Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 1:13-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell ©1999

 

Putting Something On Lay-by

 

My wife likes to go shopping.

Especially if there is a sale on and bargains to be had.

She tells me how much money she has saved me and how lucky we are to get it at this price.

When I ask where she got the money to but it from?

She says easy, I just put it on lay-by.

A lay-by only requires a deposit of 10% to secure the article.

Some people pay off most of the lay-by and leave a small amount so they can hide the gift from the family and keep it a surprise.

In a similar way God has purchased believers for Himself.

He has put a deposit on them through His Holy Spirit.

They belong to Him and one day He will come back to collect them for Himself.

Introduction

 

For the last two Sunday mornings we have been looking at God's plan of salvation.

We have observed the work of all three members of the trinity.

Today we  will look at */The Spirit's Seal/*.

Today there is a great deal of misunderstanding on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

So this morning we will also look at the wider work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people.

I will follow this line of thought in chronological order.

There are five specific areas I want to address.

I.

Conviction

II.

Conversion

III.

Connection

IV.

Consignment

V.  Control

 

/Firstly/ Conviction - /Sin Condemned/

 

Jesus Christ promised the disciples that He would send another comforter.

He then outlined some of His ministries.

Conviction relates to the lost.

*John 16:7-11* /“Nevertheless I tell you the truth.

It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: “of sin, because they do not believe in Me; “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

/The Holy Spirit*/ convicts/* people so that they might come to God through repentance.

Prosecution In A Court Room

 

The word */convict/* means */convince, rebuke, tell a fault.

/*The Holy Spirit gives a troubled conscience to sinners.

He tugs at your heart making you feel uneasy.

As God's people proclaim the Gospel, the Holy Spirit convicts the hearts of the hearers.

Believers are like witnesses in a courtroom giving testimony for Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the prosecuting attorney who confirms the guilty charge against sinners.

God does this to lead people to repent so that they can be forgiven.

*Romans 2:4* /Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?/ My own life!

The Holy Spirit convicts the world about sin because in general people don't believe in Jesus Christ the Holy One.

He has exposed their sin.

The Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness because Christ has fulfilled the law.

He has completed the Fathers will [salvation].

Having been rejected by men, He returned to the Father again.

Of judgment because Jesus Christ judged Satan on the cross.

Satan the author of sin was defeated by Christ's death and resurrection.

/How do men respond to the Spirit's conviction?/ Two ways, they either receive Christ or resist Him.

*Acts 2:37 * /Now when they heard this, *they were cut to the heart*, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” /The phrase,*/ Cut to the heart/*/ /speaks of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Peter told them how to be saved.

Repent of their sin faith in Christ.

But some respond to the Spirit's conviction differently, they resist it.

This happened when Stephen preached to the Sanhedrin.

*Acts 7:51-54, 58 */“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!

You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, “who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

When they heard these things *they were cut to the heart*, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul./

Application

 

God convicts people so that He might save them.

When people respond like those on the day of Pentecost he does a second work.

/Are you resisting the Holy Spirit's conviction?

/It is dangerous to resist the Spirit's conviction as this hardens your heart.

If you continue this way the time will come when God will not convict you./

*Today is the accepted time today is the day of salvation.*/

/The second work is/ Conversion - /Regeneration/

 

From man's perspective, */Conversion/* is what takes place when people repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ.

From God's perspective this results in being born again or regeneration.

All three terms mean that the sinner has a new life.

The new life is born of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told Nicodemus this when he came to Him at night.

*John 3:3-8*  /Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”Jesus

answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”/

Everyone receives physical life when they enter this world.

But only those who receive the second birth obtain spiritual life.

To enter God's heavenly kingdom you need to be born of His Spirit.

Flesh can only produce flesh, it takes the Holy Spirit to produce spiritual life.

Adam and Eve were created with both lives.

*Genesis 2:7 */And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lifes; and man became a living being.

/

The Hebrew word for life is plural.

God gave them physical and spiritual lives when He breathed into them.

The day they took of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they died.

They died spiritually the same day.

Adam died physically 930 years later.

Spiritual death is separation from God.

This is why man must be born again.