The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-21
HOLY SPIRITS WORK
IN THE HUMAN SOUL

IL IL ~ AAE liz y AaAAA kLdL u
give careful attention 10 the words OF the
text. found in John XVI. ia. Nevertheless
tell you the truth. Il Is expeGient for you
that 1 go away; for IL l go not away the
Comforter viii not come unto you: but II
] depart I will send him unto you. And
when ne is come he will convince the world
OF sin and OF righteousness and Of judgmen;
of sin, because they believe not on me: OF
righteousness. because l go unto my Fa-
Their and We see me no more; OF Judgment.
because the prince Of this world is judged.
When he. the spirit OF truth. is come he will
guide you into all truth; for he shall not
speak Of himself, but whatsoever he shall
hear that shall he speak, and he will shew
you things to come. He shall glorify me.
for he shall receive Of mine and shall shew
'You recognize the words as spoken BY
Jesus Christ, God manifest IN the flesh. Less
than twenty-four hours from the time of
their utterance Is the painful. shameful
CHEESEMAN'S. the needlessly cruel trial the
insults, the mockings. the scourgings. This
is the going away OF which he 50 calmly
speaks TO the s~orrowing disciples gathered
close about him Listen: 1t is expedient
for you that / go away. Gethsem6ne with
its awful agony .Expedient for you The
scourgings and insults 'expedient for you
For IL is with his stripes We are healed
20 the wonder OF ii all! o the infinite
love Of ii ALL
in these words: For the joy that was set
before him he endured the cross. despisins
the shame, and Is set down al the right
hand of the throne OF God It is from that
position that he proposes TO send forth the
Comforter. who when he comes. is to &C
cOmplish the great things here predicted
OF rim. II is then Of the person and work
of the Holy Spirit as set before US in these
weighty farewell words OF our Lord. that
you are asked to think just now.
Three times already in this last evening
talk with his disciples had Jesus told them
of the coming Of the Holy Spirit. After lis
resurrection from among the dead, and just
before his ascension on the glory cloud he
reminds these same disciples OF these won
ds.ful promises Wait in Jerusalem for the
promise Of the Father. which ye have heard
OF me- 'Ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence
There are some Of the deep things OF
Coo III these words Of our Savior. Even
the disciples did not understand until after
Pentecost. Precious. vital truths are here,
by faith, not by comprehensive grasp of in
tellect May the very words themselves be
fulfilled TO US while We STUDY them.
Let me remind you that the Comforter
the Spirit OF Truth Of whom Jesus Is
speaking, is the third person in the Blessed
trinity. theoretically every Christian be-
leves this But thsre is a constant tenden-
cy 10 think and speak of the Holy Spirit
Jesus. Withia the last week i heard an
earnest Christian use the neuter pronoun
IL in speaking Of the Holy Spirit 1 have
heard ministers while preaching. again and
again 90 the same tning- At L were TO
SPEAK OF God the Father and then refer TO
IT. you would be justly shocked II that
earnest Christian were TO hear me refer TO
Jesus Christ as 1T they would be equally
shocked. Jesus. in the scripture before US.
and always, refers TO the Holy Spirit, using
the masculine pronoun. Here and elsewher
Jesus predicates action of the Holy Spirit.
Tn Father gave his only besoTten Son
lest The Holy Spirit does the things men,
ticred in this scripture. Let us honor the
Holy Spirit by thinking and speaking of
him as a person
How impressively Jesus introduces what
he here says about the Holy Spirit 'Nevef-
theless l tell you the truth II hints at
cpen-mouthed incredulity on the part Of
those then listening. 1t IS like the verify,
verify which, AWAY introduces most SOL
emn and weighty
DO not fail to notice that the Holy Spirit
is the gift OF the Father and the Son 10 his
merit his presence with US. Some do forget
this. The Father is more willing to give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him than
earthiy parents are to give bread to their
Jesus tells US what the special work of
the Holy Spirit is upon the world, l. E.,
especially those who live in unbelief and
sin He Is to 'reprove.' or. as In the mar
three things. viz. sin, righteousness. Judg-
ment' Jesus then explains what he means
by each expression.
"'Of sin. because they believe not on me-
Cnbelief. then, La a sin 1t IL not often so
regarded among men. But II was unbelief
that led our first parents into dIsobedience.
trbelief lay at the root of IsraeI's troubles
all the way from Egypt to Canaan. Unbe-
lief turned them back for forty years to
dulC dDOuI Inc NlQGEDeES- lQQG1eI CTu- J
cited the Son Of God. And when unbeief
still tramples under foot his precious
blood, desptsing his offers Of pardon. what
sin can be greater than this? Now let il be
remembered that no human eioQuence. no
earnestness Of appeal on the part Of teach |
er or preacher, can bring conyiction Of this
sin to a single human soul. The Holy Spirit |
alone can do this. He has done st often.
and let US hope and pray that he may do it
again, until thousands in this city shall
cry out, What must 1 do to be savedr
The Saviour goes on to say that the
Holy. Spirit viii convince or convict the
ant words. Because 1 go unto my Father
ana ye see me no more This is clearly the
[ighteousness Of the Son Of Man which
the sinners substitute. The worlds stand
ard OF, righteousness is seen in the Phari-
men. These Pharisses are not all enrolled
as church members. BY far the greater /
majority are out yonder in the world If
the necessity OF repentance and acceptance
of Jesus Christ. he will not hesitate to tell
you that he Is all right. he even boasts
church. whom he Will name TO you. Gods
standard of righteousness is found IN the
be imputed to the sinner and received by |
faith alone. Jesus tells US that IT Is the |
work Of the Holy Spirit to convince the
cause the sinner to see that all his own
righteousnesses are but as filthy rags IN
Gods sight; Oh. shall We not earnestly
pray that the Holy Spirit will speedily do
his office work in this regard?
Again Jesus tells US that the Holy |
Spirit is TO convince the world Of judg-
ment. adding the explanatory words. Be
cause the Prince OF this world is judged
The Prince of this world IL none other
than satan himself In the Sunday school
lesson for to-day Jesus says. The hour is
come. Now In the Judgment of this world. /
Now shall the Prince of this world be cast
OUT As they arose from the first sacra-
mental table that same night. Jesus said
The Prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in me Paul writing 70 rha ]
Ephesians says. In time past We walked
according to the course Of this world. &C
cording to the Prince OF the power OF the
air. the Spirit that now worketh In the
children OF disobedienSe.'
When Jesus died on the cross between
evil Prince had triumphed. 1t would seem ]
as though he had brought all the cohorts
of he'll to make sure OF that triumph
When they had buried him in Joseph's
garden tomb. j fancy there was a Jubilee
in hell over the grand victory. But on the
changed. 1t was there that the Prince of
this world received his own death war
rant 1t was there that the head Of the
old serpent was bruised. Even that death
and burial OF the Son of Man God made
use of to overthrow satans rule Then
and there the sentence went forth Judging
this evil Prince When Jesus shall come
again according to his oft-repeated promise.
then this sentence Of Judgment will be
executed. New. IL the Prince Is thus
Judged. think you his dupes and followers
will escape judgment?
"Oh. sinner. Gods word being true. there
Is a fearful judgment day coming. and You
you persist in trampling under your feet
the preciOus blood of Jesus. OF. will Won