Title: Grace Exposed
MAIN TEXT: John 16: 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
Great Idea:
The work of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus, as related through John’s gospel
Theme:
It is good that I go…….
The age of Grace.
Idea #
INTRODUCTION :
In John’s writing a different view is taken, different than Mark, Luke and Matthew.
John takes an alpha and omega view of God.
John takes an apocalyptic view of God’s intentions and how they play out on a universal scale.
John like the other writers of our scriptures wants us to use these words to enlighten our own personal lives to holiness.
John’s intention is to honor God by showing us the scale and magnitude of God’s plan.
So, looking into John 16 we see these words;
5 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you
Jesus tells us of the work of the Holy Spirit.
The three things that the Spirit of God will do for mankind,
Convict of Sin, Set the standard of righteousness and convince us of the power of God over the evil of this world.
Today I want to remind us all of the scale to which a child is born to us, the blessed Jesus our Messiah.
To bring to this season the magnitude of that birth.
We need only to go to John’s first few sentences and read:
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Wrap that in the eternal view of Johns’ writings.
John’s premise is always the big picture, when you read John’s letters or the book of Revelation you see that John truly gets it, the scope and magnitude.
I want to remind you of this great plan and the enormous purpose of it all today.
And I would like to do it with a very Wesleyan twist.
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The first would be of course the work of Grace known as :
Idea # 2
Prevenient Grace
9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
This grace is the power of God to convict of the unbelief in Jesus
This Grace woo’s you into the truth, starts your heart in the direction of home, to draw you into the kingdom of God through the power of conviction.
Main thrust
Where would we be if we still believed that we could somehow earn our way to His grace, this idea passed away when Jesus became to lamb for our sins.
Then there is
Idea # 3 Justifying Grace
10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
This Grace is the grace that receives your conviction and transforms it into faith.
Being led by the Holy Spirit by preveining into your hellish spiral of separation from God, You have been brought into the power of life.
By Jesus work of being your payment for the sin and degradation of life brought onto you and all mankind by the fall of humans in the Garden.
Main thrust
We can ascend with Christ into the heavenly realm, we too can walk as He walked, holy and blameless in God’s sight.
8:33, 34 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.).
Being justified by the act of love for you and me Jesus made access to us a reality.
His eternal plan of reclamation of the human spirit, yours and mine to the bosom of our creator.
Then there is….
Idea # 4 Sanctifying Grace
11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
This is the grace of revelation.
The revelation of who we are in Him.
Who we are in Him
Who we are for Him.
Main thrust
The Enemy is beaten, not yet submissive to God’s will, but powerless over God’s people.
Not toothless in this world, but unable to draw blood from the viens of those who love Jesus.
Jn 12:31, “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out”; and both mean that his dominion over men, or his power to enslave and so to ruin them, is destroyed.
Peter reminds us that;
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. I Peter 5:8-9
But you now have the Holy spirit’s power to resist, he power to thwart, the grace to over come.
1. (Heb 2:14; Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil
2. Col 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
Conclusion
This Christmas remind yourself of the extreme Love God has shown to you.
Remind yourself that these days are full of hope and expectations of His return, that these are the last days and His plan has begun a new work in you and the Holy Spirit has the power and authority to complete it in you.
