-
So, "I always hear preachers preach
-
that unless you have
Holy Spirit conviction
-
you will never be saved."
-
Now, just to say to Rocky,
-
he may hear preachers
say that all the time.
-
I don't hear preachers say
that all the time, do you guys?
-
(from the room)
-
That was a big thing with the Puritans.
-
They would say you have to be
-
slain by the law
-
before you can be saved.
-
Tim: Do you think that's specifically
-
what he's talking about?
-
Slain by the law?
-
Perhaps.
-
"...Or you will never be saved.
-
The obvious negative to that is this:
-
Without Holy Spirit conviction,
-
you will not be saved.
-
Why do some people get convicted
-
and others don't?
-
Though I know I am responsible for my sin,
-
I feel like I've never truly been
-
convicted of my sin.
-
Therefore, there is nothing I can do
-
unless God brings it on.
-
I've heard all the
theological answers before,
-
but none of them answer the real world
-
practicality of it all.
-
Please help."
-
So, he wants real world practicality.
-
Now, okay. Let's think here.
-
He says, "There's nothing I can do
-
unless God brings it on."
-
Let me ask you,
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Let me ask you this,
-
you go to the book of Acts.
-
The book of Acts is great
-
because some of the best preachers
-
in the early church are shown to us
-
preaching the Gospel
-
in this raw, Gentile -
-
even there on the day of
Pentecost in Jerusalem -
-
but you just have a world
ripe for the Gospel.
-
Can anybody think of Paul or Peter
-
or Stephen or Phillip ever preaching
-
that there's nothing you can do
-
unless God brings it on?
-
Is that the way they preached?
-
No.
-
They didn't.
-
So here's the thing.
-
If you come to the conclusion
-
that Rocky's come to,
-
you've come to an unbiblical conclusion.
-
And this is one of the problems.
-
People come to all manner of conclusions
-
and sometimes it is because maybe
-
they're reading the Puritans
-
or they're listening to
preachers somewhere.
-
But listen, have the soul winners
-
really emphasized that without
-
Holy Spirit conviction you can't be saved?
-
Is Holy Spirit conviction biblical?
-
Yeah. R.L.'s nodding yes.
-
When the Spirit comes,
-
He's going to convict men of sin.
-
That's true.
-
Has anybody ever heard
Paul Washer's testimony?
-
Anybody ever heard what he said
-
about conviction of sin?
-
Yeah, that he didn't feel it at first.
-
It wasn't until sometime later
-
he says he felt it.
-
My brother-in-law Rick,
-
when he was converted,
-
it was not feeling all sorts of
wretchedness for his sin.
-
It was like suddenly
-
Christ broke in upon him
-
and spoke to him that His atonement
-
was for him.
-
That doesn't mean that Rick never had
-
conviction of sin.
-
But we need to be careful.
-
We need to be very careful
-
that we don't set up a standard
-
that the Bible doesn't necessarily
-
put before us.
-
Here's the thing.
-
Yes, the Bible says something
-
about conviction of the Holy Spirit.
-
But let me ask you this?
-
Does the Bible ever say that we're saved
-
by Holy Spirit conviction?
-
What are we saved by?
-
By faith in Jesus Christ.
-
Listen, I guess as I was
thinking about this,
-
I was thinking of somebody
in a burning house
-
in an upper story window.
-
And how somebody down below
-
saying, "trust me and jump."
-
I mean, it's a good picture.
-
Because we've got the fires of hell
-
breathing down our backs
-
in our lost condition.
-
And Christ is saying, "jump...
-
and I'll hold you."
-
Now look, the thing is
-
however you feel is not the real issue.
-
Some people may feel more scared.
-
Some people may feel less scared.
-
There may be all sorts of feelings
-
that a person feels,
-
but what's critical is that you jump.
-
That's the real issue.
-
That you jump.
-
(Incomplete thought)
-
Think about this.
-
Rich young ruler.
-
Did He say to him,
-
"Oh, no Holy Spirit conviction!"
-
You know what He said to him?
-
He said to him,
-
"Go sell your idol and
you give to the poor
-
and you come follow Me
-
and you'll have treasure in heaven."
-
He didn't say you have to feel anything.
-
You know what He was asking him to do?
-
Trust Him.
-
Believe on Christ.
-
You think about Matthew.
-
I often think about Matthew.
-
Jesus came by.
-
I don't know what he was feeling.
-
I don't know what was going
through his head right before that.
-
I don't know what he knew about Jesus.
-
Because you know what?
The truth is we're not told.
-
But I'll tell you this,
-
when Jesus said, "Follow Me," he did.
-
Because you know what faith is all about?
-
It's resting on a promise.
-
That's what it's all about.
-
And think with me here.
-
He could have said,
-
"Well, I don't feel enough conviction.
-
I don't feel like God regenerated me.
-
I don't feel like I'm one of the elect."
-
But you know what
Jesus calls people to do?
-
There's nowhere in Scripture where it says
-
you need to feel elect
before you can come.
-
There's nothing that says you need to feel
-
a certain level of thirst or hunger
-
or conviction before you can come.
-
There's nothing in
Scripture that says that.
-
The issue is trusting His promises.
-
You see, if Matthew would have said
-
before I'm going to follow Jesus,
-
I need to feel something,
-
he'd have sat at that desk
-
and he'd have gone to hell.
-
Do you know what he did?
-
He parted with his money.
-
He parted with his franchise.
-
He parted with his lifestyle.
-
He parted with his income.
-
Why would anybody do that?
-
Because they're trusting
-
that Christ is going to save them.
-
They're trusting that Christ
-
is going to help them;
-
that Christ is going to be all to them;
-
Christ is going to be sufficient to them.
-
You know what?
-
We have all sorts of people
-
who they say by their actions,
-
"I will not believe the Lord Jesus Christ
-
until I get the feeling I want
-
or until I get the experience I want."
-
You're going to stand up
there in that window
-
and burn to death.
-
What Jesus says is "trust Me."
-
You see, it's not trust to say,
-
"Well, I need to feel something first."
-
That's not trust.
-
Trust is to take Him at His word and jump.
-
All in.
-
You forsake everything.
-
You're abandoning your life.
-
You're bought with a price.
-
You're jumping.
-
You're leaving yourself
totally at His disposal
-
to save you as He sees fit,
-
to protect you,
-
to put you into whatever life He desires.
-
If you stood up there in
that window and you said,
-
"Well, I've got to figure
out whether I'm elect first,"
-
you're going to die in that window.
-
I guarantee you, you're
going to die in that window.
-
What He's calling us to do
-
is to trust Him;
-
to take Him at His word.
-
Isn't it interesting, throughout Scripture
-
that's what He said to people.
-
He said there's a wise man,
-
there's a foolish man.
-
They hear His Word and they do it.
-
You know what?
-
You know what the truth is?
-
You don't even have to feel assurance.
-
Assurance - knowing you're saved.
-
You don't have to feel that.
-
What you need to know
-
is that Christ can save you,
-
and you jump into His arms.
-
You take Him at His word.
-
And you don't wait to feel anything.
-
I was talking to Charles Leiter
-
not too long ago about this.
-
We were talking about
-
being sealed with the Spirit.
-
We were talking about feelings.
-
We were talking about assurance.
-
Charles said that some
of the old preachers -
-
he was talking about one specifically
-
he said that would preach to people.
-
You take Christ at His word.
-
And you may not feel anything
-
in the beginning,
-
but if you hold on to those promises,
-
God will meet you.
-
It was B.B. Caldwell.
-
Charles loves to tell stories about him.
-
But he would preach to people that way.
-
You take Christ at His word
-
no matter what you feel.
-
No matter what.
-
You take Him at His word and you wait.
-
Holding. Trusting.
-
And God will come to you.
-
I think that's the reality.
-
Sometimes we read things in Scripture
-
and we say, "I want to feel that."
"I want to have that experience."
-
Or we hear about somebody's experience,
-
and we feel like we need to have that.
-
But see, if you're Matthew sitting
-
at the tax collector's desk,
-
He said to him what He says to us all.
-
He said if you would come after Him,
-
you need to follow Him.
-
Whoever would come after Him,
-
you need to follow Him.
-
That's the issue. Whoever.
-
Whoever would come after.
-
That's His invitation.
-
If you want to come after Him, you can.
-
What does it mean to come after Him?
-
That means I'm going to trust Him,
-
and I'm going to take Him at His word,
-
and I'm going to strive trusting Him
-
and just holding on to these promises.
-
I'm going to strive to
do what His Word says.
-
That's the wise man who
builds his house on the rock.
-
He hears what Christ commands
-
and he does them, over
against the foolish man
-
who hears and doesn't do it.
-
Why? He's waiting for something to happen.
-
He's waiting for an experience
like he wants to have happen.
-
He wants to know he's saved
-
before he's actually saved.
-
He wants to feel that he's elect
-
before he's actually embraced Christ.
-
There's too many people like that.
-
They hear about the doctrines of grace
-
and they get all hung up.
-
But it's the same to all of us.
-
Jesus comes along and He says
-
just like He said to Peter,
-
He said it to John, He said to Matthew,
-
He said it to the rich young ruler -
-
He said, "Follow Me."
-
You notice He never got into a discourse
-
about: do you feel elect?
-
He never got into a discourse
-
about whether you feel anything.
-
He doesn't say,
"how do you feel right now?"
-
"Do you feel really
convicted by your sin?"
-
"Has there been sufficient law work?"
-
Look, I recognize that
He brought up the law
-
with the rich young ruler,
-
but you know, I'm not really convinced
-
that He was primarily interested
-
in staying there on the law
-
until there had been sufficient law work.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
He didn't even challenge him.
-
You would have thought this.
-
If Jesus really was wanting to do
-
a deep law work primarily
in the rich young ruler,
-
wouldn't He have stopped and said,
-
"Oh, you just said all
these things you've done
-
from your youth up, but you haven't."
-
You know what? Jesus didn't even
-
call the guy on it.
-
He just went with the flow.
-
Okay. Okay, you've done all that.
-
"Well, you lack one thing still."
-
He didn't say,
"Oh no, you lack all of it."
-
"You've been a liar..."
-
He didn't jump on the
Ray Comfort bandwagon
-
and say, "have you lied?"
-
He didn't do that.
-
Yes, He brought up the law,
-
but He didn't even stick there.
-
And He didn't call the guy out on it.
-
What He did was He went even further
-
and He said okay, we'll allow that.
-
But one thing you lack.
-
What's that?
-
"Well, you go sell it all and
you come follow Me."
-
He wasn't asking him about how he felt.
-
You see, it was all on
the table right there.
-
Are you going to trust Me?
-
You come follow Me,
-
and you'll have treasure in heaven.
-
You know what He's
asking him to do? Trust Him.
-
He wasn't saying, "Do you feel elect?"
-
"Do you feel appropriately law work
-
and Holy Spirit conviction?"
-
It wasn't that, because you know what?
-
We're not saved by that.
-
We're saved by trusting
the promises of Christ.
-
"You come follow Me.
-
You'll have treasure in heaven."
-
And you know what?
-
To have followed Him right
there would have been life.
-
And he would have had it
-
despite how he felt.
-
I don't know what Matthew felt,
-
but I'm sure as he followed Christ,
-
God met with him.
-
I'm sure there was joy.
-
I'm sure all sorts of
good things happened.
-
You know what Scripture says?
-
"Without faith it's
impossible to please God."
-
Faith. Faith is casting yourself
-
on His promises.
-
Can anybody do that?
-
You say, I know you have to be born again.
-
But where does Scripture say,
-
"Well, you need to feel born again
-
before you can trust Christ"?
-
It doesn't say that.
-
In fact, even where He's
speaking to Nicodemus
-
and He says, "you must be born again,"
-
where does He go?
-
He doesn't say, "Now, Nicodemus,
-
there's absolutely nothing you can do.
-
You better sit up there
in that burning window
-
and, like this guy says -
-
"I can do nothing unless
God brings it on."
-
So, Nicodemus, stand up there
-
in that burning window
-
until God brings it on.
-
But you see where Jesus goes?
-
It's just like the serpent was lifted up
-
in the wilderness. What?
-
If you look, you'll live.
-
You'll be healed.
-
He goes right into faith.
-
It's taking Him at His word.
-
Now look, if you say,
-
"Nope. I can't take Him at His word.
-
I need to feel elect.
-
I need to feel that He's done a work.
-
I need to feel He's made me alive.
-
I need to feel Holy Spirit conviction.
-
I need to feel an appropriate law work."
-
All you're doing is giving an excuse
-
for why you will not believe Him.
-
And you will perish in that window.
-
The only way to be saved is to jump
-
and land right on His promises.
-
That's the only place of safety.
-
Faith saves.
-
No amount of conviction saves.
-
Christ saves.
-
Faith is what leaps upon His promises.
-
You see, when Matthew
got up from that table
-
he was saying that's it.
-
If this guy doesn't come through,
-
I've just lost my livelihood.
-
I'm banking everything on Him.
-
That's a safe place to be.
-
Because if you bank everything on Him
-
and you follow Him,
-
you'll not be ashamed.
-
I have it on the authority of God's Word.
-
You will not be ashamed.
-
But you stand up there in that window
-
refusing to trust Him,
-
you're going to die and go to hell.
-
Be sure of it.
-
The only way to be saved is jump.
-
And He's got arms that can hold you.
-
He never dropped one yet
-
who's trusted Him.
-
Not a single one.
-
Oh Father, I pray that some good
-
would have come from
the Bible study tonight.
-
Make it helpful to somebody.
-
Make it profitable.
-
Lord, Your Word is good. It's safe.
-
I pray these things in Christ's name,
-
Amen.