Glen Bond Dec 3, 2006 Picayune MS Subject: The Closed Heart The Convicting Power of the Holy Spirit Every sinner that ever gets saved will undergo Holy Spirit Conviction. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment. John 16:7,8 Before a sinner is ever 'convinced of sin' the Lord must open his heart. It is the work of God himself. You can't make God to open your heart. The natural man or the person who has never been influenced by the Holy Spirit, is blind. The natural heart is closed. The untouched person is unable to receive the gospel. Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. The Lord must open the heart. I can't open your heart, the Pope can't open your heart. It must be done by the Holy Spirit. You can go to church every time the doors open, but if your heart is never opened you will never be saved. Listen to what Bro. Shelton Said: ----------------------------------------------------- The natural heart is so closed against the gospel message until it will not receive the things of the spirit of God. The conscience is seared as with a hot iron. The very mind and conscience is defiled, and the heart is harder than stone. There is nothing that can open that heart but the Spirit of the living God. The iron bar of divine law cannot pry it open. You could preach to that heart, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," and lay bare the very vortex of Hell before the eyes of that soul, and it would never be opened to the gospel of mercy. It would deliberately choose death and Hell against Christ and salvation. ------------------------------------------------------ These are strong words, but when the Lord was dealing with me, I came to KNOW these things. That is one of the things that makes salvation so wonderfull. Knowing just how bad and hopeless my condition is, and then the Lord saving me, delivering me from all of it. One of the reasons that the sinners heart is so closed is found in Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: It says 'the carnal mind IS enmity against God' It doesn't say '... at enmity', but IS enmity So because the mind IS enmity, it cannot be changed. The natural man hates God. Every lost sinner hates God. You won't have anything that God has. The Lord only wants to give us good gifts, but because the natural heart is closed and depraved, you don't want anything that God has. The old depraved heart only wants sin. The Holy Spirit came to convince sinners of their sin. When a sinner is convinced of sin, he comes to see himself as EXCEEDING sinfull. This is the working of the Holy Spirit. This work is done by God himself and has no connection to a persons life, wether he has been good or bad. You may think that a good person will not see himself so sinfull. But that is not the case. The bible says that 'all have sinned'. And I think that it could well say 'All are extremely sinful'. The person who lives a so called 'good life' who is able to keep from the gross sins is no different from the mass murderer. When the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, you will KNOW yourself to be exceeding sinful. When the Lord opens you heart and begins to deal with you, you begin to see what you are. Then when you see what you are, you see that you stand before a holy God. You see that you are there in all of your sin. It is like the woman taken in adultery. John 8:3 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This woman stood in the very presence of God. She stood there in all of her sin. She did not try to deny any of it. The Lord will shut your mouth before you ever get to this point. Before you ever get saved you will stand in the presence of a Holy God. You will stand there just like this woman did, in all of your sin, and no covering. I think this woman was brought in completely naked. This shows us that when we stand before God, there is nothing hidden from him. He sees everything, he knows all about us. This woman came face to face with her own mortality. She came face to face with a sovereign God, knowing that he could do as he pleases with her. She came to acknowlege her own condemnation. She has seen what a sinner she is, and now, standing befor God, she condemns herself. She has accepted the fact that she is guilty of death. Accepted and approved and says that there can be no other verdict. This is when all hope is gone. But you will note that this verdict comes from the condemned sinner. It doesn't come from Christ. Therefor it carries no weight. Look at verse 10 John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Here is salvation. ...Neither do I condemn thee: That IS salvation, to be un-condemned. To know that you are guilty, to know that the penalty is eternal death, and yet to be un-condemned. What more could a poor guilty sinner want? That's why I want to praise the Lord. I want to praise HIM for the GREAT salvation that he has made available to us. That is the salvation that I have come to know, salvation in, by, and through Jesus Christ. That is the salvation that I want you to know. This salvation can only be had by coming to Christ. Come to him, come admitting your guilt, taking the blame. You will never do it unless the Lord gives you grace to do it. But if you will ask, even beg for His help, he will give it. When the sinner comes to see his lost, helpless, and exceeding sinfull condition, then the Gospel becomes good news to him. Not before that. Then that verse in Matt11:28 becomes good to him. Matt. 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt 9:13 for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.