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[0:00] well friends welcome back as we join again to worship together trust a number of you got to enjoy digital tea and coffee chance to continue friendship with each other again let me say thank you to those who have been phoning and providing help for each other and sending messages of support and encouragement thank you to everybody who's been in touch with me as well it's good to feel that connection of christian family now as we begin our worship i want to read from psalm 9 you're in the battle with fear which i think we are facing on many levels and fronts now what we as the people of god need is we need the truth of god's salvation we need to constantly be reminding ourselves of god's goodness to us it's so this is how psalm 9 begins i will praise you o lord with all my heart i will tell of all your wonders i will be glad and rejoice in you i will sing praise to your name o most high so we're going to sing now let's sing loud let's sing to wake our neighborhood and let people know that we're worshiping this hymn he will hold me fast which helps us to grab hold of the security that we have in christ so again kellen will lead us and let's all join together so that we can sing when i fear my faith will fail christ will hold me fast when the tempter would prevail he will hold me fast i could never keep my hope through life's fearful path for my love is often cold he must hold me fast he must hold me fast he will hold me fast he will hold me fast he will hold me fast for my savior loves me so he will hold me fast he will hold me fast he will hold me fast he will hold me fast

[3:30] Precious in His holy sight He will hold me fast He'll not let my soul be lost His promises shall last Fought by Him at such a cost He will hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast For my life He bled at night

[4:35] Christ will hold me fast Justice has been satisfied He will hold me fast Raised with Him to endless life He will hold me fast Till our faith is turned to sight When He comes at last He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

[5:36] For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast He will hold me fast Now Let's pray together Let's call on God Our Father That we thank you that the Bible Is full of your goodness Your acts of saving power Those reminders of your faithfulness We thank you for the story of the church How you have kept and protected And provided for your people Thank you as we look back on our own lives We can see your mercies that are new to us

[6:36] Every morning That we can sing of your faithfulness And your great work in our lives Especially Thank you For those of us who are trusting in Jesus That you revealed Him to us As the Savior that we need Lord today We pray That you would be for us Our solid hope We ask that you would keep us Looking to Jesus To trust that just as He is the author of our faith So He is the perfecter of our faith And at every point in between Jesus will be with us Lord we ask That you would be the God Who would bring comfort to us In our loneliness As we face extended separation From people that we love

[7:37] And from all that is familiar We thank you That you are the God Who promises To always be with us And to never leave Or forsake us Lord we pray That you would keep us remembering That in all the battles we face The greatest battle we face Is against the sin in our own lives We confess our sin And our unbelief We confess We confess Those ways in which In our words In our actions In our thoughts We have not lived to glorify You We have not lived to love You Or to love others And we thank You Again for the cross And the resurrection of Jesus The forgiveness that we have The freedom from condemnation We have in Him Lord we pray That You would be Our source of peace When all around us Seems anxious

[8:39] We ask that You would cause us As Your people To have such a settled hope That people would notice There is something different And positive And attractive About the way we are living We ask that You would enable us To turn to You We ask that We would not be anxious About anything But in everything By prayer and petition With thanksgiving We would present our requests To You our God And that the peace of God Which transcends all understanding Would truly guard our hearts And our minds In Christ Jesus At this time Lord we love You And we know that You love us We need You We pray that You would constantly be Our source of security and refuge

[9:41] That we would not be ashamed To say we are utterly dependent on You And that as we depend on You We would find that You would give strength For us in our weakness Now we pray that You would be with us As we hear from Your Word As we reflect on it together As it is preached Speak to us we pray In Jesus name Amen Now we are going to read In John chapter 16 So if you have a Bible or a device You will want to turn there You will want to turn there to John chapter 16 Last week if you will remember We were talking about the Holy Spirit In a believer's life Especially thinking about the Holy Spirit In the life of the church Well today we turn to Jesus' words here In John 16 to think about The Holy Spirit who convicts So let's read together

[10:43] John chapter 16 from verse 5 To verse 15 Let's hear God's Word Now I am going to Him who sent me Yet none of you asks me Where are you going?

[10:58] Because I have said these things You are filled with grief But I tell you the truth It is for your good that I am going away Unless I go away The counsellor will not come to you But if I go I will send him to you When he comes He will convict the world of guilt In regard to sin And righteousness And judgment In regard to sin Because men do not believe in me In regard to righteousness Because I am going to the Father Where you can see me no longer And in regard to judgment Because the Prince of this world Now stands condemned I have much more to say to you More than you can now bear 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 He will bring glory to me By taking from what is mine

[11:59] And making it known to you 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 And make it known to you Amen And we thank God For his word Now let's think about it For a little while Together Let me begin By sharing words You may be familiar with From the book of Proverbs Chapter 27 And verse 6 We hear these words The wounds from a friend Can be trusted And when you hear those words I wonder if in your mind Comes a family member perhaps Or a friend who is like that for you Somebody who helpfully Graciously Exposes times when your thinking Has been wrong When your words or your actions

[13:01] Have been wrong Someone who does that Out of loving concern for you And as painful as it was It led you to see And it led you to change Now keep that idea in your mind Jesus here Is preparing anxious And troubled disciples For his departure John 13 to John 17 Is a lengthy Set of farewell teaching From Jesus And the theme of the spirit Is something that Jesus Returns to A few times over these Chapters Jesus here Talks about the spirit As counsellor The spirit who comes Alongside of us The spirit who will be An encourager A friend to the disciples Just as Jesus was a friend To the disciples But the spirit also here That sense of counsellor Has the idea of being an advocate

[14:02] And here Let's think about The spirit as A prosecution lawyer Like that friend From earlier The spirit as a prosecution lawyer Exposing Wrong beliefs Wrong behaviours For our good Not to condemn But with the desire That we would Change So here's our idea For today The Holy Spirit Comes from Jesus As a gift To convict The world About the truth Of Jesus To turn people To believe in Jesus The Holy Spirit Comes The Holy Spirit Convicts So First of all And it's important For us to Ask this question Why is the Holy Spirit Coming Good news Perhaps like me You find In verse 7 Quite striking

[15:03] I can only imagine The disciples Finding it really striking When Jesus says I tell you the truth It's for your good That I am Going away And maybe they were thinking How can Jesus Leaving Be good news Certainly they didn't Act And they didn't Feel Emotionally Like it was Good news I wonder for us Today Can we see Why Jesus Says that How Jesus Going Connects with The coming Of the Holy Spirit And how that's Good news Let's try and Help on another Let me suggest Three reasons To see Why Jesus Departing And the Spirit coming Was good news For the disciples And it's good news For us Firstly Let's think of The word Promise And when you Read the Old Testament And especially When you read The Old Testament Prophets You discover there That the coming Of the Spirit Is connected

[16:05] To The saving Rain of God Beginning Coming In a new way So when the Spirit comes It's a sign That the rule Of God Is coming In the world In a new way Jesus understands That this requires Something It requires Jesus' Departure It requires Jesus to go To go to the cross To die for sin To die for sinners In our place As our substitute As our sacrifice It requires It requires It requires that Jesus Then rise In victory And return To glory To rule As king And as king To then send The promised Holy Spirit To his People As a way To extend

[17:05] The rule Of God In the world So there's That promise From the Old Testament That makes The coming Of the Holy Spirit Good news But there was Also The promise Of Jesus So we thought About his words Last week I will not Leave you As orphans I will come To you There is good News for the Disciples And good news For us today If we're trusting In Jesus The coming Of the Holy Spirit Means that Promise is Kept That Jesus Is with His people In a new Way So the second Word To help us Think about How the Coming of the Holy Spirit Is good news Is connected To presence So we have Promised Presence The presence Of Jesus So up until Now for the Disciples And in the Time of Jesus How could a Person know How could a Person enjoy Jesus How could they Talk with him And learn from him Well they had to be Physically with him Didn't they They had to be In the same place Jesus In his human body

[18:05] Was limited to being In one place At one time But now Jesus by his Spirit he says He comes to live In the hearts Of his people So Jesus can be With his disciples And he can be With us All the time And everyone And that's good news And also The spirit Allows the rule Of Christ To spread In the world In a new way Because that good news Can be spread By his people There are some Important results For us As Christians Today You know We are Isolated Isolated From one another For the next few weeks But you and I We are never Isolated from Jesus By faith You are never Alone Even when you feel Lonely Whoever you are

[19:06] Wherever you are And forever Jesus is with His church His people That's good news And then we think About the mission Of God And we think About how Christianity Has become A global religion That since The coming of Jesus Hundreds of millions Of people Have declared Jesus is Lord By the power Of the Spirit Around the world Millions and millions Of people Even though they Can't get to church Are still worshipping Because we know We believe We love Jesus Who is Lord So there is Promise There is presence And the one last thing To say About the Holy Spirit Coming is good news For now Is to do with The word Pleading J.C.Royle Bishop of Liverpool Back in the 19th century Said this

[20:06] The Spirit Would be a Pleader For God Throughout the Whole world And by that J.C.Royle Meant that Whenever a person Reads The Bible It's as if The Spirit Is pleading Through the word That he inspired That we believe It's truth And respond To the God Of truth Especially That the Spirit Pleads through The gospel That declaration Of what God has done For us In Jesus To forgive Our sins And to give Us eternal One And also The Spirit Pleads through The witness And the testimony Of the people Of God Saying to us Saying to the world The saviour They worship As a saviour You should follow And trust too The Spirit Pleads with us To say You cannot Know God And you cannot Live the Christian Life in your Own power The Spirit Comes as it were To turn the light On for us To cause us To see What we couldn't Before And part of How he does that

[21:07] Is through this Convicting work That Jesus Speaks of So let's Turn to that now And ask this question Why is the Holy Spirit Convicting the world Good news Because maybe we don't Hear the word Conviction Convicted of a crime For example As good news Again let's go Back to the Proverbs Like the trusted Words of a friend Listening to the Spirit Is good news Conviction Is a gift Because what the Spirit Does is he Exposes Our wrong thinking And our wrong beliefs About Jesus In order to turn people To Jesus In order that we Might believe By grace That we might be Saved By faith So in terms of How we respond To this truth Today All of us

[22:07] The desired response Is that either It would increase Our thankfulness For the work Of the Spirit Who comes To reveal Jesus to us And his glory So And also to make us More like Jesus The Spirit Who wants us To keep in step With him So we keep Listening to And following Jesus So our response Is lives of worship And obedience To Jesus Whatever our circumstances In the middle Of the trouble We find ourselves in Or the other response And this is if you're Not a Christian Is that you would Listen Listen to the Spirit In his word From Jesus Convicting you And exposing your guilt Like that prosecution lawyer So that You would repent from sin You would turn from it And turn to God You would trust in Jesus His Lord And Saviour So in verse 8 Which we read Jesus focuses on

[23:07] Three ways The Spirit Will convict The world When the Spirit Comes He will convict The world of guilt In regard to sin And righteousness And judgment So let's look at Each of those in turn First of all Sin Verse 9 In regard to sin Because men do not Believe in me So the sin That we're convicted of In particular Is the sin of not Believing in Jesus So let's think of Three ways Where the world Fails to believe in Jesus Think about the identity Of Jesus First of all John's gospel Is really clear The Bible is clear Jesus is the revelation From God So John's gospel Begins In the beginning Was the word And the word Was with God And the word Was God That when we look At Jesus We are seeing The glory of God In human form Jesus seven times In John's gospel Describes himself As I am I am the good shepherd I am the bread of life I am the vine I am

[24:08] Was a title for God In the old testament Jesus saying I am God And I have come To reveal God Think about the name And the titles Of Jesus Jesus means God saves So we need to see The identity of Jesus As God's saviour Christ Jesus the Christ God's anointed one Chosen for a set purpose The purpose To be that king Who would rule For us To be the prophet Who would speak God's truth to us To be the priest Who would give himself As the perfect sacrifice To make us right With God To forgive our sin And Jesus is the Christ And he is the Lord And the Lord Of course The old testament title For God himself Jesus is God God's king God's saviour That's his identity So how do we see Unbelief in regard To his identity Well we see it In hostility Again as we move Towards Easter Think about what happens Around the cross of Jesus We see Rejection of Jesus Hatred of him We see him being Falsely accused Beaten Mocked

[25:08] Shamefully put To death Today In our world We also see Rejection of Jesus We see Mockery Of Jesus And his church So there's hostility And sin and unbelief But there's also apathy Where people fail To take his claims Seriously Perhaps happy To see Jesus As a good man Perhaps happy To hear him As a wise teacher Some kind of Spiritual guru But to have that Attitude Well it's fine For you To take Jesus Seriously But he's not For me To pick and choose Jesus says He's Lord And God And he's the only way To God So it's not enough To just say He's a good teacher Or a good man So there's apathy In really engaging With Jesus There's that Sin Of not believing In Jesus Also in terms of His mission You know the Bible Is clear Jesus came on A rescue mission Jesus said He's come to give His life as a ransom

[26:08] It's as if we're Held hostage And Jesus Pays in his own Body and blood The price to set us Free To forgive us And give us Eternal life But what does Unbelief look like It means There's no Repentance There's no Recognition That we need That There's no Faith in Jesus There's no Love for Jesus There's an Unwillingness To count The cost Of being A disciple Of Jesus And if we Think about The theme Of worship Positively At the end Of John's Gospel In chapter 20 We find The wonderful Example of Thomas When he Meets the Risen Jesus Falls On his Ease He says My Lord My God He worships Jesus As he Truly is But Sin and Unbelief Looks like A failure To glorify God To Failure To glorify Jesus Failure To honour And love Jesus Failure To see Him As the Greatest Of all Treasures So we Live for Other things More than We live For Jesus Who is God And the Bible Says We are All by Nature Part of

[27:08] The World This Culture That is Hostile And in Rebellion Against God We are United In our Blindness I don't Know if You've Been Having The Same Problems That we Have The internet Feels like It's Breaking Sometimes You try And watch Something on Netflix And sometimes The picture Is so Pixelated The signal Is so Slow And so Poor That Sometimes We've Had to Turn off Because you Can't Make out The Character's Faces Even That's Us Spiritually By Nature We are Unable And we Are unwilling To see Jesus As he Truly Is Unless The spirit Comes As a Gift of God's Grace Unless The spirit Convicts us Of our Sin And our Unbelief Unless he Opens our Eyes So that Now we're Really seeing The personal Work of Jesus And our Need of Him Then that

[28:11] View will Never Change So conviction Is good News when It means That now we Are restored To the love That we Long for And we're Made for To know And enjoy The love Of God So the Holy Spirit Convicts us Sin What's the Next way The spirit Convicts The world We see He convicts The world In regard To righteousness Verse 10 Because I Am going To the Father Where you Can see Me No Longer Does that Mean the Spirit Reveals To us That true Righteousness Is found In Jesus And only In Jesus So for The disciples You wouldn't Find righteousness In the Temple You wouldn't Find it In the Self-righteous Religion That so Many people Were following In the Day For us To True Righteousness In God's sight Doesn't come From our Religious Practices Doesn't come From our Moral Efforts Righteousness Comes in Jesus And from Jesus Jesus Said I Am the Way to God Because I

[29:11] Am the Truth And the Life No one Comes to The Father Except Through Me Jesus Is Realistic About Your Inability And Mine To be Right With God By ourselves And He's Realistic About His Own Perfect Righteousness As Good News But then You think About the Cross What's Happening There At the Cross Jesus Is Dying And He's Dying Under God's Curse And He's Dying Experiencing The Wrath Of God And So We Need To Ask What's Happening There Why Is Jesus Doing That Jesus In Love Has Come To Take The Place Of Unrighteous Sinners To Take Our Place For Our Sin So That A great Exchange Might Happen He Might Take Our Sin And He Might Give Us Azure To 제대로 Way Fair To Harley

[30:19] The If You here good news of freedom from a self-help religion maybe you find yourself climbing that ladder today trying desperately hard to get to god well the spirit would want to convict you that that ladder it is going nowhere and it is leaning on nothing so it will collapse we need jesus to come down in order to raise us up to god praise god he did so conviction again is good news when it comes to righteousness because it gives us assurance of trusting jesus we are in christ by the spirit we are declared righteous as a gift of his grace and we are given the power to do righteousness which we were unable to do before one last way the spirit will convict the world and it's in regard to judgment verse 11 because the prince of this world now stands condemned judgment looking ahead to the cross there demonstrating that the work of christ destroys the devil's work so the spirit comes to our our hearts and minds and convicts us convinces us that the cross is victory and not defeat lots of people there on the day of the cross thought it was the end of jesus and his claims lots of people today still see the cross as defeat but the spirit opens our eyes and shows us the truth that the battle has been won by jesus over the forces of evil and his death and resurrection and his ascension to glory there are proof for us and the spirit also convicts us that the cross stands as a warning sign just as judgment came on the devil so it will be for those in the world who reject and rebel against jesus the spirit wants to use a megaphone to let us hear you are on the wrong side of history if you are not following jesus when we think about kids in a playground playing games together team games you will notice i'm sure that they always want to switch to be on the winning team or they have that sense of that boy that girl they're really good at this sport so i want to be on their side there's there's wisdom in that spiritually jesus is the winner the cross is victory his second coming will be victory complete his resurrection and return to glory are proof of that we need to be on the winning side and the spirit wants to show us that to turn us in that direction so there is good news here the holy spirit comes from to convict us in that direction so we will believe so today let's hear the spirit as a friend whose wounds can be trusted let him expose and convict us of our sin and our unbelief whether we're christian or not as christians we are still guilty of sin and unbelief and we want the spirit to show that to us we might

[34:19] constantly be returning be repenting every day let's ask the spirit to convict us of our foolish attempts at being good enough for god so we'd stop resting in ourselves trusting in ourselves and trust and rest in jesus alone for salvation and we'd ask the spirit to convict us of the judgment on rebellion and rejection so that with a sense of desperation and urgency we would run to jesus or we'd stay close to jesus so in response may we either find ourselves gratefully and increasingly worshipping jesus as we are led by the spirit or if you're not christian ask today for the gift for the gift to repent to turn away from your sin to turn away from your unbelief to turn away from the path leading to judgment and destruction turn and ask for the gift of faith that you would believe in jesus that you would be saved that you too would know that the coming of the spirit is good good news now let's close our time of worship kellen will lead us in singing a couple of sections from psalm 51 the first four verses and then verses 7 to 12 this song is a prayer david's prayer after god used the words of nathan the prophet to convict him of his sin and guilt so let's use these as our words of response so let's sing together oh my god have mercy on me in your steadfast love i pray in your infinite compassion my transgressions wipe away cleanse me from iniquity wash my sin away from me for i know my own transgressions i can see my sinful plight you you only i've offended and done evil in your sight so your words are verified and your verdict justified and your blood cleansed with hyssop purify me i'll be whiter than the snow let the bones you crushed may joyful

[38:20]  may i joy and gladness know from my failure hide your face blot out all my wicked lord create a pure heart in me and a steadfast mind renewed do not take your spirit from me cast me not away from you give me back the joy i had keep my willing spirit glad now let's pray as we close father god thank you for this wonderful truth that jesus revealed that it is for our good and that the spirit is sent thank you that it means that we can always have jesus with us he can be for us that friend who sticks closer than any brother thank you that his kingdom is spreading and continues to spread and even in the midst of the coronavirus is still spreading as men and women and boys and girls in their need led by the spirit are turning to jesus in faith lord we ask that the spirit would be convicting us of sin and unbelief convicting us that righteousness is found only in jesus to convict us of the judgment that comes on unbelief so that we would trust and always trust in jesus that you would cause us to love him and to love him more and that we would this week live lives of grateful obedience seeking to do good and to show mercy as a response to your kindness to us we pray in jesus name amen so again do stay in touch do connect with each other do take the chance to be involved in our community groups join us tomorrow at 8pm where we'll be praying online through zoom and again that link will be available it was great to have people from different locations joining us to pray our church one another our nation needs prayer at this time and again may God be with you and bless you this week peace please not be with you you you work every day of theают means who are to see the a byern were the who you quit when it you can as are we you know or and n after and