Come, Know Jesus! Through the Way Better Work of the Holy Spirit

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to John's Gospel, the Gospel of John, chapter 16.

[0:10] If you need a Bible, there's a Bible in the chair in front of you. You can pull out that black Bible and go towards the back of that because they renumber the New Testament. The back of that black Bible, page 86, page 86, John 16.

[0:26] John, chapter 16. We're gonna start in the second part of verse 4 because it's split up into two different parts.

[0:37] So 4 through 15 this morning, 4 through 15. John, chapter 16, page 86 in that black Bible. John, chapter 16, starting in verse 4 to 15.

[0:54] Let me read and then we'll jump in. Jesus said to his disciples, and these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you.

[1:05] But now I'm going to the one who sent me. And none of you ask me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is much better that I go.

[1:20] For if I do not go, the paraclete will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And coming, this one will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.

[1:36] Verse 9. Concerning sin, because they did not believe into me. And concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

[1:50] I have many more things to say to you, but you're not able to bear now. But when he comes, the spirit of truth, he will lead you in all the truth.

[2:04] For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he will hear, he will speak and will disclose to you that which is to come. He will glorify me. He will take from me and will disclose to you.

[2:18] All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said, that he takes from me and will disclose to you. I have a friend of mine who grew up in Chicago.

[2:33] Well, actually he grew up here and in Chicago. That's a long story. Anyways. He raves about Chicago style pizza.

[2:44] And I don't know what that means. But somehow, as a Chicago style pizza, it's really good. Now you compare that to say, Little Caesars.

[2:58] You got Little Caesars here, as far as my friend is concerned. And you have a Chicago style pizza here, right? There's really no comparison.

[3:09] Pizza that's Chicago style is much better, unless you slang, way better than Little Caesars. Although, you ask my kids. You want Chicago style pizza, or do you want Little Caesars?

[3:21] Little Caesars. No offense, sorry. Is pizza's pizza for them? We don't care. It's pizza. They want Little Caesars. They don't care.

[3:34] In kind of the same way, not to say that Jesus is a Little Caesars pizza. But the ministry of the Spirit said Jesus, it's much better. No, no.

[3:46] It's way better than Jesus' ministry. Because the Spirit continues Jesus' ministry in a way that Jesus was not necessarily able to do that when he was physically here on earth.

[4:00] And this is from the words of Jesus. It's much better. Here in John's Gospel, we see the theme is, come know Jesus.

[4:13] And if you're here and you don't know Jesus, you must come to know him as your Savior and Lord. But for us as Christians, we continue to know Jesus in a real intimate way.

[4:24] We grow in our knowledge of him. So come know Jesus, and you'll come know Jesus today, we'll see, through the way better work of the Holy Spirit.

[4:34] I use this slang on purpose. Come know Jesus through the way better work of the Holy Spirit. Come know Jesus through the way better, the much better work of the Holy Spirit.

[4:51] The work of the Holy Spirit is much better, says Jesus. Here's a statement for you. The work of the Holy Spirit is much better for us as Jesus' disciples.

[5:05] Why? Because of his work of conviction to the world, and his work of consolation toward us, both through the truth of God's Word. The work of the Spirit is much better for us as Jesus' followers, because his work of conviction to the world, and his work of comfort or consolation to us, and both, the world to us, is through the truth of God's Word.

[5:38] Again, these are, I should say, Jesus' words of encouragement and exhortation, consolation to his disciples, from chapter 13 to chapter 17.

[5:54] Telling them to stay the course, encouraging them to stay faithful. On the eve of his departure, and even more encouraging, they get help from the Trinitarian God.

[6:08] I mean, what more could you want? What more could you need than help from the Trinitarian God? And in the Spirit of truth, Jesus could not be any more present than if he were bodily here on earth.

[6:24] The Spirit is a continuation of Jesus' ministry, and he's with us, and indwells every Jesus follower.

[6:38] That's something that you can't have if Jesus was bodily here on earth. You couldn't have that happening in the brothers and sisters in Chechia, in the Czech Republic, and here at the same time.

[6:49] You can't have that if Jesus was bodily here on earth, but now we can. We can. The Spirit is with us, with them. The same way. Jesus is trying to get his disciples to see, as one writer put it, to follow him is to live in the Spirit.

[7:10] To follow Jesus is to live in the Spirit, which means that a Christian lives in and by the Spirit. And since there's unity between the Son and the Father, and the Son and the Spirit, we live our lives in the Trinitarian God.

[7:34] The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We live in them. That's how we live our lives. Again, Jesus' work continues by the Spirit.

[7:45] His words and works or signs pointing to his identity and mission when he was here on earth. So the Spirit, what does he do? He points to and convicts the world in their lack of seeing Jesus' identity and mission.

[7:59] And the Spirit points to and reminds us as Jesus' followers of Jesus' identity and mission of the gospel so that Jesus would be glorified in his body, in the local body, the local church.

[8:18] So that's why the Spirit leads to Jesus, discloses Jesus, and glorifies Jesus because he's the Spirit of truth. So the Spirit leads to truth, discloses the truth, glorifies the truth.

[8:34] So you have to have the truth. If you want to have Jesus, you can't put the truth away and then say, let's have the Spirit. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't go together.

[8:47] If you want the Spirit, you have the truth. If you want the truth, you have the Spirit because he's the Spirit of truth. He leads us to Jesus. He discloses Jesus. He glorifies Jesus because he is the truth.

[9:00] So he'll lead us to the truth. He'll disclose the truth. He will glorify the truth. And this brought comfort to the 11 disciples and, you know, it brings comfort to us because to the Spirit, these apostles have given us everything we need to know about Jesus in the complete, sufficient revelation of the New Testament.

[9:27] We'll see that a little bit more in a few moments. So let's jump into this text now, shall we? In John 16. It, the work of the Holy Spirit, is way better for us.

[9:43] It's way better for us. This work of the Spirit, this ministry of the Holy Spirit is way better for us. Look at verse four. The second part of verse four. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you.

[9:57] The disciples were living with Jesus, walking with Jesus, sleeping there next to Jesus, so we did not need to give them these specific instructions. And now they needed the instructions to continue to live in Him by living in the Spirit, which is living in the New Covenant era.

[10:19] The Spirit is the fulfilled promise of the New Covenant. It's living in the Messianic age. Jesus has come. He's inaugurated the Messianic age. And the Messianic age is a part of living in the Spirit.

[10:33] So Jesus says, I didn't need to give you these things because I was with you, but notice verse five. But now I'm going to Him, the one who sent me. And none of you ask me, where are you going? So He's going back to the Father.

[10:46] His mission included not only the hour of the cross, but His resurrection and His return to the Father. So I'm going back to the one who sent me. And none of you ask me, where are you going?

[10:58] Wait a second. What about Peter? Didn't Peter ask that? What about Thomas? Didn't Thomas ask that in chapter 13?

[11:10] Well, yeah. But Jesus means something here than what they asked in chapter 13. They asked in reference to themselves. Not in reference to Jesus' deeper work commission.

[11:26] They were only occupied with their own affairs and priorities. They weren't occupied with Jesus' affairs. They weren't occupied with the Father's affairs. Look at what Jesus says in verse six. But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

[11:40] Grief had taken possession of their hearts. Why? Because they were only concerned with themselves. They weren't concerned with God's mission for Jesus. They had become too absorbed in their own loss so that they lost sight of Jesus' identity and of His mission.

[12:05] His mission was, He was supposed to go to the cross. They needed to make God and His mission and purposes central, not their feelings.

[12:20] Loving God shows itself in faith, love, peace, and joy in God and His purposes. Love for self displays signs of unbelief, doubt, fear, and sorrow.

[12:33] They had forgotten. They did not understand. So put yourself in their shoes. Put yourself in their shoes. They desire to continue ongoing bodily companionship with Jesus.

[12:47] Now in and of itself that's not bad, but what happened was that desire had become a sinful desire showing their ignorance and their unbelief in Jesus' identity and Jesus' mission of going to the cross.

[13:05] And here's where Jesus says this. Look at verse 7. But I tell you the truth. There's this, remember the 14th statement? Jesus is saying it here. I'm telling you the truth. It is much better that I go away.

[13:19] Do you realize what Jesus just said here? It's better that I go than if I stay. What? Another way to translate this is you will profit or it's your advantage.

[13:35] It's much better. This will give them such great hope and alleviate their grief and sorrow. Why? Because the one sent by Jesus to paraclete, he won't come if Jesus stayed.

[13:51] If Jesus went back to the Father, the paraclete would come. Look at what he says. If I do not go away, that paraclete will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

[14:07] It's much better. And remember, I said this last week or, yeah, I think last week and then also a few weeks ago about the paraclete. You know, numeric standard translated as a helper.

[14:19] Some translations have a comforter and I don't want to say that because then you're just putting him as just in a defined category. He's only a helper. He's only a comforter. Well, you're going to find out he's a convictor and a comforter this morning.

[14:33] The Spirit is a convictor and the Spirit is a comforter. He's both. So that's why, let's not say helper. Let's not say comforter. Let's say, and he's also the empowerer.

[14:44] Is that a word? I just made up a word. I make up words all the time. He's an empowerer. He's a helper. He's a comforter. And he's also a convictor. He's all those. So let's, that's why we're just going to say paraclete.

[14:55] That's the Greek term. If Jesus went back to the Father, the paraclete would come. That's much better. Why? Because our lives as Christians, as Jesus followers, is by the Spirit.

[15:10] And it involves, as one writer says, this, quote, mutual indwelling and interpenetration of both the Son and the Father. He taught about that in chapter 14.

[15:24] Eternal life is now a reality with the Spirit living in us. It's better to be alive in this time than when Jesus was here.

[15:36] That's what he's saying. It is better for you, Christian, that you're living now than when Jesus was here on the earth. And you know, I struggle with that. Don't you? Don't you want to go back in a time machine and be there when Jesus was here?

[15:50] Wouldn't you want to do that? Didn't you have thoughts about that? I didn't. Make a time machine. Don't make a time machine and you all go back and all these dumb things. I want to go back and meet Jesus. Wouldn't that be cool?

[16:01] That would be awesome. Jesus is saying it's better though that I go. This is amazing. This is what Jesus was saying.

[16:13] Jesus leaving would bring the fulfilling promise of the Spirit who would guarantee His eternal presence. This is the promise from the Old Testament.

[16:26] The promise from the Old Covenant. The promise in the New Covenant and the New Covenant era and the Messianic age the Spirit would come and He would indwell us. He'd be with us and indwell us who would guarantee the eternal presence of God.

[16:39] So it's necessary for Jesus to return to the Father else the New Covenant would not be inaugurated. It's much better for us.

[16:54] Christian, it's much better for you. Now Jesus gives two reasons why it's better for you. Here's two reasons. Two reasons why it's much better for you.

[17:06] Why is it way better for us for the Spirit to come? First reason, reason number one, because of the Spirit's work of conviction. Remember what Jesus said in chapter 15.

[17:21] People are gonna hate you. Why? Because they hated Jesus. So what hope do you have that people are gonna respond to Christ? None.

[17:32] They hate Jesus? They're gonna hate you. What did they do to Jesus? They killed Him. Oh, that's good news for you when it comes to giving someone the gospel, right? How do you find comforting in evangelism and giving people the gospel?

[17:48] How are you able to continue this work of giving people the truth? the Spirit's work of conviction. Look at verse 8. In coming, this one will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.

[18:07] The Spirit is a two-fold ministry that Jesus is gonna bring up here. The first is negative. The second is positive. The first negative is towards the world. The second positive one is towards the body of Christ.

[18:21] Here's the negative one. It's to convict the world. And what does convict mean? Convict means a sense of guilt and shame to show someone their sin and summon that one to repent.

[18:42] To confront the world with its failure and prove it's guilty. Calling them to respond in repentance. That's gonna be one of the works of the Spirit.

[18:55] That's where He's called the convictor. And He's the helper. Not just the comforter. Not just the empowerer. He's the convictor.

[19:07] He will bring a sense of guilt and shame. He will show persons their sin and summon that one to repent. Or another way to put it.

[19:20] The paraclete's mission is to convict the world of his guilt before God. That's part of his, this negative mission of the Spirit.

[19:34] This is why it's an advantage for you that Jesus goes and the Spirit comes because of His work of conviction where He will convict the world of His guilt before God.

[19:47] Now, this is what's called, we call it the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in the world today. Now, I want you to understand something.

[20:02] Hear me. Just because the Spirit does His work of conviction does not mean He did or will do His work of regeneration.

[20:13] just because the Spirit does His work of conviction does not mean nor doesn't necessarily guarantee He'll do His work of regeneration.

[20:28] But, in order for regeneration to take place, conviction must happen. you have the work of conviction but it doesn't necessarily guarantee regeneration.

[20:41] Remember John chapter 3, you must be born from the Spirit, born from above, rebirth. And remember, regeneration precedes faith, so you must be born of the Spirit which will bring about faith.

[20:53] He does His work of conviction but it doesn't guarantee regeneration, but I'll tell you what, if you want regeneration, there must be the work of conviction. that's the spiritual job, that's His mission.

[21:06] And notice His work of conviction has three areas. Sin, righteousness, judgment. Now, notice it's going to be, it is the world's sin, it's Christ's righteousness and it's God's judgment.

[21:22] That's a short way to put it or an easier way to put it. But let's unpack what He means here. In verse 9, 10, and 11, Jesus says, concerning sin, why?

[21:35] Because they do not believe into Me. What does this mean? The paraclete or the Holy Spirit makes the world quote, aware of His true condition and present need of Christ as how one writer put it.

[21:54] Why does He convict the world of sin? Why sin? Because they do not believe into Jesus which is really the greatest ultimate sin. The greatest ultimate sin is rejecting the Son.

[22:09] So the Spirit shames the world, excuse me, convicting it of its guilt and calling him to repent and He always does it in connection to the gospel, to the identity and mission of Jesus.

[22:22] He convicts them that they are sinners culminating in their rejection of Jesus.

[22:35] To reject Jesus, the Son, is the ultimate sin. We saw that in chapter 15 verse 22. And to reject Jesus is to reject the Father. How can you say you love God and yet reject the Son?

[22:48] You can't do that. So the Spirit calls them to repent of their ultimate sin of rejecting Jesus. That's that work of conviction.

[23:00] He'll convict them concerning sin because they don't believe into me. The greatest ultimate sin is that they reject Jesus. Second, verse 10. And concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me.

[23:15] What does this mean? Why righteousness? Jesus says, I go to the Father. You no longer see me. Well, what does that got to do with anything?

[23:28] Jesus is the standard of what's right. Right? Jesus is the paradigm of true righteousness. But, He's no longer here.

[23:44] It's like, here's an example. It's like you have a tape measure and then you don't have the tape measure anymore. So how do you know, how do you know what's an inch, what's 12 inches, what's 14 inches?

[23:54] How do you know that if you don't have a tape measure anymore? You're going to go to the tape measure and find out how wide this is, how long this is, how long this is, how you're going to go to the tape measure. But if you don't have a tape measure, how do you do that? Jesus is no longer here. So, the Spirit will bring a sense of shame and guilt to the world over how much they fall short of Jesus' righteousness and for them to see that their own righteousness is empty and useless.

[24:26] Or as it says in Isaiah chapter 64, it says filthy rags. It's a menstrual crawl. That's what it is. They will see this.

[24:39] The Spirit will show them this from the truth of the gospel how they fall short of Jesus' righteousness and their own righteousness means nothing.

[24:51] It's futile. It's empty. So, sin, righteousness, look at verse 11, and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged.

[25:07] Judgment. Why judgment? Because Satan has been judged. he stands condemned. It was inevitable for him.

[25:22] The cross of Christ, here's the judgment, the cross of Christ has defeated Satan and sealed his own fate. When he'll be thrown into the lake of fire, where he'll be tortured day and night.

[25:39] It's inevitable. It's sealed by the cross. The cross showed the defeats of the enemy. The cross defeated Satan.

[25:53] It wasn't his victory. It was his defeat. He was overcome. So, notice now the progression here.

[26:06] Oh, I think I have it on the screen. Yes. They rejected Jesus, the ultimate sin. They lack righteousness. Jesus is the standard.

[26:17] So, they deserve judgment. What kind of judgment? The way the devil has been judged. See, the world hopes in their sinful condition.

[26:29] Actually, we should say in their good condition. Good, good condition, right? They hope in their self-righteousness. They hope that their goodness outweighs their badness, doesn't it?

[26:41] Don't they? But the spirit, the gospel, makes known their emptiness. Look, if the cross defeated Satan, how much more has Jesus defeated the world?

[26:55] Jesus says this in John chapter three, the one who does not believe in me has been judged already. So, what's the spirit going to do?

[27:06] He's going to show them their ultimate sin is rejecting Jesus, their righteousness means nothing, and if they do not repent, they will be judged in the same way that Satan has been defeated and judged.

[27:22] That's the work of conviction, my friends. All of this the spirit does, he pushes that upon the sinner, he pushes that upon the world, so then the person, the lost sinner, sees how destitute that they are, and by the work of regeneration, they run into the arms of Jesus.

[27:50] They run to him, they say, Jesus, save me, save me, I've rejected you, my righteousness means nothing, I should be condemned, save me.

[28:03] And that's for you here, if you don't know Jesus, you can come to him, he'll save you, he'll forgive you of all your sins, he'll forgive your sin of unbelief, he will credit you with the righteousness of God, and you will not be judged, you'll be given forgiveness and grace and mercy, come, he'll save you.

[28:29] friends, this gives us such great comfort because we know it's not up to us, the spirit does his work of conviction, the hearts of people, as you give them the gospel, the spirit takes that, he goes pow, boom, and bam, that's what he does, he's a sin and righteousness and judgment, you just give them the gospel, and the spirit does the rest, and the great part too, this gives us such great hope, and then you look at his second work, this gives us such great hope and such great comfort because not just of his work of conviction, but also the second reason why it's way better for you, because of the spirit's work of consolation, his work of comfort for us, toward us, for us, what does he do?

[29:31] Leading us to Jesus, disclosing Jesus, glorifying Jesus, this is in verses 12 through 15, look at verse 12, Jesus said, I have many more things to say to you, he's talking to these 11, but you're unable to bear now, you can't endure, you guys can't handle it, you've reached your limits, you're unable to handle anymore, and that's the reason he needed to go, so not only so that the spirit can do his negative work of conviction, but then he can do his positive work, revealing to these 11 disciples truth, because look at verse 13, but when he comes, the spirit of truth, he will lead you in all the truth, these words are important, spirit of truth, first, we've talked about this before, spirit of truth, who communicates truth, because he is truth, because he is the continuation of Jesus and his ministry, because Jesus is the truth, see the connection, and remember when Jesus says,

[30:46] I am the way, the truth, and the life, truth is that which is real in this world, what is true about God, what's true about the whole universe, Jesus gives the right worldview, and how we should view the world, which is right, which is true, it's the exact way to view the world, is through the lens of Jesus, Jesus gives you his glasses, and then you can see the world the way it's supposed to be seen, and it's the same thing with the spirit, he directs to the truth, or actually you should use the words that Jesus uses, he guides or leads in all the truth, it's articular on a reason, for a purpose, one writer says, leads into all the truth, all that was, concretely and also concisely set forth by the Son of God regarding the nature of God and his mission, Jesus' identity and mission, truth is

[31:51] God's truth, and God's truth is his word, culminating in his ultimate self-disclosure, the ultimate self-expression, Jesus.

[32:06] Jesus is the apex of God's revelation of himself. All that he is and his mission is wrapped up in him. He is truth.

[32:19] And notice, he says about the spirit, he will not speak from himself. He won't set up his own kingdom. He's not doing his own thing.

[32:33] He will extend and continue God's kingdom, which Jesus had inaugurated. Notice how Jesus puts it. But whatever he will hear, he will speak and will disclose to you that which is to come.

[32:46] Notice the verbs. He will hear, he will speak, and he will disclose. See those verbs? He hears, he speaks, he discloses to these eleven disciples.

[33:03] The spirit will extend and complete Jesus' teaching. Just as Jesus only said what the father wanted him to say, in the same way, the spirit speaks only what Jesus wanted him to say.

[33:21] And that means the message of Jesus is accomplished by Jesus by means of the spirit of Jesus who is the spirit of truth who comes from Jesus.

[33:34] And notice he says, very end of there in verse 13, all that which, excuse me, that which is to come. all that the church, all that Christ's body needed to hear the spirit of truth and make known to these eleven.

[33:55] They be the ones who would oversee, the overseers of what would become the New Testament. This is what Jesus is talking about here. He would lead these eleven disciples into Jesus' revelation and all that entails to follow Jesus living in the new covenant, living as part of Christ's body.

[34:17] And Jesus continues, he goes further, verse 14, he will glorify me, who will take from me and will disclose to you. So the spirit's message is completely centered on Christ.

[34:34] As the father was made known by the son, the son will be made known by the spirit who extends Christ's ministry, compliments Christ's ministry, and glorifies Christ in his ministry.

[34:46] Jesus is the focus. How can you have this aspect of the spirit without Jesus? How can you talk about this whole work of the spirit without the gospel of Jesus?

[35:00] It's ridiculous. All the revelation that is bound up in Jesus' identity and mission will be, pressed home on these eleven disciples, which comes from the father.

[35:15] So I take the view, and others as well, here in verse 13, 14, and 15, this is directly related to the apostles speaking about the New Testament.

[35:29] So this is not directed to you specifically. This is not directly applying to us as Christians. Now, true, the spirit of truth leads us in all of God's truth, but he does not work outside of the revealed truth of God's word as given to us by these eleven apostles, and other apostles, for that matter.

[35:53] These verses first and foremost speak directly to what these eleven would experience. so that now, we have the complete revelation from God from his word right here.

[36:09] Completely here from God, which is how God speaks to us today. The spirit of truth, the very word of God, the Bible, it is sufficient.

[36:20] This is how God speaks to you from his word. And this would bring comfort to the eleven and it brings comfort to us.

[36:33] Here's the work of consolation. How? Because through the spirit, these apostles have given us everything we need to know about Jesus in the complete sufficient revelation of the New Testament.

[36:45] You don't need to seek after a dream. You don't need to seek after a vision. It's right here in the word of God, the New Testament, Matthew to Revelation, and then all of Genesis to Revelation.

[36:58] It's right here. It's sufficient for you. You can take comfort in that. These eleven were primarily given the ability by the Holy Spirit to accurately recall Jesus' words and deeds and interpret them rightly.

[37:17] It was the Spirit, his special superintending work for them to remember and record without any error at all. All that Jesus said and did in those original manuscripts of the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Matthew and in 1 John and the Book of Revelation, those original manuscripts, without any error at all, the Spirit would superintend that.

[37:44] Or I'll put it a different way. Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. That's how Peter told it. Look at verse 15.

[37:55] Jesus drives us home. All things that the Father has are mine. It all belongs to Jesus because of the mutual union that the Father has with the Son and the Son has with the Father.

[38:07] He's talked about this throughout the Gospel. There's nothing new. All things that the Father has are mine, therefore, I said, He takes from me, the Spirit takes from me, and will disclose to you.

[38:21] The Spirit would take these things given to Jesus from the Father and disclose it or report it to you, 11. So we have to be careful that we do not think that the Spirit will give us fresh revelations from the risen Christ.

[38:43] That's ridiculous. Why do you need that? Why do you go to that? We have all that we need right here in the Old and New Testament. We just go to the truth because it's the Spirit of truth.

[38:55] It's everything we have right here. This comforts us. The work of the Spirit is way better because of His work of conviction, because of His work of consolation.

[39:09] Oh, I have it on the screen. The work of the Holy Spirit is much better, way better for us as Jesus' disciples. disciples. Why? Because of His work of conviction to the world and His work of consolation to us, both to the world and then to us is to the truth of God's Word.

[39:33] Let's thank the Lord for His Word, His sufficient Word. Let's take a moment and do that. Let's take a moment Lord Jesus, thank You for sending the Spirit who's with us and indwells us and directs us to Your truth because He is truth.

[39:59] He cannot be separated from the truth. It's sufficient. It brings comfort. It brings encouragement.

[40:13] As Paul says, it reproves, it rebukes, it corrects. It trains us. We're adequately equipped for every good work from the Word.

[40:29] So Spirit, we pray You would take Your truth of the Word and press it home to us as we just sang.

[40:40] Speak, O Lord, from Your truth. Plant Your Word down deep in us. Do that Holy Spirit living breath of God and use us as spokesmen of this truth the gospel of grace so You would do Your work of conviction and we're praying You would do Your work of regeneration and those that we know this challenge that we have this year, 2023, to give one to five people the gospel and invite them to a church service.

[41:29] Spirit, we pray You would do Your work of conviction in their hearts as we speak the gospel of the truth, the truth of the gospel of grace and that You also do Your work of regeneration and You'll save them.

[41:44] We lean upon You. Use us now. Father, we exalt Your name. I encourage you to take these few moments while it's less than a minute between you and the Lord, just silence where you can sit and ponder and let your mind dwell in the truth that we've seen from God's word this morning.

[42:14] Let this time be a time for you to fill your mind with truth. Let the Spirit fill you with truth, with the word of God, directing us to Jesus and His identity and mission and glorifying, lifting up Jesus.

[42:33] Take that few moments right now, if you would, please. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.