Sermon - Things We Need... Conviction - Littleby Baptist Church - January 3, 2021
So far in the Things We Need List Two series we have seen that we Need Jesus, Excitement, Simplicity. Praise, Humility, and Wisdom.
Our last Things We Need… Wisdom will help us to understand that while we may not really want or like our next Things We Need… Conviction, it truly is something we cannot live without!
Without the Things We Need… Conviction we would never know that we need a savior. We would never be able to identify the sin in our lives. Without Conviction we would spend our lives living as the world lives and not living the life our Lord and Savior desires for us.
“8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” – Ephesians 5:8-14
Before becoming a follower of Jesus, we walk in darkness. Once we repent and choose to follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we then begin our journey in the light. As we walk as children of light, following our Lord Jesus, letting the Holy Spirit work in our lives, learning as we read the Bible, we begin to see how everything is exposed by the Light of Christ. As things are exposed, we learn what is of God and what is of the world. As Christ shines on us, our sin is exposed, and the Holy Spirit points out what Needs to be cut away.
This is the Things We Need… Conviction. As our journey with Jesus grows from that very first day and as years and decades pass by, the Light continues to point out the sin in our lives and the Holy Spirit continues to help us turn from the darkness and embrace the Light of our Lord.
“7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” – John 16:7-11
The Things We Need… Conviction starts before a person asks Jesus to forgive them and commits to following Him. He is at work in the hearts and minds of those who have yet to turn to the saving Grace of Christ. He is working to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to the truth that they are sinners and are in desperate need of a savior. The Holy Spirit is Convicting people of their sin.
Without the Holy Spirit, it is safe to say that none of us would be followers of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that shows us what is wrong in our lives and opens our eyes even the tiniest amount so that for the first time we can see that we are living in sin. Even if we were living a great life, caring for others, and meeting needs wherever we could, we were sinning because we had not repented and chosen to follow Jesus.
“8 when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength” – 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
This is one of those occasions that ignorance is not bliss. Romans 14:11 states that ‘every knee will bow to me, and ever tongue will give praise to God.’…. meaning at one point or another every person will realize that Jesus Christ is God and that they need Him. There will be those who recognize that need on this side of eternity and ask Jesus to be the Lord of their lives. They are kneeling before God and praising Him today. Then there will be those who do not recognize that they Need Jesus before it is too late as they stand before Him in judgement.
Those that recognize The Things We Need… Conviction before it is too late will spend an eternity with our Lord and those that do not, will not.
“9 I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death.” – 2 Corinthians 7:9-10
God wills that every person who ever lived would be grieved or convicted. Conviction is what drives us to call out to God and repent.
The Things We Need… Conviction is a vital piece of every believer’s life. It is what leads us to the cross of Jesus. It leads us to repent of our sins and ultimately in leads to our salvation.
The Things We Need… Conviction does not stop after the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and we accept the Truth. Conviction continues as the Holy Spirit shapes us into the person God has created us to be.
“Yet, Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our potter, we all are the work of your hands.” – Isaiah 64:8
This verse inspired one of my favorite pictures. A potter, with aged hands, working his wheel. His hands and the wheel were covered with clay but the pottery being made was beautiful. While we may not like the Things We Need… Conviction when it makes us uncomfortable, we need to remember that it is one of the tools God uses to shape us. Conviction is one of the ways God shapes us into who He created us to be.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9
If we are a child of God, we have confessed our sins and God is cleansing us from the unrighteousness in our lives. He is using the Things We Need… Conviction to take the impurities out of our lives.
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.” – John 14:26
The Holy Spirit will show us the sin in our lives and Convict us of it. The Holy Spirit will help us to see the truth in the Word of God and help us to know how to apply it to our lives. He will remind us of the things we have heard and learned when we need it. He will be that little voice in the back of our heads warning us when we are heading down the wrong path.
The Holy Spirit will be the one driving the Things We Need… Conviction before and after we choose to repent of our sins and to follow Jesus, but He is not the only source.
As a young man and a follower of Christ who was not really engaged as I should have been, I would occasionally drop in on a Friday night Bible Study. One night after the Study I was talking with Rick, the leader, and I told him that every time I come to his studies that I felt convicted. I was looking for some level of reassurance that I was not too far-off track, but instead I got both barrels when Rick flat out told me that I needed to look at how I was living my life.
God used Rick to wake me up to the truth. I was opening God’s Word and reading what I needed to learn, so God used Rick to bring the Things We Need… Conviction into my life. While things did not turn around that night, it is one of those conversations that stuck with me and eventually helped lead me back to the path God had laid before me.
In Second Samuel we find King David making some really bad choices. Uriah was away at war and his wife Bathsheba caught David’s attention. David summoned Bathsheba, was intimate with her, and she became pregnant. At first David brought Uriah home in hopes of Uriah spending time with his wife so that it would appear like the baby was his. Uriah being a man of honor would not return to his house when his fellow soldiers were in the field.
David even tried to get Uriah drunk and send him home, but that did not work. When David realized this was not going to work, he decided to send Uriah back to the battle and ordered that he be placed where the fighting was the fiercest in order to ensure Uriah would die.
David’s wicked plan succeeded, he took the pregnant Bathsheba as his wife, but God was not happy.
God sent Nathan to David and he told him a parable about a rich man who had more than enough, stole a poor man’s only lamb and prepared it for his guest. David was enraged and declared that the rich man deserves to die for his actions and must pay four lambs for the one he took. He was not prepared for Nathan’s response.
“7 Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. 9 Why then have you despised the Lord’s command by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.” – 2 Samuel 12:7-9
God used Nathan to bring about the Things We Need… Conviction for David. David responded in verse thirteen by saying “I have sinned against the Lord” and Nathan told the king that the Lord had forgiven him.
Conviction brought repentance which brought forgiveness.
We may not like to admit it, but we do Need Conviction in our lives.
“12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
Another way God molds and shapes us is by using his Word to bring about the Things We Need… Conviction. Have you ever sat down to read the Bible and what you read hit you squarely between the eyes? Have you heard the Word of God read and without another word being spoken you felt a pull in your heart that you needed to listen to what was being said?
That is God using His Word to bring the needed Conviction. It truly is sharper than any sword ever created by man. The Word of God can cut deep and show us exactly what is wrong in our lives. When the Word of God speaks to us, we need keep reading and praying so that we can understand what God is trying to tell us.
The Things We Need… Conviction is a critical part of our lives as followers of Jesus.
A person needs Conviction to know that He needs a Savior. Conviction molds us and shapes us as we walk the path the Lord has laid before us.
The Things We Need… Conviction is one of the ways God transforms us into who He created us to be.
What is the Holy Spirit trying to tell you?
God Bless,
Robert
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