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| Two incidents in Jesus� ministry � the ministry which Jesus said the Holy Spirit would continue through us � which demonstrate this truth! LUKE 5: 1 � 11; 17 � 26 And so, the first ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin by manifesting the GLORY OF GOD and exposing the folly of UNBELIEF! Unfortunately some folks never get beyond stage one � believing that God would want to bless them with forgiveness, and not only forgiveness but that He would be willing to bless them with the same righteousness that He has � to impart His nature to us! 2. The second part of the threefold ministry of the Holy Spirit is to CONVICT the world of RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jesus said, ��of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more�. The Holy Spirit has come to reveal the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the world through the lives of believers � through the church! 2 Corinthians 5: 21 �For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.� The Holy Spirit is in the lives of believers producing righteousness. Righteousness restores to man all that he lost in the Fall, plus a new relationship as a son of God, with all its privileges. We are who God says we are; we can do what God says we can do; we can have what God says we can have. Righteousness comes to us when we are born again � when we become a NEW CREATION in Christ. It restores our standing before God. It takes away the old SIN-CONSCIOUSNESS that has crippled and robbed us of all our spiritual initiative, confidence and assurance in His presence. It restores to man a standing before the Father on the same ground that Jesus enjoyed during His life and ministry. Righteousness means the ability to stand in God�s presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation, or inferiority. Righteousness restores fellowship with the Father. Jesus approached the Father with the same liberty and freedom as a child approaches his parent. He addressed the Father as familiarly and as simply as a child addresses his father. This stirred up the religious crew something terrible!!! It still does when you talk about God with �familiarity� - if you say, �God told me�� watch out for the flak! |
| But we have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, �Abba, Father�! There was no sense of guilt, no sense of sin, no sense of condemnation in Jesus� spirit. Jesus had no sense of lack of money. He had no sense of lack of love, lack of knowledge, or lack of ability in any area. He had no Sin-Consciousness, no Inferiority Complex. The righteousness that Jesus had allowed Him to have perfect fellowship with the Father. Righteousness restores faith. The world is crying out for something to believe in � they need to see the faith of the righteous. �The righteous are bold as a lion� (Proverbs 28: 1). Righteousness comes by faith. We have been taught for years that we were unworthy and unrighteous, that we were weak and had no faith. We thought that if we could just sacrifice something, if we could just pray long and hard enough, if we could confess our sins enough, then in some way we might get our spiritual lives straightened out. |
| Righteousness comes by faith - it is not gained by works, by continual repentance, by crying, bawling, squawling, or begging. That is why you have seen some folks getting things from God that you didn�t think deserved to get anything from Him! Righteousness comes by faith. Not by our works, but by Christ�s work. Righteousness restores peace to us. It restores our peace with God. �Righteousness and peace have kissed each other� (Psalm 85: 10) � that�s how closely related they are! |
| People in the world have no peace. Isaiah 57: 20 �21 �The wicked are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.� The sense of lack, the sense of guilt, the sense of want, the consciousness of burdens and unpaid bills fill the heart with anxiety and restlessness. Righteousness restores quiet and rest to the spirit. We are no longer afraid of bills, no longer afraid of circumstances � we are no longer UNDER the circumstances, we are OVERCOMERS in Christ! |