Only Righteous

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, dear radio friend. How in the world are you? Oh, bless your heart, my beloved friend, I think of you and pray for you. I know so many of you personally and then, of course, there are multiplied thousands whom I shall never meet until we get together on the other side. But down in my heart, there is that deep, deep longing that God may put His love, and compassion, and power, and blessing, and truth, and insight into what I say so that you’ll be helped, and blessed, and encouraged, and strengthened, I long for that.

Well, we’re in John chapter 16, and our Lord Jesus is talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit is going to be given to the church and He says this. I’m starting with verse 7, John 16, “It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter… ” That’s another name for the Holy Spirit. Jesus defines that in John 15:26, “When the Comforter is come, even the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father.” So that’s the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you and when He has come, that is come unto you. He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: He shall receive of mine, and show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: Therefore said I, he shall take of mine, and show it unto you.”

Now, our Lord Jesus said, “This is the plan, I go back to the Father, but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.” Greek word “parakletos” which means, one called alongside to help. God brings His Holy Spirit into the human equation to make the difference between human failure and divinely instituted success and eternal life. He said, “I’m gonna send Him to you.” Now, what does He do? He says, “The Holy Spirit when He has come, He will reprove… ” That’s our word, convict. Convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now, let’s stop here to make a very important point. When He is come, when He has come we would say… But you wanna insert then two words that make it make sense. You see, the Spirit of God is not an objective influence in the world, He’s here, obviously. The third person of the Godhead. God is everywhere. But beyond this, it says, “When He has come unto you, I will send Him unto you.”

Paul says in Romans 8, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” And He says to the Corinthians, who certainly were messed up in their personal lives as well as in their church life but they were believers. He said, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God and you’re not your own, you’re bought with a price.” Christ in you, the hope of glory, the blessed Holy Spirit manifests the life of Christ in and through every believer because He dwells within the believer.

Your job is to open every room in your heart house by faith to that blessed indwelling spirit so that He can fill your life. Ephesians 5:18 gives you the command. He says, “Alcohol suffuses a person’s being, so don’t let that happen but instead the same process let the Holy Spirit of God fill all of your being. “Be ye filled with the Spirit,” he said, Ephesians 5:18. You follow me there? So the Spirit of God dwells within the believer, He re-duplicates within your heart all of those blessed qualities which belonged to the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that connection then, He dwells within you. He says, “He’ll convict the world.”

As a matter of fact, one reason why unbelieving people oftentimes seem to resent you… Now let’s grant that you’re a normal, happy, wholesome person, you’re not an accident going somewhere to happen, you’re not a disagreeable person, who when someone says, “Good morning,” replies, “What’s good about it?” Let’s grant that you’re a normal, happy, wholesome, spirit-filled Christian and you go about your daily work and find to your surprise and dismay that people resent you. Now that happens everyday, I know it does, and people write to me about it and it’s happened personally to me. People resent you even when you’re doing your best and you’re conscious of being a… Well, a fairly nice individual. Now why? Because the Holy Spirit of God within you makes you, beloved, a walking sermon to them. And so He says, “He’ll convict the world of sin because they believe not on me.” The crowning sin is not all of these gross sins that we list and catalog. God hates them too. But the problem is the sin problem, not sins problems. See, there are sins committed because people are sinners. See?

And so, what the Spirit of God does is to convict the world around you and to me of the fact that they simply can’t measure up to the holiness of God. Sin is there. And that’s the reason they do some things that are wrong, and say some things that are wrong. But the great crowning offense upon which human nature is judged is rejection of God’s remedy for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you refuse the remedy, there isn’t any way for you to be helped.

I told you I guess maybe a year or two ago about Jim Kemry. Well, let me tell you again. Jim Kemry went away to war shortly after Pearl Harbor day. I had 90 some young men gathered in a prayer breakfast on Sunday, December 7th. And within a year after Pearl Harbor Sunday, there were only three or four left. They’d all gone away to war. Jim was one of them, went into the navy, saw action in the South Pacific, and came back mercifully, and was able to talk with me at different times. He told me that their ship had been the target of what we called the Kamikaze bombers, and this would be a Japanese bomber loaded with bombs, the pilot oftentimes chained or handcuffed to his seat so that there would be no possible way for him to escape. And his orders were to fly directly into a United States ship and thus, destroy it and himself. Kamikaze bombers.

And Jim said that mercifully they were spared any direct hit. But he said on one occasion the bomber missed and the pilot managed to eject from his sinking aircraft, and so they lowered a small boat over to the side, and were going on out to pick him up. And as they came to him, they saw him treading water. But as they came near him, he lifted one hand and silently slid beneath the waves. He had been told that on no circumstances must he allow himself to be rescued. Sad business. And then Jim Kemry, when he told me that story, he says, “You know preacher, I guess if a man doesn’t wanna be saved, you can’t save him, can you?” Pretty insightful wisdom there.

If you want to be different, Jesus can make you different. But if you don’t want to be different, nobody can help you. That’s the truth of it. And so Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” You have to be thirsty for God. “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” You have to want God to do something, and when you do, thank God He does the miracle that makes the difference in your life. The problem is not the sins problem. It’s not the things you do. It’s the sinner, you and I are, that needs saving. Do you follow that?

Somebody’s listening to me today who’s maybe been religious enough to listen to our broadcast now and then, but you’ve never committed yourself completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don’t you do that right now? Right now. If you’re driving, pull off the road, and bow. Or if you’re at home, or in the office, or wherever, just take a moment. Say, “Lord Jesus Christ, I give up to you. I want you to save me from my sin. Forgive me and make me a child of God. I open my heart to you now, in Jesus’ name.”

See? Just open your heart to the Lord. He’ll save you. “For whosoever,” the Bible says, “shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” You try it. “The Holy Spirit of God convicts of sin, righteousness,” it says, “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and ye see me no more.” What’s the point of that? Well, the only Jesus that people will see is the one who lives in you. “The only righteousness… ” This is an awesome thing. Hold onto your hat. “The only demonstration of righteousness that this old world and people in it will see in this age is in your life as a believer.” “Of righteousness, because,” He says, “I’m not here anymore. You are, but I’m not.”

And so, the Holy Spirit comes to you to proclaim through you the righteousness of God. Now that’s what Paul meant in first Corinthians 1:30, “Christ has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” By faith, you can take from Jesus wisdom, which is knowing what to do with what you know. Righteousness is the quality of being spontaneously good. Sanctification is the quality of being set apart for God’s use without being sanctimonious about it. And redemption is the quality of wrapping up the whole package of life, and making it a continuing miracle and an adventure with God. Jesus does it all. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of righteousness, because you beloved, are exhibit A of that very quality.

Paul said to Timothy, “Be thou an example of the believers.” That’s a demonstration, a sample. He says, “You be a living sample of what it means to be a Christian.” Be an example of the believers. In word, that’s what you say. Conversation means lifestyle, charity, spirit, and faith, and purity. You be a living sample. How do you do this? You yield to the blessed Holy Spirit of God who dwells within you and he makes you a sample of what Jesus in all of his righteousness is like. I tell you, that is a mind-boggling concept but it’s absolutely true and you and I may live it gloriously as we yield to our blessed Savior moment by moment. We get into the rest of this passage the next time we get together.

Father God, today may the Holy Spirit dwelling within us make us a demonstration of what Jesus is like, I ask in His name. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!