Now, would you open your Bibles
with me to Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah chapter 59. Now, I got up to verse 14 and
15 last time on this subject of Christ's power over sin. And I'm just going to make this
part two, finish up this chapter tonight. Christ's power over
sin. We're talking about Christ's
power to save sinners from their sins. His name shall be called
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." But
when we consider the matter of sin, the problem of sin, how
should we look at it? How should we view it? How should
we see it? And certainly in order to see
God's remedy for that problem, salvation from sin, It's important
that we understand how God views things. Let me just go back and
just show you in outline form what's been happening up to this
point. Isaiah speaking to his generation, speaking to a future
generation, the Jews who would later on be in captivity in Babylon
because of their sin. That's a type of lostness, that's
a type and picture of man in bondage to sin. That's what we
all are by nature, born in trespasses and sins. condemned in Adam under
the covenant of works. The only way out is the grace
of God. And then speaking to our generation
too, in the first few verses here we see God's view of sinful
man. And he starts out by showing
this, that our problem, man's problem is not in any way God's
weakness or God's unwillingness to save His people. He says in
verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save. You see, the problem is not that
God cannot save. I hear preachers talking about
how Jesus Christ, He'll save you if you'll let Him. If you'll
let Him. That's not the God of the Bible.
You don't let Him save anybody. He saves whom He will. The Scripture
says, God said, I'll have mercy on whom I will. I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. He's sovereign, he's powerful
in all things. And his hand is not shortened
that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot
hear. And then he begins to show that
the problem's not God, the problem's us. That's our problem. We are
our problem. Now, you think about that, and
that turns just about every area of life. Now, we like to blame
everybody else, but we are our greatest problem. And even as
a believer, in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. We
are the problem. Isn't that right? And that's
why we need to be saved from sin and that powerfully and that
eternally. Well, he goes through here and
he gives a description, a picture if you will, of what we might
consider to be some of the most awful sins, some of the most
perverted people that you could ever describe on earth. Surely
he must be talking about the greatest sinners that make up
society, the notorious, the immoral, the irreligious, certainly those
who have no religion, no idea of morality. But I want you to
see something. There's been a precedent laid
down from the very beginning of Scripture that shows that
what he's describing here in these first eight verses When
he goes through and he talks about the injustice, the lies,
the perverseness of the tongue, the ignorance, the shedding of
innocent blood, which smacks of murder, all of those things
that he describes. What he's describing here, and
this is what we need to understand to get the message that Isaiah
has for the people of his day and the people of our day. is
that this is a vivid, factual, real description of all men and
women without Christ. And that's something we don't
like to stomach. We don't like to admit by nature.
That's why the natural man won't receive the things of the Spirit
of God. He's too proud. You say, I'm better than so-and-so. I may not be the best person,
but I'm at least better than some. And what he's showing here
in Isaiah 59 is that when it comes to our standing before
a holy God who must judge and punish all sin, even in what
we consider to be the best of men, that we're all in the same
boat together. Now, that's been set down in
Scripture. Very plain from even back in
Genesis. Here's Adam and Eve. They sinned
against God. Adam sinned and brought the whole
human race into sin and depravity and death and condemnation. And
what was the first thing they did is they tried to hide their
nakedness from God. They tried to cover themselves
with the fig leaf aprons. And God said that won't do. And
you remember what he did. He slew an animal, shed blood,
and made coats of skin. That great glorious picture of
Christ, who is our whole salvation from sin, by His blood and by
His righteousness. Right there, after the fall.
Genesis 3.21. And I believe that was the establishment
of the sacrificial system that would teach the gospel all through
the ages of the Old Testament until Christ would come. What
was God teaching? Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. You say, well, didn't man get
worse and worse? Yes, he did. But even in his
religion, even in his attempts to worship God, even in his morality,
he got no better. That was proved with Cain and
Abel. Here comes Abel to worship God,
by sacrifice, the way God prescribed with the blood of the Lamb, another
picture of our Savior, our Redeemer. How is God going to save a sinner
from their sins? Through a substitute, a sacrifice
who would shed blood in our place. That's satisfaction. That's the
death of the substitute. But now here comes Cain, a hard
worker, bringing the best that he could offer. And he was rejected. You say, he was rejected. God
will not have it. This is a description of any
worshipper who comes like Cain. Right here. And you can go on
and on. You could talk about the awful
depravity and sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. And yet when it comes
to the attempts to keep the law of Moses by the Jews, Isaiah
the prophet stands forth in the city of Jerusalem and he makes
this statement. He says, except the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a small remnant, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
We'd be no better off than Sodom and Gomorrah. Now surely, surely
preacher, you can applaud the difference between Israel and
Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely you can. Not when it comes
to Power over sin. Not when it comes to salvation.
There's no difference. All sinners without Christ, the
worst of sinners, the best of sinners, are doomed forever.
That's what he's saying. If you think you deserve more
than the worst sinner that ever hit God's green earth because
you're sitting in a pew tonight, then my friend, you've missed
Christ. Do you realize that? Our only
hope of salvation is Christ and Him crucified. That's what I'm
saying. That's what this book says. Go
back some time and read John chapter 3 and John chapter 4. I'll never forget when the Lord
really opened my eyes to the reality of those two chapters.
You say, well, what's the big deal about those two chapters?
Who is the Lord speaking to in John chapter 3? He is speaking
to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, one of the model citizens of
that day. He was a master in Israel. He
was a teacher. He knew the law. He led people. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. Listen, they didn't just put
anybody on the Sanhedrin. That was the high court of the
Jewish system. And here's Nicodemus. What does
the Lord tell Nicodemus? He tells him several things.
He started out telling him this. He said, Nicodemus, you must
be born again. Now, what does he tell Nicodemus?
You're lost. Just as lost as anybody. He didn't
say, now Nicodemus, because you're a religious man, you're not as
lost as others. He didn't say that, did he? In
fact, he went on to tell Nicodemus, He said, he that believeth is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. And
then he exposed Nicodemus and all who are like him as those
who hate the light because their deeds are evil. The light of
the gospel exposes man's attempts to keep the law in order to be
saved as being evil because they dishonor God. They exalt the
flesh. They deny Christ. They don't
glorify God. And he's talking to Nicodemus
there, a religious man. But then turn to John chapter
4 sometime and read it. Who's he talking to there? A
Samaritan adulteress. A notorious sinner. A woman who
had a reputation as being the dregs of society. Had several
husbands. I forget how many. He said four
or five. And the man she was living with at that time wasn't
even her husband. A Samaritan too. A half-breed,
that's what that was to a Jew. A traitor, an idolater, who worshipped
in some mountain that God never even prescribed or commanded
to be worshipped under the Law of Moses. You remember the Lord
told us, or she said, you say it's in this mountain you worship,
and we say it's in this mountain, and he said, you don't even know
who you worship, or what you worship. And what did he tell
the woman at the well? Now, essentially, he used different
words, different illustrations to lead her to the same truth,
but essentially he told the woman at the well the same thing that
he told Nicodemus, salvation is by grace. And so here this
high moral religious citizen of Jerusalem named Nicodemus
And this low-born, Samaritan, adulterous, notorious sinner,
if either one of those people are going to be saved, it's going
to be upon the same ground, the same way, by the same blood,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in here, if Isaiah goes
down through and he describes these people as he's
guided by the Holy Spirit, turn to Romans chapter 3. The Apostle
Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to use these same verses
to describe both Jew and Gentile, both the religious Jew and the
irreligious, immoral Gentile, as being in need of salvation
by grace. He says up there in verse 9,
What then? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise. You know how we would say that
today? No way. Huh? You mean that I'm no better
than the immoral Gentile? I'm a Jew. I'm trying to do my
best, Paul. I mean, I try to keep the Ten
Commandments. I go to the synagogue. I try
to worship at the temple. And you're telling me that I'm
no better than the Gentile who doesn't have that stuff? He says,
no, in no wise. Now, you may be more moral, you
may be more religious, but when it comes to being accepted before
God, when it comes to being made righteous before God, when it
comes to being made holy before God, you're no better. That psalm
that Brother Joe read, that's what it's called, a man who is
an honor. What's the end result without
Christ? He perishes like the beast of the field. You can take
the best of them and the worst of them. Without Christ, they're
going to perish like the beast of the field. Isn't that right?
You can take the richest, the poorest. You can take the blackest,
the whitest. You can take the male, the female.
You can take the Pharisee or the Samaritan adulteress. Without
Christ, what's going to happen? Perish. Perish like the animals
who perish. No righteousness, no holiness.
And this is what Paul is saying, there is none righteous, verse
10. No, not one. And he quotes here from Isaiah.
He says in verse 13 or verse 15, this is where he begins to
quote from Isaiah 59 verses 7 and 8. Look at Romans 3 verse 15,
their feet are swift to shed blood. Well, that would certainly
describe the murderer, wouldn't it? It certainly would describe
the the ones who kill other people, but it also describes those who
bring their sacrifices without knowing themselves and knowing
the way of the Lord in Christ. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. The way of peace they have not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. Now here is how Paul concludes
the whole thing now. Now you remember this began back
up in Romans 1.18 when he is talking about how the wrath of
God is revealed against all sin, all unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. And here is the grand conclusion
right here. Verse 19, Now we know that what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped. and all the world become
guilty before God. Therefore, here it is, therefore,
by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now, that's the lesson.
Now, go back to Isaiah 59. You see, that's what it's teaching.
So when Isaiah was preaching this message to his generation,
if they're sitting out there and saying, well, surely he's
not talking about me. He's got to be talking about
somebody else. Some dirty, rotten scoundrel.
Surely not me. Isaiah says, I'm talking about
you. I'm talking about any sinner
without cross. That's it. And so he begins to
confess that sin in verse 9. The confession of guilt. Now,
the people aren't confessing. But Isaiah the prophet is confessing
for them. Now, that's not good for them
because we have to confess our sins. We have to confess our
guilt. We have to see our need of Christ.
That's what the Holy Spirit does in the new birth when He convicts
us of sin. But Isaiah, he confesses it for the people. You remember,
it's almost like back in chapter 6 when he saw the Lord high and
lifted up and he said, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Remember what he said? He said,
I'm a man of unclean lips. and I dwell amidst a people of
unclean lips." We're all in the same boat. So what's the conclusion
here? Well, we need a Redeemer. That's the conclusion. We need
a Savior. Is there a Savior? We have to ask like old Job did,
is there a daysman betwixt us? Is there one who can stand in
our place? Is there one who can save us
from this awful mess that we're in? And that's what the rest
of this chapter is about. Look at verse 14 and 15, or verse
15 rather. He says, Yea, truth faileth.
In other words, the truth is here, but you don't believe it. And he that departeth from evil
maketh himself a prey. If anybody does turn from, what
he's saying here is things had gotten so bad in Jerusalem, That
if someone did come to that truth and repent of their sins, they
were made a prey for everybody else. They were a laughing stock.
It was almost like they were saying, that fellow's gone nuts.
He's gone crazy. And so he says, and the Lord
saw it, and it displeased him, that is, it was evil in his eyes,
that there was no judgment, no proper judgment. Where is there
judgment? I'll tell you exactly where there's
proper judgment, where Christ is preached. No judgment without
that. Where Christ is preached, there's
judgment. Without Him, there's no judgment
at all, because all judgment is perverted. When people sit
around in their religious assemblies and they speak of good and they
speak of evil, they speak perversion without Christ, because all good
and all evil is measured by the standard of Christ and Him crucified."
Do you realize that? Do you want to see the exceeding
sinfulness of sin? Look at Christ on the cross bearing
the sins of His people. Here is the innocent, perfect
Son of God incarnate dying under the penalty and judgment and
wrath of God for the sins of His people charged to Him. You want to see the greatness
and the glory of God's judgment of righteousness? All right,
listen to me now. Don't look at Sodom and Gomorrah.
That was a display of God's righteous judgment against sin. But if
you really want to see a great example of God's judgment of
righteousness, think about God taking sinners like us who deserve
wrath and punishment into his bosom, into his fellowship, into
his household, into his family, and giving us an inheritance
that we can't even describe, all based on the righteousness
of his Son charged to us. That's something, isn't it? It
would be like taking a leper. wrapping him up in a beautiful
robe and embracing him. It's something else to think
about, isn't it? Well, we need a Redeemer. We'll look at verse
16. Now, from verse 16 to verse 19,
we see the promise of the Savior. When hopelessness and despair
had almost crushed out life itself, when guilt had been confessed
by the prophet, and it displeased the Lord, there was no judgment,
no righteousness, He intervened to perform it for His chosen
people. Jehovah Himself came to save."
It says in verse 16, "...and He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His arm
brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness is sustained
in Him." There was no man who could save. So what did He do? Our Lord became a man so that
He could save. Again, His name shall be called
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. There is no man here on earth
who can do it. There is no man here on earth
who would do it. But our Savior came to earth
and He did it. Every bit He redeemed. His people
from our sins. There was none to make intercession
for His people, to be a mediator, no mediator to be found, not
even among the best of sinners. So what did our Lord do? He became
our intercessor. There's one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And His arm alone,
it says here, that's His power. Anytime you see God's arm in
the Scripture, that's His power. Salvation is by the power of
God. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
by the mighty power of God. Christ is the arm of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1 says He's both
the power of God and the wisdom of God in salvation. And it was
His arm alone that brought salvation to His people. And it was His
righteousness that sustained us. His righteousness saves us
and sustains us. Not our own. Not our own. And he says in verse 17, for
he put on righteousness as a breastplate. You see, he came to save his
people. And it says he put on righteousness
as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head. And
he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. He said the zeal of the Lord
of hosts. The zeal of the Lord of hosts was his motivation.
He loved his father. He loved his people. He suffered
the contradiction of sinners against Him for the joy that
was set before Him. And He became the author and
the finisher of our faith. He was lifted up on the cross.
That was a great contradiction because we looked upon Him as
a criminal, as a sinner, as cursed of God. But He wasn't a criminal. He was not a sinner. And He was
not cursed of God for anything that He did. He became a curse
for us. He was our substitute. He was
our sin bearer. He came to establish a kingdom.
Look here, he says in verse 18, according to their deeds, accordingly
he will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. To
the islands he will repay recompense. So, verse 19, so shall they fear
the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the
rising of the sun, the east, and when the enemy shall come
in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him." You see, he came to save his people, he came to
destroy his enemies and ours, and he came to establish his
kingdom in all the world. You see that? All of this for
the glory of God. So here's our Redeemer. He's
our power over sin. We have no power over sin. I
hear these preachers talking like they can conquer this and
they can conquer that and they can get this victory and that
victory. They don't have any victory. It's all deceit. Only Christ can conquer sin.
Only Christ can conquer death. He's the mighty conqueror. That's
why we can say when we lay one of our dear brothers and sisters
in the grave, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory? The strength of sin is the law,
you see. But the law holds nothing against
us. Christ kept the law for us. Christ satisfied His justice.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? And then look at verse 20. Now,
here's salvation coming to Zion. Here's our salvation. He says
in verse 20, "...and the Redeemer shall come to Zion." Now, Zion
is the church. We've seen that so many times
in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah. Zion, that mount
in Jerusalem, is a picture and type of God's dwelling place,
which is the church. It's His temple. It's made up
of His elect. It's made up of the ones whom
He justifies through Christ. It's made up of the redeemed
of the Lord. It's made up of those who have
been given life and called into the kingdom. They've been born
again. And He says, "...and unto them that turn from transgression
in Jacob, saith the Lord." The Redeemer comes to Zion. Now notice
it doesn't say there that Zion comes to the Redeemer. Now, we can say we came to Christ. We can say that. But you see,
that's not the cause or the ground or the condition of our salvation. The cause and the ground and
the condition is the Redeemer comes to Zion. Isn't that right? Yes, we come to Christ. We find
Christ. We believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I know people don't like
this language, but I don't have any problem. We accept Christ.
Now, I know it's not. Somebody says, well, now we don't
have to accept him. He has to accept. No, you have
to accept him. But that's not the ground of
your salvation. That's not the cause of it. If you accept him,
I'm going to tell you what you'll find. He's already accepted you.
That's right. I know how they do on these altar
calls and things like that. They're not scriptural. I know
that. And I know they've only preached the gospel before. But
here's the thing about it. Here's my salvation. Here's Christ's
power over sin. And the Redeemer shall come to
Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord. Now, you know Jacob is a great
type. of the most rotten sinners saved
by the grace of God. That's why he said in Malachi
3.6, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consented. We turn from transgression in
Jacob. We turn to Christ. We turn from
our dead works to serve the living God. Now look at verse 21. He says, As for me, this is my
covenant with them, saith the Lord. Now the covenant there
is the gospel. It's God's covenant with his
Son before the foundation of the world, all of the conditions
of which his Son met at Calvary in his death, burial, and resurrection,
and is preached out in the gospel of God's grace in Christ, how
God saves a sinner. The gospel is the preaching of
the terms of the covenant. What are the terms? The terms
are perfect satisfaction of God's law and justice. Now, who met
those terms? Not you, not me, but Christ did. So he says, the Redeemer shall
come to them, and he says, this is my covenant, and here's what
he says. Look at it, verse 21. My spirit
that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed.
out of the mouth of thy seed seed, saith the Lord from henceforth
and forever." What I believe he is speaking of there is the
fruit and the result of the redemptive work of Christ. Christ comes
to Zion, He redeems His people by His precious blood, and as
a result, I will send my Spirit, God says, and my Spirit will
not fail. I will put that Spirit in their
mouth, the gospel will be preached, and it will not It will not be
taken away, and it says, Out of the mouth of thy seed, nor
out of the mouth of thy seed, seed. Now, turn with me in closing
here to John chapter 16. I want to show you this worked
out in the preaching and in the work of our Savior. John chapter
16. I preached on this passage before,
but you look at it again with me. Now, look at verse 7. Now,
remember what we're talking about. The Redeemer comes to Zion. The
Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. God sent forth His
Son in the fullness of the time to redeem them. He was made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law that we might receive the blessings of Abraham. Look at
verse 7 of John 16. Now, he says, talking to his
disciples, he says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you that I go away. Now, remember, he says the Redeemer
comes to Zion. And he's talking about going
away. What's the issue? He's doing his work. The going
away here means he's going to the cross, he's going to death,
he's going to be raised again, and he's going away unto the
Father. He's going to finish the work that the Father gave
him to do. He's going to redeem his people from their sins. He
says, for if I go not away, if I don't do my work, if I don't
fulfill the stipulations, the conditions of the covenant, the
Comforter will not come unto you. Now that Comforter there
is the Holy Spirit. The issue here is a Comforter
of the same kind. In other words, He's God, the
third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, and He's
going to come to you. And He says, He will not come
to you except I go away. What's that teaching? It's teaching
that the work of the Holy Spirit, what Isaiah is speaking of over
here in Isaiah 59-21, the Word going forth in power, the seed
is the product, that's the children of God, he shall see his seed,
a seed shall serve him, all of that is the fruit and the result
of the finished work of Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us is not the cause or the ground of our salvation. It's the fruit
and effect of it. It's the result, he said. Because
he said it. He said, if I don't go away,
the comforter won't come. Well, why is that? Well, you know that
word comforter means advocate. But think of it in terms of comfort.
If Christ had not come to this world and done his great work
at Calvary, what comfort is there? There is no comfort. Go back
and just read the first eight verses of Isaiah and see. Isaiah
59. That's what it is without Christ,
without a Redeemer. There is no comfort. How could
He comfort us if there's no Redeemer? If there's no intercessor? If
there's no mediator? If there's no high priest? If
there's no substitute? How could He comfort us? He couldn't.
All He could do would be condemn us. Isn't that right? So He says,
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you." Now look at his word, verse 8. When
he is come, he will reprove. That word reprove there, you
may have this in your concordance, it means convince or convict. Now this is Holy Spirit conviction
right here. If you want to know what Holy
Spirit conviction is, here it is. He said he will convict the
world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Three things.
Verse 9. Of sin, because they believe
not on me." Now, what's he going to convict us of? He's going
to show us that without Christ, everything I am and everything
I do is sin in the eyes of God. Even my religion. Your religion
without Christ makes our Lord sick. That's what the Scripture
says. It's an abomination to the Lord. And so he's going to
show me that without Christ, there is no power over sin. Even
in my best efforts, man at his best states altogether vanity.
Without Christ, I deserve the just punishment of sin, which
is death. That's what he's going to convict
me of. And then verse 10, now here's the second thing. of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and you see me no more." Now, how
did Christ go to his Father? He's been talking about going
away. How did he go to his Father? He went to his Father as Jesus
Christ the righteous. He went to his Father as the
one who finished the work, the Redeemer, who shed his blood,
paid for all the sins of all his people, died, was buried,
and what? Risen again the third day. And
he ascended unto his Father as our Advocate, as our Intercessor. Remember what Isaiah asked him?
There was no man? And wondered there was no Intercessor?
Well, when Christ went away, he went away. He went unto the
Father as our Advocate, our Intercessor. And his name, 1 John 2 and verse
1, Jesus Christ the Righteous. So what's he saying here? He's
going to convince you that you have no righteousness but in
Christ. That's what he's going to convict
you. Don't look for it in yourself. It's not there. It's in Christ. Old John Bunyan said, My righteousness
is at the throne of God in heaven, sitting at the right hand of
the Father above. And he's going to convict you.
And then verse 11. Now look at this. of judgment. Now, you remember
God said over in Isaiah 59, there's no judgment. It displeased the
Lord. It was evil in His eye that there
was no judgment. Well, look here, verse 11. He's
going to convict you of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. Now, who's the prince of this
world? That's Satan. What is Satan? He's the accuser
of the brethren. And what he's saying here is
this. He's going to convince us that when Christ went to the
cross and bore all that punishment for my sins, that was my judgment. Right there. All my sins were
judged in Him. There's no more judgment for
me. Who shall lay anything? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. I'm
justified in Christ. Now, in His sight, by deeds of
love, no flesh justifies. But in Christ there is justification
before God. I'm not guilty. I'm a sinner.
I'm not guilty because of Christ. My judgment's already been settled.
It was settled at Calvary. And Satan was judged. He has
no just accusation against God's people. We have an intercessor. We have an advocate. We have
a Redeemer. He came to Zion. And He did His
work. He took my punishment. He took
my judgment. He took my wrath. He took my
just deserts upon Himself, so that when Satan now accuses me,
it's an empty accusation. I'm righteous in God's sight
in Christ. Now, let me show you one more
verse, and I'll quit, I promise. Revelation 12. I've shown you
this so many times before, but it's a good one to end on. Now,
because our Redeemer had power over sin and has come to Zion. Listen to these verses here.
Verse 9. Now, this is what that being
convinced of judgment means. You see, a lot of people will
go to that John 16 and verse 11. They'll say, well, now the
Holy Spirit is going to convince you that there is a judgment.
No, He's not. You already know that. Now, you
may put it out of your mind. You know, the natural man knows
there's a judgment. That's the conscience. Now, he
may spend his life denying it. He may ignore it. And he may
go as far as having a reprobate mind, a mind void of judgment.
But he knows there's something in man naturally that tells him
that you've got the answer for your sins. And that's why there's
religion. You know, that's the source of
all human religion. Why was Cain bringing an offering
to God? Because he thought God had to
be appeased. He knew that he was a sinner, and he knew that
he had to answer some way for those sins, so he just said,
well, it doesn't take the blood of a lamb. I'll just bring him
the best crop I can bring. And right there, he turned to
his own way. Man knows there's a judgment. Man doesn't know
the standard of judgment, the right standard. He doesn't know
the way to be found righteous at judgment. But what the Spirit
convicts us of is that our judgment was settled at Calvary. And we're
righteous in Christ. Now let me show you that. Look
at verse 9. And the prince of this world is judged. He says
in verse 9 of Revelation 12, the great dragon was cast out.
That old serpent called the devil and Satan, that's his name, Now
what's this speaking about? He goes on, he says, "...which
deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength in
the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, his power
over Satan, his power over sin. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Now look at verse 11, and they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb. You want to fight the devil?
Well, don't listen to these old preachers who will tell you to
go out here and perform exorcisms and all that junk. How are you
going to overcome the devil? by the blood of the Lamb." And
look, it says, "...by the word of their testimony." Remember
what Isaiah 59 says? So I'm going to put the word
in their mouth, I'm going to put it in their heart, it's going
to stay there. What is the word of our testimony? Christ and
Him crucified and risen again. And he says, "...and they loved
not their lives unto death." We know our life, as Paul wrote,
is in Christ. He's our hope. He's our study.
And that's his power. All right.