R808 The Impact Of The Spirit Pt.1

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and today's message on the Holy Spirit. Yesterday Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist, seminary professor, and pastor is opening God's Word to John 16 with his message on the impact of the Spirit.

For the next couple of days we'll be talking about God's Holy Spirit and how not only it impacts us, but empowers us to impact others. Know that we're here for you, connecting on our website 24 hours a day at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Don and the book from Stormy O'Martian about praying for your adult children is still available. All the details are on our website www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now today's great message with Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to know that when I got into bed last night, my house was as quiet as I could possibly even begin to imagine. It was awful quiet. It was too quiet. I actually just didn't feel quite right because my house was empty. Something was missing.

Of course I knew what it was. My wife is out of town and my dog lives in the garage. We all have people that we can identify with that we love so much and when they're not there, there's something missing isn't there? Some people can identify with that with regard to a mother, a father, someone dear to you that's gone on to be with the Lord and you miss them so much. I want to speak to you this morning about the impact of the Spirit.

And what I'm going to speak to you about today is just simply this. What do you suppose life would be like if the Spirit of God was not present? How would we get along? What if the Spirit of God was not there? What if the Spirit of God didn't show up when I moved to Nashville or to Chicago?

What if the Spirit of God wasn't there in my business? Turn with me in your Bibles to John's gospel in chapter 16. John chapter 16. I'm going to begin to read from verse 7. Jesus said in John 16 and verse 7, but I tell you the truth. It is for your good.

Did you notice that? Evidently, the presence of the Spirit of God around me and in me is designed for me. It's for my good. In other words, if the Spirit of God weren't there, it would not be good. It is for your good that I'm going away because unless I go away the counselor, the Spirit of God will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you. Remember that Jesus was about to be crucified and when he was, it took 40 days before the Spirit of God came down at Pentecost, which we read about in Acts chapter 2. And we know that historically, that period of time between the ascension of the Lord Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit was the most powerless, uneventful period of time in human history.

Nothing happened. Well, look what Jesus tells us about the Holy Spirit in verse 8. When he comes, that is the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, in regard to righteousness, and in regard to judgment.

I'm going to stop right there this morning. The impact of the Spirit. Why the Spirit? Why can we do without so much, but not without the Spirit of God? Well, there are two major reasons. I would dare tell you that there are many other reasons, but I'm going to limit myself to two reasons today. Reason number one, because without the Spirit, there will be no conviction. Now you need to take note of this. This is wonderful stuff, folks.

Watch this. Jesus said it's for your good. What's not good about not having the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit did not presence himself in our lives, if we didn't depend upon him, number one, there would be, there can be, there will not be any conviction. Now that word conviction here in the text carries two meanings. First is a legal meaning. The first meaning, it can refer to the judicial act of conviction with a view to sentencing. Ask any lawyer or attorney, they'll tell you about the word conviction. It's a judicial term. It's a legal term, justifiably so. And it can refer to the judicial act of convicting someone with a view to sentencing them.

You have been found guilty, and in two weeks, we are going to sentence you to pay for your crime. But the word conviction can also refer, watch this, to the act of convincing with a view to salvation. And that is the meaning in this text. It's not a legal term.

It's not a judicial term. On the one hand, it can refer to a judicial term whereby you convict with a view to sentencing, but the Holy Spirit doesn't convict with a view to sentencing you. The Holy Spirit convinces, watch this, with a view to leading you to salvation. Folks, this is very important because the Holy Spirit does not condemn. The Holy Spirit of God does not condemn. The Holy Spirit convinces, convicts us.

Maybe this will help you. That word there, convince or convict, you know what it means? It means to unveil, to reveal, to make known, to turn the light switch on. You remember when you were just a little child and Mom and Dad would say, all right, it's time to go to bed now, son, daughter, and you'd toddle off to bed and it's dark in there. And you watch a little child walk into a dark room and boy, it just doesn't feel comfortable and they fumble around and find the light or say, Mommy, come. She comes into the room and puts a little lamp there with a night light and you put on that night light. What does the night light do? It illuminates. It unveils.

It removes what? The fear. It sets you free. Well, the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit convicts people like you and me, the Holy Spirit is not saying, you sorry person, I want you to know that you have bettered this and had bettered. No, the Holy Spirit convinces us, unveils the truth to us, puts the light on, chases away the darkness.

It's a wonderful thing. All right, take the Holy Spirit out of your life. Got nobody to switch the light on. Take the Holy Spirit out of your life. There's nobody to pull the covers back. Now, I want us to just have a look at this together, folks.

Very exciting. How does the Holy Spirit convict us? What does the Holy Spirit convict us of? Well, this verse in verse eight tells us. Number one, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our specific sin. That little word there, if you look at it with me, it says when he comes, he will convict the world in regard to sin.

That is in the singular. That is not sins, plural. If you were to say to me today, pastor, would you share with us your sins?

Well, we would have to be here the better part of the day because we've got one sin after another, do we not? We are sinners. We sin against God. And we can lay out one sin after another.

Why is this singular? Why is this a specific sin? Because there is only one sin that causes people like you and me to be separated from God for all time and eternity. What is the one sin that separates us from God? Only one sin. There's only one sin that separates you from God.

It's not your lying or your cheating or this or that. Listen folks, I can lie and cheat as a Christian and I can be forgiven for that. That does not send me to hell. What condemns me? What sends me to an eternity separated from God? It is the sin of unbelief. Not believing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. You can go into many passages.

I don't have time. For example, in John chapter eight and verse 24, Jesus said, if you do not believe that I am. If you do not believe that I am who I say I am because Jesus claimed full deity for himself. He said, I am the son of God. I love John 3, 16. God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever what? Believes in him.

Do you see that? Shall not perish. Bible tells us that we've got to believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us there's only one sin that can never be forgiven.

Anyone like to tell me what it's called in the Bible? It's called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Cannot be forgiven.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit convicts me of my specific sin which is the sin of unbelief and if I'm not convinced concerning my sin of unbelief and I do not believe, I can never be accepted into the presence of God because I do not believe that God is who he says he is. Are you listening?

Folks, this is an incredible thing. No wonder we're powerless if we take the Holy Spirit out of the scheme of things. I've got nothing to say unless the Spirit of God moves in my heart.

Unless the Spirit of God blesses what is being said, I have to depend upon the Holy Spirit because he convicts us of specific sin. This specific sin, this sin of unbelief is fatal, it is unforgivable and it is eternal. So number one, the Holy Spirit convinces, turns the light on, takes the veil off, pulls the cover back concerning, watch this folks, my unbelief. Number two, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our standard of righteousness. I want you to see what he says here in verse eight.

He says he will convict the world, number one, in regard to sin, our specific sin, the sin of unbelief. Number two, in regard to righteousness, our standard of righteousness. You see my friends, in Jesus' time, the Pharisees went around saying, listen, this is how you become righteous. You need to say your prayers, you need to go to church, you need to give your money, you need to do this, you need to do that.

No different to our day and age. If I was to stand up here today and I was to say to you, now I want to tell you something, if you want to be righteous in the eyes of God, you need to make sure you go to Kentucky missions at least one time in your lifetime and we put all kinds of standards of righteousness into our Christianity if you understand what we're saying. What does the Spirit of God do?

The Spirit of God convicts us concerning our standard of righteousness. Now how does he do that? Does three things. Number one, he shatters the pretensions of self-righteousness. Boys and girls, I know that's a big word, pretension. That little word, pretension, there means those things that we lay claim of, that we decide are God's standards.

Now folks, this is incredible here. Whole denominations of churches have been formed around the claims of righteousness of people just like you and me. What does God do? What does he Spirit do? He just shatters all those claims.

He just lays them aside. He says, listen, he told the Pharisees, he said, listen, boys, you don't know what you're talking about. I've got my Holy Spirit that is going to come after I die whereas I've been telling you how to live right. After I've gone, disciples, my Holy Spirit is going to do that. He is going to shatter the pretensions of self-righteousness.

The second way that he does that is he exposes the darkness of the heart. You see, folks, I spoke to you about giving just a moment ago. Can I say this to you? I'm going to say it. Is it possible for me to stand up here today and tell you that my giving of my gross income is at 130% and lie to you?

Is it possible for me to do that? Yeah. Now my CPA is sitting here in this congregation. He knows. Because he knows how much charitable giving I claim. My wife knows, boy, you don't put that past my wife. Is it possible for me to lie about?

Of course it's possible. Even as a Christian person, it's possible for me to just go and flat out lie. What does the Holy Spirit do concerning my standard of righteousness? He not only shatters any claim that I have, but he exposes the darkness of my heart.

Whoa. I can't do it without him because if he weren't around, I'd just do it on my own. I'd pull the wool over everybody's eyes, including my own. And by the way, I'd do a jolly good job of it too. Number three, he testifies concerning the evil in this world. That's what he does. He bears testimony to that which is evil in this world. He helps us to determine what is evil.

Let's not kid each other, folks. When God went to Adam and Eve in the garden, did he offer them the worst apple? Did Satan offer them the worst apple in the vineyard?

No, he went to the very best. He said, that's the best apple. That's the pick of the crop.

I want you to eat that one. How do you identify evil, folks? The Spirit of God.

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more insight on that concept of how we identify evil. You know, God's Spirit is ready to give us illumination if we ask for it. Sometimes one of the joys of being a part of the family of God is that we can ask God together for things and see God work in the unifying of our hearts.

Whatever two or more are gathered in Jesus' name, He's among us. And we pray that if we can pray for you about anything, you would call us at 866-899-WORD any time. That's 866-899-9673.

Perhaps you're dealing with that concept of the fear of evil. We are praying with friends right now and would love to pray for you. 866-899-9673 is the number. Or if you'd rather, let's connect on our website as well. Keyboard to keyboard at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. And what a joy your stories. Every day seeing folks talk about how, you know, God's working through the power of God's Word and the encouraging Word of God. If you'd like to share your story with Dr. Don, his email is don.d-o-n at t-e-w-online.org. He would love to hear your story and pray for you. That's don.d-o-n at t-e-w-online.org.

Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. Evil is not always on the surface easily identifiable. Evil is determined by what God has to say about it.

All right, watch this. The Holy Spirit convicts us concerning our specific sin, the sin of unbelief. Number two, the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning our standard of righteousness. And number three, the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning our pending judgment.

That's what he says. He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now watch this, friends.

This is incredible. What is God trying to say about the impact of the Holy Spirit? What he is saying is this. This is what he does concerning our pending in judgment. Judgment. Number one, the Spirit confirms the lies of Satan. You can read about it in John chapter eight and verse 44 through 47. Jesus told his disciples, he said, listen, Satan is the father of lies. So what does the Spirit of God do? The Spirit of God helps me as a believer to determine what's coming from the heart of God and what's coming from the heart of the father of all lies who is Satan.

Number two, he corrects the opinions of man. And the survey says, can you imagine if we took a survey today in America about the opinions of man concerning the judgment? Some people would say, oh, get out of here, preacher. That's preacher's talk. Nobody's gonna get judged.

Oh, come on, man. Listen, God's a God of love. He could never judge anybody. What does the Spirit of God do? The Spirit of God corrects the opinions of man. The Spirit of God reveals to the heart of man the fact that God is love, but he cannot tolerate sin.

And number three, the Spirit of God conveys the truth about God's love. That's how he convicts us related to our pending judgment. What is the judgment of God? The judgment of God is the love of God. It's the love of God. God so loved the world that when we believe in him, we will what?

Not die. That's our pending judgment. Romans eight, verse one, there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in union with Christ Jesus. That's the Spirit. Number one, without the Spirit, no conviction. Number two, without the Spirit, there is no power. No power.

I can do nothing. He is all powerful. Jesus said in Acts chapter one and verse eight, when the Spirit comes on you, you will have power to be my witnesses. You will have the power to preach. You will have the power to do missions. You will have the power to love your enemies. You will have the power to hold high in the name of Jesus Christ. I present to you today God's precious Spirit.

What an impact. Without him, we can do nothing. Do you know God by his Spirit? Do you know with your heads bowed this morning that there is not a single Christian in this world that does not have the Spirit of God?

Impossible. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you have the Spirit, all of him. All of him. God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Son, three in one. If you have him, you have his Spirit. I want you to thank the Lord Jesus for that today. Just thank him.

God, just thank the Lord Jesus today for his Spirit. Tanya, the Lord Jesus is the one who, while we've been in this worship service, he's been tugging at your heart. He's been telling you that something's not right. He's encouraging you to keep on keeping on. He's telling you that despite all that comes against you, all the people that would seek to do harm to you, hold your head up high, my friend. You just continue to be faithful.

He's the one that comes to us in that hospital bed and says, I know the news is not good, but I will sustain you. The Spirit of God does that. The Spirit of God compels us to give and to do and to be.

That's the Spirit of God. Would you look at me? Now, I can tell you, some of you might say to me today, well, pastor, have I got the Spirit of God in me? Watch me, folks. I'm gonna tell you to say perhaps the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. You know.

You know. If you've sat in this worship service today, and I mean it's like a blank wall. Your heart is just, you're a jolly fine person, I have no doubt.

It's just, you know, it's just kind of like going past you and you can't wait to go and do other good things today and get in your boat or whatever it is, you know. If there's just nothing there, just like dead, can I help you? Friends, you don't have the Holy Spirit, and that means you're not a Christian. You're not, you don't know Jesus.

And I tell you what, today you can. I'd love to help you. Wouldn't you like to give your heart to Jesus?

That's the question. Would you like to give your heart to Jesus? If you need to talk to someone about it, we have a great team of friends ready to answer questions for you at 866-899-WORD. I pray you'll jot that number down, 866-899-9673. We would love to speak with you and pray with you about anything, but, you know, it may not be that you need to call us right now. It may be you just need to take a moment. You've been hearing God's word, maybe even hearing God's voice speak to you. And listen as Dr. Don steps into the studio to share what's on his heart next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. Is today the day, the day that you're drawing a line in the sand, whether it's for the very first time or coming back to Jesus, to say, from this point forward, I'm going to live my life completely sold out to Jesus Christ.

Oh, how we'd like to not only celebrate with you, but help you in the next steps to make sure that this is not only a commitment you make in your mind and your heart today, but something you can put feet to, perhaps by studying God's Word on a daily basis. Just with an email from Dr. Don, we have a number of resources that will help you grow in the next steps. If you'll let us know about your decision, you can do that a number of ways. Call your phone number, 866-899-WORD, and share your decision. Let us rejoice with you and send you those free resources from Dr. Don. Again, the number is 866-899-9673. Dr. Don will be thrilled to hear from you directly via email if you email Don at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. Dr. Don would be the one to be praying for you, and of course we will join him in that prayer, but then he passes that along to our team, so you can get those resources if you've just given your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus today. Know that we're here for you.

As a matter of fact, you can also meet us on our website, T-E-W online dot O-R-G, where you'll discover great resources like this. Hello, everybody. You know, my friends know me as Don Wilton, pastor, friend, neighbor, dad, husband, grandpa. But I'm going to tell you people all around the world just like you know and identify Dr. Billy Graham as that man that God used to reach so many people around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Graham in a very personal and intimate way, both as his friend and as his pastor.

In fact, for many years, I drove up to his home in Montreat, North Carolina, and visited with him every Saturday. Just like friends do everywhere, we sat together and ate together, walked, talked. We discussed politics, friends, places, people. We laughed our heads off. We did everything one could possibly imagine. That's why I wrote this wonderful book, Saturdays with Billy.

It's all about a personal relationship. And I hope and pray that Saturdays with Billy will be a blessing to you, will inspire you, and will encourage your heart, just as Mr. Graham encouraged my heart and changed my life. God bless you, my friends. Our time's gone for today, but let's stay connected online at tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word