P.M. Sermon
Spring Hill, TN
3/25/07 p.m.
Series: “Discovering the Holy Spirit” (Pt. 10)
Text(s): John 16:8; John 3:5; Titus 3:5; Rom. 8:9-13
Summary: In PART 10, we explore the Holy Spirit’s work in conversion. (A helpful resource from which I gained considerable insight in this sermon was Jack Cottrell’s book The Faith Once for All pages 293-297).
“The Holy Spirit and Conversion”
Introduction:
A. Discovering the Holy Spirit Series:
1. So far in this series on the Holy Spirit, we have been introduced to the Holy Spirit, we have explored his activity in the Old Testament age, and his activity during the lives of the Apostles and prophets of the first century church.
2. We have studied the baptism of the Holy Spirit, miraculous abilities given by the Spirit, and the end of the miraculous age.
3. We have been explored what the Holy Spirit did in the past.
4. To this point, we have laid a solid foundation for the rest of the series.
5. It was crucial to have a firm understanding of all that we have previously studied in order to properly embark upon the next section of this study.
B. What does the Holy Spirit Do, Today?
1. The remained of this series will be dedicated to what the Holy Spirit does for Christians today.
2. We have already seen that there are some things that people believe that the Spirit does today, that he simply does not do.
3. Many mishandle the Scripture and take descriptions of what the Holy Spirit did in the past and try to apply it to today.
4. However, one should not think that the Holy Spirit’s activity is limited to the time of the Apostles.
5. There are certain things that the Holy Spirit continues to do today in the lives of Christians.
6. In this lesson we will explore the activity of the Holy Spirit in the event of conversion.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE CONVERSION
A. The Spirit convicts the world (John 16:8)
1. Jesus Christ is our “Advocate” our “Helper” before the Father and he makes intercession for us as our mediator (1 John 2:1).
2. Before his death, Jesus promised his Apostles that he would send “another Helper”—the Holy Spirit (John 14:16).
3. The term translated “Helper” here (paracletos) is a legal term that means “called to one’s aid; a legal assistant, advocate; one who intercedes” (cf. Morris, NICNT pg. 587).
4. The Holy Spirit acts as a defense attorney who argues our case before the Father.
5. Yet, the Holy Spirit also acts as a prosecuting attorney against the world—he “convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
6. The word “convict” here (elencho) carries the idea of making one’s sins known to him to make him feel a sense of personal guilt and correct his behavior (cf. cf. Matt. 18:15; Cottrell 293).
7. But exactly how does the Holy Spirit work on people who are in the world to convict them of their sin and persuade them to be converted?
B. The Spirit’s influence through the word
1. Prominent in mainstream religious thinking is the Calvinistic idea that the Holy Spirit directly plants faith and repentance upon an unbeliever’s heart through a process of selective and irresistible grace (Cottrell 294).
2. Bible teaching, however, affirms that God exerts the “drawing power” upon people by the teaching of the Spirit’s message of the gospel (John 6:44-45; John 12:32), and it is a message that people can choose to resist (Acts 7:51).
3. The main way that the Spirit convicts sinners to repent is by the inspired message of the Bible.
4. It is the gospel is the “power of God” to salvation (Rom. 1:16).
5. The Spirit operates upon the hearts of people by using his sword, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17).
6. Faith comes to a sinner by “hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
7. The Spirit convicts sinners in the world using the His message. “What the Word accomplishes, the Spirit accomplishes” (Cottrell 293).
C. The Spirit’s influence through providence
1. Sometimes the Holy Spirit may bring a sinner to faith and repentance through providential means.
2. The Holy Spirit is one and the same with God the Father and we know that God often uses his providence to confront people with the truth and encourage them to repent and believe (cf. John 7:17; Jer. 29:13; 2 Chron. 15:2).
3. Through his providence, God the Spirit may lead a person to cross paths with someone that can teach them the truth.
4. The Spirit may raise certain thoughts or memories to a person’s consciousness or soften the heart through natural disasters, world events, personal tragedy, sickness or loss.
5. We often pray for the lost of our own families and of the world with hopes that God would cause something to happen in their lives (providentially) that would make them receptive to obedience.
II. THE HOLY SPIRIT DURING CONVERSION
A. The Spirit regenerates the sinner’s heart (John 3:5; Titus 3:5)
1. Regarding true conversion, Jesus said that it is essential to be born of “water and the Spirit” in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
2. While it is true that conversion takes place when people are taught the Word of the God’s Spirit (Rom. 1:16), clearly Jesus teaches that the Spirit directly active during conversion insomuch as Jesus did not say be born of “water and the word.”
3. But exactly what does the Spirit of God do at the moment when one is born of the waters of baptism?
4. Is baptism merely the moment when an individual determines in his/her heart to be committed to living different? Surely this is partly right because true baptism must be preceded by true repentance in a person’s heart (cf. Acts 2:38; 2 Cor. 7:10).
5. But surely the “change of life” is not merely the sinner’s work else he would be responsible for “remaking” (and ultimately saving) himself.
6. Surely, the power of God’s Spirit is at work “remaking” our hearts at the point of true conversion.
B. The Spirit and forgiveness of sin (justification)
1. The Bible gives its own commentary on Jesus words in John 3:5 about being “born of water and the Spirit” in Titus 3:5.
2. In this passage, Paul makes clear that the sinner is not responsible for his own salvation “on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
3. There are two major aspects to our salvation, what some term “the double cure.”
4. We obviously need to have our sins forgiven (Rom. 3:23).
5. We are all guilty before the supreme Judge of the Universe with no hope of parole.
6. We must throw ourselves before the mercy of God’s court.
7. When we submissively give ourselves over to God in conversion, our sins are forgiven and we are “justified”—pronounced “not guilty” of our past lives of sin.
C. The Spirit and transformation of life (regeneration and renewal)
1. But there must be a radical change of life, otherwise, after being forgiven we would return to a lifestyle of immorality and sin.
2. Yet, no matter how bad we want to change we don’t seem to have the power in ourselves alone to stay committed to the new life.
3. Even the Apostle Paul expressed his own frustration over this fact, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:19).
4. We need help from above to give us the inner moral strength to have a permanent change of life.
5. Paul explains that we have help from the Holy Spirit during conversion, “by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
6. At baptism, we are “recreated” in that washing (our sins cleansed) and there is a “renovation” of our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit (our lives transformed).
III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AFTER CONVERSION
A. The indwelling of the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19)
1. At conversion, the Holy Spirit transforms our lives making our bodies a fit place for Him to dwell.
2. After the point of conversion, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:18-19).
3. No only does the Holy Spirit dwell within the church (1 Cor. 3:16), but according to this verse the Spirit dwells within the individual Christian also.
4. When we are converted and become children of God, God sends his Spirit to us, “…who sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Cor. 1:22; cf. Gal. 4:6).
B. The Spirit and moral strength (John 7:38; Rom. 8:9-13)
1. After conversion, the Holy Spirit dwells within the heart of a Christian.
2. The Spirit provides us help in having the moral strength to resist temptation and live righteous lives.
3. Jesus had promised this very thing, “’If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’’ But this He spoke of the Spirit…” (John 7:38).
4. The Apostle Paul gives even more discussion of the Spirit helping give moral strength to the Christian attempting to live a righteous life in Romans 8:9-13.
5. The Holy Spirit dwelling within the Christian helps him to “put to death the deeds of the body” and to live righteously.
6. This provides major help to the Christian in his struggle against sin and is one of the major blessings of the indwelling of the Spirit.
7. There are still other blessings of the Spirit’s indwelling that we will explore in the next lesson.
Conclusion:
A. The Holy Spirit is active before conversion convicting people in the world of their sin by his message and sometimes by acts of providence leading them to repent and believe.
B. The Holy Spirit is active during the conversion event renovated and regenerating a person’s heart.
C. The Holy Spirit is active after conversion dwelling within the convert’s heart helping him to resist sin and continue living the new sanctified life.
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