Participants: Pr John Lomacang (Host), Shelley Quinn, Brian Hamilton, Mollie Steenson, Jill Morikone
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000012A
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00:01 The Bible tells us
00:23 Our study today is The Holy Spirit and Spirituality 00:32 Hello friends, welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School 00:36 We are studying the work of the Holy Spirit and Spirituality 00:41 Very important topic we have enjoyed all the month, Amen 00:45 Amen. We've been blessed not only to convey these messages 00:49 to you in the form of day by day lesson study but we have 00:53 been able to look at them our selves and wonder how we missed 00:58 such good stuff as we have seen and learned from each other 01:02 what God is doing in our own lives. And so we're by no means 01:06 the experts on this, God has just given us the privilege 01:09 of coming into your home sharing with you how important it is 01:13 to have a thriving relationship with Jesus through the working 01:17 of His Holy Spirit. If you want a copy of the lesson to follow 01:20 along with us go to this website absg.adventist.org 01:30 and download Lesson No. 12 which is the Work of the Holy Spirit 01:35 and then you can follow along with us as we go from day to day 01:39 Now each of the topics are, I would use the phrase loosely, 01:43 barn burners. And it's gonna be amazing how we see God work 01:47 through these topics. To my left is Shelley Quinn, good to have 01:50 you here Shelley. And Brian Hamilton. We've been on programs 01:54 before Brian and I appreciate you. Molly Steenson the champion 01:58 from Alabama. Oh yes! And Jill Morikone. Jill we've seen you 02:03 grow in the Lord. Thank you for letting the Spirit of God work 02:07 through your life. Now just before we dive into our topic 02:12 we're gonna pray. Praying is what we've been talking about 02:16 and I could use this allegorical application, we're gonna turn 02:21 the power on. Plug it into the Holy Spirit as we speak about 02:24 the very person, the Holy Spirit So let's see, Jill would you 02:29 have prayer for us? Holy Father we come before you in the name 02:33 of Jesus and we just ask right now that you would empty us 02:37 of ourselves, that your Word, through the power of your Holy 02:41 Spirit could speak to us. Give us and those who are listening 02:46 and watching ears to hear what you have for us contained today 02:50 in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. The Work of the Holy Spirit 02:56 It has always been my joy to talk about this topic because 03:00 the work of the Holy Spirit can be summarized in one word 03:03 Salvation. And salvation can be summarized in three words 03:08 justification, sanctification and glorification. 03:13 Justification - the work of the Spirit is to save us from the 03:18 penalty of sin, coming into a relationship with Jesus just as 03:22 if I had never sinned. I refer to those as the three Ps 03:27 write that down. Salvation from the Penalty of sin, that's just 03:31 justification. Then there's Sanctification, that day by day 03:35 dying to self. You know Shelley it always amazes me that 03:38 somebody says I was born again on July 4th, 1997. 03:43 And I say to them, I hope you were born again, again! 03:46 Now we were born again into a relationship but to keep that 03:51 old man dead, that old man of sin dead we have to everyday 03:54 submit our lives; as the day is new His mercies are new 03:58 and we have a new walk everyday isn't that right Jill? 04:01 So salvation from the penalty of sin, we're taken off the death 04:05 row, and Brian has visited many prisons you know what that's 04:08 like. Uh huh. People on death row. People on death row can 04:11 find salvation from the penalty of sin. Then the daily walk that 04:15 everyone of us is in need of. Salvation from the Power of sin 04:21 Is sin powerful? Uh huh. Yes. 04:25 I don't know anything on the planet that's more powerful 04:27 than sin. Grace. Aha. I was gonna get there. 04:32 There's something more powerful than grace, that's the power of 04:35 choice, cause you can refuse grace. See, just keep listening 04:40 it's gonna keep coming. That's beautiful. Grace and Choice 04:44 Which is what we're gonna talk about. How to make wise 04:46 decisions. And then finally when Jesus comes we will all be 04:50 saved from the Presence of sin. That's glorification. Mortality 04:55 to immortality, corruption to incorruption. But let's begin 04:59 we're gonna be talking about the work of the Spirit of God 05:03 conviction of sin. This is a topic that is of such magnitude 05:09 that in many of our past studies have you noticed that the writer 05:15 of this lesson, or the writers of this lesson keep taking us 05:18 back to John 16. It's like the springboard into the topic of 05:23 understanding what sin is all about. Let's go to John 16 05:27 and we'll look at verses 8 and 9 And Shelley since you're right 05:31 to my left I'm gonna have Shelley read that for us 05:37 Holy Spirit do for us and why is it so important? 05:46 And when He has come, He being the Comforter, the Holy Spirit 05:50 He will convict the world of sin and that word you know in the 05:55 old King James, it's reprove and it's actually better 05:59 maybe reprove because in the Greek it's convict and convince 06:03 so He will convict and convince the world of sin and of 06:07 righteousness and of judgment and you wanted me to read 06:11 verse 9 as well? Verse 9 also. Of sin because they do not 06:15 believe in me. Hmmm. That's a powerful statement because 06:20 now sin, this is a new definition for sin. Actually 06:24 an expanded definition because we know sin is the transgression 06:27 of the law. That is the textbook response. Sin is also the 06:31 absence of belief in Jesus. Hmm. Sin is the absence of belief 06:37 in Jesus. What is salvation? That you might know, that you 06:43 might know the Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent. So if 06:49 salvation is knowing the Father and Jesus whom He sent 06:55 that's why Jesus made it so clear. You believe in God 06:57 believe also in Me. So this idea and I remember a number of years 07:02 ago I was watching some political event that was coming 07:06 from the steps of the White House there in Washington DC 07:09 and there were all these religious figures represented 07:12 there. I mean all the major religions. Many of the major 07:15 religions were there. And each of the speakers came forward 07:18 and they would always come and greet you in the name of God 07:21 I greet you in the name of Allah greet you in the name of Buddha 07:24 All these Ahs. And there was a mayor called Mayor Marion Barry 07:32 Long time mayor, he's no longer in the office. 07:35 His path was riddled with all kinds of propaganda 07:38 mismanagement of money, political scandal, women, drugs 07:44 and as tainted as he was in the political landscape he came to 07:50 the microphone and said Nobody has mentioned Jesus. 07:54 And I was, I said, man even a sinner could call on Jesus 07:58 Wow! It was so beautiful, because salvation see being lost 08:03 is not knowing Jesus. And what Satan has come to do is to keep 08:09 everyone who is lost, we're born in a lost condition, he's 08:12 come to keep us from knowing Jesus. If you can keep me from 08:16 knowing Jesus I would not know the way of salvation because 08:19 the Bible does say, Nor is there salvation in any other. 08:24 For there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby 08:28 we must be saved. No one comes to the Father except through me. 08:33 There's only one Mediator between God and man, the man 08:36 Christ Jesus. So we see the essentials of salvation is 08:41 knowing Jesus. When you know Jesus, then the vine begins to 08:46 spread from there Brian and all the other essentials, and you 08:50 know as I was studying this last night my wife and I study our 08:52 Sabbath School lesson together, we read our Bible together, we 08:54 pray together, praise the Lord for that. And I said, honey 08:59 this is powerful. Now after 30 years of ministry you think 09:02 I already got it but that shows the inspiration of the Word of 09:05 God Shelley. Sometimes the Lord increases the luminosity, like 09:10 this back screen that says 15- 20% right now, if they put it at 09:14 full it will blind us all. The Lord sometimes increases the 09:17 luminosity of the Word for us to see what we missed the last time 09:21 So I said honey this puts it all in perspective. As Adventists 09:25 we can't eat our way into salvation. We can't take off 09:30 enough jewelry and all these things that we think are 09:32 stumbling blocks and get ourselves clean for salvation 09:36 We can't keep enough Sabbaths for salvation. 09:41 There's no number of prison ministry visits you can give, 09:45 or sermons I can give or songs that Jill can play or sermons 09:49 or lessons that you and Molly can teach and preach 09:52 that can get us ready for the conviction that can get us ready 09:56 for salvation except by the convicting work of the Holy 09:59 important. Look at the next question in our lesson 10:07 What message can we take from these verses? 10:12 Jill can you go to Matthew 7:3? Molly, Romans 2:1 10:18 And I'm gonna call on Brian in just a moment here. 10:22 Matthew 7:3 that's the second one, but Romans 2:1 if you have 10:26 that one first Molly. Ok. "Therefore you are inexcusable 10:32 O man whoever you are who judge for in whatever you judge 10:38 another you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the 10:42 same things." That was like a Whoo! 10:49 Now this may not be a blanket statement but it is often 10:51 commonly true that we tend to see in others what's true in us. 10:58 Isn't that the truth? Isn't that true? What bugs you about 11:01 someone else is what you yourself do. 11:03 At least in my experience. Sometimes it's an idiosyncrasy 11:06 that may not be a terrible sin sometimes it could be a 11:09 mannerism a person has, we tend to see in someone what's true 11:13 about us. Don't want to say on this topic too much but people 11:18 who tend to talk about how much people need to lose weight 11:22 are themselves having a challenge sometimes in that area 11:26 And sometimes people who say that person should stop drinking 11:29 so much are themselves challenged by that very same 11:32 vice. We tend to see in others what's true about ourselves 11:35 and this text is saying to us we are inexcusable when we 11:39 judge someone else and fail to judge ourselves. 11:44 Who has the next text, Matthew 7:3. Look at what it says here 11:48 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye 11:51 but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 11:55 Read the next verse too. 11:56 Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove 11:59 the speck from your eye and look, a plank is in your own eye 12:03 Can you imagine a plank, envision it, a plank. There's a 12:09 two by four extending through my head and I'm saying, Brian 12:13 there's a splinter in your eye. 12:15 And that's what happens, that's what sin does. It blinds us 12:20 so what is the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy 12:22 Spirit comes not to condemn us John 3:17, remember that Shelley 12:28 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world 12:33 but that the world through Him might be what? might be saved 12:36 So when we condemn others, this is a huge point. When we condemn 12:41 others we are doing a work that not even Jesus does. Amen. 12:47 The Father didn't send His Son to condemn people that already 12:50 are on death row. He said you need some good news, don't you 12:53 think? Right Brian? Have you seen that experientially? 12:56 Yeah, Amen. Men and women that need good news in a predicament 13:01 that they can't even remedy themselves. And so when we 13:05 think about that, look at Isaiah. Let's to Isaiah 61. 13:10 The beauty of the sin problem is not that we have a problem 13:14 but Jesus has a solution that He introduces to us and works 13:19 on us, Isaiah 61, that is not 60 verse 1 but Isaiah 61 13:25 Look at what it says here: The Spirit of the Lord God is 13:29 upon me, this is the mission of Jesus, because the Lord has 13:33 anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent 13:37 me to do what? heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to 13:42 the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are 13:45 bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. In other words 13:49 whenever the invitation is an acceptable time. 13:53 And the day of vengeance of our God. Let God handle that 13:56 To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion 14:01 in the church. To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of 14:05 joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of 14:10 heaviness that they may be called trees of righteousness, 14:14 the planting of the Lord that He maybe glorified. And you know 14:19 we often stop right there but when that is true about our 14:21 lives, notice what happens next. When they are restored look at 14:25 what they now can turn around and do. Shelley read verse 4 14:28 for us. "And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise 14:32 up the former desolations and they shall repair the ruined 14:36 cities, the desolations of many generations." That's right. 14:39 And then it goes on to say in verse 5, I wanna show you 14:43 something, go to verse 5. Strangers shall stand and feed 14:47 your flocks and the sons of the foreigner shall be your 14:51 plowmen and your vinedressers. In other words the Lord is gonna 14:54 send help. When we are restored the Lord surrounds us with 14:59 a band of individuals that can now be to us a blessing 15:04 as our eyes are open to our need of Christ after the Spirit 15:08 brings conviction of sin. And what I like about this and I 15:11 want to transition on this particular point here 15:14 1 Corinthians 15:22. Very powerful. You see the Spirit 15:19 of God doesn't show us the need of the Spirit, the Spirit of God 15:23 shows us our need of Christ. Amen. Some people say I need 15:26 the Holy Spirit, no we need Jesus. But the Holy Spirit is 15:29 the one who brings us to our need of Christ. And here is the 15:33 beauty of it. The two sides of the entire sin problem 15:36 are contained in this verse. 15:40 The Bible says, For as in Adam how many of us? all died 15:44 even so, I like that, even so in Christ, how many of us? 15:49 all shall be made alive. Amen. Made alive. Being made alive 15:55 transitions us right to what you're gonna talk about next. 15:59 The need of righteousness. You know I was thinking, I made a 16:02 little list telling here the Holy Spirit, the works of the 16:08 Holy Spirit. I know this isn't all-inclusive but here's what 16:11 I've got. He inspired the Scriptures. He illuminates the 16:14 mind to understand the truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts 16:18 of sin, righteousness and judgment, calls people to the 16:20 Savior, effects regeneration, cultivates Christian character 16:25 He comforts believers, He bestows spiritual gifts by which 16:29 believers serve God through His church, He seals the believer 16:33 for the day of final redemption His presence in our lives is the 16:37 assurance of God to bring us into the fullness of the stature 16:40 of Christ, He enlightens and empowers believers for worship, 16:44 evangelism and service. Do you need the Holy Spirit? You know 16:49 we cannot go one day without Him so let's look, I have 16:55 I'm trying to find my lesson here. I've got lesson 12 17:00 The need of righteousness. Now I wanna start off somewhere 17:04 what is righteousness? Anyone? 17:07 Right living. Right standing with God. So righteousness 17:14 is being in God's, it's God's right way of doing and being 17:21 and when we're restored to righteousness we're in right 17:24 standing with God. If you think about God's righteousness 17:28 the way I consider this is God is love, that's His divine 17:33 essence right? Because of divine love that establishes Him 17:39 in holiness, that's what 1 Thessalonians 3:12,13 says 17:43 we can be established in holiness by His divine love 17:46 I mean more that love that's in us. 17:49 But His holiness, that's just another word for sanctification 17:54 which just means that He's totally set apart from sin 17:58 so God cannot sin. God cannot lie. It is not within His nature 18:05 to sin whatsoever. So His righteousness, His truthfulness 18:09 and His faithfulness is consistent with His character 18:14 and His nature and His promises. Now the Holy Spirit's job, let's 18:18 look at John 16:8 again. When He has come He will convict 18:26 or reprove, convict and convince the world of sin and of 18:33 righteousness. He pricks our hearts until we realize our sin 18:38 and it gives us a sense of guilt about that sin, does He not? 18:42 I mean the Holy Spirit, but He also, we know that all have 18:46 sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God 18:48 Some people don't recognize they are sinners. I'll never forget 18:51 one woman who was here and was on a program said, I've been 18:56 in church for 40 years, never, She said I always thought what's 19:00 big deal that Jesus died on the cross? She said I never 19:03 committed the Big 10. That's what she was thinking. She said 19:07 I can look through the Big 10 think I've never committed those 19:10 But she didn't recognize her own sin and it was at the time 19:15 when the Holy Spirit really started teaching her and she 19:19 when we recognize what sinners we are that then she recognized 19:23 her need for a Savior. So that's part of what He's doing. He's 19:26 convicting us and convincing us of righteousness too that 19:31 no righteousness of our own is acceptable to God. Isaiah 64:6 19:38 says that our righteousness, the best we can do, our works 19:43 of service, our acts of obedience, the best we can put 19:46 forward is what? Filthy rags. 19:50 Wouldn't you agree that the closer you get to the Lord 19:55 the more His light shines on you the more you're noticing the 20:00 spots on your own garments? 20:02 We have filthy rags. But the Holy Spirit convinces us 20:07 of God's love. He convinces us of His willingness to rescue us 20:12 from sin. He convinces us that Jesus is our Savior and that 20:17 we will be forgiven if we believe on Him. So it's not 20:23 you know there are a lot of people that are trying to work 20:25 their way to heaven. Salvation is not by works is it? 20:28 No. What does the Bible say Pastor? Salvation is by grace 20:32 through faith in Christ alone. Absolutely, so there's no 20:38 not by works so that no one can boast. So turn to 2 Corinthians 20:44 chapter 5 and verse 21. Our self righteousness can't be compared 20:50 to the righteousness of God. The righteousness that God 20:54 demanded in His law, Jesus fulfilled when He was here 21:00 on earth by His perfect life and then He imputed that to us 21:06 He credited it to our account. Jill why don't you read 21:13 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might 21:17 become the righteousness of God in Him 21:20 So how exciting is that? He's credited His perfect record to 21:26 our account. What is that called 21:29 Justification. And it happens in an instant. That's what you were 21:34 talking about. You are delivered from the penalty of sin 21:39 But then, He not only imputes His righteousness or credits it 21:45 to us, but then Christ comes and lives in our hearts by faith 21:49 through the power of the Holy Spirit and as He indwells us 21:53 He works out our sanctification which means what? 21:59 Separates us from sin. So He not only died for us, but He lives 22:07 for us. Let's look at Hebrews 4:15, 16. 22:11 Because He lives we know that we can live as well. 22:16 Hebrews 4. I'm just gonna ask Molly to read verse 15 22:23 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our 22:27 weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are 22:31 yet without sin. So here we've got this perfect sinless Savior 22:36 And what does He do? He applies the merits of His earthly life 22:40 in His death because we don't have the righteousness that we 22:45 need, but notice He's alive. He is our High Priest and He 22:52 understands our every weakness Sometimes we feel that we're too 22:57 bad for God to understand us but Jesus knows every temptation 23:02 you've ever met. He understands the weakness of your flesh 23:06 and He says that if you will come to Him, He goes on because 23:11 He knows that, let us therefore come boldly to the throne 23:14 of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace in our time of 23:17 need, Hallelujah! So Hebrews 7:25 do you know what that 23:22 one says? That's one of my favorite Scriptures. If you're 23:26 looking for a prayer partner you've got one. 23:29 Brian won't you read that? Ok Therefore He is able, also able 23:37 to save almost, a little bit, to the uttermost those who come 23:44 to God through Him. Since He always lives 23:48 to make intercession for them. Praise God. You know Romans 5:10 23:52 says that we were enemies of God. 23:55 You know man alienated himself from God through sin 23:59 and rebellion. But it says that through the death of His Son 24:03 what's happened? That we've been reconciled. So that is what is 24:09 so exciting. We know the wages of sin is death but what is the 24:14 gift of God in Christ Jesus? Eternal life. So God hates sin 24:22 and let me tell you something though, He has abundant love 24:26 for the sinner. Abundant love for the sinner. And He bore the 24:31 penalty of our sins on the cross and He did that to win our heart 24:38 back. So His death effected a reconciliation. His risen life 24:44 within us, by His Spirit gives us the power to bring salvation 24:51 unto fulfillment it said, Holy Spirit power. So the thing that 24:56 we have to remember to do is it's Christ in us that's our 24:59 hope of glory. So as Paul wrote to the Galatians, I've been 25:03 crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but the life 25:06 that I live is actually Christ Jesus living in me. 25:12 And we must walk according to the Spirit as He convicts us 25:17 of our need of Christ's righteousness and empowered 25:21 by the Spirit what's gonna happen? We grow in conformity 25:25 to Jesus Christ. Amen. So I just want to convince you 25:30 that nothing you could ever do can make you righteous before 25:34 God. It is only as you accept Christ's righteousness then 25:38 He will work in you to will and to do His good pleasure. 25:43 And He will help you to do righteous acts and to walk 25:46 in obedience. Amen. Just before we go to Brian, you know I'm 25:49 sitting here like a volcano I'm about to erupt 25:51 this topic of salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit is just 25:54 so potent that we as conveyors of this beautiful message 25:59 sometimes we kind of pass it along over our heads 26:04 what I want to do today is stop and drink some of it. Because 26:08 it's so sweet, it's so beautiful it has such nourishment in it 26:10 You know when Hebrews 9 talks about the blood of bulls and 26:13 goats and calves, it was at that time a symbol of purifying 26:16 all the sin that was committed. But it says in verse 14 26:21 How much more shall the blood of Christ, through the eternal 26:25 Spirit offer Himself without spot to God cleanse your 26:29 conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 26:33 The Spirit, the sacrifice of Jesus, the living God, all in 26:37 the very verse - the Spirit, Christ and the living God 26:40 in the same verse. Let me give it to you Brian, here it is. 26:43 Ok, thank you. This is very good. Let's go back to 26:48 John 16, that's where I want to launch off 26:51 John 16. Good. Have we been there before? Yeah 26:54 Yes I think we have. And I think there must be a reason why 26:57 the Lord keeps sending us back there. There's more to see here 27:01 than maybe we've noticed so far. I don't know if you've caught it 27:07 but from verses 8 through the end of verse 11, the work or the 27:14 function, the role of the Holy Spirit is spoken of as towards 27:19 the world. Let me read it. And when He is come, He will 27:24 convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment 27:31 Ok. So those verses, 8 to 11 is the work and function of the 27:38 Holy Spirit as it convicts the World. But then when you 27:43 hit verses 12 down to 15, the focus shifts. "I still have many 27:50 things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However 27:54 when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you 28:00 that's not the world, see the difference in focus? He will 28:04 guide you and from the rest down to 15 He's using the word 28:08 You instead of the world. And so, this particular Tuesday's 28:15 lesson is focused back on those first verses that deal with the 28:20 role of the Holy Spirit as it's focused out towards the world. 28:24 He will convince the world of sin. He will convince the world 28:29 of righteousness and He will convince or convict the world 28:35 of judgment. Now I do appreciate the writer, the author of our 28:43 lesson pointed out that this probably isn't referring to the 28:47 end time judgment. That was a little surprising to me I hadn't 28:50 really noticed that before. See verse 9, no verse 10. 28:56 I'm sorry let's try that again, verse 11. There you go. 29:02 Of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. 29:07 What I think this is saying, the author, what Jesus is saying 29:12 is that the Holy Spirit will take the story of Jesus 29:18 and His being brought into judgment, He was tried 29:23 He was convicted, He was executed unjustly 29:28 see, and as that story is told the world hears it for the 29:35 first time very likely, person who's not acquainted with 29:40 Christ. He hears the story, he sees the injustice of it 29:44 and guess who is then unveiled? Satan. The person behind all of 29:51 that action is unveiled, because the ruler of this world ends up 29:57 being judged. That's right. As a result of the false judgment 30:01 of Christ. So, yes there is an end time judgment that the 30:10 Holy Spirit convicts us of and convinces us of, but this 30:16 particular one in this particular verse is particularly 30:19 the unjustness of Jesus' judgment that He convinces us of 30:25 But I think we need to understand the other as well. 30:29 I wanna take us to Romans 1. And part of the work of the 30:35 Hole Spirit in other texts is to help guide us or help us 30:40 understand what judgment is all about. And how to understand 30:46 judgment. So we go to Romans 1 The judgment of God as I 30:52 understand it comes in two different flavors. 30:56 Ok. One flavor we'll call the passive judgment of God 31:02 and the other flavor is the active judgment of God 31:08 It says now, the wrath. That's whenever you hear about wrath 31:13 of God we're talking about the judgments of God, ok. 31:16 The wrath of God. Romans 1:18 31:22 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all 31:26 ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppressed the truth 31:32 in unrighteousness because what maybe known of God is manifested 31:37 in them for God has shown it to them. So here's individuals 31:44 who have been convinced and convicted by God, by the Holy 31:48 Spirit and yet they've resisted that. And as they continue to 31:55 resist that then things start happening. It goes on 32:01 it says in verse 20. For since the creation of the world His 32:06 invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the 32:12 things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead 32:15 so that they're without excuse. We drop down to verse 24 32:19 Therefore, and here's what I would call the first flavor, 32:23 this is the passive judgment of God, therefore God has also 32:28 given them up to uncleanliness and it starts describing it 32:35 One way that God judges us is if we practice things 32:42 that are against His will, they will eventually have 32:48 consequences to us and the consequences God doesn't wipe 32:54 away. He often times lets them come our way and those are His 33:00 passive judgments. He gives us up to what it is that we're 33:04 seeking, which in the end does harm to us. 33:09 It isn't because He wants it it's because we want it. 33:13 We don't always realize the consequences or we don't think 33:17 of it when we're acting upon it. But when Mom said no 33:22 and I did it anyway, there are consequences. 33:27 Mom was good but yet she helped us understand that when Mom 33:32 said no, no meant no. And there were consequences. And when God 33:35 says don't do this, stay from this, don't practice this 33:39 now if we go ahead and do it there are consequences. 33:43 Now in my Bible I just turned the page to Romans chapter 2 33:47 and verse 6 and there I see now reference what I say to 33:53 the second flavor of the judgments of God and that 33:57 is the active one. It says, who will render, verse 6 that is God 34:02 who will render to each one according to His deeds eternal 34:08 life to those who by patient continuance and doing good 34:13 seek for glory, honor and immortality 34:17 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth 34:23 but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. 34:30 So we see two flavors of the judgment of God. 34:34 And part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to take and 34:39 convict and convince the world that there is judgment from 34:46 God. Some of it in the here and now. Why are these things 34:51 happening to me? These are why these are happening. 34:55 Can we face that as we go into prison ministry? The people in 34:58 prison that we visit are suffering the consequences 35:02 of the passive judgments of God. 35:06 But there is also one in the future that we need to fear 35:09 and be conscious of that there is an eternal judgment 35:16 that has eternal consequences. The ones here and now can pass 35:22 people do get out of prison, people do overcome addictions 35:27 people are forgiven and repent and change, but there is 35:31 eternal consequences that there's no coming back from 35:35 and the Holy Spirit also wants us to know about those. 35:39 You know Brian, that's huge. But let me insert one more thing 35:44 Sure. 1 Corinthians 5:5. Just glance very quickly because 35:48 there's a sin, when people sin with impunity, in other words 35:52 when they sin like they've turned off their minds to God 35:54 God goes to some extreme lengths very quickly, I'm gonna transit 35:58 look at what it says here 36:01 Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh 36:06 that His spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 36:10 The Lord will allow people to be buffeted by the results of their 36:13 sin that some maybe, somewhere along the way they may turn 36:17 and eventually still be saved. Isn't that God's love? Amen 36:22 That is because everything God does is redemptive in purpose 36:31 His judgments, the situations we find ourselves in that are 36:34 uncomfortable, it's to get out attention because He wants 36:39 us all to be saved. He would that none of us would be 36:41 but that we would all come to salvation. He works in 36:45 redemptively in all that He does And on Wednesday, mine is the 36:51 assurance, the title of my, the assurance of salvation 36:55 and I've got some of my friends here on the panel to read some 36:59 Scripture for me but I am of the conviction that if you don't 37:06 know that you're saved, if you don't have confidence of that 37:10 if you're not assured of your salvation then how can you be 37:16 an effective witness of God? To be an effective witness 37:20 you've got to know that what God, what Christ wrought out for 37:25 you at Calvary accept it by faith and know that you have an 37:29 eternity in the presence of God. So we're looking at the 37:32 assurance of salvation. And Jill I have you looking at 37:42 He who has the Son has life He who does not have the Son of 37:47 God does not have life. These things I have written to you 37:51 who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know 37:55 that you have eternal life. 37:59 And that you may continue to believe in the name of the 38:02 Son of God. I underline and highlight in my Bible. I hope 38:07 you do too. And the Scripture says, that you may know 38:12 that you have eternal life. So, question to the panel 38:15 can you know that you have eternal life? 38:18 If you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, if you're abiding in 38:21 Christ you can. If you're in a right relationship with God 38:25 Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, you can know 38:29 that you have eternal life. Brian, Romans 8:15-17 38:39 For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear 38:44 but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out 38:50 Abba, Father. Wow, adopted. The Spirit Himself bears witness 38:57 with your spirit that we are children of God and if children 39:02 then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 39:07 If indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified 39:12 together. So then that spirit of adoption and I'm gonna talk 39:17 about that in a minute whereby we cry Abba, Father 39:20 and I asked earlier, Daddy God Christ or God becomes personal 39:26 relationship, develops a personal relationship with us 39:30 But this says the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we 39:36 are the children of God, that indwelling Holy Spirit gives you 39:40 confidence and bears witness that we are the children of God 39:45 Now Shelley I've got you in 1 John 3:1-3 39:54 My favorite text in the Bible. 39:55 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that 39:59 we should be called children of God. Therefore the world 40:04 does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved 40:09 now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed 40:15 what we shall be but we know that when He is revealed 40:19 we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is 40:26 and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself 40:30 just as He is pure. Beloved now, do you know that 40:37 right now we are the children of God. Not gonna happen some day 40:40 because we have been adopted into the family of God. 40:46 Now let me talk a little bit about adoption. 40:48 I have an adopted son, I have a child that came out of my womb 40:52 And my head knows the difference but my heart doesn't. 40:56 My heart has never known the difference in the two. So 41:00 does God have a son, the beloved Son, the Lord Jesus 41:03 Christ. He also has an adopted family and that would be us 41:07 Beloved now are we the children of God, we have been adopted 41:11 and I can assure you in God's heart He loves you. We are 41:17 heirs and joint heirs with who? With the Lord Jesus Christ 41:21 He loves us and there's a thing about adoption. Now 41:25 remember I've got an adopted child and a I've got a child 41:28 that came out of my womb. In my will I may choose to cut 41:35 my children out of my will but you know your adopted child 41:38 you can't cut out of the will, did you all know that legally 41:41 you can't? Now a child birthed to you, your natural child 41:45 I could cut her out of my will which of course I'm not, I'm 41:48 just using this as an illustration but my adopted 41:51 child, he is protected by law. Everything in the Word of God 41:55 is yours. The promises are Yea and Amen. They're yours and 42:00 nobody can take them away from you. Now let me just kinda 42:04 Pr. Lomacang gave me a thought pattern, a sequence of events 42:10 I was going to go over what happens to you when you make 42:14 Jesus Christ the Lord of your life because you know some 42:17 people don't have confidence in their salvation. I was in church 42:22 I was the second grade Sunday School teacher in church and 42:27 I could've taken a test and made a 100 on it. But you know what 42:32 I had never done, I had never made Jesus Christ the Lord of 42:35 my life. See being good and doing good things that's not 42:39 what makes you a child of God it's asking Jesus Christ to be 42:43 the Lord of your life, surrendering to Him. It's called 42:46 being born again and this is what happens, ah we have John 16 42:53 verse 8. We have used that one so many times what the purpose 42:57 of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin. See it's the 43:01 Holy Spirit that convicts you and draws you. You hear the 43:05 Word of God, you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life 43:08 you know what you have just done, you've accepted the free 43:11 gift of salvation because Christ is your substitution. He wrought 43:18 out your salvation at Calvary through His shed blood. He 43:24 purchased your salvation. He paid the penalty for every sin 43:27 you've ever done. You accept Him you become a child of God. 43:32 The forgiveness found in the shed blood at Calvary is now 43:39 yours. You have been adopted. God has adopted you as His 43:44 child when you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and nothing 43:49 can snatch you out of the hands of God. You belong to Him 43:53 He's your very own father. I like to say this and I hope you 43:56 understand it, God is your very own Father. You are His very 44:01 own child. The very life and nature of Almighty God is now 44:06 flowing through you. See you've been transferred out of the 44:12 power of darkness and you're now in the kingdom of God's dear Son 44:16 That's Colossians 1:13. Because of the Holy Spirit's indwelling 44:23 presence it now speaks to our heart and convinces us that 44:30 we're the child of God. It speaks to us and what has 44:33 happened is God by the power of His Spirit has fitted you 44:39 to be a heaven dweller. Has fitted you to live in heaven 44:45 See if you're not born again, if that very life and nature 44:48 of God isn't flowing through you isn't in you, you could no more 44:53 exist in heaven than a fish could grow on a tree. 44:56 Than a cow could liver under the water. It's not in their nature 45:01 But you've got a new nature. Do you not have a new nature 45:05 living in Christ Jesus. You have been fitted to live in heaven, 45:10 you are now a heaven dweller. And the Holy Spirit, Oh the Holy 45:16 Spirit that we receive, that speaks to our heart that we 45:20 belong to Almighty God, that has fitted us to live in heaven 45:24 do you know that is just the down payment? That's just the 45:28 down payment of our inheritance. How much is usually the down 45:32 payment Brian? Oh 10%. 5-10%? Maybe 20%. Something like that 45:37 If that's just the down payment and look how good this is 45:41 what is the full, the full payment going to be? It's going 45:46 to be awesome, it's going to be incredible! 45:48 I wanna say this again, to be an effective witness for the Lord 45:52 Jesus Christ you've got to know what was accomplished for you 45:56 at Calvary. You must be able to walk in that overcoming 46:00 victorious power that Christ has accomplished for you 46:05 and I want to end with this Scripture. It's John 3:16 46:10 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son 46:16 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but what? 46:22 should have everlasting life. If you've made Jesus Christ 46:26 the Lord of your life then you are not going to perish 46:29 you've got everlasting life. Amen. 46:34 That's powerful Molly. I think this topic if I could just take 46:39 one moment and then jump into Thursday, this topic is so 46:41 pivotal. I know in my own walk with God, my own experience, 46:45 I spent years not knowing if I was gonna make it to heaven 46:51 Years of thinking I need to do something different or try hard 46:56 or be better or somehow measure up to what I read in the Bible 47:01 How did that affect you? 47:03 Stress, fear, depression, anxiety. I don't know if I 47:08 dealt with depression so much but I remember feeling that 47:11 anxiousness and trying and feeling like I could never 47:15 measure up but when we know that we have assurance, if we 47:20 abide in Christ today we can say I'm saved. What freedom that 47:26 gives us and it leads us to Thursday because that's hope 47:29 what hope that gives us as well. Thursday, the opening Scripture 47:33 for Thursday's lesson, we're looking at the Holy Spirit 47:36 and hope. The question is how are love and hope related 47:40 to each other and we're gonna see how the Holy Spirit brings 47:43 that. We're going to go to Romans chapter 5 47:49 and we'll read the first 5 verses here. 48:00 Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God 48:05 through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace comes as a result of the 48:10 justification you talked about Shelley. That righteousness 48:13 being covered and clothed with Christ's righteousness 48:15 Through Him we also have access by faith into this grace 48:19 in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 48:25 And not only that, we're in verse 3, we also glory in 48:29 tribulations. I don't know about you but glorying in tribulation 48:34 is not an easy thing. It reminds me of James 1. James says count 48:39 it all joy when you fall into troubles, tribulation, 48:43 difficulty. Rejoice, glory in tribulation. why? 48:48 Knowing that tribulation produces patience. The suffering 48:54 thank you, perseverance. The suffering does not in itself 49:00 produce it. Suffering does not produce transformation. Only 49:04 the grace of God working in the midst of the tribulation, in the 49:08 midst of the trial, that works to produce this perseverance 49:12 And perseverance, character. In the Greek, character indicates 49:18 character that's actually been tested. A character that's 49:21 been tested and approved by God. And character, hope. 49:26 And now we see the connection between love and hope and 49:29 the Holy Spirit in verse 5. Now hope does not disappoint 49:35 it's not an illusion because the love of God has been poured out 49:40 King James says shed abroad, isn't it? shed abroad into 49:44 our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The Holy 49:50 Spirit gives us God's love. The love of God poured into our 49:53 hearts by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit gives us God's 49:56 love. Love gives us hope. Without love there would be no 50:02 hope. Only love can generate hope. You think about, the 50:06 lesson brought this out, the difference between optimism 50:09 and hope. And I think about let me say, back up, 50:16 Greg and I have been married 14 and a half years. 50:19 There's a lot of faith and confidence, security, trust 50:24 that develops within a marriage, a good marriage, over time 50:29 as you go through those years it develops, it grows. The love 50:33 deepens and grows. Because of that love I have confidence 50:39 assurance, eager expectation that I can trust my husband 50:44 implicitly. He went on a trip, a backpacking trip. It was 50:49 winter time couple years ago and they had 8 inches of snow 50:53 on the ground. Now if I was going on a back packing trip 50:56 I would go in the summer or the Spring or the Fall, right? 50:59 There's all this snow on the ground, they're trekking in all 51:03 their food, their little water purifiers, drinking from the 51:06 stream. They're just, we won't go into all the other stuff 51:10 they're out in the wilderness with all the snow out there 51:14 and I was a little worried for him just because of the cold 51:16 and snow but I knew, I had confidence the he's coming home 51:23 that he is coming home. Hope in the Greek 51:30 let me find it here, Elpis? 51:34 Expectation, trust, confidence. Expectation of what is sure or 51:40 certain. Strong and confident expectation or you can say 51:44 eager expectation. Optimism 51:50 can be blind, can be founded ok I think things are gonna get 51:53 better but hope is grounded in God's faithfulness. And the 51:58 promise that He has given in the past. Hope believes that 52:02 God will fulfill what He has said because He is faithful 52:07 and true. God has proven to be dependable just like I trust 52:11 my husband over the years, experience of relationship 52:14 with him I trust him. God has proven Himself to us to be 52:18 dependable and He does not waver. His steadfastness and 52:23 truth are the foundation, the Word of God. That we rest our 52:27 hope, our eager expectation upon. In our time remaining 52:31 I want to look at what does hope do for us? What are the 52:35 rewards and blessings of having this hope. We'll look at a 52:39 couple of Scriptures. Let's look at Romans 15 52:42 We're already in Romans, just jump over couple chapters 52:49 Brian you got it you wanna read it? Ok. 52:51 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace 52:56 in believing that you may abound in hope 53:00 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 53:03 So the blessing, the reward of hope is joy and peace. 53:07 Joy and peace. Shelley. I was just gonna say I always use 53:10 this in my Christmas cards. Well I haven't done Christmas cards 53:13 in a number of years because we're always so busy here, but 53:15 I always put that verse in Christmas cards cause to me that 53:18 that's what it's all about. It is. Joy and peace. 53:21 Let's look at another one. Psalm 33 53:24 Psalm 33, we're gonna look at verse 18 53:31 Psalm 33:18. Molly do you have that, you wanna read that for us 53:35 I would be happy to. Psalm 53:47 Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him 53:50 on those who hope in His mercy. So what is the reward and 53:55 blessing of hope? The eye of the Lord is on us. Yes 53:59 Protection. And it goes on to say, to deliver their souls 54:03 from death. And to keep them alive in famine. 54:07 Amen. Good. We're gonna stay in Psalms. Just a couple chapters 54:11 over, Psalm 31. 54:13 Psalm 31, Pr. John you want to take that? Psalm 31:24 54:20 Ok. Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart 54:26 all you who hope in the Lord. 54:31 Hope gives us courage, strength. 54:35 And assurance. And Shelley, how about you take Romans 15 54:39 Alright. We'll go over to Romans 15 54:42 What verse, verse 4. 54:46 For whatever things were written before were written for our 54:50 learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the 54:54 Scriptures might have hope. 54:57 We have eager expectation, all His promises will come to pass 55:03 that God is faithful to His word and He will accomplish His will 55:08 Amen. And so I just want to appeal to you at home, maybe 55:12 you have been in situations, relationships, know people that 55:16 you couldn't really base any hope on, any confidence in 55:20 and maybe you're not even sure you can trust God. We are here 55:24 to tell you today that God stands back of every promise 55:29 that He has made. That all His promises are Yes and Amen in 55:33 Christ Jesus. That you can come before Him with eager 55:36 expectation, with confidence knowing that you can trust, 55:40 your life in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. 55:44 Knowing that He will save you knowing you can have assurance 55:48 of your salvation, knowing He will clothe you with His 55:51 righteousness, knowing that you can be His son or His daughter 55:57 Wow this lesson I'm looking at we don't do Friday but Friday is 56:01 like the icing on the cake. We gotta a minute, let's go through 56:06 some of these quick ones. I'm just gonna hit em real quickly 56:09 The reason why the Holy Spirit lesson is so powerful, look at 56:11 what it does. It summarizes I'm going to go down to the 56:15 second sentence-the Holy Spirit awakens us from our spiritual 56:19 death, He leads us to an awareness of our sinfulness 56:23 and opens our eyes to the fact that we are in of ourselves lost 56:27 He kindles in us a desire to change, for change and leads us 56:30 to Jesus. He gives the assurance of salvation, He always points 56:35 us to Jesus. The next sentence, He conforms us to be more like 56:39 Jesus. He keeps us faithful. He enables us to fulfill God's 56:43 will. He generates the written word of God. Where would we be 56:47 without the work of the Holy Spirit? So the author, in the 56:52 very beginning here I can tell you, No it's Ellen G. White 56:55 Oh ok this is a quote. Ellen White. So when you look at this 56:59 when you look at the list of enablings, Molly. I just was 57:06 going to say that through the power of the Holy Spirit 57:09 we all have so much power at our fingertips and I am so excited 57:15 about the next quarter. This is the last of the quarter's 57:20 of the first quarter but the second quarter kicks off next 57:23 Sabbath and I am excited about that. It is entitled "Feed My 57:28 Sheep". It's first and second Peter. So Pr. Lomacang aren't 57:32 we excited about what's coming up? 57:34 Summarizing the Holy Spirit here it is. "Now to Him who is able 57:38 to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think 57:43 according to the power that works in us. Our prayer is that 57:49 you will allow the Spirit of God to come into your life 57:50 in a very real, powerful and substantial way. When you 57:54 experience the transformation, live a life for the glory 57:57 and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all. |
Revised 2017-03-27