Congregation, we have a sermon this morning that
was written by the Reverend Robert Murray McShane,
and the text is from John 16, verse
8.
And when he, that is the comforter, and
when he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment.
The title of the sermon is Reproof of
Sin and Reproof of Righteousness, and those are
the points.
Reproving the world of sin and reproving of
righteousness.
Before we begin reading, just a definition.
The word reprove is not one we commonly
use anymore.
And in other translation, a word that is,
or two words that are very similar to
convey the meaning, is convincing and convicting.
And so, as I read through the sermon,
we'll use those words.
It's the idea of not only being corrected,
reproved, but being fully persuaded to be convinced.
And so, we have those two points.
Reproving the world of sin and reproving of
righteousness.
The first work of the Spirit is to
convince of sin.
He shall reprove or convince the world of
sin because they believe not in Me.
It is curious to remark that wherever the
Holy Ghost is spoken of in the Bible,
He is spoken of in terms of gentleness
and love.
We often read of the wrath of God
the Father, as in Romans 1.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men.
And we often read of the wrath of
the Son of God.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and
ye perish from the way.
But we nowhere read of the wrath of
God the Holy Ghost.
He is compared to a dove, the gentlest
of all creatures.
He is warm and gentle as the breath.
Jesus breathed on them and said, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost.
He is gentle as the falling dew.
I will be as the dew unto Israel.
He is soft and gentle as oil, for
He is called the oil of gladness.
The fine oil wherewith the high priest was
anointed was a type of the Holy Spirit.
He is gentle and refreshing as the springing
well.
The water that I shall give Him shall
be in Him a well of water, springing
up unto everlasting life.
He is called the Spirit of grace and
supplications.
He is nowhere called the Spirit of wrath.
He is called the Holy Ghost, which is
the Comforter.
Nowhere is He called the Avenger.
We are told that He groans within the
heart of a believer, helping his infirmities, so
that He greatly helps the believer in prayer.
We are told also of the love of
the Spirit.
Nowhere of the wrath of the Spirit.
We are told of His being grieved.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit.
Of His being resisted, ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost.
Of His being quenched, quench not the Spirit.
But these are all marks of gentleness and
love.
Nowhere will you find one mark of anger
or of vengeance attributed to Him.
And yet, brethren, when this blessed Spirit begins
His work of love, mark how He begins.
He convinces of sin.
Even He, all-wise, all-mighty, all-gentle
and loving, though He be, cannot persuade a
poor sinful heart to embrace Christ without first
opening up His wounds and convincing Him that
He is lost.
When the surgeon comes to cure a corrupted
wound, when He removes the bandages and lays
open the deepest recesses of your wound and
shows you all its venom and infection, do
you call Him cruel?
May not His hands be all the time
the hands of gentleness and love?
Or when a house is all on fire,
when the flames are bursting out from every
window, when some courageous man ventures to alarm
the sleeping inmates, bursts through the bar door
and with eager hand shakes the sleeper, bids
him awake and flee a moment longer and
you may be lost, do you call Him
cruel?
Or do you say this messenger of mercy
spoke too loud or too plain?
Ah, no.
Why then will you blame the minister of
Christ when He begins convincing you of sin?
Do you think that the wound of sin
is less venomous or deadly than a wound
in the flesh?
Do you think the flames of hell are
less hard to bear than the flames of
earth?
The very Spirit of love begins by convincing
you of sin.
And are we less the messengers of love
because we begin by doing the same thing?
Oh then, do not say that we have
become your enemy because we tell you the
truth.
What is this conviction of sin?
I would begin to show this by showing
you what it is not.
First, it is not the mere smiting of
the natural conscience.
Although man is utterly fallen, yet God has
left natural conscience behind in every heart to
speak for him.
Some men by continual sinning sear even their
conscience as with a hot iron, so that
it becomes dead and past feeling.
But most men have so much natural conscience
remaining that they cannot commit open sin without
their conscience smiting them.
When a man commits murder or theft, no
eye may have seen him, yet conscience will
make a coward of him.
He trembles and is afraid.
He feels that he has sinned and he
fears that God will take vengeance.
Now, that is not the conviction of sin
here spoken of.
That is a natural work which takes place
in every heart.
But conviction of sin is a supernatural work
of the Spirit of God.
If you have had nothing more than natural,
ordinary smiting of conscience, then you have never
been convinced of sin.
Secondly, it is not any impression upon the
imagination.
Sometimes when men have committed great sin, they
have awful impressions of God's vengeance made upon
their imaginations In the nighttime, they almost fancy
the flames of hell burning beneath them.
Or they seem to hear the doleful cries
in their ears telling of coming woe.
Or they fancy they see the face of
Jesus all clouded with anger.
Or they have terrible dreams when they sleep
of coming vengeance.
Now, this is not the conviction of sin
which the Spirit gives.
This is altogether a natural work upon the
natural faculties and not a supernatural work of
the Spirit.
If you have nothing more than these imaginary
terrors, you have had no work of the
Spirit.
Thirdly, it is not a mere head knowledge
of what the Bible says against sin.
Many unconverted people read their Bibles and have
a clear knowledge that their case is laid
down there.
They are sensible.
They know very well what they are in
sin.
And they know just as well that the
wages of sin is death.
One man lives a swearer and he reads
the words and understands them perfectly.
Swear not at all.
The Lord will not hold him guiltless that
taketh his name in vain.
Another man lives in the lust of the
flesh and he reads the Bible and understands
these words perfectly.
No unclean person hath any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God.
Another man lives in habitual forgetfulness of God.
Never thinks of God from sunrise to sunset
and yet he reads, the wicked shall be
turned into hell and all the people that
forget God.
Now in this way, most unconverted people have
a head knowledge of their sin and of
the wages of sin.
Yet this is far from the conviction of
sin.
This is a mere natural work in the
head.
Conviction of sin is a work upon the
heart.
If you have had nothing more than this
head knowledge that you are sinners, then you
have never been convinced of sin.
What then is this conviction of sin?
It is a just sense of the dreadfulness
of sin.
It is not mere knowledge that we have
many sins and that God's anger is revealed
against them all, but it is a heart
feeling that we are under sin.
It is a feeling of the dreadfulness of
sin, of the dishonor it does to God,
and of the wrath to which it exposes
the soul.
O brethren, conviction of sin is no slight
natural work upon the heart.
There is a great difference between knowing a
thing and having a just sense of it.
There is a great difference between knowing that
vinegar is sour and actually tasting and feeling
that it is sour.
There is a great difference between knowing that
fire will burn us and actually feeling the
pain of being burned.
Just in the same way, there is all
the difference in the world between knowing the
dreadfulness of your sins and feeling the dreadfulness
of your sins.
It is all in vain that you read
your Bibles and hear us preach unless the
Spirit used the words to give sense and
feeling to your dead hearts.
The plainest words will not awaken you as
long as you are in your natural condition.
If we could prove to you with the
plainness of arithmetic that the wrath of God
is abiding on you and your children, still,
you would sit unmoved.
You would go away and forget it before
you reached your home.
Ah, brethren, He that made your heart can
alone impress your heart.
It is the Spirit that convinces of sin.
To apply this truth, first, learn the power
of the Word as it is read and
preached.
It is but an instrument in the hand
of God.
It has no power of itself except to
produce natural impressions.
It is a hammer, but God must break
your hearts with it.
It is a fire, but God must kindle
your bosom with it.
Without Him, we may give you a knowledge
of the dreadfulness of your condition, but He
alone can give you a just sense and
feeling of the dreadfulness of your condition.
The most powerful sermon in the world can
make nothing more than a natural impression.
But when God works through it, the feeblest
word makes a supernatural impression.
Many a poor sermon has been the means
by which God has converted a soul.
Children of God, all that you would pray
night and day for the lifting up of
the arm of God.
Secondly, learn that conversion is not in your
own power.
It is the Spirit alone who convinces of
sin, and He is a free agent.
He is a sovereign Spirit and has nowhere
promise to work at the bidding of unconverted
man.
He has many on whom He will have
mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.
Perhaps you think you may take your fill
of sin just now and then come and
repent and be saved.
But remember, the Spirit is not at your
bidding.
He is not your servant.
Many hope to be converted on their deathbed,
and they come to their deathbed and yet
are not converted.
If the Spirit be working with you now,
do not grieve Him.
Do not resist Him.
Do not quench Him, for He may never
come back to you again.
I come to the argument which the Spirit
uses.
These are two arguments by which the Spirit
usually gives men a sense of the dreadfulness
of their sin.
First, the law.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ.
Now we know that what thingsoever the law
saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God.
The sinner reads the law of the great
God who made heaven and earth.
The Spirit of God arouses his conscience to
see that the law condemns every part of
his life.
The law bids him to love God.
His heart tells him he never loved God,
never had a thought of regard toward God.
The Spirit convinces him that God is a
jealous God, that His honor is concerned to
uphold the law and destroy the sinner.
The Spirit convinces him that God is a
just God, that He can by no means
clear the guilty.
The Spirit convinces him that He is a
true God and must fulfill His threatenings.
Have I said it and shall I not
do it?
The sinner's mouth is stopped and he stands
guilty before God.
The second argument which the Spirit uses is
the Gospel.
Because they believe not on Jesus.
This is the strongest of all arguments and
therefore is chosen by Christ here in this
passage.
The sinner reads in the Word that he
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
And now the Spirit convinces him that he
never believed on the Son of God.
Indeed, he does not know what it means.
For the first time, the conviction comes upon
his heart.
He that believeth not the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him.
The more glorious and divine that Savior is,
the more is the Christless soul convinced he
is lost.
For he feels that he is out of
that Savior.
He sees plainly that Christ is an almighty
ark riding over the deluge of God's wrath.
He sees how safe and happy the little
company are that are gathered within.
But this just makes him gnash his teeth
in agony.
For he is not within the ark.
And the waves and the billows are coming
over him.
He hears that Christ has been stretching out
the hands all the day to the chief
of sinners, not willing that any should perish.
But then he never cast himself into those
arms.
And now he feels that Christ may be
laughing at his calamity and mocking when his
fear comes.
Oh yes, my friends, how often on the
deathbed when the natural fears of conscience are
aided by the Spirit of God, how often
when we speak of Christ, His love, His
atoning blood, the refuge to be found in
Him, how safe and happy are all that
are in Him, how often does the dying
sinner turn it all away with the awful
question, but am I in Christ?
The more we tell of the Savior, the
more is their agony increased.
For they feel that it is the Savior
they have refused.
What a meaning does that give to these
words?
The Spirit convinceth of sin because they believe
not in Me.
Now, my friends, there are many of you
who know that you never believed on Jesus,
and yet, you are quite unmoved.
You sit without any emotion.
You eat your meals with appetite for sin.
You have never been convinced of sin.
The Spirit hath never begun His work in
your heart.
Oh, if the Spirit of Jesus would come
upon your hearts like a mighty rushing wind,
what a dreadful thought it would be to
you this night that you are lying out
of Christ.
You would lose your appetite for this world's
food.
You would not be able to rest in
your bed.
You would not dare to live on in
your sins.
All your past sins would rise behind you
like apparitions of evil.
Wherever you went, you would meet the Word
without Christ, without hope, and without God in
the world.
And if your worldly friends would try to
hush your fears and tell you of your
decencies, that you were not so bad as
your neighbors, ah, how you would thrust them
away and stop your ears and cry, there
is a city of refuge that I have
never fled to.
Therefore, there must be a blood avenger.
There is an ark.
Therefore, there must be a coming flood.
There is a Christ.
Therefore, there must be a hell for the
Christless.
Secondly, some of you may be under conviction
of sin.
You feel the dreadfulness of being out of
Christ and you are very miserable.
Now, be thankful for this work of the
Spirit.
Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but My Father.
God hath brought you into the wilderness just
that He might allure you and speak to
your heart about Christ.
Be thankful you are not dead like those
around you.
Do not lose these convictions.
Remember, they are easily lost.
Involve yourselves overhead and ears in business and
work even on the Sabbath day and you
will soon drive them away.
Indulge in a little sensual pleasure.
Take a little diversion with companions and you
will soon be as happy and careless as
they are.
If you love your soul, flee these things.
Do not stay.
Flee away from them.
Read the books that keep up your anxiety.
Wait on ministers that keep up your anxiety.
Above all, cry to the Spirit who alone
was the author of it that He would
keep it up.
Cry day and night that He would never
let you rest out of Christ.
Oh, would you sleep over hell?
Do not rest in these convictions.
You are not saved.
Many have come thus far and have perished
after all.
Many have been convinced, not converted.
Many lose their convictions and wallow in sin
again.
Remember Lot's wife.
You are never safe until you are within
the fold.
Christ is the door.
Strive to enter in at the straight gate
for many shall seek to enter in and
shall not be able.
Now, I come to the second work of
the Spirit from which He is properly called
the Comforter.
He will reprove the world of righteousness.
When He has first broken the bones under
a sense of sin, then He reveals the
good physician and makes the very bones which
He has broken to rejoice.
When He has first revealed the coming storm
of wrath so that the sinner knows not
where to flee, He opens the secret chamber
and whispers, Come in hither.
It may be you will be hid in
the day of the Lord's anger.
When He has cast a light into the
sinner's bosom and let him see how every
action of his life condemns him and how
vain it is to seek for any righteousness
there, He then casts light upon the risen
Savior and says, Look there.
He shows the Savior's finished sufferings and finished
obedience and says, All this is yours if
you will believe in Jesus.
Thus does the Spirit lead the soul to
accept and close with Christ freely offered in
the Gospel.
Brethren, He is no minister of Christ who
only terrifies and awakens you, who only aims
at the first work of the Spirit to
convince you of sin and aims not at
the second work of the Spirit to convince
you of righteousness.
He would be like a surgeon who should
tear off the bandages of your wounds and
lay open their deepest recesses and then leave
you like Israel with sores not closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
He would be like a man who should
awaken you when your house was all on
fire and yet leave without showing you any
way of escape.
I know there may be many of you
quite offended because we preach Christ to the
vilest of sinners.
It was so with the Pharisees and no
doubt there are many Pharisees among us.
When we enter into the haunts of wickedness
and immorality and in accents of tenderness, proclaim
the simple message of redeeming love that the
wrath of God is abiding on sinners but
that Christ is a Savior freely offered to
them just as they are or when a
child of sin and misery comes before us
and the minister of Christ first plainly tells
us of God's wrath against His sin and
then just as plainly, with all affection, tells
of Christ's compassion and freely offered righteousness, oh,
how often the decent, moral men of the
world are affronted.
The very imagination that the same Savior is
offered as freely to the vilest offscourings of
vices as to themselves, this is more than
they can bear.
What?
They cry.
Do you offer these wretches a Savior before
they have reformed their lives?
Before they have changed their character?
I answer, yes.
The whole not need a physician but they
that are sick.
I beseech you to mark that this is
the very way of the Spirit of God.
He is the Holy Spirit of purer eyes
than to behold iniquity.
He is the sanctifier of all that are
in Jesus and yet, when He has convinced
a sinner of sin, His next work is
to speak peace, to convince that sinner of
righteousness.
If you ask me, then why do I
not say to the child of sin and
shame, go and reform yourself.
Become honest and pure and then I will
invite you to the Savior.
I answer, because even the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, the sanctifier does not do this.
He first leads the soul into the wilderness,
then He allures it to come to Christ.
He first shuts up the soul in prison
under a sense of guilt and then opens
a door, reveals Christ, an open refuge for
the chief of sinners.
Brethren, do not forget it.
He is the comforter before He is the
sanctifier.
Ah, then do not blame us if as
messengers of Christ we tread in the very
footsteps of that blessed Spirit.
If even He, the holy, sanctifying Spirit whose
breath is all purity, if even He invites
the vilest sinner to put on these beautiful
garments, the divine righteousness of Christ, do not
say that we are favoring sin, that we
are the enemies of morality if we carry
this message to the vilest of sinners.
Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt
be saved.
What is this righteousness?
I answer, it is the righteousness of Christ
wrought out in behalf of sinners.
Now, righteousness means righteousness with respect to the
law.
When a person has never broken the law
but has rendered complete obedience to it, that
person is righteous.
Righteousness consists of two parts.
First, freedom from guilt.
Second, worthiness in the sight of God.
The righteousness of Christ freely offered to sinners
includes both of these.
There is freedom from guilt in Christ because
He has gone to the Father.
When He came to this world, He came
under a load of guilt.
When He was an infant in the manger,
He was under guilt.
When He was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, He was under guilt.
When He sat down wearied at the well,
He was under guilt.
When He was in that dreadful agony in
the garden, when His sweat was, as it
were, great drops of blood, He was under
guilt.
When He was in His last agony on
the cross, He was under guilt.
He had no sin of His own, and
yet these are His words, "...innumerable evils have
compassed Me about.
My iniquities have taken hold upon Me so
that I am not able to look up.
They are more than the hairs of My
head.
Therefore, My heart faileth Me."
Question.
How do you know that Christ was under
guilt?
Answer.
Because He was in pain.
He suffered the pain of infancy in the
manger.
He suffered weariness and hunger and thirst and
great agonies in the garden and on the
cross.
But God has eternally connected guilt and pain.
If there were no guilt, there could be
no pain.
Because God hid His face from Him.
My God, My God.
Now, God hides His face from nothing but
guilt.
Therefore, Christ was bearing the sins of many.
He was all over with guilt.
He was as guilty in the sight of
God as if He had committed all the
sins of His people.
What wonder then that God hid His face
even from His own Son.
But now, Christ is free from guilt.
He is risen and gone to the Father.
When a man is lying under a debt,
if he pays it, he is free from
the debt.
So Christ was lying under our sins, but
He suffered all the punishment and is now
free.
He rose and we see Him no more.
When a man is banished as a punishment
for so many years, it is unlawful for
him to return to his country until the
time has expired and the punishment is gone.
But when the time has expired, then he
is free from guilt in the eyes of
the law.
He may come back to his home and
his country once more.
So Christ was banished from the bosom of
the Father for a time.
God hid His face from Him.
But when He had borne all that God
saw fit to lay on Him, then He
was free from guilt.
He was free to return and so He
did.
He rose and went back to the bosom
of the Father from which He came.
Do you not see then, trembling sinner, that
there is freedom from all guilt in Christ?
He is quite free.
He shall never suffer anymore.
He is now without sin.
And when He comes again, He will come
without sin.
If you will become one with Him, you
too are free from guilt.
You are free as Christ is.
You are as free as Christ is.
You are as safe from being punished as
if you were in heaven with Christ.
If you believe on Christ, you are one
with Him, a member of His body.
And as sure as Christ, your head is
now passed from the darkness of God's anger
into the light of His countenance, so surely
are you, O believer, passed from darkness into
God's marvelous light.
Oh, what a blessed word was that of
Christ just before He ascended.
I go to My Father and Your Father,
to My God and Your God.
God is now as much ours as He
is Christ's.
Question.
What good is it to me that Christ
is free from guilt?
Answer.
Christ is offered to you as your Savior.
There is perfect obedience in Christ.
From the cradle to the cross, He obeyed
the will of God from the heart.
When He came into the world, His word
was, Lo, I come.
In the volume of the book it is
written of Me.
I delight to do Thy will, O God.
Yea, Thy law is within My heart.
When He was in the midst of His
obedience, still He did not change His mind.
He says, I have meat to eat that
ye know not of.
My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent Me and to finish His
work.
And when He was going out of the
world, still His word was, I have finished
the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
So that is true what an apostle says,
that He was obedient even unto death.
The whole law is summed up in these
two commandments.
That we love God and our neighbor.
Christ did both.
He loved God perfectly.
And He loved His neighbor as Himself.
It was out of love to men that
He came into the world at all.
And everything He did in the world and
everything He suffered in the world was out
of love to His neighbor.
It was out of love to men that
He performed the greatest part of His obedience,
namely, the laying down of His life.
Now this is the obedience of Christ.
And we know that it is perfect because
He was the Son of God.
And all that He did must be perfect.
Also, because He has gone to the Father,
He has ascended into the presence of God.
And how did the Father receive Him?
We are told in Psalm 110, a door
is opened in heaven and we are allowed
to hear the very words with which God
receives His Son.
The Lord said unto My Lord, sit thou
on My right hand till I make thine
enemies thy footstool.
So then, God did not send Him back
as one who had not obeyed perfectly enough.
God did not forbid His presence as one
unworthy to be accepted.
But God highly exalted Him, looked upon Him
as worthy of much honor, worthy of a
seat on the throne at His right hand.
O how plain that Christ is accepted with
the Father!
And how plain that His righteousness is most
lovely and all divine in the sight of
God the Father!
Hearken then, trembling sinner, this righteousness is offered
to you.
It was wrought just for sinners like you
and for none else.
It is for no other use but just
to cover naked sinners.
This is the clothing wrought of gold and
the raiment of needlework.
This is the wedding garment, the fine linen,
white and clean.
Oh, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why should ye refuse your own mercies?
Become one with Christ by believing and you
are not only pardoned as I showed you
before, but you are righteous in the sight
of God.
Not only shall you never be cast into
hell, but you shall surely be carried to
heaven as surely as Christ is there now.
Become one with Christ.
And even this moment, you are lovely in
the sight of God.
You are as much accepted in the sight
of God as is the Son of Man,
the Beloved that sits on His right hand.
The Spirit shall be given you as surely
as He is given to Christ.
You are as sure to wear a crown
of glory as that Christ is now wearing
His.
You are as sure to sit upon Christ's
throne as that Christ is now sitting on
His Father's throne.
Oh, weep for joy, happy believer.
Oh, sing for gladness of heart.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor
things present nor things to come nor height
nor depth nor any other creature shall be
able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is conviction of righteousness?
Let us show what it is not.
First, it is not an impression upon the
imagination.
Just as men have often imaginary terrors, so
men have also imaginary views of Christ.
And of the glory of being in Christ.
Sometimes they think they see Christ with the
bodily eye.
Or sometimes they think they hear words born
upon their mind telling of the beauty of
Christ.
Now, this is not the conviction of righteousness.
Indeed, such things may accompany true conversion.
There is no impossibility in it.
Paul and Stephen both saw Christ.
But one thing is certain.
Conviction of righteousness is very different from this.
It is a far higher and nobler thing
given only by the Spirit of God.
Blessed are they who have not seen and
yet have believed.
Secondly, it is not a revelation of any
new truths not contained in the Bible.
When the Spirit revealed Christ to the apostles
and prophets of old, He revealed new truths.
New truths concerning Christ.
But when He convinces a sinner of the
righteousness of Christ, He does it by opening
up truths contained in the Bible.
If He revealed new truths, then we might
well put away our Bibles and sit alone
waiting for the Spirit to come down upon
us.
But, this is contrary to the Bible and
experience.
David prays, Open thou my eyes, that I
may see wonders.
Where?
Not in heaven above or in earth beneath,
but out of thy law.
It is through the truth that the Spirit
always works in our hearts.
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
Therefore, when you look for conviction of righteousness,
you are not to look for new truths
not in the Bible, but for divine light
cast upon old truths already in the Bible.
Thirdly, it is not mere head knowledge of
what the Bible says of Christ and His
righteousness.
Most unconverted men read their Bibles, and many
of them understand very wonderfully the doctrine of
imputed righteousness.
Yet, these have no conviction of righteousness.
All awakened souls read their Bibles very anxiously
with much praying and weeping, and many of
them seem to understand very clearly the truth
that Christ is an all-sufficient righteousness.
Yet, they tell us they cannot close with
Christ.
They cannot apply Him to their own case.
Again, the devils believe and tremble.
The devil has plainly much knowledge of the
Bible, and from the quotation he made to
Christ, it is plain that he understood much
of the work of redemption.
Yet, he is the none better for it.
He only trembles and gnashes his teeth the
more.
Ah, my friends, if you have no more
than the head knowledge of Christ and His
righteousness, you have no more than the devils
have.
You have never been convinced of righteousness.
What then is conviction of righteousness?
The answer, it is a sense of the
preciousness and the fitness of Christ as He
is revealed in the Gospel.
I have said it is a sense of
the preciousness of Christ, a feeling of His
preciousness in the heart.
I before showed you that there is all
the difference in the world between knowing a
thing and feeling a thing, between having a
knowledge of a thing and having a sense
of it.
There is all the difference in the world
between knowing that honey is sweet and tasting
that sweetness.
So as to have a sense of it,
there is a great difference between knowing that
a glove will fit the hand and putting
it on.
And so as to have a sense of
its fitness, just so, there is all the
difference in the world between having a head
knowledge of Christ and of His righteousness, and
having a heart feeling of His fitness and
preciousness.
The first may be acquired from flesh and
blood or from books.
The second must come from the Spirit of
God.
The third must come from the Spirit of
God.
Again, being convinced of righteousness is a sense
of the fitness of Christ.
It is conceivable that a person may have
a sense of Christ's preciousness without having a
sense of His fitness.
Some awakened souls appear to feel that Christ
is very precious, yet they do not dare
to put Christ on.
They seem to want a sense of His
fitness in their case.
They cry out, Oh, how precious a Savior
He is to all His people.
Oh, that I were one of His people.
Oh, that I were hidden in His bleeding
side.
And yet they have no sense of His
fitness to be their Savior.
They do not cry out, He just fits
my case.
He is the very Savior for me.
For if they felt this, they would be
at peace.
Their lips would overflow with joy.
But no, they dare not appropriate Christ.
Now then, conviction of righteousness is to have
such a sense of Christ as leads us
without hesitation to put on Christ.
And that I have called a sense of
His fitness.
It gives me no comfort to know that
Christ is a precious Savior to others unless
I know He is a precious Savior to
me.
If the flood is coming on, the windows
of heaven opening and the fountains of the
great deep broken up, it gives me no
peace to know that the ark is for
others unless you tell me that it is
an ark for me.
You may tell me of Christ's righteousness forever
and of the safety of all that are
in Him.
But if you would comfort me by the
news, you must convince me that that righteousness
is fit for me and is offered to
me.
Now this is what the Spirit does when
He convinces of righteousness.
This and this only is the conviction of
righteousness.
O brethren, it is no slight work of
nature to persuade a soul, even an anxious
soul, to put on Christ.
Flesh and blood cannot reveal Christ unto you,
but my Father which is in heaven.
No man can call Jesus Lord but by
the Holy Ghost.
Let me speak a word to three classes.
First, to the unawakened.
See how far you are from salvation.
Many of you may be saying in your
heart, it is quite true, I am not
at present a saved person, but I am
not very far from the Kingdom of God.
I just have to repent and believe on
Jesus and I am saved.
And since this is so short and simple
a matter, I may do it any time.
I may enjoy the world and its pleasures
a little longer, and then when death or
disease threatens me, it may be a good
time to become anxious.
Now, all this argument proceeds from falsehood.
You think you are not far off from
salvation, but ah, my friend, you are as
far from salvation as anyone could be.
That is in the land of the living.
There is only one case in which you
could be farther from salvation, and that is
in hell.
You are as far from salvation as anyone
that is out of hell.
You may have such head knowledge of sin
without the Spirit, but only He can convince
you of sin.
I wish you to see that there is
a second divine work needful on your heart
before you can believe.
The Spirit must convince you of Christ's righteousness.
And can you be easy when you are
at such a distance from salvation?
Can you go now and sit down to
a game of chance to while away the
time between this and judgment?
Can you go and laugh and be merry
in your sins?
How true then did Solomon say, the laughter
of fools is like the crackling of thorns
under a pot.
A loud noise for a moment then everlasting
silence.
A short blaze and a dark eternity.
Secondly, to the awakened.
Remember, unless you attain to conviction of righteousness,
your conviction of sin will be all in
vain.
Remember, anxiety for the soul does not save
the soul.
Sailors in a shipwreck are very anxious.
They cry much to God in prayers and
tears.
And yet, though they are anxious men, they
are not saved men.
The vessel goes to pieces and they are
all drowned.
Travelers in a wilderness may be very anxious.
Their hearts may die within them.
Yet, that does not show that they are
safe.
They may perish in the burning sands.
You are so much afraid of the wrath
of God, it may be God has mercy
stirred up in these anxieties in your bosom,
but you are not yet saved.
Unless you come to Christ, all will be
in vain.
Many are convinced who are never converted.
Many are in hell now who were once
as anxious to escape as you.
Remember, God only can give you this conviction.
The Spirit convinces of righteousness.
It is not flesh and blood that can
give you a sense of the preciousness of
Christ.
It is true.
The Bible and preaching are means through which
God works this conviction.
If you be truly awakened, I know how
anxiously you will wait on these means, how
you will search the Scriptures with tears and
lose no opportunity of hearing the preaching of
the Word.
But still, the Bible and preaching are only
means of themselves.
They can only make natural impressions on your
mind.
God only can make supernatural impressions.
Cry then to God.
But remember, God is a sovereign God.
Do not cry to Him to convert you
as if it were a debt He owed
to you.
There is only one thing you can claim
from God as a right.
That is a place in hell.
If you think you have any claim on
God, you are deceiving yourself.
Lie at the feet of a sovereign God,
a God who owes you nothing but punishment.
The God who alone can reveal Christ unto
you.
Cry night and day that He would reveal
Christ unto you.
That He would shine into your darkness and
give you the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of
Christ.
One glimpse of that face will give you
peace.
It may be you shall be hid in
Him in the day of the Lord's anger.
And thirdly, to those of you who have
come to Christ, oh, what miracles of grace
you are!
Twice over you have been saved by grace
when you were loathsome in your sins and
yet asleep.
The Spirit awakened you.
Thousands were sleeping beside you.
He left thousands to perish, but awakened you.
Again, though awakened, you were as loathsome as
ever.
You were as vile in the sight of
God as ever.
Only you dreaded hell.
In some respects, you were more wicked than
the unawakened world around you.
They would not come to Christ because they
felt no need.
But you felt your need yet would not
come.
You made God a liar more than they,
yet God had mercy on you.
He led you to Christ, convinced you of
righteousness.
So, you are twice over saved by grace.
Oh, to grace, how great a debtor!
What shall I render to the Lord for
all His benefits?
Will you not love Him with all your
heart?
Will you not serve Him with all you
have?
And when He says, feed this poor orphan
for My sake, will you not say, Lord,
when I give for Thee, it is more
blessed to give than to receive?
Amen.
Let's pray.
Lord, again we ask Thee, bless Thy Word,
O Holy Spirit.
Turn us.
Change us.
Make us to see clearly and to understand
Thy Word as it is, even as Thou
dost understand it.
Though it may be in a small way
because of our poor, weak minds, Lord, grant
it.
But may it be in our hearts because
of Thy work.
Give us a clear view of these things
and give us repentance from our errors.
We may think to be so safe in
Christ will make us careless.
And it's better to be anxious, Lord.
Save us from such foolishness.
For Thou art not honored when we are
not trusting Thee as a little child, even
in the worst and the most impossible circumstances.
Lord, help us.
Grant, O Holy Spirit, us to remember Thy
Word and to think upon it.
We will throw it away if left to
ourselves.
Save us, we pray, for Thy glory in
Christ.
We ask it all in His name.
Amen.