Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Reminder yesterday, we learned the Holy Spirit convicts the world (John 16:8) of:

• It’s Sin
• God’s Righteousness
• And coming Judgment

Today we’ll look at the Holy Spirit’s first conviction, which is the proof of sin.

In today’s scripture, John 16:9 (NLT), Jesus said…
The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

Consider…
Today is the first of three counts that the Holy Spirit is convicting the world of. This small three letter word, is the fulcrum that everything else rests on. The word is sin.

The Holy Spirit’s basis for the sin claim against the world is one thing only, it’s refusal to believe in Jesus.

That seems like a pretty open and shut case. Yet, a closer look at the Holy Spirit’s evidence, proves this crime of sin began in the garden.

First the Holy Spirit reminded the world that God created it through Him. To prove His point, the Holy Spirit cited John 1:1‭-‬3 (AMP)…
In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.

After establishing that fact, He moved to His second exhibit, of the actual making of mankind. He cites Genesis 1:26‭-‬27 (AMP) as His proof, which says…
Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

He then turned to the defendant, mankind and said, “the Triune God, which includes Jesus, literally brought you into this world”!

Next, the Holy Spirit offered exhibit c, ‘the provision and permission command’. For this exhibit, Genesis 2:16‭-‬17 (AMP) was cited. It said…
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely (unconditionally) eat [the fruit] from every tree of the garden; but [only] from the tree of the knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly die [because of your disobedience].”

The Holy Spirit emphatically said, “God provided a plethora of trees to freely eat from, except one”. He referenced Genesis 2:9 (AMP) as proof, which says…
And [in that garden] the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is desirable and pleasing to the sight and good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the [experiential] knowledge (recognition) of [the difference between] good and evil.

Defense counsel objected, and said why put the tree of knowledge in the garden amongst the other trees? God the Father sternly overruled the objection on grounds of His Sovereignty!

So the Holy Spirit was allowed to continue. God’s Advocate pointed out that His true command was to trust the Good Shepherd for complete provision, rather than choosing the ability to make one’s own decision.

Notice the tree of life was one of the trees that God gave Adam permission to eat from, only the tree that provided recognition of good and evil was forbidden.

A couple of key, but overlooked points are:

• Good and evil co-existed in the Garden. We know that because the serpent was in the garden talking to Eve, and God talked to both of them in the cool of the day. This reminds me of Jesus pointing out how weeds are planted among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30)
• It was the experiential knowledge of good and evil that God didn’t want His image-bearers to know. He wanted mankind to simply trust Him, rather than question His authority and integrity like the fallen angel Satan did in Heaven. (Isaiah 4:12-21) & (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

These points make me better understand and appreciate why God talks about allowing the Holy Spirit to renew our minds and thoughts. (Romans 12:2) &
(Ephesians 4:23‭-‬24). It’s because we have to relearn what God wanted us to know from the beginning, that He is Good! He’s not only Good, His abundant provision, as evidenced by the plethora of trees to eat from, demonstrates He’s loving and kind. Remember, all the trees were pleasant and desirable. And all but one were good for food.

This makes me think, that although sin looks good, it’s not. That’s why God says…
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! – Psalms 34:8 NLT

The Holy Spirit interjected the point that Eve believed what she saw and heard, rather than what God said (Genesis 3:16). He asks us too, will you believe what you see and hear, or trust what God has said?

For the final exhibit, the Holy Spirit cited Jesus’ words from John 3:18‭-‬19 (ERV)…
People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. They are judged by this fact: The light has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things.

The Holy Spirit, the world is making the same choice that Eve and Adam made in (Genesis 3:6). Rather than trusting and appreciating the provision of God, they sought the wisdom to be like God, the same mistakes Satan made. However, the only thing they discovered was shame found in seeing the nakedness of our disobedience. You see, in disobedience God’s covering of our thoughts is removed and Satan has access to expose our wrong before a Sovereign God, rather than His righteousness conferred through love and grace.

That’s where Jesus comes in, He is the righteousness restoration. Romans 3:22‭-‬23 (NLT) explains…
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

The Holy Spirit’s closing arguments about sin are, that God wants us to understand believing Jesus is His Son is a choice that has eternal consequences. John 3:36 (NLT)
says…
And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

With that, the Holy Spirit asked the most important question from Jesus, that everyone must answer for themselves…
“But who do you say I am?” – Matthew 16:15 NLT

Remain in your shame or claim His name, the choice is yours. 🤷🏾‍♂

Today’s Song…
We Didn’t Know

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)