Conviction of Sin

I believe there's something missing in our church services today, friends, and this missing element is what's causing so many false conversions. Of which I speak is the missing conviction of sin. Many make a decision for Jesus today and join the church, but they sit upon a false foundation of carnal security because they've never been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit.

Preachers seldom preach a sermon with the intention of it bringing conviction of sin in their hearers. All most preachers do is tell funny stories and talk about the love of God and how easy it is accept Jesus as your personal savior and go to heaven. So many folks walk an aisle and repeat a simple prayer and then they're told by the pastor of the church they are now Christians.

But a fear, there are many unconverted church members today who've never experienced a true work of grace in their heart because they've never been convicted of sin by the Spirit of God. So they join the church, but they remain unchanged. They still sin as much as they want to and see nothing wrong with it.

They live for this world and its pleasures and they use religion as a means to gain heaven so they won't have to end up in hell. I place most the blame on the pulpits in the land. How in the world can someone be pointed savingly to Christ by the meager messages of an encouraging word that most pastors spoon-feed their people? I say their people because many have made their own converts.

I remember listening to a evangelist tell the following story. He said he was sitting in first class on an airplane and back in coach was a drunk who kept yelling out his name the whole time of the flight, disturbing everybody, yelling, Hey Dr. So-and-so, I just love you preaching. Hey Dr. So-and-so, I was saved in one of your meetings.

Hey Dr. So-and-so, and he went on and on in his drunken stupor. Finally, the stewardesses convinced the evangelist to go back in the plane and shake hands with the drunk, which he did. He patted him on the shoulder and finally acknowledged him.

When the evangelist went back to his seat in first class, he commented to his traveling pastor buddy, Oh, he's just one of my converts. I believe, friends, that so few are being saved in our churches today because the gospel is so watered down to a mere simple plan of salvation that we preachers do not give the Holy Spirit room to operate conviction of sin on the sinner's heart. So we make our own converts and we send them on to hell.

But in former times, preachers took aim at sin. They preached up the fires of hell to awaken their hearers out of their slumber of being dead in sin. They thundered the law about the ears of their hearers until they saw Sinai altogether on a smoke and quaked and trembled before a holy God of majesty.

They made room for the Holy Spirit to work conviction upon the heart of the sinner so that person could repent of their sins and exercise faith in Jesus Christ. You see, friends, a person needs to get lost before they can be saved. They must first realize their sin problem that has separated them from God so they can be reconciled back to a holy God by exercising repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Charles Finney often used an illustration which demonstrates this principle clearly. Finney explained that a soul winner has to faithfully present the Word of God so the Spirit of God can operate on a person's heart in conviction of sin. Finney used the illustration of the old gristmill that operated by the force of water upon two millstones that rotated in opposite directions to the other.

There was the top stone and the bottom stone and these two millstones are laid one atop the other and as they turn they grind the wheat into flour. Finney said the bottom stone was the law of God written on the heart of man which is his conscience. The top stone is the preach law of God thundered about the ears of the hearer and when this occurs then the Holy Spirit can operate by grinding upon the heart conviction of sin.

And our main problem today friends and with much of our preaching is that we just don't give the Holy Spirit room to operate on a poor sinner's heart. So the missing element in our churches today and in our evangelistic efforts is the lack of conviction of sin and that's the title of my message this morning a conviction of sin and my text can be found in the in chapter 16. You can turn in your bibles there now.

We will be in verses 7 through 11. When I study revival I see a common denominator which runs throughout all historical revivals and that there is a great conviction of sin upon the people as they sit beneath search and sermons by faithful preachers of the word of God. The topic of sin is not shunned but dealt with.

The punishment for sin is dealt with. These preachers of former days were not afraid to call sin black and hell hot and warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come. Let me now read us our passage today friends from John's gospel on Christ as he comforts his disciples with the following words.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they believe not on me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Listen friends the office of the holy spirit is to reprove. Reprove is a law term and it speaks of a judge and summon up the evidence by putting it in a true light and the word conviction is a legal term in a court of law the offender is convicted when he's been found guilty of his crimes and man is a guilty rebel who's broken the law of God through sin he stands guilty as charged and the sentencing of the law must be carried out in the punishment of sin in an awful place of misery and torment called hell but when the spirit of God performs its divine operation upon the human heart in conviction of sin then the sinner realizes he stands guilty before God and he has no excuse for he deserves hell he's at the mercy of the court he shut up to God and God alone he becomes a beggar for mercy in seeking God he sees his need of a sin substitute and the person of Jesus Christ where we fail in our preaching today friends and our gospel witnessing is the omission of preaching up the strictness and severity of God's holy law that each person will one day be held up against the strictness of that law and one must be perfect to pass that test to get into heaven a man will fail that test because a man is a sinner who's broken the law of God and the sentencing of the law must be carried out by just judge who's holy and who hates sin in Romans God declares the wretched condition of all mankind let me read it to you from Romans chapter 3 beginning in verse 10 as it is written there is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one their throat is an open subpulture with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the law there should be no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin did you hear that friends by the law is the knowledge of sin if we preachers fail to preach up the demands of the strictness and severity of God's law toward mankind then how can people find Christ savingly when they do not see themselves as guilty rebels who deserve punishment for sin when the Holy Spirit comes in conviction of sin then that person is silent as he stands before the judge because his mouth is stopped because he knows he's guilty as charged conviction is God's way of showing a sinner their own heart and when you see your own heart friend you see a terrible traitor within for sin is a crime committed against the sovereign and all crimes must be punished the sentencing of the law must be carried out by that just judge for shall not the judge of all the earth do right when the Holy Spirit works conviction upon the human heart he turns sinners into seekers it is then that a person realizes his or her great need of a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ who is the remedy for sin we cannot stand in our own merits against God's holy law for if we do we'll surely fail that test God demands perfection to heaven and no one is perfect all are guilty all stand condemned listen friend i know i'm a sinner and i need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ and so do you friend so do you i remember Donald Gray Barnhouse making a comment he said the best definition of sin was found in Isaiah 53 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way Barnhouse said the shortest definition of sin is this it's going our way when we know it isn't God's way when the Chinese evangelist John Song used to preach he often held a small bell in his hand and rang it furiously to demonstrate the Holy Spirit bringing conviction of sin upon a person by ringing the bell of their conscience but with our preaching today friends we fell miserably to allow the Holy Spirit room to operate on a poor sinner's heart in conviction of sin i believe there are great many today who've joined our evangelical churches and serve in some capacity perhaps by singing in the choir or serving on a deacon committee deacon committee or maybe teaching a Sunday school but they've never been awakened to their lost condition they've never been convicted of sin and brought to Christ savingly through repentance of sin Jesus declared except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish and that means you friend even if you are the chairman of the deacons this i believe is the main reason why the church today is so full of unconverted individuals who've never turned from sin to the substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ listen friends Jesus came to save his people from their sins from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin it's a double cure but many today just want a free ticket to heaven and they still want to hug their sins but Jesus never preached a sin in religion you see when a person is truly saved something happens a self is dethroned and another is enthroned there the Lord Jesus Christ you must comply with all the rights and claims that the gospel has on your life friend if you sit and rule on the throne of your life by self-government then God's law is overthrown but you can't overthrow God friend we all stand guilty before him as sinners who've transgressed his holy law and we see this when the Holy Spirit reveals us to us through the conviction of sin we then see our sins for what they are black ugly wretched sins but often our pride keeps us from repentance from sin i was having lunch with the pastor years ago he was a older saint who'd read one of my books on revival and he called me up one day and invited me to lunch i couldn't turn down a free lunch so i met with this dear brother all he wanted to talk about was revival and would i be willing to help him have revival come to his church i finally looked him in the eye and said if you really want revival to come to your church then you must repent of your sins he looked at me kind of funny and asked for the check lunch was over i thought i'd offended him and i'd never hear from him again but the next week he called me up said he wanted me to meet with two of his pastor buddies and would i meet the three of them at the restaurant again for lunch well i had another free lunch and to make a long story short these pastors asked me to pray with them on a regular basis for revival we met on a regular basis each month and prayed desperately for god to come in revival i'll never forget what happened we always put our chairs in a circle when we prayed and one day this older pastor who i said that he must repent of his sins well he just stood up while we were praying and then slumped down to the floor on his face like he was a dead man then he got up on his knees lifted his hands and arms above his head looked heavenward and cried out with a loud voice oh god i want revival to come to my church please forgive me for my dirty rotten sins let revival begin with me now that man started to preach conviction of sin and that's the step brother preacher to seeing a real work of grace in your church you see friend a conviction of sin is when an individual takes side with god against himself he sees his sins for what they are and he pleads guilty as charged a good biblical example of this can be found in the book of in chapter 21 and verse 7 let me read it to you now therefore the people came to moses and said we have sinned for we have spoken against the lord and against thee pray unto the lord that he take away the serpents from us and moses prayed for the people well friends i hope this little exercise today on the doctrine of conviction of sin has helped us to be better soul winners as we reach this world as we preach to this hell-bent generation with the gospel of the son of god i hope somebody will change the way they preach because they heard this message i hope somebody will get saved because we made room for the holy spirit to bring conviction of sin