Why Wouldn't Everyone Want to be Convicted by the Spirit [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Jesus did not lead people to repentance by any form of judgment. He led people to repentance by His unquenchable love and kindness.

It is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in this series filled as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource today. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. John 16 7, I tell you the truth, it is for your good that I'm going away. Unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin, because men do not believe me. In regard to righteousness, because I'm going to the Father where you can see me no longer. And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. Now before we go to Luke chapter 15, because my time will be limited to address each portion of what Jesus is saying in these verses 9 and 10. Notice that the judgment that is spoken of here is the judgment of the prince of this world who is now condemned. So there's an example, if you think that God is primarily ready to judge you, then you probably read that verse and go, well that's what the Holy Spirit is here is to convict me with regard to judgment. And then the next thing you know, you'll be wandering down a path living your life of the fear of the great judgment day.

When everything you've ever done wrong is going to be put up on a giant 52,000 square foot plasma screen TV. For all the angels and your grandmother and your first grade teacher to see if that's who you think God is. Okay, Luke chapter 15, the familiar story. There was a man, verse 11, who had two sons and the younger one said to his father, father give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. And not long after that the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth and wild living. And after he had spent everything there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare and here I am starving to death.

A simple recognition of the folly of his predicament. I will sit out and go back to my father and say to him, father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father. And if you do not see anything else today except for the connection of verse 17 and verse 20 it would be more than enough. That when he came to his senses is linked inextricably to so he got up and went to his father.

For if I have anything to say about the convicting teaching work of the Holy Spirit, it is to say that he will always lead you to the father. But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him and he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quick bring the best robe and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For the son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile the older son was in the field and when he came near the house he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come.

He replied your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. And the older brother became angry. Part of the anger of the older brother was that this son had squandered his portion of the inheritance. The older son would get two-thirds. The younger son would get one-third.

The younger son has now squandered his one-third. But in his father receiving him back in, he's receiving him back in for another share of the inheritance. And so the older brother is now going to have to share part of what was going to be his. God has been showing us throughout the ages that what would one day take place is there would be an older brother who would not begrudge sharing the inheritance. His name is Jesus. And the brother comes back.

He's safe and sound. The other brother, though, who has been doing all the right things, the Bible says, verse 28, refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him, but he answered his father, Look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father, said, You're always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, and he was lost, and he's found. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune God. He is God. He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And so I've asked the question in recent weeks, Why wouldn't everybody want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? He is the loving presence of God to us. If you think it would have really been cool to just be able to walk the earth with Jesus, and you think how special for those 12 disciples that got to just hang intimately with Jesus, the good news of the gospel is that who the Holy Spirit is to us is the Spirit of Jesus, who is still discipling us.

And when Jesus said, It's better that I go away because then the advocate, the counselor, can come, He means this very literally that the limitation upon His earthly ministry was that He would spend His time mainly with 12 people. But when the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus would spend His time with all who would receive Him. And that the Holy Spirit is to us not only the gift of the power of God, but the very personal presence of God.

Jesus in other places speaks of the Spirit as the Spirit of truth, because He is a great teacher who leads us and guides us into the truth. And one of the central promises to every Christian is that when you receive Christ, you no longer have to stumble in the darkness. And for anyone who's ever stumbled about in the darkness, you know it's a very painful thing.

That if you're in the darkness, you're likely to bump into things and fall into places that you don't want to fall into. But what God has promised is that in Jesus Christ the light has been turned on. So that there's a fundamental difference between the kind of ministry of the Holy Spirit that is the conviction of the Holy Spirit and what we normally think of with regard to condemnation and judgment. Because we normally think of the conviction of the Holy Spirit as the judgment of God, or God just simply making us feel bad about ourselves. But in the end what it really is about is about change.

That's what it's really about. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Thankfully God has never expected you to live the Christian life by your own strength. He has sent a helper and every single Christian is invited to live a supernaturally empowered life through the continual infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a special bundle alongside the audio teaching, Pastor Alan has also written a booklet. Both the audio and the booklet not only explain the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but will nourish, inspire, and draw you nearer to the God who longs to immerse you in His love and power.

Discover how to be filled with the Spirit and get ready for your life to be filled with fresh love, joy, and power. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.

Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. The old joke, how many does it change the light bulb? How many does it take? I don't know. You've heard it before.

Probably I've stumbled on it. How many Anglicans does it take to change the light bulb? None.

They use candles. How many Calvinists does it take to change the light bulb? None.

God is predestined when the lights will be on. How many campfire worship leaders does it take to change the light bulb? One.

But soon all those around will warm up in its glowing. How many Charismatics does it take to change the light bulb? Five. One to change the bulb and four to bind the spirit of darkness in the room. How many independent Baptists does it take to change the light bulb?

Well, 15. One to change the bulb, three committees to approve the change, decide who brings the potato salad. How many Presbyterians does it take to change the light bulb? Change? In reality, it's one of the things I'm most excited about is just seeing our church, you know, developing a culture of change. Really, if you want to have any organization, certainly any ministry that's going to thrive, you need to develop a culture of change.

Why? Because healthy things grow and growing things change. You can't have growth without change. That's what growth is. And who wouldn't want to grow? So, to say who wouldn't want to grow is also to say who wouldn't want to change? We just get sort of comfortable in the way things are.

That's part of it. You know, I think I've done this with you before. If you put your hands together like this, just put them together like that. You know, the way you normally do is put them together like that. Okay, now, see, that feels good. Now, take them and put them this way. Put it just over one, you know, in the interlocking in a different way.

Ooh, gross. It doesn't feel right, does it? The amazing thing is that there are going to be things in our lives that just because it feels comfortable, we think it's correct. And a lot of the changes that you bring about in your life, they don't feel correct at first. And I'm sorry I always use golf illustrations, but I just don't have much of a life other than church except for traditional golf.

I guarantee you, if you've been holding the club incorrectly or you get it in the wrong position on your takeaway and somebody changes that who knows better than you, it does not feel right. And I've been spending 25 years trying to prove those teachers wrong by doing it my way. And that doesn't work. Why wouldn't everybody want to have the greatest teacher in the world show you what can be changed and how it can be better and how you can get there? Who wouldn't want to be convicted by the Holy Spirit in that sense? Now, if you think that the conviction of the Holy Spirit is about condemnation or judgment, then you would stay away from that, wouldn't you? Jesus came and He began His preaching ministry according to Matthew 4.17. He began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. So His ministry was a ministry of repentance.

But repentance is not a bony finger of condemnation pointing at you. It is instead an amazing concept that really literally means change your mind. And what He was saying is that you have thought that the kingdom of God was way out in the future and the Messiah would come in the future and you have thought that the process of law and religion that you have is the way of God, but I want you to change all your way of thinking because this is the true way of God and everything else has been a shadow and the Messiah is now here and the kingdom of God is at hand.

It's not some Davidic dynasty off in the future. It is here and it's at hand. So He was fundamentally calling people to change their minds, to change their way of thinking. And to change your mind is to also change your behavior. So He's calling people to repentance and Matthew 9, verse 9 to 5, He says, But go learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is such a marvelous thought from the lips of Jesus that He says, the words of the prophet, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, because what He's affirming is that it never was the heart of God to desire simply sacrifice from His people as if they were slaves. But it's always been His desire to flow in mercy towards people.

And He says it's not the sacrifices that I desire, but it's the contrite spirit. So it happened, as Matthew 9 continues, As Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And they said to Him, the Pharisees said, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? He's doing this backwards, doesn't He get it? We are to avoid the tax collectors and sinners because they are bad and we are good.

What is He doing? They are baffled by this. And Jesus heard it and said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do. He's defining His ministry by at least these qualities. He definitely came so that people would be able to repent. He is absolutely for repentance.

It may not be what you thought that means. And we absolutely must pay attention to the fact that Jesus was thronged all about by the quote sinners everywhere He went. And that, I know we know that He's called a friend of sinners, but stop for a moment and let your heart be amazed.

Because that is amazing. I just got back from participating in the leadership of a conference of the New Canaan Society. It's men's fellowship. It's a beautiful, bizarre ministry that started in Connecticut. Now we've got a chapter here in Winston-Salem that has 1100 people on our mailing list and about 200 people every week on Friday morning at the River Birch Lodge. And you're invited to come anytime you want to.

It's open to everybody at 7 o'clock at River Birch Lodge. Now back to the sermon. So what I love about this is it's a very non-religious thing for men. And yet it's very honest, very spiritual openness, you know, there. I don't think I've ever been in an environment of a Christian ministry that was any more free from shame and free from religion.

I love it. Well, we went to the conference this weekend and I was so excited that there were several of our men that had their sons there with them. And that was exciting. And I spoke to one in particular whose son has been in some trouble and some addiction problems and such.

I was just so glad he was there. And I spoke to the dad in the midst of the thing. I said, well, how's it going? And of course, you know, I'm just praying especially for that guy.

I mean, I'm sitting in the worship meetings and I'll be worshiping and then I'll just start praying for that guy, you know. And I asked his dad on the morning of the second day and I said, how's it going? And he said, well, it didn't go too well last night with him. And he kind of pulled out of the meeting and he said, my son said to me, he said, dad, I don't belong here.

I'm bad. And I'll tell you that story because I'm saying this is a ministry that has built itself on being as shame-free as we possibly could. And I guarantee you it is uproarious laughter and silliness. And there'd be a lot of Christians who would go and say, I'm not even sure this thing's Christian.

What are they doing? I mean, it is like that. And yet a young man with problems in his life and struggles in his life immediately begins to assume I don't belong. And he pulls away from the group. How is it possible that the worst sinners in the first generation thronged about Jesus as if he were a magnet?

That is extraordinary. But we must understand that to understand the nature of God and to understand the nature of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus.

And inasmuch as you think people wanted to be around Jesus in the flesh, I tell you so it is the Holy Spirit's presence when it truly is the Holy Spirit's presence. Sinners and those in great need will throng to be in his presence. Jesus transformed repentant sinners not by their penance, meaning that they do something to make amends for their sin, but instead by an inward transformation that comes through the broken and contrite spirit within the quote, sinner. In other words, as I say so often, God is not looking for more people who can do more things for him.

He is looking for more yielded people through whom he can do whatever he wants to do. And that has always been the heart of God. Jesus did not lead people to repentance by any form of judgment. He led people to repentance by his unquenchable love and kindness. It is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. This is the nature of the ministry of Jesus and I say this to establish the understanding of the nature of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I also think it's instructive to think of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life for change by thinking about what makes a great teacher or a great coach. And think about some of the greatest teachers, coaches and mentors you've had in your life.

What were the qualities that they had? Well, all learning and all change requires a very simple process, doesn't it? In which we realize that there's something we're doing or thinking that is not the best. And right with that, right next to it, we realize there is a better way and we see that better way. And then we start trying to put it into practice. That's the way the process works. So I don't know.

I'm sure the sociologists and psychologists tell us a lot more about this. But at some point, the little baby lifts up his head just a little bit. His muscles are developing. He said, you know, this is pretty cool. I can look around if I lift my head up like this.

But this is a much better view than the view of the bottom of the grid. And so they keep doing that because this is better. Alan Wright. In today's teaching, why wouldn't everyone want to be convicted by the Spirit? And Alan is back here in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and our final word today. Almost everything about New Testament Christianity is impossible by human power alone. Thankfully, God has never expected you to live the Christian life by your own strength. He has sent a helper and every single Christian is invited to live a supernaturally empowered life through the continual infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a special bundle alongside the audio teaching, Pastor Alan has also written a booklet. Both the audio and the booklet not only explain the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but will nourish, inspire, and draw you nearer to the God who longs to immerse you in His love and power.

Discover how to be filled with the Spirit and get ready for your life to be filled with fresh love, joy, and power. The Gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. In a series, a teaching on the Holy Spirit, we've got to come and at some point talk about repentance and conviction. Whoopee!

Right? And why is this? This is a lot of our reaction when we hear repentance and conviction.

Oh, this is going to be fun. But, in all honesty, it really shouldn't be seen that way, should it? No, in fact, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to you. Because if you change your way of seeing this, repentance means, literally, change your way of thinking. That's what it means, change your mind, change your thinking. And conviction, therefore, is the process of the Holy Spirit convincing you, graciously, of something that needs to be changed in the way you're thinking.

So, any time that I believe something that was false and then I start believing something that's true, that is the process of conviction and repentance. It is what we do every day in life. We want to get better at things we're doing, right? I play golf. I want to get to be better. I want to swing the club better. And if you enjoy cooking, you want to get better.

If you enjoy playing bridge, you want to be better. Whatever it is. Well, life itself, the most important thing we have, the gift of life, of living our lives, that's what we most want to improve, just how we live. And the Holy Spirit is teaching us, guiding us. That's really what the conviction of the Holy Spirit does, lead us to a new way of understanding. And repentance is a new way of thinking. And when you look at it that way, who wouldn't want that? Today's Good News message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.