Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book
of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 16. And the title of
the message is Holy Spirit Conviction. Holy Spirit Conviction. And I'm
going to deal with these verses where the Lord's speaking to
His disciples. They're in the upper room. This
is the time just before the Lord was going to the cross. He was
going to be arrested, getting ready to go into the Garden of
Gethsemane and going to be arrested and taken and slain on the cross
for the sins of his people. And he'd been telling his disciples
what they can expect that comes along with the gospel ministry.
And one of the things that they can expect is the hatred of the
world. He'd said back in John chapter
15 and verse 18, and I've already dealt with this, but just to
give you a refresher on this, he says, if the world hate you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. In other words,
the world, speaking of the unbelieving world, The world fallen in sin. And of course, we know that by
nature, all human beings fell in Adam into the state of sin
and unbelief, darkness, depravity. You may have heard that term.
We talk about the total depravity of man, which means man is spiritually
dead. He has no knowledge, no desires
for the glory of God revealed in Christ. He wants salvation. He can be
religious, but he wants it his own way. That's the total depravity
of man. And somebody asked me, he said,
well, how can I know if I'm totally depraved or not? Well, that doesn't
refer to just the openly immoral or serial killers or maniacs
or people like that. They are totally depraved, don't
get me wrong. But total depravity is seen on how people respond
to the truth of the gospel. And Paul dealt with that in 1
Corinthians 1. He said that the preaching of
the cross which is the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the
glorious person of Christ, the finished work of Christ for the
salvation of God's elect, His people. The preaching of that
cross, the finished work of Christ, is foolishness to them who believe
not. And over in chapter 2 and verse
14 of 1 Corinthians, he said, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
And the natural man means man in a fallen state of spiritual
death and depravity, unregenerated. That's why Christ said we must
be born again. And so that's what the doctrine
of total depravity. A lot of people today who claim
to be Christian want to say that even though man is a sinner,
he's not such a sinner that he doesn't retain some spark of
goodness. And that's misleading because
that depends on how you define or how you measure goodness.
You remember there was a rich young man who came to Christ
one time and he asked, good master, what good thing must I do to
be saved or to have eternal life or to inherit eternal life? And
the man approached Jesus of Nazareth, not as God manifest in the flesh,
but just as a good prophet, a human being. And you remember how Christ
responded to him. He says, why do you call me good?
There's none good but God. Now, when he says that, he's
not saying that there's none among people who are moral and
religious and sincere and charitable and all of that. What he's saying
there is that when it comes to the state of human beings falling
in Adam, And according to the standard of goodness that is
set by God, there's none good. None good, no not one. He says
that, Paul wrote that in Romans 3 in verse 10. There's none good,
no not one. There's none right, in verse
10 through 12. There's none righteous, no not one. And what that means
is it's impossible for sinful people to be saved, to be right
with God and made righteous by their works. Because our works
are never good enough. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What does that mean? It
doesn't mean that we've just made some mistakes. We have,
we make a lot of mistakes, but it's more than that. We've all
missed the mark, that's what that means. Come short of the
glory of God. What is the glory of God? It's the glorious person
and finished work of Christ who accomplished righteousness and
goodness for his people. My good works or my moral activities
and my sincerity, my religiosity will never measure up to the
goodness, the righteousness, and the holiness of Christ. I
will always fall short. and you will too. And that's
what that means. So when we talk about the message
of the truth, total depravity means that people will respond
negatively in unbelief to the gospel. And even to the point
of what the Bible calls hatred. And I read that a couple weeks
ago and last week, talking about in John 3, 19, this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness and hate
the light because their deeds are evil. And what that means
is this, if you're trying to work your way into God's favor,
working hard, sincerely, dedicated, my friend, if you're trying to
be saved by your works, that's an evil thing. Now it's not evil
because, we don't call it evil because you're insincere or it's
not moral in the eyes of men and women, but it's evil because
it denies the glory of God. The glory of God can only be
found in Christ. If I'm going to glorify God in
any way, I must rest in Christ. You see that? It's evil because
it denies the personal work of Christ. Paul wrote in Galatians
2.21, if righteousness come by the law, by our works, Christ
died in vain. So a person who is seeking salvation
and righteousness and goodness before God by their works, they're
denying Christ. They're saying that he didn't
have to come at all. Now they may not say that quote, they
might not quote it that way, but that's what they're inferring.
Just think about the Jews who relished so much in their circumcision. They were called the circumcision.
And Paul wrote in Galatians chapter five, if you be circumcised,
Christ will profit you nothing. What did he mean by that? Well,
he meant that if you think that circumcision recommends you unto
God or contributes to your righteousness before God, Christ will profit
you nothing. That's a denial of Christ. And
so, that hatred comes out in rejection because the gospel
light exposes the best deeds of the best people on earth as
being wicked and evil in the sight of God. Why? Because they
do not measure up to the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. Now, when that gospel is preached,
what does it do? Well, it exposes people for what
we are by nature. And it takes the things that
we're so proud of, the things that we glory in and boast in,
and shows how God totally rejects that. Most people today, they
glory in their works, in their experiences, in their decisions. You may say, well, I made a decision
for Christ back when I was 14. My friend, that's not what salvation
is. Salvation is coming to Christ
and glorying in the cross. Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that
I should glory, boast, have confidence, save or accept in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's his person and word. Well,
that's why they'll hate you, Christ said. They didn't hate
him because of the miracles, the healings, The feedings of
the 5,000, they didn't hate him for that reason. They hated him
for his doctrine, the gospel, because that gospel exposed them
for what they are, lost religionists, self-righteous religionists. And he even said over here in
John 16 in our text, Listen to this, he says in verse one, I
dealt with these first three verses, but let's just look at
them again. These things have I spoken unto you that you should
not be offended. Now that word offended has to
do with being confused and tripped up. I'm telling you this beforehand
so that when you experience the hatred of the world, the rejection
of men, the persecution of men, that you won't be tripped up.
This is something you can expect. We don't go looking for persecution.
I'm not a masochist. I don't like to be persecuted.
And I don't want to be persecuted. And I'll do everything I can
do apart from compromising the gospel to keep from being persecuted. But here's the key. He's saying
you can expect it. And I'm telling you this beforehand
so that you won't be offended. Verse two, they shall put you
out of the synagogues. They're gonna throw you out of
their religious worship services because you won't speak peace
to them. You tell them the truth. And the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he's doing God's service. Paul, before he was converted,
was a great persecutor of the church. And he thought he was
doing God's service. And then later on, he spoke in
Romans chapter 10 of his brethren in the flesh, the unbelieving
Jews. And he said, they're ignorant
of God's righteousness. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge, he said. Well, what zeal did they
have? Well, they were idolaters. And the God of their minds, they
had a zeal, a fervency, worship and serve Him. But he said, but
they were ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness. Well what is the righteousness
of God? Verse 3 or verse 4 of Romans
10, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believe us. So he says, look down at verse
three, he says, and these things will they do unto you because
they have not known the Father nor me. They don't know God. My friend, if you're trying to
work your way or earn your way into God's favor by your works
or even by your decisions, you don't know God. You don't know
the true and living God because the true and living God will
not accept that. You see, the true and living
God will accept nothing less than the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ. Plead His blood, not your works,
not your experiences, not your decision. You say, well, don't
we make a decision? Yes, we do, but we decide to
reject our works and repent of them and to submit to Christ
as our only righteousness before God. And even that decision is
not natural to us. That's right, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him, John 6,
44, and I'll raise him up at the last day. If left to ourselves,
we wouldn't make the right decision. We'd always decide wrongly, a
way that gives us room to boast and glory. Verse four of John
16, he says, but these things have I told you that when the
time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. When
that time comes that you're persecuted, you're suffering the hatred of
the world, You'll recall what I've told you here, and he says
in verse four, and these things I said not unto you at the beginning
because I was with you. In other words, there's a right
time, he said, for me to tell you what's going on here. And
when I was with you in the beginning, it wasn't the right time, but
now it is. He's getting ready to go to the cross. Christ is
getting ready to suffer for righteousness. His suffering unto death. equals
the righteousness by which God justifies His people. He went
to the cross for what reason? Because of the sins of God's
sheep, God's elect, His church imputed, charged to Him. That's
what second Corinthians 5 21 means when it says He was made
sin. And he did that in order to die the death under the wrath
of God as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of his people, to
pay the redemption price, to satisfy justice, drink damnation
dry, and bring forth a perfect righteousness that would enable
God to be just and yet justify sinners. How can God be just
and justify? How can a man, a sinful man?
be just with God, be made right with God, be forgiven. There's only one way, the blood
of Christ, which is His righteousness, no other way. The Bible says
in Romans 5 21 that grace reigns through, that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's why Paul
in quoting David, King David out of Psalm 32, Paul in Romans
four and verse six, he described the blessedness of the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. God charges me,
puts to my account a righteousness that I didn't work for. Who worked
for it? Christ did. Who accomplished
it? Christ did. And I have no other righteousness
but His. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. Write that phrase down and make
it your business to study the Bible to find out what that is. Because it's the heart of the
gospel. Well, look at verse five. He told his disciples, this is
John 16 in verse five. But now I go my way to him that
sent me. Going to the Father, that's what
Christ is saying there. And none of you asketh me, whither
goest thou? In verse six he says, but because I have
said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Now I
can understand that. Now Christ had been preaching
the gospel, teaching them, But they're human beings just like
me and you and all that. Weak, weak, weak, weak. We have,
the Bible says that we've seen the glory of God if we're saved.
We've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And
that's a treasure, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
We're sinners, if we're saved, we're sinners saved by grace.
And these men, they had the presence of the Lord of glory right there
with them. And then they heard about the hatred of the world,
the persecution, the suffering, and thinking about Him going
to the cross, and sorrow filled their heart. That was the flesh,
sinful, selfish flesh. But verse seven, now here's where
we get to the Holy Spirit conviction. Christ said in verse seven, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you that I go away. Now what does that mean, expedient? It means it's necessary. And
it was necessary for them, for all of God's people, all of the
elect of God who were given to Him before the foundation of
the world upon Christ, their salvation was conditioned on
Christ. and it's necessary, it was necessary
for him to go away. All right. Why? Well, where's he going to? He's going to the cross. The
way of the cross leads home. You see? My hope is built on
nothing less than Jesus' blood, His death, which equals righteousness. And he's not going to stop at
the cross. He'll die there. And he'll be
buried, but he's going to be raised from the dead because
he finished the work. It's finished, he said, John
19, 30. He satisfied the justice of God and drank damnation dry,
and he's going to be raised from the dead, and then eventually
he's going to ascend unto the Father. And he's going to do
so again, now listen, as the surety of his people, as the
substitute of his people, as the redeemer of his people and
as the intercessor, mediator, and preserver of his people.
And all that the Father gave to him before the foundation
of the world will come to him. John six, verse 37. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. So he says, nevertheless, I tell
you the truth, it is expedient, verse seven now, 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 the Comforter there,
and that word in a sense means advocate. Now Christ is the advocate
in his intercessory work between the Father and his people. But
the Holy Spirit is an advocate as a comforter. And what does
he do as the comforter? Well, let's listen to the rest
of it. He says in verse eight, now this is talking about the
coming of the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do
in salvation? He gives life to the dead, life
from Christ. He comes forth from the Father
and the Son to apply the benefits and the blessings of eternal
spiritual life to every one of God's people in the new birth. You must be born again. And he
does so by providentially bringing them under the gospel, and he
gives them life. He gives them a new heart, a
new mind, affections, a new will, ears to hear and eyes to see,
hearts and minds to understand. And that's the Holy Spirit comes
forth from Christ. The Bible says in Romans 8 and
verse 10 that this body is dead because of sin, speaking of our
physical bodies and the consequences of sin, the getting old, sick,
dying physically. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
is life because of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Christ's
righteousness. And where his righteousness is
applied and imputed to sinners, the Holy Spirit is sent to give
them life from the dead and bring them to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. He gives the gift of faith and
repentance. And here's what he says in verse eight. He says,
and when he has come, He will reprove the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. Now that word reprove means to
convince or convict. In other words, when the Holy
Spirit comes in power under the gospel, he's gonna bring you
to a conviction, convincing of the truth. And he divides it
into three things here. He says in verse nine, he's gonna
convict you of sin, he's gonna convict you of righteousness,
and of judgment. Now what are those three things?
Well, I'm gonna give you a brief statement here and then I'll
pick up here next week, but here's what he's talking about. This
is Holy Spirit conviction. And what he's gonna convince
his people of is something they cannot ignore, they cannot deny,
and they cannot leave. This is true faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. A convincing. So that you cannot
be unconvinced. This is the work of the Spirit
in the preaching of the Gospel. This is when the Gospel becomes
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Because
God has given them by the Spirit from Christ the gift of faith. Now you know the truth. and you
reject the lies. And so he says he's going to
convince, reprove the world. Now the world there is not everybody
without exception. Now how do we know that? Because
there are the majority of people, in fact, are going to, who fell
in Adam into the depths of sin and depravity, they're going
to go through this life, some never hearing the gospel, and
some who hear it never believing it, and they're going to go through
life in unbelief and die in unbelief. And they're not convinced. Now
it doesn't say the Holy Spirit is going to try to convince you
if you'll cooperate. If that's the case, none of us
will be convinced. But this is Holy Spirit conviction.
This is the irresistible work of the Spirit. Irresistible calling,
irresistible grace. When the Holy Spirit comes in
the preaching of the gospel and hones in on that one of Christ's
sheep, he's going to bring that sinner to conviction and there's
no possibility of failure. He's not gonna leave it up to
the sinner because if he does, well, that sinner would fail.
But he's gonna convict us with knowledge. Now, let me say this. Conviction. Holy Spirit conviction. There are other types of conviction.
There's legal conviction. That's the kind of conviction
that would lead a person to change their habits or reform their
lives out of fear of punishment, fear of hell. That's legal conviction. That's not Holy Spirit conviction.
In other words, if you're convicted by the law to change your habits,
and let me say this now, if you've got bad habits, which we all
do, we need to change those habits. But that's not Holy Spirit conviction
if that's all it is. And then there's natural conscience
conviction. There's social conviction. But
what we're talking about is Holy Spirit conviction. And we'll
go into the details of righteousness, of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment. And I'll go into details in the
second part of this message on Holy Spirit conviction. We'll
say this is part one. And we'll go into part two. But
He's gonna convict you of these three things, and you need to
know what they are. And I've already talked about them. But
I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.