We've been speaking over these last few weeks about God's presence amongst us, and I think most of us have felt the strangeness and wonder of the fact that God chooses to be with us. I can preach sermons on it, but I don't know that I ever get used to the fact that God chooses in His benevolence and kindness and His grace to actually be present amongst us. And as we're going to see today, not only to be present amongst us, but to be so present to us that he takes us up into his purpose so that we don't want to be about our own thing, but we'd rather be about his thing. That is really quite something that God does by being upon his people. We often have what I might call a circumstantial sense of God's presence. What do I mean by that? You're in a tough spot, you call out and God comes and the thing works out. Is that fairly common? And why shouldn't we? It's well enough that we might call on God for all kinds of things in our exigencies, but it's what I call a circumstantial knowledge of God's presence. Our knowledge of God's presence has to be by his word to our conscience. That's what's going to be very important today because we're going to be talking about an alien presence. The song that we sang said, for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. That's eloquently said. He's out there and he's got you in his sights. He's more a colloquial Australian. That is, the devil seeks to destroy us. And not only so, but he seeks to take this entire creation along with him. Later on, this song also says that we've just sung the Prince of Darkness Grimm. There he is, the Prince of Darkness, grimly tremble not for him. So how can it be that we can be in this world and be able to be so sustained that we can be fully aware and sometimes all too painfully aware of this presence of evil powers in this present creation and not tremble? One remembers so frequently, of course, the words of Jesus to Peter, let not your heart be troubled. The reason why he was telling him not to be troubled was because of Peter's own demise. He was going to deny the Lord. But he could equally have trembled had he fully been aware of what was going on in the very group of disciples. I was going to mention this later but it's come up now. Satan had entered Judas. That changes the group dynamics. There are all sorts of reasons why the disciples could have trembled. And of course earlier on Jesus said that he himself was troubled. and he was troubled. The word troubled is used again about Judas's departure. If we knew what Satan was up to, perhaps we'd tremble more than we do. But nonetheless, the presence of evil is amongst us. What has God done? Well, we do need to know that he is present. Both these readings that we have read today don't exactly mention presence, but they both have to do with the fact that we live amongst an evil presence and on the other hand we are inhabited and blessed by the Holy Spirit to have the ministry that we do have. I wonder if we are becoming accustomed, how can I put this, I don't want us ever to become accustomed to God's presence, but I wonder if we have become habituated in the knowledge of God's presence. because I do believe that that's what God wants to do. If the effect of this series of messages has had any effect on me, and I hope it has, it would be that God's presence is not for special times, though it is for special times, but it's for special times because it's for all the time. There's not a day in which we do not need to know the presence of God. There's not a moment of our life nor a responsibility we have for which we are sufficient of ourselves. And we do need to know that God is present. The Lord has settled the matter for us. He said, lo, that means, I guess, that's the old way of putting it. It means, look. Where do we look? Well, we look at ourselves and we look at our potential and so forth. But Jesus says, look, look at this. I'm with you always. to the end of the age. So we better obey, hadn't we, and look and know that, and not just at special times, but all the time that our Lord is with us to the end of the age, because we are needing that for our life. So God's presence, what I want to say now is that when God comes amongst his people, and I'm saying this as a preliminary thing because it comes up in both readings and I think it's good to draw attention to it immediately, and that is that God's presence is a justifying presence. What do I mean by that? Well we usually talk about justification and say it happens by the grace of God, it happens through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, all of which is true. But you remember in talking earlier on about the Holy Spirit we said that when Israel was promised the forgiveness of sins, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and you will receive, it should be in a logical course of a sentence, you will receive what you were baptized for, the forgiveness of sins. You remember that? But what do you receive? The gift of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness is conveyed to us as a presence. God doesn't say, OK, get the eraser out and scrub out the bad marks in the copy book up in heaven. He actually comes to live with the creature whom he has accepted. That's the way in which forgiveness was conveyed on the day of Pentecost. It's always the way that forgiveness is conveyed by his own coming as a presence. It's always been the same way. I've never thought of this before, but God came to Abram, true? And God was a God for him of his whole life, because he left one life to have another life. He was also the God of special events, because he had to go out and attack Chattelaoma in chapter 14. And he came back and regained all the booty that had been taken from Lot and all the other five cities around about where Abram was. But it's very interesting, God then came and proclaimed his name to him, said, I am your shield and exceeding great reward. Now, if God came to me and said, Grant, I'm your shield and exceeding great reward, I'd be, I'd be, I'd be wrapped. And the fact is he has. So we'd better be wrapped, hadn't we? That is, for those who don't understand Australian, that means pretty pleased. So the Lord came to him, but he says, what shall I have that I go childless? How much does a guy want? He wants the fulfillment of God's promise. And so God says to him, have a look at the stars. So should your children be. And then something happened. God made a promise and in that promise he conveyed himself to Abram. And Abram in himself found it in his heart to believe in that God and a relationship was there. You see, God's coming is a justifying presence. From that day, Abram knew that God regarded him as righteous. So much was not fulfilled. You think of what makes us feel uneasy about ourselves. So much we haven't done in life, true? God, you're exceeding great reward. Yeah, that's all right. But God is the one who regards you now as full with whom he wants to be. God's presence is a justifying presence. Take Israel. Go on in history. And God came amongst his people. He tabernacled amongst them. He tented amongst them, to use the ordinary word. He tented amongst them. Yes, but what was at the centre of that tent? If you like, what was the entry point for that tent? It was a place of sacrifice where they could make their sacrifices and they would burn their sacrifices and they would make atonement for their sins. They would offer to God an offering for their sins. In other words, that's what ought to happen to me. But it's happened to the lamb instead. And then they said their sins shall be forgiven. God's presence amongst his people was a forgiving presence. You tell me a day in which you don't need to know that presence. You tell me what happens to you when you're trying to process your own sinfulness and what kind of a person you become and how approachable you are and how useful you are to other people. We need God's justifying presence. So God was present amongst these people in Israel. Take the church. We've already looked at the church when the spirit came. He came to convey to Israel the reality that their sins were forgiven and it was conveyed by the very presence of God amongst them. And in fact you could turn to Romans chapter 5 verse 5 and it says there that the love of God is shared abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. So on the day of Pentecost and every time a person turns to the Lord, the Spirit of God comes conveying to that person the forgiveness of sins. What's that actually doing? Well, the very love of God is being shared abroad in their hearts. You look at the context in which Romans 5.5 comes, and we've done this before, it's like the beautiful ham in a great bread sandwich. You know what I mean? What's the bread? Well, being justified by faith, access to God, peace with God, access to grace, and rejoice in hope of sharing the glory of God. What comes after it? God commends his love to us while yet sinners Christ died for us. Do you understand what the conveying of the love of God to our hearts actually is by the Holy Spirit? It's justification. Right there in the middle, God says, I am justifying you by the offering of my son. That's the first half and the bottom half. If you're watching on, it's here. The first half and the last half of Romans 5, you don't see. But in between it says, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit's coming isn't just a small thing. That is the coming of God. to the creatures he loves, not just to be a presence, but to pour out his love into, for and into and through his creatures. Is there a day then that you and I don't need the presence of God, that is the justifying presence of God. So with those things in mind, we come to Revelation and chapter 12. Because here there's another alien presence, And when you dip into a book like Revelation, it's always a bit tricky. But Revelation 12, I've been told, is one of the most agreed passages in Revelation as far as interpretation is concerned. In other words, it's not hard. In one sense, it could be a key to opening up other parts of the book for us. And so Revelation 12, we didn't read the first few verses, and I'm going to read them now. A great sign appeared. Verse 3, another sign appeared. In chapter 15, another sign in heaven appeared. So there's three signs, so that ties all those chapters together. But here, the first great sign, in other words, a sign is an apparition, it is an appearance, it is a figure, if you like, it is a vision. But it's conveying something that is very, very real. So, a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And then the second sign appeared in heaven, a great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns and on his head seven diadems. And his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Well, you've got it now, haven't you? The male child is Jesus Christ, can't be anything different. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. You can't miss that, can you? It's already gone to heaven, seated at the right hand of God. So there's the easy part of the interpretation, if you like, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God in which she used to be nourished for 1260 days. Great sign then, a woman clothed with the sun. Where do you have the sun and the moon and 12 stars in a Bible story? There's more allusions to the Old Testament in the book of Revelation than there are verses. It's just drenched with Old Testament references. So, where do you have... Joseph? It's Joseph's dream, so we won't go into the details of Joseph's dream. But effectively, when you have a woman and she's clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and the head of a crown of 12 stars, you're saying this has got to be something to do with Israel. That's clear enough, is it? That's without going into any more detail. With what or with whom is Israel pregnant? with a Christ child in the first instance, yes and ultimately the church, but first of all with a Christ child. Very interesting. Very interesting that the story, the history of Israel can be summarised as a pregnant woman. A whole history of thousands of years can be summarised in one image. The purpose of Israel is to bear a child. It's there right in the Garden of Eden. The woman's seed will bear a son. It's there with Abraham. It's there with Isaac and Jacob. It's there so often through the history, a child will be born. A child will be born. Yeah, but the child isn't born. But the child will be born. And so, through Israel's history, their whole purpose in life, if you like, as a history, was to be the womb of the Christ child by whom all the nations would be blessed. Quite something isn't it? Can you see how thoroughly when God comes amongst his people to be present amongst them, he is taking them forward in his purpose for the whole creation. Can you see what we are in? God has come amongst us. And just as he called up Israel to be his people, so that through his people, a people may be prepared who would understand what a Messiah would do. Well, they didn't, but all the materials were there for them to understand who the Christ would be and to be ready for that coming of the Christ. And so we have the fact that Christ, that was their purpose. Secondly, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and on his head, seven diadems. His tail swept down. We're pretty obviously talking about the devil, aren't we? Later on, it's said specifically, the great dragon, the ancient serpent, that is right from Genesis chapter three, who is called the Devil and Satan, so he's got all his names, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, so he's itemised for us very clearly, isn't he? With seven heads and ten horns, can you see that God has his presence in this creation and his presence to us has the face of Jesus? Wonderful. On the other hand, Satan cannot bear to have God as father of this creation and the only way in which he wants to be a father, but the only way he can ever get the creation to follow him instead is to try and be a father. Pretty terrible father, but nonetheless he has to do the things that trap us into his family. And so he acts as a father so as to bring us into his kingdom. And we haven't got time to open up all of Revelation and show how just as God has come to us in his son, so Satan as father comes to us in the beast. And just as there is a Holy Spirit who takes the things of Christ and opens them up to us, so there is a second beast who does great works in the presence of the first beast. and so as to make people believe in the first beast. Can you see a surrogate trinity? If Satan wants to be a father of this world, as he does, then he has to act like God. He can't originate anything. Only God knows how to be God. And he is all of who he is as father, son and spirit is wonderfully bestowed upon us so that we may know no God as Father, we may be inhabited by the Spirit, we may be able to look at Jesus Christ and know that there is our God. All of that is ours, as people who receive Father, Son and Spirit. But here Satan, in order to gather the nations after himself, must act like God as Trinity. And so we have all this manifestation of evil through the world, but behind it this Trinity of evil seeking to gain people after himself, and in particular by a false word. The way in which God's presence works is by God's speech. That's why it's so important not to just have smoochy kind of feelings about God's presence. God articulates. He speaks. If you want to know God's presence, you listen. You don't necessarily look. Do you understand that? And so right from the beginning, the presence of Satan was made known by a serpent who spoke and spoke an alien word. So the presence is very, so the word is very important. Now we have these ghastly images, and in particular in the part that we read, there was a war arose in heaven, but first I just want to simply say that these are fearsome images, aren't they? You think of the nasty things that actually happen out in the world by way of torture and by way of people being just plain mean and nasty. And you look at this and you think, what about a dragon waiting to consume a newborn child, with all the delicacy of a newborn child, with all the affection of a mother for this child, and there's just a dragon waiting to chew it up. It's all fearsome, isn't it? And Satan, well, may be thought of as fearsome. And some of us have known something of that, haven't we? The fearsomeness of Satan, he's more than we can manage. However, I think it's helpful to say, necessary to say, that while this imagery is here, it's here as a revelation. In other words, Satan doesn't always present as a dragon. And this is kind of like a, you know, a revelation means it's apocalypsis, it means an unveiling. Pull aside the curtains behind this sweet little image that's being a temptation to you. Behind this fearsome thing that's kind of sort of a human, got a human face to us, draw aside the curtain and you see what's really going on. So we need the fearsome image to know what's really going on behind the scenes, but it comes to us in such by way of fleshly pose. You know, it's that guy down the street. I'd be fine if it wasn't for him. You know, and we we think, in fact, that human beings are an enemy. No, pull aside the curtains behind every human dilemma. lies malevolent, that means really nasty, working of Satan and his cohorts. It may present to us as the most seductive and attractive of images and the most innocuous, that is the least dangerous. It couldn't do you any harm at all, it's just something I do privately. Oh no, there's no such thing as an innocuous fleshly action. Beware of fleshly lusts which war, that's angry words, war against the soul. What you do in private affects you publicly. So Satan works in all manner of ways in order to gather us after himself as a false father. But the purpose as we've said of Israel was to be the bearer of the Christ And here has been Satan always seeking to destroy. You say, how does what's what possible meaning could that have? Well, just go back to the story of Esther. Just think of the king Ahasuerus and just think of Haman, was it the the evil fellow who just couldn't stand Mordecai. Now, pardon me if you've not read this great story, but it's a good incentive to go home and read it on a good Sunday afternoon. Makes good, good reading for a Sunday afternoon. The story of Esther. Here you have this malevolent fellow called Haman and his ambition is to destroy the whole Jewish race. Anti-Semitism isn't new. It's been around at least since then and before. Why is it around? We look for evil enemies, for human situations that might actually cause there to be such a thing as anti-Semitism. But what's behind it? Pull aside the curtains. There's a dragon wanting to stop this Christ getting born. That's behind it all. So you have the story of Esther, you could go to the story of Daniel, you could go to the story of Herod. Why does a man take it upon himself to kill all the children under two years of age so that he can at least get rid of this one that threatens to him as a king? How insecure can you be? Well, everybody that doesn't know that Christ is insecure. Everybody who doesn't know Christ doesn't know the face of God. Everybody who doesn't know the face of God doesn't know that they're justified. And everybody who doesn't know that they're justified has to make a life for themselves. Everybody who has to make a life for themselves has to fight everybody else who's got a life for themselves. and you could go on, couldn't we? And you could extend that out to nations. Oh, how important it is to know the presence of God and how important it is to know the justifying presence of God. Well, what's the story here? It goes on and says, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now, you see, just when the story is at its worst, you know, here's this dragon and now the child's been caught up and And now the woman's fled into the wilderness. But now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon is angels fought back and he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. Now this is a vision. And so let's just take it as a vision. But what is the vision actually saying? I find it quite interesting that God didn't throw the devil out. Michael and his angels did. Isn't that interesting? that they could see. I mean, angels don't see everything. And part of what angels know, they learn from looking at us. Things into which angels long to look. So they look at us. You see, they look at what God's done amongst us. So here these angels look at what God's done in the cross for his own son. And they say, that's it. You guys don't belong here anymore. So they take up the battle. And they oust these other angels and say you don't belong anymore. So however it is that Satan previously has a place here and now he doesn't have a place. I don't understand all the if you like the interplanetary kind of spatial elements of all of that. But what I do know is that the one who has the power to accuse me doesn't have access to the one who matters. He's been thrown out. And he'd been thrown out by the people who realized that he needed to be thrown out. It's important to understand what the angels do, because then we do exactly the same thing. You see, have a look at what how the story goes. Now, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers being thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. So what does it mean that this one has been thrown down? Well, again, Jesus is the one who knows it all about it. And you remember was that when he his 70 disciples came back after doing all sorts of things that he'd given them authority to do, he said, I beheld Satan falling, as it were, from heaven. There was an apocalypsis for Jesus, an opening up of what was really happening here. Now, it wasn't just he that was going forward with the message of God, but it was his disciples who is training up, going out with the message of God. He said it's happening. But that wasn't the real victory. The real victory took more than that, and it was in Romans, John chapter 12, we need to see where this has opened up for us. John chapter 12, the Lord has to go through the battle. There's no victory without a battle, and there's no battle without pain. And Jesus was in the midst of that battle in verse 27 of John 12. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose came I to this hour, to this battle. Father, glorify your name. And a voice came from heaven. I've glorified and I'll glorify it again. We'll leave out of it and go to 31. Now, Jesus said, now is the judgment of this world. And now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I when I'm lifted up. In other words, where's the battle of the world? Where's the judgment of the world? It's on the cross, because when I'm lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself, showing by what death he would die. Jesus knew that his death would be his battle, whereby Satan would be thrown down. Very interesting, isn't it? And he called it a judgment. That means it's a judgment which he said carry the sentences carried out for the rule of the world will be cast out. So Jesus accomplished the great victory against Satan. Why did he accomplish that victory? Well, because it's the accuser of the brethren who is thrown down. What destroys us? Well, what destroys us is our guilt, which we brought upon ourselves by our sin. And it is destroying us, and if an answer can't be found for it, we are finally destroyed. But the Lord does not want us to perish. If he doesn't want us to perish, he has to do something about our guilt. If he has to do something about our guilt, there has to be one who can throw the accuser down. If one's going to throw the accuser down, he has to do something substantial. That means he can be thrown down. And so here the son of God says, let me be as the guilty one. Let me be the one who bears sin. Let all that needs to happen against sin happen to me. And brothers and sisters, that has happened. Because that has happened, Satan has been thrown down. Because Satan has thrown down, he hasn't had access to the one who counts, your judge. We're justified. We are forgiven. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And because there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, Satan does not have an equal battle with us. If we resist Satan, what will happen? He will flee from you, one pedophile. Amazing! Him! Him. So substantial is the victory that God has accomplished. That's where you now are. The angels can see the victory. They say, get out. You see the victory now? What do you say? Get behind me, Satan. We're in the victory. Can you see God has caught us up in what he's about in history? Has he caught up Israel? So he's caught us up. in what he's about in history. How has he done that? Because of his own dear presence amongst us. Now we must come to John chapter 16, the verses that were read there, and see how it is that what it means in a practical way that God is amongst us. Now when I say God is amongst us, I'm going back to 1526 of John, when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will bear witness about me. Now the context of this is that the apostles are being attacked, verse 24, They have seen and hated both me and my father, but the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. And so 16.1 I've said these things to you to keep you from falling away. They'll put you out of the synagogues. That's no small thing to be put out of the synagogue. That was your social welfare gone west. That was your connection with your whole covenant heritage gone. Not in fact, but in culture. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed the hour is coming whenever who kills you will think he's offering service to God. Example of that is Paul. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. The disciples are in a world that doesn't know the Father. That's the context for this passage and I just want us to have that in mind. What's the longing of Jesus? That we would know the Father, true? Everything he's going to say that the disciples are experiencing is because the world doesn't know the Father, so they're in the battle. On the other hand, everything that Jesus is going to offer by way of his presence now, that is the Spirit is coming, is going to be to do with them knowing the Father. Very important, I think, to know that. We'll see in a moment. So the Helper will come and just think of the verses in the Old Testament about God being Helper. It's no small thing for the Spirit to come as our Helper. Everything we are going to need in life now is going to come by the presence of God, by the Holy Spirit. He's our helper. He's our helper not just to get our job done or to make a name for ourselves. He's our helper in order that we be caught up in his purposes and that we come to his goal. Wonderful. So he's come to us and he will bear witness to the world, 1526, when the helper comes, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And then go down to the next verses that he says, talks about the helper coming in 16-7. I tell you, it's to your advantage that I go away. Now, that's how important it is that the spirit comes and dwells in us. It's necessary that the physical presence of Jesus go in order that we have what is better. You think, well, wouldn't it be nice to be there? Well, that's a romantic illusion. Jesus says it's better that he's gone because the Spirit has come and in the Spirit coming Jesus is present and in Jesus being present the Father is present to us. It's your advantage that I go away for if I don't go away the helper will 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. Now those things are all very interesting but first of all notice the word convict You see, the Jews tried to convict Jesus, but they couldn't. Why couldn't they? Which of you convicts me of sin? Nobody could convict Jesus of sin because there was none there. The only way you can not be convicted of sin is for that sin to be taken away in our case. In his case there was none there, so nobody can convict him of sin, but it's a very interesting word. It just doesn't mean accuse. You see, Satan can accuse, but he really can't convict. The reason why Satan can only accuse is because that's what he is. He's got to build a whole figment In our imaginations, if you like, he's got to build up a whole case and he can accuse but he can't convict. What does it actually mean to convict? It means to actually bring a telling case that means that you in the dock sit shamefaced with nowhere to go. It's happened. You know just the same as the judge knows. You're guilty. That's conviction. It's a particular Greek word, elenko, that actually means that. Here's what one person says about this particular word. He says, He who shall come in my place shall so, that is the Holy Spirit, shall so bring home. He's effectively saying what Jesus is saying here. He who shall come in my place, the Holy Spirit, shall so bring home to the world its own sin and my perfect righteousness and God's coming judgment and shall so convince the world of this, that it shall be obliged itself to acknowledge this, and in this acknowledgement may find its own blessedness and salvation." Why does God want the world to be convinced of its sin? Because like he said to Saul of Tarsus, it's hard for you to kick against the goads, it's tough being a sinner, And yet we put it off, we put it off, we put it off, so it's not too bad, I'll get better. When will somebody come and say, you're a lost cause? That's the most wonderful, relieving thing that could ever come to you. That day when, on the day of Pentecost, they said, what should we do? They were in agony from one point of view, but they were on the verge of an enormous release. They'd been fooling themselves, thinking they were Israel, when in fact they were killing this Messiah, God's Messiah. They weren't Israel at all. The whole purpose of Israel was to have the Messiah come into the world. And here they killed him. That's how much they were Israel. And now they realise, they were convinced of their sin. Why would they be convinced of their sin? Because they didn't believe in me. That's the worst thing that could ever happen, not to believe in Jesus. You say I'm not much of a sinner? You don't believe in Jesus. How bad can you get? Would the Spirit of God just break through to you how evil a heart is that can have the Son of God in its presence and say, how rude can you get to treat the Son of God like that? Would the Spirit of God just convict you of that sin because we don't believe in him? Convict him of righteousness. What does he mean? Convince them of righteousness so that they actually know it is true. Well, it could be two things. It could be convict them of Christ's perfect righteousness, which is the way that that little quote from Trench said. And I think that's got a lot to it. But when you become convinced about God's righteousness, you also be convinced about something else. You can be convinced about your righteousness and it's a load of filthy rags. And that's what happened to have Israel, wasn't it? But they needed to be convicted about righteousness, what it really is and what theirs isn't. And the Spirit of God just opened up all these things to Israel on the day of Pentecost. And of judgment, you know you just try and speak to anybody in Australia these days that doesn't already know these things and tell them that God is coming to judge the world and see how you get on. It's one of the most hated doctrines of the church. that God would come to judge his own creation. But on that day, when the Spirit of God comes, he will convince the world of judgment. Now, I take that as a very serious thing, but I take it that it's also the purpose of that whole thing is that people may know the Father. when the Spirit of God comes. Now the next thing is, the Spirit of God, when he comes, he will come to you, Jesus said, to the apostles, to the church, as he did on the day of Pentecost. Does the Spirit have a direct line to the world? Well, I don't know. I'm not the Holy Spirit, and I don't keep his travel records, so I don't really know what the Holy Spirit does in regard to the world. But what I do know is this, that the Holy Spirit comes to us, and when he comes to us, he convicts the world. Do you know the most important thing in regard to being an effective person as a Christian is to know the presence of the Holy Spirit? when he comes to you, when he comes to you and brings to you the knowledge of your sin. Pretty painful, but pretty wonderful, because it causes you to look at the face of God, who is Jesus Christ, and in looking at the face of God, The Spirit of God comes and brings all these things to life in you. What actually happens? The love of God is shared abroad in your hearts. All the angst that has normally been our way of life, all of the insecurity that made us do things that were uncomely, All gone. We have access to grace. We have rejoicing hope of sharing the glory of God because the love of God is shared abroad in our hearts. It's the most powerful thing that can happen with regard, as far as we're concerned, to the conviction of the world. Yes, we have to preach the gospel. We will preach the gospel. Why wouldn't we? Of course we will. Because God is dwelling in us, and God is not in us just to have us as spectators. God is in us to take us into his purpose. And what happens when we are accused? It's pretty painful, isn't it, when we are accused? Well, when we are accused, what do we do? Let's go back to Revelation. It says they overcame him. by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony because they love not their lives unto death. We have found something that's more important than just staying alive. Has that happened for you? We have found something that's more important than just staying alive. They love not their lives to death. What is it? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. What a day when the blood of the Lamb comes and because there an offering was made for your sin, that blood effectively just washes across your conscience and leaves you pure. That'll be the most relieving day in your life. It'll be the best day in your life to know that your sins have been forgiven. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. They said, I'm not going to listen to that word. I'm going to listen to this word. I'm not going to just listen to this word. I'm going to speak this word to my neighbors. This is the best word that ever there was. That the dragon's been thrown down, the accuser of the brethren, accuses them day and night. And we have no condemnation. Can you see what God's about in coming amongst us? He's come to declare what is true in regard to our humanity. That is, we've never got a chance of being righteous, but in Him we're declared so. That's what God's presence is telling us every beating moment. You're accepted in the beloved and you're accepted in my presence. And how are we going to do this? Well, we are going to actually bear this word and we don't have to convince the world. What a relief not to have to convince anybody else of what we believe. We have to believe it ourselves. The Spirit of God in us will convince the world, leave them defenseless. Why would he leave them defenseless? That they may be turned in order to the same Jesus Christ to whom we have been turned. So what can I say in conclusion? Simply this. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let me say it again. Grieve not the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. The Spirit is God come to dwell amongst you. Let all that the Spirit of God has come to do, let it all be done in you. What happened when Mary said to the angel, let it be so, to me, according to your word. Christ was born. conceived in her womb. What happens when you say, let it be so to me according to your word? You're inhabited by God. And what happens after that is God's business. We belong to him, body and soul. Let's just pray together. Father, what a majestic thing is your presence and yet how homely is your presence. Father, we don't ever want to lose our fear of you, our awe of you, our reverence for you, our love for you and our worship for you. But Father, we do want it to be not a thing for special occasions. But we do want, Father, that you, Father, Son and Spirit, would abide in us, and that we would abide in you, and that we would walk in you as you walk in us. And Father, grant that by the freedom that comes to our hearts and minds, and then the change that happens in our behaviour, grant our Father that you, so dwelling in us, would bring conviction of sin and of righteousness and judgment to those we love, that they also may know you, our Father. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.