“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; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”
Of Sin (vs9)
Unbelief is the conviction of sin, that we haven’t obeyed the Lord, as commanded. We have not followed Him in obedience, as He demands. We have been DISOBEDIENT children, negligent, and wrong. We are ungodly sinners SLAIN by the law, killed by the Spirit, and shown to be vanity and the wind. We are nothing. The conviction of the Spirit leaves us no leg to stand on in self; it is either salvation by Christ or damnation by our deserving.
Sin’s conviction remains the entire life of faith, so that believers HAVE it, presently; it is not what we outgrow; it moves us to Christ continually, as He faithfully shows us our need, so we can love the Son who meets the needs so freely. Grace is for guilty, and we are that by the Spirit’s enlightening and illumination of us. We are in need, unable to stand, and without any hope but Christ: sinners, we are.
Of Righteousness (vs10)
Christ ascended God’s right hand victorious over sin and Satan; He conquered sin by the cross, and by One Man’s obedience we’re saved. We fell in Adam, and we are REDEEMED by faith in Christ, trusting Him to have obeyed God so exactly, even to death, that God saves SINNERS because of Him.
We are undone, and He shows us the Worthy Lamb of God. We are unable to help ourselves, and He reveals the help that’s in Christ, freely, to the vilest of men. His obedience is enough: God punished Christ, Christ honored God, and all that believe on Him shall be saved. You are JUST by faith in Christ, forgiven of sins. You have the new covenant by believing on Him, trusting Him, because of what He did. It is written, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, so we preach Jesus, so that men may say, “Lord, save me”, entrusting themselves to Him (Rom 10:13). Then He saves them by His obedience for them, rather than something the sinner does himself. We are free from sin’s penalty and just by the blood that He shed; we are in the covenant of blessing, whereby all is ours for Christ’s sake only. We have obtained mercy by the blood that He shed, the sacrifice sufficient to redeem us from sin. God exacted from Christ all needed punishment to pardon all that obey the gospel, trusting Him.
Of Judgment Upon Satan Our Adversary (vs11)
Jesus defeated Satan. It is written, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”, and putting away sin is only one work, the other work is putting DOWN the sin’s of believers, until we sin no longer in heaven (1 John 3:8). Satan’s power is BROKEN because wrath is answered, so that we have God’s FAVOR and love, rather than wrath. Instead of being evil and worthy of God’s back and fury, instead of being punished by failure and given over to Satan as the result of our sins, we are near to God in Christ, loved MANIFESTLY, and powered by forgiveness, so that we can obey God by the Spirit given to us by right. We have power from on high to conquer the sin of Satan and this world, because we’re justified by faith, so that what God commands, He will perform by faith only. It is written again, “Believe you that I am able to do this”, and the same God that justifies will conquer sin, too (Matt 9:28). The God who is alive is the God who enables us to do His will, so that we are not without power and might. The gospel reconciles us to God who helps us with sin. The gospel saves, not only by forgiving, but also by changing conduct to sin no more. The gospel’s POWER is revealed in the obedience of His loved ones, and we are them.
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