It's always a special privilege for Darcy and I to
visit with you and to worship with you. I feel as David of old who said,
I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of
the Lord. And I pray the Lord will bless
his people wherever they leap today in his name. And especially
bless his servants who stand where I'm standing and make an
attempt to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray for everyone who has this
responsibility today. And I pray for our pastors, he
preaches in California, and the two dons who are with him, Don
Bell and Don Fortner, and I pray they might have journeying horses
back here. Barnard used to say, may the
gospel run well today, affectionately, into every heart. I'm going to
be preaching this morning from John chapter 16, if you'll open
your Bible there with me. John chapter 16. Tonight, the Lord willing, I
plan to bring a message on the subject, Behold, There Came a
Leper. A man who came to our Lord in
a terrible condition, dying with leprosy. And there are four words
that are special in this meeting with our Lord, four words I'm
going to talk about tonight. He worshiped, he called him Lord,
and he said, He'd make thee clean. Those are the four words we're
going to deal with tonight. Worship, Lord, will, and clean. That's usually the manner in
which everybody who is saved comes to the Lord. So tonight
we'll look at that, but right now this morning in John chapter
sixteen, The words here in John 16 are among the last words our
Lord left with his disciples before he went back to the Father,
before he went to the cross and ascended to the Father. And he
says this in verse 1, John 16, 1, These things have I spoken
unto you, that you should not be offended, the Master speaking
to his disciples. And he said, these things that
I've spoken to you, I've spoken them that you might not be disappointed,
that you might not be tempted to quit or to faint. You know, David said that. He
said, I would have fainted had not I believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. So our Lord says to them
here, now I've spoken these things. difficult things to hear, but
I've spoken that you should not be disappointed and offended. Because, verse 2, they shall
put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he does God a favor, does God service. These religious leaders Our Lord
said to these disciples, they'll put you out of their synagogues
and out of their temple. And actually, the time will come
when these religious zealots will kill you in the name of
God. And then he says in verse three,
And these things will they do unto you, because they do not
know me, and they do not know the Father. They don't know me,
and they don't know the Father. So many men today are doing what
they're doing in the name of a God they do not know. And verse
4, our Lord said this, But these things have I told you, that
when the time shall come, you may remember. I told you these
things. These things I told you that
when they come to pass, you'll remember. I told you about them. And these things I didn't say
to you at the beginning because I was with you. Now I'm leaving
you, going back to the Father. And all of these things are going
to happen to you. I told you about them, and you'll
remember them." You know, the Apostle Paul said that to the
church at Thessalonica in I Thessalonians 3. If you want to look over there
a moment, the Apostle Paul preached in Thessalonica for a good while,
and then he left. And while he was gone, problems
occurred and heartache and trouble came upon the church. And in
1 Thessalonians 3, verse 1, Paul said, Wherefore, when we could
no longer forbear, I couldn't stand it. I heard about what
was going on down there in Thessalonica. And it bothered me so much, I
thought it good to stay here myself and send Timothy to you. Watch this now. Wherefore, when
I could no longer forbear, I thought it good to be left at Athens
alone, and I sent Timothy, my brother and minister of God and
my fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and
to comfort you concerning your faith. that no man should be
moved by these tribulations and these afflictions and this trouble. For you yourselves know we are
appointed to trouble. We're appointed to tribulation.
In this life you shall have tribulation, Christ said, but be of good cheer.
I've overcome this world, so expect it. Through much tribulation
we shall inherit the kingdom of God. And that's what our Lord
is saying here in verse four, I told you that when the time
comes, you may remember that I told you about these troubles
and sorrows and heartaches. And these things I didn't tell
you at first because I was with you. I was with you. But now
I'm gone and you're going to be left to deal with these people
in my absence. But no, I'm always with you to
comfort you and help you. But verse 5, what's this? But
now I go my way. I go my way to Him that sent
me. I came from the Father, and I'll
go back to the Father. But none of you ask me where
the goer's thou. Where the goer's thou? I go my
way to Him that sent me, but you're not asking me where you're
going. But I tell you where I'm going. I go to the cross. as the Lamb of God to atone for
sin. I go to die that you may have
eternal life. I go to the grave to be buried
as your scapegoat, as your justifier I will rise that God may be just
and justify you. I go to heaven, that holy place,
as your great high priest to intercede for you. I go to the
Father's right hand as your mediator to ever live as the forerunner
within the veil. That's where I'm going. And none
of you ask me, where are you going? That's where I'm going.
And verse 6, but because I've said these things, sorrow hath filled your heart. Our Lord says to them, I tell
you, I go to the Father and I go to prepare a place for you. Sorrow
fills your heart. But he said, really, you ought
to rejoice. And here he gives us three reasons
why they should rejoice. Their Lord is leaving them and
they should rejoice. But he said, but sorrow has filled
your heart. But I want you to look back at
chapter 14 of John, just back a page. John chapter 14. that he said this before, John
14, 1. Let not your heart be troubled.
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe in
me. In my Father's house, in my Father's
house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again. Where I am
there, ye may be also. You shouldn't sorrow. You should
rejoice. I go to prepare a place for you,
and I'll be back to receive you unto myself. And then look at
the second reason he gives why they should not sorrow, but rejoice. John 14, verse 28. He says this
to them. You have heard how I said unto
you, I go away and come again unto you, if you love me. If
you love me, you'd rejoice. You wouldn't be sorrowful. You
wouldn't be sad. You wouldn't be troubled. You'd
rejoice. Because I go to my Father. And my Father is greater than
I. I'm going to prepare a place for you, and I'm going to my
Father. And you ought to rejoice. And then the third thing in John
16, verse 7. John 16, verse 7. Verse 6, he
said, Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath
filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. Listen, I go to a prepared place
for you. I go back to my Father and watch
this. It is expedient for you that
I go away. It's necessary for you that I
go away. It's necessary for you that I
die, or the Holy Spirit will not come. Look at that verse. I tell you, it is expedient for
you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come to you. But if I depart, I'll send him
to you. I'll send you another Comforter.
that He might abide with you forever. And if I don't go, the
Holy Spirit will not come. If I do not go, if I do not die,
there's no atonement. There's no sacrifice. There's
no blood to sprinkle. If I do not die, if I do not
go back to the Father, there's no gospel to preach. There's
no good news to declare. There's no gospel to reveal. If I die not, there's no eternal
life, no hope. Without God, without hope in
this world, no salvation, no resurrection, no joy. If I die
not, there's no comforter, because there's no comfort to give. He must die. He must go back
to the Father. He must lay down his life. He
must. It's expedient for you that I
go away. Do you understand that? If I
go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I depart, I
will send Him unto you. And when He's come, I want you
to listen carefully right here. And when He's come, when the
Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit of God will come. The Spirit
of God will come both to the world and both to the church.
And when He's come, note these three words, and when He's come,
He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. When the Holy Spirit comes, He
will reprove, convince, convict this world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Let's note these things one at
a time, of sin, righteousness, and judgment. First of all, he
will convince men and convict them of sin because they believe
not on me. What is sin? What is sin? Well, it's two-fold. Sin is nature
and acts. And notice the word sin is singular,
not plural, it's singular. He will convince this world,
he'll reprove this world of sin. Sin is not only what we do, it's
why we do it. A person is not a thief because
he steals. He steals because he's a thief.
He's already a thief in his heart. He may never take anything that
belonged to anybody else all his life and then he takes it.
Why'd he do it? Because he's a thief. A murderer, a person is not a
murderer because he killed somebody. He kills because he's a murderer.
A young person may never cheat on a test or an exam. But if he's a cheat in his heart,
he'll do it sooner or later. That's right. Sooner or later. George Whitefield gave a threefold
definition of true repentance. The Holy Spirit will convince
this world of sin. S-I-N. And He'll convince us of sin
because we need to be convinced. We need to have it spelled out
for us what sin is. So here it is. Here's the threefold
message on repentance. First of all, we repent for what
we are. Not for what we did. Not what
we have done. We repent for what we are. Turn
to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John 1, verse 8 and 9. Listen to this. 1 John 1, verse
8. If we say we have no sin, no nature of sin, no heart of
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now,
if we confess our sins, sin is what we are, our sins are what
we've done. So sin, first of all, to repent
of sin is to repent of what I am, who I am, why I do what I do. And secondly, Whitfield said
this, repentance is not only for what we are, but for what
we have done. All the sins, my sins are ever
before me, David said. If a man says he has no sins,
he deceives himself, the truth's not in him. We repent of what
we've done. And then thirdly, he said this,
true repentance involves what we are, what we've done, and
what we haven't done that we should have done. I haven't loved
God like I should. I haven't worshipped God like
I should. I haven't loved others like I should. There's a lot
of things I haven't done. To know what to do good and do
it not, that's sin. But the greatest thing about
sin is this. Go back to my text, John 16.
The greatest, the greatest problem with sin is this. Verse 8, John
16, And when he is come, the Holy Spirit, he will convict
the world of sin. Verse 9, Because they believe
not on me. That is the greatest sin. They
believe not The greatest problem in sin is
this. We don't believe Him. We don't
believe God. We don't believe the Savior.
Spurgeon was visiting with a young man, and the young man wanted
to talk to Spurgeon about religious matters and spiritual
matters. And he said to Mr. Spurgeon,
he said, Mr. Spurgeon, I'll just never be
saved. God'll never save me." And he
said, why not? He said, because I've been such
a wicked sinner, such a vile sinner. And he said, Mr. Spurgeon, all my life I've done
this, that and the other. And he paused and Spurgeon says,
is that all? He began to confess other things
that he'd done and said and been involved in. When he paused for
breath, Spurgeon says, is that all? So he lounced out more in
his life of sin and told some more things that he had done
and been. Spurgeon said, is that all? He
said, Mr. Spurgeon, I've confessed to you
the most terrible things that I could even think of, some things
I hadn't even thought of, I've told you. And you say, is that
all? Spurgeon said, you still? haven't
confessed the greatest sin." He said, what's that? He said,
you haven't believed God. You haven't believed on Christ. That's the greatest sin. That's
the granddaddy of all sin. That's the chief sin. That's
the reason Israel could not enter Canaan. Because of unbelief. Not to build in the golden cave,
they did that. Not dance naked around the fire,
they did that. Not murmuring against Moses,
they did not, but they didn't believe, and God shut them out. The greatest sin is unbelief. He that believeth not on the
Son of God shall never see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. Whatever else he does, as that
young man confessed to Scrooge, whatever else he's done, that's
not it. He didn't believe. He that believeth
not on the Son hath made God Almighty a liar. When he's come, he'll reprove
the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment, of sin, because
they believe not on me." That's the greatest sin. That's the
granddaddy of all sin. That's the sin that condemns
and damns everybody who's condemned and damned. They haven't Abraham
believed God. That was it. Abraham had a lot
of problems, but he believed God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness. That's all. Go ye in all the
world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And he who commits adultery or
kills somebody or steals or a car and runs away with this, that
and the other, he that believeth not shall be damned. Why? They didn't believe. That's the
heart of it. That's the heart of it. I believe
God. The thief on the cross. He lived
a rebel and he was dying a rebel. I guess he could have, he could
have written a horrible bestseller about his wicked life. But when
he looked at our Lord Jesus Christ, he believed. He believed. He said, don't you fear God.
See, we're in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, justly,
justly. But this man, he's done nothing amiss. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. I believe God. Bless your heart,
the Savior says, today you'll be with me in paradise. He believed. He believed. The other men didn't.
He believed. I'll convince them of sin because
they believe not on me. Now, what's this next word? And
our Lord said, of righteousness because I go to my Father. Well,
I've tried to tell you what sin is. It's nature. It's nature. It's what we are. It's why we
do what we do because of what we are. But righteousness, what's
this righteousness? What is righteousness? It's true,
immaculate, perfect holiness. Perfect holiness. When God created
Adam and Eve and put them in the garden, they were holy. They
walked with God. They talked with God. They were
like God. They had no sin. They had no guilt, no fear, no
doubt, no problems, no sin. They were perfect. And then they
fell. And you read it in the Scripture,
how their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked.
And they feared and they ran from God. They hid from God.
When God came through the garden speaking to them, He said, Adam,
where art thou? I was afraid. I was naked and
I hid. Have you taken the fruit? Yes. And Adam was changed. He lost
his holiness. He lost his beauty. He lost his
image of God. He became a sinner. a wretched,
miserable sinner, running from God, hiding from God. He never
knew guilt before, but he was guilty now. He never knew fear
before, but he was afraid now. He never knew he was naked. He didn't know he was naked.
He realized he was. All things were naked before
him, and he hid from God. And then when God told him, what
have you done, he said, this woman, She gave me this. I didn't do it. She gave me this.
He knew hate. He hated her because she led
him into this mess. Everything about him now is unholy,
unclean, impure, filthy, filthy. And the Holy Spirit's going to
convince you of that imperfect, imperfect holiness. It's a rotten,
sinful, guilty, personal unrighteousness. But now wait. The Scripture says
in Genesis 3 that they sowed fig leaves together to cover
themselves. But that wouldn't cover them.
They were still naked. And God, Almighty God, slew a
lamb. That's the first bloodshed. He
slew a lamb and made coats of skin to cover these fallen creatures. And they had a covering. They
had a covering. They hid their shame, hid it
under a false refuge, but they still covered themselves. And
that's our story. See, because of Adam's fall,
thy one man's sin entered this world, and death thy sin, so
death passed on all men. So all of us are born in sin,
conceived in sin, shaped in iniquity, brought forth speaking lies.
We weren't brought into this world like perfect Adam. They were born into this world
the son of imperfect Adam, the guilty Adam. And we're just like
him, just like him. And we try to hide our nakedness.
We try to hide our sin. We try to hide our unrighteousness.
But it won't be here. But it can be. Turn to Romans
3. This is what God did for Adam. He slew a lamb, an innocent lamb,
in the place of Adam and covered him. provided him with a covering,
provided him with a righteousness, provided him with a way to come
before God. Look at Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith is saith to them that are under the law.
That's what we are in. Every mouth may be stopped and
all the world become guilty before God, naked before God, guilty
before God, evil before God, lost before God. hopeless before
God. Therefore, by the fig leaf aprons
and by the deeds of the law, no flesh is going to be justified
and purified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, the righteousness, the
holiness, the immaculate eternal holiness of God, without what
we do and without what we, our efforts, being witnessed by the
law and the prophets, it's the righteousness of God which is
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all, upon all them
that believe. But there's no difference. God
slew a lamb and used the lamb to cover Adam's sin and give
him a righteousness. And Almighty God has slain a
lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over that verse 25 of Romans
3. Here he is, whom God has set
forth to be a covering, a propitiation, a mercy seat through faith in
His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
have passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, right
now, His righteousness, perfect righteousness, God's righteousness,
Christ's righteousness, that God may be just and justify the
guilty, the lamb. That's such a beautiful picture.
Adam cringing, guilty, fearful, empty, unholy, and God slew a
substitute and covered his sins. And where we are before, guilty
before God, guilty before God. Just name all the guilt that's
in us. And God slew Christ Christ was
a Lamb prophesied. Christ was a Lamb promised. My Son, God, will provide a Lamb. The Son in type, Moses, take
a Lamb without spot or blemish. Kill the Lamb, put His blood
on the door, and I see the blood of Passover years. The Lamb identified. Who is He? John the Baptist said,
Behold, the Lamb of God. takes away, fires away the sin
of the world. The Lamb was crucified, lifted
up on a cross between heaven and earth, and the Lamb was glorified. Oh, what a text. John 16, listen. John 16, when he's come, He'll
convince, He'll reprove, He'll convict the world of sin because
they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father. God
hath provided a Lamb and that Lamb was crucified, that Lamb
was lifted up, that Lamb went back to the Father and was glorified
and now sits on the right hand of God as our mediator and our
Redeemer, the Lamb of God. I go to my Father. I'll convince
this world of their unholiness and their wretchedness and convince
them of a perfect righteousness because I go to my Father. That's
why. You're lost because you be unbelief,
but saved because I go to my Father. Now, the third word. The third
word, John 16. He said, when he's come, he'll
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Of sin, because they don't believe. Of righteousness, perfect righteousness,
because I go to the Father as your righteousness, and as your
sin offering, as your forerunner, and you see me no more. I'll
convince this world of judgment, because the prince of the world
is judged. Who's he talking about? But here,
first, he's talking about Satan. Satan is the prince of the world.
He's called the prince of the power of the air. He's a powerful,
powerful foe. He's a formidable foe, evil foe. And Satan met Adam and conquered
him. Satan met the man God made and
Satan conquered him. destroyed him. Satan met the
God-man, and he was destroyed. Satan met the God-man, and Satan
was destroyed. Satan met the God-man, and God cast him out. Satan's
been cast out. That's what he said. Of judgment,
because the prince of this world is defeated, the prince of this
world It's cast out, the prince of this world is not bringing
any more harm to the sons of God. You understand what Paul
is saying about this over in Romans chapter 1, he said, chapter
8, he says this, there is therefore now, there is therefore now no
judgment, no judgment to the emperor in Christ Jesus. Do you understand what Paul is
saying? No judgment. No fear, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. Turn to Romans 8, and let me
read this to you. Romans chapter 8. Satan met Adam,
and he destroyed Adam. Satan met Christ, and Christ
destroyed Satan. And there's no judgment to those
who are in Christ Jesus, who are represented by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Romans chapter 8. Listen to this. Romans chapter 8, verse 32, He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything,
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that dies. Yea, rather that it is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, whoever lives to
make intercession for us. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, I go to my
Father. Of judgment, because the prince
of this world is cast out. The sun is lifted up, and the
prince of this world is cast out. God Almighty hath appointed
a day in which ye have judged this world in righteousness,
but not believers. There is no judgment and no condemnation
for believers. It's appointed unto me in what's
to die, and after this, the judgment, not for believers. There is no
judgment. There is no condemnation. Satan
has been defeated and cast out. Cast out. One of the old timers
wrote a hymn and said this, in Adam's loins by sin we fell and
we walked an evil, evil road without the will or the power
to turn to God, to happiness in God. But God prepared the
means to bring his fallen children home and Jesus Christ fulfilled
God's by his own death alone. Let others boast how strong they
be, nor death nor judgment fear, but I confess, O Lord, what feeble
things we are. The Holy Spirit brings the Father's
love, applies redeeming blood in Christ. Our fears, our doubts,
Our guilt removes and brings us home to God. If I go away, the Spirit will
come. If I go not away, He will not
come. But if I go away, He'll come and He'll convince and convict
and reprove this world of sin, because they don't believe on
me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father. Of judgment,
because the Prince of this world is defeated, judged and cast
out. And in believers, we have that
righteousness and no judgment. All right, the last verse now
in John 16. John 16, the last verse. Our
Lord says this. He says in verse 12, I have many
things to say to you. I have many things to say unto
you, but you can't bear them now." He has many things to say
to us. We start with this. We start
with sin, righteousness, and judgment. And we handle these
things and deal with these things and look into these things. But
He said, I have a whole lot of things to tell you, but you can't
bear them now. You're just babes in Christ.
You can't bear them now. But when He comes, The Holy Spirit,
listen, verse 13, when He, the Holy Spirit of truth comes, He'll
guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself. Whatsoever He shall speak, He
shall hear, there shall He speak, and He'll show you things to
come. We've got to start here where we are. And He'll come
and show us things to come. He'll guide us into all truth. And verse 14, and He'll glorify
me. The Holy Spirit will glorify
me. For He shall receive of mine,
think about it, and show it I've got a lot of things," he
said. Oh, just touch the hem of the garment. Got so much to
tell you, so much good news and good things to share with you,
but you can't buy it right now. You're just a babe, just a babe. But when the Holy Spirit comes
and dwells in you and fills your heart, he'll lead you into all
truth. He'll glorify me. He'll take
the things of mine and just unfold them to you. That's what he does
when we try to preach, you know. We're so frail and feeble and
try to glorify God. And he will glorify himself.
He uses the weakest of vessels to glorify himself. But he's
going to lead us into all truth. That's right. He'll glorify me.
He'll say, you see my shirt, you have what? See it. All things
that the Father hath are mine. All things are mine. He gave
them to me. Therefore I said unto you that
he'll take the things of mine and show it to you. The Lord knows that we're his
servants. And we know we're his servants.
He knows and we know that we're his witnesses. And we're his
children. But we're just babes. Just babes
in Christ. We're men and women with emotion
and feelings and desires. And, oh, how we need the wisdom
of God, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of His Spirit. He'll guide you into all truth.
He'll show you things to come. And He'll take the things of
mine and show them to you. Lord, grant it. Teach me. Show me and I'll see. But you'll have to teach me.
And I'm going to close with a prayer the Apostle Paul prayed for the
Ephesian believers. This is what he prayed for them.
And I pray for me and I pray for you this day. Paul said,
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge
of Christ, that the eyes of our understanding might be enlightened,
that we may know what is the hope of his calling, the riches
of his inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his person to us
who believe. May God grant that to us this
day. Let's sing Amazing Grace as our
closing hymn. Would you do that? Amazing Grace. What number is
it?