The Person and work of the Holy Spirit, lesson 6 begin question 6

Well, let's jump in. Lesson 6, question 6. How was the ruler of this world judged? I was just looking at that this morning, and I came up with something different than what, what's his name, Rideout said. I said, he was judged by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Satan judged Christ by having him put to death for all to see on the cross. God judged Satan by raising Jesus from the dead.

Pretty plain and simple, but I think that's correct. What do you guys think? Is it the resurrection or was it the crucifixion? I think it was the resurrection. Okay. That proclaimed victory from Satan's defeat, basically. Okay. But was the crushing of Satan's head, the serpent's head, was that the crucifixion then?

That's a write-out quote. Or his his quote is that the judgment of God fell on Satan at the cross Yeah, right. That's the difference Jim Yeah, he said judgment has already been pronounced and inflicted in the mind of God upon the prince of this world.

Mm-hmm But Satan, you know when when in Genesis 315 It's he said that when Satan Satan will, what's he say, do something to his heel? Strike his heel. Strike his heel. Satan struck Jesus' heel when he crucified him on the cross, but Satan was crushed when Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. That was the final blow. That was it. I agree with Jim, and I think that God judged Satan when he threw him out of heaven, but it was fulfilled with the resurrection. Go ahead.

I was just going to ask, if all judgment by God on sin has to do with death, why would the resurrection be the deciding factor? Why wouldn't death be the deciding factor? Because death means separation without In sequence, obviously there's no resurrection without the death. But there's no death without the incarnation and back you can go. It's like I'm to reckon myself dead unto sin but alive unto God. I'm not to reckon myself resurrected unto sin and resurrected unto God. It's the death that matters. because the death is a separating issue. This is an interesting conversation.

Let me ask a question that may build some perspective around where we want to head with it. What does the person of the Holy Spirit have to do with this judgment that we're talking about? Ask that again. Where does the Holy Spirit fit in this? Because we've been talking about the cross and death being the separating factor. We've talked about resurrection obviously being the accepting factor of what Christ did on behalf of all man's sin, which was the result, and death being the result. So, that being said, where does the Holy Spirit fit in this process? And what's going on? Whether it's the judgment, and there is a another judgment to be had here, right? I mean, it's done, but maybe we could try to just pull it back into, where does the spirit work in this? What's going on there?

How about the verse that says that Christ offered himself through the spirit? So it seems like a godhead doesn't do it. Go ahead. I was going to say, there are scriptures that say that Jesus rose himself from the dead, Holy Spirit rose him from the dead, and the Father rose him from the dead. So I think the Holy Spirit was somehow involved in the resurrection too. I think the Holy Spirit is the power of the Godhead. And because of that, I don't think anything happens without his being involved in it.

Here's a statement. So the last convincing work of the Spirit is to bring home the fact of judgment upon the consciences of men. Excuse me one second. I've got to sneeze. What do you think about that? The last convincing work of the Spirit is to bring home the fact of judgment upon the consciousness of men.

In terms of salvation? In terms of judgment, ultimate judgment. Judgment. Well, I think that's obviously got to happen because you don't need a savior if you don't know your loss, you know, if there isn't a connection of judgment. of separation from God and that you're not going to escape, then that conviction in and of itself I think has to be of the Spirit of God.

But it says in John that he convicts the world of sin for three reasons, you know. Judgment. What is that verse, John 15? While you're looking that up, I wanted to read this as well. He brings home the fact that judgment, and we're talking about the Spirit here, Holy Spirit, he brings home the fact that judgment has already been pronounced and inflicted in the mind of God upon the Prince of this world. So we haven't used that term, Prince of this world, because he's still doing it.

Yeah, yeah. He's doing it, and I would say that he's doing it in vain, knowing that he's already been judged. I'm just trying to think about how defeating that is, given the arrogance that's required in order to continue knowing you will be judged. So it's like, live it up till I'm done. And that sounds a little trite, but He's a defeated prince of the world.

Today. Would you guys agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. So John 16, 16, eight. Who's got back there to hear Alan? Oh, hey, I can't see back there. I should probably try to zoom in on that the red room, but it's just a little I'm male, so just looking at different faces I could try. I feel like Mike is ready to go to a Broncos game. That's about all I can say.

So yeah, John 16 8 says that when he comes he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment. I've sinned because they don't believe in me, regarding righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me, and regarding judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. How many judgments do you think there are with regards to Satan, in this case, the prince of the world? So, Jimmy mentioned the casting out of heaven, so that's one judgment for sure. Jim, you mentioned the judgment at the resurrection, and then we talked about the final judgment, right?

And the Spirit's work in that is all about the convicting nature of what is true versus what is believed not to be true in Satan's case, right? Yeah. Is that fair to say? No, I agree with that because I think Satan's greatest tool is deception. And because we're all born with a sin nature, you know, the Lord said that Satan was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He's a deceiver. And to break through that barrier so that like a lost soul can understand that they are lost, It has to be the work of the spirit Yep Get you that So our conversation was that was rich.

So thank you for your different thoughts I think the angles are really important there we get to question number seven and kind of number eight with with some of those responses, but maybe we could stab it at seven real quick and see if there's anything there that we didn't think of. But what does what does this mean for the world is the question. So what does this judgment of the prince of this world mean for the world at large? We've kind of already said it, but maybe we can try to say it a different way.

I think it goes back to, he's a defeated foe. He can only go as far as God allows him. I want to go back actually, I was trying to think when you were talking about when he was judged. Were you saying at the cross or resurrection, that was when he was judged? Well, we have to decide that right outside the cross. But we've talked about the resurrection being the judgment that ultimately accomplished the fullness of what it meant to Satan, right? I guess I'm starting to think about this. Was it when he was thrown out of heaven?

Yeah, totally. Because, you know, I think with Job, God allowed Satan to assist him only as far as, you know, he allowed him. So that was before the cross. Yeah, I would totally agree. So I think there's a couple things here. We were talking about ultimate judgment versus kind of the convicting work of judgment on the heart, or in this case, the spirit of Satan. So when was Satan's head crushed?

That's kind of where this question was trying to get at prior to number six. That's hard. It's hard? Yeah, you know, because, you know, Mike is right in that... Are you listening, Courtney? What? Did you see how the camera munched that girl? You catch that on the camera?

Mike is right in that when Jesus died, Satan was judged at that point, you know, because death separates. But, well, let me read what Rideout said. He says, The cross declares the judgment both of Satan and of the world, not an uncertain thing as we have seen in the future, but an accomplished fact in the head and representative of all, the one whom the world has chosen for itself. Satan was judged at the cross, maybe by the whole process, death and resurrection. Yeah, that's where I was going to go with it. The resurrection is the completion of it. The death was the beginning of the judgment, you know, because death separates. It separates Christ from the law, basically, from the world. And the resurrection completed it.

It was just, it was the final... At least that's what I think. I'm not positive about that. I would happen to agree with that. At the point where Christ was crucified, there had to be a perception of victory on behalf of Satan, right? So, he had accomplished his entire goal by crucifying the Son of God through the work of Judas himself and so forth. But it was the final aspect that we talk about with the resurrection where I think that's the crush.

That's the crushing of the head. It's like, okay, this is not going to happen. I don't have access to him on this earth. any longer after he's ascended. So it's that whole process, but where his judgment actually happens maybe is less important for us to fully understand.

We just know that the role of the Holy Spirit is to continually convict him of everything that causes him to deceive, right? And that's an ongoing process and it's happened from the beginning with him. So what does it mean for the world? It means that, at least for now, the Holy Spirit is still working to convince and convict, and in the process, for those that don't believe, there is a judgment factor that not only applies to Satan, but also to anyone who doesn't believe. You stand in judgment until you don't, right? Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Well, and that the deception is so great that you don't even know you're being deceived. You knew at one point, like we talked about last week, I don't remember. I use the Jack in the box. Uh, there was another good one that came up, but I don't recall. But yeah, you know, you knew at one point, but you've, the deception is so great that you harden your heart.

Yeah. And you find that, uh, Sometimes organized religion keeps you away from the conviction of the spirit because you're given so much to do to justify yourself that you think you're doing okay. That's deception. That's how religion works. I don't know. That's exactly how it works. Man trying to get to God. God coming to man as a savior. Yeah. Well, let's look at question number eight.

This is my final question. How does this conviction of judgment bring the promise of deliverance? How does this conviction of judgment bring the promise of deliverance? For all of the believers who decided to trust in Christ, it means salvation for every person of faith. Yep.

Where does self-righteousness fit in this conviction? It's done away with, basically. It's annulled. So you're saying you haven't felt self-righteous lately? Well, it still rises its ugly head, but you know, my self-righteousness is It's nothing before God. It's not of Jim, it's of his flesh. It's not of Jim. Right. Yeah. There's a reason we say self-righteousness, but it's not who you are anymore, right?

So I kind of threw that in there as a little zinger, just for just for fun. What's that, Mike? I didn't say anything. I'm laughing. So yeah, I think that, you know, the first action, like we said, of the Holy Spirit for us as creatures is to convict of sin. He brings that whole fact home of We are in need for a Savior.

Somebody grab Acts 2.23. Let's read that one real quick. Him being delivered by the determinate counsels and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

Yep, so what is the Holy Spirit doing here? He's bringing home what? Truth. And we talked about last week that the major aspect of and work of the Holy Spirit is to guide men to truth. He also judges and convicts and seals and baptizes. But one of the major aspects is this guidance towards truth.

So here what we're talking about is there's a deliverance that's related to the Holy Spirit making known a person's sin, their transgression, and what has to do with their judgment and rejection to Christ. Does that make sense? You know one thing that Rideout adds here is what I think is really appropriate is that the conviction in this sense moves off of my own sinfulness to the one big issue.

The big issue is they've rejected Christ. And that really what the whole issue of conviction comes down to, the question is, what do you think of this man? What do you think about him? And they, the Jews, obviously, had made their decision about him. They crucified him. It's pretty evident of a decision that they weren't receptive. Yep.

So the lack of believing that he was the savior is the one sin that the Spirit of God convicts people of, I think. It seems like. So, how does this conviction and judgment bring the promise of deliverance? It brings it by the Spirit bringing home to them the fact of their rejection of Christ, basically.

Yep. Yeah, I think it's a two-fold work. If you've been convicted by the Spirit that you've rejected the Messiah and you're aware of the fact that there's only one Savior and I've rejected Him, I start looking around for a resolution. I think the Spirit's involved in the resolution too, obviously. And you can argue that I could say that I never rejected Christ, but you could prove that by telling me that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And it was proven to me in that way.

And in Romans 6.23, the wages of sin are death. So, basically, when I heard those two verses, I had no choice. Well, you know, if you think about that sin is missing the mark, and the mark is the Lord Jesus, at that point, Savior, and I'm hustling along in my life in some denomination doing what I can to be acceptable to God, what I'm doing is rejecting Him as Savior because I'm too busy working to try to save myself.

That's exactly right. That's it. Let's read Acts 2, 24. and then 33. So let's grab those two verses. We'll talk about some of how this plays in. Acts 2, 24 and then 33. So 24 is God raised him up. God raised him up. Go. Okay. God raised him up, ending the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And then in 33, Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear." Wow. Yeah. The promise of the Holy Spirit. What's going on here?

Doesn't this have to do with the fact that what the apostles were doing? baptizing or leading men to Christ and that they were exhibiting gifts that the Spirit of God put on them or enabled them at Pentecost. He's telling the Jews, this is the Spirit of God's work here and it's all because of the work of Christ, the Messiah, your Messiah. is death, burial, and resurrection. No, totally.

I think one of the things it's pointing out is, and we've talked about this slightly before, but we don't get righteousness outside of God's approval of his son's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is righteous. And that process that we just talked about and looked at This clearly manifests that He is righteous, and it's vindicated by His Son raising and being exalted to the right hand of power. And that's where the Holy Spirit is also working, not only to convict of sin, but also to convict of the righteousness that was displayed in that process of the Son. Does that come through okay? Yeah, that's right.

You know, I think the reason that people are always trying to be good enough to get to heaven is they don't understand positional truth. And they don't understand that they've been placed into Christ. And that can never be changed. And their salvation is secure regardless of any good work we can do. It's all about Jesus and nothing about our good works as far as salvation. You're exactly right.

Any other thoughts? It's interesting that I keep thinking about the deception of the world. And Russ, by the phrase, get to heaven, is part of the deception. Is that where I'm going, a place called heaven? As a son of God? I think I'm going to go to glory, which is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is, it's in the heavenlies, but I think it's a place, you know, we always think about space, places, you know, heaven's a place that has a gate, that kind of thing, rather than the whole concept of what it means to be in Christ. Is that heaven?

I mean, our words sometimes betray us in terms of, well, where am I going and what is really going to happen here? If you wanted to simplify it down, maybe, and this could be talked through, but you're going to be with the Lord, right? I mean, it's a place of finally glorified. And now it's not just about being in heaven and checking out everything that we don't really know all about, but it's about being face-to-face with the Lord Jesus and that never changing.

Yeah. I think in our finite minds we can't comprehend what heaven really is. Yeah, I would agree with that, sure. I think it's a different dimension altogether. I agree. Yeah. I think there's another thing, JD, too, going back. I think you could turn around and say... Go ahead. Go ahead, Russ. I was going to say, if you said it another way, it's the...

Being in Christ ensures that you won't be in the lake of fire That's great What I think is really cool is we're sitting here talking about being in Christ, and that's what it's all about. We're just in glory right now, just having this conversation. It's really cool. We're really fortunate to be sharing that with each other. Yeah.

I think the other thing to keep in focus, too, is that we talk about Satan here again, but the real conviction in the battle is flesh for wanting to work in these, you know, religions where, you know, it'll keep you going as much as possible in working to make you feel good and not focus on Christ. And again, a lot of it, I think there's millions of people who are saved, but they don't grow because they don't know the identification truths and all that.

It's not the battle against Satan that's against our flesh. The flesh is the real one that we battle against when we don't. It's the spirit that battles against it, convicting it, convincing it. That's the real one that's trying to work and pull us away from Christ. Yeah. That's good. Yep. Thank you, Cordy. I want to read this final statement from right out.

Got a few more minutes and then we'll wrap up. He says, thus we have the threefold conviction of sin. And what was the result now? And I'm quoting now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Blessed work. Is there not joy in the presence of the angels of God over one center that repents? And here were 3,000 souls crying under conviction.

This is right out again. Conviction, the mighty work of the Spirit of God, blessed and easy work now for Peter, so set Christ before them, and to assure them of free forgiveness in his name and in the gift of the Spirit, they believed his word and confessed Christ. Cool. Yeah. What's great about that quote is that The work of the Holy Spirit did a really interesting thing.

It took them in their heart. In other words, there was a real effect on their whole being themselves, the mindset, value system, everything that they were, stopped them dead in their tracks and they had to rethink everything right then. and didn't know where to go and said to the disciples, well, what do we do now? You know? The same thing happened to the Philippian jailer. He came running out. What do I do? The conviction leads to the question, what do I do now? Right. Well, what do we do now? exercise faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.

Hey, who's that? Carol, are you up there somewhere? Yeah, I'm here. How are you doing? How's Ralph? Um, kind of subpar. Okay. I'm starting chemotherapy tomorrow and Tuesday. Hey, Ralph. Yeah. This is Mike. What's your cell phone number? 303-250-5471. Thank you.

How much chemo do you have to do? Three treatments, 21 days apart. Okay. The first one is split into two courses. Monday and Tuesday. So that, because of my age, they're giving me half doses Monday and Tuesday. But at the end of the third one, they'll do another PET scan. Okay. And if it looks good, they'll give me a fourth one just for good measure, and then I'll be... Gee whiz! So my dad used to spank me, he said, and just one for good measure. Okay.

Well, let's wrap it up. Who's up next? Is it Courtney? Are you next? I'm up next. Oh, Mike's up next. Okay, cool. So we'll have to struggle through that next week. Thank you, Dad. What are you all laughing at? It's either because you're funny or I'm funny.

Alright, well let's pray. Father, how we thank you for this morning's discussion and just how your spirit works in our lives and how it affects the entire world. including the prince of this world. We're just so thankful that it's not our own works that matter whatsoever. There's no self-righteousness in what we get to behold here and see in the works and lives of those of us that are believers and in Christ. It's you. It's your life. that gets displayed. And so, Lord, we thank you for that truth.

We just pray for Ralph and his upcoming chemo treatments. It's going to be a really tough road. And so we just pray for as much comfort as possible needed to work through those and just endure them. And for Carol and family, just support and love and Or we just do lift up that whole situation and pray for positive outcomes with regards to the chemo treatments. Now we just thank you for yourself and for this next hour, Lord. We look towards just continuing to learn from your Word. And we thank you for your love and grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.