“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe
in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no
longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has
been judged.” (John 16:8-11)
When God begins to deal with the world, He begins with the
people within it. God deals with the heart of man and allows him to see the endless
mercy He extends to forgive the sinner in his present condition. Here are three
ministries which the Spirit of God is involved:
(1) “The
Spirit enlightens the unsaved with regard to one sin only; ‘of sin, because they
believe not on me.’ (John 1:29) The full judgment of sin has been taken up and
completed at the cross. Hence a lost man must be made aware of the fact that, because
of the cross, his present obligation to God is that of accepting God’s provided
cure for his sins. In this ministry, the Spirit does not shame the unsaved because
of their sins; but He reveals the fact of a Savior, and One who may be received
or rejected.
Because
of this ultimate gift, the sinner has nothing to worry about with respect to
his future judgment of his shortcoming with God. God has made a way of escaping
the wrath that is waiting his future with God. God is not in the business of
shaming anyone, but merely allowing the person to see there is a way out of
their sinful life and the future judgment. God has allowed this way of escape
which has been perfected through His Son Jesus Christ’s blood.
(2) The
Spirit illuminates the unsaved with respect to righteousness and that ‘because
I go to my Father, and ye see me no more.’ How can a sinner be made right in
the eyes of a Holy God? It will not be by any attempted self-improvement. There
is a righteousness for him from God, which is unto all and upon all who believe.
It is foreign to the wisdom of this world that a perfect righteousness can be
gained by simply believing, and believing on an invisible Person who is at the
right hand of God; yet every lost soul must, in some measure, sense this great
possibility if he is constrained to turn to Christ from self.
Just
trying to become a better person will not allow us to enter Heaven. There is no
self-help way for a person to become better that could help them escape the
wrath that is waiting on man. This only comes by the intervention of Jesus Christ.
This forgiveness is given through a simple and humble act whereby a person in
simplistic faith trusts in the saving power of God.
(3) So,
also, the Spirit, in this threefold ministry, illuminates the unsaved
concerning a divine judgment which is already past; ‘for the prince of this
world is judged.’ By this illumination the unsaved are made to realize that it
is not a problem of getting God to be merciful in His judgment of their sins:
they are rather to believe that the judgment is wholly past and that they have
only to rest in the priceless victory that is won. Every claim of Satan over
man because of sin has been broken, and so perfectly that God, who is infinitely
holy, can now receive and save sinners.” (Col. 2:13-15) He That is Spiritual, L. S. Chafer.
When
we come to the point and recognize that the act of God is to adopt us into His
family, we can have full assurance that the future battle of God against sin is
already won. No more do we have to wait in anticipation as to whether or not
this future battle is won. It is already finished! Because of this future
victory we can live a victorious life knowing that God has already given us
victory over our sins because of the perfect sinless gift of Jesus Christ!
Take
the time this season to share this message of hope with someone you love and
care about. It truly is the meaning of the season…
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