WEEK SIX
Day Three
DAILY SCRIPTURE
John 16:7
LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS
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Know: Read John 16
Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (Jesus, The Father, Holy Spirit, believe, love)
Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:
Whom does the Spirit convict?
What does the Spirit convict of?
When?
Where does the Spirit go?
Why does the Spirit convict?
How?
Observation: Isaiah 54. Meditate on this, paying particular attention to the words “anger and righteousness.”
What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?
“I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Hopefully, in your reading of Isaiah today, you caught the beautiful promise of verses 9, 10, 14, and 17.
“I swear that I would not be angry with you nor punish you. For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.”
God never wanted the law, which brought punishment and a veil, to come between He and God’s people. Through the Holy Spirit, He would make us one with Him. Jesus, in John 16:8-11, prophecied what the Holy Spirit would do:
“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
We must understand the purpose of law vs. grace at this point; otherwise, religion will tell you that the Spirit was given to keep you in line and find fault in you. The Spirit is not our condemner or punisher. If your lens through which you view God is like Adam’s and the Israelites, you will believe God is angry with you and that the Spirit keeps you in line- you will dodge God rather than run to Him.
Let’s break this down so that what Jesus meant is crystal clear.
The Holy Spirit convicts of three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The word “convict” means “convince.” What is the Holy Spirit “convincing of?”
"of sin… because they do not believe in Me” -” They” are those that don’t believe in Jesus- the world. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. (2 Cor 5:19) When Jesus reconciled the world to himself, every sin, past, present, and future, was counted against Him. “God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17) Jesus died for every sin, yet some will not inherit the Kingdom. Why? Because they did not believe. “having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart..” (Ephesians 4:18). There is only one sin, The Holy Spirit convicts of- it is the sin of unbelief.
“of righteousness… of righteousness because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” Jesus was speaking to His disciples. They were with Him then, but soon He would depart, yet He would not leave them helpless. His Spirit and His righteousness would be theirs even after He left. In speaking to the disciples, Jesus reached into time and spoke this to believers today.
“and of judgment…because the ruler of this world is judged.” The judgment of God is first seen in the Garden when He judged the serpent for his deception and then the man and women for their failure to guard the Garden. With that failure came death. (Romans 5:12) That is when Satan became the ruler of the world. Two angels were placed at the east end of the Garden with flaming swords to protect them from coming back and eating the Tree of Life (which represents eternal life and righteousness). The two Cherubim who guarded the Ark of the Covenant represented those same two angels. Nobody but the High Priest could go past the veil lest they die. The last time we hear mention of a sword in the Old Testament is in Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.” This verse was fulfilled in the Garden when Jesus was arrested. The sword of judgment was sheathed in Jesus, who gave us access to the throne room of mercy. Satan was judged and stripped of the power He had to condemn us. We are judged righteous through Jesus’ death because sin and death lost their power.
When you have sinned, the Holy Spirit convinces you of your righteousness. If you have done something against your new nature, you may sense in your Spirit that you have done wrong. If you don’t know that Jesus’ blood is advocating for you, you may want to get either “cleaned up,” or you will feel disconnected and separated from God- as if His holiness can’t handle your sin.
You must understand the Holy Spirit’s role, or you will live by a behavior-based system of “works.” When you sin, you must know that the Holy Spirit is your “Zoe- life” to convict you of righteousness. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, ever making intercession for you. His nail-pierced hands and His blood mediate for you. This means He declares that you are righteous and deserving of our inheritance and every blessing in Him. The Holy Spirit is helping you to overcome your unbelief. He is your Advocate who reminds you that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He is helping you to see that the accuser, the devil, has been condemned and triumphed over at the cross. He is the Comforter, and He guides you into all truth.
I used to think the Holy Spirit’s job was to convict me of sin. A narrative I used to think happened when the Holy Spirit spoke to me went something like this:
Holy Spirit: “Anna, don’t lose your temper. Hold it together.”
“Thank you, God, for showing me that.”
Then I would work hard at keeping it together, and when I failed, I heard, “You did not have to say that. You didn’t listen to me! If you had listened, you would not have gone through the pain of making things right. Let’s try to get it right next time.”
Even though I grew because I learned to trust God throughout the years, interpreting how I believed God spoke to me was not right. I thought the Holy Spirit kept me in line by snapping the whip of “Don’t do that! You should have listened! I told you so! That’s what you get!” When we believe God speaks to us in this way, our relationship is hindered by our belief that Holy Spirit is our disciplinarian/ convictor. We believe that we exist to please God, and He gets us back in line when we fail. This is Old Covenantal thinking and relating with God. That is not a relationship. That is religion.
Our relationship will change when we know that the Holy Spirit convinces us of righteousness (identity). We will understand that our purpose is not to please Him. But that we were made for His pleasure, that He enjoys us, and that we will not be afraid to mess up because we have a relationship based on love. We will hear, “You are my son/ daughter, and make me happy!” Suddenly, we aren’t working on living a life to please God. Instead, we are living from a position of Beloved.
When I stopped trying to please God and stopped listening to the voice that always corrected me and began to identify as “dearly beloved,” and I heard, “You put a smile on my face,” I stopped worrying about what others thought of me. I stopped feeling like I failed others or God. My prayer time with God became intimate and sweet, and I didn’t have to say all the right words. Peace and rest have been my constant companions because I know God is never angry with me. We recently had to step out in financial faith for a major project that seemed like an insurmountable mountain, but because of the confidence I have learned to have in God, I wasn’t in fear. I knew God would see us through, and He did.
If you are used to thinking that the Holy Spirit’s role is always to correct you, think of this: If a parent always instructed, corrected, and never created a safe atmosphere of love and identity, what kind of parent would that be? That is a home built on fear, not safety. God is a Good Father who does correct, but it is always rooted in identity. His correction sounds more like, “That behavior is not who you are. You are…(insert kingdom identity), act like who you are.”
Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could not cleanse the sinner of a guilty conscience; only Jesus’ blood could. To be convinced of righteousness is to live a life free from the power of sin. We must understand how sinful sin is to understand how great a sacrifice Jesus made. Jesus became sin. Sin was punished in Jesus and counted against Him. He reconciled us to the Father and gave us a clean conscious so that we would have the confidence to come to the Mercy Seat and ask anything in Jesus’ name. When we see what we have been freed from, we will live free from the power sin once had over us.
It is also essential to understand that we have been given the Ministry of Reconciliation. This means that, as believers, we are ambassadors of the Kingdom. We are living "tabernacles” whose ministry is to reveal the Father just as Jesus revealed Him. Like the Israelites, the unbelieving world has a veil over their eyes. If we can see them as “lost children” rather than “sinners” and live our lives to represent the love of God and His love for them, then the veil of condemnation gets lifted, and the world will see the glory of God through you!