What is Holy Ghost Conviction?

Now, the importance of my message
tonight to every one of us can be summed up in these words.
If I miss Holy Spirit conviction, I'm going to miss repentance.
No man ever yet repented of sin of which he was not convicted
and did not see and did not feel. Now, if I miss repentance, I'm
going to miss faith. But no man ever turned to God
unless he turned from his idols. No man ever believed except that
man repented. Repentance and faith are like
a sheet of paper. There's always two sides. You
can't have faith without repentance, nor repentance without faith.
And if I miss faith, I'm going to miss Christ. And if I miss
Christ, I'm going to miss heaven. So the message is important to
me because if I miss Holy Spirit conviction, whatever I might
claim, profess, boast of having, I'm going to miss heaven. That's
how important Holy Spirit conviction is. Now the words in John 16
are part of the last words of our Lord. He was leaving the
disciples, he was going to the cross, He's going to be crucified,
buried, rise again, and ascend to the Father. And these were
among the last words that he said to his disciples. He said
in verse 2, in my absence the Pharisees, the religious leaders,
will put you out of the synagogue. They're going to excommunicate
you from organized religion. They're going to excommunicate
you from recognized religion. They're going to be arrayed against
you, and they're going to cast out your name of evil. They're
going to put you out of the churches. They're going to cast you out
of the synagogue. And then in verse 2, he said, And also the
time will come that whosoever killeth you are going to murder
you. And we know that all of the disciples,
with the exception of one, John, was martyred. All of them were
martyred except John. And Christ said, they're going
to kill you, and in doing so, these people are going to be
religious people, sincere people. And they're going to think, as
they kill you, that they're doing God a favor, that they're serving
God. When they cast you out of the
synagogue, and when they kill you, they're going to think they're
doing God a service. And he said in verse 5, Now I
go my way to him that sent me. I'm leaving you, going back to
the Father. And in verse six, because I've
said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts. You're
sad. But if I die not and rise for
your justification, if I send not to the Father to plead my
merits before the throne, the Holy Spirit will not come to
you. But if I depart, if I go back to the Father, I'm going
to send to you the Holy Spirit. And when he is come, verse 8,
when the Holy Spirit is come into this world, he will reprove. Now the word there is convince,
and in language the regenerated understand the word is convict. He will convict the world of
sin and of righteousness and of I'm going away, but I'm going
to send to you the Holy Spirit, and he will convince the world,
he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment." Now, we can learn from these words the meaning
of Holy Spirit conviction. I want us to look at each of
the three words briefly. First of all, Our Lord said the
Holy Spirit will convict men of sin. The Holy Spirit will
convict men of sin. Now, I cannot draw a pattern
for the Holy Spirit, and I cannot confine God to one way of dealing
with sinners, but this we can be sure of that where there is
a work of Holy Spirit conviction in conversion, there is a genuine
knowledge of sin. There is a genuine conviction
of sin. The Holy Spirit makes us to see
sin in the light of four things. Now this is very important. When
the Holy Spirit convinces a man of When the Spirit of the living
God is bringing a sinner to the knowledge of Christ, to faith
in Christ, he convicts of sin. That's what Christ said. He will
convict you of sin. But he reveals sin in the light
of four things. First of all, he convinces the
sinner, and I'm not saying that I'm putting God in a mold and
I'm confining God to a pattern. The Holy Spirit is like the wind,
bloweth where it listeth, and you can hear the sound, but you
cannot tell from whence it cometh or whither it goeth. The Holy
Spirit will work as he pleases for the glory of God, and he
works in different ways with different people, but I'm persuaded
that he reveals sin in the light of four things. Number one, he
will convince us of our actual sins, our actual sins against
God. What did the Lord Jesus say to
the woman at the well? He said, Woman, go call thy husband. In this Holy Spirit conviction,
in convincing her of sin, the Lord Jesus dealt with her as
an adulteress, which she was. This woman had had five husbands. At the present time, she was
not living with the man who was her husband. She knew it. She
was aware of it. And when the Lord Jesus said
to her, Go call your husband, he said to her, If you ask of
me, I'll give you living water. I'll give you living water, and
you'll never thirst again." And the woman manifested an interest
in that water, and the first thing he said was this, Go call
your husband. But she says, I don't have a
husband. He said, Thou hast well said, I have no husband. You've
had five, and the man you're living with now is not your husband.
And she went downtown and told the people, Come out here and
see a man that told me everything I ever did. I want you to come
out here. There's a man out at the well,
a prophet, who told me everything that I have ever done. Come see
this man." He convinced her of actual sin. Saul of Tarsus, when
he was on the road to Damascus. Many people talk about Saul being
under conviction. He wasn't under conviction. He
was going down there to kill some Christians. And God appeared
to him, and what's the first thing Christ said to him? Saul,
why do you persecute me?" Paul was in the persecution business.
He said, I was a persecutor. I persecuted believers. And he
was persecuting people who loved Christ. And the first thing Christ
dealt with him was on this issue. You're persecuting my people.
And then the rich young ruler. What was his problem? He was
selfish. What was his problem? Greedy.
What was his problem? He loved money. So what did Christ
say to him? Go and sell what you have and
give it to the poor. The publican in the temple, God
be merciful to me, a sinner. David, my sins are ever before
me. So the first thing the Holy Spirit
does in convincing a man of sin is to convince him of his actual
transgression. the sins which he has and is
committing against Almighty God. Did your actual sins ever appear
before your eyes? Have they ever appeared as vile
and loathsome and against the Holy God? The Holy Spirit will
convince a man of sin, of actual transgressions. in convincing
a man of sin. I said he'll reveal sin in the
light of four things. First of all, he'll convince
you that you're a liar. He'll convince you that you're
an adulterer. He'll convince you that you're
covetous. He'll convince you that you're
a blasphemer. He'll convince you that you've
actually, in word and in deed, in performance, in act, you have
sinned against God. You have broken God's law. The
Holy Spirit will make you feel like you feel when you're driving
down the highway, 70 miles an hour, and suddenly you look up
and there's a blue light flashing behind you. You're embarrassed,
you're ashamed, you know what you've done wrong, you're guilty,
and it goes all over you, and you break out in a cold sweat.
You've done wrong. You violated the law. And the
Holy Spirit will convince a man that he's violated God's law. He's just plain broken the law.
Secondly now, this is what most people don't see. The Holy Spirit
will make us aware. He will make us aware of the
fountain from which all sin flows. Original sin. That is a sinful
nature. Now there are a lot of people
who can see this, who can't see this. There are a lot of people
who can see that it's wrong to lie, it's wrong to steal, it's
wrong to cheat, it's wrong to bear false witness, it's wrong
to get drunk, It's wrong to mistreat your neighbor, it's wrong not
to pay your bills, it's wrong to do those things. A lot of
people can see that who cannot see where this evil comes from. It comes from an evil thought,
it comes from an evil motive, it comes from an evil attitude,
it comes from an evil heart. I'll give you an example of this.
I get letters from the television audience, I get quite a few letters
now, a lot of people listening to this program. Well, last week,
last Sunday, I brought a message on they shall never perish. I
spoke from John 10, where Christ said, My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. And a man wrote me from down
in Portsmouth, Ohio, and he said this. He said, I've been listening
to you on TV for several weeks. But he said, that sermon Sunday
was the worst sermon I've ever heard in my life. He said, that
sermon you preached on once in grace, always in grace. Well,
number one, I didn't preach on once in grace, always in grace.
I preached on days shall never perish. But when a fellow attacks
you, he never wants to attack you on the basis of God's Word. He wants to attack you on the
basis of some clichÃ©. I didn't preach on once in grace,
always in grace. I preached on they shall never
perish. And then secondly, he said, I feel sorry for your congregation. I feel sorry for your TV audience.
And then thirdly, he said this, he said, You tell people that
they can go out and live a life of sin and still be safe. I did
not say that. I did not say that. He said,
You're like Bishop Sheen. Now that was a good comparison.
One lady wrote in and said, You and Oral Roberts are my favorite
preachers. But now me and Bishop Sheen, you know, are in the same
boat. He said, you're just like Bishop Sheen. You preach that
a man can go out and sin and come to confession and it's all
forgiven. I didn't preach that. Then he
said, fourthly, God is going to reprobate you to hell. And then he started quoting scripture
about how men who loved God never sinned and lived above sin. Men
like himself who were saved and never sinned. Well, I usually
don't answer letters like that because it's usually useless.
I throw them in the waste can and go on and spend my time trying
to help somebody who's sincere. I threw that in the waste can
and got to thinking. I'm going to answer that letter
and I reached down and picked it up. And this is the way I
answered it. My dear friend, your letter is a perfect example
of what I'm preaching. Most people think because you
don't lie, steal, get drunk, commit adultery, don't sin. Your
letter is full of sin. First you misquoted me, you wrote
it in anger, and then you hoped God would damn my soul. It's
impossible for anybody to be saved, let alone not sin, and
hope somebody goes to hell. That man was one of the world's
greatest sinners, but I promise you this, I bet you he's a deacon
in somebody's church. I bet he's got the baptism of
the Holy Ghost. I bet he speaks in tongue, and
I bet he lives a perfect life. I'd be willing to lay my week's
wages on it. But he never sins. And yet he
wrote the most sinful, evil letter that could possibly be written.
Not in the spirit of Christ, not in the spirit of compassion,
not in the spirit of sincerity, but in the spirit of complete
malice and hatred. That's what I'm saying. Brethren,
sin is not confined to the outward deeds of the hand. Turn to Matthew
23. You think because you don't get
drunk you're a pretty good fella. You think because you pay your
bills, you're a pretty good fella. You think because you don't cheat
on your wife, you're a pretty good fella. You think because
you don't lie, you're a pretty good fella. Let me tell you this,
there's enough hell in your heart to make another devil if God
left you to yourself. Now, I know a lot of people don't
understand the prayer that Don prayed a while ago, but people
who know God understand it. They understand it. They understand
that the very thought of foolishness is sin. They understand that
to know to do good and do it not is sin. They understand not
to love God with all our hearts is sin. Not to love our neighbors
as ourselves is sin. Not to walk in a continual attitude
of prayer is sin. He knows, and I know, and you
who know God know, that our very nature is sin. The natural mind
is enmity against God. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing." My very presence here tonight is the presence of sin.
We sin when we pray. We sin when we give. We sin when
we sing. We sin when we preach. Our very
tears need to be bathed in the blood of Christ. There's enough
selfishness in your prayer to damn your soul. That's right.
And the Holy Spirit will convince you that you have a fountain
of evil in your heart, in your very nature. that only the restraining
grace of God holds it back. Here's what these Pharisees did.
Look at Matthew 23. Christ said, verse 25, You scribes,
you Pharisees, you hypocrites. Now these men Christ is talking
to here, these men are the best men of their day. They did what
you don't do. They stood down on the corner
of 16th and Winchester and prayed right out there in public. You
won't do that, but they did. They did what you won't do, they
forced it twice a week. They did what you don't do, they
give tithes of all they possess. They did what you won't do, they
wore scripture written on their garments. They did what you don't do, they
kept the Sabbath day holy. They wouldn't walk but so many
feet on the Sabbath day. Christ called them hypocrites. What would he call you and me?
What would he call the man that wrote that letter to me? What
would he call us? He'd call us children of the
devil, I'm afraid. But he said, You scribes, you
Pharisees, you hypocrites, you make clean the outside of the
cup and the platter, and within, what's wrong inside? Oh boy,
inside you're full of extortion and excess, dead men's bones. The man who's never seen his
nature has never been convinced of sin. The man who's never been
made to weep over not only what he's done, but what he is! is
never been convinced of sin. You've never experienced Holy
Spirit conviction until you can cry, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Not just an act of death, not
just a deed of death, but a body of death! The Holy Spirit makes
a man mourn over and grieve over what he is. This is Holy Spirit conviction.
He convinces us of actual sins, as far as most people have ever
gotten. And they're not too bothered about that. They're not too troubled
about that. The only time they get troubled
about that is when they're caught. They don't get troubled about
it until they get caught, and then they get upset about it.
But most people have never experienced this deep conviction of an evil
nature. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. I find a law in my very members,
a law of death, a law of sin. That which I would do, I don't
do, and that which I don't do, I would do. What's wrong with
me?" Tell you what's wrong with you, you're born a sinner. You've
got the taproot of evil in you. You've got an evil fountain and
it keeps putting out evil water. And the only time you'll ever
be rid of it is when God Almighty buries it and raises you incorruptible. When you die and lay that old
body out here in Rose Hill in the grave and it goes back to
the dust from whence it came, that's when you'll cease to be
a sinner. Now, the third thing, the Holy
Spirit reveals sin in the light of actual sins, in the light
of original sin, and this will really shake you up if you don't
stay with me now, but this is so. The Holy Spirit will convince
us of the sin of our good works. Now, brethren, we're all by nature
legalists. We're all by nature trying to
find favor with God by our good deeds and by our good works. Like the Pharisees of old, when
we learn of God, when we learn of death, when we learn of judgment,
when we learn of heaven, when we learn of hell, we go about
to establish our own righteousness, our own holiness. We begin to
try to gain eternal life by our good life, by faithfulness to
the Church or to a religious cause. But the Holy Spirit then
comes and makes us realize that our best duties are but splendid
sins. Turn to Isaiah 64, verse 6. Isaiah saw this. Listen to what
he said in Isaiah 64, verse 6. He says here, "...but we all
are as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses. That means my good deeds, not
my bad deeds, my good deeds. That means my giving. That means
my praying. That means my witnessing. That
means my kindnesses along life's road. My righteousnesses are
filthy rags, filthy rags, and we all do fade as the leaves. and our iniquities like the wind
have taken us away. When the Holy Spirit of God makes
us to see the evil of our duties as well as our actual transgressions,
we will cry, Lord, if you will, you can save me, but if you won't,
you may justly damn me, for I have nothing to plead. I have only
to look to thy mercy." Even my good deeds are full of sin. Even my prayers are full of self. Even my efforts to worship, they're
so full of iniquity. Do you feel that? Do you feel,
as our Lord said in Luke 17, after we've done everything we're
supposed to do, we say we're nothing but unprofitable servants? You know, this shows what great
sinners we are along this line. People love to see their names.
You know how to raise money in a church? Most churches, I don't
think it's true here. Put out building funds, and then
under there, give people credit for what they give. Mr. John Smith gave $25. Mr. Bill Edwards gave $100. Get their names down in the amount
they give. People love to see that. You
know how to raise money for a television or radio program? Start calling
names over there. People love that. You watch sometimes
when people give a charitable donation to some kind of organization
in this town, and I'll guarantee you it won't be quietly given.
There'll be a picture on the front page of the president of
the organization presenting a check to the person to whom it is given.
Men like recognition for what they've done. There's so much
self in everything that we do. Our good deeds are just full
of self. And when they're full of self,
they're full of sin. And when the Holy Spirit convinces
a man of sin, he'll convince him not only of actual sins and
original sins, but even the evil and the bad motive in his best
deeds. In his best deeds. And then the
fourth area. The Holy Spirit will reveal sin
in the light of unbelief. Look at John chapter 16 again.
Christ said, verse 9, He will convict the world of sin because
they believe not on me. Our Lord mentions unbelief as
if it were the only sin worth mentioning. For indeed it is
the root of all sin." How little of us, how few of us, have any
faith. How few of us have any faith. Do we really believe? Do we really
believe God? Do we really believe His Word?
Do we really believe His Son? Can we say, can we say, we are
men and women of faith? I believe God. I believe God. I believe God. I think sometimes
I do, but then I see so much unbelief. I see so much. Isn't murmuring unbelief? Isn't
complaining unbelief? Can I say I'm content in whatsoever
state God puts me? I can't say that. What is that?
That's unbelief. Even when some great tragedy
comes in my life, can I say, God, I believe you, it's going
to work together for my good, I accept it from your hand, praise
the Lord. Do I praise the Lord in the valley
of tragedy and trial? No, that's unbelief. Unbelief. When we worry and when we fret,
that's unbelief. Christ said he'll convince us
of sin because we don't believe. We don't believe. You say, well,
preacher, how did the Lord call the Holy Spirit a comforter here? He says, I'll send the comforter
to you, and the comforter will convince men of sin, of actual
sin, of original sin, of the sin of our duties, of the sin
of unbelief. How can he be called a comforter
if he shows us all the evil that's in our hearts? Well, I'll tell
you why. I turn to Matthew 5. because
Holy Spirit conviction is the road to comfort. Our Lord said
in Matthew 5, verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, the poor
in spirit. Author W. Pink said, the poor
in spirit are those who have nothing spiritually know nothing
spiritually and can do nothing spiritually. Theirs is the kingdom
of God. Look at the next verse. Blessed
are they that mourn. What are they mourning over?
They're mourning over their sins. They're mourning over their transgressions. They're mourning over their evil
hearts. They shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek. Who is
the meek man but the man that realizes he's a sinner? Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness. Whose righteousness? Not theirs. They have none. That's filthy
rags. They want to cast off the filthy rags. They want to be
clothed with His holiness. And their hunger part and thirst
part, and he says, they're going to be filled. That's why he's
the Comforter. When the Holy Spirit brings us
down, when he humiliates us, when he humbles us, when he convinces
us of our deeds of evil and our thoughts of evil, and even the
evil in our good works, and when he shows us our evil heart of
unbelief, it turns us from depending on ourselves and looking to ourselves
to mourn in spirit, to hunger and thirst for righteousness,
and then our Lord fills us. He's the Comforter. Now, what's
the second word? I must hurry. The Holy Spirit
will convince the world of righteousness. Now, to illustrate this work
of the Holy Spirit in convincing men of righteousness, I want
to take you back to the Garden of Eden. After Adam fell, his
eyes of understanding were opened, and he felt something he never
felt before. He experienced something he never
experienced before. Now, Satan said, if you eat of
the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God. Well,
he was telling the truth in one statement. After Adam ate, his
eyes were opened, the eyes of his understanding. but not to
behold wisdom, not to behold grandeur and glory, not to behold
greatness. His eyes were opened to understand
some things he never understood before. Number one, guilt. Guilt. Adam never knew guilt. Secondly,
fear. Adam never knew fear. He walked
with God. Now he ran from God. He never
knew fear. Adam never knew hatred. But after
he fell, he hated Eve. When God said, Did you eat the
fruit? He said, That woman gave it to
me. Not my beloved wife. Not my precious companion. She's
responsible. Not me. Not me. Oh, yes, his
eyes were open, and he had some things revealed to him, and he
understood some things and felt some things that he never knew
before, and that is fear and guilt and then nakedness. And he was flushed out of his
hiding place by the voice of God, and God looked at him, and
what had he done? When he found out that he was
naked, he went over and got some fig leaves, and they were the
biggest leaves in the garden, somebody said, and he planted
them together and he made a covering. He made a covering to cover his
nakedness, and that was when, secondly, God revealed to him
that his pitiful, self-made fig leaf covering was not sufficient. It would not cover his nakedness.
And that's the way God does us in Holy Spirit conviction. We
realize that we're sinners, and we begin to go out and join the
church, or reform, or turn over a new leaf, or try to start doing
something nice for our neighbors, and we call it a righteousness.
And God stands us out there and rips that off of us, and he says,
that pitiful, selfish, filthy rags won't cover you. And he
stood out there naked before them, and you know what he did
then? God went over and got an animal, an innocent victim. And he brought that animal in
the presence of Adam, and he slew it. And he shed that animal's
blood, and he took that animal's skin, and he covered Adam, and
he covered Eve. And God Almighty is saying this
to me and you. When we stand there guilty, shameful,
full of fear, foolishness, hatred, and we try to cover this sin
with our good works and our baptisms and church memberships and all
these things, God Almighty, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
rips it all off of us, and he stands us naked before his searchlight
of holiness, and he says, the only way you can be covered sufficiently
is for my son to die on the cross. and shed his blood and cover
you with my spotless garment of holiness." Our Lord says the Holy Spirit
will convince us of our fall, of our sin. He will reveal to
us that no covering of works or good deeds or church membership
can sufficiently hide our nakedness But Christ, the Lamb of God,
has died and shed his blood and given us a covering for our sin."
Now watch this key here in verse 10. This is important. The Holy Spirit will convince
the world of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see
me no more. Now when the Holy Spirit convinces
us of sin, the root of sin, the source of sin is unbelief. That's
what causes it all, unbelief. But now when he convinces us
of righteousness, of the pitiful state of our own, and of the
perfect state of Christ's righteousness, He says he'll do it because I
go to my Father. What does Christ mean by that?
This is it. This is the one argument the
Holy Spirit uses to convince us of the reality of Christ's
righteousness, of the completeness of Christ's righteousness, of
the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness, of the efficacy of Christ's righteousness,
had he not finished the work and accomplished the work and
successfully completed the work, he could have never gone back
to the Father. God would have sent him back to do it again.
He rose again for our justification and ascended to the right hand
of the Father where he was accepted. And you know what that acceptance
means? It means I'm accepted. It means the righteousness with
which I'm clothed is sufficient. It means the holiness which Christ
gave is sufficient. It means the work that he did
through life, the work that he did in death, the work that he
did in burial, and the work he does in intercession is accepted
by the Father. Otherwise he would have sent
him right back. Christ said, I've finished the
work. God gave me to do it. I've completed it. And when he
went back to glory, because I go to my Father, the Holy Spirit
comes down to the sinner and says, you're guilty. You have
no righteousness of your own. Christ's righteousness is sufficient. His death is sufficient. His
blood is efficacious. You say, how would I know that?
The Holy Spirit says, because the Father accepted it. because
he's gone back to the Father, because he's victoriously seated
on the right hand of the Father. Therefore, you can be sure that
his righteousness is sufficient. Now, you don't know about yours,
do you? I tell you, if you're here tonight and all you can
say is, well, I believe I'm going to heaven because I've been a
church member all my life. I believe I'm going to heaven
because I've made a profession, and I was baptized, and I haven't
done what I ought to do, but I'm not bad at some people. And
I believe the Bible, I believe Christ died on the cross, and
I've given my life to God, and I've served him as best I know
how, and I believe I'll go to heaven when I die, but you can't
be sure. you can't be sure. But I tell you this, here's what
I say. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
came down here into this world. There I stood in my guilt and
my shame and my nakedness and my fear and my hatred and my
sin. And he came down here as the
perfect, innocent Lamb of God And God ripped off all of my
phony coverings and all of my veneer of religion and stood
me there shameful and guilty and nakedness and worthy of hell.
And he took the blood of Christ and washed me. And he took the
righteousness of Christ in his perfect life and covered me,
and Christ went back to glory. He was accepted by the Father,
and the Father said, Now, son, sit thou here on my right hand,
till I make your enemies your footstool. And that's what I'm
depending on, and I know that will do. I know that will do. A lot of people have gone to
hell depending on church membership, but nobody ever went to hell
depending on Christ. Lot of people have gone to hell
depending on baptism and good works, but nobody ever went to
hell resting in Christ, covered with his blood, robed in his
righteousness. Huh? All right, the Holy Spirit
is going to convince the world of the third thing, of judgment. Judgment. Judgment. But look at this line. Because
the Prince of this world is judged. What does that mean? It means
this, Christ, by his death, has destroyed Satan and destroyed
his works. The strong man that kept his
house in peace, and my house was the house he kept, his goods
were safe. But one stronger than he has
come upon him and defeated him and spoiled his goods and cast
him out. and taken up his abode in the
house himself. The old power of Satan has been
conquered, defeated, and cast out, and now my soul is at peace,
because Satan hath nothing in me." Luke wrote in Acts 26, to
open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan unto God." From the power of Satan. Satan's
been defeated. Satan's been conquered. His power's
been broken. He's been driven out. I don't
have to fear. I can say with pause, who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
freely with him give us all things? Who is he that condemned him?
Christ is died, yea, rather is risen again. Who is he then at
the right hand of God, whoever liveth to make intercession for
us? And persuaded neither death,
nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature. me from the love of God which
is in Christ my Lord." How can my soul have peace? I'll tell
you how, because Satan's been judged, his power's been defeated,
he has been conquered, the strong man's been cast out, and there
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. In
Adam's loins by sin I fell, and I walked destruction's road without
a will or power to turn to happiness or to God. But God devised a
means to bring his banished child back home and Christ fulfilled
that wondrous plan by his own death alone. Let others boast
how strong they be, nor death nor danger fear, but I'll confess,
O Lord, to thee what a feeble thing I am. The Spirit, like
some heavenly wind, hath breathed on this Son of flesh, created
anew that carnal mind, and formed the man afresh. He sheds above
the Father's love, he applies the redeeming blood, and he builds
both my guilt and fear removed, and he brought me home to God. He's my wisdom, he's my righteousness,
he's my sanctification, he's my redemption. And the Holy Spirit
of God has firmly and completely convinced me, as he convinced
you of sin. because they believe not. Of
righteousness, I have it now, because he's gone back to the
Father. And of judgment, no more. Judgment, no more. Condemnation,
no more. Fear, no more, because the prince
of this world is judged. He worked. My Lord conquered
him. It is finished! It was not the
cry of a pitiful martyr. It was the cry of a conquering
king. It's finished! And all heaven,
all earth, and all hell heard him cry, It's finished! Satan's
defeated. My people are set free. Prison's
doors are opened, and the captives have liberty. It's finished. There is no man-made plan of
redemption that can match that. There's no pitiful plea of a
professional evangelist that can match that. Don't you come
to me, you come to Him. Don't you come to the church,
you come to Him. Don't you come to an ordinance, no matter how
sweet it is, you come to Him. He's the Redeemer. Our Father,
bless the Word, I will thank thee, O God, I will thank thee
for the promises which we have in Christ, for the confidence
and assurance which we have in Christ. We do not fear. Sin's guilt is gone. In Christ we are holy and unblameable. We do not fear, because this
nature of evil has been defeated. We're no longer under the power
and influence of Satan, but we're now in the kingdom of our dear
son. Our Father, move this message
into every heart. It's something to know Christ. It's something to know Christ.
It's a life-changing experience to know Christ. In his name we
pray, amen.

What is Holy Ghost Conviction?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

What is Holy Ghost Conviction?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book