I had a FRESH REVELATION this morning as I read John 16! WOW! Jesus was praying for the disciples. Anytime He is praying for them, that same prayer can be applied to US as His disciples. This ROCKED MY WORLD!! Jesus would soon be going away and would send the Holy Spirit - John 16:7-9 Unless I go away, the Advocate (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, the Counselor (Holy Spirit) will CONVICT the WORLD of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment; in regard to SIN because men DO NOT BELIEVE in me. In verse 8 - Notice, He wasn’t speaking to “believers” in the first part of the verse. He said the “WORLD”. He said “the world has ONE sin - singular.” That took me by surprise! I would have thought Jesus would have expounded on a list of them. However, when I think of ALL the sins there are, they are too numerous to count. LOL! But because Jesus was ushering in the NEW COVENANT, there was only ONE SIN that remained - the ONE SIN that would separate us from Him . Here it is - NOT BELIEVING IN JESUS!! ONE SIN! He brings conviction to a non-believer. He exposes their sin, unrighteousness, and ultimate judgment - SO THAT they recognize their need for forgiveness by a Savior, Jesus. EVERYTHING changes when that person asks Jesus to forgive their sins and BELIEVES on Him. Then look at what He says to the BELIEVER. John 16:10: and in regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father, where you will see me no more: The Holy Spirit does convict us as BELIEVERS…but of what? He DOES NOT convict the BELIEVER of sin. Conviction of sin brings guilt and condemnation and need for atonement but since we are forgiven and He has removed our sins as far as the East is from the West, what is He convicting us of? He convicts us of our righteousness in Him! There in lies the only power to be free of sin. It has no hold over us when we see our identity in Christ. We are the righteousness of God IN CHRIST. 1 Corinthians 1:29-31 So what “judgment” was Jesus referring to in the second part of verse 10? …..and regard to judgment because the prince of the world NOW stands condemned - since ALL judgment has been erased from the BELIEVER by Jesus on the cross, to whom was He referring to? He was simply and powerfully stating that SATAN is already defeated, judged and condemned! No let’s look at what else, the Holy Spirit is to us. He our Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby. He has come to HELP us. John 16:12: When the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Truth - comes He will guide you into all truth AND he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. V15: ALL that belongs to the Father is mine…the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. So when we fail and feel condemned, that is the accuser, satan, trying to convince us of a lie that we are not forgiven and to bring us into “separation” from our Father. When we believe his accusations, it makes us withdraw from our God because we feel that He is angry with us. But the reality is that He loves us unconditionally! He holds NO SIN against us…because of Jesus. Jn.16:27 The Father Himself loves you BECAUSE you have loved ME and have BELIEVED that I came from God. Look how happy “BELIEVING” made Jesus in verse 31, “YOU BELIEVE AT LAST!” He was overjoyed that the disciples were FINALLY getting it! I can relate to His disciples! I was raised in a denomination that taught me I had to confess and repent every day or I might not be saved from ALL my sins. If that were the case, then it would be about MY ability to “get it right”, wouldn’t it? To make sure I confessed perfectly and thoroughly and didn’t miss one sin along the way. As if I could keep track of all them anyway!! LOL! Because of wrong teaching, I was trying to make everything “right” in my own strength…which was impossible!! Only Jesus can make us “right” by HIS blood….and He already did! On the cross! God sees the Believer through Jesus. I am totally forgiven, deeply loved and cherished by my Father God. Now I rest in the help of the Holy Spirit to walk this life, as He guides me into all TRUTH, taking all that belongs to the Father and making it known to me. Hallelujah!!! - Leann
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:48:56 +0000