Good evening. If you turn in
your Bibles to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. Start in verse 7 Christ said 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 He who is truth, Christ himself
in the flesh, told his disciples and he told
us it's expedient, highly beneficial for your soul, very necessary,
of the utmost necessity for us that he go away. Christ came
to do the Father's will. If they'd have known in full,
they would have rejoiced, he said. But their hearts were full
of sorrow, because they hadn't been shown yet. But he had to go. He had to go
to save his elect, the ones God chose in him before the foundation
of the world. He had a work to do. He had to
come in the flesh. As a man. As the God man. Born of a virgin. Born of the
Holy Spirit of God. And he took on our nature. Yet
he was God. He was without sin. In our flesh. Taking on our nature. Our substitute. He came as our
surety, as our substitute and our representative head. It was
expedient that He go. He came because God's justice, it
had to be satisfied. It had to be. Sins had to be
paid for. And He is the mediator. Christ
is the mediator of that covenant of grace. Between God the Father
and Son and the Holy Spirit before time began. And he had to come,
he had to shed his blood for remission of sins. He had to suffer, die, as our
substitute on that cross. It was expedient that he go. To save his people, fallen in
Adam. Chosen of God and Christ before
the foundation of the world yet were born Were born with Adam's
nature were at enmity with God That God-hating nature He's God's chosen sacrifice sacrificial
lamb slain before the foundation of the world that we might have life and faith
in Him. He had to come and obtain and
accomplish our salvation. We couldn't do it ourselves.
There's no way. By His perfect obedience to God's
law, to God's commandments, that perfect righteousness that He
brought in, to free us from the law of sin and death. He was delivered for our offenses
and he was raised again for our justification. He had to go,
it was expedient. He had to be glorified. He had
to ascend back to the Father. After he justified us, after
God raised him up from the dead, Those sins were put away. Those sins were put away, that's
why He rose again. That's your assurance. And that
He ascended up to heaven. Back from where He came. To be
glorified. To have that glory that was with
Him. He and His Father before the
world was. And God accepted his one-time
offering, that atonement for all the sins of his elect. His
blood purged those sins away. And God sees them no more. It was expedient that he go. And the Father set him on the
right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. He had to be
glorified. It's the will of God. It's for
His glory. And put all things under Him. He must reign. He must reign
sovereign over all till His enemies be made His footstool. And He sits on His throne and
He intercedes for us. It's expedient that He go away. He lives to intercede for us. God sent the Comforter. He sent
the Comforter. That promise to all that would
believe on His name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was expedient
that He go away. And just listen to how much God
loves His chosen in Christ. If you'll turn over to 1 Samuel,
1 Samuel 12, 22 says, For the Lord
will not forsake His people for His great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord
to make you His people. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. What love? From eternity to eternity. The Comforter. God the Holy Spirit. Doesn't leave us to guess. It
tells us. That's the Holy Spirit of God.
I and my Father are one and we will make our abode in you. The
whole Godhead resides in Christ Jesus bodily. Christ had to go
to fulfill the Father's will and be exalted, glorified, to
send the Comforter to us who would apply that blood that Christ
shed on that cross for remission of your sins and apply it to
your heart, your new heart that God gave you. To perform that work, to apply that blood to our consciences,
to quicken us, to give us life, spiritual life that we didn't
have, that we were dead, were born dead in trespasses and sins,
and to give us that God-given faith, that true faith that looks
to Christ Jesus only, the object of that faith, to believe on
His Son that He sent and that what He did and what He accomplished
on that cross Is enough. It's enough for his elect. That
we might receive. That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Over in Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1. Verse 9. Ephesians 1 verse 9. having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted. There's your faith. After that
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, that promise
that he promised to Abraham in all his seed, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of his glory. It was expedient that he go away. The faithfulness of Christ. The
inward working of grace by His Holy Spirit. That creates a new
creature in us. That new creation in you. He
creates a new creation in you. Revealing Christ in you. The
only hope of glory. To be the predestinated sons
of God. It pleased God to make you His
people. Can you see why it was expedient
that He go away? Why it was expedient for us?
If so, it is by the free and sovereign electing grace of God
and His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. And it is by faith and
life in Him given to you by that inward working of the grace of God, the Holy
Spirit in you, that promise to all that would believe in Him,
all of His elect, salvation is of the Lord. And it is in Christ
Jesus, the object of that faith alone, that He is our salvation
and He is our hope. It was expedient for us that
he go. Verse eight. And when he is come,
the comforter, when he is come, he will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. God did not leave
us comfortless. He did not leave us to ourselves.
He did not leave us alone. I and my father will make our
abode in you. I will send the Comforter. The Comforter will reprove. He
will convict. He will convince the world of
sin. He will prove, convict, and convince
you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Christ said in John
15, just over On verse 24, Christ said, if
I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my father. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that it is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. But when the comforter has come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. You have the Holy Spirit of God. If you're God's elect, you're
God's called, He's reborn you again, made that new creation
in you. You have Christ in you. You have the Father, the Son,
the Holy Spirit. You have the Spirit of God in
you. He's given you His nature. And it's without sin. It can't
sin, because it's of God. You're taught of God. He testifies
of me. He came in the flesh, but not
all believed. John 1, 11 says, he came unto
us, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, To them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. That's that new creature in you.
Born of the Spirit of God. Created in His image. Verse 9 says, Of sin, because
they believe not on Me. Unbelief is a sin. Not believing that the Son of
God, not believing on Him, not believing that He is the one
that God sent, that He is the Messiah, that He came to save His people. That Christ Jesus, to not believe
that He is the Son, the only begotten Son of God, the Father, is sin. He and the Father are one. And
he that believeth shall not be ashamed. Galatians 3.22 tells
us, But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. That promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe.
We fell in Adam. When he ate of that tree that
God forbade him to eat from, he disobeyed God with his eyes
wide open. He was made upright, but he willingly chose to disobey
God. And you and I were in him. He
was our representative head. When he loved the creation more
than he loved the creator, he loved himself more. Disobeyed God. He made us all sinners. And we're born with that same
nature that was in Him. That's what you're born with. That God-hating nature. We came
from the womb speaking lies, God tells us. We are nothing
but sin. We are hopeless. We are spiritually
dead. Dead in trespasses and sins,
helpless, powerless. Satan has his way with us and
we love him. We go right along with him. The wrath of God is on our heads
in your natural state that you're born into. The wrath of God is
upon you. And we deserve it. We deserve
that wrath of God. Because we sinned against him. We rejected his son. We were in Adam. We did exactly
what Adam did. We willingly disobey God. We love ourselves and the creation
more than we love the creator. We sinned against God Almighty.
We ruined ourselves. Adam ruined himself. And we have that same nature.
We have ruined ourselves. Do you see the need for that
sinless substitute that God chose and be the sacrifice to be your
substitute before the world was? That's how much he loved you. That's how much he loved you. He put you, he chose you in his
son. He sanctified you in His Son. He trusted in His Son as your
surety, as your substitute. Do you see the need for the Son
of God? Praise God, He chose a people
or there wouldn't be any saved of Adam's race. For the world was, and there
is no merit on our part in any way, we did not earn anything to be pleasing to God. It's not because of anything
we did, we weren't even born yet. He chose the people. He chose us. Not because of what
we would do, We'll do, because everything we do is sinful. He created a new creature in
us. Created in the image of His Son. Christ came in the flesh. He
humbled Himself and took on our nature. He came as a servant. to do His Father's will. And that is to save and redeem
all the elect that He gave Him in the beginning. He came to
shed His blood for the forgiveness of your sins, for every sin of
all of His elect that He chose in Jesus Christ. To redeem His
elect with His own blood You that are called of God by His
grace in Jesus Christ, do you see your need for Christ Jesus
our Lord? Because without Him, there is
no hope. Only God reveals that to you.
Only God reveals to you that you are a sinner. And that you
need the righteousness of God. You need His Son. You need His
redeeming blood to take away your sins. And He shows us in the face of
Jesus Christ, His Son. He quickens you by His Holy Spirit. The faith and life that He gives,
it's expedient for you. It's a great benefit to your
soul. It is necessary for your salvation. Christ by himself purged his
elect's sins. Put them away. God sees them
no more. For he has made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. that we might be made that righteousness,
His righteousness of God in Him. Christ crucified, His blood,
His sacrifice of Himself appeased God's holy justice in our room
instead. God accepted His sacrifice for
our sins. He is at propitiation. The atonement Those that believe
not are condemned already. They're already condemned. God doesn't tempt you with sin. You're born loving it and hating
him. And for those that do believe
on him, you receive the promise. You receive His Holy Spirit in
you. God's comforter in you. And this is how He comforts us.
He convinces us of sin. Our sin against God. He convinces
you of Christ's righteousness. But you have none of your own.
You need His. And of the judgment. Because
He puts your sins away. With His obedience to God. His
faithfulness to Him. You don't have to fear God's
wrath anymore. Verse 10, of righteousness because
I go to my father and you see me no more. When Christ was raised
again from the dead. He arose victorious and successful. Our sins were put away by His
blood, by His sacrifice, in His one time sacrifice to God for
the remission, for the forgiveness, for the atonement of sins, to
appease His holy justice in His body. In His body He bore. All the punishment, all the sin,
all the guilt, all the shame that we deserved in his body. We couldn't have done it. We
couldn't have bored. It took a God man to do it. And
that was ordained before the foundation of the world. God
had chosen him to be your substitute. God was satisfied. His justice
was appeased. Christ accomplished our salvation. And he ascended back into heaven. And he sent the Comforter. He
was glorified. And he sent the Comforter, the
Holy Ghost. Showed he was exalted. Showed
that you were justified by his righteousness. Glorified above
all by the Father. In Ephesians. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 and verse 4. There is one body. One spirit. Even as you are called in one
hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith. one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us, it
is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Our faith is weak. It's a God-given
gift. It is precious. It is wonderful.
But it's weak. Our faith. Our faith looks to
the faith of Jesus Christ. The one who came. The one who
died. He's the object of our faith.
He's our hope. We've never seen him. Yet we
believe him by faith. We believe that He did come. That He did fulfill the Father's
will. That God was satisfied with His substitutionary death
on that cross. And His blood was shed for us.
That's our hope. That on resurrection, when He
comes back, when we die, we will be with Him. Where He is. And that one day He will return
and gather all in His name. That's our hope. He is our hope. He is our faith. Where he saith
when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and
gave gifts unto men. He bruised his heel, but he crushed
Satan's head. It was ordained of God before
the world was. The justifying righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect obedience to the
will of God. His perfect obedience to the
law of God. The law is not for a righteous
man. The law cannot make you just. The law cannot make you anything
other but guilty. The law was put there to make
sin more sinful, to seem more sinful, to show you that you
can't follow it. You can't obey it. You've already
broken it before you were born in Adam. You want to try to present yourself
holy and righteous or just before God? There's some way you want
to follow the law and obey it, that in your righteousness, in
your works, that you can please Him, that you can obtain forgiveness
for sin in your flesh, in your fleshly nature. There's no way. There's no way. No way. Your righteousness is
as filthy rags. Your works of your hands are
an abomination to God. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justifications. Again, Christ, perfect obedience
to God to death on the cross. His perfect righteousness. Look
in Romans chapter 10. Romans 10, verse 3. 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. He. He. Follow the laws. God's law, perfect. in your room instead. He established it. He obeyed God in our room instead. We kept the law. We're dead to
the law. We died. We no longer are under
the law. We no longer serve the law. Christ has made us free from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us because He hung
on a tree. It was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. We were bound up in it under the law. Sids, you're under the law. You're
bound to obey every precept of it. And you can't do it. Can't do it before you even start.
But Christ, Christ came. He obeyed God's law for his elect
perfectly. Perfect righteousness, perfect
obedience. Do you see your righteousness as filthy rags? Do you see your
need for the righteousness of Christ Jesus? That He is your
only pardon for sin. That He is your only hope and
only acceptance before God. He is your only righteousness
before God. And God only reveals Himself
in His Son and His Holy Spirit. That comforter
that He gives to each believer, He's the one that convinces you
of this. If you see Christ's righteousness
as the only righteousness that you have, it was revealed to
you by God. That Holy Spirit in you, teaching
you, comforting you. There is a righteousness, and
it's Christ's righteousness. We can rest in His righteousness. Romans 10, 11. For the Scripture
says, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. In
Romans 3. Romans 3. Verse 23. for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith. in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. How can God look at you and still
be holy and just and righteous because of His Son. He chose
you in His Son. If you're in His Son, He sees
His Son when He looks at you and you're as righteous and holy
as Jesus Christ Himself. You believe that He's enough? He satisfied God. God be enough
for us. Salvation is all of God. Christ
is enough. God's grace is sufficient for
his elect. Christ is all you need. Verse 11. of judgment because the prince
of this world is judged. Only God can reveal his word.
When Christ arose, when he rose from that grave, he destroyed the works of Satan. Those that were bound, he loosed. You're no more under the dominion
of sin, of Satan, of death, of the law. You're no more under
it. No more under the curse of the
law. When Christ died, we were crucified with him. He's our substitute. Our surety. That blood was shed for you. And when He died, we died in
Him. That old man was nailed to the cross with Him. We're
dead to sin. We're dead to the law. He was buried. And on the third
day, according to the Scripture, He arose again. And when He arose, when He arose, That means the
sin was put away. It means we have hope in the
resurrection that He will raise us from the dead. When He calls
you out of your darkness, He causes His light, Christ Jesus,
to shine His light into your heart, your new heart. His word, Jesus Christ. He sends a preacher. Preach his
gospel. And gives you ears to hear and
gives you life and faith to believe. On the son of God. And you're under grace. There's a promise that He gave
that He would send His Comforter. That Comforter's in you. God's
in you. He's teaching you. He's showing
you all things of Christ. He crushed Satan's head. Destroyed
his works. Look here in John. John chapter eight, go back just
a little bit here. John chapter eight, verse 42. Prince of this world
is judged. Satan. Jesus said unto them,
if God were your father, he's talking to those Pharisees again.
If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded
forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. You're of your father, the devil,
and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces
me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's
words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. Ye are not of God. The prince of this world be judged. And Christ is coming again. Look
over in Matthew. Look over in Matthew 25, verse
31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd,
divide up his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep
on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Look on down to verse 41. Then
shall he say also unto them on his left hand, depart from me
ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. And on down in 46, and these
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. The judgment of God. In our natural state, the wrath
of God is upon us. It's on our heads. In Christ,
we don't have any fear of the judgment. Why? Because Christ
came. God came, manifest in the flesh,
and put your sins away. Revelations 20, verse 10. Revelation 20, verse 10. And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast
and the false prophets are and shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of
life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works." And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it, and the death, and the hell
delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged
every man according to their works. And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into that lake of fire. Look What God has delivered you
from. Look what you deserved. Look
what you deserve. God, by his free sovereign electing
grace and the Lord Jesus Christ has saved you from. His wrath. Your sins have been paid for. Your righteousness is the righteousness
imputed to you. Jesus Christ's righteousness
by the grace of God. Has His Holy Spirit convinced
you of these things? In Romans, Chapter 8, 1 through
4, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak, through the flesh, God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin condemns sin
in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Listen up here now. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit
do things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is at enmity against God, for it is not subject
to the law of God, nor either can it be. So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. But what does it say next? You,
but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Remember that promise? The Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, I'll send Him. And He'll dwell in you. Me and my Father will make our
abode in you. Creation. You are a new creation
in Christ Jesus. There is a new creature in you
that does not belong to this world. It does not belong. There is a creature in you, Christ
revealed to you, the hope of glory, a new creation in you
that loves Him by faith. It doesn't sin. Yeah, that old
nature is still there. It is, and it's wars. We can't
do what we want. It's sinful. It sins continually. Anybody says they don't have
sin in them, they're a liar. They make God a liar. God don't lie. But in you, created in you, is
a new creature that belongs to God. Belongs in heaven with Him. There's your hope. That faith that we have, that
He gives us to believe in His Son, that He accomplished our
salvation, that His sacrifice is enough, His bloodshed was
enough to appease the holy justice of God and put away all the sins
of His elect forever. Forever! Bow down to Him, worship
Him, confess We're in the Spirit. We're not in the flesh. Put off
the things of the flesh. You heard what the flesh, to
be fleshly minded is. It's death. You're free. God has set you free in Christ. You're free to serve Him, to
love Him, to love one another. Something you can't do, something
I can't do in my flesh, I can't love you. I don't know how. Don't love myself. Don't love
God. But in Him. He's created a new
creation. In you. After it's created in
Christ Jesus. Sinless. Loves God. Loves His people. Put on the new man. Put off the old man. He's giving
you the ability, the desire. We're His workmanship. He who begun a good work in you
will continue it. There's a new creation in you,
a new creature, born after the will of God, born after the Spirit
of God. Isn't that wonderful? Look how
He comforts His people. Look how He comforts you. Walk
in His Spirit, beloved. Christ is all you need. Rest
in Him. He says, rest in Him. Cease from your works. There's
nothing you can do. It's all been done. Christ did
it all. There's nothing left to be done. Strive to enter at rest. Study. Study His Word. Hear His Gospel
being preached. Worship Him. Love Him. Adore
Him. Pray God to show you more and
more and more and He will. He will. He says you pray. You
pray in my name to the Father after His will. And He'll give it to you. Pray
in my name. He'll give it to you. He's made
Him our wisdom. Our sanctification. We're holy
in Him. Our righteousness. His righteousness. And redemption. He put our sins
away. We can cry, Abba Father. He's our Father. We can go to
Him. And we can ask in Christ's name.
Before His throne, at His feet, Christ sits on His throne. And
we can ask in His name and He'll give it to us. He's already given
us all we'll ever need. He's our inheritance. We're His. His inheritance. And He didn't
leave anything for you to do. He did it all for you. All in
Christ. All in Christ. He made us one
with God. and his son. And he put his Holy
Spirit, that comforter in us, to teach us, to comfort us, to
guide us, to convict, to convince, to reprove us of sin, righteousness,
and of judgment. He sits on his throne. His work
is done, it's finished. He ever lives to intercede for
us as our high priest, as our advocate to the Father, as our
mediator. And He's coming again for us.
Until then, He sent us His Holy Spirit. He sent us the
Comforter. Praise God. Praise his holy name. Hope and pray the Lord will comfort
you with his word.