Begun reading again this week
the memoirs and remains of Robert Murray McShane, written by his
friend Andrew Bonar. Both of them were Scottish Presbyterian
preachers. On August 13th, 1833, a young
20-year-old McShane wrote these words in his diary. Clear conviction of sin is the
only true origin of dependence on another's righteousness and the Christian's peace of
mind and cheerfulness. Clear conviction of sin is the
only true origin of dependence on another's righteousness of
the Christian's peace of mind and cheerfulness. Now that is
precisely the doctrine our Lord Jesus taught in John chapter
16, verses 7 through 11. And that'll be our text again
this morning. The title of my message is The
Comfort of Conviction. The Comfort of Conviction. The Holy Spirit comfort sinners
by his marvelous work of convincing us of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. To understand God's Word aright,
this grand distinction must be known. Though all are sinners
in God's sight, there are but few so in their own. to such as these the Lord was
sent. They're only sinners who repent. I received a letter this week
from a preacher who was challenged about the message of particular
redemption, limited atonement, and he asked how can you declare
this doctrine and explain the statement declared in Romans
5, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for sinners. I said,
there's no contradiction at all. No difficulty at all. Find me
a sinner in this place. Find me a sinner anywhere in
the world. And I'll tell that sinner, Christ
redeemed you. Find me a sinner. Well, Brother
Don, everybody's sinners. Go ask them. Go ask them. To understand God's
Word aright, this grand distinction must be known. Though all are
sinners in God's sight, there are but few so in their own.
To such as these our Lord was sent, there are only sinners
who repent. What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
New life from him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. This faithful saying let us own. Well worthy it is to be believed
that Christ into the world came down that sinners might by him
be saved. Sinners are high in his esteem. and sinners highly value Him. In the fourth and fifth chapters
of Leviticus that we read earlier, the Lord God gave detailed instruction
concerning sins of ignorance. What a strange statement, sins
of ignorance. The fact is, you and I by nature
are ignorant of our sin. And most of the evil we perform,
we're ignorant of that too. Six times the Lord told Moses
that any sin of ignorance, once it was known, atonement must
be made by the divinely appointed sacrifice. And once atonement
was made, than the sin committed was forgiven. The Lord said,
now, when it comes to knowledge, when a man, this man's sin is
made known to him, he brings a sacrifice. He lays his hands
upon the head of that sacrifice. And he has that sacrifice sacrificed
by God's priest at God's altar, at God's tabernacle. And God
accepts the sacrifice and the man's sins are forgiven him. Sin must be made known. This is exactly how every sinner
experiences God's grace. You will not seek the Lord until
you need him. You will not call for mercy until
you need mercy. You will not bow to Christ until
you're compelled to bow in the dust before the throne of grace
as a sinner seeking free grace. Until then, you'll always have
something else on which you trust. You will not come to Christ until
you must come to Christ. The Lord said, blessed are they
that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Do you know anything
about that? Do I? Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Sin
must be made known the sinner must be convinced of sin Atonement
must be made the convinced sinner must bring to God the sacrifice
that God requires and God provides and God accepts and that Sacrifice
is Jesus Christ the Lord The guilty sinner brings nothing
to God except the blood and righteousness of God's own Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the sinner convinced of his
sin, the sinner for whom atonement has been made, the sinner who
brings nothing but the blood, who brings nothing but Christ
to God, the sinner who comes to God convinced of his inmost
corruption, brings Christ's precious blood, walks home forgiven. Forgiven in his conscience. Declared
not guilty in his own soul by God himself in his word and by
his spirit. That's the comfort of conviction
promised by our Savior here in John 16. The fact is none of
us know our sin except as God the Holy Spirit causes us to
know it. None can or will confess his
sin until God the Holy Spirit convinces him of his sin. And
when God convinces you of your sin, you will take the ground
God gives you, the dust. Don René, you belong in the dust
before God. That's the proper place for worms. Did you hear me? You belong in
the dust before God. That's the proper place for worms. You have no other place. Bow
down then before the throne of grace and seek his mercy. Trusting nothing but the blood
of God's dear son. John 16 verse 7. Now we're going
to do a strange thing in Baptist churches today. We're going to
read some scripture. I want you to see that everything
I had to say is plainly taught in this book. John 16, verse
7. Our Lord Jesus 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. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. I want to show you five things,
and I'll be as brief as I possibly can. Five things concerning the
work of God the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his elect. Number
one, the commission of the Spirit. Our Lord Jesus, you remember,
as the mediator and surety of the covenant, was commissioned
of God as his servant. to fulfill certain things given
him to perform as our mediator in the covenant of grace. He
was sent into the world to save his people from their sins. That was his commission. He was
commissioned of God to bring in everlasting righteousness.
That's what his mission was. He was sent to make atonement
for sin, to redeem his people from their sins. And having finished
his work, the righteous servant of God goes back to the father
and now he and the father send the spirit unto us. He sends
his spirit as the comforter. He said, I will send him unto
you. In chapter 14, verse 16, he says,
I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever. The Holy Spirit is sent of the
Father and sent of the Son for the purpose of effectually applying
the finished work of Christ to every chosen sinner. He's sent
to sprinkle the blood. He's sent to apply the blood
here, in our hearts, in our consciences, in our minds. He's sent to make
us know by experience, by the experience of his saving grace,
what Christ accomplished for us as our Redeemer and mediator
at Calvary. The Spirit of God comes then
as the seal of the covenant. the seal of the covenant, as
circumcision testified in an outward way that every child
of Abraham was of the stock of Abraham and heir of the covenant.
The Holy Spirit comes and circumcises the heart with circumcision not
made with hands and thereby seals to you the blessings of the covenant. He declares to you, not to men,
to you, not to the world, to you. He declares to you who are
born of him that you are the sons of God so that now you look
to heaven and call God your father with no terror in your heart.
He comes with covenant commission to regenerate, to call, to sanctify,
to preserve all the chosen, every redeemed sinner. He's commissioned
to make sinners new creatures in Christ, to unite the redeemer
and the redeemed. He brings Christ to us, creates
Christ in us, and he brings us to Christ and makes us new creatures
in Christ Jesus. He's commissioned to bring Christ
to us, to bring us to the Savior. The Lord Jesus sends his spirit
like David sent Ziba after Mephibosheth. You remember what he said to
him? He said, fetch. What wondrous grace his grace
is, it's fetching grace. He doesn't just nudge sinners
toward God. He doesn't just passionately
move you toward God and tell you you ought to come to God
and you ought to trust Christ. Oh, no. When God sends his spirit,
he sends his spirit to fetch the redeemed center, to fetch
the chosen one at the appointed time of love. And when he comes
fetching, you come believing. Is that simple? Is that simple?
I remember back some years ago, a young boy Ask how it was that
he found the Lord. And he said, I didn't know he
was lost. But I was, and he found me. There's
a big difference. Folks ask you if you found the
Lord. You're not even looking for him, not even interested
in him. Oh, no. What did you do? He said, I did the running. He
did the catching. He fetches sinners to him. He fetches them.
All right, here's the second thing. The spirit has a commission. And secondly, the coming of the
spirit. At the appointed time of love. Come back to Ezekiel
chapter 26. Ezekiel 26. At the appointed time of love,
God sends his spirit to give life to his redeemed and bring
his ransomed into the bond of the covenant. And let me tell
you something. You must be born again. That's not a recommendation.
That's a necessity. And with regard to every chosen
sinner, with regard to everyone born of God and are called and
redeemed by the blood of Christ, you must absolutely be born again. It shall come to pass. If you're
God's, he'll get you. He'll get you. If you're God's,
he's put a hedge about you and you cannot escape. If you're
God's, he will bring you into the wilderness and make you to
be alone with him and calls you to come to him. He comes in the
time of love to fetch the sinner who's redeemed and chosen of
God by the new birth and the effectual call. At the very outset
of Mr. Bush's decision points. Shelby got it for me. I read
it. Very good book. Very good book. Very instructive book. Except with regard to religion. Mr. President, I'm sorry, his
religion ain't much. And if I had a chance to, I'd
tell him so. I'd tell him so. He tells about a meeting that
his father had with the family in Maine at their home, had about
30 family members, a few guests in and invited Billy Graham to
come do a Bible study. Now, this is what he said. This
is what he reports. His father asked the first question.
We're told by most people that you must be born again to go
to heaven. My mother, The elder President
Bush said, pointed to his mother sitting there, is a very spiritual
woman, the most spiritual religious woman I know. But she's never
had a born-again experience. Will she go to heaven? And Billy
Graham responded this way, exactly this way. Most people to have
a relationship with God must be born again. But there are
some people who are born Christians. Your mother must have been born
a Christian. No, you weren't born a Christian.
And your mama wasn't either. You must be born again. Though redeemed by the blood
of Christ, though chosen of God, though saved in the purpose of
God from eternity, every chosen, redeemed sinner must be born
again. And the new birth is as necessary
as the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. You won't go to glory
without it. Look at Ezekiel 36. This is God's
covenant. Verse 21. I had pity for mine holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither
they went. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do this, I do not this
for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine own holy namesake. You mean the reason God saves
sinners is for his namesake? What a strange thing. No, that's
written throughout the book. God saves sinners for his sake.
For his name's sake, for his glory, not for your sake, for
his sake. Read on. For my name's sake,
which you have profaned among the heathen, whither you went.
Verse 23. I will sanctify, I will hallow
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you. before their eyes. Lindsay just
taught that lesson about true humility. A man comes in, takes
the lowest place, and the master of the house comes in and says,
come up high. He said, I'll be sanctified in
you before their eyes. Read on. For I will take you
from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and
will bring you into your own land. Verse 25, then when I have
gathered you, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you
shall be clean by the washing of the water by the word Paul
gives us. You shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give
you an heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments
and do them. Now notice what it says. I will,
you shall. I will, you shall. Never does
God say I will and I hope you shall. I will and maybe you shall. I will, and if you shall, I will,
and you shall. God's grace is effectual, almighty,
irresistible grace. There's no other kind. Verse
28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,
and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also
save you from all your uncleanness. Now turn to Jeremiah 29. In Ezekiel 37, the Lord says,
I'll put my spirit in you and you shall live. Then shall you
know that I'm the Lord that has spoken it and performed it, saith
the Lord. And I will bring you into the
bond of the covenant. Now, look at this. Jeremiah 29,
verse 11. God speaks and says, I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts
of peace. and not of evil, to give you
an expected end. Then shall ye call on me. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then shall
you call on me. When? Then shall you call on
me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will heal you,
and you shall seek me. And find me when you shall search
for me with all your heart. You call on me when I call you.
You'll seek me when I seek you. You'll find me when I find you. And cause you to search for me
with all your heart. All right, now look back here
in John chapter 3. John chapter 3. These passages we've read
in the Old Testament about the sending of the Spirit, God's
covenant work by His Spirit, are explained to a Jewish leader
by the name of Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a leader of the Pharisees. He was the president of the theological
seminary. He was the chair of theology
at the theology school in Jerusalem, but he didn't know a thing about
God. He could recite the Bible frontwards and backwards, but
he didn't know a thing about God. He'd rather look at the
parking lot and see the tracks in the parking lot than listen
to the preacher. He's not interested. It's just because he had religion,
but no knowledge of God. Look at what the Lord says. Nicodemus
came to him by night, and Jesus answered him, verse 3, and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, He cannot see the kingdom of God. You won't understand
anything I'm talking to you about until you're born again. Can't
see. Nicodemus says unto him, how
can a man be born when he's old? Can't enter a second time into
his mother's womb and be born? Do you know the reason most folks
never learn anything? Because they don't shut up long
enough to listen. Nicodemus, just as soon as the Lord said,
you must be born again, I got an answer for that. How are you
going to be born again? Why, that's ridiculous. And the
master pays no attention to what he says. Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Now, how does that happen? You
go to one of the religious idol shops here in town or somewhere
else, go online. They call them Christian bookstores,
but they're just idol shops for the most part. You go in and
start looking for books and you will find a dozen titles at any
one time on how to be born again. How-to books with regard to religion
are always horrible. Our Lord didn't tell you how
to be born again. The book of God nowhere tells
a sinner how to be born again. If it's left up to you, you'll
never be born again. The word of God tells us how
sinners are born again. The wind bloweth where it lifteth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but can't not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. How are sinners born again? By
the sovereign, omnipotent power of God the Holy Spirit, exactly
at His appointed time of love when He comes to save His own. This is what we call effectual
calling. Irresistible grace. Now, I know
folks like to find terms that are more palatable. We ought
not to use terms like irresistible grace. That sounds like men try
to resist and can't. That's the reason we use that
term. Irresistible grace. You hear
the word and You clench your fist and will not bow. You hear
the word and you stiffen your neck and will not bow. You hear
the spirit by the word speak and you will not repent until
he graciously forces you to repent. It's called irresistible grace.
It's spoken of throughout the scriptures. Turn over to Ephesians
1. This passage of scripture talks about the work of God for
us and in us. It tells us about the father's
purpose of grace. And then it tells us about the
son's purchase, who with his own blood obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then in order that we should
be to the praise of God's glory, who first trusted in Christ,
he tells us of the spirit's performance on our behalf. Verse 13, Ephesians
1, in whom ye also trusted. You trusted him like God the
father trusted his son before the world was you also trusted
him after that After that you heard the word of truth quite
literally the word of the truth You you also trusted Christ not
before you heard the word of truth not as you were a one day
just walking along thinking about something your mama said to you
when you're a little baby and you remembered it and you're
born again. No. No. Always connected with true
faith is the hearing of the word. Not just the hearing of a man's
voice, but the hearing of God speak his word by his spirit
through the voice of the man preaching to you. You heard the
word of truth. the gospel, the good news of
your salvation. The word of truth is not the
declaration that you might be saved. That's not it. The word
of truth is not the declaration that salvation is available for
anybody who'll choose it. That's not so. The word of the
truth is the good news. God saved you. Salvation is done,
done as God himself would do it. And God himself has done
it by the sacrifice of his son. Redemption is accomplished. In
whom also, after that you believed, that is having believed, you
were sealed. You were sealed. You heard the
word. And God calls you to understand
he's speaking to you and you believe. You found yourself believing
God. How many of you have come to
me over these past 32 years and said, Brother Don, I don't know how to say this.
I don't know how to explain it. I don't really know when it happened,
but I trust the Lord. You find yourself believing God.
by some irresistible impulse from within. I want to confess
you now. That's exactly as God speaks
of it here. In whom also having believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. God stamped his seal on you.
He said you're mine. And he stamps it in your heart.
All right, here's the third thing. The conviction of the Spirit. When God the Holy Spirit comes
in saving power, He causes the sinner to know his sin. As he
reveals your sin to you. He reveals your sin to you in
the light of redemption accomplished. In the light of his righteousness. Righteousness performed by Christ
in the accomplishment of his redemption. In his life and in
his death as our mediator. And of judgment. Judgment finished. Because Christ has triumphed
over Satan. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth that is expedient
for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will
not come But if I depart I'll send the comforter to you and
when he is come when he comes to you When he is come he will reprove
the world wherever God's elect are found in the world and When
the Spirit of God comes, he convinces. He convinces of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Come back to Zechariah chapter
12. Zechariah chapter 12. When we're
made to know our sin, seeing Christ crucified, then we confess
our sin. There is a conviction wrought
upon men that is nothing but a legal work, a fear of going
to hell. And then there's a conviction
wrought on men that causes them to confess their sin. Not just
confess they sold a watermelon when they was a little boy, cheated
on a test when they were in high school, cheated on their wives
after they got married. Sins a whole lot more than that.
Those things, Burl, are acts of sin. Sins a lot more than
that. Oh, it's a lot more than that.
Do you see, yonder, God's Holy Son made sin? Forsaken of God. by the curse of God, crushed to death in the fury
of God's wrath because of sin, made His, taken from the people
for whom He died and made His. Zechariah 12, verse 10. I'll
tell you when you'll see these things. The Lord God says, I'll
pour upon the house of David, that's the house of Christ, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the chosen bride and church of
the Redeemer. I'll pour upon my elect the spirit
of grace and of supplications. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear and grace my fears relieved. Grace taught me how to pray. I pour on my people the spirit
of grace and supplications. The spirit of God comes and makes
sinners suppliants before the throne of grace. And they shall
look upon me whom they pierced. Won't do you any good to come
up here and look to me. Won't do any good to go to a confessional
booth and look to a priest. I don't toy with your souls.
And I'm telling you that those folks who would have you to come
to a morning's bench or come to an altar or go to a confessional
booth are just playing games with your souls to suit their
own lust. Nothing else. Nothing else. Oh,
but preachers everywhere do that. I hope everywhere they hear what
I just said. I'm not playing games with you. I'm concerned for your soul.
Concerned that you know God when you have the spirit of God poured
on you. You won't need somebody to twist
your arm and get you to profess faith in Christ. You won't need
somebody to go down and pull you out of your seat and get
you to walk to the front and join the crowd at the front of the
church. Oh, no. He pours out his spirit of grace
and supplications. And when he does, they shall
look on me whom they had pierced. and they shall mourn for him brokenhearted not because he
died brokenhearted because of my sin made his for which he
was brokenhearted they shall mourn for me as one mourneth
for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that's in bitterness for his firstborn Oh, would to God somebody
here might be broken of God. I make you this promise. Chapter
13, verse 1. In that day, in that day, Frank
Hall, just as soon as God breaks you, in that day, in that day, there
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. If we confess our sin, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not seen, well,
we make God a liar. His word is not in us. If we
say with regard to anything we've done, I haven't seen it. I got up this morning, started
early praying for you and praying for God's grace upon me as I
try to preach to you. And I've been standing here preaching
to you for 30 minutes. Allen Kibbe, I've been involved
since I opened my eyes this morning in the most noble things I ever
aspired doing on this earth. And if I would have dared imagine
and seen involved in that, if I dared to imagine, I haven't
seen it. I don't know God. That's what
it said in 1 John 1 to you. You've been a preacher? sins
in everything. Everything connected with Don
Fortner is sin. And I've been made to know something
of the corruption of my vile heart. And the confession of sin The
confession of sin is not coming down here and confessing it to
me. I don't need to hear it. It's not confessing it to the church.
They don't need to hear it. It's not saying, Lord, I did
this and I did that. No, certainly that's fine. That's
fine. Certainly ought to confess acts of sin. No question about
that. What is this confession of sin? It's ripping open of your heart
before God. Oscar Bale, I want to tell you,
the only people in this world who will ever bear their hearts
before God and cover nothing are folks who are born of his
spirit. To whom God, the Holy Spirit,
makes known that which you wish not. I've been your pastor for
nearly 32 years. Some of you heard me preach everything
I preached. almost every conversation I've had concerning the scriptures,
read about everything I've written. And you know the doctrine of
depravity, and you might even fight about it. But knowing the doctrine and
knowing your depravity are two different things. Total depravity is more than
a doctrine. It is the constant experience
of my breaking heart before God Almighty. Now, look at verse 13 of John
16. Here's the conquest of the spirit. When he, the spirit of truth
has come, He will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself.
Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show
you things to come. I can't tell you how many times
over the years I've had folks tell me, I just, I don't believe
that. I won't accept that. And when
I was younger, I used to try to convince them, contrary to
their wills, to accept it. I'd argue with them and I'd I'd
recite passages from history and passages from creeds and
Confessions and I'd present logical arguments and just force them.
All right, it's so and you want to never accomplish anything
They force a fellow to believe in election he still hates it.
What's what good does it do? Force him to believe in a redemption
accomplished by Christ and he still hates the Redeemer. You
haven't done him any good you You're compelling this. It doesn't
make any sense to believe anything except God's absolute sovereignty.
And it still hates the fact that God's sovereign. You haven't
helped him in it. You haven't helped him in it. Oh, but when
the spirit of God comes, he guides you into all truth. Matthew Poole,
I remind you, I think I told you this last week, he made a
statement. He said this word guide is a great emphasis. It
strictly signifies to be a guide of the way, not only to discover
the truth as an object of the understanding, but the bowing
of the wheel to the truth. That's the difference between
a religious Calvinist and somebody who's born of God. I recall in
a Bible conference, 1972, I was a 22-year-old kid. Shelby and
I saved up a long time to go out to Memphis, Tennessee, and
listen to this fellow who thought he was brilliant get up and talk
about Calvinism. And he said, now, to be a Calvinist,
you've got to have you fellows who think you're Calvinist because
you read off the pink sovereignty of God, you've got to read Warfield
and Owen. And he started talking that nonsense.
I thought, well, I'll take my daughter to the zoo. And we got
walked out. To believe the gospel of God's
grace, You've got to be a sinner who
needs a Savior. I preached with a fellow one
time in Charleston, West Virginia, bragging about how brilliant
he was, you know, saying, to understand these things, you've
got to have some grave matter up here. And I got to preach behind him. I
said, to understand these things, you've got to have some emptiness
here. Some emptiness here. Those who
know God are made by grace, willingly to bow before God Almighty as
their only hope, trusting His Son as their only righteousness.
Well, what's the comfort of this? That's the fifth thing. I'm going
to make three statements, and I'll show you the comfort of
conviction. Three statements, and I'll be
done. to the Book of John, 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4 verse 9. I want you to
see these three things. Here's the comfort of this conviction.
Here's the comfort of it. In the revealing of sin, Christ
is revealed. Redemption accomplished is revealed.
And thereby, the love of God First John four verse nine in
this was manifested the love of God toward us Because God
sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live
through him here in his love Not that we loved God But he
loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins
Number two, Romans chapter five. The conviction of sin is the
revelation of the love of God in Christ Jesus. You can't know
it until you know your sin. And the forgiveness of sin by
the blood of Christ. You can't know. You can sing
Jesus loves me this I know until hell freezes over. But you won't
know the love of God until Christ is revealed in you. Won't happen. Number two, this conviction of
sin, this work of the Holy Spirit, gives comfort to the souls of
his elect by shedding abroad the love of God in us. And that gives us a good hope
through grace. Romans 5, 5. Hope maketh not
ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts.
by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Oh, to know the Savior's love. God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly, number three. Turn back to John, 1 John chapter
four again. Here's the comfort of Holy Spirit
conviction. It's the revelation of God's
love. It's the shedding of God's love abroad into your heart by
the Spirit, convincing you of God's love. and this conviction of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment, causes every sinner called of
God to rest in God's perfect love, which casts out all fear. 1 John 4, verse 16. We have known and believed the
love that God hath to us, God is love. And he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Herein is our love made
perfect. That is, herein is God's love
for us and God's love in us made perfect. That we may have boldness
in the day of judgment. David Burge, imagine. Imagine
you. You! You! And I don't know you
as well as you know you. Imagine you standing before God
in the day of judgment with boldness. The word is freedom, peace, no
fear. Imagine that! Imagine that! Standing
before God with no fear! with no terror. Oh, that's because
I love the Lord so much. I wish you could talk about your
love for Jesus. I get so sick of it. As this generation talks,
this religious age talks like the book never speaks. Where
on earth in this book do you find somebody bragging about
their? Oh, Lord, we love you so much. What a fake show. You know, it ain't so. And he
does, too. No, your love for him to give you any peace. What
you call your love for him doesn't give you any comfort. No. Even
your faith in him isn't a source of peace. No need brag on that. What is it then? Herein is our
love made perfect. God's love made perfect in us
and God's love made known in us. That we may have boldness
in the day of judgment because As he is, so are we in this world. Oh, now that's blessed comfort
that only God can give. There is no fear in love. No
fear in love. No fear in your love? I fell in love with this little
blonde over here when I was 17 years old. And we were engaged. And I loved her. I loved her. But I was so young that jealousy
was there from fear. And I hadn't been saved so long,
I didn't know you couldn't knock a fella down every time you took
a notion to. And when I saw a fella looking at it the wrong way,
he was informed, bud, one more glance, you'll be picking your
butt up off the ground. Why? Because there's a lot of fear.
A lot of fear. I wasn't sure how much she loved
me. That's the problem. That's the
problem. But it says here there's no fear in love. No fear in your
love for God? Mark, I fear. How little I love
him. But I have no thought of him
not loving me. Perfect love casteth out fear,
because fear has torment. He that feareth not made perfect
in love. Now watch this. We love him. Oh, yes, we love him. We do. If you've seen him, you do. If
you've seen him, you do. We love him, not as we should,
not as we would, not as we shall, but love him, we do. If any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned. The Lord's
coming. We love him. We love him because he first loved us. And that is the comfort of conviction. Oh, may God make it yours for
Christ's sake. Amen.