Convicted
John 16:5-11
Good Morning everyone, Glad that you have joined us. Please turn to John chapter 16:5-11.
We have been in a study on Wednesday morning about the wonderful saving power of God to rescue us from eternal separation from Him because of sin.
Our fallen nature does not make us good people who did bad, it makes us sinners who do bad things because we are sinners.
Each one of us will stand before the Lord one day and account for our lives.
We only have two responses when He asks about our lives. We either accepted what Jesus has done for us as our savior or we reject what Jesus has done and He is not Lord and savior in our lives and we stand alone in our sin without a redeemer.
On Wednesday, I used the word rescue a lot.
Jesus has rescued us and done what we could not do for ourselves.
He has redeemed and rescued the world but the whole world has not accepted what He has done for us and those that have not accepted Him as Lord but rejected Him could have been rescued but chose for themselves not too.
I don’t know if you have ever thought of Jesus as one who has rescued you?
One who has chosen you and I and did for us what we could not do for ourselves. It is not by works, we cannot earn our salvation. It is strictly by accepting and believing that we need a savior and Jesus is the savior of our lives.
Luke 19:10- “For the Son of Man is come to seek and save the lost (some verses say to seek and save what has been lost)
Most think of being lost as something that you cannot find- being lost spiritually is the word Ap-pol-lo-los… it conveys the idea of something ruined, wasted, trashed, devastated and destroyed. It is the same word used to describe Satan demented nature.
To be saved means one who has been rescued… and lost means something that is ruined and devastated.
Jesus has rescued us from the destruction of sin that has ruined and wasted our lives and Jesus has come to rescue us and restore us back to the right relationship we were to have with Jesus.
John records the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives to direct us into right living and right relationship with Him.
John 16:5-11 Read from the Bible
Jesus had to go so the Holy Spirit could come for us
The Holy Spirit will convict of us of our sins- to draw us to a closer relationship with Jesus and the Bible tells us in John 10:10 that Satan’s goal is he comes to condemn us- “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Satan is a destroyer and Jesus is a rescuer of our condemned souls.
(8) “And when he is come. He will reprove the world of sin.”
For those of you who know Jesus as Lord…Do you remember the first time that the Holy Spirit of God convicted you of being a sinner? You may not know the exact date, but do you remember the time? I was 14 years old watching Billy Graham on television. I went from laughing at the preacher to crying out to God in a matter of about 5 minutes.
It was a time I will never forget.
Some say that I was too young and that I did not know what I was doing.
I knew what I was doing, it took me another 10-12 years before I completely surrendered to Him but I knew that sin was real and that I needed a savior.
I was not raised in a Christian family but one that was taught moral righteousness and doing kind things but nothing about a personal relationship with Jesus.
I was thankful that Jesus reached out to me and that I responded when He reached out after many times of Him trying.
The reproving words back to verse 8 is that I understood that I was a sinner and Jesus was a savior and that I needed Him to open my spiritually closed eyes because I was lost and I could not find Him. He was not lost…I was!
The word reprove is the Greek word that means to expose or to convict, such as to convict someone of a criminal crime or sin.
A word from court that means during which a person was examined and cross-examined by an attorney. He/She was found guilty of the accusations brought against him/her. The court convicted him of the crime and issued a corresponding judgment. It was conviction that led to condemnation.
Jesus Convicts us of our sins so that we can draw closer to Jesus so that our sins will not condemn us. Because of Jesus we can be forgiven of our sins. Without Jesus our sins would have brought the condemnation and guilt of our sins.
Purpose of conviction-
Romans 2:4 “The goodness of God that leads us to salvation”
Because of sin, we are lost. We can never find a way on our own, so God lovingly steps in. We understand we are a sinner in need of salvation and that we need His help.
The reason for conviction is not to make us feel bad…most of us can do that on our own. It is to make us aware that we need a savior and Jesus is the savior.
The Holy Spirit desires for us to cry out to God and to steer the sinner to the Cross…Where forgiveness can be found.
Greek word “Elegcho” A-lan-co means to convict, refute, confute, generally with a suggestion of shame of the person convicted, by conviction to bring to the light, to expose.
Conviction of sin comes in different ways.
Conviction that leads to repentance- being a personal witness to a friend or someone that you know- We must not forget that we are anointed to take the God News of the gospel to the people who are unsaved. We speak into their lives so that it triggers a divine moment where their eyes are opened to their need for Jesus.
Matthew 18:15- “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.”
The preaching of the Word brings conviction- John the Baptist talked to Herod but Herod refused to repent. John’s straightforward preaching convicted him that he was a sinner. Preaching bring a person to conviction of their sinful nature.
The light of God’s word produces conviction in a person- Holy Spirit shines His light into unbelievers darkness. Television, the Bile, a Christian Book, personal witness.
At that moment, they have a choice to run toward the light or reject the light and run away from it back into the darkness. Truth brings conviction of sin.
God’s presence will bring conviction of sin- The anointing power of God brings the presence of God into a sinner’s life.
God presence is strong and it brings the sinner to acknowledge his un-holiness. This is why the church under the power of the Holy Spirit is needed to speak to unbelievers.
Knowing God’s laws makes a sinner conscious of being a lawbreaker- When you know the Ten Commandments and you know that even if you have broken only one of the ten and only one time that it is enough to keep you out of heaven. It makes you aware that you are without excuse and you fall short of the glory and holiness of God.
If the Holy Spirit does not direct you to the truth of God you will never see it.
It is a miracle that we by the power of the Holy Spirit are able to see our sin and need for God.
“The Holy Spirit has come to reprove the world of sin”
There is only one way to do that- The Lord convicting you of sin and you responding to Him so that He can forgive you of your sin- That is called repentance!
This is where we will spend the last few minutes this morning.
“Then Peter said unto them…Repent” Acts 2:38
In a survey a group of believers were asked what the word repentance meant. Here are some of the frequent answers
To feel sorry for something one did or failed to do.
To feel remorseful about some act and ask forgiveness for it.
To walk forward in a church service to formally ask Jesus into ones heart
Though interesting answers they are not the correct answers
John the Baptist ministry was launched by the word repent. He said that there was only one way to heaven and that was to repent and take Jesus as Lord of your life.
Jesus Himself says that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to God except by Him.
Acts 2:38, Peter after the day of Pentecost launched a ministry of repentance- the only way is to be reborn or born again or regenerated.
Illustration-
If this is sin (point in one direction) then to repent is to go the opposite way and want no part of it,
Repentance does not mean remorse or to feel sorry for it.
Greek word for remorse is very different from repent.
Remorse was a popular answer on the survey but it is not the correct answer because we can feel remorseful but not make the necessary change and turn from the sin we were sorry for.
Remorse, guilty, regret are words we express just because we got caught for something, not that we have repented of something. There are a lot of criminals in prison that are remorseful.
Pastor Rick Renner says that personal change and transformation- not remorse, regret, and sorrow-are the true proof of repentance.
Repent is a change of mind
Repent is a change of thinking
Repent is a change of direction
Repent is a change of believing and living
Transformation that totally changes every part of your life.
I have a hard time believing that someone is repentant if we cannot visibly see a change in their lives over time.
The Greek word for repentance is “metataneo” (met-ta-men-na-o) and means your mind, intellect, will, frame of thinking, opinion, and view of life is changed because you have repented and changed the course on how you think and act,
I do not think it is possible to make a decision of repentance and not have people be able to see change in all areas of your life.
It may take some time but now it is more important to you than how you felt or acted before and it is a priority to move your life into a new direction.
It is not a moment of emotions that last a short time without change happening.
Some people have great emotions when they come to Christ and some do not.
Some have great amount of tears and some none at all.
It come down to wither there is change in their lives.
The turning of what they use to do and they now do what the Lord directs of them.
Repentance produces change, remorse produces sorrow.
Close
Repentance is an elementary principal for someone who knows Jesus as Lord and savior.
Would you find it strange if a full grown adult did not know his ABC’s? If there was not something physically wrong with him, you would expect him to know it because it is an elementary principal of learning. the same can be said of a person who spiritually never grows past the beginning class after they get saved.
Hebrews 6:1-2
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the repentance from acts that led to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”
Hebrews clearly states that our knowledge of repentance should be so set in stone that it should never have to be repeated or taught to us again. it reads, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.
“Not laying again” from the Greek means to lay something down- our Christian faith should be laid down in our lives like a strong foundation as soon as we become Christians. There should never be any need for it to be laid down again.
Prayer time leading to prayer-
