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And when he is come, he will reprove
The world of sin, and of righteousness, And of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me. John16:8-9
If we were to get a consensus from the majority of Christian believers they would probably tell you that not keeping the Ten Commandments would put you in hell. Stealing, lying, murder, bitterness would all be sufficient to put one in hell. They would tell you that sin in this sense would put a person in hell. Yet this is not the biblical position. Jesus took away the sin of the world when he bled and died on Calvary and rose from the dead. Our salvation is complete and finished and it had nothing to do with us. Not by works of righteousness that we have done but by his mercy he has redeemed us. It has all already been accomplished. What puts us in hell is not our sin in this sense but in not believing what Jesus accomplished for us. The Holy Spirit will reprove the world because they believe not on me. Jesus took on his body the amassed sin of the world and when we accept what he has done for us we are born again. “Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” It is in beholding Jesus that we believe and we experience the forgiveness of sin and the work of the Holy Spirit is accomplished to regenerate the spirit of man and change him into the image of Christ. It is the commission of the church to make disciples of Christ. As we lift up the name and nature and person of Christ, people are born into the kingdom of God and people experience new birth. It is the work of the church to present Christ to the world and to be living testaments to the power of the cross to save lives. Once a person beholds Christ they can never be the same. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment so that a person can enter a kingdom of peace, love, and joy and scatter darkness, alienation, and despair. It is the work of the church to yield to the Spirit of God and die to self. Salvation is a given fact. The experience of it by repentance and faith is the effect of the love of God to send his Son that those who believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. By meditating and beholding and looking at Christ with wonder and love and amazement we are changed and by being changed become a witness to the world of the power of the cross. The sin which will put the sinner in hell is not the sin against the law of God but the sin against Christ: not believing in the love of God as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. We as the church have this responsibility to reveal this love to the world. We do this by dying to self and yielding to the Holy Spirit and knowing the Word of God: all for the glory of God. Amen. |