I'd like for you to turn back
with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I want to concentrate what I'm
saying to verses 9 through 18. I titled the message, The Holy
Spirit of Promise. Salvation begins in the believer
as the Spirit of the living God makes known to him or her the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't begin with your decision
to turn your life around. It doesn't begin with your decision
to worry about hell and worry about
this and worry about that and running in in fear and making
some kind of decision. or accepting this or accepting
that, it begins in the believer as the spirit of the living God
makes known to him the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever else
he's experienced thus far in his life is of no consequence
to what's now taking place. No consequence whatsoever. This
is what Paul calls in Philippians 2, verse 12, the working out
of your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This work begins with the conviction
of sin. This understanding of the gospel
begins with a conviction of sin. I remember a fellow I knew who
used to smoke a lot. And after a while, he quit smoking.
And somebody asked him why he quit smoking. He said, the Lord
convicted me of my smoking. That's not conviction of sin. That's conviction of his conscience,
but it's not conviction of sin. This is not what that is. Conviction of sin is not about
things you eat and drink and wear or even places that you
go. Conviction of sin has to do with
what you are. What you are before God. It's the Word of God being pressed
upon a man's mind and heart, convincing him that he is exactly
as God has declared him to be. That testimony of God is not
just a phrase. It's not just things to be bandied
about, but that declaration of God concerning
his sin, he receives that into his heart, he believes that in
his heart, and he treats it as real as if he could feel it. Conviction of sin is not just
coming into agreement with the doctrine of total depravity.
I know a lot of people. I've met a lot of people in my
lifetime. I don't know them real well,
but I have met people in my lifetime who would believe and argue the
doctrine of total depravity who have never been convicted of
sin. It's to see yourself as God has
described you and to act upon this knowledge by justifying
God in your own condemnation. When a man sees himself for what
he is by the Spirit of the living God, he'll get on God's side
in this thing of judgment of sin. He'll get on God's side
against himself, against his parents, against his loved ones,
against his sisters and brothers and people that he's known all
of his life. He'll get on God's side in this thing of condemnation. Something else will happen when
he's convicted of sin. He'll immediately begin to turn
from himself. He'll quit looking in here. He'll
quit trying to make what he's seeing in here the basis. He'll
turn from himself. He'll realize that everything
that he is is just ignorance, darkness, deceit. He'll turn from himself, and
he'll turn to His Maker. I tell you, something else happens
when you're convicted of sin. You confess your sins to God. You confess your sins. I'm not
talking about confessing them to another man. We're never told
in the Scripture to confess our sins to a man. But you'll confess
your sins to God. And here's something else that
takes place. You're going to take your place as the sinner. Not a sinner. The sinner. The sinner. You'll take your
place. That man came to the Lord and
he said, Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. I don't think this is out of
the way statement, but until there's a conviction of sin in
the heart, There can be no reason to believe that the Holy Spirit
has done any work in you. Because this is His first work.
This is His first work. God looked down on man after
only 10 generations. Just 10 generations. I'm 65. I remember back in the 50s having
a conscience, seeing society, being a young boy, looking around,
And I remember how the lifestyle was then, and I see how it is
now. And it's just unbelievable how
much worse it is now than it was then. I'm just talking about
the general society. Kids could get on their bicycle
and go anywhere they wanted to go. You could go 5 or 10 miles
away. No danger of somebody grabbing
you off your bicycle. After only 10 generations, God
looked down from heaven upon men, and He said, the wickedness
of man, not men, not certain men, the wickedness of man, mankind,
was great in the earth. And every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Out of the heart, our Lord said,
proceed. That is like a great procession.
Proceed evil thoughts, murder, adulteries, fornications, theft,
false witness, blasphemies. These are the things, he said,
that defile a man. Men don't become sinners when
they sin. We've been told that. I've been
told that since I was a little child. He doesn't become a sinner
when he sins. He comes forth from the womb
speaking lies. He's conceived. David said, I
was conceived in iniquity. My parents were sinners. Sin entered by one man, the Bible
says, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. A preacher, let me ask you something. Do you really honestly see all
these things in me? No, sir. No, sir, I don't. You know how far I can see? The
outward countenance. As far as I can see. But God can. God can. And He is the only one
who can. And God does, in fact, discern
and tells us what He sees in men in His Word. In Hebrews 4,
verse 12, He tells us that the Word of God is quick, powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is
a discerner," now listen, what is? The Word of God is. "...a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in God's sight, but all things are naked
and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Convicted
sinners do not approach God on the basis of what they think
they are. God convinces you of sin, you'll
know what you are. They approach Him as guilty sinners. And they cast themselves upon
His mercy. I wish sometime you'd just go
through the hymn book. I don't care which hymn book.
Get you a hymn book and read through there. And read. We sang
the words a while ago. Talking about what a sinner casting
himself prostrate at the feet of God. Amazing grace how sweet
the sound that saved a what? A wretch like me. How often did I sing that before
I knew what it meant? Go through and read these old
hymns. Read what it says in there. Do you see any of that taking
place in our generation? Do you see any of that on TV
in those churches? Do you see anybody coming, throwing
themselves prostrate at the feet of Christ, looking upon themselves
as vile sinners? Salvation begins with a conviction
of sin, and it leaves men and women guilty before God. Guilty. Conviction of sin takes away
our excuses. There's no excuse for sin. No
excuse for sin. God is love. God is good. God is holy, righteous, and just. He's not tempted by sin, neither
tempteth He any man. He's not the author of sin. Sin
is our fault. It belongs to us. We're the author
of it. It's our fault. We're surrounded
by the light of creation. We have in us the light of conscience
so that even the heathen in deepest, darkest Africa who's never heard
anything don't even know there's such a thing as the Word of God.
What's the Scripture say about him? He is without excuse because
God has showed it to him. Conviction of sin. leaves a man
guilty before God. It takes away his excuses. And
thirdly, conviction of sin leaves us helpless and hopeless and
lost. Have you ever been lost? Have you ever come to the place where
you just didn't know what to do? Where to turn? Have you ever become helpless
before God? See yourself helpless? Like that
old paralyzed man who laid there all them years by the pool of
Bethesda, helpless before God. That's where conviction of sin
leaves a man, helpless, hopeless. All those things in which he
hoped are now gone. Conviction of sin has taken those
things, all possibility of self-righteousness, out the door. All possibility
of working my way into heaven went out the door. All possibility of me establishing
a righteousness is out the door. All that's gone now. I'm without
hope. Everything man told me to hope
in, contrary to the Word of God. And now I'm convicted of sin
and I understand that. It leaves a man helpless. hopeless
and lost. And when a man is truly lost,
he begins to seek help. Conviction of sin leaves a man
knowing what he is and knowing he can't do anything about it.
That's right. Now let me tell you something. When a man, woman, boy or girl
gets to this place, the Gospel will be good news. It will be
the best news you've ever heard. The gospel will be good news
to him. When a man gets plum lost, Barnard
used to say, past earthly assistance, past a little counseling, past
a little doctrine, oh, then you'll find one willing to hear, willing
to submit, willing to be taught, hanging on every word. Conviction
of sin leaves a man desperate. Tomorrow won't do him any good.
Won't do him any good. He needs mercy now. You're not going to hear Him
talking about, well, I'll hear you in a more convenient season.
Men and women convicted of sin don't talk that way. Today is all He has. Now, I want
you to listen to this. This is a quote over here in
Hebrew. The Holy Ghost saith today, if you'll hear His voice,
Harden not your hearts." Who said that? The Holy Ghost did. Today, if you'll hear His voice,
harden not your hearts. I tell you, I'm so sick of hearing
ignorant men talk about what the Holy Ghost told them to do.
When the Holy Ghost speaks in a man, speaks to a man, here's
what He tells him. Today! Today! Today! It rings in his heart and rings
in his ears. Today, that's all I've got. Today. Today is the day of salvation
and conviction of sin leaves a man desperate. He's out of
time. This is it. It's now or never. You might have to beg and threaten
proud rebels to come to Christ. but not convicted sinners. Here's what Paul is saying here
in Ephesians chapter 1. We trusted in Christ, are you
listening, after we heard the Word of Truth. I'm not talking
about hearing it in your ears. I'm talking about hearing it
in your heart. I'm talking about understanding what it says. Experiencing
what it says. Tasting of these things. Salvation, my friend, is a heart
work. With a heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. Let me tell you something. When
a man's convicted of sin, election is a glorious, gracious doctrine
to him. Oh, my soul, he not left us to
die with this world. But God has chosen out of pure,
sovereign grace, just because he would, according to the good
pleasure of His will. He's chosen from this race of
people to save, not because of anything He sees in them, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
I tell you, when that man speaks a lection to you, if he preaches
it right, it's like God threw open the door. There's hope for
sinners because God chose a people. Oh, there's no hope for a sinner
if God leaves men to themselves. He's already told you what man
is in himself. His every thought is only evil
continually. But God chose a people. Oh, I tell you, I used to think
it was a cold, severe doctrine unfair to the multitudes. We
used to think that election was unjust and contrary to the love
of God. But now taking your place as
the sinner, he sees the necessity of it, the beauty of it, and
the mercy of God in it. You trusted after you heard the
word of truth. Election in Christ is an open
door for all blessings and benefits. All of them of sovereign grace
come through that door of election. All spiritual blessings are according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
It is the election of God that ties the work of Christ to the
sinner. This is the will of my Father
which is sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. He said, I am the Good Shepherd,
and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. I know
my sheep, and I'm known of mine. I give unto them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out." And then listen to this over in Romans chapter 8.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Election ties the chosen sinner
to Christ and all his representative work, all his appointments, his
condescension, his redemptive work, his resurrection, and his
present reign and glory, all tied to the believer through
election. He said, I pray not for the world,
but for those which thou hast given me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me. I don't know, I've said this
before and I'm going to keep on saying it by the grace of
God, God outside of Christ is a consuming fire. Now if everything that God has
done in Christ is for His elect, how does one go about to determine
if he's one of God's elect? by believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith is not what determines
our election, but what manifests our election, what reveals it. Sovereign grace determined our
election. Faith makes it known. Isn't that
what he says over in Ephesians chapter 2? You, Ethie Quicken,
who were dead in trespasses and sin, read through it. You're
familiar with it. That in the ages to come, He's
going to make known His kindness to us, and His grace to us, and
His mercy to us. He's going to make it known. For by grace are you saved through
faith. After that you believed, you
were sealed. Sealed with what? that Holy Spirit
of promise. Ephesians 1.13. The Holy Spirit
of promise is Christ in you. It's your eternal union with
Him. It's your vital union of faith to the Son of God. Now
listen to me, it's not called the Holy Spirit of promises. He is not called back, although
He gives to us great and precious promises. But this is the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the promised one. All the promises
of God, Paul said, in Christ are yea and amen. They are yea
and amen in Him. The sealing of the believer is
the gift of faith in Christ, which brings to him all the spiritual
blessings that God has given to him in Christ. And the Holy
Ghost works in us, enabling us to know our sins and to repent
of them, to know our God and to turn to Him, to know His Son
and to trust in Him. The Holy Spirit brings peace
to our minds and hearts by applying the blood and righteousness of
Christ to us. And this is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possessions.
Now, won't you listen to me? Things are better than they were
if you're a believer. Huh? Oh, they're better than
they were. There was a time when we were
without Christ, and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, and we had no hope,
and without God in the world, and were at best heathen idolaters. But now in Christ Jesus, we who
sometimes were afar off are made nigh by His blood, and He is
our peace. Things are better than they were.
There was a time when we walked in the vanity of our minds and
lived in darkness and lived in rebellion and worked against
the church of the living God, persecuted the church of the
living God. But now we're no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God. Things are far better than they
were. But I want you to listen. What he's talking about here
is the earnest. The earnest. Now if I buy something
and I give you a little money down, that's the earnest. But
that ain't the whole thing. That's not the whole thing. This
is just the earnest. There's coming a day when we'll
We'll shed this flesh and this old man that dwells in it and
we'll stand in a new body and a new nature with a perfect mind
and heart, stand in the presence of God. Faultless before the
presence of His glory. That's what the scripture said. Not even reprovable anymore. Not even a trace of the serpent
slime on us. No part of us. No part of the
fall of man shall remain on us or in us. And those who shall
see us then are going to look on us, both angels, all these
angels in heaven, they are going to look on us and they are going
to say, Who is this? Who is this that are raised in
these white robes and stand around the throne and sing the glory
of God? Who is this and how did they
get here? These are they which come up
out of Great trouble. Great trouble. People keep looking forward to
what they call the millennium. And they think that verse is
in reference to all these monsters and things that they imagine
that's going to come to pass during the millennium. That's
not what this is talking about. This is talking about you coming
up out of your depravity. Out of this present evil world.
out of that which is impossible for a man to get out of without
the power of God. These are they which come up
out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they before the throne
of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And
he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They'll
hunger no more, They'll thirst no more. The heat of the sun
is not going to light upon them anymore. For the Lamb which is
in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead them unto
living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." Oh, beloved, things are better than they were.
But how much better they're going to be in that day. You can't
even imagine the glory of that day. No more curse. No more night. No more tears. No more sorrow. No more pain. Paul said, I pray for you that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom. Huh? Oh, that's what I want you
to have. That's what I want you to have.
That the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom. And the revelation, give you
revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling. and what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints." God's saints are God's portion.
They're God's portion in whom He is and ever shall be glorified. Everything about them which is
righteous and good is owing to God. But most believe that this
reference here that I just read to you is in reference to this
future glory. That is the culmination. He said
He has made known unto us the mystery of His will. And then
He talks about all things being gathered in heaven, earth, and
hell. All things that have been given
to Christ are going to be gathered to Him. And all things are going
to culminate in that day. Heaven itself. What a rich, Rewarding
place heaven must be. Typified, even in its typical
form. He talks about mansions. Mansions. I don't expect to go up there
and see some big southern plantation. Do you? But the type tells me
something about the riches of heaven. About the glory of heaven. About the security of heaven.
And he uses words like mansions. streets of gold, gates of pearl. He tells me something about the
unchangeableness of heaven. It's an everlasting, permanent
dwelling place, a city that Abraham searched for that had foundations
whose builder and maker is God. He talks about a kingdom without
end. And this earth and this flesh
is nothing but a dung heap compared to what lies ahead for the believer. Then why do we murmur and grumble
and complain so much? Because we see so little. That's
why. We see so little. Paul said,
I pray for you that God might give unto you the spirit of wisdom.
and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Oh, that God might be pleased
to open the eyes of our understanding and show us the hope of His calling
and something of the glory of God in His inheritance in the
saints. Wouldn't that be something?