272 - The Purpose of God Giving the Holy Spirit#
272 - The Purpose of God Giving the Holy Spirit
(Text Group - Compiled by the Little Prince of the Kingdom)
The topic we are sharing is: The Purpose of God Giving the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament, John 16:7-13,
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Let us pray together:
Heavenly Father! Thank You and praise You! Thank You for preparing this wonderful time for us to worship and praise You together! Share Your words, and through these words, renew my thoughts and ideas, so that I can start the new week with Your strength. I believe that You have already prepared abundant blessings for the new week. I completely dedicate this time to the Holy Spirit, to help each of our brothers and sisters, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen!
Welcome to your arrival. Many people read the Bible, but not everyone who reads the Bible can understand it. Many people have read it many times and still do not understand; where is the problem? Since it is called the Bible, it represents something not ordinary. "Holy" means set apart, and God has set these apart because they are inherently different.
What does this Bible open with? It is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit's revelation, we cannot understand it no matter how we read it. But when the Holy Spirit is given, you will have the light to understand what the meaning of the Bible is. Moreover, in life, the Holy Spirit will help you understand these words and how to use them; otherwise, it is just a book of knowledge, and reading it will not benefit you at all.
Now we are different. The moment we accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit resides in your heart. He will guide you to understand God's words, understand the mysteries of heaven and earth, and understand the past, present, and future. This is the Holy Spirit. We need to read the Bible while using the power of the Holy Spirit; you can understand it as walking on two legs, one is the word, and the other is the Holy Spirit. When you do this, you will find that handling things becomes very easy.
When Jesus preached on earth, He taught many things to His disciples. Over three years, how much do you think the disciples could remember in the end? Think about what I talked about last week; do you still remember? What were you doing three years ago at this time? Can you still remember? Did someone say something to you? Do you remember? No, you don’t! The disciples were not much smarter than us; perhaps you are even smarter than Peter.
But three years have passed, and they did not record what Jesus said before; how could they recall the past? Here, the work of the Holy Spirit is essential. Jesus returned to the right hand of the Father and sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, so Jesus tells us that the coming of the Holy Spirit is beneficial to us.
If you hear someone tell you: “The Holy Spirit has come to convict you of your sins, to illuminate your sins, to correct you, to condemn you.” Is this beneficial to you? No. But Jesus said very clearly, He went away for our benefit, to let the Holy Spirit come. Always remember: after you believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit resides in you, which is beneficial to us. He will guide your life, allowing you to live a victorious life like Jesus, and will give us strength to continually renew ourselves.
Do not think that today you heard the sermon and suddenly understood; that is the Holy Spirit continually renewing you inside, allowing you to understand these words. Otherwise, the Bible has been preached for thousands of years; why does it still sound different? The times are different, the people are different, and the supply of the Holy Spirit is also different; He is the river of living water.
Otherwise, we could just have a pastor record everything Paul said and send a copy to every church to listen to; the Holy Spirit's guidance for us is different in every region and for every group of people. So today, you are here, and the Holy Spirit wants to personally supply you with what you need most. Through the Holy Spirit, we can understand God's love and ultimately live out the image of the Father in heaven for the world to see.
When reading the Bible, you must fully understand the context. When I send the scripture to everyone today, I will mention what the topic is, and the scripture is in John 16. Why don’t I just give you this verse directly? I hope you read the entire chapter so that you know what the context is about; understanding the context is very important.
Many people misinterpret the Bible because they do not do this; looking at the context as a whole is the key principle of interpretation. You need to clarify to whom this verse is speaking.
Look at verse 8; when He comes, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and will convict themselves.
Who is this speaking to? Is it to believers or non-believers? If it is speaking to believers, convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, what is the reason for sin? The next verse says it is because they do not believe in Me. Who is this speaking to? Do you believe in Jesus? If you do, then it is not speaking to you.
In the Bible, you must make this distinction. Some are speaking to the devil, “I will cast you into the abyss.” Is this speaking to you? Don’t apply it to yourself; some are speaking to Adam, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.”
Is this statement useful to you? It is not; you cannot eat it even if you want to; that was spoken to Adam. You need to discern which words in the Bible are spoken to whom; some are spoken to us, such as the promises Jesus gave us, which are for all who believe. Hallelujah!
Share the first point: Convicting non-believers to blame themselves.
The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of sin, blaming themselves, because they do not believe in Jesus. They clearly saw Jesus but did not believe. In the original text, this sin is singular; if the Holy Spirit came to point out your sins, it should be plural because no one in their lifetime commits only one sin.
However, for a non-believer, the Holy Spirit sees them as having committed one sin, and this one sin is deadly, unforgivable in this life and the next: the sin of unbelief. Clearly, Jesus has the power to cleanse all sins with His blood; He can renew you and bring you into the kingdom of heaven. If you say, “I do not believe,” what can He do? He cannot change you; in this life, your life will die, and there will be future judgment.
So the Holy Spirit says here, for sin, it is because they do not believe in Me, referring to their unbelief in Jesus. The original text uses a singular word, not plural; if it were plural, it would refer to all your sins. The Holy Spirit comes to illuminate your sin; it is clear that this is not the case; the sin referred to here is the sin of unbelief, the sin of rejecting Jesus, not believing that Jesus has already paid the price for their sins on the cross.
Romans 3:3-6,
3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” 5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
Can you understand this passage? The first three chapters of Romans are somewhat dry because they are about doctrine. We see, what if some do not believe? What does it matter? When you preach the gospel to others, and they say, “I do not believe there is a God in the world.” Just because of this one sentence, does that mean there is no God in the world?
Brothers and sisters, when you say to someone, “Do you believe Jesus can heal you?” and they say, “I believe there is Jesus, but I do not believe Jesus can heal me.” Just because you do not believe in healing, does that mean healing does not exist? We need to understand this; some things are clearly written in the Bible, and the promises have already been given to us; they cannot cease to exist because of your unbelief. Amen! For example, many people say, “I do not believe there are ghosts in the world.” You do not believe, but they still exist. You say, “I do not believe there is a God in the world.” Whether you believe or not, He always exists. Amen!
Does their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? This means that whether you believe or not, God exists. Paul says, certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar, meaning there is clearly a God in the world, yet your mouth says there is no God; one of the two is a lie, ultimately proving that the one who does not believe is the liar.
As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” Whenever God rebukes people, it only shows God's righteousness. When we rebuke people, it is not necessarily correct; sometimes it is prejudice or extremism. But when God rebukes people, it is always correct. Here, let me briefly talk about predestination; the Bible often says that before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ. The Book of Acts mentions predestined for eternal life; what does this mean?
Before the foundation of the world, God was fair to everyone; He does not show favoritism to anyone, so He gives everyone a chance to be saved. However, the way of salvation varies in each era, and the way of victory also differs in each era.
For example, did Adam believe in God? Do not doubt this; although he failed, he still believed in God and is still in the kingdom of heaven. He believed in God, but his life failed; he believed the words of the devil and did not believe God's words, “In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” It is clear that at that moment he heard another voice: “You will not surely die.”
And God's word is that you shall surely die; which one should you believe? Adam chose to believe the words of the devil and abandoned God's words, leading to his failure. God initially gave everyone a fair opportunity to choose; Adam's choice was to eat or not to eat.
Then in Noah's time, did entering the ark mean salvation? If you do not enter, you will die. At that time, God did not restrict what kind of people could enter; the door of the ark was always open, and anyone could enter. But some people just do not believe, “Maybe if I get on your boat, I won't be able to get off…” People have countless reasons to doubt God and not believe Him. Yet despite their unbelief, God's word still came to pass; that day the rain still fell, and those who did not believe perished.
Brothers and sisters, such things happen repeatedly. In the New Testament, Jesus said: “Whoever believes in Me has eternal life; whoever does not believe is condemned.” Many times, people choose “I do not believe.” Not believing does not mean that God has not conveyed this message to them. Since the foundation of the world until today, God has continually sent various people and environments to tell people: this world is governed by God. Many people choose not to believe, so when God rebukes and judges them in the future, they will be speechless; this is called God's righteousness. Amen!
It is impossible for someone to say: “You did not let me enter the kingdom of heaven; you did not give me this opportunity from the beginning; you sent me to hell, and I am not convinced.” It is impossible for anyone to stand up and question God like this. From this perspective and meaning, you understand that God has given everyone a fair opportunity; no one can say before God, “You are unjust.” If that were the case, God could not judge the world, because God's kingdom is based on righteousness; once righteousness is destroyed, this kingdom will collapse.
In the future, our kingdom will be based on fairness and righteousness. Jesus died for the whole world, but that does not mean everyone in the world will automatically be saved. Each person needs to decide for themselves whether they are willing to accept Jesus as their Savior. Being born into a Christian family does not mean you will automatically be saved; each person must make their own choice to accept Jesus as their Savior. The world has the right to choose, and when the Holy Spirit comes, He will make the world know that unbelief is the greatest sin, thus convicting the world of sin.
How will they know right from wrong? After they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they had a conscience. Do non-believers have a conscience? Everyone has a conscience; they just do things against their conscience, which makes it seem like they do not care. Some people say, “You heartless thing,” meaning you are not working according to fairness and righteousness; treating me this way, does that mean he has no conscience? This is placed in people by God; the Holy Spirit tells you through your conscience that there is a God in the world. You say, “I do not believe,” you can resist, but that does not mean the Holy Spirit has not prompted you.
If you take John 16:8 out of context, it is easy to believe that the Holy Spirit comes to make Christians aware of their sins. The Holy Spirit does not come to make you aware of your sins; what can make you aware of your sins? The law. If the Holy Spirit still comes to make you aware of your sins, then the function of the law would disappear.
If someone tells you that the Holy Spirit is to make you aware of your sins, that would nullify the law, and we absolutely cannot nullify the law. We believe that Jesus has fulfilled the law; fulfilling does not mean nullifying; it still has its function, but we are no longer under that law.
Share the second point: The Holy Spirit comes for righteousness.
The Holy Spirit does not come to point out what sins Christians have committed; that is the work of the law. How many people kneel down and say, “Lord! Please let the Holy Spirit illuminate my sins, let me remember what bad things I did on this day last year…” Can you remember? If this were truly the work of the Holy Spirit, you should be able to remember a lot, but even if you try hard to remember, you still won’t recall much; that is just your own thoughts. The Holy Spirit does not do this for Christians; the law will make you aware of your sins.
Romans 3:19-24,
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Look at verse 19; we know that the words of the law refer to the Ten Commandments, right? The words under the law are spoken to what kind of people? To those under the law. What was the purpose of Jesus going to the cross? He bore the curse to save those under the law. Have you been saved?
The moment you believe in Jesus, you have already been saved from under the law by Jesus, proving that you are no longer under the law. The law of Moses currently has reference significance for you, but it is not for you to rely on in your life. Here it says that the function of the law is to make the whole world guilty before God, meaning if you say you have no sin, when God brings out the Ten Commandments, do you have sin? Bringing out the Ten Commandments to compare with every person in the world, everyone is guilty. Under the Ten Commandments, under the law, all are guilty before God's judgment, and all deserve to die; if that is the case, we have no way to live.
Then it says, therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; in other words, if you want to be justified by the law, not one living person can do it because the function of the law is to make people aware of sin. Before believing in Jesus, why do we acknowledge that we are sinners? In the decision prayer, we said, “I acknowledge that I am a sinner.” How do you know you are a sinner? Because the law declares me a sinner; in the past, we all had sins, and the way out is in Jesus; the law is to make people aware of sin; this is the function of the law.
But the law has flaws; it can make you aware of sin but cannot give you the strength to overcome sin; this is the problem. Therefore, what the Holy Spirit does, the law cannot do. Now do you all understand? If the Ten Commandments could help you overcome sin, the Holy Spirit would not need to come. The law of the Ten Commandments can only let you know, “I am a sinner,” and that is the end of it; relying on yourself, you will still fail.
How can you overcome? You must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want to be victorious in life, do not rely on the Ten Commandments; do not rely on yourself; these are all paths to failure; you must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 21 says, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Where is this apart from the law?
Look at verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Where is this apart from the law? It is under grace; apart from the law means it is under grace, and there is the Law and the Prophets as witnesses. The past law and the prophets all testify that we are justified freely by the grace of God, so is the law relative to us? No, it is your evidence.
The law says, “You are indeed guilty, but now I cannot condemn you because you are in Jesus Christ.” In the future, before God, it will also say, “If there were no Jesus, he would be a sinner, but because he is in Christ, he is no longer a sinner; God's righteousness is upon him.” Amen!
The righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. This is the righteousness of God added to you freely because of your faith; this is what the Holy Spirit comes to let you know. Always remember, this is the work of the Holy Spirit; He comes to remind you: you are righteous in Jesus Christ. So Jesus said, I am going to the Father, and you will see Me no more. What should we do when we cannot see Jesus? The Holy Spirit has come, and it is clearly stated that it is for righteousness because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more.
We cannot see Jesus, but everyone has the Holy Spirit inside them. If you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit resides in you. I often remind brothers and sisters that the Holy Spirit lives in you; you can rely on Him to be victorious. If you always tell others, “You must keep the Ten Commandments, you must keep the law,” they will always feel like they are the chief of sinners. You tell them about the Holy Spirit, and they will know they are justified by God. Christians need to know that they are righteous in Jesus Christ. How are they justified? Let’s take a look at
2 Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is an exchange; Jesus was hung on the cross and gave us His righteousness. What did we give to Jesus? Sin. Did we give it all? It must be believed that you believe at the moment you believe in Jesus, “Lord! I believe You shed blood on the cross for my sins.” What does this mean?
Although I do not know how many sins I will commit, I give You all my sins; You know all my sins, and then Jesus gives me His righteousness. Is this an exchange? My sins are on Jesus; He bore my sins and ultimately died, so my sins are resolved, and now I possess the righteousness of Christ. Hallelujah!
So the Holy Spirit is to constantly remind you; this is your identity. Whenever you say, “How did I sin again today? Does God not want me anymore?” The Holy Spirit says, “You are the righteousness of God in Christ.” Your sins, God does not remember, because Jesus has already died for you. You now possess the righteousness of God; you can pray to Him. The Holy Spirit says, “It’s okay; I will help you stand up.” Reminding you that you are His righteousness in Christ. If you rely on your own works, you will always be discouraged and weak, but if you believe in Jesus' righteousness, you will be able to stand up again; you will always be strong.
So the Holy Spirit will always remind you, because of Jesus Christ, you are pleasing to God and righteous before Him. You must remember the terms of the New Covenant; you are not under the law, so do not memorize the Ten Commandments; you should memorize God's promises. There are many promises in the New Testament that are for us, and we must remember them.
For example, the passage we just read: God made Jesus to be sin for me, that I might become the righteousness of God in Him. This is something we must always remember; you do not need to remember the Ten Commandments; you do not need to remember how corrupt you are; you need to remember what Jesus has done for you. There are very important contents in the New Testament that we must remember.
Hebrews 8:10-13,
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
This passage is very important, and I want to share a few points with you. The Lord also says: “After those days,” what days? The days after Jesus was crucified; the day Jesus was crucified completely separated the New Covenant from the Old Covenant. The Old Testament we speak of is not the Old Testament in the Bible; the dividing line between the New and Old Testaments is the day Jesus was crucified. When His blood was shed, our sins were cleansed, and the days after that are the New Covenant.
So the Bible says, the covenant I will make with the house of Israel is like this; is it not different from before? If it were the same as before, He would say it is the same, but He says it is like this: I will put My laws in them; does this law refer to the Ten Commandments?
The Bible often mentions the law and commandments; the law here does not refer to the Ten Commandments because Jesus has already delivered us from the Ten Commandments; the law here refers to the law of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:1-2, it mentions that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free, so what is placed in us today is not the Ten Commandments but the law of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, I now ask you: Which is better, the law of the Holy Spirit or the law of Moses? Which has greater power? Of course, it is the law of the Holy Spirit. The law of Moses still has its function today, but its function is very small; compared to the Holy Spirit, it is almost negligible.
In 2 Corinthians 3, there are many comparisons between what the past ministry was like and what the present ministry is like; the glory of the past compared to the glory of the present is nothing. This is not what I say; it is what the Bible says. We are now in the Holy Spirit, proving that this is better and higher than the past; the past is nothing compared to this; God has replaced the original good with something better.
God never said the law was bad, so I often teach everyone the law is good, but grace is better. The law has its function, but the function of the Holy Spirit is greater. Amen!
When you accepted Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to reside in you, connecting with this passage: I will put the Holy Spirit in him; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach each one his neighbor to know the Lord because they will all know the Holy Spirit lives in their hearts; you do not need to say to him, “You need to know Jesus.” The Holy Spirit inside will remind him and tell him.
Look at verse 12, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
Is this what God said? In the New Covenant, it immediately follows in verse 13, saying, “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete.” The term “Old Covenant” comes from this because God says, “I am now making a new covenant with them; I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and I will remember their sins no more.”
There is no such statement in the Old Covenant; in the Ten Commandments, it says, “I will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.” In the Old Covenant, it is about pursuing your sins; in the New Covenant, it is about forgiving your unrighteousness and remembering your sins no more. Brothers and sisters, which covenant do you want to be in? These two covenants are definitely different. If you were in the Old Covenant, your life would certainly be filled with fear and trembling, often condemned. Once you sin, God will pursue your sins from the father to the children to the third and fourth generation; there will be curses for generations.
How many Christians today still believe in fear and trembling, becoming more afraid: “Lord! Please spare me…”? Can one not be afraid while living in the Old Covenant? But in the New Covenant, God says, “I will forgive your unrighteousness and remember your sins no more.” It is not without conditions; it is because Jesus has replaced your sins, so He will no longer pursue your iniquities. If we do not understand this, we will sing that song: “Lord! If You mark iniquities, who can stand?”
Verse 13 says, “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” The Old Covenant is slowly exiting the historical stage; when Jesus returns, it will completely exit the stage; there will be no need for the law; will the future kingdom need the Ten Commandments? What do we need it for? In the future, the kingdom we go to will only have God's grace left.
Therefore, the function of the law will become smaller and smaller as the day of Jesus' return approaches, while the power of grace will become stronger and stronger. This is a fact; you must remember this. The Holy Spirit is your Comforter; He absolutely comes to help you, not to condemn you. Your mother or partner nagging you is enough; there is no need for the Holy Spirit; they can always point out your sins. You have many legalists around you; there is no need for the Holy Spirit to torment you anymore. You need to know that the Holy Spirit does not come to point out every sin you commit; He comes to help you remember that God no longer remembers your sins; He has forgiven all your unrighteousness. Amen! When you awaken to this righteousness, you can overcome sin.
Many people always teach: If we are all righteous in Christ, believers will deliberately sin. What they fear is that once people understand the truth, they will indulge themselves in sin. Today I tell you this sentence based on the principles of the Bible: Only when people do not know they are righteous will they indulge themselves. What does it mean to indulge oneself? It means to not care. If you say to someone, “You are like this; I see you will achieve nothing in the future.” They say, “I don’t care.” What do you do with such a person? They have already given up; this is called indulgence because they have no hope and do not know the meaning of their existence.
Only when a person keeps trying to please God and fails will they say, “Forget it; what does it matter if I sin? No matter how I try, I cannot meet God's standards; whatever, let it be.” This is because they do not recognize their identity as righteous.
So when teaching children, you must do it well. If you always criticize the child, saying, “You fool, you will definitely achieve nothing in the future…” and start scolding them, they will be afraid and may end up crying. The more you scold them, the stronger they become, so strong that no matter how you scold them, they do not react. When parents see they do not react, what do they do? They start to hit them with a stick; when they see the stick, they will run, but eventually, they will not run anymore; they will just let you hit them.
I have encountered such people; at that time, I went to a place to study with a brother; it was a couples' retreat. I attended the couples' retreat before I got married, not knowing how I got there. They talked about past events, and the brother said that whenever his father got drunk, he would beat him. Unlike other children, when parents hit, they run; he did not run; he just lay on the bed, and his father would whip him until he fell asleep, and he did not cry or shout.
Brothers and sisters, what does it mean for a child to be so docile? It means they are used to it; they do not care anymore; they do not even struggle because the more they struggle, the harder they get beaten. They have already learned the secret; this is called breaking the pot and smashing it; they have no hope left. If we always look at our sins, we will end up like this.
But the Holy Spirit does not come to remind you of how many sins you have; He comes to remind you that you are righteous in Christ, and God no longer remembers your sins; He has forgiven all your unrighteousness. Then you will have hope again inside; this is the work of the Holy Spirit. You must awaken to righteousness to overcome the sins in your life; the key is that you know you are righteous. Therefore, helping people understand God's grace is crucial.
I will illustrate this with factual examples. Look at a passage of scripture,
John 8:10-12
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
A woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus by the Pharisees for judgment. At that moment, Jesus had the power to judge her, but Jesus raised Himself and said, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Where are the ones who condemned you?” In this world, apart from Jesus, many people always condemn you; if we are not careful, we will be hurt. This kind of hurt does not come from God; it all comes from people. Jesus made this scene clearer for us; this group of people wanted to kill this woman who made a mistake, but only Jesus said, “Where are those who condemn you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” It seems like Jesus is condoning this woman; is this approach different from how we treat children in the past?
We first beat them and say, “Do not do it again.” The child says, “I understand.” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you; go and sin no more.” Jesus first gave this woman “no condemnation,” allowing her to feel accepted. Brothers and sisters, you must remember: even if the world abandons you, God still accepts you.
Others, your family, or people in your company may look down on you, but here, no one will look down on you. We are a church like this, welcoming you to come anytime! Jesus said, “I do not condemn you; go and sin no more.” Many people say you cannot say it this way; if you say it this way, they will turn around and sin. Did this woman go back to sin? Instead, she became a servant following Jesus.
Do not use assumptions to calculate God's words, to explore and analyze God's words. Let me reiterate my point: God's words are not for you to analyze; they are for you to believe. Do not analyze: this seems incorrect; what if…? Do not assume; just believe.
Many people say, “If we say it this way, they will sin.” Do not assume; just believe. Because the next verse is very important, many people only read up to verse 11, but actually, verse 12 is the conclusion. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Did that woman hear this? Do not forget, this is said immediately after; before, Jesus said, “Go; I do not condemn you; go and sin no more.” Immediately after, He said to the crowd, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness.” This means that light always overcomes darkness; in this world, there cannot be a darkness that can directly extinguish light.
When you are in the light, darkness disappears. What is feared is when you dig into darkness, meaning: “Lord! Reveal to me how corrupt I am; let me know how many sins I have committed.” Digging hard will only reveal more; this is like dirt on your body; the more you scrub, the more you find; after scrubbing today, you will still find it tomorrow. You will always feel how disgusting you are.
What does God's word tell you? You are made of dust. When Jesus comes again, when your body is changed, you will not need to scrub anymore; scrubbing will not exist; scrubbing will only be light. The essence will change; you must know that Jesus is the light; we follow Jesus, and the light of Jesus can absolutely drive away all darkness. What if your thoughts are dark? Let Jesus' thoughts in, and the darkness will disappear. Amen!
If there is constant arguing in your home, what should you do? Let Jesus enter your family; once the light enters, the other darkness will disappear. If there are still Christians struggling in sin, the problem is that they do not yet know to follow the light of Jesus, and darkness will disappear. In the past, I have told many people: Why can you always see your terrible things, those failures and regrets? I say the reason is simple; you see this; when I look back, do I not see my shadow? The reason is that the light is behind me. If I want to get rid of this shadow, the simplest way is to turn my gaze toward the light.
What is feared is squatting down and digging deeper; no matter how you dig, it still exists; you cannot solve the problem of sin, so do not look at it. Since you are now carrying the light, Jesus said, “Follow Me…” When you follow Jesus, do you not also need to look at Him? Jesus is the light; if you turn your head, you will not see darkness anymore. This is called looking up to Jesus.
Many people always ask, “How exactly do I look up to Jesus?” It is that simple; always place your eyes on God's words, see yourself through God's words, define yourself as a righteous person loved by God, prospering in all things and being in good health. This is what God's words tell you; just believe it. Correct faith will lead to a correct life. You must understand this truth; you must realize that everything you can see is created from the spiritual realm. God is spirit; when His word goes forth, it creates everything. Jesus also said that a good person brings forth good from the good treasure of his heart, and an evil person brings forth evil from the evil treasure.
If you see a person constantly cursing you, it shows that their heart is filled with bitterness. Why would you want to push this person to death? Leave them a breath; they are already pitiful to this extent. Why would you want to argue with them? The most effective way to treat an enemy is to bless them in the name of the Lord Jesus; this can drive the enemy crazy.
The more a person curses you, the more you bless them. If they curse you and you curse back, it proves that your heart is also filled with evil; that would be troublesome. Always let your heart be filled with God's words. How your life is today actually reflects what has truly been hidden in your heart for a while: bitterness, complaints, these are just things hidden in the past. Now that you have discovered these, let Christ's words in to clean out those past mistakes; that is enough. Amen!
Proverbs 4:23, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
Do not let it be polluted; do not let those filthy things enter your heart; what comes out will definitely be filthy. If you always let God's words enter your heart, what comes out will be good. This is righteousness; correct faith will lead to a correct life. So dear friends, no matter what kind of weakness or setbacks you are experiencing now, I can assure you that you are believing incorrectly in some aspect. Do not focus on your problems; come before Jesus, believe in His righteousness, and understand His grace and provision. As long as you are willing to understand, the Holy Spirit will open you up, allowing you to understand more and more, and be more willing to draw near to Him. Amen!
May everyone diligently search for Jesus and His truth in the Bible; the answer lies in correct belief. Read God's words; it is okay if you do not understand; first believe, and then you will understand. For many years, Christians have lived in failure, constantly being fiercely attacked by the accuser's condemnation because they believe the Holy Spirit comes to accuse them, to judge them, to illuminate all the sins they have committed. This will make Christians very weak, helpless, and without the strength to overcome problems in life.
If you let the truth take root in your heart, you know that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comes to remind you that you are righteous in Christ, reminding you that you are loved by God; you will gain freedom and release, and your life will easily change.
Third: For judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The ruler of this world is the devil, Satan; he has already failed. When Jesus came to work, the devil had already failed.
Luke 10:17-20,
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
This is the scripture we need to meditate on this week; it is very important. Those people went out to work using Jesus' name; this was a practical lesson. In the past, Jesus always did things for them to see; now Jesus sends them out two by two to preach the gospel. They returned with the results of their work.
These seventy returned joyfully, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” Did they cast out demons? They were particularly happy. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” This proves that when Jesus came to work, the devil had already failed.
Then Jesus said to the disciples, and this is also said to you, “I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” All power, no matter how high the devil jumps, you can slap him down.
No matter how much he pretends to be a lion, he is still a paper lion; he is still a loser. No matter how he accuses you, you must always say, “Jesus has already won; you have already failed.” If the enemy always finds you, you always insult him; he will no longer find you.
The devil says, “Look at how you have failed; you cannot do anything…” You say, “Even if I have failed, God still loves me; you loser have been completely abandoned by Jesus.” The more you say this to the devil, the more he will distance himself from you; if he gets close, he fears humiliation. What is feared is that you do not know your authority; that is why you are deceived by him.
Jesus said, “I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you!” These all symbolize the evil forces and the work of the devil; you have overcome all these. There is nothing to be happy about in overcoming the devil; the happiest thing is that your name is written in heaven. This means that if you remember your name is in heaven, your power is not just to fight the devil; you can also receive God's abundant blessings. If you only feel that you have the authority to destroy the devil, your life will always be in conflict.
How many Christians today live like this? Every day they are fighting with the devil, not knowing they can receive abundant blessings from heaven. So Jesus said, “You can overcome the devil; there is nothing to boast about.” Do not always give such testimonies: “Last night I fought with the devil all night, and in the end, I won.” Do not give such testimonies; you should say, “He is already a loser, so I do not need to fight with him all night to win; I just tell the devil he is a loser because my name is recorded in heaven.” Amen! Thank and praise the Lord!
The Holy Spirit comes to tell you that the devil has already failed. When Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross, the devil's lies were exposed; Jesus has already overcome him.
The following passage is also what you need to meditate on,
1 John 4:4, Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Are you of God? Yes, and you have already overcome them. Who do they refer to? The forces of the devil, the antichrist, all heresies; you have overcome them. Because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world; what is in you? Do not say the Ten Commandments; if it were the Ten Commandments, you would be doomed. If you are sure that the Holy Spirit inside you is greater than all the evil forces in the world, then there is no fear. Therefore, the Holy Spirit comes to remind you of this.
John 16:13, However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit comes to tell you this, so the verse we just read has already told us that when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth because He does not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.
Brothers and sisters, without the revelation of the Holy Spirit, you cannot understand what this says. He is to tell us that the Spirit of truth has come to guide you; the original meaning is to enter into the truth. When you first believed in Jesus, did you have the Holy Spirit inside you? But you have not yet entered into the truth; knowing the truth and entering into the truth are two different things. The meaning of entering, as translated in the King James Version, is to understand; only when you understand can you apply it.
You understand that the purpose of understanding the truth is not to fight with the devil; he is a loser, and there is no need to fight with him. Instead, I am to receive God's abundant blessings; I am the one who possesses God's righteousness; I am a beloved child of God, pleasing to God. This is what we need to remember; He wants you to understand all these truths and let you live out this truth in your life. When Jesus returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit dwelt in the hearts of all who believe in Jesus, letting us know that the center of our faith is Jesus Christ, and the place where we gather, the church, is a model of the kingdom of heaven; you can experience the lifestyle of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Therefore, a true church belonging to Jesus is a church that loves and supports one another; first, taste the life of the future kingdom on earth. Of course, in the future kingdom, there will be no podium; there will be no need to preach anymore; everything will be understood, and everyone will enjoy a life of mutual love and service.
Look at the last passage of scripture,
John 15:26-27, 26 But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
The Holy Spirit lives in you not only to let you know the past and present but also to let you know future things because He is the Spirit of truth. He wants you to understand the truth; do not let the Holy Spirit do work that does not belong to Him anymore; do not let the Holy Spirit illuminate your sins anymore.
You should pray: Holy Spirit! Please lead me to understand the truth, to understand the words of the Bible. When you pray, the Holy Spirit will open you up. Hallelujah!
Let us pray together:
Heavenly Father! We thank and praise You! Thank You for renewing and guiding us once again through these words today, letting us know that the Holy Spirit does not come to pursue our sins but to remind us of our righteousness and to tell us that the ruler of this world, the devil, has already been judged. Lord! Please lead me to willingly obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to understand the truth, because You do not want us to understand the truth to fight with people or with the devil, but to receive Your abundant blessings. I am very happy that my name is recorded in heaven because I believe in You. Hallelujah!
Thank and praise You! Holy Spirit, please help me this week to live a victorious life through You. Let the world see the image of Jesus through me. You dwell in me; I can tell You everything, and You will listen and grant me wisdom, allowing me to overcome my life. Thank and praise You! All glory be to You. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen!