Man, the title of my sermon this morning is The Holy Spirit and Salvation.
The Holy Spirit and Salvation.
You see, when a person gets saved, when a person believes on Jesus Christ, it isn't
just that they intellectually understand something or intellectually assent to fact.
It's not like, hey, all the dumb people are going to go to hell because they don't get
it.
They can't figure the gospel out.
They're not smart enough to understand it or, well, smart people, they're all going
to get saved because they're smart enough to realize, hey, it's by faith, stupid, right?
That's not how the gospel works because it isn't just a math problem.
It isn't intellectual assent to fact.
It isn't something that is just happening on a physical or carnal or mental level, but
salvation is a spiritual thing.
And so the Holy Spirit is involved in salvation.
The Holy Spirit is necessary for someone to get saved.
It's not just I explain the gospel to someone, they understand it and then say, okay, that
is correct.
No, it's a spiritual transaction that's taking place when a person gets saved.
And this is very important that we understand this this morning.
Now let's look at some scriptures along these lines.
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 1.
The Bible reads, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but
in the power of God.
What's the apostle Paul saying?
Look, it's not that I was just really good at explaining stuff and I just had a really
convincing argument and then you intellectually assented to those well-crafted arguments.
No, he's saying, look, my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but he
says in demonstration, now in demonstration of the spirit and of power is not a complete
sentence.
Okay.
What is that attached to?
He's saying my speech and my preaching was in demonstration of the spirit and of power.
So his speech and his preaching was a spiritual sermon that worked in the hearts of the listener
that they might be saved, that their faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God.
So again, this is not just intellectual man's wisdom that gets a person saved.
Whoever's the best at explaining the gospel is going to get the most people saved.
No, there's a spiritual component going on where the Holy Spirit is regenerating the
hearts of those who hear the gospel and believe on Jesus Christ.
Look if you would at verse 13, the Bible says, which things also we speak, not in the words
which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things
with spiritual, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for their
foolishness unto him.
Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Basically the natural carnal human being is incapable of grasping spiritual things.
Here's another way of putting this.
You're incapable of getting saved without the Holy Spirit's help.
It's not like I can just explain a concept about salvation, which seems pretty simple,
right?
Jesus died for our sins.
He was buried.
He rose again.
We put our faith and trust totally in him and we're saved.
I can't just explain that to a person and a person just understands those facts and
a sense to those facts and just, okay, salvation.
In order for a person to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, it's the Holy Spirit's
power that actually leads them to that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that I preach the gospel, I have the Holy Spirit indwelling me, I preach the gospel
with the power of God and the power of God actually works in that person's heart that
they might be saved.
I hope you understand the difference here between something that is just completely
intellectual or, uh, just completely physical or carnal versus a spiritual activity of the
Holy Spirit's power in the preaching and the Holy Spirit working on the person who's listening
and they have the ability to receive the gospel, which they could not receive naturally because
the natural man, verse 14 receive it, not the things of the spirit of God for they are
foolishness on them.
Neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
What does that mean?
That means that the natural man, the carnal man, I could come to him and do a great job
of explaining the facts of the gospel.
He will not receive him.
And not only that, he'll think that they're stupid without the Holy Spirit working in
his heart.
Isn't that what the Bible is saying?
There'll be foolishness under him.
So he's not just going to be like, yeah, I believe that.
He's going to be like, no, that's dumb.
But the Holy Spirit will show him that it's true.
The Holy Spirit will work in his heart and give him the ability to receive spiritual
truth.
Okay.
Now, this might be a tough pill for some people to swallow because of the fact that, uh, some
people, you know, they, they, they're just hung up on this idea of, well, the gospel
is so simple.
People should just hear it, understand it, believe it.
But you have to understand that it's the Holy Spirit that has to do the work for us to get
people saved.
We can't do this in the flesh.
We can't do it on our own.
Okay.
It has to be done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so pay attention to the verses that we're looking at.
Maybe you have a preconceived idea about this.
Pay attention to these scriptures and see how essential it is that the Holy Spirit works.
Look if you would at Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter number 10, because this is related
to another closely related subject of why the word of God is necessary for people to
be saved.
Why is the word of God necessary?
And remember, what did the apostle Paul say?
He said, we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
What he's saying is that his preaching uses the word of God and comparing spiritual with
spiritual, that's comparing scripture with scripture, not just using cunning illustrations
and cunning explanations.
Now I have been preaching this till I'm blue in the face for the last 17 years of my ministry
because I believe so strongly in this.
You cannot be saved without the word of God.
You must have the word of God to be saved.
It says in Romans 10 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how so they believe
in him of whom they've not heard and how so they hear without a preacher and how so
they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things, but they've not all obeyed
the gospel for as I said, Lord who has believed our report notice verse 17 so then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
You've got to have the word of God to be saved.
There are a whole bunch of verses on this where the Bible talks about how the sower
parable of the sower, the sower sowing the word.
Acts 11 14 he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father
of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning, watch this, of his own
will beget he us with the word of truth.
God begat us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creature.
God's word is the seed.
God's word is used in the beginning.
He begat us with the word of truth.
The word saves.
God's word quickens, right?
And so it's faith that comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God.
Now whenever I preach this, the ones who would scoff at this would say, well, you could just
explain someone the gospel in your own words and if you explained everything about the
plan of salvation in your own words, if you just explained everything about the gospel,
why couldn't a person just get saved?
Why couldn't a person just hear you explain it in your own words and then they would just
get saved because you explained it to him.
I mean, come on.
If I mean, I could explain a lot of other things to you in my own words and you'd get
it and you'd understand it.
This isn't other things.
This is the gospel.
This is salvation and it's the Holy Spirit that saves.
So therefore if the Holy Spirit's not involved, salvation is not going to take place.
So you could do the ultimate perfect job of explaining to a person how to be saved.
You could explain it so well and have all the illustrations using all your own words,
but if you don't give them the word of God at all and they've not already heard the word
of God at all, they're not going to get saved because you can't get saved without the Bible.
You can't get saved without the word of God.
And this is why, you know, I remember when I was a teenager, I would try to witness to
my friends and I always failed and part of the reason was that I wasn't using the Bible.
You know, I'd be hanging around with friends in high school or something and spiritual
things would come up and I'd start explaining to them how to be saved and talking about
how to be saved, but I didn't use the Bible.
I was just kind of in my own words telling them what it meant to be a Christian, why
I'm saved, why I'm going to heaven.
They didn't get saved.
That's never going to work.
Let me tell you why.
Because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
They don't hear the word of God.
They're not going to have the faith to be saved.
If the Holy Spirit doesn't do a work in their heart, the gospel is going to be foolishness
unto them.
Are there people out there that think the gospel is foolishness?
All day long they'll mock it, they'll laugh at it, they'll say it doesn't make any sense.
It's illogical, it's foolish, but unto us which are saved is the power of God.
What's the difference?
The difference is the Holy Spirit.
That's the difference.
And by the way, the more you read your Bible, the more God's going to increase your faith
too, even after you're saved.
You know, those of us that are already saved, if we're spending a lot of time in our Bibles,
that's going to increase our faith.
If we're barely ever reading the Bible and we're just filling our mind with everything
that's out there in the world, that's where there's going to be a lot more doubt entering
in and our faith is going to get weaker and weaker because faith comes by hearing the
word of God.
The more time you spend in your Bible, the stronger your faith is going to be because
God's word is quick and powerful.
What does quick mean?
It's not talking about how fast it works, how rapid acting it is.
When the Bible says quick, it's an old meaning of quick, which means alive, like that Jesus
will judge the quick and the dead quick means alive.
And so when the Bible says the word of God is quick and powerful, look, the word of God
is not just any other book.
It's not just a book full of information.
Okay, let's get our information.
Let's disseminate that information.
No, it's a spiritual book that is alive.
The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword piercing.
I mean, how do we pierce that heart of the unbeliever who's resistant to the gospel?
The only thing that's going to cut through to the heart and bring that faith is going
to be the word of God.
The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing
even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
That's not just a book.
It's not like, well, you know, God gave us all this information.
Now look, when I read the Bible, I'll be honest with you, of course I do read the Bible to
get information because the Bible is packed with information and I do want to know the
information of the Bible.
I want to be able to know the facts of the Bible and know the facts of what is right
and what is wrong and know the facts about what it takes to be saved and to know the
facts about what has happened throughout the history of our world and how we got here
as human beings and why we're here and where we're going.
Hey, I want to know those facts.
You ought to know those facts.
But is the book solely a book of facts and information?
No, it's not just a manual or facts and information.
It's also a living spiritual book that when you read the Bible, you are communing with
the author of the Bible.
You are communing with God.
When you read the Bible, you are communing with the Holy Spirit and for an unsaved person
to get saved, it's going to take a supernatural act for them to get saved.
It's not just, Hey, I like that story.
That's a great story because you know, there are a lot of people who like this story that
aren't saved.
What it's going to take for them to be saved.
What it's going to take for them to have faith is something spiritual.
And this is one of the reasons why the word of God is necessary for salvation.
When you realize, Hey, this is a spiritual transaction.
This is a spiritual battle for the souls of men.
Then you understand we got to get the word of God involved.
We got to get God involved instead of just, well, I could do, what's the difference if
I just explain it in my own words?
What's the difference?
I just understand what the difference is.
Okay, well then there's a lot you don't understand apparently about the nature of God, about
the nature of the Bible and about the nature of salvation because these are spiritual things.
They're in another realm.
They can't be just dragged down to the level of philosophy and intellect and academia that
folks, there's a spiritual component to these things.
That's the big component, all right?
So again, I want to read the Bible for facts, but I also want to read the Bible to increase
my faith.
I also want to commune with God in reading the Bible.
Okay.
So in my Bible I pray, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law because I want God to commune with me and show me the truth from the word of God
as I read it on a daily basis, not just sharpen my pencil and get out my paper and read the
math book and take notes and now I know the facts.
Obviously, like I said, the book does have great facts and I do want to know the facts,
but that is that all it is though?
No that's not all.
Go if you would to John chapter six, here's a great chapter on this, John chapter number
six.
What's the title of the sermon?
The Holy Spirit and Salvation.
The Holy Spirit is necessary for people to be saved.
People aren't getting saved and the Holy Spirit's like, whoa, cool, someone got saved over.
He's involved or it didn't happen.
It's that simple.
And by the way, this is another thing that people resist that's true is that only a saved
person can get people saved again because of the spiritual nature of this transaction.
I'll get more on that later, but look at John chapter six verse 44.
It says, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him and I will
raise him up at the last day.
Now stop and think for a minute.
If no man can come to Jesus, what's another way of saying that?
It's impossible for anyone to come to Jesus except the father draw him, amen?
So if it's impossible for someone to come to Jesus except the father draw him, is this
just an intellectual assent to facts?
Because anyone can find the facts about the gospel anywhere.
Why can't someone just Google the facts about Jesus?
Look up some facts about Jesus and just understand the facts, say, yep, okay, I'll go with it.
I believe it.
They're not going to because no one can come to Jesus except the father draw him.
Okay?
No one can get saved.
Why?
Because it's going to be foolishness unto them unless the power of God works on them.
So it says no man can come to me except the father which has sent me drawn and I will
raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God, right?
So there's nobody who's a self-taught saved person.
There's nobody who's just, you know, they just got it on their own or from some unsaved
person just man teaching man the gospel.
Is that how people get saved?
No, because they're all taught of God.
Every man therefore that has learned, that has heard and has learned of the father cometh
unto me.
Not that any man has seen the father save he, which is of God, talking about himself.
Jesus has seen the father because Jesus came from the father and he's returning to the
father, but no human being in 2000 all the way up to 2023 no human being has ever seen
God the father face to face.
No one can see his face and live.
It says verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that bread of light.
Now of course where the Calvinists will come along and twist this important truth is they'll
say, well, no man can come into me except the father which has sent me draw him.
And here's what they'll say, well, you know, God's just basically picking certain people
to draw and other people he's choosing not to draw.
And it's really the decisions all up to God.
And he's basically more or less arbitrarily or it's a mystery, you know, why he chooses
certain people and not others.
But that's not what the Bible says because what the Calvinists will conveniently leave
out is verses like John 1232, which is in the same context of the book of John flip
over to John 1232 because what did John 644 say?
No man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him.
But we don't want to misunderstand that that God is only willing to draw certain people
because in reality, the Bible says in John 1232, and I if I be lifted up from the earth
will draw all men unto me.
This he said, signifying what death he should die.
And so God is not willing that any should perish.
But that all should come to repentance.
God is this Jesus Christ, the Bible says is the Savior of all men, especially of those
that believe.
Well, all is just talking about believers, no, no, he's the Savior of all men, especially
of those that believe.
So God's not willing that any should perish.
Jesus Christ being lifted up from the earth opens the door of salvation to all people.
And God is prepared and will draw all men unto him.
The point is, though, that it takes that Holy Spirit's working, it takes that being taught
of God, it takes the Word of God, it takes a saved man or woman of God to get someone
saved, because it isn't a math problem that we're teaching them how to do.
More proof on this go to John chapter one, we're gonna look at john one, and then we're
gonna look at john 16.
So we don't want to fall into the error of Calvinism, where human beings don't have a
choice.
God gives us a choice famously in the book of Deuteronomy, he says, choose life.
I've said before you this day, blessing and curse life and death choose life.
Okay, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, Jesus Christ being lifted up from the
earth, the purpose was to draw all men under him.
John chapter one, verse six, there was a man sent from God whose name was john.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might
believe that was the mission that john had to preach so that all men through him might
believe.
Well, so what are you saying that you know that God failed his mission, that God tried
to save everybody and that he failed, but you know what that is?
That's man's logic.
Show me that in the Bible.
Because you are approaching the Bible with man's logic, and you're ignoring what the
Bible explicitly says that Jesus tasted death for every man, that Jesus Christ is the Savior
of all men, that even the unsaved people reprobate in Second Peter to deny the Lord that bought
them because Jesus Christ paid for the sins of everyone.
When he died on the cross, he died, not for our sins only, but also the sins of the whole
world.
But then the Calvinist comes along with man's logic.
Well, but you know, if Jesus died for everyone's sins, then everyone would be saved.
Otherwise two people are dying for the same sins and it's double jeopardy.
Look you watch too much double jeopardy.
Because the bottom line is the Bible says that he died for everybody.
The Bible says he wants everybody to be saved.
The Bible says that John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light so that all men
through him might believe.
But did that happen?
Did all men believe?
Do all men go to heaven?
Are all men saved?
No.
So it sounds to me like that Calvinist argument is just wrong.
It's just wrong.
Well, but it makes sense to you and you're wrong.
Other things make sense to a lot of people that are wrong.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what, what did the Bible say?
Hey, the Bible says Jesus died for everybody, believe, check, done.
And it's not like it says it one time, it says it 10 times.
The Bible says that not everybody's going to heaven.
In fact, the Bible says most people are going to hell.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction.
Neither be which go in that because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which lives
on the life and few there be that find it.
So Jesus died for everyone.
Yes.
The door is open to everyone.
Yes.
Jesus Christ is lifted up from the earth.
Yes.
He'll draw all men unto him.
Yes.
The light.
Look what the Bible says in John one that all men through him by believe.
But look at verse eight.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
And verse nine is so key.
Don't miss it.
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
So is there a person who enters this world upon whom the light of God's word or the light
of the gospel or the light of God has not shined folks?
The true light lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Okay.
Is everybody saved though?
No, because human beings have free will and they have the choice of how they're going
to respond to the light that they receive.
Now, do some people in this world receive more light than others?
Absolutely.
I mean, look, my children and your children that are growing up in a Christian home and
being brought to church on a weekly basis, hearing the word of God over and over and
over again are exponentially more likely to get saved than somebody who's growing up in
a Hindu home, a Muslim home, an atheist home, right?
Because they are hearing the gospel clearly.
They are getting all this exposure to the word of God.
But what about that one who grew up in the Muslim home?
What about that one who grew up in the Hindu home?
What about that one who grew up in an atheist home?
Did the light of God shine upon that person at some point?
Absolutely.
Do they have a chance to be saved?
Absolutely.
Does everyone have a chance to be saved?
Everybody gets a shot at salvation period.
Everybody has the chance to be saved.
What matters is what do they do?
How do they respond to that light that they're given?
If they reject the truth, if they reject the word of God, it's not an intellectual problem.
People that aren't saved, it's like, oh, they're just dumb.
So they believe in work salvation because they're dumb.
They're Mormon because they're dumb, the Jehovah's Witness because they're dumb.
No, they have a spiritual problem.
It's a spiritual problem.
It's not an intellectual problem because you know what?
They're going to be a lot of really dumb people in heaven.
Amen.
Thank God.
They're going to be some dummies in heaven and they're going to be some really smart
people in heaven and everything in between.
Why?
Because getting to heaven is not about intellect and they're going to be some super smart people
in hell and some total dummies in hell because that has nothing to do with salvation because
people not getting saved is a spiritual problem, not an intellectual problem.
Now obviously we do want to explain the facts about salvation to people because many people
are confused about the facts.
They are ignorant about the facts, but you know what?
A lot of that ends up being willful ignorance, but obviously we want to explain the facts.
Obviously we want to give them the true story, but at the end of the day, that's not going
to be enough.
It's going to take the working of the Holy Spirit to get them saved, which is why we
better use the Bible.
When we get some of the gospel quoted scripture, why?
Because quoting a scripture is going to be powerful because the word of God has power.
How about this?
Pray and be filled with the spirit so you can speak in the power of the Holy Ghost so
that your words will be more effective upon the listener because you're speaking the power
of the Holy Ghost.
You say, well, how do you quantify that?
What does that, what does that look like?
Folks, it's spiritual.
It's a spiritual thing.
It's not necessarily quantifiable in this physical world.
There's another realm, my friend.
It's not like, you know, hey, let's weigh a body and then after they die, let's weigh
it again and see how much a soul weighs.
That's a real experiment that was done many times.
Souls don't have mass because souls are not in this realm.
They're not physical.
We're not naturalists who believe that only the physical world exists.
We believe in a spiritual realm.
There's a spiritual battle going on, the spiritual warfare.
God is not a, you know, just part of this created physical universe.
God transcends the universe.
God is a spirit.
The Bible says, okay, they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Go if you would to chapter 16.
So what did the Bible say?
The true light lights every man that comes into the world.
Everybody's given some light.
Some are given more than others.
Now why do we go soul winning?
Why do we share the Gospel with friend?
Why do we open our mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel?
Why show up on a soul winning time?
Why go on a mission strip?
What's the point?
Because what we're doing is we're giving more light.
Now everybody gets a little bit of light.
We want to give more light.
Okay.
I love what my brother, my brother had a great illustration about this where he said, you
know, it's sort of like a department store.
And obviously no illustration is ever perfect, so don't try to take this one too far.
But it's sort of like a department store.
You know, people walk through the department store and they may buy something or not buy
something, right?
But if they're approached by a sales associate and helped and the sales associate explains
things to them and helps them try things on and shows them options and shows them products
that they're looking for and so they're more likely to buy something.
Otherwise stores wouldn't have sales associates, would they?
Why would JCPenney and Nordstrom and Sears and these places, why do they have somebody
walking around?
Hey, can I help you find anything?
Because you're going to buy more stuff.
You know, I, I show up, I'm looking for a Christmas present or something and some associate
is helping me and walking around me.
I'm going to buy more stuff.
That's why the company pays that person to do that.
That's why the person is getting commission.
Okay.
They, you know what they could do?
They could just put all the products out there and just, here's the cash register, figure
out what you want to buy, bring it up to the cash register and pay for it.
I mean that's how Walmart is.
You don't have somebody coming up to you at Walmart saying like, hey, is there anything
I can help you find today?
I mean, maybe you do, but I don't think so.
I don't go to the store very often, but the, am I kind of right about that?
But some stores, man, you walk in and they want to, they want to help you.
They want to talk to you.
Okay.
So here's, here was my brother's illustration about salvation.
You know, basically, you know, the store is life and you know, the, the, the item on the
shelf is salvation.
Everybody goes through that store, sees that item on the shelf and has the opportunity.
Obviously you can't buy salvation, but they have the opportunity to get salvation.
But we're like sales associates leading people to salvation saying, Hey, let me show you
what's available.
Let me show you what's here.
So it's not that if I don't give somebody the gospel, they have no chance because no
matter how bad Christians are at evangelizing, no matter how bad Christians are doing missions,
no matter how many Baptist churches in Arizona refused to obey the great commission refused
to obey the command to go preach the gospel to every creature, no matter how many of them
just kind of sit on their blessed assurance and just let whatever happens happens.
Everybody in Arizona still has a chance to get saved and they're still going to receive
some illumination and they still have that chance.
But you know what I'm doing when I go out soul winning and what you're doing when you
go out, so when he is, we're actually increasing people's chances by giving them a second chance,
giving them a third chance, giving them a fourth chance, giving them a fifth chance,
six chance, seven chance.
Now look, if somebody goes to hell after having seven chances to get saved and turning their
nose up at all seven, that's not really God's fault at that point, is it?
It's like, dude, I gave you seven chances.
Hey, but I want to give him an eighth chance.
Amen.
I want to give him a ninth chance.
You know what?
I want to grab somebody who's, who's headed straight for hell and doesn't give a rip about
the things of God and I want to get that person saved against all the odds.
I want to, I want to compel them to be saved.
I want to drag them out of the fire.
I want to pull them out of the fire.
You see, I think there are some, you know, here's the thing, sincere people, sincere
people are going to, uh, get saved, right?
Because if you ask, you'll receive, if you seek, you'll find, if you knock, the door
shall be open unto you.
Sincere people in this world who really want to know the truth.
If somebody says, you know what, I just want to know the truth.
I want to know God.
I want to go to heaven.
I don't, I don't have an agenda other than just loving the truth and knowing the truth.
If that's true, that person will for sure get saved.
God will open that person's eyes, lead people to them, lead circumstances.
That person's going to get, that person's going to get saved no matter what, if that's
their actual attitude.
When they, when they receive a little bit of light and they say, man, I want more, I
want to know God.
I, you know, they hear the word of God and they respond to it.
You know, that person's getting saved.
But you know why I go out soul winning?
I'm trying to find the guy that's just kind of like, but if I come and bring it to him
on a silver platter, he'll get saved.
Some people, I mean, you hear these stories about some guys out in the jungle and he walks
for three days and he doesn't really know why and he just walks for three days straight
and he runs into some missionary that gives him the gospel and he gets saved.
And I believe, I believe that that does happen because you know, that guy's sincere, that
guy's looking for the truth.
God leads him to the truth.
He stumbles in cross some missionary, just goes on wandering and he goes walking the
earth and he finds the missionary and gets saved.
Amen.
But you know what?
I don't want to just get that guy saved who you know, crosses the desert to come get the
gospel for me.
You know, I want to go to the village to the guy who doesn't really give a rip and start
preaching the word of God to him so that the Holy Spirit can start doing a work in his
heart so that basically he can get saved.
And then I want to go back and do it again and I want to give a fifth chance and a sixth
chance and a seventh because I just want to get as many people saved as I can.
Now here's the thing.
If anybody goes to hell, it's their fault.
It's their fault that they went to hell.
They had their chance, they, they rejected the truth.
They didn't love the truth.
They didn't love the word of God.
They didn't love the gospel.
They rejected the light that they were given.
It's their fault.
So here's the thing though.
I don't want to have this callous attitude that just says, Hey, if anybody goes to hell,
it's their own, it's their own damn fault if they're damned and just be like, I don't
even care.
No, because I'd be like, let me put it to you this way.
Have you ever seen someone get hurt because they were doing something stupid?
Now look, if I saw someone do something stupid and get hurt, I wouldn't just be like, idiot.
That's their fault.
I'd be like, Oh man, let's help this person.
Can we, you know, right.
We wouldn't just be like, Hey, you know, let's just let natural selection do its thing.
We'd be like, no, let's get in there and actually save a life here if we can.
Look, I've had bad things happen to me that were my fault.
I've had bad things happen to me that were not my fault.
But whether things are your fault or not your fault, you know, hopefully people sympathize
with you.
I see people who have done things to themselves.
It doesn't mean that I don't have compassion on them.
So instead of just saying, well, these people aren't saved after they've heard the gospel
so many times, it's their own fault.
You know, no, I'd still rather see them saved ultimately.
And so I, you know, I, I from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet believe that
when I get to heaven, there are going to be some people there in heaven that wouldn't
have been there if I hadn't gone soul winning if I hadn't to preach because they just weren't
crossing the desert for three days trying to find the gospel.
How many people really fall on their knees and ask you what must I do to be saved?
I've had that happen to me in life, but it only happens like once every couple of years.
But what about the people that we go to them and we preach to them and we preach to them
again and we preach them again because we love them.
We pull them out of the fire.
The Bible says some have of some have compassion making a difference.
Just saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted
by the flesh.
Did I have a turn to John 16?
I don't believe we read it yet though.
Did we?
Did we read it?
Look at verse seven.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.
It's expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away, the comforter will not come
unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you and when he's come, he will reprove
the world, 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 and you see me no more of judgment
because the prince of the world of this world is judged.
And so in the scripture we see the Holy Spirit reproving the world.
We're not talking about save people there are we talking about unsaved people?
We're talking about the world.
Now this reproof comes through believers because of the fact that the comforter is going to
indwell the believer and then the believer is going to speak to the world and the Holy
Spirit is going to reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment through the believer.
The believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
He speaks the word of God to friend, loved one, coworker or person at the door and the
Holy Spirit works.
So if I knock a door and I'm indwelled by the Holy Spirit, I've got the comforter, I
knock the door and I speak the word of God to someone and I speak about sin and hell
and Jesus dying on the cross and Jesus rising in from the dead, isn't that the Holy Spirit
reproving unsaved people of sin, reproving unsaved people of righteousness and of judgment
via the words I'm speaking?
So here's the thing, what if an unsaved person knocks on the door?
What if there's a Judas Iscariot pretending to be a Christian and he goes out and goes
through the motions of soul winning, but he's not actually indwelled by the comforter is
he?
Are unsaved people indwelled by the comforter?
So let's say you got some Judas and he goes out and basically he explains the gospel to
someone using the exact same words that I would have done.
Maybe he memorized the Bible way to heaven video and he just verbatim is telling people
exactly what, uh, you know, uh, pastor Anderson or some other preacher said, they just memorized
some salvation plan and spat it out like a robot.
Okay.
Think about this is the comforter speaking is the comforter reproof.
The comforter is not there in that sense because of the fact that that person is not indwelled
by the company.
It's the same spiritual power as an actual saved soul winner who's who's speaking that
word of God.
Now let me say one thing just to make sure you don't misunderstand this.
The word of God does have power all by itself, no matter who's saying it and if it's even
if it's just written down and I do and the, the, the word of God is the seed and so the
word of God has power.
So I do believe that someone hearing the word of God from any source can plant a seed in
their mind and can do a work in their heart, just the power of God.
But when it comes to salvation, there are multiple components that are necessary.
You need the word of God, but you also need that saved person to guide you to salvation
because the Bible, you know, talks about the Ethiopian eunuch.
He's reading the Bible, he's got the word of God and he's reading the Bible and Philip
asked him, understand is that what thou read is?
And he said, how can I, except some man, some man should guide me.
You know, so I do believe that someone could get the seed planted by an unsaved person.
They could, they could hear the word of God.
For example, you know, my wife grew up in Germany as a Roman Catholic.
Well, going to church in the Roman Catholic church, did she hear the word of God sometimes?
Of course.
Now sometimes they're reading a, you know, a corrupt version or they're reading from
the Apocrypha or some other, you know, non biblical stuff.
But there's some actual scripture, there's some actual word of God that you're going
to hear growing up Roman Catholic and in other parts of our society, like even just in on
radio shows or just magazine articles, novels, books, movies, the word of God could be referenced.
You know, I have a buddy who he got saved because he watched a movie and at the beginning
of the movie there's a funeral and they just read Psalm 23 at the funeral, which is a Hollywood
movie reading Psalm 23 and that actually planted a seed in his heart and it, and it actually
gave him the desire to seek God because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
So it's like he had that desire, that seed was planted and you know, he basically got
a little light and then he's looking for more light.
And when God sees you responding to light, he's going to give you more light.
Okay.
And then he went out seeking God and then ultimately he got saved.
But let me ask you this, is it enough for him to just watch a Hollywood movie, hear
the Bible verse and just get saved?
He needs a saved person to preach the gospel to him and he needs the word of God.
He needs both.
So I was a saved person as a teenager explaining the gospel to my friends.
I had the Holy Spirit, but I wasn't using the word of God.
Didn't get people saved because we had the saved Christian with the Holy Spirit, but
we didn't have the word of God or we can have just the word of God without the saved Christian
explaining it.
You need both.
Now obviously they don't necessarily both have to happen in the same sitting.
I mean somebody could hear a bunch of Bible verses and then, and then somebody else comes
along and explains it to them and then they get saved or whatever.
I get it, but you're never going to convince me from what I've seen in scripture over and
over.
You're never going to convince me that people get saved without hearing a single Bible verse
that they're ever going to be saved because the word of God is the saving agent.
And number two, you're never going to convince me that a person got saved without coming
into contact with a Holy Spirit and dwelled Christian at some point that explained to
them the gospel so that they could understand it.
Go if you would to John chapter six again where we were, got to hurry up here, John
chapter six.
I love the sermon is, is helping you the Holy Spirit and salvation.
You know what?
Why?
Why is this so important?
Well, because it really nails down the fact that, hey, if this is a spiritual transaction
that explains why using Bible verses is superior to just explaining it in your own words.
In fact, it's not just superior, it's, it's the only way it's going to work.
It also helps you to understand why only a saved person can get someone saved because
only the good tree brings forth good fruit and the bad tree brings forth evil fruit.
And that's why the Pharisees and Sadducees couldn't get anyone saved because they're
blind leaders of the blind, okay?
And you say, well, but if they're saying the exact same thing, I don't see the difference.
Here's the difference.
The Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, folks, you take, you put, you put a guy in a room with
another guy in a room and they're both unsaved and one guy explains the gospel to the other
guy perfectly and quotes versus nobody's getting saved in that room because you've
got to have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit indwells the believer.
And when the whole, when the believer speaks the word of God, when the believer explains
the gospel, it's different than when it's coming out of the mouth of the unbeliever.
The word of God written on a piece of paper or spoken by anyone can plant seed.
Some Catholic priests can quote a Bible verse and could plant a seed for somebody.
They could be like, hey, there's something to that Christmas story.
I mean, Linus, you know, I don't know if the actor that played Linus on the peanuts, Charlie
Brown movie, I don't know if that voice actor for Linus is saved or not, but whether Linus
is saved or not, reading that big chunk of Luke chapter two from the King James Bible,
I guarantee you that planted seeds in millions of people's hearts and minds because it's
so powerful and then it would get them looking for more, get them looking for more, get them
wanting more.
Folks, everybody in America has heard so much about Jesus.
Some people want more.
Some people are like, nah.
And some people are like, I hate him.
You know, right?
The people that hate him, they end up becoming reprobates.
The people are just like, nah.
You know, they can kind of go either way.
The people are like, wow, that's powerful.
I want to learn more.
If they're sincere, they're eventually going to come to Christ and get saved.
I want to go out there and get some of those people who are like, wow, I want more.
I want to get saved.
Hey, I want to get out there and get those people saved.
It's fun to get those people saved.
They're just ready.
They're just so receptive.
They're just ready.
And even if they were eventually going to get saved anyway, I want to get them saved
now, get them saved sooner so that they can do more for God.
But you know, I want to get that meh guy saved too.
I want to find some of those people who are just kind of like, hey, can I show you how
to be saved from the word of God?
And they're just kind of like, why not?
Okay.
I want to get that guy saved.
Now if that guy goes to hell, it's his own fault.
But man, I want to pull him out of the fire.
Bible says in John chapter six, now we're down in verse 60.
We already read earlier in this chapter, verse 60, many therefore of his disciples when they
heard this said, this is a hard saying who can hear it.
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does this
offend you?
What and if you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before it is the spirit that
quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
So the spirit quickens the words that I speak unto you.
They are spirit, they are life.
But there are some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they
were that believe not and who should betray him.
And he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
him of my father, unto him of my father.
From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away?
And I love this verse 68, don't miss it.
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
I love it.
I love that answer.
To whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ
the son of the love of God.
Let me tell you why I love that answer.
I don't think Peter fully understood this sermon.
This is a hard sermon.
This is something that was difficult and it caused a lot of people to just walk away.
A lot of people are just like, who, who can listen?
This is a hard saying.
Who can hear it?
I'm done here.
I don't get what Jesus is preaching.
But Jesus preaching isn't making sense to me.
I'm out of here.
Simon Peter doesn't say when he says to him, will you also go away?
Simon Peter doesn't say, well, why would we go away?
It was a great sermon.
Why we go away?
It makes perfect sense.
These people just don't get it, but I get it.
That's not what he says, is it?
Basically says, well, you know, where else are we going to go?
But not only just where else are we going to go, which I'll get to that in a second.
He also just says, well, you, you have the words of everlasting life.
I mean, what you're saying is so powerful.
Never man spake like this, man.
I mean, the word of God is so powerful.
We know there's something here.
We believe and we're sure that you're the Christ, you're the, you're the son of God.
Now look, here's the thing.
That's where we're going to be at sometimes in our lives.
We don't always understand everything, right?
I mean, who here understands everything in the Bible?
It all makes perfect sense to you.
No way.
There are going to be things you don't understand, but then it's like, okay, but who do we go
to?
Buddha?
Who do we go to?
Hinduism?
Who do we go to?
The book of Mormon?
Who do we go to?
Islam?
Or you weren't here for that sermon if you want to go to Islam a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, Islam is just a big hot steaming pile of, of whatever.
Okay.
But you know, who do you go to atheism?
Who are you going to go to?
To whom will you go?
Jesus Christ has the words of everlasting life.
And you know what?
Not only that, the spirit itself, bear witness with our spirit that we're the children of
God.
And how do I know I'm saved?
You know, the Holy Spirit tells me that I'm saved.
How do I know that Jesus is the son of God?
The Holy Spirit bears witness to me that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
Yeah, but how do you know that the Bible is really true though?
How do you know that Jesus died on the cross?
Where's the evidence?
Where's the science?
Science disproved the Bible or, you know, whatever.
Here's the thing about that.
Science hasn't disproved the Bible.
Chapter one.
You know, the Bible talks about that as oppositions of science, falsely so called.
Okay.
But let's say that someone thought that science disproved the Bible, which I don't believe
it for one second that science disproved the Bible.
Science never can disprove the Bible because the Bible is true.
So anything that disproves the Bible is false because the Bible is true.
Let's say that someone, you know, felt like something disproved the Bible or something.
You know, let's say I were confronted with something that seemed to just, you know, I'd
be like Peter at that point and I'd just be like, you know what, I don't know what's going
on with this, but I'll tell you one thing I know is that there's nowhere else to go
and that I know Jesus is the son of God.
I know that the Bible is true.
I know Jesus Christ is the word made flesh.
I know that Jesus rose again.
Like you say, how do you know that?
Because the Holy Spirit, isn't it amazing how many people believe in Jesus?
I mean, how many millions and millions of people all over the world believe in Jesus?
Isn't that amazing?
Because you know, there are other religions out there and most other religions that are
out there, they're pretty much restricted to like a certain nationality.
I mean, Hindus are only Indians, right?
It's like you have this thriving Hindu community in England or so unless they're Indians who
moved to England.
Am I right?
A million German Hindus, a million Ethiopian Hindus.
It doesn't exist, but you have a million German Christians, a million Ethiopian Christians,
but you have Christians all over the world.
How are all these people all over the world?
The atheist, the agnostic, the unsaved will tell you it's foolishness.
Doesn't make any sense.
Gospel doesn't make sense.
Heaven and hell doesn't make sense.
Doesn't make any sense.
Isn't it amazing that something that doesn't make sense is believed by billions of people
in this world that would claim to believe it?
Millions and millions of people who actually believe it of all nations, kindreds, tongues
and peoples on this earth.
So many people are believing it.
How does this happen?
Let me put it this way.
How do I know Christianity is never going to die?
You know, the Beatles said, hey, we're more popular than Jesus Christ right now, which
that that no, just no.
They weren't more popular than Jesus Christ when they said that.
Not even close.
But but let's say they had been.
They're not now.
I don't think that today's young people give a rip about the Beatles.
I don't think today's teens are just dying to go home and listen to the Beatles right
now.
I don't know.
Maybe they are, but I don't think so.
I don't think that they, I don't think if we went down to the high school, you know,
that's what everybody's got on their headphones.
The Beatles, you know, they're, they're just like, you know, I see these, you know, these
kind of thug looking types.
It's like, have you seen that meme where the guy's got the headphones is how I look on
the outside and it's like, I want to hold your head and he's just kind of like.
Some guys, some guys got mohawk.
He's all punked out and it's like, oh, I'll tell you something.
And guess what?
100 years from now, even less people are going to be listening to the Beatles and 500 years
from now, nobody's going to know who the Beatles are.
Okay.
He's having to explain to a young person in the front row who the Beatles even are and
where that, what time period they're from.
We got a teenager in the front row asking a relative who are the Beatles?
Thank you for proving my point.
That was great.
Sorry to embarrass you, but it's really not embarrassing because nobody cares anymore.
There's no shame in not knowing about the Beatles.
I'm proud of you.
Hey, look, the point is I'm not worried about, oh, the Bible is going out of style and you
know what I'm really not worried about.
I'm not worried that the King James is going to get replaced by the legacy standard Bible
or the ESV.
Hey, the King James is more popular than ever right now in 2023.
Let me tell you something.
The King James is more popular in 2023 than it was in 2013.
That's a fact.
You can look at the Google trend of Bible searches, K J V N I V E S V from 2013 to 2023.
Look at the look at what's trending.
Look what's increasing.
Look what's growing.
The King James is getting more popular.
You know why?
Because the Holy Spirit's alive and well, that's why you know why people are getting
saved every week because the Holy Spirit's alive and well.
You know why 2000 years later people are still worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ, believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ, and why people are saved in
every town, Hamlet City, Kindred, all over the world.
Just people just getting saved, saved, saved, saved, and God's always at work because the
Holy Spirit is doing the work and sometimes it doesn't even make human sense.
And to the unsaved, it makes no, they're like, this is foolishness.
And they're like, oh, I'm so glad that Christianity is dying.
Oh, I'm so glad that, you know, you people are going to be gone soon and we're all just
going to be like, like it's going to be like Star Trek and we're all just going to be wearing
like colored sweaters and just, we're all going to be United and like just like exploring
the galaxy or something and we don't have to worry about Christianity anymore.
Dream on buddy, because you know what?
A hundred years from now, Christianity is still going to be all over this planet.
If Jesus hasn't returned in a hundred years from now, every country in this world is going
to be having Christians in it and if he doesn't come back for 300 years, every country is
still going to have Christians in it and Christianity will always be a thing and Christianity will
always be thriving and will always be growing because Christianity is a person who's alive
and will never die.
It's not just an idea or a thing.
So here's the thing.
Everybody here who's saved, which is, you know, God willing, hopefully 99% of people
in this auditorium are saved.
You know what?
You're saved because the Holy Spirit worked in your heart and that's the only way anybody
else is going to get saved either.
Okay.
It's a spiritual thing and you say, how am I going to get other people saved?
You got, you got to use the word of God.
You got to pray, pray for yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Look, when I'm a silent partner, you know what I'm praying?
I'm praying like, Oh God, do a work in this person's heart.
Open this person's eyes, Lord, you know, remove any distractions, but also just work here.
Just work filled my, my soul and he partnered with the Holy Spirit so he could, he could
speak and that there'd be power in the gospel that he preaches the Holy Spirit and salvation.
Don't leave the Holy Spirit out of salvation.
Don't let your eyes that he is a key player when it comes to salvation.
Let's borrow.
It's not a word of prayer, father.
We thank you so much for your word, Lord.
We thank you so much for the gospel, the greatest story ever told.
But Lord, we know that under the lost it is foolishness, but unto us, which are saved,
it's the power of God and Lord, I thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, help us not to quench the spirit in our lives, but Lord help us to allow the Holy
Spirit to flow through us so that we can reach more people with the gospel and get
more people saved.
Even the people that seem to be headed straight for hell and maybe don't care and Lord help
us to grab those people and shake them and get them saved.
And in Jesus name we pray, amen.