THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CONVICTION OF SIN John 16:4-14 (ESV)

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1 INTRODUCTION THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CONVICTION OF SIN John 16:4-14 (ESV) As we continue our messages on the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation we will focus today on His work of convincing us of our need for a Savior by convicting us of our sins. Without seeing and feeling a need for a Savior we will not come to the Savior. And until we are convinced of the sinfulness of our sin we won t feel the need of a Savior. There's an old joke people used to tell about President Coolidge, a man of few words. It seems the president attended church one Sunday, while Mrs. Coolidge remained at the White House. On his return, anxious that she might have missed something significant, the first lady asker her husband about the preacher's sermon topic. "He spoke about sin," the president replied. What did he say," Mrs. Coolidge inquired. "He was against it." I told some of my friends this week that I was going to preach on sin today. They asked, Are you going to be for it or against it? Sadly the natural man is for sin. Only the Holy Spirit can change our hearts to where we are against it! I ll explain that as we go through the sermon. Jesus spoke of the convicting work of the Spirit in His Upper Room discourse with his disciples. John 16:8-11 ESV And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: (9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; (10) concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; (11) concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Last week we looked at the Holy Spirit s work of effectually calling us to come to Christ, to embrace Christ as our Savior. This effectual call is the when the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts and calls us forth to Jesus, as Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb, as Jesus calls His sheep and they hear His voice. It is called the Effectual Call because it is effective; it produces what we are called to do, i.e. embrace Jesus as our Savior. The Holy Spirit does preparatory work in our hearts before the call of God becomes effectual. That is what we will deal with today. Last week I also mentioned that the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question #31 has the clearest and most succinct answer to understanding the effectual calling of God. Let me read it again for you. June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1

2 Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. Our Cumberland Presbyterian Confession has a similar statement (4.02). The three phased work of the Spirit in the effectual calling is 1) convincing us of our sin and misery, 2) enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and 3) renewing our wills. all work together to enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. Jesus said in John 6:44 that no man can come to me except the Father draw him. To put the question we are considering in another way we could ask, How does the Father draw us to Christ? It is through the work of the Holy Spirit by convicting us, enlightening our minds, and renewing our wills. As we consider these three works of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, I ask you to reflect on how God called you to Himself. See if you can identify how the Holy Spirit convinced you of your sins. See if you can identify how the Holy Spirit opened your mind to see the truth of Jesus. See if you can identify how your will was renewed to enable you to cast yourself upon Jesus Christ as your Savior. We need to reflect on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may make sure that we are truly in the faith and that we may give God the glory for drawing us to Himself. THE NATURAL MAN LOVES HIS SIN Today, let s focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in convincing us of our sin and misery. As Jesus said, And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. It takes a special work of the Holy Spirit to convict and convince us of our sin in a way that will cause us to come to Christ. Now most people will readily admit that they are sinners. God has given everyone a sense of moral right and wrong, because He has given us a conscience. Most will readily admit that they have done some things that their conscience had told them that they had done wrong. But this is not the conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit needs to work in our hearts to bring us to Christ. We have a way of RATIONALIZING about our weaknesses, foibles, wrong doing. To sin is to be human, we say. But this type of conviction will not bring us to Christ. Not only do we rationalize about our sins, because everyone does it, we actually LOVE our sin. Now we don t like some of the consequences of our sins, because our sins can break relationships, can hurt others, can cause us harm, can destroy our physical life, but in our hearts we love our sins. June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2

3 The Bible speaks of the pleasures of sin for a season. Sin has pleasure for a season. For example I had a problem with drinking before I was saved. Now I love the pleasure of drinking, although I hated the consequences it brought to me at times. There are many more serious sin I was in love with, but I ll keep them to myself. Other examples of sin we get pleasure from. Some love the sin of gossip. Some love the sin of hating others and saying malicious things about those whom we despise. The chief sin we all love is that we love ourselves more than we love God. The natural man loves his sins. John 3 states that men love darkness because their deeds are evil. How can the Holy Spirit break that natural love of sin and cause us to love the light? What does the Holy Spirit do to change our natural love of sin to abhorring our sin so that we will embrace Christ as our Savior? He starts by convicting us of our sin. THE METHODS THE HOLY SPIRIT USES TO CONVICT US OF OUR SINS What tools do the Holy Spirit use to bring about this conviction? His first and basic tool is the WORD OF GOD. It is through the preaching, teaching, reading, hearing, the Word of God that the Holy Spirit brings about conviction. The writer of Hebrews tells us why the Word is critical in in convicting us. Hebrews 4:12 reads: (Heb 4:12 NKJV) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We need something to cut through the deceptions of the heart and the rationalizations of the mind. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it. What cut through this deceitfulness? The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God. This why Paul quotes the Old Testament profusely in Romans 1-3 where his argument is that all have sinned and are guilty before God. The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God, more explicitly the truth of the Word of God and pierces the hearts to make us see and feel the guilt of our sin before a Holy God. Another tool the Holy Spirit uses is to show us the absolute HOLINESS, purity, majesty, and power of God. He does this to show in contrast how deeply sinful we are. We need to see our sins in contrast to the holiness of God. We need to come to the conclusion that Job came to as he reported in June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3

4 Job 42:5-6 NIV My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. (6) Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." One of our rationalizations is that we think that in comparison to others we aren t that sinful. We need to compare ourselves to God s holiness. Another tool the Holy Spirit uses is to show us the JUDGMENT of God. He makes us face the prospects of standing before a holy God in judgment. The Bible clearly teaches that we all will stand before God to give an account of everything we have done in our body. Hebrews 9:27 NKJV And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, Can you imagine all your sins being brought back to light at the judgment seat of God? This should bring godly conviction of sin. Hebrews 10:31 NKJV It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But most of all the Holy Spirit shows us JESUS CHRIST and His suffering for our sins and His glory of His ascension. He shows us that it is our sins that put Jesus on the Cross. Jesus died for our sins, not for his sins for he had no sin. When the Holy Spirit shows us this we will cry out as the hearers did on the day of Pentecost when they heard how their sins put Jesus on the Cross. They cried, What shall we do to be saved? Matthew Henry summarizes the work of the Holy Spirit in convincing a person of sin comments: The Spirit convinceth of the fact of sin, that we have done so and so; of the fault of sin, that we have done ill in doing so; of the folly of sin, that we have acted against right reason and our true interest; of the filth of sin, that bit is we are become odious to God; of the fountain of sin, that is our corrupt nature; and lastly of the fruit of sin, that the end thereof of death. MARKS OF GENUINE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION As I mentioned earlier, one application of this message is to see if you can identify the Holy Spirit s work in your life in working that conviction of sin that brought you to Christ. To help us do this let s consider the marks of Holy Spirit s conviction. One mark of genuine Holy Spirit conviction is that we take personal ownership of our sin. We don t blame others. We blame ourselves. It is so easy June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4

5 to blame our environment, our upbringing, our circumstances to try to excuse our personal responsibility for our sins. But a mark that the Holy Spirit is convicting us is to take personal ownership of our sin. Another mark is that we see that our sin as serious and is primarily against God. Our action is an affront to his holiness and righteousness and it grieves us that God s glory and honor is tarnished by our actions. Another mark is that we become convinced that we will stand before a holy God in judgment. And we will agree that God is just in his judgment. We agree that our punishment and condemnation reflects God s justice and do not accuse God of being unfair in his judgment on sin. One of the classic examples of true conviction of sin is found in the Old Testament example of David s sin and confession in Psalm 51. Just listen to verses 2-4: (Psa 51:2-4 NKJV) Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. {3} For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. {4} Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight; That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Notice that David acknowledged that it was his iniquity, his sin, his transgression which he needed cleansed from. Recall the background to this Psalm. David had given in to his lust for Bathsheba and committed adultery with her. He then tried to hide it by having her husband Urriah killed in battle and then he could marry Bathsheba and have the baby without anyone knowing. But God started dealing with David s heart. God even sent Nathan the prophet to David to confront him. When Nathan told the little story about the rich man stealing the one sheep from the shepherd, it angered David. And then Nathan pointed his finger at him and Thou art the man. It was like an arrow going through his heart. He knew that he had been found out. He knew that God knew about his sin. Part of our denial mechanism for our personal sin is to think that as long as no one else knows about it you are all right. But when it comes to light and your friends and neighbors know it brings about more conviction. It is like this when the Holy Spirit convicts you. You now realize that God knows about your sin and is taking not of it. It brings about certain conviction which is part of his work of grace. David responded by acknowledging his guilt before God. He said in verse 4, Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight. Then he adds That you may be found just when you speak. It is interesting that a sincere admission of the justice of God in condemning sin is a mark of genuine conviction. June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5

6 Many of us have difficulty in truly believing that God is just in condemning us of sin. Sin cannot be that serious that a loving God would sent me to an eternal hell, is it? Since to err is to be human, certainly God is a little unfair to make such a big ado over it. But a person who is convicted of sin will justify the justice of God in condemning him to hell for his sin. These are some of the marks of genuine Holy Spirit conviction: personally OWNING up to my sin, seeing that my sin is AGAINST God, seeing that my sin is serious enough to SEND me to hell, and agreeing that God is JUST and righteous in his judgment against sin. CONCLUSION But let us not forget that the ultimate purpose of the Holy Spirit convicting and convincing us of our sin and misery is not to make us feel bad or to feel unworthy, but to feel our need for the Savior. It is part of God s redeeming grace that He sends His Spirit to effectually call us through the convicting work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirt is moving us to embrace Jesus Christ and our Lord and Savior. He wants us to come to Jesus to be saved for the forgiveness of our sins. God works differently in each of us. Sometimes God brings the conviction of our sin and need for a Savior the first time we hear the Gospel. But for most of us it may take many times of hearing the Word of God before we hear the call of the Holy Spirit. When did you first become convinced that your personal sins were serious? When did you first realize that your sins is what put Jesus on the Cross? When did you first realize that you were going to have to give an account to God for everything you have said, done, or thought? When did you first call out to God for salvation? When did you call on the Name of the Lord to be saved? When did you turn from your sins to Jesus? This is the desired end results of the Holy Spirit s work in your heart to bring you to Jesus. Amen? Amen! June 17, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6