Open your Bibles to the book
of John chapter 16. John chapter 16. Now, last week
I began preaching in this passage concerning the work of the Holy
Spirit in salvation. The title of the message today
is The Foundation of Holy Spirit Conviction. And I take that from
beginning at verse 7. Verse 7 is really my main text
for today's message, the foundation of Holy Spirit conviction. Here
the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to His disciples in the upper
room, instructing them, seeking to comfort them just prior to
the time of His being arrested and going under the whip of men
being falsely accused, but going ultimately to the cross of Calvary
to die for the sins of his sheep. And here he is talking to them
concerning things that they will experience. In John chapter 15,
he talked about how they'll be hated by the world. Verse 18,
if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated
you. And it's because of his message. His message is one that
upsets, overturns, and exposes the false ideas and thoughts
and religion of men. His message is one that shakes
the foundation and the refuges that men and women naturally
hold on to concerning issues of salvation, concerning issues
of life, death, judgment, and eternity. If I were to ask you,
are you saved? And you might say yes. And I
would ask you, well, what is the ground of your salvation?
What is it that saves you? What is it for you that made
the difference between saved and lost, between heaven and
hell? And of course, you know that people come up with all
kinds of different answers, and none of them are right except
except what God says in his word concerning salvation by his free
sovereign grace conditioned on and based upon the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary to put away my sins
by the shedding of his blood and to make me righteous before
God based upon his righteousness imputed, accounted to me. And so we could go in. All of
this, you know, he's talking to them. He says, look back at
John 16 verse 1, these things have I spoken unto you that you
should not be offended. I don't want you to stumble over
or to be entrapped by these things when you experience them. I want
you to know what you're in for. That's what he's saying. I want
you to know what you're getting into. Sometimes our children
will do things and we have to stop and say, you don't know
what you're getting into there. And Christ is saying, I'm going
to tell you what you're getting into. You're not going to blend
in with the religious world. You're not going to be just another
branch of a religious tree. But you're going to be, as one
of the old Greek philosophers says, a gadfly that will cause
people to question their own salvation. And people do not
like that. And you know what, that's kind
of strange when you think about it concerning the Bible. A person
who reads and studies the Bible ought never be offended when
their salvation is challenged. Did you know that? But I think
today, you know, whenever somebody's salvation is challenged, it's
like you're challenging their character. Well now wait a minute,
I live a good life, I go to church, I do this, I work hard, I'm trying
to be a good husband, good father, all that. That's not what we're
asking. and all those things you should
be doing. You should be trying to be the best. But the issue
of salvation is something else. And that's why we who are truly
saved ought not ever be offended when our salvation is challenged
because it gives us two things. First of all, it gives us an
opportunity to examine ourselves. And that's a good thing. Self-examination
is sort of a lost art. I mean, we grow up thinking,
well, I was raised in church. I was on the cradle row. I got
baptized. I did this. I made a profession.
Now everything's OK. Now leave me alone. Let me live
my life. Well, OK. Go on about your life. One of these days, you're going
to hear something you don't want to hear. It may be when you're 95. It
may be when you're 37. But somebody is going to come
to you and say, look, you've got a problem. You've got a real
problem. You've got this germ running
around inside of you that's eating away your heart or your liver,
your muscles, and you're gonna die. And then, get religion. That's what happens, isn't it,
with a lot of people. But you see, we ought to examine
ourselves whether we be in the faith. And that's a good thing. And then secondly, When our faith
is challenged, our salvation is challenged, it gives us opportunity
to witness the gospel. Tell somebody, Peter said, be
ready to give an answer to those who ask you of the hope that
you have. What is my hope of salvation?
Why do I claim to be saved? That's a good question. And I
know. I know what the answer is from
scripture. It's like Holy Spirit conviction. Somebody coming to
face to face with the reality of their sin and their sinfulness. How do you know if it's Holy
Spirit conviction and not just the pangs of natural conscience?
Because we do that. Society will make us guilty.
Mom and dad might make us feel guilty. We might make ourselves
feel guilty. But how do you know if it's the
Holy Spirit bringing us in guilty? And I can tell you very simply
the answer to that. Where do you find relief? Where
do you find comfort? Where do you find salvation?
Where do you find hope? Where do you find encouragement?
Where do you find motivation? And if it's anywhere but in Christ
and His righteousness alone, I can tell you right now, it's
not Holy Spirit conviction. Look down at verse seven. Christ
says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient, it's
necessary, it's fitting for you. Now it wasn't for himself, but
it was for them, his people, his church, his God's elect that
I go away. Christ did not come into this
world just to set up shop or to make this world his home.
We read it this morning, Galatians 4, in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son, that's Christ, Jesus Christ, the son
of God, the second person of the Trinity, who is God himself.
He became incarnate, that is, the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He's the perfect man, he's God
and man in one person. And he came to this earth, but
he didn't come to this earth to make this earth his home.
He said, it's necessary for you that I go away. They didn't want
him to go away. Remember he said back there in
verse six, he said, but because I have said these things unto
you, sorrow hath filled your heart. They didn't want him to
go away. But he said, I have to go away. It's necessary for
you that I go away. Where was he going away to? He
was going to the cross. And ultimately, he was going
to the grave, but he wasn't gonna stay there. He's gonna be risen
from the dead, and he's going to ascend unto the Father. That's
where he's going. He said, that's necessary for
you. That's necessary for his sheep. Somebody's got to die
for my sins. My death won't do it, won't get
the job done. My death won't satisfy the justice
of God. Your death, if you died for me,
that wouldn't satisfy the justice of God. Somebody whom God appointed
Somebody who's able to do the job, somebody who's willing,
and that's Jesus Christ. He's able, Paul wrote, to save
them to the uttermost. If I would die for you out of
my love for you, it still wouldn't put away your sins. It might
inspire you. It might make you feel better
towards me, but it would not put away your sins. The waters of baptism will not
put away your sins. Joining the church will not put
away your sins. Praying will not put away your
sins. Preaching will not put away your sins. There's only
one thing that'll do that. The blood of Jesus Christ. The
death of God the Son incarnate. The death of the God man. So
he says it's necessary that I go away. Why was he going away? He's going away to establish
the only righteousness whereby God can be just and still justify
a sinner like me. God must be both a righteous
judge as well as a loving father. I'm not going to lie to you.
If you want to experience the love of God, there's only one
place you're going to find that and that's in Christ. Outside
of Him, it's not love. You can call it love all you
want. And outside of Christ, it's not just loving you less.
It's hatred. But it's not hatred like our
hatred. It's justice. That's what it is. Nothing can make me righteous
by my works or my efforts. Again, baptism won't make me
righteous. Joining the church, prayer, preaching
won't make me righteous. The only thing that'll make me
righteous is the death of God's Son. So he says, it's necessary
that I go away. And then you remember that Jesus
Christ, back in John chapter 3, he told a man named Nicodemus,
he says, you've got to be born again. Having been ruined by
the fallen Adam, the result of that is that we're all born dead
in trespasses and sins. What is spiritual death? You
know what spiritual death is? It doesn't mean that we're all
as bad as we could be. No. It means we don't have spiritual
life. It means we don't care about
the things of the glory of God. It means we don't have any interest
in that which honors God through Christ. It means we don't really
see ourselves as really what we are. You must be born again. Where
am I going to get spiritual life? It comes from Christ. And he
said, look here, he said, it's expedient for you that I go away.
For if I go not away, the Comforter, that's the Holy Spirit, will
not come unto you. Who is it that imparts spiritual
life? The Holy Spirit in the new birth.
And Christ said, if I don't do my work, he's not gonna do his
work. Christ's work is the foundation
of the Holy Spirit's work in us. Christ's work for us is the
foundation of the Holy Spirit's work in us. That's what he's
saying. If he didn't die on the cross,
be buried, and rose the third day, there'd be no spiritual
life, there'd be no salvation, there'd be no washing of sins,
there'd be no righteousness to demand our eternal life. Everything the Holy Spirit does
in us is the fruit and the result of what Christ has already done
for us. It's Christ's work on the cross
that makes a sinner righteous before God. It's not the Holy
Spirit's work in us. The Holy Spirit's work in us
is to show us that Christ did the work for us. That's what
it's all about. I spoke last week about knowledge,
how there are things that we in salvation must be brought
to know to rightly call ourselves Christians. We could go, I'm
not going to go back over all those things, but faith that
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, faith is
founded on that knowledge and that knowledge is revealed, isn't
it? That's how God gives it to us through the Holy Spirit. He
reveals it to us, or we're not going to know it. We may know
some facts, but we're not gonna know the truth until it's revealed
to us. And that knowledge doesn't come by natural intellectual
abilities of man or the will of man. Now you can talk about,
well, I can't understand this or I can't understand that. You're
just, listen, you're just preaching to the choir, fellas. Listen,
if God ever gets hold of you by work of the Holy Spirit and
revelation, you're gonna know some things you didn't know before. He's gonna teach you some things
by revelation. It doesn't even come by the will
of man. It's not just for smart people. It's not so complicated
that only the intellectually gifted can get hold of it. It's
as simple that a babe can understand it. And this knowledge comes
to God's people through the power of God by the Holy Spirit and
through the instrument of the word of faith, the gospel and
the new birth. And this knowledge is founded
upon, it's centered around, and ultimately leads to the Lord
Jesus Christ in the glory of his person and the power of his
finished work. I have no hope of salvation but
Christ and him crucified and risen. How many times have you
heard me quote my favorite hymn, my hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness? The application of this knowledge
is given by the Holy Spirit and the new birth is called conviction.
Now look at verse seven again. He said, if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart, I'll send him
unto you. If Christ does his work, the Holy Spirit's going
to come and give life to all for whom Christ lived and died
and arose again. And he says it here in verse
eight, when he's come, he will reprove or convince or convict. The world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Now the world there is not talking
about every individual without exception. It's talking about
God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Not just the Jewish nation. But God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all over the world. And they're
gonna know something about sin and about righteousness and about
judgment. I defined these things for you
last week. Let me just give you a brief
definition today. And as I said, I'm gonna come
back and I'm gonna preach a message on each one. But here's what
we know about sin in verse nine. He says, he's gonna convict you
of sin because they believe not on me. Now, the only way that
I'm gonna know the reality of sin as it affects me as I see
it in the light of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on Calvary.
You see, that's what I mean. The foundation of Holy Spirit
conviction is Christ and Him crucified and risen. And here's
what that tells me. That if I don't have Christ as
my surety, as my substitute, as my Savior, then nothing I
do or try to do, promise to do, is pleasing to God. It's all
sin. It all misses the mark. That's what that word there for
sin, it means you miss the mark. Listen, you can try to be the
best person you can be and you should, but you're still gonna
miss the mark. You're still not gonna come up
to snuff. Because the mark is perfect righteousness. And we don't have it. We can't
work it. There's none righteous, no not
one. In other words, Christ is the only one who can take care
of this sin problem. I can't take care of it for you,
you can't take care of it for me. We can't take care of it
for ourselves. So the foundation has to be laid. is that all the remedy for sin
has nothing to do with me or my religion in a sense of what
I do or don't do. The remedy for sin is what Christ
accomplished on Calvary, having my sins charged to Him, whereupon
He was made a curse for me and died for my sins and put them
away. So that I can say with David
of old, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Without Christ, it's all sin
in the sight of God. And you say, well, you mean a
person, let's say, I heard the illustration one time of a young
man who was raised up in a good home, went to school, made good
grades, graduated, then he joined the army. And he went to war, he fought
like a hero, and he even died in a war for his country. Now the world would look at a
young man like that and say, well, wow. He's a Christian. He's saved. He entered heaven. Well, what if I told you he was
a Japanese soldier in World War II fighting in the service for
the emperor god of Japan? Well, that changes things, doesn't
it? He didn't know God. He didn't have Christ, you see.
He wasn't washed in the blood, clothed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. It's all sin in the sight of
God. You say, well, I can't believe that. That's why it takes a work
of conviction of the Holy Spirit to convince you. That's why it takes a work of
the Holy Spirit to convince me. You know why I believe it? Because
God's word says it. It's not how I feel, it's not
how I naturally think. No, it's what God's Word says.
And the Holy Spirit in conviction convinces us of that. He says, verse 10, of righteousness,
because I go to my Father and you see me no more. That's Christ
going to the Father as the one who established righteousness.
I'm going away to do that, he says. I go to my Father. You
and me, based upon what we are or what we do, we can't go to
the Father. We're barred from the Father
because of sin. But if Christ puts away my sin,
if Christ establishes the righteousness, then he's cleared the way to
the Father. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. You remember back in the Old
Covenant in the tabernacle? If you went in, you know, they
built the tabernacle, and it's set in the center of the camp,
and they had the walls of the tabernacle that separated it
all from the rest of the camp of Israel, and then you went
into the gate, the eastern gate, and right there in the outer
court they had the altar of sacrifice called the brazen altar. That's
where the animals were slain. And the people would come in
and they would bring their animals and then that's where the lamb
of Passover, the lamb on the day of atonement was slain one
time a year. And then there was another wall, inner chamber,
and in that you had the holy place, they called it, and only
the priest of Levi could go in there, all the priest of Levi.
That's where you had the table of showbread and the candlestick
and all of that. And only the priest of Levi could
go in there. And then you had the inner inner
chamber called the holiest of all, the holy of holies. That's
where the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat. And one man could
enter there with the blood of the animal, the blood of the
lamb. And that was the high priest. That way was barred to everybody
else. Nobody else could go there. Now
you know all of that was a picture of Christ and his church, you
know that. But here's the thing. What God was showing those people,
listen. Without a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice, you cannot approach
God. You're barred from God. You're
alienated from God. Well, look at Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 19. Now, what he's talking about
here is the foundation that has been laid by the one sacrifice
of Jesus Christ to put away the sins of his people. That's what
he's talking about. That's the subject. Those priests,
they offered the blood of animals yearly, weekly, monthly. It was
continual because it could never put away sin. But by this one
offering, Jesus Christ, by his one offering, he put away sin
and established righteousness. Now look at verse 19. Having
therefore, brethren, boldness. Now that word boldness means
liberty, freedom, unhindered access. We have boldness to enter
the holiest. Brethren, sinners saved by the
grace of God, sinners washed in the blood of Christ, sinners
clothed in His righteousness imputed have unhindered access,
freedom, liberty, even confidence to enter the holiest, the holy
presence of Almighty God. Now, on what basis? Read the
rest of it. By the blood of Jesus. There's
your ground. Now, when the Holy Spirit comes
and convinces me of sin and of righteousness, I see in my heart
of hearts, that regenerate heart, that I have free, unhindered
access to the very holy presence of God, not because I've been
a good boy today, not because I prayed a lot today, not because
I've been baptized, not because I'm a member of one thing, one
ground, one foundation, the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's another
way of saying his righteousness imputed. And what he says here, verse
20, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated. It's a new
way in that new in time. Christ accomplished it on Calvary.
It's a living way. It's not a dead way like the
blood of animals or like man's religion. which he, Christ, hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh,
his sacrifice. And having a high priest over
the house of God, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart.
A true heart is an honest heart, a convicted heart. The true heart
is a contrite heart, broken over sin. A heart that sees our need
of God's grace. of what Christ did. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit. The foundation is laid in the
work of Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts and
gives us the new heart, a true heart, a sincere heart, in full
assurance of faith. Now what is the full assurance
of faith? It's not the assurance that I have faith or how much
faith I have. It's the assurance that comes
from looking to Christ as my only ground of salvation. You
say, well, sometimes I just don't believe enough. Well, let me
tell you something, friend. There's no time you believe enough as
far as that's concerned. That's right. Believe enough
for what? You see, salvation is not founded
upon how much you believe. Salvation is founded upon the
one in whom you believe. The question is not, am I able? Have I done enough? The question
is, is Christ able? Has he done enough? And the answer
from God's word is yes, yes, yes. He's all my righteousness. I
don't need anymore. Now if I'm looking to myself
for righteousness, I need a lot more because I don't have any. If I'm looking to you, I need
a lot more because you don't have any. Do I have enough righteousness
to enter the holiest? The answer is yes. Why? Because
Christ is my righteousness. That's why. And in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and I'm complete in him. You see, I'm not coming into
the holiest based on anything that comes, not even the work
of the Holy Spirit in me. I'm coming into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, our Savior. So let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. Now that sprinkling refers to
the work of the Holy Spirit in applying the blood of Christ,
sprinkling the blood of Christ, what Christ accomplished in our
hearts, in our minds, our affections, our will. You know what an evil
conscience is? Somebody might look at that phrase
evil conscience and they might picture in their mind some kind
of a ravenous maniac, an evil conscience. Or somebody who's
just openly immoral and stuff like that. The evil conscience,
you know what an evil conscience is? It's a guilty conscience.
It's a condemned conscience. That's what an evil conscience
is in the Bible. Back over in Hebrews 9, just turn the page
back there. Look at, I mean, Hebrews 10 and
verse 1. Well, look at Hebrews 9. Look
at verse 9 of Hebrews 9, this conscience. What he's talking
about here is the old covenant sacrifices and tabernacle and
their limitations. And he says in verse 9, these
things were a figure for the time then present. In other words,
they were given these elements of the old covenant, that tabernacle,
the animal sacrifices, the human priesthood was given to Israel
for that time. in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect. They couldn't make him righteous. They couldn't make
him complete as pertaining to the conscience. All of that just kind of continually
reminded them of their condemnation. It's kind of like preachers today.
People go to church, you know, I used to hear a fellow say one
time, he said, man, he sure they gave me a whipping today. And
I told him, I said one time, I said, well, you flat needed
one. I can tell. You see, I'm not standing up here
to whip you with the law. I'm standing here to point you
to Christ for salvation. And I pray that God the Holy
Spirit upon that foundation that Christ has laid will soothe your
conscience from the guilt and condemnation of sin in a way
that's not temporary, but in a way that's permanent. And look
over at Hebrews 10 and verse 1, he says, for the law having
a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the
things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continue to make the comers thereunto perfect. Blood of bulls and goats
can't do it, can't wash away your sins, can't make you righteous.
For then, verse 2, would they not have ceased to be offered?
If they could, they would have stopped. because that the worshipers
once purged, once cleansed, should have no more conscience of sin. That's no more condemnation. So look back at Hebrews 10, 22.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water, our persons, we who are in Christ can stand
before God with confidence. How in the world can a sinner
stand before God with confidence? Because of the foundation that
has been laid. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
and risen. The blood of Christ. the righteousness
of Christ. You see, if I stand before God
at judgment, I go back to John 16, look at verse 11. He says,
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now
the prince of this world is Satan. We can talk about, I'm gonna
talk about this in the message on that, how he was cast out,
judged at the cross. John chapter 12 teaches that
plainly. The Lord said, now is the prince
of this world cast out. And what he's talking about is
this. is that the devil, who is the accuser of the brethren,
has no grounds for his accusations because Christ died, the foundation
is laid. And so when the Holy Spirit comes
to convict of sin, it's not just to condemn us, it's not just
to lay us low guilty, as old John Bunyan said, not just to
put us in the slew of despond, But it's to bring us to Christ
for salvation, for hope, for comfort, for relief. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
Now here's the judgment. What am I going to plead? What
does the Holy Spirit in conviction lead me to plead now and at the
judgment? Well, There were some folks that
the Lord spoke of in Matthew 7 who said this, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Now my friend, I can tell you
right now, it wasn't the Holy Spirit leading them to plead
that. It was old self. I'm standing before God at the
judgment. What am I gonna say? Well, Lord, I pastored Eager
Avenue Grace Church. I pastored 13th Street Baptist
Church and then came back to Eager Avenue. You may say I was
crazy, but here I am. What am I gonna say, Lord? Haven't
I prophesied? Haven't I done many wonderful?
Well, if I do, it's not the Holy Spirit. That's just old Bill
blowing his own horn. And if that's what I plead, I'll
just hear, depart from me, you that work iniquity. That doesn't
equal out to righteousness. But if I stand before God and
plead Christ, I've got it in his word where he said, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. I won't have anything. You know,
if I plead my preaching, my doing, my not doing, I'll have a lot
to be ashamed of. But in Christ, I don't have a
thing to be ashamed of. Because in Christ, I have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. In Christ, I
have that which glorifies and honors the Father. And there's nothing better than
that, you see. All right.