Grace Fellowship Church

1. Pastor/TeacherJim Rickard Tuesday, May 17, 2011 Grace Fellowship Church www.GraceDoctrine.org

2. DoxologyPraise God, from whom all blessings flow;Praise Him, all creatures here below;Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.—Amen.

3. Memory Verse1 Cor 13:13 “But now abide (live forever) faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

4. John 16:8-11The Convicting Ministry of God the Holy Spirit:Sin, vs. 9Righteousness, vs. 10Judgment, vs. 11

5. Vs 9, “Man-ward” side of the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry “sin”; the sin of unbelief which is the unpardonable sin and the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

6. Vs 10, “Christ-ward” side of the Spirit’s ministry represented in “righteous-ness”, the opposite of sin, found in the person and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Vs 11 “Satan-ward” side of the Spirit’s ministry represented in “judgment”; the judgment of sins in the Person of Jesus Christ which defeated and condemned Satan once and for all time.

8. John 16:8-11, “And He (God the Holy Spirit), at His coming, (the Church Age), will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment. 9On the one hand, concerning the sin (of unbelief), because they (the world), habitually / customarily do not believe in Me, 10on the other hand concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you all will no longer see Me, 11even concerning the act of judgment, because the ruler of this world is (has been and continues to be), judged.”

9. Operating according to what Christ has accomplished, the Spirit convicts men concerning:

10. Their sin of unbelief in Christ, concerning the righteousness that is found in Christ alone, and concerning the judgment over Satan accomplished by Christ on the Cross.

11. These three things comprise the whole of His agency, in the conversion of sinful men in what is called Common and Efficacious Grace.

12. Because man is born spiritually dead, he cannot be effective at two points in his life as an unbeliever:

13. a. At the point of gospel hearing, the unbeliever is totally helpless and cannot have a relationship with God.

14. He is dichotomous, and cannot understand spiritual phenomena, 1 Cor 2:14. That is why the Common Grace ministry of God the Holy Spirit is necessary.

15. b. At the point of faith in Christ, he is spiritually dead and can do nothing to gain spiritual life. That is why the Efficacious Grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary at the point of believing.

16. 1 Cor 2:14, “But a natural (soulish) man (unbeliever) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because it (the gospel) is spiritually appraised.”

17. The two enabling ministries of the Holy Spirit in evangelism are compared to breathing.

18. a. The inhale: the unbeliever listens to the gospel, while the Holy Spirit makes it perspicuous under Common Grace.

19. b. The exhale: the unbeliever believes in Christ, and the Holy Spirit under Efficacious Grace, makes faith effective for salvation.

20. Common Grace:

21. 1. Common Grace is the Spirit’s universal ministry to all of mankind by making the Gospel of Jesus Christ real and understandable to them.

22. 2. In evangelism and personal witnessing, the Holy Spirit is the sovereign executive. He will only use what is accurate and true in the field of Biblical soteriology.

23. 3. Just as a living person cannot communicate with a dead person, neither can an evangelist make perspicuous the gospel to the spiritually dead unless under Common Grace.

24. 4. In the function of C.G., the Spirit acts as a human spirit to enable the spiritually dead unbeliever to comprehend the gospel.

25. 5. The unbeliever may hear the gospel, but he must be willing to listen to the gospel for Common Grace to function.

26. The volition of the unbeliever provides the non‑meritorious willingness to listen, while GtHS provides comprehension of the facts.

27. 6. The first mention of common grace in the Bible is found in Gen 6:3. “Striving,” = DIYN, “to judge, contend, plead”, that is, making lucid, clarifying gospel information.

28. 7. Eph 1:13 is the exegetical presentation of human volition in the doctrine of Common Grace.

29. Eph 1:13, “In whom you also (when an unbeliever), when you heard (common grace) the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed, you were sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit (Efficacious Grace).”

30. a. There are two acts of human volition in common grace; hearing the gospel and concentrating on it. You have to want to hear the gospel and concentrate on its presentation.

31. When you do, God the Holy Spirit will make that gospel information real in your soul so that you now have information on which to make a decision.

32. He makes gospel information comprehensible to the spiritually dead unbeliever.

33. Grace Fellowship ChurchTuesday, May 17, 2011Tape # 11-058Convicting Ministry of God the Holy SpiritCommon GraceUpper Room Discourse, Part 508John 16:11; Gen 6:3; 1 Cor 2:14; Eph 1:13James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2011