Blessed Departure

If God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John, there are four Gospels. John is the fourth in the series. We’ve been away from John’s Gospel
for some time, and I thought a reminder might be in order.
We bring ourselves back to John chapter 16. That’s where we left
off some weeks ago. John chapter 16, and Jesus has
already broken the news to his beloved friends that he is departing. They are in the upper room. It
has been a very dynamic event. It began with the last supper
and the foot washing and then issued forth in a series of both
disclosures but also a series of questions that brought about
more disclosures which brought about more questions. And Jesus
now in chapter 16 is beginning to wrap up in his unfolding to
them some very key lessons. He wants to tell them about the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. He wants to unfold to them the
mysteries of the resurrection. And then he wants to unfold to
them the promises that are theirs in prayer just before he goes
in John 17 to what we know as the high priestly prayer. We’ll take the remainder of the
chapter in its entirety and then I’ll double back and we’ll take
just a portion of it this morning in consideration. Begin if you
would in verse five of chapter 16. But now I am going to him who
sent me And none of you asks me, where are you going? But
because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your
heart. But I tell you the truth, it
is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away,
the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him
to you. 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. I
have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them
now. When he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into
all the truth. For he will not speak on his
own initiative. But whatever he hears, he will
speak. And he will disclose to you what
is to come. He will glorify me. For he will take of mine and
will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has
are mine. Therefore I said that he takes
of mine and will disclose it to you. A little while and you
will no longer see me. And again, a little while and
you will see me. Some of his disciples then said
to one another, what is this thing he’s telling us? A little
while and you will not see me, and again a little while and
you will see me, and because I go to the Father? So they were
saying, what is this that he says a little while? We do not
know what he’s talking about. Jesus knew they wished to question
him. And he said to them, are you
deliberating together about this? That I said a little while and
you will not see me and a little while and you will see me? Truly,
truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the
world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief
will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor,
she has pain because her hour has come. But when she gives
birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because
of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore,
you two have grief now, but I will see you again, and your heart
will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
In that day, you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly,
I say to you, If you ask the Father for anything in my name,
he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked for
nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive so that
your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to
you in figurative language. An hour is coming when I will
no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you
plainly of the Father. In that day, you will ask in
my name. And I do not say to you that
I will request of the father on your behalf for the father
himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed
that I came forth from the father. I came forth from the father
and I have come into the world. I am leaving the world again
and going to the father. His disciples said, Lo, now you
are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech.
Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone
to question you. By this we believe that you came
from God. Jesus answered them, do you now
believe? Behold, an hour is coming and
has already come for you to be scattered each to his own home
and to leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the
Father is with me. These things I have spoken to
you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have
tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world.” Jesus
is in the midst of this dynamic Event with his disciples there
in the upper room they had just completed a series of questions
where and when and how and why and Jesus has been patient to
walk with them through that and to be faithful to teach them
about the deep things of God and He wants them to be strengthened. He doesn’t want them to be caught
off guard. He doesn’t want them to lose
hope and faith as they begin to see the troubles and difficulties
that are coming upon their friend, their Lord, their Savior, without a warning, without a
heads up, without a preliminary instruction, they might see the
events of this very evening unfold and lose all faith. And so Jesus
so carefully walks them through and tells them that God is absolutely
sovereign and that ultimately Jesus Christ is going back to
the Father by God’s design. Jesus says that it’s a benefit
to them that he leave that it’s ultimately a blessing for them.
If you would double back to verse five, we’re just going to look
at these seven verses this morning from verse five through verse
11 at the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And in this particular
passage, we are led in by none other than the Godhead himself,
God working through Christ, exposing and revealing the ministry of
the Holy Spirit. Look at verse five, if you would,
where Jesus says, but now I am going to him who sent me. They knew ultimately that he
was going back to the father. They may have covered it over.
They may have been bewildered. They may have played coy and
assumed that they didn’t know where he was going, but he had
told them on many occasions where he was going. But now I’m going
to him who sent me and none of you asks me where you are. Where
are you going? But because I have said these
things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. There’s a change in circumstance.
When Jesus begins in verse five, when he says, but now, he forecast
for them that changes are coming. They had enjoyed his company
for these three years, some less, but right about three years,
they had enjoyed the rich and full company of their friend
and savior. But now things were changing,
but now Jesus was going to be departing from them. Jesus Christ
up to this point, as we have seen in weeks past, Jesus Christ
has borne the brunt of the persecution of those who hated God and hated
him. Jesus Christ has borne all of
that. And now things are going to change
in that regard too. Jesus Christ, in a sense, as
the shepherd stood between the wolves and the sheep. But now
the sheep are going to be fully exposed. And the hatred, the
venomous hatred of Christ’s enemies would be poured out on these,
his sheep. And so Jesus says, but now things
have changed. I am going to him who sent me. They knew full well that that
was referring to the father. But Jesus makes a statement here
that perhaps causes us to pause and even wonder. Perhaps we even
see it as somewhat of a difficulty. When he says, none of you asks,
Where are you going? Perhaps that causes us difficulty
because if you look back in chapter 13, look at verse 36. In chapter
13, verse 36, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? glide over into chapter 14 and
look at verse 5. Peter wasn’t the only one that
wondered aloud where Jesus might be going. Thomas said to him,
almost in a challenging tone, Lord, we do not know where you
are going. How do we know the way? What Jesus is saying here back
in chapter 16, if you would, is that none of them really wondered,
really wanted to know, really had even a serious question or
doubt as to where Jesus was actually going. We surmised even when we heard
it that Peter’s question wasn’t entirely sincere. Jesus had told
the disciples where he was going. Jesus had told the disciples
that not only would there be difficulty, but that he would
return to the Father. And so what they essentially
are doing here in the course of this upper room discourse,
this dialogue, this running dialogue that began all the way back in
chapter 13, is they’re focusing Far too literally on some of
the statements that Jesus has made And that they haven’t really
thought through their question, where are you going? Because
for Jesus to return to the father would mean that Jesus would have
to accomplish some thing and we’ll see more in a moment and
that he would have to be welcomed back into heaven. That he wasn’t just leaving,
he wasn’t just going to find a place to hide, but he was going
back, rightfully so, to his most natural place, next to his father’s
side. He wasn’t going to any other
place on earth. He was going to heaven. He was
going to be with his heavenly father. And so you could almost
look at this dialogue and see a lot of our own human selfishness. Where are you going? They’re
frustrated that Jesus would at all leave them. And so they ask, When they do
ask, where are you going? It’s out of their own selfish
motives. It’s because of their loss, their
loss of their friend. And nobody asks, what are the
implications for Christ? What are the implications of
Christ’s departure for him? What is Jesus going to have to
endure in order to go back to the Heavenly Father? All they’re
really thinking about is themselves. They’re thinking perhaps of the
persecution that will no doubt be turned to them. They’re thinking
about the absence of their friend and guide and helper. They’re
thinking about their own needs and not about the Savior. and whatever mission God had
called him to. Their questions were born out
of concerns for themselves, not concerns for anything else. And Jesus, Jesus so patiently
walks them through this. When he says, I’m going to him
who sent me, He tells them one more time, He gives them a hint
at God’s great plan of redemption. That Jesus Christ is going to
go and that ultimately He’s going to be received again by the Heavenly
Father because He had fully accomplished what the Father had sent Him
to do. All they can think about is their
own immediate needs, their loss of a friendship, their impending
persecution on Christ’s behalf. They were focused on the fact
of his departure and not on the significance of it. That’s the
part that Jesus turns to in verse seven. When he says, but I tell
you the truth, It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the
helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him
to you. In some of the older translations,
it says, it is expedient. It is absolutely necessary in
God’s great economy, in God’s great plan of redemption, it
just fits. It’s necessary. It’s good and
right and proper that I go away. It’s to your benefit. In the same way we see throughout
the scriptures when God takes the acts of wicked men and turns
those for his own sovereign purpose. That’s expedience. And so the disciples may have
been wondering I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage
that I go away. What could they possibly gain
from Jesus’ departure? Well, people have wrestled with that
very question. How is it possible that it’s
better off for Christ’s disciples in his absence? than in his presence? Well, throughout the history
of the church, the church has looked upon and wrestled with
this question and a number of benefits can clearly be surmised. At the moment, Christ’s disciples
were absolutely dependent on the visible bodily presence of
Christ. eventually he would be taken
away from them, and that that would force them to an understanding
and an embracing of the spiritual presence of Christ, a spiritual
presence that you and I enjoy every day. We never had the one,
and so for us it’s nowhere near as hard as It was for these apostles
facing this difficulty, this challenge, this change. But for us, we can’t even imagine
not having the spiritual presence of Christ, the understanding
that Christ is with us. So that was an advantage. The cross. The cross was an advantage. The cross was an advantage that
these men hadn’t quite taken into account. That Jesus Christ
was going to go and He was going to suffer a cruel death on the
cross for their sin. And that it was absolutely necessary. There was no way around Christ
paying for our sin. This was the only means. We have this idea now that perhaps
if Jesus had opted out or that if he had just maybe the Father
said, you know, let’s not go through with this. That perhaps
we could have put together some plan or some way that we could
pay for our own sin through deeds, through our own acts of righteousness. The truth was the cross was absolutely
critical. It was the means, the God-given
means of providing salvation to humanity. And that salvation
could only be in the finished work of Christ, the perfect and
sinless Savior who was sent for that very purpose, to pay for
our sin. There are a number of other truths,
but the redemption of humanity, that serves as an advantage to
mankind, doesn’t it? That serves as an advantage to
these very disciples, as well as you and I. There’s another
advantage. not only on the spiritual presence
of Christ and on the divine plan of redemption, but Jesus says
it plainly in this passage. There are other implications
that can be drawn and understood, but Jesus makes it absolutely
explicit that the Spirit would not come. He would not be sent
until Jesus went away. That’s what affords the spiritual
presence of Christ. That’s what opens the door to
a new and living relationship with almighty God. The Spirit, there are other blessings
as well that flow from that. The Spirit’s ministry and revealing
and teaching us about Christ and teaching us about ourselves.
The very fact that the Holy Spirit dwells within each one of us
is now possible because of this very advantage, this blessing
of Christ going away. There’s another truth that we
could glean as we back away and we look and we ponder what possibly,
possible advantage could there be to Christ going away? The church has observed over
the centuries the fact that the Holy Spirit coming was essentially
God’s stamp of approval on Christ’s work. It was a vindication of
what Christ had accomplished on the cross. And so Jesus, Jesus
tells his beloved friends, it’s to your advantage. These advantages
are absolutely necessary. They are some of the greatest
blessings that the world has ever known. The indwelling of
the spirit, the effect of God’s great plan
of redemption. Jesus tells them one more time,
if I don’t go, if I don’t go, the helper will not come. It’s
to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the
helper will not come to you. This is a repetition, isn’t it?
And you recall that. Back in John chapter 14, Jesus
told his followers that the helper, that the Father would provide
them would be a perpetual help to them, an ongoing help. He would be with them forever,
and not merely with them, but indwelling them. Listen to John
14. I will ask the Father, John 14,
16, he will give you another helper that he may be with you
forever, that is the spirit of truth in the world cannot receive
because it does not see him or know him but you know him because
he abides with you and will be in you. This helper that was going to
come was going to be unlike Christ in a number of senses but he
would come alongside and dwell within and teach them. Later in that same section, Jesus
unfolds the Spirit’s role or His function in their particular
lives, in that He would be their teacher and their guide. John
14, 26 says, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring you
to remembrance. for all that I said to you. That’s
so often what the believer needs, isn’t it? We need to be reminded
of biblical principles. We need to be reminded of biblical
truths. We need to be reminded of what
God has accomplished in times past. We need to be reminded
of God’s warnings in our life. We need to be reminded. And that
is the abiding ministry of the Holy Spirit. And again, Jesus
tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 15, that as God
said, the Holy Spirit would proclaim God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ. In John 15, 26, he says that
when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he
will testify about me. The church has been very troubled throughout
its history on people who claimed to have a message from the Holy
Spirit, who claim to have some kind of input and guidance from
the Holy Spirit, who claim to have some extra biblical message
not written in any page of scripture. But if the Holy Spirit says anything,
according to Jesus Christ, he testifies about the Savior. He testifies about me, Jesus
says. He testifies about God’s Messiah
and really nothing else. This is our God-given helper.
Not just the apostles, this is the God-given helper that was
sent for you and I. Look again at verse seven, if
you would. Jesus says, I tell you the truth,
it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go
away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send
him to you. And he, when he comes, will convict
the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and
concerning judgment. Now, I don’t know what particular
translation you have, but unfortunately, most of them cut out what I have
determined on the study of this passage to see a God-given and
very necessary inclusion that most translations wipe out. And that is that little word
concerning. Now, I say little word. In the Greek, it’s only four
little letters. Peri, concerning, about. It’s a little preposition. And
in most translations it says, when he comes he will convict
the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. But
that little word is woven into the Greek text on three different
occasions here in verse eight. Concerning sin and concerning
righteousness and concerning judgment. That is the Holy Spirit’s
role. The Holy Spirit is coming. The Holy Spirit is being sent
into the world and he has a specific role and the role is to convict
the world and to convict the world of three things. This verb
convict had a number of meanings. It could be translated expose
or convince or to blame or simply to convict. to lead through a
process of argumentation to a position. In the New Testament, so often
it is used with showing someone their sin and calling them to
repentance. Jesus says that is the Holy Spirit’s
role. The Holy Spirit is coming to
convince and convict men of sin, to convince and convict men of
righteousness, and to convict and convince men of judgment. That’s his role. The bottom line is that the Holy
Spirit here would come and clearly establish before Almighty God
the guilt of every person ever born. And not just the guilt
of sin, but the desperate need of the one thing they most lack. And that is righteousness. Do
you realize that if you were perfectly righteous, you could
bypass this whole thing, bypass even the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and waltz your way into heaven anytime you want? Do you
realize that? The problem is we utterly lack
righteousness. We are desperately sinful. And
unless we come to the grips with those two things, that we are
utterly sinful, completely devoid of the righteousness of God,
then without a doubt, the third one comes into play, and that
is judgment. This is the Holy Spirit’s role,
to convict, to convince every person ever born of their standing
before God. to cross-examine them, to make
a case, to lay hold of their hearts as a prosecutor would,
and to bear down on the truth and over and over again offer
support and to bring the truth to stand against the sinner. The bottom line is that is the
Holy Spirit’s role That is his God-given purpose, to call the world to repentance
through the process of guilt, a knowledge of their own sin,
a knowledge of their lack of righteousness. It’s the role
of a divine lawyer, if you would, the lawyer stands hammering away
at our nature. One pastor said it this way,
the Spirit’s convicting ministry is an exceedingly positive one.
We don’t like to feel guilt, do we? We don’t like it when
our conscience begins to bother us. We don’t like it when those
things that we’ve done or said begin to weigh heavy. on our hearts and our minds,
they become a distraction. And we count it to be almost
an intrusion, an unwelcome guest whispering as it were in our
ear. It’s a good thing. Times past, I’ve said to young
people when they speak of God’s conviction or speak of the fact
that they are under conviction, I’ve said, praise God, it’s a
sign of life. As long as you’re under conviction,
there’s hope. As long as you’re under conviction,
there is a sign of life. Because it means that repentance
is a possibility to you and for you. The time you really need
to get concerned is when you sin without any compunction at
all. Without any guilt, without any
care. So this pastor is absolutely
right. The Spirit’s convicting ministry
is an exceedingly positive one. His goal is to bring sinners
to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. No one can be saved apart
from the Holy Spirit’s convicting and regenerating work. It is
the ministry of the Holy Spirit to penetrate hearts steeped in
sin, overcome sinners’ resistance to the gospel, and bring them
through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to fellowship with
God. That’s the Holy Spirit’s role.
And that’s what we have here in a picture. You say, is it really that bad? that God would have to send the
third member of the Godhead just to convince us about our standing,
our nature? Well, this is what Scripture
says. 2 Corinthians 4, it says, the God
of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that
they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ. blinded their minds. They don’t realize the desperate
situation they find themselves in. Dead in their trespasses and
sins, remember as we read through Ephesians, walking according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air. We’re following the devil at every step and we
don’t even realize it. and the lust of our flesh, indulging
the desires of our flesh and of our mind, darkened in our
understanding, Ephesians 4, excluded from the life of God, alienated,
hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. We’re conducting ourselves
along as we always have. We don’t even know that we’re
headed for the cliff and we’re dead. One faithful shepherd in the
history of our church nailed it when he said, men are estranged
from God. They’re at war with the holy
God. Men are estranged from God and engaged in rebellion against
Him and they love to continue so. They will not submit nor
return to their duty and allegiance. Hence, there is need of a superior
power to subdue their stubborn hearts and sweetly constrain
them to subjection. To inspire with the love of God
and a hatred of all sin. For this purpose, the Holy Spirit
of God is sent into the world. For this purpose, He is at work
from age to age upon the hearts of men. The Holy Spirit has His way,
doesn’t He? In the Book of Acts, as that
great chronicle of the early church unfolds, we see repeatedly, example
after example, of this newly given Holy Spirit plying His
calling in the world. Just one example of so many. Acts 4, they were speaking to
the people, priests. The captain of the temple guard
and Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them and put
them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But
many of those who had heard the message believed. The Holy Spirit
was active, convincing and convicting and bringing them to repentance. They had a response to the gospel. Not as they might have thought,
they didn’t think that it would cost them their own freedom,
but it was a magnificent response. The number of the men came to
be about 5,000. The Holy Spirit had his way. When he comes, Jesus says, he
will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness
and concerning judgment. Those, if you will, are the elements
of any individual’s spiritual standing. Everything that’s essential.
Everything that is germane to our spiritual life. is wound
up in those three things, sin and righteousness and judgment. First of all, the Holy Spirit
will convict the world regarding sin. Sin, he says, because they
do not believe in me, verse nine, the spirit brings home the guilt,
the sinner’s guilt, and lays it on his heart. The Holy Spirit
comes for that very purpose. The Holy Spirit lays to him this
lack of faith that enables him to go through life disregarding
Christ. John 3.18 says, He who does not
believe has been judged already. because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten sin, the only, bear with me,
the only begotten Son of God. It’s not this general idea of
sin that the Holy Spirit comes to convict the sinner of, it’s
because of a refusal to believe in the Savior. Paul wrote about
this in 2 Thessalonians. They did not receive the love
of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send
upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what
is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe
the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.” It’s a lack of faith. It’s a lack of taking Christ
at who He says He is. It’s a refusal to submit to Christ. The Holy Spirit will come and
it will convict those. It will convince those of their
very practical atheism. They say they believe, but with
their lives, the way that they live, it can’t possibly be that
they really and truly believe. First John 5 10, the one that
believes in the son has the testimony in himself. The one who does
not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed
in the testimony that God has given concerning his son. The Holy Spirit comes into the
world and he sees this general response to the God given savior. And the general response is indifference,
disregard of Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes with
full force to bring about conviction, to bring about a convincing of
their own sinfulness and their utter need of Christ. But that’s not the fullness of
his ministry. The God-given helper will convict
the world regarding sin, but he will also convict the world
regarding righteousness. Look at verse 10. He will convict
the world concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and
you no longer see me. The word righteousness, which
is so familiar to us from the Apostle Paul’s writings and even
to a degree the other gospels, In this particular gospel, this
is the only place where it occurs. What a crucial occurrence. The
Holy Spirit convinces us that we lack righteousness, that
we had a perfect example of righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we drove Him away. We wanted nothing to do with
Him. This righteousness is that which
is established clearly and fully by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it says that whereas that example was there and visible for all
to see, now, now he has gone to the Father. And now we no
longer see a visible representation of Christ in day in and day out
life. And that’s the necessity. the
ministry of the Holy Spirit to come and to apply that truth
home to our hearts and lives. It’s the righteousness of Christ. It’s the righteousness of Christ
which is now seen on full display and the Holy Spirit to drive
home that point. Acts 3. As the church was just beginning
to unfold, the challenge there in the opening pages was that
they had disowned the holy and the righteous one. In Acts 7,
when Stephen is literally being martyred, he speaks of the righteous one
whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. That was
the last straw. First Peter speaks of Christ,
the just for the unjust. He died the just for the unjust
so that he might bring us to God. He was the righteous one. And it’s Jesus Christ who established
that standard of righteousness, which now the Holy Spirit lays
to our hearts. He shows us how utterly devoid
of this righteousness we are and how greatly we need the righteousness
of Christ. This, you know, is the great
doctrine of justification. Luther realized as he read those
simple words in scripture That this righteousness wasn’t something
that he could somehow attain to in time. That it was the righteousness
that was given, imputed to the sinner by God’s grace. It’s justification. And that
justification where we place our faith in Christ The sinner
then is declared righteous before God. He’s not actually made righteous,
but once and for all in a full and final declaration, he is
deemed as righteous instantaneously. Once and for all. There is no
adding to that justification. There is no adjusting or building
upon that justification, it is granted once and for all by faith. Second Corinthians 521, he that
is God made him that is Christ who knew no sin to be sin on
our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that’s the Holy Spirit’s
ministry. But not all of it. The God-given helper will convict
the world regarding sin. He will convict the world concerning
righteousness. And he will convict the world
concerning judgment. Because if somehow we stand hard-heartedly
against the conviction that we are sinners and against the conviction
that we have no righteousness of our own, that we are in desperate
stead, then there is only one conviction left. And that is the conviction of
judgment. Verse 11, the Holy Spirit will
Convict the world concerning judgment because the ruler of
this world has been judged. What he points to here is the
idea that God ultimately is the judge. God has already judged
even the devil. We tend to think of the devil
running around doing as he pleases. He is absolutely under judgment
already. Sin is under judgment already. And according to the testimony
of Scripture, Romans 4.10, 2 Corinthians 5, we all will appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. Hebrews 9, it is appointed for
men to die once and after this comes judgment. But the Holy
Spirit has in his arsenal not only the conviction of sin and
the conviction of righteousness, but he has the conviction of
the judgment of God that it is already taking place and that
it is a righteous judgment. It is a perfect and just judgment
of sinners. He wants us to know that the
Holy Spirit has been fully judged, completely and finally judged. Paul walked through the city
of Athens and saw among all of their statues, statues such as
Jupiter and Diana and Cupid and Venus and others. And then he
came across one last statue. a statue to an unknown God, and
Paul said, let me tell you about that God. The God who made the world and
all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does
not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human
hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives life.
and breath and all things for he made from one every nation
of mankind to live on the face of the earth having determined
their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation
that they should seek God if perhaps they might grope for
him and find him though he is not far from each one of us for
in him we live and move and exist therefore Having overlooked the
times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all men everywhere
that they should repent. What Paul was doing, even as
he spoke, was enjoying the ministry of God’s own spirit. As he brought to bear on these
heathen, godless people, his own God-given ministry, a
conviction of sin, a conviction of righteousness, and a conviction
of judgment. Here’s how Paul rounds out his
message. God is now declaring to all men
everywhere that they should repent because he has fixed a day in
which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man
whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all, by raising
him from the dead. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is
not complete in taking up residence in the heart of a believer. The
Holy Spirit’s ministry ends there, but it begins in the heart and
life of every person ever created on the earth as the Holy Spirit
brings to bear the truth about sin and the truth about righteousness. the truth about judgment. Do you humble yourselves before
him? Our merciful King, we do humble
ourselves in your glorious presence and thank you for the convicting,
convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit that came to bear on our
own hearts as we came to know and recognize and See and sense
our own sinfulness. And Lord, we even tried for some
seasons to try and remedy our situation. Lord, but you made
it clear about the nature of righteousness. That unless we
are perfect, unless we can stand before you in a perfect righteousness. We are doomed. Lord, we thank
you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for his
convicting work in our lives. We thank you and praise you in
Jesus name. Amen.