Sermon Illustrations on Conviction of Sin — page 4

Self-righteousness

Self-righteousness is counterfeit and rejected by God, revealed as worthless by the Spirit.

The man upon whom there is found a bad coin is very earnest in declaring that it is none of his; somebody must have slipped it into his pocket. He will not own it. A little while ago he thought to himself, "What a splendid imitation it is! How well I have cheated the Queen!" Self-righteousness is nothing but a piece of counterfeit coin; and when all goes well with us, we say, "How well I have done it! How splendid is my righteousness!" But when the Spirit of God arrests us, then we are anxious to get rid of the very thing wherein we gloried. What was our righteousness we reckon to be as filthy rags—and we reckon according to truth.

Sinful delay

Deliberate delay in obedience hardens conscience and excuses disobedience to known duties.

To refuse to do right is a great evil, but to continue in that refusal till conscience grows numb upon the matter is still worse. I remember a person coming to be baptized who said he had been a believer in the Lord Jesus for forty years, and that he had always seen the ordinance to be Scriptural. I felt grieved that he had been so long disobedient to a known duty, and I proposed to him that he should be baptized at once. It was in a village, and he said that there were no conveniences. I offered to go with him to the brook, and baptize him, but he said "No, he that believeth shall not make haste." Here was one who had wilfully disobeyed his Lord, for as many years as the Israelites were in the wilderness, upon a matter so easy of performance; and yet, after confessing his fault, he was not willing to mend it, but perverted a passage of Scripture to excuse him in further delay.

Badness In Boys

Children's 'badness' often stems from undeveloped morality, not deliberate sinfulness.

“He is a bad boy” may mean so many things. In the eyes of some teachers a boy is “bad” if he talks repeatedly to his neighbor. The boy who has a fight with another boy is “bad.” The boy who does not study his lessons is “bad.” The boy who goes to a moving-picture show is “bad.” The boy who throws ink across the room is “bad.” The boy who “answers back” is “bad.” The boy who rifles the teacher’s desk is “bad.” The boy who disobeys school rules is “bad.” “Give a dog a bad name and hang him” should now read, “Give a boy a bad name and ruin him.”

All school types of “badness” need classification. Many of them under careful classification would no longer be considered “bad.” A boy’s wrong acts are often due not so much to deliberate choosing of wrong after he knows right, but to the lack of any sense of right or wrong. Children’s so-called “badness” is due to unmorality oftener than to immorality. Until a boy’s moral nature has been roused and developed, it is absurd to think that one can find the basis of appeal in theoretic ethics or right for right’s sake. Who is to blame when blind, unquestioning obedience to short-sighted, arbitrary school rules is made the basis of a child’s conduct and reputation?

When children go through school learning nothing except what can be given to hundreds simultaneously, in classes so large that undue emphasis is laid upon order and quiet, who is to blame if the majority leave school with morals that alarm those interested? Go through the list of “bad boys” in your school or your town. Classify their offenses. Is immorality or unmorality responsible? If the latter, what share of the blame for this condition belongs to the school? Why consider a boy hopeless or degenerate because he commits a moral offense? Do we consider him intellectually hopeless or defective because of his errors in spelling or arithmetic?--JULIA RICHMAN, “Proceedings of the National Education Association,” 1909.

Cleansing, Difficulty Of

Mechanical cleansing cannot remove all impurities, illustrating sin's stubbornness.

It is impossible for the guilty soul to emancipate itself from the consciousness of sin. Dr. Seedham-Green, in his work on “The Sterilization of the Hands,” proves the absolute impossibility of cleansing the hands from bacteria:

Simple washing with soap and hot water, with use of sand or marble dust, however energetically done, does not materially diminish the number of microbes; the mechanical purification is practically useless. Turpentine, benzoline, xylol, alcoholic disinfection, and various antiseptics equally fail to render the hands surgically clean. (Text.)

Conviction

Conviction can burn out and leave the heart hardened against future spiritual awakening.

Alexander McLaren says:

I once heard that if you take a bit of phosphorus and put it upon a slip of wood and ignite the phosphorus, bright as the blaze is, there drops from it a white ash that coats the wood, and makes it almost impossible to kindle the wood. And so, when the flaming conviction laid upon your heart has burnt itself out, it has coated the heart, and it will be very difficult to kindle the light there again.

Conviction Through A Monkey

A trained monkey's reaction was used as unusual evidence to convict murderers.

The Boston _Herald_ is the authority for this story from Baton Rouge, La.:

Because their conviction for murder was based almost entirely on the animosity displayed against them by a trained monkey, Christopher Starr and his wife, Mamie, circus performers, are serving life sentences in State prison.

A movement has been started to obtain a new trial for them. During the circus season, James Ackerman, proprietor of a one-ring circus, was murdered while his show was playing at Devall’s Landing, La.

Mr. and Mrs. Starr, who had had a troupe of trained animals with the show, were arrested soon afterward, but there was little evidence against them, and they would have been released but for the actions of Scamp, a pet Himalayan ape, belonging to Mr. Ackerman.

Ackerman had been feeding the ape when he was slain, and when the animal, which was the only living witness of the crime, saw Starr, he flew into a terrible rage.

This action was repeated whenever Starr appeared, despite the fact that he formerly had been a friend of Scamp, and it was repeated when Mrs. Starr was seen.

The monkey’s actions caused husband and wife to be indicted, and when placed on trial the monkey was brought into court, and so imprest the jury that, altho the evidence was not over-strong, they were found guilty.

Conviction, Unyielding

One juror's firm conviction prevented a wrongful verdict in a civil trial.

Lord Lyndhurst told a curious anecdote about a trial of a civil cause in which the jury would not agree on their verdict. They retired on the evening of one day, and remained till one o’clock the next afternoon, when, being still disagreed, a juror was drawn. There was only one juror who held out against the rest--Mr. Berkeley (M.P. for Bristol). The case was tried over again, and the jury were unanimously of Mr. Berkeley’s opinion, which was, in fact, right--a piece of conscientious obstinacy which prevented the legal commission of a wrong. (Text.)--GREVILLE’S “Memoirs.”

Convictions, Strong

Strong convictions and perseverance led to the conviction of corrupt men in New York.

Many years ago in the city of New York there was an organized set of dishonest men known as the Tweed Ring. They stole $51,000,000 from the State and city, and everybody knew it. When they told Tweed that he was under arrest, he dared to say, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” There was a merchant in New York named William Sloane. They put him on the Grand Jury. Because of his large business interests and the tremendous demands upon his time, he said, “I can not serve.” But earnest men said, “Here is the bulwark of sin and here is the need of righteousness.” Immediately he said, “I will serve.” Now, certain men on the jury had been bought up by Tweed. One man in particular stood out. For twenty-three hours that jury sat in council. They could not come to an agreement; this one man would not yield. Finally, Mr. Sloane put his hand on this man’s shoulder and said: “Do you know, sir, that the people whom we represent know the character of this man on trial? They know that we have explicit, convincing evidence against him. And do you know that I will stay here until I die before I will go out and say that this jury does not agree?” The man yielded, Tweed was convicted, sentenced and committed to jail.

There has never been a time in the history of our own land or in the history of Christendom when men standing for righteousness and truth have not accomplished something. It may sometimes mean their death. (Text.)

Experience

A boy’s father’s knowledge of his actions shows the power of experience in understanding behavior.

“I guess my father must have been a pretty bad boy,” said one youngster.

“Why?” inquired the other.

“Because he knows exactly what questions to ask when he wants to know what I have been doing.” (Text.)

Object-Teaching

Seeing sin's effects plainly can convict and motivate men to abandon evil habits.

Many men could be brought to abandon their evil habits if they could have them as plainly pictured as the man did in the following incident:

A rich profligate kept two monkeys for his amusement. Once he peeped into his dining hall where he and his friends had been enjoying themselves in wine, and found his pets mimicking the recent party. They mounted the table, helped themselves to the wine, and gestured and jabbered as they had seen their master and his guests doing. Soon they got merry and jumped all about the room. Then they got to fighting on the floor and tearing each other’s hair. The master stood in amazement. “What,” he said, “is this a picture of me? Do even the brutes rebuke me?” Ever afterward he was a sober man.

Profanity In Former Times

Swearing was once common even among respectable society, showing cultural sin tolerance.

Swearing in the drawing-room and in the “best society” was no uncommon thing ninety years ago. Even the ladies themselves not rarely indulged in it. Dean Ramsey tells an anecdote that well illustrates how it was regarded. A sister was speaking of her brother as much addicted to the habit, and she said, “Our John swears awfu’, and we try to correct him for it; but,” she added, apologetically, “nae doubt it is a great set-off to conversation.”--MINOT J. SAVAGE, _The Arena_.

Self-Depreciation

Low self-estimate in public can cause others to distrust you more than high self-esteem.

When Deacon Hotchkiss bought Brother Bemis’ yearling heifer he demanded a guarantee of the animal’s condition, and he asked Brother Bemis to swear to that guarantee before the justice of peace. Brother Bemis was hurt by this unusual precaution on the part of a lifelong friend and neighbor. “Why, Brother Hotchkiss,” he remonstrated, “you ain’t no need to be so pesky s’picious with me. I ain’t never cheated you, hev I? You wa’nt like this never before.” “I wa’nt--I wa’nt,” assented Brother Hotchkiss cordially, “but I hearn you t’other night when you wuz on the anxious seat at revival meetin’ and I sez to myself, sez I, ‘if Brother Bemis is half the sinner he makes himself out to be, it behooves me to be everlastin’ keerful with him next caow trade.’” Which goes to show that a man is more likely to be taken at his own estimate of himself when he puts that estimate low than when he puts it high; and that it is not overwise in a man to make estimate of himself in time of excitement and a place of publicity. (Text.)--_Puck._

Shame

Confronting our sins publicly can bring deep shame and prompt repentance.

If our deeds were all to be put on a canvas for men to see, should we be as much ashamed of some as them, as the man in this anecdote?

There was once a rich landlord who cruelly opprest a poor widow. Her son, then a little boy of eight years, witnessed it. He became a great painter, and painted a likeness of the dark scene. Years afterward he placed it where the cruel man saw it. He recognized himself in the shameful picture, turned pale, trembled in every joint, and offered a large sum to purchase it that he might put it out of sight. (Text.)

— LOUIS ALBERT BANKS

Sin-Consciousness

True humility includes praying for one’s own sins even when others are present.

The Rev. James Guthrie, one of the Scottish Covenanters, had a man-servant who was much humbled and perplexed by hearing his master pray regularly in family worship for one who was present that his sins might be forgiven. There were few, of course, in the household circle, and the man naturally thought that it was he who was prayed for. After Mr. Guthrie had one night been especially fervent in supplication for this person present, the man could bear it no longer and spoke to his master, wishing to know wherein he had come short. Judge of the astonishment of both when Mr. Guthrie said it was himself he had been praying for.

Sin, Sense Of

A true sense of sin leads to genuine repentance and lasting conviction.

It is popular in some quarters to pooh-pooh, the sense of sin, or to smile away the seriousness of sin.

Alfred de Musset, when he was young (the same fact is told of Merimee), once, being very much scolded for a childish freak, went away in tears, deeply penitent, when he heard his parents say, after the door was shut: “Poor boy, he thinks himself quite a criminal!” The thought that his misdeed was not so very serious, and that his repentance was mere childishness, wounded him deeply, and the impression remained engraved on his memory forever. (Text.)

Theology Shaped By Experience

Acts 2:37

Personal experiences shape theological understanding and urgency in evangelism.

The influence on John Wesley’s theology of an escape as a child from a burning dwelling is thus described by Rev. W. H. Fitchett:

His theology translated itself into the terms of that night scene. The burning house was the symbol of a perishing world. Each human soul, in Wesley’s thought, was represented by that fire-girt child, with the flames of sin, and of that divine and eternal anger which unrepenting sin kindles, closing round it. He who had been plucked from the burning house at midnight must pluck men from the flames of a more dreadful fire. That remembered peril colored Wesley’s imagination to his dying day.--“Wesley and His Century.”

What Bothered Mark Twain

Mark Twain once said, "Most people are bothered by those passages which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."

Quote

"From the body of one guilty deed a thousand ghostly gears and haunting thoughts proceed."

- William Wordsworth

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 151.

When Did You Experience Lostness?

John 16:8

On several occasions at Camp Zion, Bro. Paul Ragland asked this question before he would preach. Every time he would ask it, I would be bothered spiritually because I had never experienced lostness.

The word “lost” means to be separated from God and under His condemnation. This is the condition of every non-believer who has reached the “knowledge of accountability,” that point in life where a person is responsible for his own sin. Many refer to this as the “age of accountability” and try to say that when a person reaches a certain age they are accountable.

A person is not accountable based on age but on a time in their life when they have knowledge between good and evil. The only scripture that makes this clear is Deut. 1:39, “Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey [taken captive], and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.” This verse refers to those Israelites who were under 20 years of age at Kadesh-Barnea who were not sentenced to death when they refused to enter Canaan. (Num. 14:26-35)

Notice, “they had no knowledge between good and evil,” not right and wrong as many say [Holwick: the NIV translates it “good and bad”]. There is a difference between good and evil and right and wrong. Children can and should know the difference between right and wrong as young as one year old, yet, they have not knowledge of good and evil at that age because they can only think “concrete” not “abstract” until they are about six or seven years of age or possibly older. “Concrete” means “tangible” or capable of being touched. God is “abstract,” a Spirit, not capable of being physically touched. Faith is also abstract. Therefore until a child is capable to think in abstract terms they are not able to be saved and have not reached the “knowledge of accountability.” In this condition they are “safe” and will go to heaven if they die as 2 Sam. 12:23 indicates.

The word “knowledge” means to have some understanding about good and evil. “Good” refers to God and “evil” to the devil. Therefore, for one to be saved he must have some understanding about God, not just mimic or repeat what he has heard as a child. Those who make a profession at a young age usually repeat what they have heard and they have no real knowledge or understanding of good and evil. (By the way, the tree Adam was forbidden to eat of was the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil” not a tree of “the knowledge of right and wrong.”)

At the point one reaches the knowledge of accountability he is “lost” and may not even recognize that fact. It is not enough to be lost or even recognize that you are lost because to be saved you must experience “lostness.” Many have come to the conclusion that they are lost because they have reasoned out and concluded from scripture that they are not saved. This is only mental ascent to one’s condition which is not enough to produce real salvation.

Godly sorrow or Holy Ghost conviction must have a complete work before one will repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord (2 Cor. 7:10). Repentance is necessary to be saved. Romans 10:13, states, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” and 1 Cor. 12:3 states, “No man can call Jesus, Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” This takes a completed work of reproval or Holy Ghost conviction in three areas: sin, righteousness, and judgment as John 16:8-11 bears out.

When Godly sorrow has its complete work there will be more than the revelation of the fact that you are not saved thus concluding you are lost. There will be the reality of being lost as you realize you are separated from God in your sin of unbelief, and are in need of the Lord to control your life.

Many who say they are saved have never experienced “lostness;” therefore, they cannot tell you a time and place where they were saved because they really are not saved. Some were bothered and made a profession to get the pressure off them but they have never experienced lostness; therefore, they are not saved. Others prayed a prayer or did what some well meaning preacher or personal worker told them to do, but they have never experienced lostness. Therefore, they are not saved. Oh how sad it will be for those who one day will be cast in the lake of fire, because they mimicked and repeated words they were told to say before they ever reached the knowledge of accountability and hung on to that profession when they were void of knowledge of good and evil and did not experience lostness.

When did you experience lostness? I did not ask when you were saved! If you have ever experienced lostness you will never forget it and that Godly sorrow that produced the experience of lostness in you will have its finished work. But if you have never experienced lostness then you are not saved. 2 Cor. 13:5 states, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

THE PERSUADER

June-July, 1995

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #6578]

Killer Barbies: What Are We Really Afraid Of?

Leviticus 26

In case you haven’t heard, our children are in danger of dying of cancer from chewing their vinyl toys. At least, that’s what we’ve been told on ABC News. As with all such reports, Americans instantly reacted with fear even panic. But the whole story makes me wonder, are Americans really afraid of toys -- or something else?

ABC’s News Magazine 20/20 recently broadcast a report about a link between phthalates, a chemical used to soften plastic, and the appearance of kidney tumors in mice. The report -- which was put together with the assistance of the environmental group Greenpeace -- strongly suggested that children who suck on toys containing phthalates are risking their health. But it now appears that reports of deadly rubber duckies and Barbie dolls have been greatly exaggerated. Science writer Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute points out that while massive doses of phthalates did cause tumors in rodents, “other studies showed the chemical caused NO harmful [effects] in guinea pigs” and monkeys, or in human cells.

20/20 isn’t the only news outlet to run scary stories with little basis in fact. Not long ago, the U.N. estimated some 110 million landmines are buried around the world. Well, it turns out the 110 million estimate was a little bit off -- by about 100 million mines. A report from a Swiss foundation that clears landmines says the number is actually less than 2 million.

And then there are the population projections, terrifying us about famines, all of which have proven false. Killer Barbies? Landmines under every step? Why do so many Americans uncritically swallow such exaggerated and alarmist reports? Let me submit one possibility: Many moderns live with an inchoate sense of anxiety, even dread.

We can’t say why we feel this way, and we can’t point to anything we’ve done that would merit death from landmines or chemicals. Yet, the sense of unease is there. The endless gloom-and-doom reports, (remember the Alar and Radon scares?), reinforce this sense of dread. And where does it come from? I’m not a psychiatrist, but I wonder if it isn’t actually displaced guilt.

For all our noisy protestations, we know there’s something wrong with the way we’ve ordered our society. We know that if we were living as we ought to be living, men would not abandon their families, women would not line up in front of abortion clinics, and kids would not open fire in schoolyards. We see the consequences of our sin and folly, but we don’t admit the connection between cause and effect, at least not openly. We know we deserve God’s judgment, but instead of saying so, we look for punishment in all the wrong places. Stories of killer toys and poisoned apples feed our sense of guilt and impending doom. And this is precisely what God told us would happen. In Leviticus 26, He warns the Israelites that if they do not follow His commandments, they will live in such fear that they will flee even when no one is pursuing them.

Our irrational fears are the inevitable consequences of disobedience to God’s law. So when the next scary story comes out, examine the claims rationally and carefully. We don’t need to be bullied by groups peddling irrational fears. And ultimately, the most important thing is to teach our kids that the only healthy fear is fear of the Lord. That’s a fear that will save not only our Lives, but also our souls.

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Our Father

In a state of unbelief, a man in Providence, Rhode Island, began to pray. In this state it occurred to him that he could say the Lord's prayer. So he began, "Our Father which art in heaven." He said as soon as he uttered the words, he was convicted of his hypocrisy in calling God his Father. When he added the petition, "Hallowed be thy name," he said it almost shocked him. He saw that he was not sincere, that his words did not at all express the state of his mind. He did not care to have God's name hallowed. Then he uttered the next petition, "Thy kingdom come." Upon this, he said, he almost choked. He saw that he did not want the kingdom of God to come; that it was hypocritical of him to say so, and that he could not say it, as really expressing the sincere desire of his heart. And then came the petition, "Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." He said his heart rose up against that, and he could not say it. Here he was brought face to face with the will of God.

Brought by Friend

John 6:37

An evangelist tells the story of a certain unsaved man who came to hear him preach in a revival. This man’s best friend was converted one night and in his newfound joy he went to the unsaved man and said, “God has saved me and I am anxious about you. I am praying for you; I want to see you saved.” The unsaved man said, “I’m a grown man, I know what I am doing. I came to enjoy the sermon. If you bother me again I’ll never come back.”

A few nights later the new Christian came to his friend in the church and said, “I know you asked me not to speak to you again, but I am so burdened for your soul that I cannot find peace until you are saved.” The man flared up in anger and said, “I told you not to come to me again like this. Now I’ll never come back. I hope you are satisfied.” Then he walked quickly out of the church.

The unsaved man went home and went to bed, but he could not sleep. Conviction for sin seized him and brought tears to his eyes. “What a fool I am”’ he said, “my best friend loves me and wants to see me saved and I insulted him. Now no one else will come to me and I’ll go to hell.” The burden became so heavy that he got out of bed, fell upon his knees and cried out to God for forgiveness.

Of course God saved him, for did He not say, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”? (John 6:37)

The preacher had announced a sunrise prayer meeting at the church and when the janitor arrived at 5 A.M. he found this man waiting on the church steps, ready to make his unashamed confession of Christ as Lord and Saviour. Yes, God often calls through the voice and heart of a Christian.

________

Ford, SIMPLE SERMONS FOR A SINFUL AGE, 25

The False Peace of Sin

G.F. Pentecost told of a man in great distress who came to see him

at an evangelistic meeting. He was under deep conviction and was

frantic with the terror of a conscience that was continually

condemning him. He was also very angry with D.L. Moody who had

preached the week before, and with Pentecost himself. "I wish you and

Moody had never come to this city!" he shouted with a terrible oath.

"Before you came, I wasn't troubled about my sins. You talk of peace

and joy, but you have turned my soul into a living hell. I can't stay

away from the meetings, and to come to them only makes me worse. You

promise salvation, but all I find is torment. I wish you would leave,

then I'd get back my old peace."

How To Hide A Distasteful Fact

It is told that many years ago, while on a visit to England, a wealthy businessman was fascinated by a powerful microscope. Looking through its lens to study crystals and the petals of flowers, he was amazed at their beauty and detail. He declined to purchase a microscope and take it back home. He thoroughly enjoyed using it until one day he examined some food he was planning to eat for dinner. Much to his dismay, he discovered that tiny living creatures were crawling in it. Since he was especially fond of this particular food, he wondered what to do. Finally, he concluded that there was only one way out of his dilemma - he would destroy the instrument that caused him to discover the distasteful fact. So he smashed the microscope to pieces!

“How foolish!” you say. But many people do the same with the Word of God. They hate it and would like to get rid of it because it reveals their nature.

Saved in the Shadow of the Cross

John 3:14

Submitted by:

Pastor Kevin Burden

In 1967 while taking a class in photography at the University of Cincinnati, I became acquainted with a young man named Charles Murray who also was a student at the school and training for the summer Olympics of 1968 as a high diver.

Charles was very patient with me as I would speak to him for hours about Jesus Christ and how He had saved me. Charles was not raised in a home that attended any kind of church, so all that I had to tell him was a fascination to him. He even began to ask questions about forgiveness of sin. Finally the day came that I put a question to him. I asked if he realized his own need of a redeemer and if he was ready to trust Christ as his own Savior. I saw his countenance fall and the guilt in his face. But his reply was a strong "no."

In the days that followed he was quiet and often I felt that he was avoiding me, until I got a phone call and it was Charles. He wanted to know where to look in the New Testament for some verses that I had given him about salvation. I gave him the reference to several passages and asked if I could meet with him. He declined my offer and thanked me for the Scripture. I could tell that he was greatly troubled, but I did not know where he was or how to help him.

Because he was training for the Olympic games, Charles had special privileges at the University pool facilities. Some time between 10:30 and 11:00 that evening he decided to go swim and practice a few dives. It was a clear night in October and the moon was big and bright. The University pool was housed under a ceiling of glass panes so the moon shone bright across the top of the wall in the pool area.

Charles climbed to the highest platform to take his first dive. At that moment the Spirit of God began to convict him of his sins. All the Scripture he had read, all the occasions of witnessing to him about Christ flooded his mind. He stood on the platform backwards to make his dive, spread his arms to gather his balance, looked up to the wall and saw his own shadow caused by the light of the moon. It was the shape of a cross. He could bear the burden of his sin no longer. His heart broke and he sat down on the platform and asked God to forgive him and save him. He trusted Jesus Christ twenty some feet in the air.

Suddenly, the lights in the pool area came on. The attendant had come in to check the pool. As Charles looked down from his platform he saw an empty pool which had been drained for repairs. He had almost plummeted to his death, but the cross had stopped him from disaster.

1 Corinthians 1:18 - "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God".

John Brown's Whipping

Mark 10:45

John Brown, the radical abolitionist, had strict rules for bringing up his children. Brown kept this list in his ledger:

For disobeying mother...................8 lashes

For unfaithfulness at work..............3 lashes

For telling a lie.......................8 lashes

One of his sons had a habit of daydreaming during his chores. Brown often showed this son the book and ordered him to reform his ways. Finally, he decided the boy’s “debits” outnumbered his “credits” and left him “bankrupt.” He took him into the barn for an “accounting.”

Brown took a beech switch and gave the boy a third of the lashes he was due. Then he stopped unexpectedly, took off his shirt, and bent down. He commanded his son to whip him. The terrified boy administered the whip softly. His father cried out, “Harder, harder, harder!” until he had received the rest of the strokes. Blood bubbled on the father’s back.

The boy could not understand why the innocent should suffer at the hands of the guilty. Then again, he had not read the collection of sermons by Jonathan Edwards that his father owned. John Brown, by having his son whip him, was not just making a parental point. He was expressing a Calvinistic conviction of sin.

________

Adapted from “John Brown: Abolitionist. The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights” by David S. Reynolds (New York: Random House, 2005), 43.

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[The previous illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

Is It Ok To Sell A Bible To a Prostitute?

John 8:1

"Pastor is it OK to sell a Bible to a prostitute?"

Laura is a member of a small church in a small town in central Brazil. She has sold Avon products for years in the town to supplement the family income. One of her weekly routes takes her through the red light district, and with those business contacts she often shares her faith in Jesus Christ.

One day after asking her pastor if it is Ok to sell Bibles to prostitutes she took a few Bibles with her on her Avon trips to the red light district.

God opened a door to present Bibles and Christian books in a house of prostitutes. Oddly enough, the house was located directly across the road from a large evangelical church. Ten of these women gathered around a table one afternoon as Laura shared with them the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. A few Bibles and some books containing testimonies of transformed lives were sold that afternoon.

Several months later there were terrible rains and floods in that part of Brazil, causing several deaths. With the floods came mudslides in communities that had been inundated by the rising rivers. Two prostitutes who had attended the book demonstration earlier that year talked about the danger and decided to read the Bible they had purchased. Perhaps thinking the book to be like an Agatha Christie mystery novel, they started with Revelation in order to find the conclusion of the story. What they read terrified them.

They read with dismay Revelation 21:7-8: "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, and the sexually immoral, the idolaters and all liars -- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

The gal who owned the Bible became alarmed and exclaimed, "We're lost! We're lost!" Her housemate replied, "No, you're lost. I'm not lost because I do penance every day." Still alarmed and concerned, they continued to read.

A few days later Laura visited her Avon customers. These two women literally pulled her off the street and shoved the Bible into her hands. "Read this part right there! Tell us what it means!" they ordered. Laura read the verses and responded, "It means that when you practice and live in one of these sins, you will not be permitted to enter heaven." Again, the owner of the Bible cried, "We're lost! We're lost! I told you we were lost!" Her friend again assured her, "No, you're lost. I'm not lost because I repent every day."

"Repentance," Laura explained, "is when you confess your wrong and completely turn around. You do not repent. Repenting is turning from your sin. You only feel guilty for your sins." Again, the prostitute shouted even louder, "We are lost! We're lost!" After sharing the plan of salvation and trying to pray with them, Laura returned home planning to visit again. One week passed by and she made her way down the muddy and rutted dirt streets of that little suburb. On arriving at the home of the two prostitutes, she was handed a note by the one who had been so assured of her false repentance.

Laura,

Enclosed is the money I owe. Thank you so much for help. After

your visit last week, I returned to my hometown and am living

with my parents. On Sunday I attended an evangelical church and

gave my heart to the Lord Jesus. If ever I visit your city

again, it will only be to attend your church. Jesus has made me

a different person.

Maria Isabel

We can never estimate the power of God's Spirit working through His Word to convict, regenerate and transform lives in Jesus Christ.

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This amazing true story of the power of God's Word comes from Richard Jacobsen, "A Miracle in Ipatinga," American Bible Society Record, (April 1988, Vol. 134, No. 4.), pp. 12-14. It was adapted by Rev. Wil Pounds in sermon "Neither Do I Condemn You," #6554 in Holwick sermon database.

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Escape From Memory: Would the Cost Be Too Great?

Job 18:17

Last year, the film ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND asked an intriguing question: If you could get rid of bad memories, would it be a good idea? The two lead characters in the film undergo a medical procedure to help them forget their painful relationship. But as one of them discovers, losing your memories, even the bad ones, means losing an important part of who you are.

Recent scientific developments have given the movie new relevance. A drug called propranolol is being tested as a remedy for post-traumatic stress disorder. As the Washington Post explains, the drug “blocks the action of stress hormones that etch memories in the brain. The results suggest drugs may be able to prevent traumatic memories from being stored with such disturbing intensity in the first place, or perhaps deaden effects of old memories.”

So patients undergoing this treatment don't actually lose their bad memories — though some scientists are hoping that one day even this will be possible. Instead, patients simply remember their trauma in a more detached way, with less emotion. But “the ability to manipulate memory,” as the Post calls it, raises a whole new set of problems.

For one thing, criminals could use this drug to dull memories of their crimes. If one's memory keeps dredging up guilt feelings, why not just pop a pill to make them go away? Even if that deadening of conscience didn't lead to more crimes — and I think it surely would — it would prevent criminals (and every other kind of sinner) from feeling convicted of sin.

And it's not just conscience that could be drowned out. Neurobiologist James McGaugh, who strongly favors this research, nevertheless admits, “There is a chance that another memory could be affected. If the person gets a call and learns that they have a new grandchild ... they might not have quite as strong an experience of that news.”

And it's not just our own joys and sorrows that could be muted; such a treatment could also rob us of the ability to empathize. As the President's Council on Bioethics put it, “The memory of being embarrassed is a source of empathy for others who suffer embarrassment; the memory of losing a loved one is a source of empathy for those who experience a similar loss.”

The Council even suggested that dulling memories could lead us to repeat, or at least trivialize, the mistakes of the past: “Consider the case of a person who has suffered or witnessed atrocities that occasion unbearable memories: for example, those with firsthand experience of the Holocaust. The life of that individual might well be served by dulling such bitter memories, but ... would the [life of the] community as a whole — would the human race — be served by such a mass numbing of this terrible but indispensable memory?”

It seems the character in ETERNAL SUNSHINE was right to fear losing his memories. Our memories not only help each of us to shape our identity; they also help shape the world we live in. Dulling the pain of bad memories, as tempting as that seems, is a bad idea, no matter what the scientists tell us, for it would leave the world a poorer and harsher place.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• Rob Stein, “Is Every Memory Worth Keeping?“ Washington Post, 19 October 2004.

• Catherine Dupree, “Cushioning Hard Memories,” Harvard Magazine 106, no. 6 (July-August 2004).

• Jeanie Lerche Davis, “Forget Something? We Wish We Could,” WebMD, 9 April 2004.

• Robin Marantz Henig, “The Quest to Forget,” New York Times, 4 April 2004. (Reprinted by http://plaza.snu.ac.kr/~premed.)

• James M. Pethokoukis, “The science behind the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” U.S. News and World Report, 23 March 2004.

• “Happy Souls,” chapter 5 in Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, The President's Councils on Bioethics, October 2003.

• Peter Doskoch, “Can Beta Blockers Prevent PTSD? A First Look,” NeuroPsychiatry Reviews 3, no. 2 (March 2002).

• Scott LaFee, “Blanks for the memories,” San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 February 2005. (Reprinted by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics.)

• Steven Johnson, “The Science of Eternal Sunshine,” Slate,22 March 2004.

• Jeffrey Overstreet, review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Christianity Today, 19 March 2004.

• Peter T. Chattaway, “Forget Me Not: Movies and Memory,” Books & Culture, January/February 2005.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #27054]

Conviction vs. Condemnation

John 16:8

Have you ever had a conversation in which the person listening to you thought you were saying the opposite of what you were actually saying? I often think back on one such conversation that took place some years ago in Chicago. I was talking with a man who had been tragically mistreated, who had suffered in ways unfamiliar to anyone I had ever known. He had been sinned against, but he had also done his share of sinning against others, and had been through the Cook County criminal justice system more than once. Now he was trying to understand his life through God's eyes.

I was talking with him about the conviction of sin, how when we recognize what we've done wrong we can bring it to the Cross and be forgiven. He listened in honest confusion, not at all able to comprehend what I was saying. Finally he asked, innocently, “Why do you keep talking about conviction as a good thing?”

I'm so glad that he voiced his question because suddenly his confusion made complete sense. As someone who has lived in Christian circles for years, when I use the word “conviction,” I refer to the work of the Holy Spirit, the recognition in my heart that something is injuring my soul, and that therefore I should turn from it. When he heard the word “conviction,” it conjured the idea that his sins had once more found him out, and that he would be suffering the consequences for them; there would be one more blot on his record.

Once I understood the misunderstanding, I did my best to clear it up. I explained to him the difference between conviction and condemnation. Although the words are very similar and often interchangeable, when they are used in a spiritual sense, the difference between them is vital. Condemnation carries with it the idea that whatever has been condemned is beyond hope. Just as a condemned building is doomed to be demolished, a condemned person's fate is sealed. There is no longer hope of redemption or rehabilitation. They will get the punishment that they deserve.

But conviction does not necessarily imply condemnation. It means that guilt has been recognized and confirmed. Still, a person who is convicted could receive a light sentence, or no sentence at all. If we have been personally convicted of something, it means that our hearts have agreed with God about something. And if we understand the depth of his mercy towards us, we recognize that because Jesus bore our condemnation for us, God will not be condemning us for that of which we've been convicted. Recognition of our sin is an opportunity to turn from what would harm us, just as we would spit out food that we learned was poisoned.

Although many Christians may not confuse the words for conviction and condemnation, we often mistake conviction for condemnation when we experience it. The Holy Spirit is a gift to us. When God makes us aware of our sin, He does not do it to discourage us or damage our hope. But this is what happens when we listen to the condemning words of our adversary. “You always knew you weren't worthy of God's love,” he says. “You've failed again. Why do you even try?”

This is not something that God would ever say to us. We cannot forget the astounding truth that God is for us. Romans 8 is a single chapter of a deeply theological book, but it contains truth to counter almost any arrow of guilt the enemy throws at us. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” we read. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (The “all things” that Paul writes about includes our repeated failures.) “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

The next time the Holy Spirit pricks at your heart with conviction, don't confuse it for the destructive stab of condemnation. Remind yourself that God is for you, not against you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. The presence of conviction is evidence that God is active in your life. Let it not drive us away from Him, but into his arms.

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Daring To Speak

Mark 15:34

Some time ago I found myself speaking at a church in Shrewsbury, the birth place of Charles Darwin. At the end of the message a visitor came up to me. “I have a question that no one has been able to answer to my satisfaction,” he said. “What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Some questions take you by surprise, and this was certainly not what I was expecting. I began to explain what was happening on the Cross, and as I came to explain that Jesus had actually become sin for us and a curse for us in order to satisfy God and win our pardon, the man broke down into tears. “Would you like for me to pray with you so that you might receive Christ and follow him?” I enquired. “Of course,” came his immediate reply! It was a joy to pray with him, and as I left I couldn’t help but remember that it is the Holy Spirit “who convicts as to sin, righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8). I am sure that many people had given a proper answer to him before, but that day was the day when the veil was lifted from his eyes.

Whenever we think about sharing the gospel, two issues immediately present themselves. The first has to do with content: What is it that needs to be said? The second has to do with communication: How will I say it? Sometimes we also talk about motivation: Why should I say anything at all? The last question becomes increasingly relevant as more and more Christians fear that evangelism is not worth losing one’s friends. All of these issues are important. All of them must be addressed. For the words of the Great Commission are clear: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

However, there is one part of sharing the gospel that we rarely hear about. The command to go and make disciples was given to us by a person, by Christ himself; the gospel was not given to us based on our ability to share it. In fact, the Great Commission is sandwiched between two such reminders. BEFORE Jesus tells us to go, he says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (28:18). And then AFTER he tells us to go he powerfully reminds us, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (28:20). Thus, communicating the gospel is first about remembering the authority, power, and presence of the one who calls us to speak.

Not long ago I was across the globe speaking to almost 5,000 people, most of whom were not interested in what I had to say. This was because I had been asked to give a talk to one audience, but I was presented with a completely different context. About half of the audience was made up of children under twelve, which I was not at all expecting. The audience was completely disengaged with me. Twice I stopped the meeting to pray and ask for silence. I have never before felt so inadequate. In the end, I abandoned the message, read a large passage of Scripture, offered a call to repentance, and then closed in prayer. I came down from the podium wanting to hide my embarrassment. My head hung in defeat. But as I looked up, I found myself lost in a sea of over 1000 faces -- young and old -- many of whom were in tears as they came to pray at the altar.

If the gospel is about God, this shouldn’t surprise us. He is the one who calls and convicts; He is the one who pardons and makes all things new.

Maybe the questions we often ask about evangelism call for a shift in focus. Communicating the gospel as we go about our lives is a command that we have been given. But it is a command given by the one who longs most that the world will hear. It is He who speaks, He who convicts, He who makes disciples of broken lives. Our gospel has come to us not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. Thus, we do well to ask: Who is it we dare and yet long to speak of? How are we describing this God who is like no other? And most significantly, whom are we relying on to do so?

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Michael Ramsden is European director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in the United Kingdom.

Running From the Father

Luke 15:11

One night on a rampage, Howard Cadle pulled a gun on a man. He squeezed the trigger, but it wouldn’t fire. It was 8 o’clock -- the time his mother always prayed for him. Later, sick and penniless, he dragged himself home and said, “Mother, I’ve broken your heart. I’d like to be saved, but I’ve sinned too much.”

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” his mom read from Isaiah 1:18. He gave himself to Jesus Christ and became one of America’s first great radio evangelists.

Are you on a long winding road, leading you away from heaven, hope and happiness? Is someone praying for you right now?

Jesus told a story about a young man who rebelled against his father and stormed from home, taking his inheritance with him (Luke 15). He squandered his money on parties and prostitutes, and then found a job slopping hogs.

But eventually, Jesus said, the man came to his senses. Have you ever been hypnotized by the world, unable to think clearly, unwilling to feel and receive God’s love? Our young friend decided to return home, confess his foolishness, and become as a hired servant to his family.

Tired and dirty, the man limped home. Running to meet him was his waiting father who hugged his long-lost son, showering him with forgiving kisses.

Perhaps you’ve fallen into an ungodly lifestyle, and it seems such a long way back from the far country. But the heavenly Father is near at hand, beckoning you by His grace, and eager for your return. When you recognize you’re estranged from God by your own choices, that wonderful “coming to yourself” brings you back to the Father very quickly.

He not only welcomes us back home, but He comes searching for us when we’re gone. Luke 15 says that He looks for us like a father yearning for a missing son. He is a loving, searching, forgiving restoring God.

Sometimes we’ve painted God as someone who sits in heaven with a big stick, waiting to hit us when we do wrong. But God’s love has no limits, and His grace awaits each of us no matter what we’ve done. If you’ve been in the far country, I urge you to come home.

In 1850 while traveling in the West, a new Christian named John Vassar (who had given up his family fortune in beer to sell Christian literature) visited the home of a praying wife whose husband was an infidel. She begged for a Bible, which Vassar gave her. Coming home, her husband saw it and was enraged. Seizing the Bible with one hand and an ax with the other, he hurried to the chopping block and hacked it crosswise in two. He threw half of the destroyed Bible at his wife, saying, “As you claim a part of all the property around here, there is your share of this.”

The other half he tossed into his tool shed.

Months later on a wet winter’s day, the man retreated to his shed. In boredom he looked around for something to read. Thumbing through the mutilated Bible, his attention was caught by the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. He became absorbed in the parable only to discover that its ending belonged to his wife’s section.

He secretly searched the house, but finally broke down and asked for his wife’s part of the story, reading it again and again. In the process, he came to the heavenly Father like a penitent prodigal returning home.

God is so creative in His methods of bringing us to our senses and of bringing us to His Son! Even now, He is ordering the circumstances of your life to bring you back to Himself. He is waiting, looking, longing for you to return home.

The Lord is saying to you, “Come now, and let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). As we discover the warm embrace of our Savior’s arms, we realize afresh that there is no place like home.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #32331]

Observations of An Evangelist

Since February 1975, when God led me to establish the Jerry Drace Evangelistic Association, He has allowed me to preach in more than 1,000 churches across our nation. In His divine providence He has placed me in the company of some of His choicest servants as well as some who seek to be served. Throughout the past 31 years I have kept notes and observations on each of the pastors, staffs and churches where my team and I have been privileged to present the claims of Christ. I am sure some of these observations will be misunderstood, others will be embraced. I wish to share only 13 in hopes they will serve as a catalyst for your own reflections:

• I have observed the lowering of the standards of holiness from the pulpit to the pew. It appears we are seeking to develop happy churches, but not holy churches. One pastor stated that he wanted his people to leave the Sunday morning worship feeling “affirmed, approved and applauded”. Whatever happened to leaving feeling confronted, convicted, confessed and cleansed? Spurgeon put it in perspective years ago when he said, “Of all the griefs the church ever feels, the keenest is when those who once stood in her midst dishonor the name of Christ by unholy living.”

• I have observed the seductive fashions of the world being worn in the worship centers of our churches. Teenage girls and sometimes their mothers wear clothes to church they neither could wear to school nor in the workplace. The same applies to the male gender. We have developed such a laxity in our attire the result has numbed the spiritual senses of being in the presence of Deity. I am fully aware that God looks on the heart, but clothing, or the lack thereof, should not distract from looking into His face.

• I have observed more and more churches having fewer and fewer revivals. Of course, the rural church will always hold a revival, whether they actually have one or not, the third week of August. Vance Havner once said, “Preachers speak of ‘holding revivals’. Somebody ought to turn one loose!” Real revival -- which takes prayer and preparation and sees scores ushered into the Kingdom and church members rekindling the fire within -- is quickly giving way to one-day events. We have stopped singing “Take Time To Be Holy,” because we don’t have the time.

• I have observed more and more churches decreasing from mortification rather than increasing due to salvation. There is more life outside in most church cemeteries than inside on the pews. At least in the cemeteries the grass grows and the flowers bloom. If there is not a revival in our land many of our rural churches will become bed and breakfast inns and our larger churches will be turned into antique malls. If you don’t believe this, visit Great Britain.

• I have observed more and more churches growing by transferring letters rather than transforming lives. It doesn’t take a genius to build a church numerically. Given the right staff and programs you can fill a church. However, there is an eternal difference between filling a church with people and filling the people inside the church.

• I have observed more and more pastors and evangelists preaching someone else’s sermons rather than studying and preaching their own. The call to preach has been replaced with the desire to succeed. Being an expounder of the Word requires time alone with God. Being a mouth for God to the people of God is an awesome responsibility. Preaching someone else’s anointed sermon doesn’t guarantee your anointment. If the sermon isn’t gathered and set ablaze in the pastor’s heart it likely won’t spread to the hearts of the church members. Some of the greatest proclaimers of the Good News are seldom heard because they neither pastor a mega-church nor are the featured speakers on Christian cruises.

• I have observed unethical and even immoral conduct by religious leaders with little or no remorse on their part once their deeds were made public. The graveyard of compromise is filled with those who listened to the sirens of the world. Accountability and integrity were sacrificed for personal gain and puffed-up egos. When Christian leaders become legends in their own minds the ice has already broken.

• I have observed the policies of the community dictating the policies of the church, especially in the area of sports. We now schedule the events of the church around the athletic calendar of our schools or recreational departments. We have surrendered to the god of sports. Many of our parents allow their children to play their favorite sport on Sunday morning with the rationale, “What can we do about it?” These same parents wouldn’t allow their children to skip school for a church event. We even close our churches on Sunday nights if it is a national holiday. Good thing God doesn’t cancel His services.

• I have observed more and more churches teaching the latest trends in church growth rather than the doctrines of the Scriptures. We have churches full of people who can quote from the latest church growth guru, but for the life of them they can neither recall nor defend any of the doctrines of the Bible. We can be seeker friendly and purpose driven, but if we fail to seek Christ and find our purpose in Him alone all the books, seminars and mega conferences will only impede the salvation of the lost and the disciplining of the saved.

• I have observed us becoming a people who enjoy the expression of worship without encountering the experience of worship. No one enjoys beautiful choruses more than me, yet with the freedom of style which this has ushered into our churches we must be careful not to allow our performance to overshadow His presence. Celebration without commitment leads to worthless worship.

• I have observed religion becoming big business. Christian recording artists are now referred to as superstars and certain pastors are touted as religious CEOs. Religious leaders have evolved from troublers of society to trend-setters in society. We have religious personalities who are known as much for their political creeds as their theological convictions. Simple statements from the Bible are marketed into multimillion-dollar enterprises. An executive in a Christian publication company once told me, “It’s all about the buck.” You half expect to see certain religious organizations listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

• I have observed a few proclaimers who have comprised their call because of a cowardly commitment to the truths of God’s Word. This brings about a deceitful delivery of devilish doctrines. The end result is a man who panders to the people and prostitutes the proclamation in the process. When wickedness enters the doors of the church it soon spreads throughout the land without any opposition. Satan himself could not have better allies than pastors who refuse to preach the truths of the Scriptures and church members who refuse to live godly lives.

• I have observed a righteous remnant in every church who have a hunger and thirst for experiencing God to the fullest. It is this group, both young and old, who will pass on the teachings and doctrines of Holy Scripture to the next generation. Praise God for ministers and members who are not driven by fashions and trends, but remain faithful and true to fulfilling the Great Commission.

Revivals Must Start With Sin

Just before the American Revolution, a revival called the Great Awakening spread across the 13 colonies. It was called the Great Awakening. One of the stars of the revival was an English preacher named George Whitefield. He could preach to up to 25,000 people without a sound system beyond his own voice. Benjamin Franklin attended some of his meetings in Philadelphia and was very impressed by him, though he didn’t convert.

Whitefield had a simple strategy in his meetings. The first night he would preach on the wonderful love and grace of God, freely given to anyone who would believe. The rest of the nights he would preach on sin.

Whitefield was convinced that any presentation of the gospel had to begin by exposing the listener’s sin and his dire need for salvation. He believed that no one seeks salvation until they are convinced they stand in God’s condemnation. So Whitefield preached on the holiness of God, the curse of disobedience, the certainty of death, the reality of the final judgment, and of eternal punishment in hell.

Whitefield was relentless, and tens of thousands were saved. Many of you have never heard of him but he made a lasting impact on Christianity in America. There is a straight line from George Whitefield to Billy Graham.

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Holwick: I recall hearing this in seminary back in the 1980s but I am not positive if Whitefield or Wesley was the example. Whitefield's ministry certainly emphasized the penalty of sin so I believe it was him. The fourth paragraph in this illustration was derived from the article "Whitefield's Sin Exposing Spotlight," by Steven Lawson, Ligionier.org, April 18, 2018; .

Just What Is Godly Sorrow?

John 3:18

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” (2 Cor. 7:9-11)

In our last article [see HolwickID #35984] I dealt with repentance and stated that repentance is necessary for one to be saved. I also stated that repentance was worked by godly sorrow. Therefore, if repentance is necessary for one to be saved, then you can be sure that godly sorrow is necessary also, for godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation. (2 Cor. 7:10)

We sometimes use the terms godly sorrow, reproval, and Holy Ghost conviction synonymously for they are so closely connected it is hard to separate them. But, in this article, I would like to make a distinction and separate these three terms.

Holy Ghost conviction is a phrase used by old time preachers and saints who knew what real salvation was. Nowhere in the Bible can we find the words “Holy Ghost conviction” but the principle is found in the Bible. Holy Ghost conviction is the umbrella that includes both reproval (John 16:8) and godly sorrow. (2 Cor. 7:10) That is why we have used these terms interchangeably.

When we break it down, we find godly sorrow is the emotional part of Holy Ghost conviction while reproval is the fact producing part of Holy Ghost conviction, and you must have both for salvation to be a reality. Reproval, which means conviction, can come in facts only and there be no emotions involved. For example: Have you ever heard of a man sentenced (convicted) to life in prison and the news media says, “He showed no emotion?” You can have your emotions stirred and not have understanding. This results in a false profession because there must be some understanding in the areas of sin, righteousness, and judgment before one is saved. (John 16:8-11) A person is not saved by just an emotional experience, but your emotions will be involved when you are saved because of godly sorrow.

JUST WHAT IS GODLY SORROW?

Godly sorrow is a deep God caused grief and when that occurs you will grieve outwardly and inwardly. In 2 Cor. 7:9 Paul said, “Ye were made sorry after a godly manner.” This means “ye were grieved according to God” because godly sorrow is a work of God. I know that 2 Cor. 7:10 is dealing with a saved man in context but the principle for repentance to be worked is the same in a sinner; therefore, this verse can be used for doctrine as 2 Tim. 3:16 bears out.

Worldly sorrow worketh death. (2 Cor. 7:10) This is all Judas had in Matt. 27:3. “Repented” in this verse means little or nothing more than a selfish dread of the consequences of what one has done. A lot of sorrowfulness in our altars today is really just sorry that they were caught up with -- a regret because of the consequences of one’s act or acts. Worldly sorrow worketh death, which is exactly what Judas did -- hanged himself. A lot of people had rather commit suicide than allow godly sorrow to work repentance in their heart.

Just what is godly sorrow? To answer this question we can look at the final product worked by godly sorrow in 2 Cor. 7:11. “Wrought” in this verse is the same Greek word as “worketh” in verse 10 and means result in, accomplish, or achieve. There are seven things listed in verse 11 that are a result of a person being grieved according to God -- godly sorrow.

1. Carefulness.

Carefulness means diligent, watchful earnestness, or moving in the right direction with a careful, steady effort. It means to give serious attention to detail. Godly sorrow working in a person before they are saved will cause that one to look at what is working in him in detail. The Bible says, “try the spirits.” (1 John 4:1) If it is godly sorrow it will bring a disgust for sin and it will cause you to give serious attention to detail. If it is not godly sorrow, it is not of God and it will come to naught.

When godly sorrow is finished or complete and a person is saved, it will cause him to examine with a careful, steady effort as he searches out the ingredients of salvation. (2 Cor. 13:5)

2. Clearing of yourselves.

Clearing means verbal defense or apology. Before one is saved he will put up a verbal defense with God, saying “I am not guilty.” He will try to settle the account by doing -- works. (Eph. 2:9) As he looks at the balance sheet of his life, all he sees is liabilities -- sins -- because of the sin of unbelief. Then when conviction (means to prove guilty; condemned; sentenced: John 3:18) comes he sees himself as a sinner for the first time and realizes his lostness (separation from God). Why is this? Because he adds everything up, sees himself as a sinner, gets backed into a corner, and ask the question, “How is this debt going to be taken care of?” Thus, he states, “I am guilty” -- apology. But when saved he is cleared -- the account is settled -- justified -- no longer condemned. (John 5:24)

3. Indignation.

Indignation means anger or scorn resulting from injustice, ingratitude, or meanness. It also means righteous anger. Before a person is saved, when godly sorrow starts working, he has a tendency to get angry at God and then others. He usually gets frustrated and blames everyone else, especially the preacher who preached specifics about real salvation. Then he gets mad at his sin and then, himself. Godly sorrow is working. After he is saved, he will experience righteous anger -- hatred for evil. (Eph. 4:26)

4. Fear.

The word fear means to be afraid, alarmed, scared, reverence, or respect. When godly sorrow begins to work on an unsaved person, he usually becomes afraid and trembles in his soul over judgment -- fear of hell. But as godly sorrow continues to work it will produce a reverence and awe toward God with a hatred for evil in that person. When one is afraid of their dad and the discipline he administers, that fear will cause him to respect and reverence him. The same is true with God. First, there will be a fear of divine wrath (the Lord does not save you just to keep you out of hell but for His glory) then a fear of sinning against the Lord again.

5. Vehement desire.

The word vehement means hot, strong, intense, and earnest. When coupled with desire it means a longing. For what? When godly sorrow begins working in a person it begins with being awakened which is more than just being made aware. His heart is stirred or pricked which causes him to begin to seek the Lord Jesus. The reason for this is because the Lord sought him first. As the Holy Spirit convinces of sin and righteousness -- which is a person -- Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30), there comes a longing (vehement desire) in his heart for Jesus. The longing is not just to be saved to escape hell but a longing for Him. (1 John 5:12) After one is saved there is a longing to love Him, which causes you to desire to be what you should, do what you should, and go where you should.

6. Zeal.

The word zeal means intense enthusiasm and, or devotion. Before a person is saved, while godly sorrow is working, when he recognizes his condition, he has an eagerness to do something about it, even though he is helpless because salvation is of the Lord. Therefore he meets his responsibility by actively seeking the Lord Jesus. This is actively waiting (Luke 13:24), not passive waiting, for godly sorrow to have a complete work. After one is saved he has a zeal in immediately taking a right course and in seeking a remedy for the effects of sin and for God’s honor. Also there will be an eagerness to worship the Lord, come to church, and serve the Lord in whatever capacity He sees fit.

7. Revenge.

The word revenge means punishment or vengeance. Before a person is saved godly sorrow passes sentence on your sin. (Rom. 6:23) He will say, “I deserve hell.” But through the working of godly sorrow by the Holy Spirit he sees God punishing His Son for his sin on the cross. God took vengeance on His Son instead of him. When saved he can say, “I’m vindicated, justified, and righteous because He imputed His righteousness upon me at the instant I believed.”

These seven things are a work of godly sorrow. Notice the phrase, “ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” in 2 Cor. 7:11. The “matter” referred to is godly sorrow working repentance to salvation. The word “approved” means to prove, to show, and to establish without doubt -- to yourself and others. (2 Cor. 13:5)

Your actions, attitudes, and speech will prove to others you are a work of God -- godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. How long does it take for godly sorrow to complete its work in you? Just as long as it takes. How much godly sorrow do you need? Enough to produce repentance.

Godly sorrow will work when it works, and when it works, you do not have to work because you are the work. When godly sorrow is finished, repentance will be worked, faith will be given, then and only then you can and will believe unto salvation.

First Preach the Law… and Then the Grace of God

John 3:16

First preach the Law...

Psalm 19:7 - “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul...”

“The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God’s Law and show the nature of sin, because it will act as a schoolmaster and bring him to everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ.” [Martin Luther]

“Before I preach love, mercy and grace, I must preach sin, Law and judgment.” [John Wesley]

“Preach 90 percent Law and 10 percent grace.” [John Wesley]

“They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law.” [Charles Spurgeon]

“Evermore the Law must prepare the way for the Gospel; to overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts.” [Charles Finney]

“The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the Law of God.” [John Wycliffe]

“God being a perfect God, had to give a perfect Law, and the Law was given not to save men, but to measure them.” [D.L. Moody]

“Satan, the god of all dissension, stirreth up daily newsects and last of all, which of all other I should never have forseen or once suspected, he hath raised up a sect such as teach...that men should not be terrified by the Law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.” [Martin Luther]

“The true function of the Law is to accuse and kill; but the function of the Gospel is to make alive.” [Martin Luther]

“People will never set their faces decidedly towards Heaven and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of Hell... Let us expound and beat out the 10 commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. this is the way of our Lord in the sermon on the mount. We can not do better than to follow His plan.” [J.C. Ryle]

“We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ.” [John. R.W. Stott]

“I never knew but one person in the whole course of my ministry who acknowledged that the first motions of religion in his own heart arose from a sense of the goodness of God, ‘What shall I render to the Lord who has dealt so bountifully with me?’ But I think all besides who have come within my notice have rather been awakened to fly from the wrath to come by passion of fear.” [Isaac Watts]

“If I had my way, I would declare a moratorium on the public preaching of “the plan of salvation” in America for one or two years. Then I would call on everyone who has use of the airwaves and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God and the Law of God until sinners would cry out, “What must we do to be saved?” Then i would take them off into a corner and whisper the gospel to them. Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved. Don’t use John 3:16. Why? Because you tell a sinner how to be saved before he realized that he needs to be saved. You have gospel-hardened him.” [Paris Reidhead]

“It is a great mistake to give a man who has no been convicted of sin certain passages that were never meant for him. The Law is what he needs...Do not offer the consolation of the Gospel until he sees and knows he is guilty before God. We must give enough of the Law to take away all self-righteousness. I pity the man who preaches only one side of truth - always the gospel and never the Law.” [D.L. Moody]

“Few, very few, are ever awakened or convinced by the encouragements and promises of the Gospel, but almost all by the denunciations of the Law.” [Dr. Timothy Dwight]

“So it is with the work-righteous and the proud unbelievers. Because they do not know the Law of God, which is directed against them, it is impossible for them to know their sin. Therefore also they are not amenable to instruction. If they would know the Law, they would also know their sin; and sin to which they are now dead would become alive in them.” [Martin Luther]

“The only way we can know we are sinning is by knowing His moral Law.” [Jonathan Edwards]

“First then, before you speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the Law of God.” [George Whitefield]

“Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes.” [John Newton]

“I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law.” [Charles Spurgeon]

“The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within.” [Charles Spurgeon]

“Unless we see our shortcomings in the light of the Law and holiness of God, we do not see them at all.” [J.I. Packer]

“The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God’s Law and show the nature of sin...we would not see or realise it (what a distressing and horrible fall in which we lie), if it were not for the Law, and we would have to remain forever lost, if we were not again helped out of it through Christ. Therefore the Law and the Gospel are given to the end that we may learn to know both how guilty we are and to what we should again return.” [Martin Luther]

...and then the grace of God

185 Sermon Illustrations on Conviction of Sin