Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

faithfully."
sure"
me."
Louis D. Brandeis is worth reading.
The story of how Josiah collected and
used the money comes to a very pleas
ing end; "And the men did the work
There are three items, not in the les
son, that ought to be noted before we
come to the lesson for next week;
The Finding of the Law, vs. 14-21
Found when they
cleaned out the
idols. Some Christians have not courage
to speak against social idols, so the law
is covered in dust. With a housecleaning,
we might find some things that we have
lost.
Hulda Speaks, vs. 22-28
Huldah did not gloss over the sins of
Judah and Israel, but warns them of
their coming captivity. Josiah is to be
favored by the captivity not coming in
his day.
The Reading of the Law, vs. 29-33
The law had been covered by the im
plements of sin and by dust. When found
it was read to Josiah. He rent his of
ficial robe from off him, and stood un
covered before the world and God. He
would not hide behind his office. To
some, they had found the law of Moses.
To Josiah, it was the Word of God.
The Prophecy of Nahum
This is mentioned in this connection
because it was written in the reign of
Josiah and fortells the overthrow of Judah's
great enemy Assyria. Already the
capital was moved from Damascus to
Nineveh. The captivity would not be to
Nineveh, but to Babylon.
SYNOD SABBATH PRAYER
MEETING TOPIC
For Sabbath, June 12, 1955
Theodore F. Harsh
TOPIC: "The Convicting
Holy Spirit"
SCRIPTURE : John 16 :8-ll
SUGGESTED PSALMS :
Psalm 19:5-9, page 42
Psalm 51:7-12, page 131
Psalm 139:1-6, page 341
Psalm 130:1-5, page 325
Psalm 1:1-3, page 2
Power of the
RELATED SCRIPTURE PASSAGES
Psalm 51:10-17; Acts 2.22; Rom. 3:7
Gal. 3:22; Isaiah 42:6, 21; I Cor. 1:30
Gal. 5:5; I Sam. 16:7; Matt. 12:18
John 7:24
What is the Work of the Holy Spirit
in the World "And He, when He is
come, will convict the world in respect
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg
ment."
(John 16:8 ASV). The Holy Spir
it must work with men created in the
image of God in knowledge, righteous
ness and holiness, but in whom the im
age is badly
marred by sin. The work of
May 25, 1955
the Spirit is to restore that image, but parties in the crucifixion believed that
first He must set men straight on the Jesus was the Son of God, that person
three points at which they in their nat would have refused to take part, and the
ural state differ from the Perfect Man, crucifixion would not have taken place.
Jesus Christ. Jesus was perfectly sinless, Unbelief was at the root of the crime.
men are sinful; Jesus had perfect right All who are guilty of unbelief are guilty
eousness, men have no righteousness of of the same sin, lacking only the oppor
their own; Jesus looked to the favor of tunity to commit the same crime. The
His Father in Heaven, men look to the Spirit came with convicting power at
favor of the prince of this world. To men Pentecost and continues to convict men
in their natural state, sin is the trans of their participation through their un
gression of an arbitrary human code, belief in the crucifixion. However else
righteousness is the satisfaction of hu the Spirit may convince men of their sin,
man consciences, and judgment is the it is not until the cross is presented
verdict of this world. Until men are that He can bring home the awfulness of
brought back to the original design of their sin, showing them that by their
creation on these points, nothing further unbelief they become a party to the
"convict,"
can be done. The word, brings greatest of crimes, crucifying the Son of
to mind a prosecuting attorney seeking God, and putting Him to an open shame.
a pronouncement of guilt. We get closer 2. "OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BECAUSE
to the intent of this passage when we I GO TO THE FATHER AND YE SEE
"convince,"
take the word,
from the ME NO MORE." Righteousness is the
RSV translators. It gives the idea of a great aim of men in all their religions,
physician convincing a patient of the though the ways of achieving vary. Yet
presence of a deadly disease and of the there is a constant feeling of guilt, that
necessity and effectiveness of curative something more needs to be done, a lack
measures.
of assurance of God's being reconciled
The first step of the Spirit's Work is
to men.
to Convict, not to Convert. Conversion
Jesus Christ came and lived a life
of perfect righteousness.
may follow, but the first step is to
He gave His
con
vict, even as the doctor life for the sins of men. But had it all
must convince
the patient of the seriousness of his ended with His con
death, the world could
not
dition before he will consent to drastic have been convinced of righteous
ness.
action. How does the Spirit
But He rose from the dead and
convict
Jesus points to Himself as the
was received
means by
up to be with the Father,
which the Spirit will convict. Christ's showing that the only righteousness ac
presence in the world was necessary to ceptable to God is that of Christ. For
enable the Spirit to convict the world of guilty men, the only way of obtaining
sin, righteousness, and judgment, but
it is through Christ (Acts 4:12).
without the Holy Spirit, the coming of In this way the Holy Spirit convinces
Christ would have been
the world of righteousness. It is
useless.
only
when men learn that Christ rose from
1. "OF SIN, BECAUSE THEY BE
the dead that the Spirit can convict, can
LIEVE NOT ON ME." Disbelief in
make men see that their sins are forgiv
Christ is the great evidence (symptom)
en through Christ (Romans 8:1), and
by which the Spirit is to convict the
that they must accept Him or reject
world of sin. What is there by which to
their only hope of being reckoned right
convict the world of sin outside of
eous before God.
Christ's death There is the law of God
written upon the heart, telling what is
3. "OF JUDGMENT BECAUSE THE
PRINCE
right and what is wrong, and a
OF THIS WORLD IS
feeling
JUDGED."
of obligation to obey that law
Jesus had
(Romans
said, "Now is the
2:14, 15). There were the Old Testament
judgment of the world. Now shall the
prince of
law and the pronouncements of the
this world be cast out, and I,
prophets, but all of these were inade
if I be lifted up will draw all men unto
quate instruments for the conviction of
There
the world by the Spirit.
is a judgment pronounced by
Jesus Christ came as a "more God, and one pronounced by men. Only
when men's judgment coincides with
revelation of God's law. He not only
taught all that was in God's is it a true judgment.
men's conscienc
Satan, the
prince of this
es and all that was in human and di
world, warps men's judg
ment and makes men believe that world
vine law, He showed the way, He carried
it out, He was a living example of what ly success is a mark of God's favor, that
God's law means. He was the
the gifts offered
living
by this world are to be
Word that could not be
the aim of life. Jesus Christ has shown
perverted or
twisted to men's own ideas.
the judgment of God to be the reverse of
How did the world receive the Word
this. The cross is the symbol of this
It put Him to death. Should He then revolutionary disclosure. Christ's resur
rection
have said, "Of sin, because
told the world that God's
they judg-
put me
to death" Had any of the responsible ( Continued on page 334)
333