MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 17, 2024
The Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 19
SIN REPROVER; WITNESSES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
Read John 16:8-11 first. Now this from the inspired writer (all emphasis and bracketed words supplied):
“The OFFICE of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words of Christ: ‘When He is come He will REPROVE [convict] the world of SIN, and of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and of JUDGMENT.’ (John 16:8). It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin. If the sinner RESPONDS to the QUICKENING INFLUENCE of the Holy Spirit, he will be brought to REPENTANCE, and aroused [awakened] to the importance of OBEYING the divine requirements.”
NOTE: God’s requirements of divine love, wisdom, mercy, and justice are also the terms of His everlasting covenant- relationship with all His intelligent creatures—specifically man, created alone “in His own image and likeness.”
These are definitively defined in the Ten Commandments which He wrote twice with His own finger on two different occasions on two tables of stone and handed over to Moses to give to ancient Israel under the Old Covenant dispensation.
And in the New Covenant, New Testament dispensation of the church, it is “written in the hearts and minds of the individual members of each of the seven church periods as named in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
“To the repentant [contrite, not proud, spiritually self-confident Laodicean believers], hungering and thirsting for RIGHTEOUSNESS [see Matt. 5: 5, 10] the Holy Spirit REVEALS the Lamb of God that TAKETH AWAY [not overlooks, covers up, excuses, justifies] THE SIN of the world. ‘He [the Holy Spirit] shall RECEIVE of Mine [righteousness] and shall SHOW it unto you,’ Christ said. ‘He shall TEACH you all things, and bring all things to REMEMBRANCE, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ (John 16:14; 14: 26).
“The Holy Spirit is given [by the Father through the Son as His Successor and Vicegerent in earth since after His ascension to these closing hours of earth’s probation] to be a REGENERATING AGENCY [in behalf of the Father in the Son] to make EFFECTUAL the salvation wrought by the DEATH of our Redeemer.
“The Holy Spirit is CONSTANTLY seeking to draw the attention of [fallen, sinful] men to the GREAT OFFERING made on the cross of Calvary, to UNFOLD to the world the LOVE of God, and to open to the CONVICTED SOUL the PRECIOUS THINGS of the Scriptures.” NOTE: God unconditionally loves the SINNER with ‘perfect love’ while He unconditionally hates SIN with ‘perfect hatred.’ In this divine dichotomy are embodied the opposing natures and principles constantly working in the “enmity” of the great controversy between Christ and Satan and the plan of salvation of the gospel to redeem all that was lost to sin and Satan.
“Having [first] brought conviction of sin, and presented before the mind the STANDARD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS [the law that Christ Himself ‘magnified and made honorable’ by His substitutionary death, Isa. 42:21], the Holy Spirit WITHDRAWS THE AFFECTIONS from the things of the earth ], and FILLS the soul with a DESIRE FOR HOLINESS [also ‘the hunger and thirst for righteousness sake.’ See Matt. 5: 6, 10].
“He will GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH’ (John 16:13), the Savior declared. If men are WILLING to be molded, there will be brought about a SANCTIFICATION of the whole being [is God’s will, 1 Thess. 4:3]. The Spirit will take the things of God and STAMP [seal] them on the soul. By His power the WAY OF LIFE [‘the straight and narrow’] will be made SO PLAIN THAT NONE NEED ERR [be misled; deceived].” -E. G. White, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 52, 53, Pacific Press Publishing Asso., 1911. Now, just with these sobering yet inspiring revelations of the Holy Sprit’s divine person, presence, office, authority, power, and closing work on earth before its six-thousand year probation ends, who dares to doubt, belittle, deny, and grieve Him away, finally committing the unpardonable sin—“the most common manifestation of which is persistently refusing to accept heaven’s invitation to repent!”
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.