Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you are a faithful God. You're a faithful God in so many respects, especially in the fact that you gave us the word of God, you inspired it. It is your truth to which we learn about you, we learn how to relate to one another, and you are faithful to see us to the end. Your promises are sure. Open up the word by the power of your Holy Spirit to illumine the minds and the hearts of your people, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. We're in John chapter 16, beginning at verse one. Today we're gonna look down through one, down through part of verse eight. And Jesus says here, These things I've spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogues, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do because they have not known the Father or me. But these things I've spoken to you that when the hour 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'm going to Him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper shall not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. As I've mentioned, this is the upper room discourse of Jesus, or some could say his farewell address to his disciples. He's told them already that he's going to go away and that they won't be able to follow. And they wanted to at first said, well, Lord, we want to follow you. He says, you can't, but you will come later. Judas has already left the supper to go and betray Jesus as prophesied. So why does Jesus say in John 16 one where he says, these things I've spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. Now these things we already saw in chapter 15 verses 18 and following in last week's message by the way, Jesus made it clear that the world is going to hate them. He is sending them out to the world and he says, when you go out to the world, they're gonna hate you. And here's why they're gonna hate you. Because they hated me first. And he says, they're gonna persecute you because of me. And Jesus said, the reason is, the servant's not greater than the master. If they've persecuted the master, which I am, they're gonna persecute you because you're the servant. So expect it. And he said, you're going to be hated He says the world hates Jesus because the world system is under the control of who Jesus said is the ruler of this world. He said the ruler of this world is coming, John 15. The ruler of this world is coming through Judas and the Sanhedrin to arrest him. He says, as you go out, he says that world system controlled by the devil is going to hate you and it will persecute you because Satan hates you. As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, he says, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And we see that in 1 Peter, we looked at that passage last week, 1 Peter 4, 12 and following, Peter says, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is to come upon you as though some strange thing was about to happen to you. It's going to happen, Jesus said it was going to happen, and it did happen, and it's to them. So, because Jesus says the world hates you, Fundamentally, for one reason, you're not of the world. You don't think like the world. You don't have the same value system. The world, like 1 John says, do not love the world, neither the things in the world. The love of the world is the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, et cetera. He says that is the world system. You're not of that. You're clean. You're not like Judas, who betrayed me. And so he says, expect Persecution. And so, but in John 15, 26, remember Jesus said, I'm going to send you the helper. And he defines here in John who the helper is. The helper is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the comforter. And when this comforter comes, he's going to guide you into all the truth. And When He's not only gonna guide you into all the truth, He will bear witness of the truth. He will bear witness of me because when He comes, He's not gonna glorify Himself. The Spirit comes to glorify Jesus. And Jesus says, yes, you're gonna bear witness of who I am because Jesus says, you've been with me. And because you've been with me, you've learned of me. And when I send you the comforter, he's gonna bring to your remembrance everything that I told you. And actually, you go through the book of Acts and the ministry after Jesus, you'll see the apostles saying, and they remembered what Jesus said. So he says, I'm not gonna leave you as an orphan. And so he says, in John 16, one, he says, I'm saying these things so that you will not stumble. In other words, I'm telling you in advance, you're gonna be persecuted. So I mean, you could understand why Jesus would say that, because if they thought everything was gonna be rosy, And all of a sudden, all this hatred comes upon them. They may not know how to deal with it, but Jesus says, part of the thing that I'm telling you is I've told you in advance, so you're not gonna be surprised. You can count on being persecuted. So, and of course, whatever Jesus says is true. All prophecy will come to pass, not maybe. It will most certainly come to pass. And if you and I think that we can live in this world and not suffer persecution as a Christian, we have deluded ourselves. And we are in a spiritual war, whether we like it or not. I mentioned that last week. Well, I don't wanna be in this world. Well, that's tough. The fact that when you called upon Jesus, your Lord and Savior, you signed up to receive everything that came against me, and I'm just telling you in advance, it's gonna happen to you. The servant is not greater than the master. So, he says, you're in a spiritual war, and when you go out and we bear witness of who Jesus is, when we go out into the public arena and make a stand for Jesus, we're gonna take hits. We're gonna take spiritual hits. Because Jesus says, that's what they did to me, and that's what they're gonna do to you. And I know most of you, I'm gonna put it in this phrase, you've been around the block a few times, just like I have, so you know what I'm talking about. You may be out there, you know the hatred that can come against you just on this abortion issue. You stand for saving unborn lives, there are gonna be people that will hate you for that. So you know what I'm talking about. We ought to expect it. So, but here's the thing. We need to make that public stand for Jesus. We need to be willing to do that. And Jesus was quite straightforward in Matthew 10, verses 32 and 33. He says, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father. But if you deny me before men, I'm gonna deny you before my father. So, and Jesus said something very hard in Luke 14. Luke 14 verse 25 and following says, all these crowds were following Jesus. And then all of a sudden Jesus turns to the crowd and he says something really, he says, look, if you come after me, unless you hate your father and mother, your brothers and sisters and your own life, you can't come after me. And unless you bear your cross, you can't come after me. You got to count the cost. Well, you can imagine, we already know from John six, people left following Jesus simply because When he said, you gotta eat my flesh and drink my blood, that offended some, and he said they walked with him no more. I'm sure there was a lot of people when Jesus said that, said, nah, I don't think, if that's what it's gonna be, I don't think so. When he said, bear your cross, they were aware of what that meant, because they had seen the Romans come and what the Romans did to people who were criminals, they crucified them is what they did. and they had to carry the cross. So they understood that. Jesus says, it's gonna cost you to make a stand for Jesus. Now Jesus said, in verse two here, he says, and as you read through the book of Acts, for example, You see this worked out, he says, they will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you thinks that he is offering service to God. Now that's what you're gonna expect to see. And all you have to do is go through the book of action, you're gonna see how this came to pass, especially on Paul's missionary journeys. He would often go first into the synagogue to reason with the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. But then he got growing hostility among the apostate Jews over that. We already know what happened to the blind man that Jesus healed, recorded in John 9. Remember, he goes out testifying, and the Sanhedrin, they're all upset with the blind man. Who healed you? Who healed you? Well, this man Jesus. And remember, they cast the blind man out of the synagogue because of being healed by Jesus. I love it, that passage in John 9, when it says, when Jesus heard that he got, that's what, they excommunicated him out. Remember, the parents of the blind man weren't willing to make that stand, because they didn't want to be cast out of the synagogue. But the blind man was. And sure enough, he was cast out. Now this is before Jesus is being executed, of course. So you can imagine what it's gonna be afterwards. They cast him out, and I love that passage in John nine where Jesus says, he came to search out the man that was blind. When it says, when he heard that he was thrown out of the synagogue, it's like Jesus says, I wanna find this disciple. Because here's a man who, knew that a wonderful thing happened to him, but he took a stand for me. So we see, we know what the Jews did, the attitude in Thessalonica, the hostility there when Paul went into the synagogue in Thessalonica. The Jews raised up a ruckus so much, they got the civil authorities to come after the apostles. So it's going to happen. We know from, for example, well, let me just say this. In John 16, three, well, he says in two, in verse two, when they kill you, they're gonna do it with the attitude they think they're doing God a service. You know who the best example of that is in the New Testament? Saul of Tarsus. the great apostle. Let me just tell you what Paul, after his conversion, what he says. He says, first of all, we know in Acts chapter seven, when Stephen was preaching, someone said his 10 minute sermon, if that's, I don't know how long it took, that would kill him. Because they will kill him. And it says, those Jews that thought he was blaspheming, they laid their robes, it says in Acts 7, 58, at the feet of a young man, Saul, who, and goes on to say that Saul says he was approving the execution of Stephen. And we know from Acts 7, 58, Saul of Tarsus's action, he was the great persecutor of the church. He was feared. And we're told that he says, for example, Paul says in Galatians 1 verse 13, he says, for you have heard of my conversation or my manner of life in times past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. And then, Paul says in Philippians 3 verse 6, he says, concerning Zeal, he says, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised on the eighth day, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning Zeal, a persecutor of the church. And so there was, at that time, he was the great persecutor. When it says zealous, Saul thought he was doing a service to God by going after those Christians. That's what he thought. That's his own testimony. And that great passage recorded in Acts 9 when Jesus, He's on the road to Damascus. And why was he on the road to Damascus? He was carrying documents to go and arrest Christians in the synagogue in Damascus and drag them back by chains to Jerusalem to put them on trial. That's where he was going. I mean, that's why they feared him. He would hunt you down. He was like the Jewish bounty hunter. He's gonna find you and he's gonna get you. And that great passage in Acts 9 where Jesus meets him, you know, in that spectacular way, blinds them, speaking to him. And it's interesting to remember what Jesus said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why did Jesus say me? Well, if you persecute my church, you persecute me. And then, I mean, in that amazing conversion experience, we see that Jesus makes the great persecutor of the church who thought he was doing a service to God, he transforms him into the great apostle to the Gentile world. Now, in John 16, three, we read here, it says, and these things they're going to do to you Why? Because they've not known me. They haven't known the Father or me. But these things I've spoken to you that when the hour comes you may remember I told you of them and these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. The reason I'm warning you of this because I'm leaving you and I'm preparing you for my absence. This is the way it's gonna be. And so, now when he says the reason they're gonna be persecuting you again is because they have not known the Father and they haven't known me. You know, we saw in John 8, 47, this is the great passage to memorize. Jesus says, he who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them because you're not of God. It had not been given to them. They were antagonistic. And it says, you can't hear because you don't belong. You're not my sheep. Remember what Jesus said in John 10? We saw that in John 10, verses 25 to 27. Jesus says, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name. They bear witness of me, but you do not believe because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." Well, who are the sheep? Well, of course, they're the elect of God. They're the ones in John 6. It says, who has given them to me and all those who my father has given to me, I will not cast out and I will raise them up on the last day. If you don't believe in me, here's the reason. You don't have the understanding because you're still in darkness. It hasn't been granted to you. Of course, it's their responsibility. Unbelief, we can't blame God for unbelief. It's our fault if we don't believe in Jesus. Jesus says, I'm prophesying these things because there's an hour coming and you will remember what I told you. And it says, it will be like when Jesus said about himself, when they come to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus says, I'm saying this for the hour is coming in your life. Now when Jesus, after he was praying in the garden, and the Sanhedrin comes with Judas to arrest him, Luke 22, 53 records what Jesus, only Luke does this, records what Jesus said. He says, when I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. It's been given over to you, and they arrested him. So Jesus says, I didn't say all these things when I was with you from the beginning, but I am telling you now to prepare you. Now take a look at John 15, 5 and 6. He says, but now I'm going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Now it may seem odd because in chapter 15, they were upset when Jesus says, I'm leaving, you can't follow me. Peter says, I wanna come. The other says, I wanna come. He says, no, no, you can't. But all of a sudden now, Jesus is saying, you're not even asking the question any longer about can we come. He says, and here's the reason, the sorrow has filled your heart so much, you're not even asking it anymore. You're filled with grief. And because you're filled with grief, Jesus is compassionate towards them and he says, Okay, but I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage I go away. I know it hurts you. I know you're in grief that I'm going away. But listen to me, it's better that I go away for you. Far better that I go away, that I'm leaving you. Because when I leave, I'm gonna send someone who will be with you all the time. And he says, the great advantage of me leaving is I'm sending you the helper, the comforter. In other words, the Holy Spirit. Now he begins to tell them why It is a blessing to them that he goes away. Why? It's an advantage. Here's the advantage. We get the Holy Spirit in a way that none others ever had ever had the Holy Spirit. Because I will send him to you, thinking of the day of Pentecost, and as I've said on other occasions, Pentecost changed everything. He came with such a power to the disciples. They who were formerly cowards weren't cowards anymore. They were bold for the cause of Christ. Well, how do you explain that? Because the power of the Holy Spirit's come upon them. So he says, what a blessing to have the Holy Spirit with us. And we need to understand that for the church, it's far better that we have the Holy Spirit's presence than if we were in the time of Jesus walking with him. I've said this on other occasions. Oh, wouldn't it have been wonderful to sit under the feet of Jesus and hear him preach and to see these things with our own eyes? Wouldn't that be wonderful? Well, yeah, that was wonderful. But it's more wonderful what we've got. We have God, the Holy Spirit, in us in a powerful way that will see us through the tough times, that will give us the hope when it seems everything's at loss, he will inspire us with a hope. It's the Holy Spirit who does all these things to us. Oh, it's far better to have the Holy Spirit now and not be bodily present with Jesus. Because when he was bodily present, remember, Jesus had a human body and he had to walk where he went. So he had to walk from point A to point B and he could get tired. And he couldn't be everywhere present at the same time because he was limited by his body. But guess what? When he was raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God the Father at his ascension, and from where he sends the Holy Spirit, guess what? He is everywhere present now through the Holy Spirit. Wow, what a blessing. It's far better what we have now. Now, he says here, When there are three things that when the Spirit comes, here's what the three things the Spirit's gonna do. Through your ministry, basically, is what he's saying. He's gonna convict or convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. That's what he's gonna do. Remember, Jesus is sending them out to bear witness. And as they go out to bear witness, they're gonna be persecuted. But this Spirit who's with you, this Spirit is gonna convince men of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So how does the Holy Spirit accomplish this? How does the Spirit convict or convince men of sin? Well, in one sense, to convict or to convince, this term is fundamentally a legal term, meaning that's the thrust of its usage. It expresses or demonstrates a guilt. In other words, a good way to view it is that it awakens men to a consciousness of their guilt. That's what the Holy Spirit's gonna do. one of the things that he's going to do. And Jesus shall give the world the most powerful means of convicting the world, for the apostles are gonna go out into all the world, and they're gonna preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, and They're gonna bear witness of who Jesus is, and they're gonna be backed by the Holy Spirit, who will speak to them through, well, let's put it this way. God will speak to these men and will convict these men through your preaching. Now in Romans 10, that great passage in Romans chapter 10, Verses 13 and following, it says, whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved. Well, he says, but you gotta hear in order to be saved. Well, how can you hear? Well, you gotta hear Jesus preach. You know, as we've said before, you've said it, I've said it, our preaching's not gonna help anybody per se. The only preaching that's gonna help somebody is Jesus' preaching. But here's the thing, when we faithfully preach the Word of God, you're not hearing men, you're hearing Jesus preach. And the Holy Spirit, remember Hebrews 4.12 says that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to the divining asunder of soul and body, And it works in such a way there that when they preach faithfully, the word of God, the gospel, the Holy Spirit will take that preaching and then drive it home into the hearts of those who hear. We've mentioned before Why is it that the Thessalonians believed the preaching of Paul as opposed to the other itinerant preachers who came through Thessalonica? Because he wasn't the only one that ever came through. And in 1 Thessalonians 2, it says, when they heard Paul preach, they understood it was the very word of God. Wow, they know that. What Thessalonians says is because the Spirit convinced them. 1 Thessalonians 1.5, the Spirit convicted them. And so, I guess the, well before I mention the impact of Pentecost, let me mention this. The Spirit is sent to convince men of sin, not merely to tell them about it. It's more than just telling them. It is pressing in upon them that they are guilty. Now it says the Holy Spirit's gonna convict men of sin. How does the Bible define sin? Well, one place. 1 John 3, 4. Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. In the preaching of the gospel, preachers expose men, where the Holy Spirit uses their preached word, to expose men to the guilt of their sin and the consequences of their sin. That's why we say, well, I was convicted. or someone, I mean, Christians talk about it all the time. Well, I was convicted by that sermon. I mean, God really used that in my life. Well, there are many testimonies of non-believers under the preaching of the word who heard the word and were convicted. I've told the story before. It's one of the great stories of my great-great-grandfather, William Ottis, in the diary. He talks about he would do outdoor preaching, and he went to one of these little towns, and there was this guy who hated him, my great-great-granddad hated him, hired a man to run him out of town. He said he was a, my grandfather said he was a man of the baser sort, quoting Acts. So when this thug came to run him out, he heard him preach, and you know what happened. He got saved. And he said he became a faithful believer and eventually became a Baptist preacher for 50 years. The man hired to run him out of town. Do you think he was expecting to get saved that day? But he did. And why did he get saved? Because the Holy Spirit came obviously with convicting power. And so we see here You know, no one is, when it says he will convict the world of sin, no one is saved ever who doesn't need, who doesn't understand that they need a Savior. The only reason I would come to Christ is that I've come to see, I need a Savior. Why? If I'm not a sinner bearing the consequences of sin, why do I need a Savior? You know, as we've mentioned this before, when you go out to evangelize, you're going to see that people, the basic attitude that here's what I have found, here's where most people are, they're of a good works mentality. It's the old idea, I believe that God's gonna cut me a break, that my good works gonna outweigh my bad, so he's gonna cut me a break. So I have to inform them, God isn't in the deal of cutting breaks with people with regard to his law. And here's what we have to do, whether we're official preachers or we're a Christian faithfully bearing witness, we have to completely obliterate that mentality that we're gonna make it by our good works. You know, because here's the thing, we have to establish between people, we got a holy God who has a holy standard, and here you are, a sinful man who has violated God's standard. And God takes that violation pretty serious. In fact, James says, James 2.10, whoever keeps the whole law and yet violates the law on one point has become guilty of all of them. And so, and then Paul says in Romans 3, 19 and 20, he says, whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that the whole world, he says that your mouths might be stopped and that the whole world become accountable to God. For by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. For by, through the law comes the knowledge of sin. I mean, and we know what Paul said in Galatians 3.10. All those who are of the works of the law are under a curse. Cursed are all those who do not abide by all things written in the law to perform them. So here's God's standard. I'm a holy God. I don't cut deals. There's no plea bargaining with me. You violate my law, all you have to do is violate it one time and it's over. And the scripture says the wages of sin is death, eternal death. That's my standard. And so what we see, men have to come to understand who they're dealing with. And they're not going to be convicted of their sin until they understand the gravity of their sin. And it's our responsibility to point that out. Let me just tell you an example. It was two years ago out at the fairground, when the fair was in October. We went out evangelizing, and I remember I came up to a guy, we got talking, and in our conversation, he at least admitted to be a sinner. But he still had that mentality, maybe God, I know I'm a sinner. I said, well, how bad do you think you're a sinner? And he said, well, you know. I said, let me ask you this. Well, Jesus says in Matthew 5, 27, 28, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. I said, are you ever guilty? Well, who is it? I said, yeah, you're probably right. Well, you wanna know how serious that is? You wanna know how serious that is before God? You just violated his law and cursed are you if you don't abide by all things written in the law. Now, you want me to tell you the good news, how you can get out of that, this dilemma? I'll tell you, and I don't tell them about Jesus. Now, he didn't give his life to Jesus that day, but he came to least to understand, oh yeah, I know I'm guilty, but I'm not sure I'm that guilty. We had to show him, no, you really are really guilty. And then, of course, Jesus in Matthew 5, 24 says, you have heard it said that, you know, Whoever murders someone ought to be convicted before liable to the court. Jesus says, I'm telling you, if you're angry with your brother, you're liable to the Supreme Court, even to the fires of hell. Whoa, that's pretty serious. See, we got this standard. and the world out there has this standard, yeah, sin is bad, but it's not all that bad. I remember I was in Corpus Christi, I had a guy trying to sell us a Kirby vacuum cleaner, and he finally admitted, you know, as we're talking with him, he finally admitted that, yeah, I need to get back in church, and he was at the Catholic church, and I said, hold on a second, I got some good news and bad news for you. I came, I said, Because he made the comment, he says, yeah, I'm bad, but I'm not as bad as most people. I said, hold on. Believe it or not, I actually had my Bible opened to James 2.10 in my study, where it says, whoever keeps the whole law and yet offends in one point the guilty of all, I said, now, I'm gonna tell you the bad news. The bad news is, Joe down here, who you think you're better, he's not gonna be your judge on the last day. He's not your judge. Jesus is your judge. And if you're not covered, if you're not covered with the blood of Jesus, it's not gonna go well with you. But let me tell you how it can go well with you. So here's the good news. Sinners, the Holy Spirit's ministry with the disciples is that he goes with his preachers and he will convict them of the guilt of their sin. Now you know, probably one of the foremost, greatest examples of that in the New Testament? The day of Pentecost. Acts chapter two. Peter in his great sermon he's preaching, after the Holy Spirit's fallen on him, So they're already been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he preaches this great sermon. And in this sermon, in verses 22 and 23, he says, God predestined this Jesus to be put to death, whose hands you were guilty. Then he starts talking about how David was a prophet, testifying that there would be one who would sit on his throne who would not see corruption. And it says David spoke of the resurrection. And you know what verse Peter quotes on the day and that sermon to this crowd? He quotes part of Psalm 110. Now, let me just read to you what Psalm 110 verses one through three says. which is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament, by the way, show you the significance of Psalm 110. Here's what the text says. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. The Lord will stretch forth thy strong scepter, from Zion saying, rule in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people will volunteer freely in the day of thy power. The scepter, the symbol of regal authority. You will rule, you're gonna put all your enemies under your feet. Rule in the midst of your enemies and thy people will volunteer freely in the day of whose power? Thy power. There's a reason why Peter quoted Psalm 110 there at the day of Pentecost. This Jesus whom we have seen who is crucified is seated at the right hand of glory. Well, you wanna know what the response was? Just turn over to Acts chapter two, and you see the response to Peter's sermon. It's glorious. Well, verse 36, he says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified. Oh, he lays it to him. He says, you're guilty. Probably many of those were there. There may have been there when They cried out, remember Pilate offered Barabbas or Jesus and crowd said, we'll take Barabbas and we're willing to have his blood on us and our children. So there was probably some, Peter says, no, you crucified him by your hostility, your hatred. Yeah, you crucified him. Well, what was the response? Well, here's the response. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. What's the word of God sharper than any two-edged sword that goes down to the dividing and sundering of the heart, bone, and marrow? Oh, it got him. And said Peter, brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, be saved from this perverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized that day, about 3,000 souls. How did they come to believe? They came to believe in the guilt of their sin, what shall we do? Yeah, we're guilty. Well, repent. And so what we see here, Jesus said, as we conclude, Jesus said, I'm leaving you, I know you're sorrowful, but it's gonna be better that I go away. Because when I go away, I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit. He already said that Holy Spirit's gonna abide with you forever. And that Holy Spirit is gonna bear you up to be a good witness of me. And when they throw you out of the synagogues, and when they spit on you and they hate you, all you have to do is go look, Go read sometimes 2 Corinthians 11 and just see what Paul says happened to him in his ministry to the Gentile world. It's unbelievable how that guy even survived. He says, but I will be with you and I will see you through the end. And when you preach, my spirit will do his convicting work. Next week, we'll talk about what it means he will convict of righteousness and judgment. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What a blessing it is to have the Holy Spirit. So we ask that you would encourage us today that no matter what we're going through, Whatever the difficulty is, you can see us through because the Holy Spirit's ministering. We magnify you, oh triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us now as we depart. In Jesus' name, amen.