^“7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.

⁸ And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of Righteousness, and of Judgment: ⁹ Of sin, because they believe not on Me; ¹⁰ Of Righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more; ¹¹ Of Judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” John 16:7-11

Jesus Christ came to die on Calvary’s Cross to pay the penalty of sin for believing sinners and break the power of sinner for Believers.  The official business of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, was to become the Savior of men.  Jesus accomplished His Purpose and God’s Will when He gave up the Ghost on Calvary’s Cross.

The mission and ministry of the Holy Spirit was dependent upon Jesus’ finished work as the Savior of men.  With the official work of Jesus finished on Calvary’s Cross as the Savior of men, the Holy Spirit has now come to the Church (Believers) as the power of the Church.

The Holy Spirit is now given to the Church as the power of the Church.  The Holy Spirit convicts the world of rejecting Jesus and His Righteousness.  The lost are not lost because they reject Jesus; they reject Jesus because they are lost.  Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit when the preaching of the Cross of Christ is lifted up to the lost for remission of sin, the lost would remain lost.  If only the seeker sensitive church would get that truth.  No one can be saved without the conviction of the Holy Spirit to reprove them of their sin.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit is not executed under the guise of vain philosophies as bait to unite with the world and make them feel comfortable behind religious doors.

The Holy Spirit will convict of satan’s judgment which has already been rendered to him and all who follow him.   The devil and all who die lost have already been judged as sinners and condemned to the Lake of Fire for all eternity.  Once the gates of hell close upon death of the lost, all opportunity for Salvation is lost as well.

^“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.” John 16:13

The Holy Spirit, given to each and every Believer upon Salvation, does not speak of Himself but of Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done for whosoever will believe. The Holy Spirit is only commissioned to perform His ministry and mission as the Believer looks unto Christ…not Him (the Holy Spirit) for power to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.

Upon Salvation, the Holy Spirit baptizes the Believer into Jesus’ death.  Being convicted of sin, Righteousness and Judgment and having now chosen to accept Jesus as our Savior, we are buried with Christ.

^“3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His Death?

⁴ Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His Death, we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection:

⁶ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 6:3-6

The penalty of our sin paid and the power of sin broken, we walk in newness of life through the power of the Holy Spirit…not because our faith is in the Holy Spirit but because our faith is in the Cross of Christ.  This is HIS ministry and mission, not ours.  Our faith in the Cross of Christ gives the Holy Spirit latitude to do that which HE is commissioned to do – circumcise our hearts and remove anything that is not of God.  The world and the religious will try to rehabilitate that which the Holy Spirit wants to remove.  Sometimes this removal is painful but in the end is always for our good and the sincere religious can’t bear the offense this causes because they themselves don’t know the power of the Holy Spirit to remove the dead and replace it with life…life more abundantly.

^“7 The Angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them.

⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.

⁹ O fear the Lord, you His Saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.” Psalm 34:7-9

This is the Lord’s plan for victorious Christian living, not man’s vain philosophy.  Taste and see that He is good.  Trust in Him.

-Donna Clark Warren