Welcome to our program. I'll
be preaching today from John chapter 16, if you'd like to
follow along in your Bible. The title of the message is Holy
Spirit Conviction. Holy Spirit Conviction. You know,
many people today, a lot of people are just so confused about the
issue of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
As we've stated so often, we believe in one God. who subsist
in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And many
people can talk about the work of the Father, the work of the
Son, but some are so confused about the work of the Spirit,
some actually deny the work of the Holy Spirit, some go too
far in trying to describe the work of the Holy Spirit, because
they go beyond the Scripture. The work of the Holy Spirit in
the new birth, he is the great applicator, as one old writer
said, of the salvation that the Father purposed before time and
that the Son, Jesus Christ, purchased in time. And the Spirit, as Christ
said, flows out or proceeds out from the Father and the Son to
apply spiritual life and knowledge and grace in the new birth. It's
called regeneration and conversion. That's the new birth. Remember
Christ told Nicodemus back in chapter 3, he said, you must
be born again. And the reason sinners must be
born again is because the first birth, naturally, the physical
birth, was in Adam and in depravity and sin. David said it, in sin
did my mother conceive me. One of Job's friends asked that
question. How can a man be just before
God, or how can he that is born of woman be clean? When we're
born into this world physically, we're born in the sin of Adam,
with a fallen, sinful human nature. And we don't have the spiritual
ability or willingness to follow God and come to Christ for salvation. If left to ourselves in that
sinful state, we will go our merry way to hell, and do it
in ignorance and obstinance and rebellion. Therefore you must
be born again. Secondly, you must be born again
because life flows from Christ. And all for whom he died on the
cross of Calvary and rose again the third day, were counted righteous
before God there at the cross, all whom he represented, and
righteousness demands life." In other words, they must be
born again because life comes from Christ. He did not have
any stillborn children. There are none for whom Christ
died who will stay spiritually dead and enter hell. They will
all be born again. They must have life because Christ
satisfied law and justice for them and brought forth eternal
spiritual life. But now, what goes on within
a sinner in the new birth? That is a difficult subject to
tackle. There's not a whole lot in Scripture
that is stated to define and describe the inner workings of
the Holy Spirit, but what is stated clearly in Scripture is
that spiritual life within given and imparted by the Spirit of
God in the new birth can be known by its evidences." And that's
what the Lord is speaking of here. Now, first of all, back
up in John chapter 15, he identified the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.
Back over in John 14, he identified the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.
He called him another Comforter. In the Bible, in the New Testament,
there are two words for another. One is another of a different
kind. Paul used that in Galatians chapter 1 when he spoke of false
preachers who come preaching another gospel. In other words,
it's not another gospel of the same kind as the true gospel,
but it's another gospel of a different kind. It's a false gospel. When
Christ used the term another comforter, referring to the Holy
Spirit, he meant another word which is another of the same
kind. So the Holy Spirit, you see,
Christ is our comforter, he's our advocate, that's what that
means, he's the intercessor, and by virtue of his finished
work on the cross, he ever lived to make intercession for his
people in the way of being our high priest, our propitiation. But the Holy Spirit is another
comforter, another advocate of the same kind in the sense that
he, too, is God. He's the third person of the
Trinity. In every attribute of his nature, very God of very
God. But his being a comforter is
in a way that is so vital to the salvation of God's people.
He says in verse 26 of John 15, he said, But when the comforters
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth, Now, right away we see that the Holy Spirit, when
he comforts God's people, when he raises them from the dead
spiritually in regeneration and conversion, it is under the preaching
and by the application to their minds and affections and wills
to their hearts of the truth. In other words, this Comforter,
God the Holy Spirit, does not regenerate sinners under the
preaching of a lie. He's the Spirit of truth. So
the Bible teaches that the first thing God does in the life of
His elect is, by the power of the Spirit in God's providence,
bring them to where they hear the gospel, to where they hear
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Somebody says,
well, was I converted under the preaching of a false gospel?
Absolutely not. And the reason I know that is
because the only one who will bring you to conversion is the
Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of truth. So He brings you under the preaching
of the truth of Christ and Him crucified, the preaching of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, how God is just to justify the
ungodliness, the gospel of His shed blood and His imputed righteousness
as the only ground of salvation. He'll bring you under that preaching
and then He'll, by a miraculous work, sovereign work of grace
and power, He'll raise you from the dead spiritually. He'll impart
spiritual life and knowledge and bring you to faith in Christ
and repentance. Now, how you describe that, I
don't know. The Scripture doesn't give the
language. Men try to, but they're just fooling themselves. But
Christ told Nicodemus this when he said, you must be born again.
He said, you can't describe it. He said, the wind bloweth where
it listeth. And you know not where it goeth
or where it cometh from, but you know the sound thereof."
You see that? You must be born again. Well,
in verse 1 of chapter 16, listen to what Christ says here. Now,
he just told them about the hatred of the world against them. You
see, when the Comforter comes and you're empowered by the Spirit
to preach the truth, which is the light, the light of truth
that exposes evil and reveals truth, reveals Christ, He said,
these things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended."
You shouldn't be amazed or offended at these things. And look at
verse 2. He says, "...they shall put you
out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service." Now, can
you imagine that? They're going to throw you out
of their religious worship service. their religious assemblies, and
they'll go so far as to kill you thinking they're doing God
a service. Now, wasn't that what Paul said
when he was Saul of Tarsus going about to destroy the church?
He was doing it in the name of God. But, my friend, if you stand
against Christ and salvation by God's grace, thinking you're
doing God's service, you're in a false religion. And he says
in verse 3, "...and these things will they do unto you, because
they have not known the Father, nor me." The only reason a sinner
would do such a thing in religion, they don't know the true and
living God, and they don't know the Son of God. They don't know
Christ. Well, he goes on. Verse 4, he says, "...but these
things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you
may remember that I told you of them, And these things I said
not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." Now,
what he means by that is he's revealing some things to them
at this point in time that are very hard to take, things that
are very frightening to the flesh, things that man in his own sinful
nature cannot bear up under. And he says, I didn't tell you
these things from the beginning, but I'm telling you now. He said,
I was with you to comfort you. You see, the very physical presence
of Christ with these disciples was so comforting to them. And
they knew he had told them that he had to go away. He's going
to say that in just a few moments. He told them he had to go to
the cross and go unto the Father. But in our own human flesh, we're
so frightened. We have so many doubts and misgivings. And they were scared. And he
says, I'm telling you these things. I didn't tell you at the beginning,
but because I was with you, I was there to comfort you. But he
says in verse 5, now listen to this, he says, But now I go my
way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me whither
thou goest, or whither goest thou. Now he was about to be
arrested. You see, it wasn't very long, just a few hours,
that he was going to be going into the Garden of Gethsemane.
Beginning to suffer the weight of sin upon him the sins of his
sheep The sins of God's elect out of every tribe kindred tongue
and nation those of the Old Testament Sheep those of the New Testament
even those who have not yet been born and he was going to begin
to suffer Bible says he was going to sweat. He sweat great drops
of blood and Then they were going to arrest him and persecute him
with him put the crown of thorns on his head, spit on him, deride
him, and curse him, and then they were going to hang him on
the tree. Fallen humanity, all of us, in our sinful flesh, represented
right there. Somebody said, I think I mentioned
this a couple of weeks ago, how one old preacher up in Ohio made
the statement that if he'd have been there, he'd have stopped
it. He's crazy, my friend. We'd have been right there saying
crucify. That's fallen sinful humanity right there. And that's
why we are so amazed at grace. That's why the old writer wrote
that, said, amazing grace. Grace is amazing. How God could
love and save any of us is amazing. But you see, this is what he
was going to go through. He was going to suffer, to bleed,
and to die for sins that he had no part in committing, but sins
that were laid upon him. by the Father, laid to his account,
the sin bearer, and he was going to die, be buried. But he was
going to be raised again the third day because of the justification
of his people. And that's what he means when
he says, I go my way to him that sent me. And he says, none of
you asketh me whither goest thou. I believe they were avoiding
it. I believe in their human frailty and weakness and being
scared. You see, they had tried to stop
him from going to Jerusalem because, you know, Thomas said that. He
said, well, if he's going to go and die, let's go and die
with him. And they knew what was going to happen. They knew
the Pharisees and the Sadducees were out to get him, to destroy
him. And I believe they were just
avoiding the question. That's what he said. None of
you ask of me, whither goest thou? But look at verse 6. He
says, But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow
hath filled your heart." You remember before that he said
you ought to rejoice over these things. You see, in our human
weakness and sin and doubt and misgiving, we have to be kept
by the power and the goodness and the grace of God. That's
so. Salvation is never conditioned
on the sinner. I want you to hear that. Look
at these disciples. These were men who were right
there in the presence of God the Son incarnate. And yet they
could not keep themselves. And people today will say, well,
you're saved by grace, but you've got to keep yourself by your
work. These couldn't. Peter couldn't. James couldn't.
John, Andrew, none of them could. And that's the thing, salvation
is never conditioned on the sinner. In fact, that's a good way to
understand this issue of the true grace of God. What is grace? Grace is salvation conditioned
not on the sinner, but on the sinner's substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you place conditions, stipulations,
upon a sinner, to be saved, to be kept saved, or to enter glory. My friend, you have just pronounced
that sinner's doom. Now, that's the case. That's
how sinful we are. And somebody says, well, you
can be saved and then lost, my friend, then that's your case.
You've never been saved to begin with, you'll be lost. And I heard
a person say one time, say, well, in order to be lost after you're
saved, you'd have to do something really, really bad. Well, my
friend, that person doesn't understand how really, really bad he is. That's what the Scripture teaches.
None of us really understand the depth of how really, really
bad we are in the sight of God without Christ. Somebody says,
well, what if you compare me to this notable criminal? Well, my friend, salvation and
your standing with God is not how you compare with other men.
Salvation and your standing with God only depends upon how you
compare with Christ. And he was perfect. The Bible
says that God commands all men everywhere to repent because
he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed in that
he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised
him from the dead. You see, your salvation and your
standing with God doesn't matter how you compare with me. You
may compare yourself to me and you may look real good. Your
salvation and my salvation, your standing before God and my standing
before God depends upon how we compare to Christ. And I want
to tell you something. Compared to Him, all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. So what is there any hope for
any of us? There's only one hope, grace and mercy from God. That God lifts his, that reaches
his hand down and lifts this old beggar off that dung heap
of sin and religion, false religion, and lifts us up and makes us
princes by his grace. Our only hope is salvation conditioned
on Christ. And that's our only hope of being
preserved too. But he says sorrow has filled
your heart. Well, look at verse 7. He says,
nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. Now, here's what Christ is saying
in this verse. That word expedient means it's needed, it's necessary. It's necessary for you, he said
to his disciples, that I go away. It's necessary for Christ's sheep
that he obey the law perfectly. It's necessary for his sheep
that he die on the cross and suffer for their sins, to pay
their debt, to shed his blood as payment for their sins. It's
necessary for Christ's sheep that he work out a righteousness
to be imputed to them there on the cross and to entitle them
to the whole inheritance of grace. It's necessary that he finish
his work of satisfying God's law and justice for their sins,
and it's necessary for their salvation. And then it's necessary
for him to do his work for the Holy Spirit to come and do his
work. You see, the work of the Holy Spirit within us is not
the completion of Christ's work for us. The work of the Holy
Spirit in us is the fruit and result and effect of Christ's
finished work for us. Christ's work for us on the cross
is the ground of our salvation. The Holy Spirit's work in us
in the new birth is the fruit of what Christ did. That's the
result. So where Christ has finished
his work, It is necessary that the Holy Spirit come and apply
it, give life to dead sinners." You see that? Give them ears
to hear, eyes to see, hearts and minds to understand, know,
and love Christ and his truth. So he said, if I go not away,
that won't happen. The Comforter will not come.
But look at verse 8. He says, "...and when he has
come," when the Comforter has come, the Holy Spirit, "...he
will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment."
Now, there are three things. Now, this is talking about Holy
Spirit conviction, Holy Spirit conviction. That word reproved
there, it means to convince. And it's almost like it has the
connotation of this, to convince to the point of being ashamed
and being laid low to see where you have no hope, no salvation. No assurance, no peace, but in
Christ. And let me say this at the outset.
A lot of people go through a lot of different things in religion.
Different emotions, times of sorrow, times of joy, times of
depression, times of being happy. And they call it conviction.
Somebody crying and sobbing over their sin. Well, I'll tell you
what, we ought to cry. and sob over our sins. We ought to be ashamed over our
sins, even believers now. But how do you know if that work
that is operating within you, in your heart, your mind, your
affections, how can you be sure that it's the Holy Spirit? Now,
is that possible to answer that question? Well, let me answer
it very simply. When you're sorrowful and convicted
over your sins, over your shortcoming, where do you find relief? Where
do you find peace? Where do you find hope? Where
do you find salvation? And my friend, if you find salvation,
hope, peace, relief, assurance, anywhere but in Christ and Him
crucified, mark it down, it's not the Holy Spirit. It could
be just natural conscience, legal conscience. It could be your
religious upbringing. It could be your parents. It
could be yourself. It could be your friends. It
could be society. But if you find relief and peace and hope
and assurance anywhere but in Christ and His shed blood and
His imputed righteousness, it's not the Holy Spirit. For the
Holy Spirit will only lead you to find hope and relief in Christ. You see that? Now, that's what
this means. He says in verse 9, he will convict you of sin
because they believe not on me. The Holy Spirit will convict
a sinner in the new birth now, in the new birth. Now, this is
the evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in the new birth. He will
convict the sinner that without Christ everything he thinks he
is, he does, is sin. He talks about belief here. He
says, because they believe not on me. And some say, well, he'll
convince you of the sin of unbelief. That's true. In other words,
the Holy Spirit in the new birth will convince you and convict
you of unbelief. But you see, it goes further
than that, because unbelief is the mother of all sin. And what
he's saying here is this, my friend, if you don't have Christ,
If you don't have His blood to wash you clean from all your
sins, if you don't have His righteousness to clothe you and make you accepted
before God, everything you are, everything you do, everything
you think, everything that motivates you is sin in the sight of God. It can be religion. There have
been people who have been baptized under a false gospel. Do you
know that was sinful? There have been people who've
given great, vast amounts of money to charity all the time,
thinking that that would recommend them unto God, or that they would
get a monetary gain, a return on their money. My friend, without
Christ, it's all sin. Think about the Pharisees. They
were moral outwardly. Christ said they appeared outwardly
righteous. They were evangelistic. He says, you encompass sin and
land to gain one convert. He said, when you get him, all
you do is make him twofold more the child of hell than you are.
Paul said it in Philippians chapter 3. He said, all those things
that I thought recommended me unto God, I was circumcised the
eighth day. A Hebrew of Hebrews, of the tribe
of Benjamins, touching the law of Pharisee, blameless. He said,
without Christ, it was all nothing. It was all less than nothing.
It was all sin. And then verse 10, he said, the
Holy Spirit will convince you of righteousness because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. What he means there is
that in the new birth, the Holy Spirit convinces a sinner that
the only way to be righteous before God is in Christ and Him
crucified. You see, you can seek righteousness
by your works, and you might be inspired and motivated, but
it's not the Holy Spirit. My friend, if you seek and find
righteousness in Christ and in Him alone, that's Holy Spirit
conviction. If you seek to be justified before
God based on anything but the blood and righteousness of Christ,
it's not the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit will direct
you to the cross of Christ for salvation. That's what Christ
said up here. He said, He shall testify of
me. And then verse 11. He says the Holy Spirit will
convict the sinner of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. And what is he talking about
there? Well, Satan is the prince of this world. Satan is called
the accuser of the brethren. And what he's saying here is
when the Holy Spirit does his work in the new birth, he will
convince that sinner that all his sins were laid upon Christ
and he was judged in Christ. And whenever Satan accuses, He
doesn't have to worry. You know why? Because he has
Christ. He has Christ's blood to wash
him from all his sins. He has Christ's righteousness
to turn back Satan's accusations. He can say with the Apostle Paul,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that dies. Yea, rather, is risen again and
is seated at the right hand of the Father. You see, with Christ,
we've already been judged. And Christ says here, he says,
I have yet many things to say unto you, that you cannot bear.
Howbeit, 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
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, and he shall
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you, all things that
the Father hath of mine. Therefore said I, that he shall
take of mine. and shall show it unto you."
The Holy Spirit will direct the sinner to seek God in Christ. He will point to Christ. He will
show you the things of Christ. He will glorify the Son. He will
show you that as a sinner you have no hope of salvation but
in Christ and Him crucified. And if the Holy Spirit's done
His work, you'll come unto God as a sinner begging for mercy
seeking His mercy and His grace and His love, the salvation that
He provides in Christ and Him crucified and in Him alone. Well,
I hope that's been helpful to your understanding of this great
subject of the Gospel. I hope that you will want to
get a tape of this. If you would, listen to the announcer
and he'll give you the details. The title of the message is Holy
Spirit Conviction. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.