I've got a big title for this
message this morning. I believe it's an important message.
I do earnestly and sincerely pray that the spirit of the living
God will not leave us to our own understanding, but he will
be pleased to take the word and make it effectual, to give us
in this hour a word from God. I want to speak to you on the
subject, what is the missing note in present day preaching? the missing note in present-day
preaching. Now, there's a lot of preaching
and a lot of religious services, but something obviously is missing. It's missing from the pulpit.
That's where the whole trouble begins. That's the source of
our problems. It's not the pew. And preachers
can say all they want to about the people in the pew. The people
in the pew only echo what's said from the pulpit. They only know
what they hear. And they can't rise above their
pastor or their religious leaders. And the problem in the pew is
the problem in the pulpit. That's where it all starts. What's
the missing note in present-day preaching? Now, I'm reading for
a text. John chapter 16, beginning with verse 7. Our Lord is speaking
to his disciples. This is shortly before he went
to the cross, shortly before he gave his life a ransom for
many. And he says to them, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter,
the Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you, and when he is come, he will and the word
is convict or convince. He will convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, my friends,
what our Lord calls salvation, what he calls salvation is more
than giving mental agreement or mental assent to some religious
facts. Salvation is a lot more than
just believing some doctrine. It's a whole lot more than just
believing some facts about God and some facts about Jesus Christ
and some facts about some events that took place in the past.
Now, salvation is a whole lot more than that. And salvation
is a whole lot more than reformation of life, turning over a new leaf,
quitting a few sins and hanging on to a few other sins. There's
a whole lot more to salvation than that. Because a man can
reform his life without even knowing God. Every man has a
conscience. And every man has some understanding
of what's right and what's wrong. And so that's not what we call
salvation. Not what the Lord calls salvation.
And salvation, according to our Master, is a whole lot more than
performing certain rituals and certain ceremonies of religion.
It's a whole lot more than that. You can go through the motion.
of certain religious ceremonies and certain religious ordinances,
and it have no effect whatsoever on your heart, on your attitude,
on your spirit, on your relationship with God. So the deeds of this
body do not make right the spirit and the soul and the heart. And
then salvation is a whole lot more than just joining a religious
organization. I've heard people say to young
people, Don't you think it's about time you joined the church?
Well, now, a man's got no business joining any religious organization
except as he comes to that conviction by faith. Don't you think it's
about time that you joined the church, that you made a profession
of religion? You can profess religion and be a member of every
church in the town and not have a relationship with God. Unfortunately,
many, many, many people whose names are on the church roll
book do not know God and have no saving relationship with God.
Salvation, what is salvation? It is a living union with the
living Lord that is affected by the Holy Spirit. Salvation,
Christ said, I am the vine, you're the branches. I'm the head, you're
the body. Salvation is a living union with
a living God which is affected by the Spirit of the living God.
And salvation is a new birth. It's the birth of a new creature. It's the birth of a new person,
begotten by the supernatural power of God Almighty. Mary,
when the angel told her that she would have a child, she said,
this can't be. I don't have a husband. I don't
know a man. And the Lord said to her, The Holy Spirit shall
come upon thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, and that life which shall be conceived or begotten in you
shall be called the Son of God. And this same thing happens to
a person who is saved, or what we call born again. The power
of God comes upon that person, the power of the highest. And
that new life is the life of God. And then salvation is a
heart knowledge. Christ said this is eternal life,
that they might know thee. the only true God, is to know
God. Not to know about God, or know there is a God, as people
say, it's to know God. And to know Jesus Christ, whom
God has sent, and that's revealed by the Holy Spirit. You see,
this living union with Christ is effected by the Holy Spirit,
and this new life is begotten by the Holy Spirit, and this
right knowledge, or heart knowledge of God, is revealed by the Holy
Spirit. And then salvation is the life
and nature of God restored in us. We lost the life of God.
God said to Adam, in the day you eat of the forbidden fruit,
you die. And Adam did die, and death passed
upon all men. And when a man is saved, as the
Scripture says, or when a man is redeemed and is brought back
to God, to the Spirit of God, that life, spiritual life, is
put within him by the power of the Spirit of God. So all of
this is affected by the Spirit of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, if I go not away, the Holy Spirit will not come. And when
the Holy Spirit has come, He's going to do some things. He's
going to do some things. He's going to glorify me. He's
going to lead you into all truth. He's going to take the things
of mine and show them unto you. And this living union with Christ
is affected by the Holy Spirit. This new birth is begotten by
the Holy Spirit. And this heart knowledge is revealed
by the Holy Spirit. And this life and nature of God
is restored by the Holy Spirit. So if a man misses Holy Spirit
conviction, if a man misses this regenerating, revealing, life-giving
work of the Holy Spirit, then he's going to miss repentance.
Because Paul said, I would have known sin, except the law said,
thou shalt not covet. The law came to him in the hands
of the Spirit of God, and he saw he was a sinner, and he repented
of his sin. If a man misses repentance, he'll
miss Christ. You can't turn to Christ unless
you turn from the idols. No man can serve two masters.
This is one of the problems today, is people trying to hold on to
the world and hold on to God. You can't serve two masters.
No man can serve God and mammon. You can't cling to Christ and
cling to the enemies of Christ. And then if a man misses faith,
he's going to miss Christ. For without faith, it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must believe. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Over in 1 John 5, 11, the Scripture
says this is the record. God hath given us life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. And if you miss Christ, You miss life because eternal
life is in Christ. He said, I know my sheep and
I give them eternal life. He's the source of life. We live
because we're in Christ. We are heirs of God because we're
joint heirs with Christ. We are accepted by God because
we're in Christ. We're loved by God because we're
in Christ. Everything we have is in Christ. It's all in him. Eternal life
is in Christ. So this is the importance of
Holy Spirit conviction. This is what's missing in present-day
preaching. There's no faith without repentance.
There's no repentance without conviction. There's no conviction
without Holy Spirit power. There's no Holy Spirit power
without God in His purpose sending on purpose His Spirit to do an
effectual work. If we miss Holy Spirit conviction,
and Holy Spirit with proof and Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit
work. We're going to miss all of these
other things, repentance and faith and Christ and eternal
life. You see the necessity? If I go
out of way, He will not come. The Holy Spirit is the one who
convinces the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Without Him, there can be no real conviction. There can be
no real conversion. There can be no knowledge of
God. His Spirit I hath not seen, e'er hath not heard, neither
hath it entered the heart of man, the things God has revealed,
God has reserved for them that love Him, God has prepared for
them. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. No man knoweth the things
of a man, save the Spirit of man that's in him. Even so, no
man knoweth the things of God. save the Spirit of God, and he
to whom the Holy Spirit reveals it. We're missing Holy Spirit
conviction. We're missing Holy Spirit revelation.
We're missing Holy Spirit conception and begetting. We're missing
that Holy Spirit life which is bestowed and restored only by
His power. You see the importance of it?
Now, but Holy Spirit conviction, of sin is not the goal. We're
not trying to get the Holy Spirit convicted. This is a mistake.
This is a mistake to try to make Holy Spirit conviction the goal
and the end of our preaching. Holy Spirit conviction of sin
and Holy Spirit revelation, Holy Spirit regeneration is a means
to bring you to Christ. The Holy Spirit never speaks
of Himself. He doesn't brag on Himself. He doesn't make men
content only to know Him. or to partake of His power. Our
Lord said, when He, the Holy Spirit, has come, He shall not
speak of Himself. I tell you this, when you hear
people always talking about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the
Holy Ghost, be careful. The Holy Ghost, if He's present,
talks about Christ. Always about Christ. He shall
not speak of Himself. He shall glorify Me. The Holy
Spirit doesn't glorify the gifts. He doesn't glorify tongues or
healing or miracles. He doesn't glorify men. He doesn't
glorify himself. He glorifies Christ. He takes
the things of Christ. And I warn you, don't be taken
up with the means. The Holy Spirit conviction is
the means to bring us to Christ, the person of Christ, to enjoy
Christ, to believe on Christ, to know Christ, to partake of
Christ, to walk with Christ. to praise Christ, to thank Christ,
to preach Christ, to trust Christ, to rest in Christ. That's the
Holy Spirit's work. He is a means, and His work is
a means, to bring men to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you stop short of Christ, then that's not the Holy Spirit
working in you. That's some other spirit. And
John tells us in 1 John 4, verse 1, to try the spirits, whether
they be of God, for many faults prophets and preachers have gone
out into this world. A man's got to be brought to
Christ. If he stops short of faith in Christ and resting in
Christ and a knowledge of Christ, he'll miss redemption. He'll
miss eternal life. Now, it doesn't matter. A man
may be a chosen vessel unto God, like Saul of Tarsus. Saul was
a chosen vessel unto God. But Saul wasn't saved till he
came to do business with Jesus Christ, till he came to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. till he came to embrace and receive
as his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. And when Saul of Tarsus
was converted and went out to preach, he didn't preach his
experience, he didn't preach holy spirit conviction, he preached
Christ. He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now
man may tremble before the holy law of God, as Israel did at
Sinai, and not be saved, because most of Israel didn't know God.
They just trembled before the law. They knew right from wrong,
and they knew they were wrong. But a man may tremble before
the holy law of God and still not be saved till he comes to
know Christ. And then a man may hear the true
prophet of God, like Herod. Herod heard John the Baptist.
He couldn't have heard a better preacher. And he did many things. And he feared John. And he respected
John. And he felt bad when he put John
to death. But he didn't come to Christ. He did not come to
Christ. He heard John, and he did many
wonderful things, you know, but he didn't know Christ. And like
the Ethiopian eunuch over there, he was reading the scriptures,
studying the scriptures. He'd been to Jerusalem. He had
been there to worship God, but he didn't know Christ. And when
Philip got up in the chariot with him, he didn't ask him if
he wanted to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, or if he wanted
to receive the gift of tongues, or if he wanted to receive the
gift of healing, or if he wanted his pocketbook filled, he started
at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus Christ. And that
man came to a saving knowledge of the Son of God. And then a
man may undergo deep personal conviction of sin as the publican
in the temple. He knew he was a sinner. He smote
upon his breast and he cried, God be merciful to me, the sinner.
But that man had to come to rest in Christ. We must not stop short
of a willing, loving, continuing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because only Christ can justify you before God, and that by His
righteousness and His substitutionary death. Only Jesus Christ can
cleanse you of sin. The Holy Spirit can't do it.
The Bible can't do it. The waters of baptism can't do
it. The bread and wine at the Lord's table can't do it. Moral
reformation can't do it. The preacher, evangelist can't
do it. Only Christ can cleanse you. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And His is the only
blood that can. Don't stop short of Christ because
only Christ can free you from the curse of the law, from the
penalty of sin, from the power of sin, from the practice of
sin. from the dominion of sin. Only Christ can speak peace to
your troubled hearts. He said, you come to me, I'll
give you rest. Christ is the only one who can
give you rest. Don't come to anyone else or anything else.
Don't come to a doctrine, to a religious position. Come to
a person. He said, my peace I give unto
you. And then only Christ can make
you accepted before the Father. We're accepted in the Beloved.
Only Christ can intercede for you. He ever liveth to make intercession
for you. Our Lord said, it's expedient
for you that I go away. What's He talking about? What's
He saying here? The disciples didn't understand.
He said, it's expedient for you that I go away. In these verses
and other verses when Christ speaks of going away, He's talking
about His death. The Son of Man must go to Jerusalem
and suffer and die. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. The Son of Man must suffer these
persecutions. He must. His going away is necessary
for us because, number one, He goes to open for us into the
holiest, a new and living way, that we might come boldly before
God's throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time
of need. He goes to open the way. He hath opened for us into
the Holy of Holies by his blood a new and living way. He goes
to take possession of heaven for you and me. He goes to the
Father's right hand to intercede for us. He goes to the right
hand of God to make an effectual atonement for you and for me
and to transact all the saving business between us and the living
God. It's necessary. Christ said it's
expedient for you that I go away. I must. For he says, if I go
not away, if I do not die on the cross, if I do not suffer
on Calvary, if I'm not buried, if I do not rise again, if I
do not ascend to the right hand of the Father, if I don't die
on the cross, the Comforter will not come, the Holy Spirit will
not come. There'll be no conviction of
sin. There'll be no conviction of righteousness and of judgment.
This is a fact and well known to those who know anything about
God's righteousness and God's justice. If Christ does not honor
God's law, if Christ does not satisfy God's justice, if Christ
does not bear our sins in his body on the tree and die for
us, then the Holy Spirit will not come. Why not? Because he
wouldn't have any gospel to reveal. The gospel is Christ and him
crucified. So the Holy Spirit wouldn't have
any gospel to reveal if he did come. And then again, he would
have no salvation to apply. There'd be no redemption. Christ
redeemed us by his blood. And if Christ go not away, there'd
be no blood to sprinkle, the blood of sprinkling. You know,
Moses and Aaron gave us a type of Christ's blood being sprinkled. in that they sprinkled the book,
and they sprinkled the altar, and they sprinkled the people,
and they sprinkled the tabernacle. Under the law, almost all things
were purged by blood, and without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission of sin. Our God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. I hear people who criticize preachers
who preach about the blood. Now, you listen to me a minute.
I hear people who say, I don't want anything to do with your
slaughterhouse bloody religion. Now, wait a minute. Blood is
a precious thing. The only reason I can stand up
here right now and breathe is I got blood flowing through these
veins. Blood is the life of the flesh
is in the blood. Blood's precious. Let's don't
be too critical of blood. And I'll tell you this, if your
dear son or daughter is in an automobile accident tonight,
I've seen this so many times, and you go up to the hospital
to visit them in the emergency room, you know what you'll see
hanging over their bed? You'll see a precious red liquid. in a bottle and down through
the stream, down through that channel or that tube will come
that precious red liquid. And the doctor will say to you,
we've already given him three pints. And you'll say, thank
God for the blood. He lives by the blood. Now, come
on. And I'll tell you this. We've had some wars that kept
our freedom. You and I enjoy the freedom of
the United States of America. That freedom was bought with
blood. That's right. Blood bought that freedom. I
had a boy killed in Vietnam. I know something about boys dying
in the service. Dying, fighting for freedom.
I was there myself in World War II. My daddy was in World War
I. My first cousin was the first boy killed in World War II. Our
freedom was bought by blood. And the freedom of the future
will be bought by blood. And your spiritual life was bought,
blood's a precious, precious, precious substance. And you'll
sit down and eat, you'll sit down and eat some meat at your
dinner table tomorrow and some animal shed its blood that you
might have something to eat. So let's don't be too haughty
here about blood and bloody preaching and slaughterhouse religion and
try to be honest about this thing. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. And I'll tell you the most precious
blood. Beyond that blood that flows in your veins and beyond
that blood that saves the life of your child and beyond that
blood that bought our freedom is the blood of our Lord, the
blood of God that was shed on the cross to cleanse my sins
and your sins, the atonement. Yeah, the Holy Spirit, He wouldn't
have any blood to sprinkle on the doorpost and the lintel of
your heart. If Christ doesn't die, if I go not away, the Holy
Spirit will not come. Because He'd have no righteousness
to reveal. He'd have no comfort to give.
My only comfort and assurance of forgiveness of life is because
Christ died. And then he says, and when the
Holy Spirit has come, when He has come, now I'm going away,
give my life a ransom for many. And the Holy Spirit's come and
He's going to have something to bring. He's going to have
a gift of life to bring. He's going to have a gospel of
Christ. He's going to have blood to sprinkle. He's going to have
good news to tell. He's going to have a righteousness
to reveal. He's going to have a message to bring. And He's
going to come and He's going to convince this world of sin,
of sin. That's where it starts. A man
will ever flee to Christ until he knows he needs Him. A man
will ever cry for mercy until he's a guilty sinner. A man will
ever cry for help until he finds out he's lost and he's dying.
So what is conviction of sin? Well, I can best define it, I
think, by talking of what it's not. and then briefly of what
it is. Conviction of sin is not just
the troubling of my conscience. That's not Holy Spirit conviction.
A man can be troubled in his conscience without the Holy Spirit
having anything to do with it because there's a light that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Every man by
nature has some knowledge of right and wrong. And then Holy
Spirit conviction of sin is not just a head knowledge of what
the law says about sin. You know what the law says, and
I do too, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not steal. You know
that. That's not Holy Spirit conviction. And Holy Spirit conviction
is not just to be convinced that men ought not sin. Everybody
knows men ought not sin. I think the whole world is aware
of the fact that a fellow ought not kill another one, a fellow
ought not get drunk, and a fellow ought not lie on folks. I think
everybody knows that. Well, what is Holy Spirit conviction?
First, it's this. It is to personally, myself,
because the Holy Spirit deals with individuals. It is to personally
feel and experience the bitterness and wretchedness of my sin. You
know, it's one thing to know that vinegar is sour because
you've read about it. It's another thing to taste it
and to find it out by experience. And this is what Holy Spirit
conviction of sin is. It's to find out by experience
the depths of my depravity and the depths of my inability and
the depths of my guilt is to find it out by experience, is
to feel my sins and to experience my sins and to weep over and
grieve over my personal transgressions and iniquities against the Holy
God. And the second thing about Holy Spirit conviction is this.
It's a real sense of the fact that my sins are against God,
not just against my neighbor. You say, I've done someone wrong. Well, now, that's not Holy Spirit
conviction. Holy Spirit conviction is to know I've done God wrong.
David said, God, Lord God, against thee and thee only have I sinned.
Oh, yes. My sins, my faults, my bad judgment,
my unkind words are against men. But indirectly, all of them are
against God. All of them are against God.
Most people feel like they've wronged other people, but sin
is against God. It's a violation of God's government.
It's a violation of God's kingdom. It's a violation of God's law.
He is the authority of the whole universe, the king of the whole
universe. And a violation by me in thought, word, or deed
is not just against some other person, it's against God. It's
a rebellion against God's right to rule over me. And then Holy
Spirit conviction of sin is something else. It's a conviction of the
righteousness of God in judging and condemning me. David said
that, read Psalms 51. That's Holy Spirit conviction.
Oh God, my sins are ever before me. Have mercy upon me. Against
thee only have I sinned. And this, he said, and I know
that my sins are against you, and you're right to condemn me,
and you're just to judge me. Now I'll say this to you. I've
sinned and come short of God's glory, and if God condemns me
and casts me into hell, I'll get what I deserve, and God will
be right. Now, that's real Holy Spirit
conviction. It's like Job said, Behold, I am vile. I abhor myself. I repent and sackcloth and ashes.
Now, when we're brought to that place, we'll look for help. And
where will we look for help? We'll look for help to Him and
only Him who can give it, Christ our substitute, Christ our Lord.