit comes, he's going to convict and convince in the
heart everyone that I'm going to save, He's going to convince
them in their heart they've got no righteousness of their own.
He's going to make them to see they have never trusted Me. When that happens, you know what's
going to happen then? We're going to start crying out
about our righteousness and then we're going to start crying out
for mercy. We're going to want to come to God and exchange our
ashes for His beauty. We're going to want to come to
God and exchange our mourning and our sorrow for His joy. We're
going to want to come to God and we're going to want to exchange
this broken, this broken, stony, cracked and depraved heart for
a new heart, for a heart of righteousness that delights in the law of God
and in His salvation. But not until then. Now, let
me show you here in Acts 2 verse 22. And I told you there, keep
Acts 2 because we're going to turn back and forth. The Spirit, you know, was poured
out on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was the harvest time.
You know, that's what it was pictured from the ceremony was
the harvest. Well, this is showing us now
Christ the first fruit has raised, that first fruit that's waved
and thanks God for providing everything for us. Christ is
that first fruit. And here now He's in gathering
some of these first fruits. And how does He do it? He pours
out the Spirit on His disciples, just like He said He would. And
now, He's showing it a manifested an exaggerated example here of
what he's doing in our day He don't do it like this in our
day, but he still does it this way He don't do it to this magnitude
all at once he might do it again But this was this was baptizing
the church in the Holy Ghost and what he did here was These
fellows were all sitting there, and it was all these different
languages at Pentecost and when the Holy Spirit fell on them
They started talking, every man in a foreign language that he
had never learned before, preaching the gospel to all those people
that had come up to Pentecost to observe the ceremony of Pentecost. And Peter stood up, and here's
what Peter preached. Verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear
these words. Acts 2.22. Jesus of Nazareth. Man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs Which God did by him in the midst
of you as ye yourselves also know Him being delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God God he willingly laid
down his life he but he says but ye have taken him and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain him That's what we've got
to have made manifest in our heart by the Holy Spirit, that
all of my righteousness, all of my attempting to come to God
another way, all of my ifs, ands, or buts that I keep throwing
out to anybody that tries to preach the gospel to me is, I
am crucifying Christ Jesus the Lord. And the Spirit of Christ
has to convince you of that and convict you of that in your heart,
or you go on doing it. You go on doing it. But that's
what Peter stood up and preached. Now, we'll come back there. Hold
your place in Acts 2.22. Now, secondly, the Holy Spirit
shall convict and convince all who are saved that Jesus Christ
is the righteousness God requires of sinners. He shall do it. There's no wiggle room here. This is what Christ said of a
truth He would do. Now, verse 10, John 16.10. When
the Holy Spirit has come, He will convince the world of righteousness
because I go to my Father and you see me no more. Are you getting
the picture here that everything the Holy Spirit is going to reveal
in those that are saved has to do with Christ? See, Holy Spirit
conviction is not, I just get all excited one day and hoopty-doo
and I do something because I just feel like I'm in the Spirit.
It has to do with Christ. It's all centered in Christ.
It comes from Christ. It's about Christ. And it redounds
to the glory of Christ. Every bit of it. Every bit of
it. First of all, God's righteousness, God the Father's righteousness,
God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit, God Almighty,
His righteousness is manifest in the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. I want to be thorough here, and
I want you to see this in Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. I know you're familiar with this,
but I want you to look at it with me. Romans chapter 3. Now look, verse 19. Well, verse
18. Anybody in here got one of them
shirts that says, no fear? Anybody got one of them? You
know, they're black and sometimes they got all kind of squiggly
writing on them. You got one, don't you? You don't have one?
I've had one. I got one. Don't worry about
it. But here's, look, here's, look, verse 18. Here's the no fear we got a problem
with. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now listen. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped at all the world. Now that's one place right there
when you read all the world. You can apply that to all the
world. That all the world may become
guilty before God. That's why the law was given.
That's exactly, that's why the law of God was given. To be a
schoolmaster. And not one of these little fuzzy-duddy
schoolmasters we got in our day that's afraid to get sued so
they don't really They're not too strict about anything or
put too much emphasis on anything. This is a strict master that
will drive you to Christ. Because it shuts your mouth in
sin and depravity and makes you realize, I can't come to God
by the works of the law. I can't do it. And he says here,
Therefore verse 25 the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be Justified in his sight and don't get crazy and start thinking
well that says justified. They don't say sanctified Bread
three days talking about righteousness. It's talking about how you gonna
get to God You ain't gonna get to God in the law whether it's
before your conversion during your conversion or after your
conversion It ain't happening. It just ain't happening now look
I For by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's why I didn't happen
for by the law is the knowledge of sin All right, but now here
you go, but now the righteousness of God without the law Now if
I can't be justified by the law if I can't be made righteous
By anything I do by the law. I want to know about the righteousness
of God without the law Don't you? I mean, that just makes
good sense, don't it? But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. But it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets. The law says you want to be justified? You want to be righteous before
God? This is how it's going to happen. The law's been saying
that. The law's been saying of you,
you ain't coming by your deeds. But the law says, but if you
want to know how you can come to God, this is how it's going
to happen. And it says, without that it's witnessed by
the law and the prophets. This is what all the prophets
talked about too. This is why God said, you search the scriptures,
you go to them looking for something that somebody said in there that
you can do and reform your life around and then you think you
have life or you think you have life just by the act of going
and reading the Bible some. He said, you search the scriptures
for in them you think you have life and there they would testify
of me And you won't come to me that you might have love. So
he says there, the law and the prophets have been saying this
all along. Here's the righteousness of God. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. The word is, it's
by Christ, His faith. It's by His fidelity. It's by
His faithfulness to obey God. Okay, you got that? You'll receive
this righteousness through faith. But now we're talking about how
God's righteousness is manifest, how it's exalted and set forth
before the whole world. It's not me believing God and
therefore the whole world sees Christ. It's Christ is the one
where we're going to see the righteousness of God. What is
it then? Let's see. Now it is unto all
and upon all them that believe. For there is no different. This
is the only way you can come. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now here's what it is. justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Because God set Him forth to
be a propitiation through faith in His blood. You know what that
word means, propitiation? It means a seat of mercy, a place
of mercy, a place where you can come and find reconciliation,
find atonement with God. Look, and now through faith in
His blood, through trusting what Christ has done on your behalf,
to declare His righteousness for the remission, the putting
away of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. You see, this
is all about Christ's righteousness, God's righteousness. Men don't
want to talk about that. Sinners don't want to talk. Sinners
want to talk about Let's talk about me. Let's talk about me
and what I can do what my righteousness is God's words all about his
righteousness. It's all about what he's done
It's all about him and not about me and you to declare his righteousness
that he might be just God said I'm gonna save some people but
I'm not gonna but they're all guilty and I'm not gonna Save
him at the expense of my justice because if I do that, I'm not
holy anymore. I I've got to do this in a manner
where I uphold my justice so that not one jot or tittle of
the law goes unpunished. They have got to answer for the
wages of sin that they have earned, and that's death. That's death. Well, how in the world is that
going to happen? You're going to have to send somebody to die
in your place, and that one's going to have to be perfectly
righteous and thoughtward indeed from conception. That's why He's
born of the Holy Spirit and not born of the seed of Adam. He's
got to be holy from conception. He's got to come forth from His
mother's womb. holy, perfectly righteous. He's got to go throughout
His life in thought, word, and deed perfectly righteous. He's
got to do it out of a perfect, holy love for God and for His
brethren. And then He's got to go to the
cross and lay down His life on their behalf being made sin for
them that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And because it's God Inhuman flesh who did it look at the
next day and He's also the justifier So you see that? He's just and
he's the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus worse boasting
then now How are you gonna wiggle around and get somewhere to boast
out all that you not? It's excluded by what law by
what principle by the law of works by the principle of works
No, but by the law the principle of faith Now that's what we got
to see look over at Romans 519. I want you to see that too Romans
519 Here's why it's got to be that way. You're going to be
represented in one of two representatives,
either Adam or Christ. You're either going to come to
God in Adam, or you're going to come to God in Christ. You
come to God professing your works and what you've done, and you're
going to come in Adam. You come saying, in my hands
no price I bring, simply to the finished work of Christ I cling. Then you're coming in the second
Adam, in the second representative. Now here's what he says about
that. Verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, as Adam. How many? How many that he represented
were made sinners? Every one that he represented
was made a sinner. Every one of them. So by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. How many? All
of them that he represented. Every one of them. They're going
to be made righteous by the obedience of one, of Him. Now, if you say
no to that, and you think that you're going to be made righteous
by your obedience, that means you're not in that many. You're
not in that number. Because He says, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. You know what it is, righteous?
Righteous is accepted with God. Righteous is perfected forever. Righteous is, there's not one
thing left to be done at all by you or me. That's what righteous
means. That's gonna happen by one. And
that one is Christ Jesus the Lord. When this Holy Spirit comes,
He's going to convince that the only righteousness God is pleased
with is His Son. And not only this, but the world
said when He walked the earth, people said, no, He's not righteous. You have a devil. Are you crazy? You're not righteous. Well, the
Lord said back in the Psalms, who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who's going to go to the mountain
of the Lord? Who's going to ascend to the Lord? Who shall stand
in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. You know who that is? That's
Jesus Christ the righteous. That's who that is. He's gone
up to His holy hill. He's got a pure heart. He's not
lifted up His soul to vanity. And the others that that's going
to include is the ones that I'm going to send forth this Spirit
to that's going to convict of sin so that you know you never
have truly trusted Christ. And secondly, it's going to make
you see that you've never trusted Him because you've been looking
to your own righteousness, trusting in your own filthy rag, and you
haven't submitted yourself to the righteousness of God. You've
had a zeal of God. Just like Paul said of Israel
in Romans chapter 10. I bear them record. He said they
got a zeal of God. There's no doubt about that.
But they're ignorant of God's righteousness. Of Christ. God's righteousness. Of the fact
that He has to be just and the justifier and therefore He alone
can justify and make a sinner righteous and still remain holy.
He's got to do it. A to Z. That's why it's called
the Alpha and the Omega. The author and the finisher.
The beginning and the end. He's got to do the whole thing.
Because we're filthy, rotten, stinking rebels who sinned against
him and died in the garden in Adam. And we can't come any other
way. And I'll tell you what the height
of it is that shows it to us is, we'll sit here and hear this,
that the Lord Jesus Christ said it, and we think so lightly of
the righteousness of God, Man, I wish he'd get finished so I
can get out of here. I don't go to church for one
time a year and I'm ready to go. Let me ask you something
honestly, and I don't mean to shame you or anything like that.
I hope, as Paul said, it's my earnest desire and prayer for
you that God would reveal something in you to cause you to just give
yourself to Christ. But if you really don't like
to be around the Lord's people and to hear the gospel preached
every time you can hear it preached, When you go to, if you went to
heaven and you, and all there was was just gathering around
the throne of Christ and praising and singing to his, the glorious
praise of his name and what he's done, wouldn't that be hell to
you? Wouldn't it? I mean, be honest. Come on now. See, we gotta be convicted, convinced
of righteousness. of sin first and then of righteousness. Now look, let me show you what
Peter said. Acts 2.24, back over there. We're
going to pick back up now his message here. What did he say? Did he say this? Did he say that
Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous who has risen, did he say that
he had risen because he's the righteous one? Look at Acts 2.24. Remember, it's witnessed by the
Law and the Prophets. Now listen, verse 24, He said,
Whom God, you crucified Him, rejected Him. He said, but God
hath raised Him up, and hath loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that He should be holding of it. You know what
that says? It says He's righteous. Because
the wages of sin is death, and it's not possible that death
could hold Him, because He's righteous. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. It's
what David said, for he's on my right hand, that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast
made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Now, who was David talking about? Who was David talking about?
Now listen to what Peter says next. Men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. He's dead, he's
buried, his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet and bearing witness to the righteousness of God,
which the law and the prophets bear witness to, and knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his
loins, a child, according to the flesh, that God said, I'll
raise up Christ to sit on His throne. He's seeing this before,
way back there in His day, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that Christ's soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did
see corruption. This Jesus has God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. We're all here to tell you that
Jesus Christ is righteous, and He's the righteousness God requires.
You can't come with any other. No other. None other. So the
Spirit's going to convict those who will be saved that we are
yet in sin because we believe not on Christ Jesus alone. And
then the Spirit's going to convince us that Christ is all our righteousness
and we don't have any. But if we have Christ, we don't
need any of our own. We just need His. That's all
God said. That's all you need is His. Now
here's the third thing. The Holy Spirit shall convict
and convince those whom Christ redeemed because He bought them. He purchased them with His blood.
And His blood is not going to be a miscarriage. He didn't suffer
in vain. So He's going to convict and
convince every one of them that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. He's King and He's the Savior. Now that's important. Verse 11.
He says He'll convince of judgment because the Prince of this world
is judged. Now, that was music to the ears
of a man that was fishing three years earlier to hear that He's
going to convince the world of judgment because the Prince of
this world is judged. That's going to be music to His
ears because what the disciples are going to be taught when the
Spirit comes the next time is you remember when the Lord came
after he had died on the cross and he went into the grave and
he came to them, appeared to them, and he said this to them.
First words he said, Matthew 28, 18. All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. All of it. He said, I'm Lord. I got the reins now. Got the
power now. That's why he was able to tell
them before he went to the cross. I say of a truth I'm gonna send
a comforter to you because when all powers in heaven and earth
given to me I'm gonna send forth my spirit into you and he gonna
protect you and guide you and lead you and keep you safe and
keep you out of harm's way and he's gonna break the stony hearts
of sinners that you preach to and I'm gonna protect you from
those that would harm you and till I fulfilled my will with
you. And then all I'm going to do is use them to usher you right
into my presence and eternal glory." And they said, Amen to
that. That's fine with me. Don't throw
me in the briar patch, said the rabbit. That's where I love to
be. Well, look here. So that's what he's saying. Now,
reason that the prince of this world being judged, what does
that have to do with that? Because the prince of the power
of the heir is the accuser of the brethren. That's where this
lie that you could somehow come to God by something you do. That's how it all got started,
was him. The Lord said, if you eat that
tree, you're gonna die. Well, when the lie said, no you
won't, your mind will be enlarged, and you'll know how to accept
everybody, and you'll know how to become to know good and evil
yourself. You'll be like a God yourself.
And so hook, line, and sinker, we took it and took off in our
way and rebelled against God and our first representative,
Adam, and being born of his seed, we came forth thinking, what's
he doing telling me I'm a sinner? What's he doing telling me I
need the righteousness of Christ and I can't come by my own way?
He don't know. I'm a God. My God says I'm a
God. My God says I know good and evil.
My God says I have the right to choose or to refuse. My God
says that I can choose the evil or choose the good and refuse
the evil. Yes, your God does. Because your God is the devil.
Your God is the prince of the power of the air. And until Christ,
who has now taken the throne, comes in power through the Spirit
and dethrones him out of your heart and removes him and takes
up residence there and his throne and dominion. You go on thinking
that, but the day he does it, it's all over for that news. That stuff's out the window then.
You won't be singing that tune anymore. No more. Let me show
you that. Hebrews 2 14 Hebrews 2 14 I got
about uh Two or three scriptures. I'm gonna show you here. You
know when I tell you that that means I got about four or five
I Got about two or three. I hope let me see Hebrews 2 14
For as much then as the children
Partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took
part of the saying that through death He might destroy him that
had the power of death. That is the devil. What's the
power of death? It's sin That's the only power
the devil had was sin. I And he took it away. How? He put it away by the sacrifice
of himself. So the devil's got no more power.
And he says, and he delivered them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Whose bondage? The
devil's bondage. Who kept accusing you? saying,
you're not righteous, you need to go to the law and do something
to be righteous. I told you you know the difference
between good and evil, now go do good. And so you took off
and started trying to do good. And then he came to you and said,
you don't have any good in you, you're good enough. Oh no, he
comes to you and says, you're good enough now. Man, ease up a little
bit. Go out Friday night again. And
so you go do that again. And he just keeps you on that
treadmill back and forth, back and forth, sin and then trying
to turn over a new leaf, having the same old you when you turn
over that leaf and going right back to your vomit and going
right back again and it's just over and over and it's bondage.
It's just bondage. And he said, I came to put away
sin and now after I put away sin, then I'm going to take up
my dominion in your heart. Let me show you that. Colossians,
wait a minute. What did I see? Ephesians 2.
Go to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. I want to give you
every bit of evidence of this so that when you go home, if
you sat there and you haven't looked these scriptures up, you
can't refute the person who says this is all my salvation. You've
got no right to say one thing because you haven't looked at
it, you haven't given it a second thought. All you've proven is
you don't give a damn. That's what you've proven. So
I want you to read this now. Ephesians 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world." That's the way of this
world. Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. But you walked according to the
way of this world. According to who was giving you
your marching orders. the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh right now in the children of
disobedience, that causes them to glory in that way, they're
walking in, and say no to Christ the way, among whom also, he's
talking to believers, among whom also we all had our conversation,
our deportment, our thoughts, our words, our deeds, in times
past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature By our union with Adam,
we were the children of wrath, even as others. What made the
difference? Verse 4. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know
why Christ, remember why we just said Christ went to the Father
and set the right hand? Because He's righteous. You know
what He's telling you here? The reason that you know Him
and trust Him, the reason you've been raised and sit there with
Him is because you're righteous in Him. You got that? You got
that? I'll tell you, this is good news
to a sinner. It won't be good news if you
ain't a sinner. But if you are, this is good news for you. Listen.
Ahem. that in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And you know why God won't have
any boasting? Because he said, I will share my glory with another.
Everybody that comes to that place just like ever ever time
you come to God's church where? His spirit is reigning and ruling
all you're gonna hear about is Christ and his righteousness
I don't just preach this message on Easter Sunday. I preach it
Thursday night of Sunday morning three three times a week I preach
it and I try to send out some articles during the week of the
same message to the folks here we eat this bread and every time
we come to hear about God. We eat this bread every time
that we sit down to read an article. Every time we sing a song, this
is what we're singing about. Because this is our life. It's not just something we do
when we take a break from the world. This, the world's what
we do when we take a break from this. This is our life. You understand that? Now, He said this, Have I got that
point across? When he said, now is the judgment
of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast
out, and if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men
unto me. Every one of them. I'm going
to bring every one of them to me. You mean those that's going
to kill Peter in the synagogue? Might be a few of them that he
died for, saved. But it's going to be by grace.
It's going to be by his righteousness. It's going to be all by his power.
He's going to get all the glory for it. But everyone that he
draws, this is how he's bringing them. Because he destroyed the
prince of the power of the air. Remember Genesis 3.15? All the way back there in the
garden. In Genesis 3.15. I bet everybody knows John 3.16. Learn Genesis 3.15. Turn over
there with me. Now the Lord had found Adam in
his sin and Eve and they made those fig leaves and they covered
themselves up and and just like we get all our righteousnesses
and then we find out we got some kind of disease where we're fixing
to die and then boy we start trying to get as religious as
we can get. Well when they heard God's voice speak They ran to
trees. They tried to find another covering
besides the fig leaves because that wasn't going to be enough,
they thought, after all. Well, God came to them and He
said, it ain't enough. It ain't enough. But the first
thing He did in the garden was He slew a lamb. A lamb. There was a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. He slew a lamb. And he not only
slew that lamb and said, well, now it's up to you. Cover yourself
with that lamb. No, he did what we're hearing
that the Spirit here says he'll do. He covered him with that
covering. He put it on him. He didn't just
make it possible and make you acceptable. He put it on you
and it made you accepted in the beloved lock, stock, and barrel.
Now, here's what he said. Here's how he did it. Verse 15.
And God said to the serpent, He said, I'm going to put enmity
between, that's hatred, between thee and the woman. What woman? What woman? Between thy seed and her seed. Ain't but one woman in the history
of mankind that ever had a seed that never knew a man. And that's
Mary. because the Holy Spirit chose
her to bring forth Christ. Because she's a vessel of mercy
and grace just like every other sinner. But he said, between
your seed, your children, and her child. Now, it shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. At Calvary, that took place.
At Calvary, Satan bruised the heel of the woman's seed. But in the process of bruising
his heel at Calvary, you know what Christ did? He bruised his
head. Now which one would you rather
have bruised? Your heel or your head? Hmm? You want to have your
heel, just stump your heel or you want to have your head crushed?
Which one? Crushed his head. He took his power away from him.
And then when he comes in the spirit He said he gonna come
there for and he's gonna convince Judgments over it's done the
prince this world's cast out. How do I know that do you believe
Christ? That's all the evidence you need
if you believe him. It's cause he did this now. Look. All right now Let me close
the Peter preach this at Pentecost. Look at Acts 2 36. I Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly without one speck of doubt that all the
house of Israel know assuredly acts 236 that God Hath made that
same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ both Lord
and Christ that may hold your place there now that means that
He's not only the savior of His people, but He is the sovereign
Lord who has dominion in the hearts of His people. And not
only this, but over this whole world. So there's not one possibility,
not the remotest slight chance that he will fail in working
this work through the spirit that he said he would work. He
will do it in the hearts of every single one for whom he died because
God put them in Christ. Christ paid their debt and made
them righteous. And He's going to send forth
the Spirit and make it known in their hearts. And you know
what the good news is about that? The good news is about that is
the man that sees it and understands and rejoices in Christ knows
that that heavy laborious yoke that's been on you and been burdening
you and been just pushing you down into the dirt is gone. You
mean I have all this simply through faith in His person and Word? That's a light and easy yoke
compared to all that other bondage, isn't it? Well, so what's Christ
saying in our text? What's the effectual result of all this? When the Holy Spirit
convicts and convinces a sinner of his unbelief, convicts and
convinces a sinner that Christ is the righteousness God requires,
convicts and convinces a sinner that Jesus is both Lord and Christ,
King of kings and Lord of lords, what's the result of it? I'll write you there in Acts
2. Here's the result. Acts 2.37. This was the first
time this happened. after Christ rose and gave them
the Holy Spirit and started doing this like He's doing now. This
is what happened the first time. Now when they heard, they were
pricked in their heart. Acts 2.37. And said unto Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, Men, brethren, what shall we
do? What shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ Because your sins have been put away
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost the fruits
of the Spirit For the promises unto you and to your children
to all them that are far off even as many as the Lord our
God the Lord our God He's talking about Jesus Christ even as many
as the Lord our God shall call and And with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation. And then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them
about three thousand souls." The Lord said that's what he's
going to do. And he's still doing it. And you know when he's going
to stop? You know when you'll see global warming to a degree
you have never thought possible? It'll be after the last one has
experienced this work of grace in the heart and he's removed
them out of this earth, and then it's going to be global warming
like you ain't never seen. He ain't got to move it but about
that far towards the sun, this whole joint's going to go up
in flames. And that's what he said, not only the earth, but
I'll burn the heavens and everything. And he said, there'll be a new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwells nothing but righteousness. Nothing but righteousness. Praising
Him, singing to Him, no sorrow, no mourning, just good times. Good times in Him. Well, I do
have one word of application. Well, what remains for the believer
to do? Well, if he's done it all then,
why am I still here? What remains for me to do? Why
did he leave the apostles there? Why did he tell them this? He
said, go forth into the world and preach this. Go tell somebody! Are you happy? Go tell somebody.
Because by you telling somebody, that's how I'm going to send
forth this Spirit. I'm going to call out the next one, and the next
one, and the next one, until I'm done. So go tell somebody. He told that Gadarene whom he
had cast the devil out of, he said, I want to go with you now.
He said, no, don't go with me now. He said, you go home to
your friends and tell them what great things God has done for
you. Don't go tell them what you did for me. You was out there
in the graveyard living among the dead. eating and sleeping
and breathing nothing but dead, corrupt, rotten flesh. And that's
what you've been doing before you knew Christ. He said, now
go tell them what I've done for you. And then here's the second
thing. In Galatians 5.5, we through
the Spirit, this same Spirit we started in, we through the
Spirit wait. We wait. for the hope of righteousness,
for that perfect conformity to Christ, how? By faith. Go tell somebody and while you
do it, wait and just keep on trusting, keep on believing.
That's all there is for you to do. That's it. Now that's a light
and easy yoke, isn't it? Isn't it? joy and rejoicing in
what he's done, getting to tell your brethren what great things
he's done for you, ceasing from your labors and waiting, and
just trusting him. Paul told the Thessalonians,
and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into
the patient waiting for Christ. That's my prayer for you.