Person & Work of the Holy Spirit
Courtney Hemenway · Mar 10, 2013
Holy Spirit (2013), No. 09
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926345208023

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are at lesson four of the personal work of the Holy Spirit. We were just finishing up, I believe, question eleven against So what is the entire work of the Spirit regards to the world? We use John 16.8 as kind of the kick-off for that.

Again, the entire work is in John 16.8. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. And so, we ended on whose work is it to convict the world of sin? Ours or the Holy Spirit? Guess what?

It's yours, right? It's all yours. The burden's all upon you. Now, it is the Holy Spirit. We ended last week. The rest and the burden is taken off you. And the guilt, you know, I talked about that a little bit too, about the guilt. I think about that too. That was much more of the... That's the old man is where the guilt comes from. is, you know, you need to do, you need to work, you need to do, it's all, oh, you blew the words, oh, it's all your fault. That's the old man, the sin nature. It's the Holy Spirit's work.

And, you know, I keep thinking, and I said it last week, you know, were you convicted at the first time somebody told you about the Lord Jesus? You immediately just snapped it up and said, yep. No. So, we always think, I'm there, I have to convict, convince and get that person to know the Lord today. It's my responsibility and I have to do it today. Why do you put that burden on that person when you took how many times and people talking to you before you actually came to know the Lord?

So, rest in the fact that it's the Holy Spirit's work and it's not a burden upon you. which got to be the part about the apathy. And Gary had a good point afterwards. We talked about that, about the apathy. Does that mean I just sit back and let God? I contemplate in my room and I don't do anything. Gary had a good point last week.

What was Paul's response after his conversion? Did Paul just sit back in a room and think about things? The Holy Spirit was working for him just as much as us, right? So did he sit back and just let the Holy Spirit do it? He sat back? In Jerusalem for a while or wherever he went, he sat back? In his missionary journeys, he would just sit in a room because the Holy Spirit was doing it?

No. So it is not the apathy aspect of this. Because the Holy Spirit is doing it, you just sit in a room and contemplate or you don't do anything. As I said last week, you're like a tube, a vessel, to be used out of the Holy Spirit, just as a vessel, a tube that is a conduit for the Holy Spirit to work.

That's all your job is. That's all you do. And there's no effort, there's no work. So I want to touch on a couple of those things we ended up on last week. I like what Jerry said. If you think about the apathy part of it, you just sit back and do nothing. Just think about Paul and what he went through and what he did. And he rested. In all the trials and all the tribulations, do you think Paul was just sitting there, oh woe is me, you know, oh it's just terrible, I feel so bad. No, he pressed on, and it was the Holy Spirit working through him. And he operated from a position of rest, and that's the key for all of us.

And again, that's where I think we get through these trials too. My favorite one is, consider it all joy, my brethren, on the account of various trials. Consider it all joy? Boy, how do you do that? Well, you're resting and it's the Holy Spirit's work. And all that's going on in your life is the Lord working through you in different circumstances. So, it all fits together. It's pretty cool when you think about all this. It takes a lot of the burden off of us. Going on to question 12.

What is it to be convicted of righteousness? But I tell you, John 16, 7-9, but I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, Christ speaking. For if I do not go away, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, we'll convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me.

So, let's start off. I always like to do this because convicted of righteousness. What is righteousness? We always use these terms and I was wondering if we even know what they mean. Isn't that right standing with God? Is it to be convicted of Christ's righteousness in our need of it? Okay, yeah, that's the conviction. But what is righteousness? The definition of righteousness? Right standing?

I think all those words, this is what I've been thinking this week. Good, we like that. All those words are, you know, you're reading along and it says something about the righteousness and then what are those, now conviction, I understand that, but those words just don't sink in. Right, and that's why I want to go over a lot of these. That's like we have a lot of the 25 cent words that we use a lot. But until you really understand and know what those are, I can read right by it.

When I was preparing this, I was convicted of righteousness. What does that really mean? Convicted, number one, we went over that. But what is righteousness? Convicted of righteousness. So right standing, we're convicted of right standing. Any other definition or thoughts on righteousness? Convicted of righteousness? from the concordance, godly and virtuous. Okay. Any others? We use this word a lot. How can you be convicted of righteousness? Oh, good. We're going to get to that. That's why we're here. That's why we're here. Any other definitions? Well, in fact, that the Holy Spirit invites each believer. What's that? It's brought about by the fact that the Holy Spirit abides in each believer.

And if we were righteous, he wouldn't be here. I have to think about that one. As a sign of who we are. Yeah, you know, I guess whether you're here or not, he's always been here. He's always been part of the triune. Godhead. So he's always been whether he'd be here. I mean, if we didn't fall, yeah, probably wouldn't need to have the Holy Spirit here. But he has a permanent residence in this forever. Yes.

And if we were righteous, I'm going to get to the part of Christ is what made us righteous in his eyes. And so you're using the word to see the righteous What is righteousness? We are convicted of righteousness. It's to be without sin, shall we say. Not without sin. A definition of righteousness. The Holy Spirit within us is the seal that we belong to Him. The fact that the Holy Spirit is within us means that God the Father is perfectly happy with us. He's accepted us because of what? Righteousness. Why? And whose righteousness do we have? Christ's. Because of what? We have been placed into Him.

Well, my phone, the dictionary on my phone says... Well, now we've reached the ultimate authority. I doubt it. Well, wait, you don't have the iPhone, so you're not quite up to the... It's just an Android, but we'll get by with this. It says, the state of being just or rightful. That's right. Is that a word? All right. Any other thoughts? It's to have done something with precision and correctly without sin or error entering into the equation. If sin is to miss the mark. Yes. Yeah. I mean, taking what sin is missing the mark and applying what righteousness is, is that as it is to him? Yeah, precisely.

OK, I got it from this micro. You can read about my favorite source, the Zodiacs, the Greek on that. You know, it's one level above Webster's dictionary. So we go to Zodiac. Righteousness is the conformity to the claims of a higher authority and stands in opposition to lawlessness. It says righteousness is the conformity to the claims of a higher authority and stands in opposition to lawlessness. Whose higher authority has to be tied in? Whose law and whose higher authority? It's God's criteria or law. It says in both the Old Testament and New Testament, righteousness is the state commanded by God in standing the test of his judgment.

2 Corinthians 3.9, 6.14, Ephesians 4.24. It is conformity to all that he commands or appoints. Since God himself is the standard of the believers, the righteousness of God means a righteousness which belongs to God or to oneself from God or God, like righteousness, Matthew 6, 33, James 1, 20. Thus, righteousness in general is God's uprightness or standard without reference to any particular form of its embodiment to which man is expected to conform. How do you like that for a million dollar one? That's more than a 25 cent one. Basically, I think almost going back to Hollies. Well, I got it from in here, so I'm not claiming ownership of that one. Do you have a better definition?

I'm thinking about Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith. Abraham had absolutely no standing before God at all. He didn't measure up to what God required. God has in his essence, you have to be like his essence to be righteous. But God said, if you just believe me, I will declare you to have this standing before me that I'm giving to you and I'm declaring and it has nothing to do with what you have in and of yourself. He was declared righteous. Because of what? Because of his faith. And that was basically God imputing that on him. And only for what? Faith.

So what does convicted of righteousness mean? Now I'm putting both those two big words together. So what was the definition of convicted? Well we said convinced last week and so then that would be we were convinced of righteousness. Yeah, there were almost two different definitions under convicting. It was a convincing and almost a legal charge. So there was almost a convincing and a convicting. It was kind of two different aspects of it. And I want to get into that because I think that there are two different aspects of this.

So convicted of righteousness, what does that mean? So I guess it's that you're gradually convinced that you have been declared to have right standing with God without any of your own works based totally on what Christ did on the cross. Wow. That's true.

I'm trying to unwind. The first thing I thought of is gradually. Why does it have to be gradually? Because I think it's a learning process. I think if we would automatically know that, we wouldn't be in the class. So as you get this, you immediately get, you graduate from the class and go up to whatever the other classes are.

So, convicted of righteousness. The Holy Spirit, the Helper, will come and convict of righteousness. So what does that mean? When the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, that's a sign of your righteousness. God has pronounced you righteous. Yeah, but what is convicting? You are in Him. Convicting. Convicting of righteousness. You're saying what happens afterwards. It's the convicting part.

I think there's a misunderstanding here in that what the premise is, is that God goes around convicting everybody that they are righteous as believers. It's not what this flavor is here. The flavor is he's convicting the world that they're not righteous because of something.

That's what I'm trying to get at. They're convicted of righteousness in the fact that Jesus is now with the Father. That's what the book says. That's the point. There are two points, and I want to get to two different points. Carol, did you have something? Yeah, in the fourth paragraph on page 21, about the fifth line of it, it says, The righteousness which the world will not have, God has received into heaven and enthroned it there.

What an awful conviction. He's talking about bringing Christ to be on his right hand in glory. That's conviction on all the people who rejected him. He is our righteousness forever. I think before you get there though, I think the fact that Christ is in fact as a man, is that one man that's righteous before God means that if you don't measure up to who Christ is, you don't have righteousness. So the conviction is the issue of here's my son, he's righteous before me, how do you measure up to him?

You don't. That's the point. That's why the world gets convicted of righteousness that they don't have because there is one who does have it. And this is long before you're a believer. This is a conviction in convincing the world that they don't have it. And the reason they don't is because there is one who does. And how do you measure up to him? I boiled it down into a simple sentence. I just wanted to see if mine was.

Convicted that we do not, in Adam, meet God's standard in Christ. Perfect. Perfect. All that is convicted that we do not, in Adam, meet God's standard, which is Christ. That's what the convicting and convicting of righteousness is. That we don't meet that standard, which is Christ. But then it's the opposite. But then it's convicted of righteousness is that we then do meet that standard when we believe in who Christ is.

Oh, yes. I'm going to get to that because that was my second point, which I don't think right out covered. And I think that covers in all of these aspects. But that's excellent. That's exactly what I want to get to. Not yet, he doesn't. Well, yeah. But in this one, it should be on both sides of it. So, as he said, in Romans 3, 9 through 18, it pretty much sums it up. Where, what then?

Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written. There is none righteous, not even one. So, that's the convicting, right there. That there is not one who is righteous. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one.

Their throat is an open grave. With their tongue they keep deceiving. The poison of Asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Pretty much convicting you don't meet the standard. And there is none, not one. So the Holy Spirit is convicting and convincing us that we don't meet God's standard in Adam. And I think it's gradual because we get to see it every day over and over how we don't meet the righteousness on our own. I think the time frame is individual. Some people come to know right away. But don't you keep learning it over and over? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I think, you know, it's still...

Okay, this is where I said there is another and blessed side to this. There is another unblessed side to this at which we can but glance. If after his work of sin-burying was complete, God has raised his Son and glorified him, is it not a proof that God has in righteousness accepted that work, and that now he righteously can forgive the sinner who believes in Jesus? So he is just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Thus God's righteousness is manifested in the resurrection and the seating of Christ in glory." Again, whoever brought up that now Christ is seated at the right hand. And that righteousness is for, not against, every soul that believeth in Jesus.

But this emphasizes afresh the guilt of a world which rejects him. It cast him out when he came, and now, having no righteousness of its own, it still refuses him, who, if it would receive him, would be made righteous for it." So, again, that's kind of the summary of the convicting of the world that you don't meet God's standard in Adam. You can't. There's no one. But I want to touch on the other thought about this, and Holly touched on it.

So what does conviction of righteousness mean on the believer's side of the cross? Do you think it's only for the conviction of the world? What does it mean to us on this side of the cross? Does it convict us of righteousness? Does the Holy Spirit convict us of righteousness?

It's a matter of believing. If you believe, The Lord, you are counted as righteous. Let me put it this way. Because you are in Him. He is your life. Does the Holy Spirit still convict us or convince us of righteousness now? No. Yes. No? He is trying to convince you that you are. We have a no? We have a yes. We have a yes. I lost your question. Does the Holy Spirit still convict or convince of righteousness to believers? He's a seal. It's permanently in us forever. Does he convince us of righteousness now, believers?

We have a no from Mike. We have several nodding yeses. The Holy Spirit is the seal. Because with our new nature, we do meet the righteousness. We do meet God's standards because we're in Christ. But we still have a sin nature, so he convicts. There is definitely that. So, Mike, the no? The believer, the work of the believer, the work of the Holy Spirit now in a believer's life is to teach him who he is in Christ, what he has and his standing. Not ever convicting him of not being righteous. The persuasion is that he is. But that's my point. He is convincing us of our righteousness in Christ.

I keep going through this with inner identification classes. Who are you now? You are in Christ. And those 33 things that Lewis Barry Chafer put that you immediately have as a believer, just take a look at some of them. And then there's the 213 that somebody else summarized of what happens the instant you are placed into Christ. When we teach those 33 things, I'm amazed. If you just take one of those and just really think about what that means.

I mean, that would change your life. Just the intimacy that you have with Christ. That's one of mine. Intimacy with Christ. What about you're fully adopted? You're a vested child heir of God. Just think about that. Think about just the intimacy that we have with Christ now. John 17, all the things we have about that. I think today, the Holy Spirit is still convincing us of who we are in Christ.

He's working on us to tell us, you are in Christ. You are seated positionally, where? At the right hand of God in Christ. Positioned in Him. He's convincing us of who we are in Christ. I think he's convincing us of our righteousness in Christ. I think he still does it on the believer's side.

I think to some degree all these in judgment. I think when we get beat up about sin, he's convincing us that was your sin taken care of? Yes, it was taken care of at the cross. Your sins were taken care of. I think he's working on us on all these three aspects on this side of the cross in a positive light.

Who we are in Christ. Therefore there is no condemnation. I think he works on us in all those aspects on the believer side in the positive. To convince us of who we are in Christ. That you're righteous. Do you understand you are in Christ? Do you understand that? I think that's what he's convincing you of. Who you are in Christ.

Well then I probably misunderstood the question because the question was Is he still convicting believers of not having righteousness because that's what he does with the world? Yeah, I didn't say not. I said, is he still convincing us or convicting us on this side of the cross?

And I think the convincing part is. And that's why I say going back to the two aspects of what convicting is, there is a convincing part and a legal, a convicting, a legal charging. So there's two aspects of that word. And I think on the believer side, it's the convincing side. Who are you in Christ? Do you understand you are placed in Christ now? But not done from any sort of conviction. No, not from conviction. That's the convincing part. I think it's the convincing part. Who you are in Christ. I think he still works on us today.

What is that thirty-three things that you said, if you read the first one, then you're going to... If you read one of them. We'll get back to it in our identification class. We have done in the past, Lewis Barry Chafer put together a list that was basically thirty-three Do you believe these things are true? And there's thirty three things he listed out. Where is it? Here, I'll give it to you. I've been enough to the class. I have a memorized. OK, number twenty six.

I'll just say, you know, some of these are We're children of God. We're free from the law. We're adopted. We're acceptable by God in Jesus Christ. We're justified. We're forgiven all trespasses. We're made close. We're delivered from the power of darkness. Translated into the kingdom. There are all these things that if you just took one of them and started to think about that's true.

I think that's what the Holy Spirit is convincing us. Not convicting us. Convincing us as today. of where positionally we are to work on our condition. And I think he's still doing it. I think in all these, he can work from the positive side of things. Maybe right, I will get to it later. But he didn't cover it now. And so I said, whose righteousness do we have now? We have Christ.

And if you look at 2 Corinthians 5.21, it said, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.

What? So that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I think that's what the Holy Spirit is convincing us now, so that we understand we have the righteousness in Christ. I'm just curious, between convincing and convicting, it seems like if someone's doing something wrong, that the Holy Spirit is there to...

I just want to make sure, if I have it backwards, that He can kind of convict us or alert us, hey, you're not living in Christ. You're in Christ. This isn't you. I think it's the convincing that that's not who we are in Christ. It's 1 John 1.9. It's agreeing with God. I'm not acting as who I am in Christ. If I'm angry and bitter and screaming at somebody and not acting in love, I think the Holy Spirit will convince me that's not who you are in Christ. That's what he's convincing me of. You're not acting as who you are in Christ.

And that's the 1 John 1.9 is agreeing with him. You're right. I'm not acting. If I'm in Christ, I shouldn't be. You know, angry and screaming at somebody or whatever. But we still have right standing. Oh, yeah. We still have a righteousness. When is the point position and condition position? Can our position ever change? Never. No. So all these things we're talking about are conditional.

I think what the Spirit does to the believer, he'll say, it's not this, it's this. It's not this, it's this. You're not condemned. This is what reality is. Or just who you are. This is who you are. To me, this is the righteousness. Here's the standards. Here's who Christ is. This is who you are. Are you acting that way? I think that's what it is. It's convincing.

You're not acting. that is, I would say 90% of Christianity is because you need God to convict you of things you're doing wrong. Can it be 100%? I'll argue the statistics. And that's why I say when I look at the John 16 verses where it's convicting of sin, righteousness, and their judgment. Convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

I think all three of those things are still, when the old man is beating you up for something that you did and the guilt and the, oh, I need to do 59 push-ups or do 59 confessions and this, I think the Holy Spirit is convincing you that those have been paid for. The guilt is the old man going, You need to do something, buddy. You need to step up to the plate. You need to read your Bible 59 times a day. And I think he's still convincing us of sin is paid for, judgment, all those things on that side of the cross. What are you worried about? I think he's still working on those areas on this side of the cross, convincing us.

I think I should have taken What's the question? What's the question? No, no question. Just what you... I'll get upset. Just what you deal with every day. It sort of goes... I'm okay, I'm not okay. You know, that's where, what really got me, I've told people that too. My life, if you graphed it, Like I said, I'm all state and soccer lacrosse. But then my parents get divorced. My life was... Elitch's doesn't have a ride that's as good as my life.

Tower of Doom. This has really helped. The identification and being placed into Christ. And understanding of all the things that we know about. You read that we can't be separated from his love. There's no way. He says that in Romans. We can't be separated from his love. We are placed into his son.

Once you understand that, I think that's how, as I've said, one of my great things I memorized a long time ago, but now understand because of the identification truths, and where I am, where I'm placed, who I am, is the James where it's considered all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials. Well, are you considering it all joy when you have trials? Not exactly. So how do you get there? How do you get to what the scripture says is considered all joy?

The Holy Spirit is in charge of my life. That's the most difficult thing. If you were raised in Southern Baptists and then you joined the Roman Catholic Church, it's kind of hard to erase it. See, this is where erasing it and the freedom, the freedom that we have in Christ, that's the beauty of it. And that's where, you know, coming here and finding, you know, and figuring out the identification. It was so freeing to me from a salvation standpoint. I never had to worry about my salvation again because I placed into Christ.

How can I ever get out of that? I've said this many times. John 10, 28 was my verse. It's in God's hand and who can get out of God's hand? Well, I think, you know, scrambling all over. I was still independent of God. Once I found out that I have been crucified, my old man separated positionally, judicially, and I'm placed into Christ, that made a whole different, I never have to worry about my salvation again. Because I can't, how can I get out of Christ's life? How can I ever get out of that? The other is, if I'm in Christ, and would God do anything other than something in love?

So when the trials come, he's doing it still in love. So when I go through a trial, I understand that he still loves me in Christ every bit as much as the day before when he blessed me. There is no change in him. There's no shifting shadow that, you know, later in James it says about that. He still loves me. So when I go through a trial, I am fully cognizant of the fact that he still loves me.

And that I can go through it because he's what, perfecting me? He's conforming me to his image? He's doing that all to draw me to him. The John 17. He wants to share his glory. He wants us to be intimate with him. And if it takes a little thumping, I thank him for it. Because it's chiseling off something that needed to be chiseled off. But it's a long process to get there. It is. It's a long process. And let me tell you, for a while I was like, I would consider myself an atheist. So this past three, four years has been like crazy, tower of doom, rollercoaster, let me tell you. But see, I think the sooner you understand these things... Well yeah, no kidding.

But it's on God's terms in common. And you can fight it as long as you want. But he's still going to conform it, he's still convincing you and conforming it to Christ's image. And the more, you know, I always say the sooner you understand these things, the roller coaster gets a lot flatter. A lot flatter. It's not the Elitch's ride anymore. But it's years. It can, but see, I would challenge you, if you keep saying that, the more you say, okay, and release, and let the Holy Spirit conform you, and understand where the old man is.

The sooner you start seeing it, and you'll see that as you grow. That's what I'm saying, that's what it is. And it is, it's a growing process. And as I say many times, it's a fast food nation. We want it now. God doesn't always work that way. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.

I think it's important to have an understanding that our relationship with God, He's our passionate suitor who's desiring that intimacy with us. And that intimacy aspect changes the way you look at trials. And I think, because He uses the trials to prove His faithfulness and His reliability and not just to cause us to feel like we're going to stumble or something. I think a lot of the trials are meant to test us to see who we're depending on. The old man or Christ? And that's where a lot of these winnowing processes are. Are you depending upon yourself? Or are you depending on the Holy Spirit and your life in Christ? And that was something I think I read in Green Letters.

It's not like God testing us to see what we're going to do, because he already knows. He's testing us so we can see where we're at. It's that conforming. We're conforming. I was just going to comment that we're a fast food generation, but positional truth is as fast as it gets. Positionally, I understand that's instantaneous. These 33 things, done.

And the second thing I was going to say is that it helps the process in terms of speed to stay focused and centered in the Word of God because it's all there. Anecdotally, it's fine to say, well, my experience was this or that or the other thing. But God is very careful in his word to lay out for every single believer the position that he has and the condition and principles he's going to use to conform you to Christ. He's going to tell you everything that not only is true of you, but what is going to happen to you to conform you. And that's important for us as believers. And I think the Spirit of God is focused there and not so much on experience.

Yeah, but I mean the experience is conforming. He's taking you through things. And that's to conform you to the image. I think you're right. And the point is, and you've said this, I've said this a bunch of times, when you read the scripture, you're reading it about to know Him. To focus on Christ. And why do you do that? You do it because it's the spirit of God's purpose to center you in Christ.

The winnowing side is getting rid of reliance and dependence on the old man, but the focus is on him. As you know him, the counterfeit, the old man, is exposed. Because you know who you are in Christ. That's who you are. Quit fighting it. The sooner you stop fighting it, the more rest you have.

Plus it's like, I mean this is a less intellectual answer, but you know, it's like God wrote a love letter and if you're in love with God, if you're in love with somebody, you sit and re-read their letters over and over like wow. That's exactly, if you're writing letters to your spouse, I mean those are intimate letters to you and you read them and you get to know who they are. You keep on and you wow and you look at them and oh they said that. And that's why, like I said, I love John 17.

It's a great passage. If you really look at that, he's speaking to us in a way that will blow your doors off. He wants to share his glory with us. He wants a union with us. He wants all this stuff. So if you understand that, and this is my point, when you understand that, when a trial comes, Did he abandon everything that he said in 17? No, he didn't. So when you go through the trial, it's understanding he still loves you, he still wants that union, and he's drawing you to him for that union. And trying to win away some of the old man.

And your dependency is now onto him. So I think that's what the Holy Spirit is doing in us now, is convincing us of who we are in Christ. That's the key. And as you read the scripture, you read it for him. Because we say it's a life. It's a life. So going through this, where the experience is, I think he takes us through things.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. Why? Knowing that the testing of your faith will what? Produce endurance. Endurance that you may be perfect and complete. He takes us through these things. What? So we'll be perfect and complete. What does that mean? We're in Christ. Who you are in Christ. So, anyway, we have digressed. Well, I don't think so. Well, off the questions, I should say. If we get one more in, then we'll probably get that. Thirteen. How is the ruler of the world judged? This is the bottom of page 21, top of 22. How is the rule of this world judged?

John's head was crushed. Again, looking at John 16, but I tell you the truth, it's your advantage to go right back. In verse 8, he and he, the Holy Spirit, when he comes will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they don't believe. So, quickly, who is the ruler of the world? Satan.

So, let's quickly just, we can get through this last one. What does this mean for the world then? If the ruler of the world has been judged, what does that mean for the world? It means they're screwed. No matter what they do. Right, I bring that. If the prince has fallen under judgment, how can his subjects hope to escape? I thought that was a pretty good thing. So judgment is upon Satan and the world. So basically, who are the Prince of the World's subjects? All those outside of Christ. So, does that include us? No. John 15, 19-20, Christ speaking.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you. John 17, Christ praying to the Father states, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." So, again, the ruler of the world has been judged and is subject, but are we part of those?

No. And if you look at Philippians 3.20, where is our citizenship? In heaven. I think the last one houses conviction judgment. We can either touch on that a little bit or Rand will be taking over Lesson 5 next week. Any other final questions? Otherwise we will close. Cool.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Thank you again just for opening up your word and just looking at what the Holy Spirit's work is today, both on the world and in the believer's life. And we just thank you again for just your great love for us and just the intimacy that we have with you. We thank you of your righteousness that we have in Christ and what that means to us. And Father, we just thank you that we can rest in the Holy Spirit and it's his work to convince and convict of the sin and righteousness and judgment. But that doesn't mean we just sit around, Lord. We can be used as a vessel in your hands as we rest in these facts. Father, we just thank you again for this time and we just pray again for Vern upstairs just to bring us the message and prepare our hearts to receive it. Thank you for this time in Jesus' name. Amen.