Gospel of John, 16:7-11
John · Mike Doyle · Sep 7, 2008
Gospel of John (2008), No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926110582820

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

I did not bring questions, quote unquote, for next week, because as of right now, we're at least one week ahead. I don't think we finished totally. Twenty nine. Eight. Twenty nine. That's what I thought about. Right. Towards the end. So which puts us. puts us in John chapter 15 right towards the end of chapter 15 and in verse 26 and 27 he's going to refer to the comforter when he started talking about the comforter before but in 26 and 27 he says but when the comforter has come who I will send unto you from the Father Even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." So, my question in 17, and see if you can bring all this together. How does this example of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, testifies of me? bear witness, how does that, what's that, how's that an example of the vine and the branches?

How does that, how do those two things fit together? Do we need to review the vine and the branches? Hey stranger, how are ya? Do you need a Well, if you haven't, I got something for you. I think, yeah, I got one of these. Finding the branches is an example of in a horticultural sense and the vine branches and fruit, which one of those three has the life? The fruit have the life? Branches have the life? No, the vine has the life.

So what's the branch do? What's that? It bears the fruit on the end of the branch. But the branch doesn't have the life itself, so what's the purpose of the branch? It's the conduit. through which the life in the vine travels through the branch, and on the end of the branch the fruit is demonstrated. The fruit is a result of the life in the vine, not anything to do with the branch, right? The branch doesn't cause anything to happen.

So, my question is, when the Comforters come, whom I'll send you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, that proceeds from the Father, He'll testify of me. and you shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning." So, Christ is the true line. In this case, the disciples would be the branches. Christ being still present on earth. After his departure, they were to maintain this same relationship of vine and branches. See that? But it's no longer the Lord Jesus here that's going to maintain the relationship. Who's going to do it? The Holy Spirit is going to do it. So he is the one that maintains the relationship between the branch and the vine.

The Father and the Son and the Spirit, although they are three distinct persons, what do they share? They share the same life. So in the vine and branches example it's their life that comes through the branch that produces the fruit. So the Spirit of God is the one who when the Lord Jesus leaves will come and be the one that activates or generates the life through the vine.

And the focus of the branch will be on the fruit On the vine. Would the Holy Spirit then be the conduit? No, you're the conduit. If my job as a branch is to be taken up with the vine, it's not to be looking at the fruit, it's to be looking at the source of life, then when this verse says, he will, the Spirit of Truth, he will testify of me, what's his job?

In 14, 15, and 16 John lays out what the job of the Holy Spirit is and why he has come and specifically what he's going to do. The problem with a lot of contemporary Christianity is they've added a lot of jobs onto them that scripture never says he has. The number one job that the Spirit of God has been sent to do is to do what? To reveal Christ to the believer. To reveal, to show Christ to the believer. That's his main job. He has a job of conviction and some other things, but primarily his job is to reveal Christ to the believer.

And the revealing Christ to the believer is the 2nd Corinthians 3.18 passage, that beholding is in the mirror the glory of the Lord. I'm transformed into his very image, from glory to glory. What does that produce? It produces the fruit of the vine, which is him.

So, in that context, what would be the disciple's mission on the earth? What does this verse say that their mission is? What are they supposed to do? Bear witness. bear witness is what fruit bearing really is, because if they are a witness, what are they a witness to?

Divine, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, enabled by the Spirit of God. Now Jesus came from the Father, and in a sense you could say that once the Lord Jesus leaves the planet, who takes his place? Nope. Who takes his place in terms of those who witness for the Father? It's you and me. We do that job. It's the Spirit who enables us to do it, but we're the ones who are doing it.

The Lord Jesus said all over the place, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, right? Can you say the same thing? You should be able to. You should be able to say to people, if you've seen me, you have seen the Lord Jesus. You should be able to say that, shouldn't you? Boy, it got real quiet. But isn't that the purpose? Can you see what the Spirit of God has been sent to do?

It's to glorify Christ, and Christ is glorified by being manifested through these branches, which we all are. Just in 14, I want to do a little bit of a sequence here. In 14 we have the person of the Son revealing the Father in verse 7. The Holy Spirit giving knowledge of the Son being in the Father, verses 9 and 10 and 19. The disciples in Jesus on high, verse 20. In 15 we have the true vine on the earth and then the comforter on the earth sent down by the exalted Christ.

And there's a growing sequence here as we get farther into 16 and 17 where it amplifies the events and the testimonies designed specifically. On Thursday night we started the study of one John and it's terrific because he specifically in the first chapter, that's what he talks about. That we have fellowship with the Father and the Son and because you have the life you have fellowship with us and you have fellowship with him. So, it's about the life. That takes care of 29. Let's go to 30. Now, 30 starts chapter 16.

Somebody read the first six verses. I want you to notice something. If you've got one of these red letter Bibles, how much red there is. The red letter Bible for those of you who don't know, people that publish these things, they're designed to point out when the Lord Jesus himself is speaking. So 14, 15, 16, and 17 is almost all read. We've talked about they were in the upper room when this discussion started, they now are probably on their way walking to Gethsemane, or they're already there, and the Lord Jesus is teaching them There's only a couple of days here before he's going to be crucified.

So all of this information, which is a lot of information, is transmitted to the disciples in just a few days. Just hanging out. This doesn't happen over weeks and months. This is just a few days that all this information gets communicated to them. Okay. First six verses. Somebody read them, please. I'm going to pick somebody.

George, you get the rape. These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you out of cats from the synagogue. But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to thank me as offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me. But these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me.

None of you asks me Okay, verse one, these things I've spoken unto you that you should not be made to stumble. In other words, lots of different things are going to happen in the future here quickly, and I'm teaching you so that when they do happen, one, you won't be surprised, and two, you won't be fooled, and you won't stumble. We talk about stumbling in other parts for believers.

In verse 2 he says, they will put you out of the synagogue, yes the time is coming, that whoever kills you will think he offers God a service. So my question was, why would verse 2 be true? If they are warned about this, and this was in their future because they were his disciples, why is this going to be true? I mean, the Lord Jesus could just be saying, I'm telling you some really critical stuff, but may come true, may not. He says it in such a way that this is absolutely what's going to happen to you. Why is it going to be true? What is the impetus that puts these things together? Let me give you maybe a little background.

In Acts 22, when Paul is talking, he's standing in front of the Jews and he is Actually at this point he's trying to discuss with them so that they'll listen to the gospel message and he's saying to them, look fellas, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous towards God, as ye all are of this day. And I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering unto prisons both men and women, as also the high priest did bear me witness on all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them, which were there bound unto Jerusalem, to be punished.

In Acts 22.20 he says, And when the blood of the martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting to his death, and kept the clothes of them that slew him. Paul the Apostle says, Oh yeah, fellas, I was like you.

How did you get to be like that? Is probably maybe the better question. The Lord Jesus said, look, they're going to throw you out of the synagogue, and not only that, they're going to think they're doing God a favor when they kill you. Paul the Apostle fit that mold, didn't he? How come? What causes this kind of thing to happen? The world hated Christ. The world hates Christ. How come? Why do they hate him? He took away their power? Why?

He is light. He exposes them. He is the truth. He is light. They are in darkness. He exposes them for their deeds. Well, it's the truth, but I wonder, would prophecy have anything to do with this? Isaiah 66, 2 and 5 was prophesied that this would happen. It's prophesied that it would happen, but there's a reason why it happened. above and beyond just the fact that it was prophesied. George. That's exactly right.

If you don't know the father, what don't you have? You don't have life. And if you don't have life, which is his life, then you have the life of the fallen Adamic man, right? That man, according to John, hates the light and hates life. And they don't have to have a meeting and decide to hate.

Do you understand that? Why do you think there are groups in the world today that hate Christians to the point where when they can get by with it they will kill them? It's the same reason. And if you look real careful What group on the planet today is probably the most visibly law-bound group of individuals there are? Who are they? Muslims. Islam, right? In this time and frame in history, who was the most law-bound people on the planet? The Jews were.

You see what the law does for you? It makes you a murderer. Because there's something about sin and man that when the grace and the light comes towards him, he doesn't have any sort of passive reaction to it. The aggression of sin and darkness towards light is automatic in every single non-believer.

It's there. I'll tell you where else you see it. You see it in politics. Don't you? There are people that hate political figures that are Christians for no reason, just the fact that they're believers. So the Lord Jesus is telling his disciples, the day is coming when they're going to put you out of the synagogue. Is that a big deal? How big a deal is that?

If Judaism is your life, and they're going to kick you out of the center of all that you are, not only your religion but your culture, everything that you're about is centered in that temple. And if they kick you out, what are you going to do? It would be like you at 16 and your family saying, you're out of here. Where are you going to go? The persecutions and the famines that went on in Jerusalem 25 years after this, Paul collected money to feed the Jewish Christians. Why? They can't get work. They can't earn any money. When you get kicked out of the synagogue, you get kicked out of the culture. So the Lord is warning them, hey, they're going to kick you out of the synagogue and they're going to think that they're doing God a favor by killing you. Do you think that Mohammed Atta thought he was doing Allah a favor by flying that airplane into a building? Yeah, he did. He really did. That's what Allah will do for you. So memorize now.

Verse 3, and these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. So my question, verse 3, what makes knowing the Father so critical? What is so critical about knowing the Father, just that keeps you from being a murderer? Well, all blessings come from the Father, that's one thing. What's the most important thing that comes from the Father?

Christ. What's that? Christ. Nope. Life. Life. John 17.3 says, this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

We always think eternal life is a commodity and if we do a lot of cool push-ups that we'll get some. The Word of God says that eternal life is knowing Christ and knowing the Father. Isn't that interesting? It takes away the idea that eternal life is a commodity and enhances the idea that eternal life is a relationship. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Same idea. Alright, question three.

The Lord maintained his disciples in their daily path. When he was on the earth, they had no power whatever. They asked him their questions, they went to him for directions, they hung upon his words, and they followed his footsteps. So what does the Holy Spirit teach his children today?

I'm sorry, before we answer that question, we need to read verses seven Somebody else, Georgia, already read. Somebody else, 7-11. 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.

And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because they go to my Father. And you see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. These are really interesting verses. Repeat my question. The Lord maintained his disciples in their daily path while he was here on the earth and they had no power whatever. They asked him their questions, they went to him for directions, they hung on his words and they followed in his footsteps. What does the Holy Spirit teach his children today? What does the Holy Spirit teach you today? What the Father has revealed to him. Father, okay.

How about the idea of the fact that, is the Spirit here to teach you that you don't have any power in yourself? No, He provides the power. Now listen to my question. Is the Holy Spirit here to teach you that you don't have any power in yourself? How many of you view the Holy Spirit as, here I am, Mr. Cool Christian, and the Holy Spirit's over here, and what I do is I say, you know, I need about four ounces of power for today, will you give it to me? Isn't that how you view it? Listen to the prayers. Oh Lord, I've got a really difficult situation coming up, strengthen me. In other words, he's going to take from his and give you a little bit.

The thing that the disciples really were learning was that in and of themselves they had no power to do anything. And the announcement that the Spirit has come would mean that they were going to be the branches through which the power was manifested. How much power does the branch have? None. Absolutely none. That's a lesson that the Holy Spirit must teach every believer. When Paul the Apostle said, when I'm weak, then I'm strong, what do you think he meant?

We don't have it within us as individuals to manifest the life of the vine or to be these really cool Christians or to be reflectors of the glory of the Lord. But we do have this sin nature that wants to do all of that kind of stuff. See that? So I think as the disciples have learned dependence, we must learn dependence. And that's one of the jobs that the Spirit of God teaches us to do. We're to ask Him our questions. We're to go to Him for directions. We're to hang on every word. and follow his footsteps and find all of our sufficiency in him alone.

Understand that? If I say to you, you know, your job as a Christian is to manifest the glory of the Lord. Give me five steps on how you do that. What would you say to me? Let's see. What would you say? That's exactly what I'm doing. Give me the five steps. Give me the how-to's. There is how-to's.

But you don't do them in the sense that you cause them to happen. Your job is to receive and believe. And it's the Spirit's job to manifest Christ to you and through you. You see that? So this is a lesson I think that the Lord Jesus has begun to teach the disciples, but they're even slower to get it than we are.

In Philippians 4.6, Paul says, be anxious or careful for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto the Lord. Do you go to him about every little tiny thing? What do you think? Everything? Every little tiny insignificant fear that you have? Failure that you have? or success that you have? You go to Him with every one of those? Yeah. And you know what? You don't have to clean it up. You don't have to talk to the Lord in King James English. You can just talk to Him. Just express it.

So, as dependent as the disciples were on the Lord Jesus when He was here, we even are more dependent. So, question four, if the world is so maliciously hateful, what hope is there for those who follow the Lord Jesus? If the world is that malicious and that hateful towards you, what hope do you have?

The Holy Spirit. That's right. You in and of yourself have no chance, but the Holy Spirit has Why would you have a fighting chance with the Holy Spirit that you wouldn't have any chance without him? Because he's within every believer. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, He overcame the world. If he hadn't have done that, how much hope would you have had? Zippo. None. No matter how powerful God is, without that redemption, you don't have a chance. Nobody in the Old Testament got saved just because God was powerful.

How could God make a guy like Abraham righteous? Just because he said so? How could he do it? Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith. God says, okay, Abraham, you're righteous. What was God doing then? Just being powerful? What was he doing? He was looking forward to the cross. That's exactly right. He was doing it on credit. He knew the cross was coming. He's an eternal being, so he could declare Abraham righteous because he knew what Christ was going to do. Without Christ doing what he did, Could God have declared Abraham righteous?

No way. Because he wasn't satisfied about sin. And I don't care how powerful God is, when you insult him with sin, that's got to be paid for. And nobody on the earth can do it. It has to be God to satisfy God. You see that premise? It has to be God to satisfy God because we're not on the godly level.

I've used this example a thousand times. If you come over to my house and my dog bites you in the ankle, and you come to me and say, I want satisfaction. And I say to you, talk to the dog. What are you going to say back to me? The dog can't satisfy me, but you can because we're the same level of creation. So write me a check. right? The dog can't write you a check.

So when God says you've sinned, and you go to God and say, you know, or God comes to you and says, right, you know, the same thing is a real problem for you, because you can't satisfy me. Oh, then I need a substitute. And the substitute better be God. And then he can be gracious. Does that make sense? And the Holy Spirit, Jesus' answer is the coming of the Holy Spirit. For your hope, it's got to be the Spirit after the work is done. Christ's announcement of a special convincing ministry of the Spirit follows his warning of the animosity that his followers were to expect in the world.

So why is it such a big advantage to them that he goes away? I mean, that's what he says. I gotta go. If I don't go, you're in big trouble. Why does he gotta go? To send his spirit. So if he doesn't go, then the spirit doesn't come? Is that the deal? Okay. You mean he couldn't send the spirit? The father couldn't send the spirit anyway? Spirits seem to have been around in the Old Testament. So what's the deal here?

When the Spirit comes, what does he come with in terms of revealing Christ to the believer? Which Christ does he reveal to the believer? And by which Christ I mean Jewish Messiah walking on the earth doing lots of miracles or the glorified man? So the Lord Jesus doesn't get glorified on the earth, does he? Where does the glorification take place? in heaven. When Jesus rose from the dead and walked around for 40 days, was he walking around glorified? No, he wasn't.

He had to go to the Father to be glorified. When we get to 17, Jesus is going to say, Father, glorify me with the glory that we had before the world began. So, the Lord Jesus must leave to go to the Father after his work is completed in order to be glorified as a man. Then the Spirit is sent after that. That's where the big advantage is. Because all believers now are presented the same Christ that Paul saw on the road to Damascus. Which Christ did he see? The Jewish Messiah that could do a lot of miracles? Or the glorified Christ? Man, that's who he saw. Did it have a really big effect on Paul instantly? Yeah, huge. Did that same kind of effect on his 12 disciples as he called them? No. Why not?

Because he can't see the glory. See that? So that's why it's expedient for one of the reasons for the expediency of the Lord Jesus going so that the Spirit can be sent from the event of his glorification. So here he comes. Does that make sense? You alright about that?

Does the announcement of verse 8 inaugurate a new age? Verse 8 says, and when he has come, he will convict or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Is this an announcement of a new age? When does he come, by the way? When does he show up? Pentecost. Does it announce a new age when he shows up?

Yeah, it sure does. It's a special, unique age to be ushered in by the Holy Spirit's arrival on the day of Pentecost. His ministry would focus on Christ and the accomplishments of his work on the cross. An entirely new age begins at the day of Pentecost. Everybody okay with that? Can you see why it's new?

In terms of Judaism, what happened that day? What happened to Judaism that day? Did it get wiped out? It got set aside, didn't it? So Judaism is no longer the agenda that God is dealing with mankind with. So now what's happening? If Judaism isn't a deal, what's the deal now?

Christ himself, the glorified Christ, the body of Christ. God is calling out a bride and Judaism has been set aside. Now it's going to come back into vogue when? before then, right after the rapture. Because once the church is gone, then Judaism gets back into the way in which God deals with mankind. Brand new, inauguration of a new age at Pentecost. So, what does this word convict or convince, what is included in that word? In other words, when he has come, he'll convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

What is he going to do, send out a memo? How is he going to do this? How does he convince or convict the world of sin? How does he do all those kinds of things? Builds this really cool church with all these really spiffy Christian people and they're out there apologizing not apologizing in a sense, but apologetically apologizing for who Christ is. Is that how he does it? How does the spirit convict a world of sin? It hates him. He hates them? What does that mean? I don't understand. Why was it to their advantage that he go away?

And so when he comes, The Lord Jesus said, when he shows up, here's what he's going to do. First thing he's going to do is convict the world of sin. How does he do that? In other words, if you live in Afghanistan, up in those mountains someplace, will the Holy Spirit convict you of sin? What's that? Yeah. of conscience and he builds this thing into his creation so that man knows. But how do they get convicted of sin? By the way, what's the definition of sin?

Missing the mark of God's holiness. Missing the mark of God's holiness. Falling short of the mark. The easiest way to describe it is if I wadded up a piece of paper and the mark was that wall and I couldn't hit it, I couldn't measure up to them. So if the Spirit of God is convicting me of not measuring up, how does he do it? He makes me aware of the fact that there is a standard. And pretty quickly I come to realize that I cannot make the standard. When God goes to a man in darkness and says, look, I'm the God of the universe and you know that you're without excuse because you know that I exist. because you can see me in the creation. And I built this thing into you called conscience. And you know right and wrong.

How many of you ever went down, and this was years ago, we were one of the only cities in the country that got the Aztec display from Mexico City, and it was down at the Museum of History. Did you ever go down and see that? You know what just blew me away about that? they had blood sacrifices in their society. How come?

How did they know that spilling of blood would somehow satisfy a holy God? And oh, by the way, if we sacrifice a human, that's even better. How did they know that? How did they know God was angry? God built it into them. And how did they come up with this idea, like most cultures do, that God demands a life for satisfaction?

That's part of the Spirit of God convincing the earth that they haven't made the mark. And they think, well, if we sacrifice something, somehow we'll get closer to the mark. So the Spirit of God comes and he convinces the world of sin, but there's going to be more than that, which is kind of interesting. Convincing the mind by refuting air through the truth. The second way, he convinces the conscience of its need for something more than it can produce. And it's motivating the will towards the correct action expressed in the truth.

Now, that's for those who are resented the gospel, but lots of people don't get the gospel. And so you could reasonably say, well, boy, if I never heard the gospel, how could God hold me responsible? How do you answer that? I'd answer that for you, but how would you answer that?

It's built into our consciousness. It's built into our consciousness. Do you know that God exists? Well, I think we should know. Does every human being on the planet know that God exists? Every human being has God conscious. Absolutely. Absolutely. And what's the responsibility God lays on? To respond.

So, you know, if you happen to get the call to be a missionary and go someplace where, boy, they can't remember the last time a missionary was in that country, have you got somebody out there in front of you who's convicting them of spiritual secret and see what the Spirit of God did with that guy. He's going all over China and he's walking into these villages and these people are coming to Christ left and right. Well, who set them up? The Spirit of God did.

What does this say about whose work it is in terms of convicting the world of sin and of righteousness? Whose job is that? Whose job? Not ours. Okay, not ours, then whose? The guy sitting next to you? It's your job. It's not our job, is it? Whose job is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? It's the Spirit's job.

It's really important, I think, to have that little bit of truth cemented into your mind, because then you won't get in His way of what He's doing. I wrote down a couple of things. This primary application is to unbelievers. This is written for the encouragement of those who do believe. we are to take great assurance in the fact that accompanying our communication of the Gospel message is the unseen but pervasive and persuasive conviction stimulated and provoked by the Holy Spirit. So if the Lord has you in a position where you're giving the Gospel to somebody, the Spirit of God is there, He's done His work.

If you have someone come up to you and ask you, what must I do to be saved? It wasn't because they read it in the Rocky Mountain News. Why would they ask you such a question? Like the Philippian jailer, why would he ask such a question? Lots of impetus and pressure put on him based on the circumstances, but the real reason is that the Spirit of God was working on that man. You see that?

So a lot of times you have to sort of observe the work of the Spirit in a person's life. Jim Poole told me one time that his buddy was in Thailand for two or three years, living in a village, working as hard as they could to try to have people come to Christ. And one or two people came to Christ in those three years. They packed up their suitcases and moved across the valley to a village on the other side. and within four months that entire village came to Christ.

Now whose work do you think that was? These guys don't understand. Maybe they like Virginian over there. I don't know. That's the work of the Spirit of God. You will find in your life, not only for salvation, but spiritual growth, that God will prepare the heart. You know that little daily devotional that a lot of us have called None But the Hungry Heart? That really is right. It takes a hungry heart to want the information for spiritual growth. So when you see the Spirit of God working in someone, creating that hunger in their heart, you know it's Him that's doing it. Because you can't do it. How are you going to create hunger in a believer's heart? I've tried it with my son. You know what he says to me? Dad, you can't force me. He's right. I can. But the Spirit of God will make him hungry. Let's see.

Is this conviction for individual sins only? We've had a lot of discussion over the years here. Here's how the discussion goes. If the sins of the world were paid for on the cross, is that true? The penalty for your sins is paid for on the cross. then what's the one issue left with mankind? Whether they believe in Christ or not. Right?

Now let's see. So I go to my buddy across the street and I say, hey fella, your sins are paid for. You don't ever have to worry about them. But there's one thing left for you to do. Here's the Lord Jesus. He died on the cross for your sins. He was buried and was resurrected. Now you need to believe that. If you don't, That sin is going to send you to hell, but you don't have to worry about these other sins. Is that a correct statement?

What's the problem with this guy in terms of who he's attached to? Sin nature, right? What are those sins attached to? Sin nature, right? So the Word of God says you're going to die in your sins. Plural, sins. So, even though my sins or my buddy across the street's sins are paid for, if he never believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's going to die in his sins. Do you see that? Because the sins are attached to the sin nature.

And if you're attached to the sin nature, you suffer the consequences of the condemnation of the sin nature. You as a believer, however, what happened to you and your relationship to the sin nature? You were separated from it on the cross, right? You were separated from it on the cross. So when you leave this planet, what's your relationship to the sin nature and your sins? None. You have none. Because now you're attached to the resurrected glorified Christ. That's your position.

So when you get to the beam of judgment, your sins aren't going to be there. It's not about sins. Are you ever going to have to face your sins? How about the sins you committed from the time you were a Christian to today? Got to face those? Why not? You dirty dogs, I know some of you have sinned. At least two of you have. Courtney being one of them. Why don't you have to face your sins? Why don't you ever face them? So is his. His are paid for. Why don't you have to face them? Because I'm not attached to them. You see that? They're not glued to me. I'm not attached to them. So, the argument is, to end up the argument, well, is that clear enough? Because that was something we debated about for quite some time. Hal Malloy was right in the middle of it.

He was one, and Hal and I were on the side of the street where we thought that that the only sin of condemnation for human beings from the time of the resurrection of Christ to the time of the rapture was whether you believed in Christ or not. The problem is that the Word of God says, well, you're going to die in your sins. How do you deal with that? Well, and the answer was, as long as you're attached to the sin nature, the sins are attached to that, you're stuck with them. The real issue is, though, of sin because they do not believe in me. Now here's the deal. The grace of God has come, taking care of the sin issue.

And at some point in every single man's history, whether it's here or somewhere else, this issue is going to come up to them. At the Great White Throne Judgment, a non-believer, my buddy across the street, is going to come up before Christ in all of his glory, and he's going to have a clear, simple, complete understanding of what the cross of Christ meant about his particular sins. How is he going to respond to that? He and the billions that will come, they're going to say to Christ, I know what you're saying, but I pick hell rather than you. So no man will say, you know, I didn't get a fair shake in this. If you'd have tried a little harder, maybe I'd have gone for it. And maybe, could you give me a second chance now? Nobody will say that.

And you know why? We just covered it. You know why? Because darkness loves darkness and hates the light. Can you imagine loving the darkness and being forced to come into the light of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that would be so offensive to you that hell would be a better option. Isn't that something? When you think about that, that's really what the choice will be. The light will be so offensive to those in darkness that they will literally choose hell rather than light.

So God never violates their will, does he? When a non-believer perishes, is it because a penalty of his sins is still required of him? We've already answered that. The answer is no. What is the primary method the Spirit uses for his work of conviction?

If the Spirit of God is... Okay, that's where we're going next week. I'll give you a whole week to think about it. Okay, let's close. Dear Father, How we thank you for your grace and your mercy towards us. We thank you for the fact that your spirit has been sent to reveal the glory of your dear son, Father. We thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.