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The Gracious and Holy Hound of Heaven
John 16:5-11
Skip Heitzig

John 16 (NKJV™)
5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'
6 "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
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.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Rediscovering Our Foundations

Having understood Who the Holy Spirit is (Person, not just power; Deity, not just dignitary), we now find out what He does, specifically what He does in the world of unbelievers. Since the greatest gift God ever gave to the world was His only Son (John 3:16), it stands to reason that the greatest sin one can commit is to reject the Son (John 16:9). How does the Holy Spirit both sentence the world as prosecutor and yet lead people away from judgment? And what role do we play in all of this?

We live in an age where truth has become a relative term. But the Bible leaves no room for doubt when it comes to the absolute nature of truth. Unfortunately, our culture is vastly biblically illiterate. In this series, Pastor Skip Heitzig gets back to the roots of our faith, looking at what the Bible has to say about God, Christ, the Trinity, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell. Learn to stand on a firm foundation in the midst of an unstable culture.

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Outline

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  1. His Necessity is Undeniable (vv. 5-7)
    A. Jesus Would be Leaving
    B. The Spirit Will by Leading
  2. His Activity is Unmistakable (vv. 8-11)
    A. Convicts World of Sin
    B. Convicts World of Righteousness
    C. Convicts World of Judgment
  3. His Agency is Unremarkable (vv. 7; 15:26-27)
Judgment
III. His Agency is Unremarkable (Vs. 7; 15:26-27)

Transcript

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John chapter 16 tonight, if you'd turn there. We are joined by people from coast to coast on over three hundred radio stations, on CSN. They love to hear from so would you welcome them please. (applause, cheers) Oh they must feel welcome now.

I have two dogs at home, one is an older dog, a black dog, she's about twelve and a half years old. And she has always ben obsessed, with attention. I mean, no joke, you could pet her for an hour and you'd stop and she'd look at you like, "That's all? Can't I get a little more from you?" And I always felt like she was lurking and not only lurking but licking me, the family guests, everything. So we finally got Cleo her own dog and it helped. This is a little Airedale puppy. And what's great is this little Airedale puppy lurks and hounds and follows Cleo, licking and bugging and nipping. And I'm thinking, "Finally, now she'll understand what it's like, being hounded all day long. So now my hound is being hounded by a hound, it's great to watch.

Back in the 1800s, there was poet who wrote a poem called "The Hound of Heaven" about how God chases us down, follows us through life and won't let us go. This was somebody who failed at medical school and ran from it. This is somebody who ran from his own father. This is somebody who was ultimately running from God. And he writes in this poem, "I fled him down the nights and down the days, I fled him down the arches of the years, I fled him down the labyrinthic ways of my own mind." And yet he writes in this poem how that God was always unrelenting and he says, "But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace (that's a great line) the Holy Spirit, the ultimate bounty hunter, who chases us down and reminds us of what we need and who we are and where we're going, where we might end up if we don't listen to him.

Last week we were looking at who the Holy Spirit is. And we went into great detail about is he a person or is he a power? Is he deity or dignitary? And now tonight we want to look at what he does. At least a part of what he does, in the unbelieving world. Whenever you meet someone you generally get their name, who they are, but then you usually ask, "Well what is it you do?" And so we've in a sense met the Holy Spirit last week but we want to ask him, "What do you do? What is it you do Holy Spirit all day long? What have you been doing for thousands of years? You've been at whatever you do for a long time? What is it that you do and how can I be a part of it? And so tonight we're going to look at what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the unbeliever, at least in part.

The Holy Spirit is often, from that poem back in the 1800s by Francis Thompson, the Holy Spirit is now often referred to as "The Hound of Heaven," because of his activity in the world. We're going to begin tonight in chapter 16 and I'm going to take you back to verse 4, where we read, "Jesus says, 'But these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go away to him who sent you. And none of you ask me 'Where are you going?' But because I Have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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. And when he has come he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to the Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.'"

Have you ever known someone that you thought was unreachable? You think, "Ah, they'll never come to Christ." You wouldn't say it but you think that. I wrote out a list this week of people I remember at one time writing off saying, "no way." And I wrote a list of all of the people that I once thought that of who came to Christ. And I thought, "Boy, it's good God doesn't have that list." "For with God nothing is impossible. And God has all sorts of creative ways, have you noticed, in getting people's attention. Just let him do his thing and he'll use you too but all sorts of interesting ways. One of my favorite stories is that of a farmer who had three boys. They were unbelievers, they never went to church. The farmer's boys were named Jim, John, and Sam. People in the community tried to get them to church, tried to tell them about the Lord, they didn't want anything to do with it. One day the doctor in the community got a phone call because Sam had been bitten by a rattlesnake. It looked pretty severe, the doctor went in thought, "Boy it looks really really bad, grim is the outlook, better call in the preacher." The very preacher who'd been trying to get their attention and invite them to his church for years, to no avail. Pastor comes in, looks over the situation, appraises it, bows his head and he prays something like this, "Oh wise and righteous Father, we thank thee that in thy wisdom thou didst send this rattlesnake to bit Sam. He has never been inside the church and it's doubtful that he has in all this time even prayed or even acknowledged thine existence. Now we trust that this experience will be a valuable lesson to him and lead to his genuine repentance. And now oh Father, wilt thou send another rattlesnake to bite Jim? And another to bite John? And another really big one to bite the old man? For years we have done everything we know to get them to turn to thee, all in vain. It seems therefore that what all of our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing that will do this family any real good is rattlesnakes. So Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes. Amen." This holy glorious hound of heaven, the Holy Spirit, can even use rattlesnakes to get people's attention.

Tonight we're going to look at three things, three activities, three things to note about the Holy Spirit and how we fit into it. First of all, concerning the Holy Spirit, his necessity. His necessity is undeniable. We need him. We need him deeply. Now the disciples didn't know this. In fact, go back to verse 5, Jesus says, "But now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you asks me where are you going?" He's been saying it all night. He's been saying that he's going away. And none of them ask, "Where are you going?" "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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 unto you. But if I depart I will send him to you." Now the disciples were shocked over this announcement. So shocked that they were completely overshadowed by this thought, preoccupied with it. Jesus says, "Sorrow has filled your heart." The word filled, playrao, it means to fill something up so that there's absolutely no room for anything else. In other words, mental anxiety had trickled into their thoughts. And now they were absolutely controlled by this anxiety. Why? Well it's easy to figure out: their best friend is leaving. Jesus said he's going. The one who calms the storms, the ones who heals all their relatives, the one who gives the crowd free lunch, the one who tells them to go get money out of a fish and pay the IRS, the one who turns water into a wine. He's a handy guy to have around. He's leaving? That was a shocker to them. So everything else, they really weren't getting it.

Not only was he leaving, that was a shock. But all of their expectations were about to be unfulfilled. They were Jewish and even though this is after Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21 about his coming. Being Jewish they had a fixed eschatology in their mind. They thought this is how the end times would play down: number one, there would be a time of turmoil just before the Messiah's arrival. And this turmoil would create, would birth an expectation, an anxiety in the hearts of the nation for the Messiah to come and rule. And they saw that as being fulfilled since Rome had now occupied Israel and this anxiety was everywhere. Number two, they believed because of their Jewish upbringing that during this time of turmoil that an Elijah-like forerunner would come proclaiming the Messiah's arrival. That's why people fled down to the Jordan River to see John the Baptist. Number three, Jesus would set up his earthly kingdom and raise up leadership to lead with him. That's why they had been arguing about who would be the greatest. Those were the expectations in their minds and Jesus says he's leaving. Now I want you to get this: Jesus is telling them about the great gift of the Holy Spirit, they are focused on the loss of Jesus. "Hey, this is what you're going to get." "But what are you going to take away?" Does that sound familiar? It sounds just like us doesn't it? When you tell unbelievers about coming to Christ, "What do I have to give up? What am I going to lose? I might lose my friends." "Hey, you'll gain a friend that sticks closer than a brother." "Oh, but I'll lose all of the fun partying times that I had with my friens." Listen, you're not going to lose anything but hell. And Satan is so clever in blinding our minds, is he not, to the past and causing us to remember the good times we had, not all the wretched times we had and the empty feelings that were in our hearts. So that we won't come to Christ.

And this same sort of thinking happens to believers when the Lord wants to do something new in their lives, maybe move them on. Maybe they look to their future and they're so concerned, "what's going to happen? What will the Lord remove? What will he take away? You mention, "Well have you considered the mission field?" "the mission field, are you nuts? I could never be satisfied on the mission field, I'd lose too much." Well, before you think that way, you ought to at least interview those who are out on the mission field, who gave up "everything and went out there on their own." And ask them, "Are you really bummed out, is this the worst life?" You'll probably find most of them will say, "Are you kidding, this is the greatest experience, putting my life on the line, this is awesome. I haven't lost anything, I've gained so much." As Jim Elliott used to say, "He is no fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." And whenever God removes something, he does so that he might add something else, give you something much more. Jesus told his disciples after Peter said, "We're giving up so much." Jesus said, "Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake shall receive a hundredfold now and inherit eternal life." You'll gain so much more.

Now these disciples really didn't understand how much they need the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus is telling them, the Holy Spirit is going to come. It's to your advantage that I go away. This is for your benefit. Because if I don't leave, the Holy Spirit can't come." "Oh, who cares about the Holy Spirit. You're leaving!" They needed the Holy Spirit desperately. Why? Because of the task. Because of the task that they were about to have from the Lord Jesus himself, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every...' "What? All the world? That's my mission field, all the world?" "Right. And don't you know that if you're going to go out and face all the world on your own without the power if Holy Spirit, you'll quit, you won't make it. You'll burn out, you'll fry. Without the Holy Spirit as recorded in the book of Acts, these twelve numbskulls would have quite two weeks into the job. There was persecution awaiting them at Jerusalem, hostility in Greece, death in Rome. It looked pretty dismal. But because of the task ahead, it was absolutely important, the necessity was undeniable. They would need the Holy Spirit.

Now let's place ourselves there. Here we are today, in the world not of t he world but we're looking around and we too, I hope you realize, have the task of going into all the world and preaching the gospel. Okay, question: How many unbelievers are out there? What do you think? A hundred? A couple thousand, maybe five million? The best estimate, the best estimate of Christians on the earth is about 66.9 percent. Now that includes anyone, anyone who would say, "yeah I'm a Christian." Under the umbrella of Christendom, formal religious people, all of the cults, anyone who's been under the auspices of a church growing up. Anybody who would claim to be a Christian at best is thirty-three percent. But it's also estimated that if you were line up all of t he unsaved people in a line back to back you would form a line around the entire earth thirty times. And that line is growing twenty miles longer every single day. That would make anyone feel hopeless, desperate. "That's the task, Lord? Go into all that world? I can't do it alone." "I know, you need the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is an evangelistic necessity. Jesus never said to his disciples, "Go at it boys. Go get them. Go out into all the world. It's pretty rough. Hope you don't get beat up too bad." No, but he did say, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the very ends of the earth." That was the promise.

D. M. Dawson wrote these words: "Without the power of the Holy Spirit, all human efforts, methods and plans are as futile as attempting to propel a boat by puffing at the sails with our own breath." Now think of that: Here's the task of world evangelism and we're going, "Puff, puff, puff, puff." You can't do it, it's impossible on your own. So the Holy Spirit is a divine necessity. His necessity is undeniable. But second his activity in the world is unmistakeable. For he says in verse 8, "But when he has come he (the Holy Spirit) will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to the Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged." Now there you have a job description of the Holy Spirit today now, presently active in the world of unbelievers. What is he doing? What does he do all day long? What is his job? He convicts or convinces or reproves the unbelieving cosmos, the world, of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.

Look at the first one: He'll convict the world of sin. That is, the Holy Spirit convinces unbeliever that they are guilty before God. And it's that feeling of guilt that makes t hem perturbed and disturbed by their own sin and causes them to seek help. It's what brings people to church. It's what brings old friends back into your life to ask questions. It's what causes relatives to get on the phone and talk to you and say, "Now what's that Jesus stuff again?" The Holy Spirit hs been at work convicting, convincing, the world of sin. Now only the Holy Spirit can do that, because it is the nature of man to want to shift the blame of whatever problem we have onto somebody else. "Well it's not sin, it's....I am the way I am because of my environment. When I was a kid they forced me to eat spinach and that's why I act the way I do. They dropped me on my head." Or, "I am the way I am because of a genetic propensity. It's in my genes. I'm angry because it's genetic. I just have this deep desire to blow people away so you can't incarcerate me for that. It's genetics." Now this is not new, it's been going on since the beginning of time, since the Garden of Eden. Adam tried to pull that off. "Adam, why'd you eat of that tree?" "It was the woman you gave me. Your idea for the chick. It was your idea, she did it." "What about it Eve?" "It was the serpent." And on and on it goes. Guilt, what do we do with it? Guilt is foundational to human beings. Psychologists spend lots of time in their offices trying to manage guilt. IN fact, trying to completely alleviate guilt because they say wreaks such havoc in people's lives. And they'll spend session after session after session saying, "You shouldn't feel guilty. It's not your fault."

One poll indicates that over forty percent at any given time in our population are often troubled by deep feelings of guilt. But guilt can be good sometimes, because once we realize ther eis a problem, then we're driven to find the solution. Once we realize, "I'm a sinner, I've offended a holy righteous God, it's only then under that conviction that there will be conversion. You know what it's like? It's like a story I heard about a doctor, he was a resident at Mayo Clinic. He had a patient, it was a woman. She had been a patient of his for some time and he was able to help her through a couple of surgical operations and medication. As she was leaving after the post-op checkup a few weeks after surgery. She was leaving the office and she said, "You know doc, I think my husband needs a medical checkup. He won't admit it but I just think he does." So the husband was brought in, "Your wife says you need a medical checkup." "I don't need anything," he says, "I'm perfectly fine. Look at me." "Like I said, your wife thinks you need a medical checkup." "I'm not going to have one. I feel great." But she insisted. They did a full workup and they found a cancerous tumor on his lung. But because it had not affected any of his nerves, he felt perfectly fine. But he eventually died from it. That is so much like the world, "I feel great. What do you mean, sin? There's nothing wrong with me." But the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. Wn I'm glad he does. I'm so glad that it's not my job to convict a person. It's not my job to make a person feel guilty. And I know a lot of preachers that try that. They get really good at making people feel really bad. And they call that "the Holy Spirit." "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Are yu?" "No." "You're not?" You can't do what the Holy Spirit can do, don't try. This is his territory, this is his job. And I'll tell you God's so good at it. Look at Jonah: Jonah didn't do what God wanted him to do, he disobeyed God and he felt no conviction at all, even when he got on the boat and even when the storm was about to capsize the boat, he said, "throw me overboard." What amazes me about the story is that the pagan unbelieving sailors aboard the ship were convicted for Jonah. Remember t hey said, "Who are you? Where are you from? Where's your people group?" And he said, "I am a Hebrew. I fear Yahweh, the lord of the seas and the heaven and the earth." And they became unglued and t hey said, "What have you done? You bummed him out?" They were so perturbed. Jonah wasn't. You think he would have said, "You're right, you're right." He said, "Throw me overboard." You know the story. It wasn't til Jonah was down in the mouth literally of a huge whale that the conviction came to him and he cried out to God. But the point is, it did come and God has ways of getting your attention, of sending bigger and better rattlesnakes, or whales in this situation.

Then there was Peter on the day of Pentecost. Peter got up and preached a message. It says, "They were cut to the heart." Or literally, 'convicted inwardly.' And they cried out and they said, "What must we do?" And Peter said, "Repent of your sins." They were convicted. Was it because of Peter's great oratory skills. No. He was Peter remember. It was because of the power of the Holy Spirit. Three thousand were saved that day. That's God.

My friends shared with me the gospel, I laughed at them, I scoffed at them. I was all alone in an apartment, I turned on a television set. Just when you think it's safe to turn on a television set, there was a preacher on the other end, Billy Graham, who gave a gospel message that caused me to respond. The Holy Spirit used that. The hound of heaven will chase you out on the ocean or into apartments. But he can convict and will convict the world of sin. That's the first necessary step to salvation. Conviction. Without conviction of sin there is no salvation. None. A. W. Tozer said, "Until a man has gotten into trouble with his heart he is not likely to get out of trouble with his God." And that's the job of the Holy Spirit.

Before we move on I want you to notice what we just read. Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will convict the world of not sins plural but sin singular. Not sins like murder and adultery and stealing and cheating and speeding, whatever it might be. Hopefully your consciences will convict you right then and there. That's what often happens. But the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin singular, something the conscience will never convict a person of, unbelief. Of sin, Jesus said, "because they do not believe in me." That's what the world was convicted of by the Holy Spirit. Unbelief is the greatest sin. Now see that's the trouble because the world naturally views unbelief as a mark of intelligence, not sin. "I wish I was as simple-minded as you to believe all that religious stuff about Jesus. But I'm too intelligent. I've done my research. Hah, hah. I can't believe in Jesus. I'm smart." No, you're committing the worst possible sin because it's the sin of unbelief that keeps all of the other sins in your life from being forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus said, "The Spirit will convict the world of sin because they not in Me." Warning: When there is this conviction process of the Holy Spirit, it is often responded to in the individual by anger. Whenever there is resistance. When the person doesn't give in and go, "Lord, I give you my life." When a person puts up a fight he often responds to the conviction by anger, lashing out. My heart goes out to some of you who are living with unbelievers under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I'm glad the Holy Spirit is at work, but I feel for you because you're the punching bag. You're the one they lash out at, "Who do you think you are?" "I think I'm your wife. I think I love you and I think..." "Don't stuff that religion down my throat."

There's a true story about a golf pro who years ago was in a tournament and was playing with three other golfers by the name of President Gerald Ford, the Reverend Billy Graham and Jack Nicklaus. After the round was finished, another pro came up to him and said, "Hey what was it like, what was it like playing golf with the president and Billy Graham?" He said, "I can't believe that Billy Graham stuffing religion down our throats. He said, "Oh, he was pretty hard on you out there, huh?" Well, he talked to the other two guys, they said Billy never once brought up religion ever in the game, he just played golf. I love that. What a great way to preach, just go play golf. But the Holy Spirit was doing such an incredible job and this guy was fighting the conviction of the Spirit. That's his first activity. Second, he'll convict the world of righteousness. What does that mean? Well, the world boasts in its own righteousness. But once the Holy Spirit gets a hold of a person and says, "You're a sinner and convinces a person of that, then he sees his righteousness as unrighteousness and is impressed with a whole new kind of righteousness, God's. and the response is often very dramatic. Like Peter when Jesus said, "Throw your nets over here and they did and they caught a huge array of fish and Peter got down on his knees and said, "Depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man." Really? Peter, why'd you say that? Because he realizes who he's with, that's why.

Or Isaiah the prophet, in seeing a vision of God says, "Woe is me, I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a generation of unclean lips." In seeing the righteousness of God and then seeing yourself, you see it as unrighteousness. Have you ever been next to somebody who's an expert in the thing you're talking about but you don't realize it? And then you do realize it and you go, "Oh I feel so dumb." Like the time I was back in North Carolina speaking at The Cove and my topic was "How to Win a Person to Christ," evangelism. And as I'm speaking I realize in the back row Billy Graham was sitting. And as I realized it, I thought, "I am such a dork." And I'm going back as I'm speaking over everything I just said. Or, the time my son was at a World Series game and sitting on the team bus, sitting next to a guy, and he didn't know who he was. Nathan said, "What's your name?" The guy said, "Reggie." "Well Reggie, what do you do?" This is Reggie Jackson. "I play baseball. I'm a baseball coach. I used to play for the Angels and.." "Oh," Nathan goes, "oh that's cool, I'm a baseball player too." "Yeah I do that." Yeah, but.... It's spiritually true, just like, just like a US astronaut won't be impressed with your paper airplanes, the righteous holy God won't be impressed with your righteosness. After all, he said, "All of our righteousness is as filthy rags." And that's what the Holy spirit will do, convicting a person of sin, letting that person see, "My righteousness is unrighteous. But his righteousness is oh so perfect."

Well this is the meaning of the text: When Jesus died and paid for our sins on the cross, he ascended up into heaven. When he ascended up into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And God said, "This is the righteousness I will receive. This is perfection. This is the one who lived the perfect life you could never live and then died for your sins. I will receive him into heaven." And that's why Jesus says, "Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more."

So, the Holy Spirit convinces us that we're sinners A). B) Shows us what we need to do about it, his righteousness not ours. And a third thing, he'll convict the world of judgment. He'll convict the world that there is such a thing coming as a real judgment. He'll convince us that we're sinners. He'll convince us what we need to do now with that sin, be covered with his righteousness. But he'll also convict the world of what will happen if we ignore the fact that we're sinners and need his righteousness. If we blow it off, if we push it away, if we don't do anything with it, the Holy Spirit will bring this conviction, that judgment is coming. And that was proven according to Jesus by what happened to the ruler of this world, Satan. He said, "Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, sealing the doom, sealing the fate of Satan forever. You know it's always a healthy sign when a person is worried about judgment. I've heard people say, "Well it's not a good motivation to come to Christ because they're scared of hell." I think it's a great motivation. I think it's excellent. Hey, whatever will get you to heaven is a great reason to be there.

I had a law enforcement officer come into my office sometime back, close the door, and he kind of felt weird. He said, "This is going to sound really weird but I'm afraid of dying. I'm not afraid of dying per se, I'm afraid of what would happen to me after I die, isn't that weird?" he said. I said, "It's wonderful. It's a healthy sign, it's a good thing. That's the Holy Spirit working in your life convicting you of judgment. The world doesn't want to hear about judgment.

The Titanic, we've all heard of that. When it was veering on its course and was about to hit some icebergs and it was radioed by other ships in the area, "there are icebergs, watch out. You're going to hit them." Those in the control operation booth wired back, "Shut up. Shut up. We're busy." They would soon be dead. But it felt so good right now.

The power of the Spirit of God, to convince, to reprove, to speak to a person that you're a sinner and the solution is his righteousness. But if you ignore it comes the judgment of god. Satan is like that captain on that sinking ship, his fate is doom.

Now finish it up. His necessity is undeniable. His activity is unmistakeable. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Third, this is where we fit in. His agency is unremarkable. In other words, the very people he chooses to do all this through are you and I. Look at verse 7, "If I do not go away, the Helper will not come (notice) to you. If I depart I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit isn't just up there in the atmosphere, invisibly buzzing around, all of a sudden hits a person, "Oh, I feel judgment, sin, righteousness." It's not some mysterious, weird..... He does it through people. The Holy Spirit's coming to you through you and then continues in verse 8, "And when he has come that is come to you, he will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment."

Go back to chapter 15, just a few verses up, look at verse 26, "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." But don't leave out the next part, "And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning." See how this works? Yes, it's the Spirit that convicts. Yes, it's t he Holy Spirit that does the job that nobody else can do. But, he uses human channels. You know that every single conversion in the book of Acts is done through a human channel? The power of the Holy Spirit but through a human. Peter preaches on Pentecost, three thousand people get saved. But Peter is out there preaching the message.

Even Saul of Tarsus, yes he was knocked off of his beast of burdern and was blinded. But God said, "It's hard for you to kick against the goads, isn't it?" The goads of conviction. He had watched Stephen die a martyr. And that was weighing on him, that was kicking at him and beating him up inside. He was wrestling and fighting against it. He had heard the testimony and the witness and seen the martyrdom. It was through a human agent.

Then there's the story of Cornelius in the book of Acts. He'd been praying and an angel comes to him and says, "Cornelius your prayers and alms have come up for a memorial." Now think about it, an angel appears to him, an angel speaks to him. Does the angel preach the gospel to him? Could have, would have been very effective. What if an angel had appeared and said, "Repent or die." I think Cornelius would have been on his knees or on his face. But the angel said, "Go call for Peter in a couple towns over and bring him to you and when he is come he'll tell you what to do." So the angel didn't preach the gospel but allowed the Lord to use the human agency of Peter coming to Cornelius' house and the gospel was shared.

So, look in the Holy Spirit's toolbox tonight. What do you see there? Well, it's not all that impressive. You don't find the most brilliant, you don't find the most talented. Oh, every now and then, every now and then, the Holy Spirit, god will save somebody incredibly brilliant and talented. But not many, right? Isn't that what Paul said? "Look at your calling brethren, not many mighty, not many noble after the flesh are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of this world. So, you look in god's toolbox and you might see an entertainer here, a brilliant scientist here, there's a smattering. But for the most part, it's us, that's his tools. If Peter would have handed his resume in, or put it in present tense, if Peter would hand his resume in today to the average Christian organization, I bet it would be rejected. "Let's see, Peter, hmm, well you like to fish, it says that here. You're highstrung, you're easily angered, even cut a guy's ear off, it says, trying to protect God." Sorry.

What if James and John would hand in their resumes? Let's see James and John boy you guys are pretty tough. It says you tried to nuke a whole village in Israel. What are you, Hamas? Al-qaieda? You're not going to be on my staff. You think Thomas would be allowed in the organization? Let's see Thomas, everybody says you're the party pooper. Unh-uh, don't need a pessimist. His agency is remarkable but it is remarkable because it's not our power, it's his power. God has chosen the foolish things... "Why doesn't God ever use me? I'm so talented, I'm so brilliant." That's why. (laughter) Get lower. And when you see yourself in utter need of him, in that abjection, God may just say, "Ah, now you're ready for my toolbox."

So, the Titanic is sinking, you're aboard, you've got the lifeboat. You're telling people, "I've got the lifeboat, get on." And they don't want to hear anything you have to say. And you're getting really panicky and angry. And lonely. What do you do? "Well I've got to preach harder, make them feel guilty, convict them."

Like Elizabeth Brenton, the little 11-year-old who sold 22,110 boxes of Girl Scout cookies by herself. She set the record. They said, "How'd you do it?" "It's easy, you've got to look them in the eyes and make them all feel guilty." And some of you would love to do that in evangelism, wouldn't you? But you know what the Holy Spirit is on the boat. He's convincing, he's changing minds, he's changing hearts, you just be his vessel, his instrument, his agent. And pray, "Lord send bigger and better rattlesnakes."

Heavenly Father, in discerning, in discovering, in seeing what the Holy Spirit does, we understand he's very active. Billions of people at any one time on Planet Earth, going their separate ways, involved in different ideologies and practices and religious systems. And yet, through the imperfect agency of human beings, perfect witness of the heart may be given. AS the Holy Spirit convicts the world of something their own consciences would never convict them of, t he greatest sin of all is unbelief. The greatest righteousness is that of Christ, not ours. And the greatest tragedy is saying no to you and facing the judgment for all eternity. And only you Lord, only you can do that. Lord, it could be that tonight some are here who have been hounded by that gracious holy hound of heaven, the Holy Spirit. You haven't let them go. You've been working on their mind. They've been coming up with other rationalizations and other thoughts but bottom line they're sensing that inward conviction, that unsettledness, that uneasiness that their own sin has disturbed within them. And your Spirit has shined the light on that. And Father we pray that tonight, right here, right now some would respond as the Holy Spirit would work. We don't have to try to do it Lord, it's something you alone can do and we graciously ask you and submit to you now. Lord, would you just sift through this auditorium. You really know those whoa re truly yours and those who are not, even those who have been hiding behind a mask of their own good works, of something they thought or felt years ago. Lord, bring that sense of conviction and bring them to Christ as he testifies of Christ.

Additional Messages in this Series

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9/15/2002
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Does the Truth Really Matter?
2 Timothy 4
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Today I begin a new series I am calling Rediscovering Our Foundations. I am concerned about the vast biblical illiteracy that exists in our country in general and in our churches in particular. Truth is commonly seen by our culture as relative and not fixed. Often sentiments such as, "Well, that is your truth, but it's not my truth," are expressed by many. But if truth is absolute, then why not stand up for it? Why be embarrassed about it? What do you really believe about God, the Trinity, Christ, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell?
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9/22/2002
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Is Anybody Up There?
Hebrews 11:1-40;Romans 2:1-29
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We all remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her three friends come to approach the Great Oz. Out of the corner of their eye they notice a man pulling levers behind a curtain, working the mechanical, smoke-breathing Oz. The man then reacts by announcing, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" But how can they not? The man is the explanation for everything to them. They discovered that Oz didn't really exist! So how do we know that God exists and isn't a fabrication or projection of our own imaginations?
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9/29/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 1
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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In this series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, it's time to consider your own personal foundation. What is the final resting place for your cares, concerns, griefs, surprises and sorrows? Where do you turn for answers to life's deepest questions? What is your authority? How sure are you that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired Word of God? Can you articulate to others the difference between the Bible and other "sacred" religious works?
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10/6/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 2
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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Last week, we discovered exactly what the designation "Scripture" referred to and how books of the Bible were considered as part of the inspired text. We also learned what inspiration means and how God used humans in His process of having exactly what He wanted written down. But anyone can claim inspiration for their work. Yet how do we know that the Bible is the authentic Word of God? Moreover, how can we share with others its uniqueness so they, too, may listen to its message and apply it?
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10/13/2002
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The God Who Knows It All!
Psalm 139:1-6
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A little boy climbed his neighbor's apple tree when he saw their car leave. He didn't realize that while he was stuffing his pockets full of apples, another neighbor was watching through a pair of binoculars and saw the whole thing! God isn't spying on people, trying to catch them doing something wrong; but God is aware of everything. Such a truth has a profound effect on us: it can either be very comforting or else extremely unsettling.
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10/20/2002
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Are You a Big-Godder or a Little Godder?
Psalm 139:7-24
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11/10/2002
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Wholly Holy!
Skip Heitzig
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In this current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've considered some key attributes of the God we know and love. He is omniscient (knows everything); He is omnipresent (everywhere present); He is omnipotent (operates at full power). But there is another key attribute that is seldom considered, yet is fundamentally key in understanding the Bible—God's holiness. Let's observe one man's encounter with this holy God and what it means to us.
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11/17/2002
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Good Man, Mad Man, Con Man, or God-Man?
Matthew 16:13-17
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No other person from history has generated so much controversy and speculation, as well as written literature, as Jesus Christ. Theologians, philosophers, poets and pundits have all weighed in concerning who Jesus is. What is often forgotten is that Jesus can never be overestimated! John said that the, "world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25) about His accomplishments.
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12/1/2002
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A King Among the Critters
Luke 2:1-7
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In our current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've come to the person of Christ. Last time, we considered His identity; today, we contemplate His nativity. For the next few weeks, we'll look closely at Jesus' birth, His early years, ministry, and death on the cross, which was the very purpose of His birth. It's my hope that we'll all emerge with a fuller understanding of Jesus and a deeper desire to worship and serve Him. Today, let's look at the strange circumstances of His birth.
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12/8/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 1
Luke 2:1-52; Matthew 2:1-23
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Jesus' upbringing and boyhood has been the subject of much speculation and endless controversy throughout the centuries. Myths have developed about Jesus based (interestingly enough) on what isn't written. The Bible gives us five cameo glimpses of Jesus from early boyhood to age 30. We'll look at three of these today and then two more next week. We discover that Jesus' whole life was marked with purpose.
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12/15/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 2
Luke 2-3
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We don't give much thought to Jesus growing up, developing into adolescence and then into manhood. But of course He did. Luke is really the only New Testament author who gives us information about these early years. He speaks generally about Jesus' growth as well as specifically about Jesus' capacity as a young boy of 12. At each stage of His life, Jesus demonstrated He knew His purpose for His life on earth.
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12/22/2002
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A Lamb at the River
Matthew 3:1-17; John 1:1-51
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When Jesus turned 30, He presented Himself to the nation of Israel in public ministry. His first appearance, however, seemed so out of character for the kind of Messiah that people were anticipating. What was He doing getting baptized in a river with everyone else? John was about to find out—and so was everyone else.
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1/12/2003
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The Holy Spirit: Invisible, Personal, Powerful
John 14-16
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Today in our series Rediscovering Our Foundations, we consider the Holy Spirit. Most of us have heard of Him, but who is He exactly? What does He do? How important is the Holy Spirit to your personal life, your family life, your work or your leisure time? Perhaps A.W. Tozer was right when he said, "For multitudes of Christians profess today the Holy Spirit is not a necessity. They have learned to cheer their hearts and warm their hands at other fires." It is my sincere prayer that will change for us in the few weeks ahead.
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1/26/2003
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I Need Somebody, Help! Not Just Anybody
John 14-16
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To live one's life for God in an ungodly world sounds like mission impossible, right? It would be as if we had to do it without help. But be strengthened by this thought: God never intended for us to do it alone! That's why He has provided His people a Helper, the Holy Spirit. This ever-present divine Person is very busy helping God's people become all He wants them to be.
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2/2/2003
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Brand-Spankin' New Apostles!
Acts 1:1-8
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The legendary missionary to India, William Carey, didn't see obstacles; he saw opportunities. He was the "Let's go for it!" kind of guy. In fact, one of his most famous sayings was, "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God." Carey did both and saw results! The Holy Spirit can take ordinary men and women and do extraordinary things with them. He is the God who "makes all things new" (Revelation 21:5). Such a truth can only create a sense of wonder and excitement in the heart of a child of God. After all, what new thing could God do through you?
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2/9/2003
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Unholy Responses to the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:30
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You might say that we live in the "Age of the Holy Spirit." Jesus promised Him to us after He was done with His own earthly ministry. We have seen that He is very active both in the world among the unconverted and in the church among God's own people. But He has one overriding goal-to bring glory to Jesus Christ in every life. What does that mean to us? It means a total surrendering to Him. As Oswald Chambers said, "The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything." But what happens when people don't respond to Him rightly? Then what?
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2/16/2003
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How Can Three Be One?
Matthew 28:16-20
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1+1+1=1. Is this new math? No, it's the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. At the very heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is the belief that there is only One God. Yet the Bible clearly teaches the plurality within the Godhead—three persons who are distinct from one another yet perfectly One in essence. What are we to make of all this? Why is it important? And more fundamentally, how should it affect us personally?
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2/23/2003
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The Exceedingly Un-Holy Spirit
1 John 5:19
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Satan, the prince of darkness, has been around a long time. He has studied mankind for thousands of years, marking his strategies according to what he sees in us and what God's plan for the world is. He hates what God loves; he fights what God establishes. And let's remember, he's got help! Other spirit beings have joined his rebellion and control the system known in Scripture as the world. John even said, "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). What should we know about this arch-nemesis of God in order to stand against him?
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3/2/2003
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Touched by an Angel
Luke 1-2
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As even the title suggests, angels have become popular in modern culture. But whether we know it or not, we've all been "touched an angel." Martin Luther helped us to understand their role by remarking, "An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body, for the service of Christendom and of the church." He was partially correct, but angels serve an even greater role than being strictly for the church. Their ministry goes beyond us and is principally concerned with the glory and majesty of God.
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3/9/2003
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Man, Has God Got a Plan For You!
Genesis 1-3
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Alexander Pope once remarked that, "the chief study of man is man himself." That may be true, especially in our culture, but this could also be the reason why mankind is so desperate and spiritually thirsty. Looking only to ourselves rather than beyond ourselves can get pretty lonely! But why are we here? What is the purpose of mankind inhabiting this planet? How can I fulfill the God-given destiny that He originally designed for me?
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3/16/2003
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From Creation to Corruption
Genesis 2-3
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How did we, as the human race, get into the colossal mess we find ourselves in? Was it always this way? And what do Adam's actions, acted out so long ago, have to do with us in this modern technologically advanced age? Am I at all responsible? Can the effects ever be undone? Let's look at these issues in the opening chapters of Genesis.
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4/27/2003
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Church-Building 101
Matthew 16:13-20
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The church was God's idea; it was never man's notion. Jesus Christ is the founder, director, architect, owner and builder of the church. But there is an awful lot of confusion about what a church is supposed to look and function like. Today, we look at the first New Testament mention of the church and look at our spiritual origins. As we are Rediscovering Our Foundations, let's also rediscover our spiritual roots as the people of God.
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5/4/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 1
John 17
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The church is not a place, but a people (a called-out assembly of people who gather together and whose heartfelt conviction is that Jesus is Lord). Jesus laid claim on the church—it belongs to Him ("I will build My church"). So then, what does He want His church to be like? What should mark us overall? In Jesus' longest recorded prayer before His crucifixion, He prays for four characteristics that are to mark the people of God. Today we look at the first two.
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5/25/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 2
John 17
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Church shopping and church hopping have become one of American Christians’ favorite pastimes. We want a church that suits us, helps us, and pleases us. But since Jesus paid for it, it’s His church (Acts 20:28). So what does He want from us? What should the people of God be like? What ingredients and activities ought to be part of our makeup? In this series, Rediscovering our Foundations, we must rediscover the foundational purpose for our existence as His church.
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6/1/2003
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How to Build a Beautiful Body
1 Corinthians 12:3-22
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6/22/2003
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The Last Days
2 Peter 1-3
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On October 30, 1938, the day before Halloween, the novel War of the Worlds was made into a radio broadcast featuring Orson Welles. As millions of Americans were listening, the play was performed so it would sound like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars. Many thought they were hearing an actual news account of an invasion from Mars and concluded this was the end. Some even committed suicide as their final fatal act! In Rediscovering Our Foundations, what can we know about the last days of this world and what can we do to prepare?
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6/29/2003
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I'll Be Back
John 13:31-14:6
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A little boy was trying desperately to tell his friends about what Jesus' return would be like. He described Jesus' coming in glory as being "greater than Superman, Batman, and the Power Rangers put together!" Of course even that would be an understatement. Jesus came here 2000 years ago and then left; but He promised to return. What will it be like? What difference should it make to us right here, right now?
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7/6/2003
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The Burning Question
Revelation 20:11-15
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Hell is an eternal and biblical reality that has been relegated to the junk pile of modern myths. Woody Allen once said that hell is the abode of all people who annoy him. The word hell is used on a daily basis in people's dicey language patterns—usually as a fill-in expletive. Of all the Christian doctrines unfolded in Scripture, hell is the toughest one to handle. Most love the notion of a blissful heaven awaiting them; few cling to the idea of a literal hell to punish the lost.
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7/13/2003
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Heaven: Our Final Frontier
Revelation 21:1-27
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Captain Kirk and his starship Enterprise weekly traversed the galaxies on the famed Star Trek episodes. That was fiction! But one day you will inhabit the recreated millennial earth in a glorified body and then explore the vast kingdoms of heaven in the eternal state. That is reality! It will be so different than what you're used to that it's linguistically impossible to convey its vastness. But there's enough here to whet the appetite for heaven!
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There are 29 additional messages in this series.
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