SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/16/2017
9:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Convicting by the Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 16:8-11
Message of the
verses: “8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe
in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness,
because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of
this world has been judged.”
Why does the world hate Jesus? Sinfulness hates righteousness, imperfection
hates perfection, and also “the domain of darkness” hates the “kingdom of His
beloved Son” as seen in Colossians 1:13 and we can also compare John 3:19 with
that too. Now because of this hatred it
is the job of the Holy Spirit to penetrate these hearts that are steeped in sin
and to overcome sinners’ resistance which is opposed to the gospel and then He
is to bring them to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to bring about
fellowship with God.
MacArthur writes “To do that, the Spirit must break the
power of sin that enslaves people (John 8:34), and the love of iniquity that
keeps them in rebellion against God.
Jesus had already told the disciples that the Spirit would testify about
Him to the world (15:26). In addition to
that outward testimony, the Spirit also convicts the hearts of sinners. ‘When He comes’ on the day of Pentecost,
Jesus said, the Spirit ‘will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness
and judgment.’”
I have highlighted the word “convict” in verse eight and
this is a word that we see used in a court of law when a person is convicted of
a crime and then is sentenced to his punishment. This is what will happen to unbelievers as
they will be convicted of their sin and then sentenced to their punishment as
seen in the great white throne judgment near the end of the book of
Revelation. Let us look at James 2:9 and
Jude 15 which also speaks of this kind of conviction: “9 But
if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as
transgressors.” “15 to execute judgment
upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they
have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners
have spoken against Him."”
In the way that this word convict is used in this verse
is more likely to be seen as the Spirit convinces unbelievers that they are
sinful and in need of the Savior. “But
if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted
by all, he is called to account by all (1 Cor. 14:24). This is the mission of the Holy Spirit to
present the truth about Jesus Christ to the world as we have seen in John 15:26
“"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.” As mentioned those who have rejected the Son
will be found guilty and then judged by the Father: “22
"For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all
judgment to the Son, 27 and He gave Him
authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 30 "I can do nothing on My own initiative.
As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me (John 5:22, 27, and 30).”
There are three things in verse eight that the Holy
Spirit convicts the world of, and then these are explained in verses
10-11. We will look at the first of
these in this SD and then try to look at the other two in our next SD.
The word sin according to John MacArthur is “The singular
form of hamartias (sin) refers not to
sin in general but specifically to the ultimate sin of refusing to believe in
Jesus Christ. It is that sin that
finally damns people, since all others are forgiven when a person believes
savingly in Him (cf. Matt. 12:31-32). ‘31
“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but
blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son
of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit,
it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.’ In
John 3:18 Jesus said ‘He who believes in Him (Christ) is not judged; he who
does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.’
In 5:40 He rebuked those who were ‘unwilling to come to [Him] so that
[they might] have life.’ He solemnly
warned the unbelieving Jews, ‘Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in
your sins’ (John 8:24). The sole issue
that determines people’s eternal destiny is how they react to the Spirit’s
convicting ministry concerning their own sin and the provision of forgiveness
by grace through Jesus Christ.”
I remember when I was working at my regular job having a
conversation with a man who heard the gospel at a church where they were having
revival meetings and he told me he wanted to go forward to receive Christ, but
did not and when he drove off after the meeting he was in agony wanting to
return but did not. I don’t know if he
ever received Christ or not, but he was surely convicted by the Holy Spirit. Don’t be like Him when the Spirit of God
convicts you, but surrender to His call and receive Christ.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: “but sanctify
Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter
3:15).”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
To be ready to tell others about
Christ.
Memory verse for the week: (Romans
6:13) “and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Edom” (Genesis 32:3).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who were Paul’s chief helpers
on his second missionary journey?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/16/2017 9:56 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment