Dying Convictions

Let's look into Hosea 6 here,
and I'd like to read verse 4 and verse 5. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto
thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness is as a morning
cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. Therefore have
I hewed them by the prophets, and I have slain them by the
words of my mouth, and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. These verses of scripture, I
might get started this morning and I might not. You'll just
have to bear with me. This is kind of an unusual day
for me in a way. In this fourth verse here, I'd
like to make mention of a couple of things here. to more or less
set the groundwork for the message this morning. I wanna talk this
morning a little bit about dying convictions, dying convictions. He says, oh Ephraim, what shall
I do unto thee? Oh Judah, what shall I do unto
thee for your goodness, your goodness is as a morning cloud
and as the early dew it goeth away. Now it is a fact that many
people upon the hearing of the gospel preached in the power
of the Holy Spirit experienced some very deep convictions, very
deep religious convictions, which soon die away like the morning
cloud when the sun comes up or out like the early dew that just
goeth away when the sun gets up in the morning. And there's
examples that we have of this in the Word of God. There's a
couple of men that the Apostle Paul testified to and preached
to that I'd like to read about in the Book of Acts. If you would
turn to Acts chapter 24, Acts chapter 24, and I'd like to read
verse 24 and verse 25. Verse 24 and 25, this man's name
was named Felix, and he said unto one of the greatest preachers
that ever preached on the face of this earth, the apostle Paul,
and he had some deep convictions brought upon him by that which
he heard from the mouth of this beloved apostle. Verse 24 and
25, and after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla,
which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning
the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered,
Go thy way, for this time, when I have a convenient season, I
will call for thee. Now we see that as the Apostle
Paul reasoned with Felix about the righteousness of God and
about being temperate in all things, Because there's a judgment
to come that Felix trembled. I believe he had some deep convictions
in his soul. He got under conviction by the
Word of God which Paul preached. And now if you look in the 26th
chapter of the book of Acts, we take note here of verse 24
through 29. And this man's name was Festus,
and Paul preached to him. And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee
mad. But he said, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak
forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth
of these things, before whom also I speak freely. For I'm
persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for
this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then
Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God
that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day were
both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. Now then, it's apparent to me
that both these men, they heard the gospel preached, as we said,
by Paul, and they got under a measure of conviction. They felt somewhat
that the Lord, that his word was true. They had a belief,
as it were, at least in their heads of the prophets, and they
believed what Paul was speaking. And as we read, Felix trembled.
And Festus, he got concerned and began to get all worked up
and thought Paul had gone mad, speaking the things that he was
speaking. Now, these two men heard, as
we said, Paul speak, and they were moved toward repentance. They were moved toward it. They
had some conviction in their soul, but their conviction died
out. It did not last long. We do not
read where either one of these gentlemen were ever converted
by the grace of God and ever remained in the truth of the
gospel. Now there are many others that
went a great deal further in their experience than Felix and
Festus. Now these that I'm speaking of,
they were apparently under deep conviction of sin and had formed
in them somewhat of the truth of God, such as Ananias and Sapphira,
Simon Magus, and Demas, we know, who followed Paul for a short
season of time, but the Bible says that he loved the world
and therefore he went back. Now these professed faith in
the Lord Jesus, they united with the Lord's Church, and they served
the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ for a while, but in time their
convictions died out. Their goodness, as it were, were
just like the morning cloud, or like the early morning dew.
As soon as the sun came up, then it just went away. It just slipped
away. Now most people who sit in the
sound of the gospel, or at one time or another, they're moved
by it, and they have some convictions formed in them. They begin to
feel mightily convicted of their sin and feel that they ought
to do something, that something ought to be done, that they ought
to consider the message of the gospel, and that they ought to
believe the message of the gospel, and they ought to repent, and
they ought to turn from their sin. Now, there are few here
that are hearing this message this morning who have not been
convicted in some measure and moved toward repentance by the
Word of God at one time or another. God has spoken to you by His
Word, has He not? Has there never been a time in
your life when you were touched by the finger of God, when there
was some conviction that was formed in your soul, when God
began to move upon your heart, began to move your heart toward
a place of repentance and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ?
You heard His voice in the gospel, did you not? Did you not hear
God speaking through His word at one time or another in your
life? Now then, yet your heart was hardened, and you lay beside
the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, and like Felix, saying,
at a more convenient season, I'll call for thee, Paul. At
a more convenient season, I'll come back and hear you again.
I'll come back and listen again. Yes, like the early morning dew,
before the rising sun, your conviction just died away, and that was
the end of it. Now be warned, my friend, the
road to hell is paved with good intentions. There are multitudes
in hell today who once wept and prayed over their souls. In Proverbs
29, verse 1, the scripture says, He that being often reproved,
and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be cut off, or suddenly
be destroyed, and that without remedy. Now, how many there are
who once stood as pillars in the visible Church of God here
in this world, whose convictions died away in time? Their convictions
just slipped away. They began well, but they are
no longer among us. They're no longer among the living
family of God. No longer are they struggling
with sin. No longer are they fighting the
battle of faith. No longer are they contending
earnestly for the faith of God's elect. They just simply slipped
aside. Now, beloved, I bring these thoughts
to you this morning because I, my own self, have had a great
deal of experience with this business of conviction, trying
to die away in my own soul. I don't know whether you ever
had any experience with that or not. I don't know whether
you feel like, well, my feet's planted so firmly upon the rock,
I never had any temptation and I never had any real, what we
might say, battles as were in my soul with my convictions. They're all firmly set in my
soul. I've had no struggles at all.
Now listen to me. These people did much that I'm
talking about. I'm talking about these who seem
to be and those who stood as pillars in the visible Church
of God. They began, listen, they did
much and they were moved by conviction. They gave much. and they were
moved by conviction, they had some conviction about them, but
where are they now? What happened? What happened
to these people that seemingly loved the Lord, that seemingly
had something that happened in their hearts, that seemingly
had been brought out of their sin and brought into some knowledge
and some understanding of the ways of God? Where are these
people now? Well, I know of many, and when
I go back to the church in Indiana, I'm overwhelmed with the fact
that many of the brethren who in my earlier days I ministered
to and preached to, and now, where are they? Well, on Sunday
when the church is meeting, just a little handful of people are
meeting, but these individuals are off somewhere else. They're
home, or they just don't attend church anymore. They don't come
to the house of God. Well, what happened? The convictions
that they once felt so strongly, what has happened? Well, have
they died out altogether? Has these convictions died? Has
their goodness been like the cloud in the morning or like
the dew in the morning and just simply passed away when the sun
came up? What has happened to many of those who may convictions
and made statements of faith in Baptist churches that we're
acquainted with. Where did they go? Well, now
here are three symptoms, I believe, of dying convictions. Three symptoms
that I want to give you quickly here. Number one, it's the neglect
of private prayer. And I believe, beloved, that
whenever you begin to sense that you can no longer maintain, and
I do know that every living child of God has a great struggle in
this area of maintaining closet life, prayer life, being able
to pray and seek the face of God daily, to be able to cry
to God and lay your case before the Lord, I know there are so
many, many, many situations that come up into our lives that are
so discouraging that it drives us away from the place of private
prayer. There are so many things that
happen. and Satan is so clever and demons are so active in our
day that we're so oppressed that many times prayer it seems seems
to slip away from us and we just simply cannot pray and engage
ourselves as we'd like to and and many times we go through
long sieges of time when we just simply, when it's a great labor
to try to pray and seek the face of God. Now listen to me, my
friend. I want you to know this morning that trials do not make
us like we are. Trials just simply reveal what
we are. Trials reveal what we are. They
reveal whether or not we're the children of God, whether we're
the people of God, whether we are a praying people. Trials
do not come from God to drive us away from prayer and drive
us away from seeking of His face. They come in order just to show
what we are and reveal it. And many, many times we just
simply are not as dedicated, we're simply not as consecrated
to God, we're simply not as given over to God as we ought to be,
and there are things that just simply get under us and undermine
us and we just simply neglect prayer. And I'll tell you it's
not long before you begin to feel a spiritual rigor mortis
set in. You begin to feel that you just
simply don't have any more life. You can't remember things like
you used to. You can't remember the Word of
God. You can't remember the truth of God because you've neglected
private prayer and the Spirit of God is grieved in your heart,
grieved in your life. And you just simply are not able,
as it were, to go on with your life and your convictions are
slipping and slipping away. And we feel this. Now, secondly,
I believe the neglect of the Holy Scripture is one of the
symptoms of dying conviction. You take a man or a woman who's
ever tasted the good Word of God, the Word of God was ever
made flesh to them, and they understood it, and it came home
to their hearts, and they understood the message of it. It had an
impact upon their heart, and they got somewhat of an appetite
for the Word of God. And then there are times that
come into their lives when they begin to neglect the Holy Scripture,
when they just simply don't have an appetite for it any longer,
when they just simply don't have the heart to go back to that
book and begin to look at it again and to study it industriously. Now listen to me my friend, that's
one of the symptoms and it won't be long if you're ignoring the
Word of God, if you're not listening to the Word of God, if you're
not hearing it and reading it and meditating upon it, and if
you're not studying it, it's not going to be long before your
convictions are going to die. they're going to die, they're
going to slip away. Now another thing is this, and
that is the neglect of public worship. I recognize the fact
that most people feel in their hearts that they ought to come
to the house of God, they ought to be there, that they ought
to be hearing the word of God, that they ought to be sitting
under the sound of the message, and they ought to be receiving
a word from God as it pleases God to give it through the mouth
of the preacher, that they ought to. But some are very neglectful.
Now listen, this is one of the symptoms of dying conviction. Now, I know that many are providentially
hindered and cannot help at the times they miss the meetings.
I understand that, and I'm in full sympathy with that. I understand
that, and I've never, and I will never in any way, shape, or form
berate anybody who is providentially hindered and cannot be in the
house of God. But I just want to warn you that
one of the symptoms of dying conviction is the neglect of
public worship. And we need to be reminded of
that. The book of Revelation chapter 3 and verse 2 says, Be
watchful and strengthen the things which remain. God's people need
to be alert and watchful and strengthen that which they have.
And sometimes we feel the life of God is so weak in us. Sometimes
there's just so very little of it. There's so little indication.
that we really belong to the Lord, that we're really God's
children, that we really are people of faith. There's so little
indication of it, but my friend, whatever there is that remains,
let us strengthen that, and there'll be some little thing in us which
God will be pleased to revive and be pleased to bless, and
directly it'll flower again. The Spirit of God will come and
anoint again, and our hearts will be refreshed, and we will
be blessed, we will be strengthened again. But let us look to ourselves
Well, I preached to some who appeared to be truly penitent,
who appeared to be men and women so strong, and men of strong
conviction and firm conviction, whose convictions faded away
like the morning dew before the sun. Well, how does this happen?
Why do the convictions of many, so many, die? Well, here are
four answers that I'd like to give you this morning to that
question, and I hope that you'll be able to receive what I've
got to say this morning. Well, I believe that there are
many whose convictions die, just simply die out, and that is because
these people never knew. They never knew, really, their
own guilt. They never knew their depravity. They never knew their
sin and their helplessness before God. Now this is very, very important
for you to see. And the key word here is their
own. They never knew their own guilt.
They never knew their own depravity, their own sin, and their own
helplessness before God. Now you may ask, This morning,
well, what do you mean, just simply, what do you mean by that
statement? Well, I think that many see the
doctrine of total depravity very clearly in their head without
having any personal knowledge of their own inward corruption. They do not really know about
how bad a sinner they are. They don't really know what it
is to be a sinner. They don't know what it is to
be helpless before God, to be guilty before God, and to feel
their depravity before God. They just simply heard the preacher
say that people were depraved, and they simply... Well, you
know, if the preacher says that people are hard-headed, well,
people, they accept that just like they do that they're depraved. People are stupid. Well, they
say well that just means they're depraved I suppose but my friend
when we come to see that we are ourselves that we are inwardly
Corrupt before God and that we are guilty of sin and that we
are guilty of breaking God's law we have offended God's law
and that we stand before God unable to help ourselves and
and we get in this desperate set of circumstances where that
we recognize that unless there's intervention by God Almighty
on our behalf that we are soon to be cut off forever and spend
eternity in the lake of fire. Well then the second thing I
would say is this, they never saw the beauty and the glory
and the fullness of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, beloved, before
a man can ever see the beauty and the glory and the fullness
of Christ, they must first see themselves. There's nobody who
needs Christ, the fullness of Christ, until they see their
own emptiness. When a man comes to know what he is in a state
of nature and he begins to see that clearly, then, my friend,
when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed, when Christ is revealed
in all of His glory and His beauty and His all-sufficiency, in His
ability to save, His ableness to save the sinner, When Christ
is revealed, then those people are able to see it because their
eyes have been opened to it by their own emptiness and their
own wickedness and sinfulness and helplessness before God.
Now, many know the doctrine of Christ who never embrace the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that, my friend, I warned
you about that. knowing the doctrine of Christ,
but never embracing Christ personally. Many see his doctrine, who never
see him, and many love his doctrine, who never love him. No, my friend,
they say, well, I love Bible study. Oh, let's have a Bible
study. Sure, but they do not love the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the scripture says, if any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Love to Christ is absolutely
essential and necessary. And I believe that when one does
really, truly, spiritually love the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe
that those very people will love the doctrine of Christ. Will
they not? Will they not love His teaching? If they love Him,
certainly they will. Now, number three. I'm trying
to answer why the convictions of many die out. Number one,
they do not see their own personal guilt, depravity, and sin, and
helplessness before God. Number two, they do not see Christ
in His fullness, His glory, and His beauty. And number three,
they never bowed to the rule and the dominion of Christ as
their Lord. They never really did. There
are many who want a Savior to keep them out of hell, but they
refuse to bow to Christ as Lord to rule over them. But Christ
will not be your Savior if He be not your Lord. This is not
a popular doctrine, but it is the gospel truth. Until a man
is able to bow his knee to the Lordship of Christ, Christ will
not be his Savior. He cannot claim to be saved by
Christ if he's not living under the Lordship of Christ. If he
does not feel the claim of Christ on his heart, on his life, if
he's not bothered when he lives, when his old flesh is rebellious
toward Christ and toward the Word of God and the things of
God, if he's not bothered, if he's not disturbed, if he can
be comfortable in that state and that individual, my friend,
let me tell you, he's just simply not one of the Lord's children.
And this individual won't live long with any conviction. His convictions will pass away
like the morning cloud. And then, too, fourthly, I think
that they still love the world. They still love the world. Why
do men's convictions die? They still love the world. Well,
if you love the world, the Bible says in 1 John 3 that the love
of God's not in you. If you love the world, the love
of God is not in you. Now, nothing is more deadly than
the cares and the pleasures of the world and the deceitfulness
of riches. It's deadly. Sooner or later,
the love of the world will cause convictions to die. Materialism
will destroy conviction. And I'm persuaded that dying
convictions are of the flesh. They're natural. Dying convictions,
convictions that die out. They're natural, they're of the
flesh. There may be legal convictions involved in it, but they're not
the convictions brought on by the Holy Spirit of God. Now true,
saving faith is the result of Holy Spirit conviction. When
a man is brought to Christ and is saved by Christ, when his
life is made new, all things pass away and all things become
new, then, my friend, that is true Holy Spirit conviction.
The bottom line is that these people were never truly converted. They were never truly convicted.
They were never truly brought savingly to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means, really,
and truthfully. But now this is serious. It's
so serious because dying convictions are seldom corrected. They're
seldom corrected You get an individual and he gets all worked up and
lathered up about religion and the things of Christ. I've seen
it over and over again. And they get all excited and
they say, well, I'm dedicated and I'm going to do what's right.
I'm going to live right. And then those people, they don't
have a true experience in the grace of God. It's not long before
their convictions die out. And I'll tell you, they're seldom
corrected. God will not always speak to those who refuse to
hear his word in truth. God has given men ears to hear,
but they'll not hear. He will not always call those
who refuse to obey His word. Now there is such a thing as
judicial reprobation. God will fix it so that those
who will not obey the gospel cannot obey the gospel. God will fix it that way. They
just simply never will have an opportunity, and they'll never
be able to obey the gospel. I want to inform you this morning,
I want to keep it before you because there's so many people.
And I think this is one of the most damnable things that's being
taught in our day and time. And that is that an individual
can repent, an individual can get saved anytime they want to.
That anytime you get ready to, all you got to do is just make
up your mind and do it. My friend, it cannot be done.
You can walk the aisle until you wear all of the leather off
the bottom of your shoes and God will not save you until he
purposes to do so. And anybody that makes a profession
of faith, and they do make that profession of faith with just
natural or legal conviction, those individuals, their convictions
will die and they'll never live up to those convictions. They'll
never stand the test of time. And trials will come along and
sweep them away. And this will happen and that
will happen and something else will happen and they'll turn
away because they have not the word of God firmly rooted in
their hearts by divine conviction. God hadn't touched their souls.
The preacher played on their sympathy and somebody influenced
them in some way or another to get religious and turn over a
new leaf. And those people, my friend, are not truly God's people. Now, if you harden your heart,
God might harden your heart also. And there comes a day whenever
this will be impossible for you to trust. I reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit,
verse 23, upon you or unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched
out my hand in no man regarded. But you said it not all my counsel
and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me. For they that hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would
none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall
they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their
own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall
be quiet from the fear of evil. Turn again with me, if you will,
to the book of Luke, chapter 13. The book of Luke, chapter
13, and listen to these verses. In verse 23, then said one unto
him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said to them,
strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you,
will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master
of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door, and you
begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,
Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not which you are. Then shall you begin to
say, we've eaten and drunken by presence, and thou hast caught
in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not, whence you are. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity. And so my friend, you can see
clearly here, take heed this morning, because in the word
of God, I see no record of God ever crossing a sinner's path
more than one time. More than once, I see no record
of it. Now God has no method of saving sinners, but that which
you have heard in the gospel, there is no way that God's ever
gonna save you another way, but by you hearing gospel truth,
and by God's Son, Jesus Christ, giving you real, genuine repentance
in your heart, and until you're given the gift of life by the
Lord Jesus Christ, you, my friend, never going to be saved. Now
if you reject the gospel, you reject life. That's what you're
rejecting. He that believeth, the Bible
says in 1 John, not God hath made him alive. Now this is the
record that he hath given to us, eternal life. And this life
is in his Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now convictions that are put
off. They tend to make the heart harden. It's just like iron or
steel that we heat it up and we get it hot in order to cool
it off, to temper it. And a man's heart, I think, is
the same way. So is the heart of man. Well,
are there any genuine Christians? Are there any? Is there anyone
who's truly been brought under real Bible conviction? Is there
anybody whose convictions are not going to die out? Is there
anybody that we can look at and say, well that individual that
he has convictions and they're firm and strong and he's been
walking in the ways of God for many years and yet his convictions
are strong. and he stays on the Lord and
he keeps seeking the face of God and he's had trouble in his
life and he's had a lot of uncomfortable situations to deal with but yet
he stayed on the Lord. Is there anybody around like
that? Are there any who are truly with Christ? Are there any that
will persevere unto the end? Are there any? Well, my friends,
sometimes we wonder, but I'd like for you to turn with me
to the book of the Revelation. Turn to the book of the Revelation,
and I want you to look in chapter 17, and I want you to look at
verse 14. Now, though the natural man cannot
counterfeit a true Christian experience, I believe that the
Word of God makes it clear that they are those who are with Christ
truly. They're His and they're with
Him truly. Now, I want you to look, if you
will, with me at the 14th verse and the latter part of that verse. But let's read the whole verse.
These shall make war with the Lamb. Revelation 17, 14. And
the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King
of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and
faithful. Now God's true saints, those
that God has chosen from before the foundation of the world,
are with Him in all He is and in all He does. They're with
the Lord. They're with the Lord Jesus Christ.
They're with Him by God's eternal purpose of grace, and they're
with Him by their own deliberate choice. I believe that God has
indeed chosen His people unto salvation, but I believe there
came a time in their life when they chose Him, and when they
were willing to choose Him, they must have Him, they would have
Him, or else they'd die. They must have Christ, and so
they would deliberately choose the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
with Him in heart, they're with Him in will, they're with Him
in desire, and they're with Him in motive. Now in this text here
in Revelation 17 and 14, God's saints are all identified by
three distinct works of grace that are accomplished by God
on their behalf. Now I want you to get that. They
are identified by three distinct works of grace that are accomplished. It's accomplished by God on their
behalf. Now listen to me. This, my friend,
is the difference between those whose convictions die, those
who quit, those who just step aside, those who just simply
throw in the towel, and those who believe God and continue
on to persevere unto the end. It's these three distinct works
of grace that are accomplished by God that makes the difference. Now, it is the difference that
God puts between men. It's distinguishing grace, if
you please, that makes the difference. I would never give any man any
praise for having stayed in the ways of the Lord. I believe that
if a man stays in the ways of God, you've got to look deeper.
You've got to look past that man under the sovereign purpose
of God. I do not believe that there is
any man who will and can keep himself. The Bible talks about
us being kept. It doesn't say anything about
us keeping ourselves. We are kept by the power of God
through faith in Jesus Christ. You take a man, he becomes converted,
and you turn him loose in this world, leave him to himself,
and he'll be a goner in a few hours. Alas, how many turn from
Zion's way. And I think many, many times,
as the old poet said, The Lord looks at us and says, will you
also go away? Because my friend, if we're not
the children of God, life's test will not permit us to go on in
our religion. It will not. There's things that's
going to cause us, drive us to something else. And we will just
simply fold up under the stress and the strain and the pressure.
And you'll never stay with this thing unless God Almighty purposed
your salvation unless he did these three things for you. Now
listen, all who are with the Lamb, the Bible here says, are
called, chosen, and they're faithful. These words, my friend, write
the biography of all believers. That's what these three words,
they're the biography of every believer. Now I have these three
words hanging on my wall at home. Called chosen and faithful now
if God has accomplished these things for me I If God Almighty
has been pleased through distinguishing grace according to His own wise
and holy purpose to accomplish these three things for me, then
my friend, you can write these things on my tombstone if you
please as an epitaph, if you must have something to put on
it, you can put these three words on it, if so be that God has
accomplished them for me. If God's done it, then you can
put it on the tombstone. Now, it's like Gamaliel said
in Acts chapter 5. I want you to turn back there
and look at this with me. Keep your finger here in the
book of Revelation. But in the book of Acts chapter
5, I want to read to you. You remember that the disciples
of our Lord, that they had been put into prison because they
were preaching the gospel. And the Lord, the angel of the
Lord, by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth
and said, go stand and speak in the temple all the words of
this life. And so they went out to preach there in the temple,
the angel of the Lord having opened the prison and bid them
to do so. Well, it wasn't long before the authorities got to
looking for them and didn't find them in the prison, so they went
down and they found them in the marketplace and they were preaching
Christ. Well, they brought them and they
began to upbraid them and the brethren began to tell them that
they must obey God rather than men. and told them how the God
of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom he slew and hanged on a
tree in verse 30. And in verse 31, him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a prince and savior for to
give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we're
his witnesses of these things. When they heard that, they were
cut to the heart in verse 33, and they took counsel to slay
them. Then, verse 34, stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee
named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among
all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little
space, and said to them, ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves
what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days
rose up Thetis, boasting himself to be somebody to whom a number
of men, about 400, joined themselves, who were slain, and all as many
as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught. And after
this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and
drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all, even
as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain
from these men, and let them alone, for if this counsel or
this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be
of God, but if it be of God, but if it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against
God. Now I want you to listen carefully
to these words. He said, if it be of men, then
it will come to naught. And any time man gets involved
in a religious experience, man is involved in it, and only man
is involved in it, the religious convictions will die. They will
not remain. They will not be firm and steadfast. They will not persevere. But
if it be of God, then it cannot be overthrown. Satan, let him
do what he will. Let the demons do what they want
to do. Let whatever happens, happen.
But if it be of God, it cannot be overthrown. It cannot be overthrown. I've said it before, I'll say
it again, that religion, true religion, Bible religion, Holy
Spirit religion, is not a hothouse plant. And it will stand the
test. It will stand it, I'm telling
you, because it's of God. Now then, I want you to look
back at Revelation 17 and 14 and notice these three things
before we close this morning. These three things. All who are
with Christ are with Him. Now you notice now what I'm saying.
I'm talking about those that are genuinely converted. I'm
telling you why it is their convictions are not going to die. I want
you to know why these people, why they're going to stay on
the Lord and why they're going to be faithful. All who are with
Christ are with Him by that almighty, effectual, irresistible call
of God the Holy Spirit in regenerating grace. Now there is a general
call that goes out to all who hear the gospel, but these called
ones have heard not merely the voice of man, not merely the
voice of the preacher, but they've heard the voice of God the Holy
Spirit. Now it is true that he uses the
voice of a preacher, but the call for God's elect is inward. It's divine, it's effectual.
It always produces saving faith in those who are called. Those
who are called according to his purpose. When God's voice is
heard in their souls, calling them out of sin into life, it
always produces saving faith. In John 6 and 63 Jesus said it
is the spirit that quickeneth It is the spirit that makes alive.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. And if Jesus Christ ever
says a word to you, my friend, there's life in what he says,
and you'll come to life, and you'll come to saving faith. Now in Psalm 110 in verse 3,
thy people, it says, shall be willing in the day of thy power. Romans 8 and 30 says moreover,
Whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called
them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. Sounds to me like when God sets
out to do a work in them that he purposed it from all eternity
and he will most surely bring it to pass, all of it, he will
accomplish it in their souls. Now, this call of the Spirit
Let me say, is the proof and the evidence of a person's eternal
election in Christ. Now that's the second thing I
want to say. That first of all, they're with the Lord Jesus Christ
through the irresistible call of God's grace. in regeneration. And then secondly, this call
of the Spirit is the proof and it's the evidence of a person's
eternal election in Christ. Now this text puts calling before
election because we cannot know our election until we are called. That's the only way we know we're
one of God's elect is when we've heard the sovereign voice of
Christ in our souls calling us unto himself. when we've been
unable to come to Christ, when we've been unable to come out
of our sin unto the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only time
we know. That's when we know we're one of God's elect. But
the election took place long before the calling. long before
the call. We were chosen in eternal love
before the world was made. Second Thessalonians 2, 13 and
14 says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Why, Paul? Because God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And then in verse 14,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the fact that we have been
called then proves our election. The fact that God laid hold of
us, the fact that God did not allow us to go on in rebellion,
the fact that God did not permit us to go on in our sin and our
foolishness, the fact that God crossed our path in such a manner
that we come out of our sin and come to full faith in Christ
is proof of our election. Now then, Jeremiah 31 and 3 says
the Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying yea I have loved
thee with an everlasting love Therefore with loving kindness
have I grown thee And 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4 and 5 says, Knowing,
brethren and beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know, what manner of men we were
among you for your sakes. Now the third thing and the last
thing is this. The sure and certain result of
God's electing grace and the Spirit's effectual call is faithfulness. That's the sure and certain results
of it all. How are we going to find it?
Where is there a man that is faithful? Well, I tell you, when
you find one of God's elect, one who's experienced the call
of God in their soul, one who's been genuinely converted, one
who truly is the Lord's child by regenerating grace, Then you
look past him unto the Lord. It is the Lord that will make
him faithful. It is God that will enable him to be faithful.
Oh, he may fall seven times, but the Lord will just keep on
lifting him up. He may have many, many struggles
in his life that looks like it's going to overwhelm him, but God
will show himself off in enabling that individual to cast off all
of his fears and all of his depression and all of his heartache and
all of his struggles and enable him to cling to the Lord and
lay hold of help from above every day of his life and enable him
to get through the days of hardship and toil and difficulty of this
life. God will not abandon these people because God will make
them faithful. And it's the visitation of God
to his life over and over and over and over again. It's God
coming back to him. It's God saying, that one belongs
to me and he's the apple of my eye. And so God will come back
and come back and come back and revive and bless and lift up
and freshly anoint his work in that individual soul. God will
enable that man to be faithful. All who are called and chosen
of God have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith being the
gift of God's grace and regeneration. All who are born of God are made
faithful by this God. This faith remains in them. They
have the faith of Christ. They don't have their own faith.
They have the faith of Christ. And the faith of Christ took
him out to Calvary's hill and he was willing to die on that
rugged cross. He was willing to bear whatever
he must bear to the accomplishment of the purpose of God in his
life. He was willing to do it and he had faith and you and
I have the faith of Christ. We don't have faith that some
preacher manufactured in us. We don't have some little faith
that we got from reading some devotional someplace. We've got
the faith of God's in us. We've obtained that precious
faith. And that's the faith of God's
elect. Now this is the long and the short of it, my brethren.
It is God that makes his people faithful. God's saints are faithful. They're true and they're honest
people. They are faithful to Christ. They're faithful to his
gospel. They're faithful to his church.
And they will all remain faithful and they'll persevere to the
end. Amen. They will. God's people will
hold their convictions. Their goodness is not like the
morning cloud. Their goodness is not like the
early dew of the morning. It's not. I'm telling you it's
different. It's the faith of God's elect.
Now I'm going to tell you what. I'm just here to tell you that
God is faithful. Now listen. I could never preach
a sermon like this if it was not for the work of God in my
own soul. If it was not for the experience of God dealing with
me in the way that he's dealt with me, if it's not for that,
listen, I wouldn't understand a thing that I was trying to
say this morning. If I'd just simply given you
this stuff here, something I read someplace and something I dug
up somewhere, listen, I wouldn't understand a bit of it. But I
understand what I'm talking about because I know what I'm talking
about is the truth. I know what I'm talking about.
And I want to tell you this. There's been enough happen in
my life to turn me away if I could be turned away. There's been
enough happen to drive me away altogether from religion. And
I can see on the horizon enough that can happen to destroy me. And to simply, listen to me,
we're living in a hostile environment. If you don't understand what
I'm talking about, you're going to come to it one of these days.
This is a hostile environment. And children of God are not at
home in this world. We're not at home. I mean, we're
out here catching the errors and the fiery darts of the wicked
in this world. And I want to tell you this.
I want to tell you this. If we could be driven away, we
would go. We would go. We would go. If we could quit,
we would. We would quit. If we could, but
we just can't. The Lord continues to remain
faithful and God will not give up his work. I'll not get up
here and tell you I've stayed on the Lord because of who I
am. I want to tell you sister, I'd
give it up. I'd just simply abandon it, brother. It wouldn't have
been worth it to me to continue. But God will not allow any one
of those for whom Christ died and shed his blood to just throw
in the towel. You can't do it. You must stay
on him and press on regardless of what develops and what happens
in your life. You've got to stay on the Lord.
You be faithful. Called, chosen, and faithful. That's the difference. That's
the whole difference. And you remember that. You remember
that. Well, Father, we give thanks. We don't know how to express
the things that we feel. Our hearts have been broken by
the feelings of our own hearts. And we sometimes, our Father,
do not know how to interpret. But yet Thou has been pleased
to let us in on a few things. And we just thank you, Lord,
for what you have led us in on. We thank you for your blessed
truth, Revelation 17 and 14, called, chosen, and faithful. Father, we thank you and we give
praise to you that you have fixed it so that we are not somewhere
this morning having our convictions having died, left the way, left
the way of the cross. Father, we give thanks, we give
praise unto Thee, we glory in Thee, and we do not feel that
we'll ever be different, that we'll ever be the same after
today, but we'll forever be different because of the things You've
said to us today. Do Thou help us, do Thou strengthen
us, do Thou enable us to live, our Father, so as never to bring
a reproach upon Thy name. It's in Your hands. Do Thou help
us, do Thou deliver us for Jesus' sake. We pray it in his name,
amen.

Dying Convictions

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Dying Convictions

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