Praying for a Monumental Movement part 2

As I always say, I really enjoy that last song. I think that's a very powerful testimony. I hope and pray that that is your testimony, that the spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. I like that one. I think it's been a while since we've sung that one. So maybe that's why it's fresh to me. As always, I do challenge you to get any of the music that we have where the Keith can help you with those resources so that you can use them in your own home during your own time of worship. Now, as I said earlier, during our scripture reading, we'll be in several places in the Gospel of John this morning.

We'll be in John chapter 6, verse 44. We'll be in John chapter 16. And then we'll be in John chapter 3. We'll be examining some of those scriptures when Jesus is dealing with this familiar figure, the man Nicodemus who came to Jesus at midnight. And as always, I don't want us to play Bible drills during the sermon, but this morning with the subject and the nature of the message, we need to turn to several places. And as always, when I reference other scriptures or read other scriptures, it might be good for you to write those passages down for your own study a little later this week.

Now, I think most all of us know the context of the message this morning. Last week I shared that we have quite a few people within the life of our church, and they're struggling. They are struggling over their spiritual condition. Some have counseled with myself and/or Brother Keith. That's a good thing. Some have counseled with their parents. That's a really good thing. Some have even counseled with some of the ladies in our church. Now, all of these individuals are not in the same place in this spiritual journey, but all believe that God is convincing them and convicting them that they are in need of this spiritual gift of salvation.

This group that is questioning and praying and examining, it's comprised of some of our young people, our students. Sometimes we use the language "youth" to describe them. Some of them are college students, and we also have some that are adults as well. Now, last Sunday morning and last Sunday night at small group, I shared that personally I've been very, very, very burdened about this need. Brother Keith and I have spent quite a bit of time praying for these individuals and praying that God would work. And these messages come out of that burden. Now, truthfully, I want you to understand that I feel that God is working.

I feel that God is in this activity. I feel that God is drawing people to Himself and ultimately drawing them to this place of salvation. Last Sunday morning, I sought to give some vitally important foundational information. We must understand how man is made right before God. If we do not understand this, we have drastic, dire consequences. Now, think about those consequences. If we do not understand how men are made right with God, the consequences are disastrous for those who need Christ. Of course, all of what I shared last week and this morning, it all ties together and it comes right out of the Scriptures.

Now, last week we looked at two subjects. I was definitely not exhaustive. We could spend weeks and months in exploring these subjects. I call this a quick overview, and I believe this points us in the right direction. We examine two statements, what we believe and what we preach. Now, we believe in the biblical and historic doctrine of justification by grace through faith. Man, mankind, is justified before God. He is made right before God by grace through faith. This is not something that man can do for himself. Man is totally dependent on God to do this work. Ephesians 2 and 8 and 9 clearly explains this fact.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith," and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. Paul goes on in verse 9. He says, "Not as a result of work, so that no man may boast." So, a correct understanding of justification is crucial. Without a correct view of justification, we lose the biblical gospel. We lose justification by grace through faith alone, and then we drift into a salvation of works, and the salvation of works never, ever saves. And then we looked at the fact that we preach the power of the gospel to save sinners.

God's omnipotent saving power is contained in the unadulterated and unaltered message of the gospel. Simply, man is totally sinful. Man is totally corrupt. We understand that. Man is unable to come to God because of his sinful condition, but in God's love and mercy, God provided a means of salvation for man. God put forth his son as the atoning sacrifice for men. Christ willingly died in man's place, the just for the unjust. Romans 1.16 perfectly explains for us the power for salvation. It is bound up in the gospel message. It was this gospel power that Paul relied upon in his preaching, and I quote the verse that I quoted last week.

Paul said, "For I determine not to know anything among you, but to save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And of course, that's 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, and then verse 4 and 5. Now, I want you to listen to your pastor here. I want you to understand that I did not randomly choose these subjects. What we believe and what we preach.

This comes out of years of study, years of ministry in the life of the church, and a lot of prayer for you and for us and for our families and those that we are seeking to help in their journey in coming to know the Lord. But I want you to notice how all this works together. We really must get this. Man is justified by God or before God by grace through faith. This is not of man, but of God. This puts man in a hopeless situation. On his own, man can do nothing. And this brings me to one word, and the word is hope. Man's only hope is in the gospel, which is God's salvation plan through his Son Jesus.

Man's only hope is in the saving power of God in and through his gospel. That is what we preach. Man is saved by grace through faith. This comes about through the preaching of the gospel and the power that is unleashed in and through the sinner through this gospel. Now this morning we're really just moving on to part two in the message. Again, we started this off last Sunday morning. I've given us a quick review and a quick overview because this all needs to be seen together. We looked at what we believe, and then we looked at what we preach.

And then this morning we're just continuing with that same title, and we're looking at who we trust and what we do. Who we trust and what we do. Now we're continuing with truth number three, or our third major truth in our outline. You see it on the screen before you. Who we trust, and this is the Holy Spirit, you might want to write down the third person of the Trinity. Who we trust, and that is the Holy Spirit. Now there are two mistakes made when some people come to the person of the Holy Spirit. First, our charismatic and our Pentecostal friends overemphasize the Holy Spirit.

I'm sad to say that most of them have a faulty doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. A second mistake is ignoring the Holy Spirit. I'll never forget in my seminary days when I went to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I had a professor who used to say, and I'm quoting him, and I think pretty accurately, he used to say, "Boys?" I don't know why he called us boys, but he did. The Pentecostals and the Charismatics have made us Baptists afraid of the Holy Spirit. And he was right. This has led many into ignoring the Holy Spirit, or being afraid of the Holy Spirit.

And this leads many to see the Holy Spirit as an "it" or a "thing," or even merely an influence for God, all of which is terribly, terribly incorrect. Now before I get into what the Holy Spirit does, I need to briefly explain who the Holy Spirit is. He is, the Holy Spirit is, the third person of the Trinity. We worship a triune God. The Bible Theologian Wayne Grudem gives us a great definition. This will help us. It's very easy for you to grasp in your mind. And I'm quoting, "God eternally exists as three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And each person is fully God, and there is one God." I'm going to go back and add to that definition. God eternally exists in three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And each person is fully God, and there is one God. Now the person in the work of the Holy Spirit is seen partially, vaguely in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is revealed in great detail. In the New Testament, we see that He is God and does what only God can do. Now I'll give us a few verses here that will help us see this reality, these facts. The Holy Spirit, He teaches in John Chapter 14, Verse 26.

The Holy Spirit Himself, He bears witness in Romans 8-16. Brother Keith referenced that verse in worship earlier. The Holy Spirit, He prays, He intercedes for others in Romans 8-26-27. The Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, 1 Corinthians 2-10. The Holy Spirit knows the thoughts of God, 1 Corinthians 2-11. The Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts to believers, 1 Corinthians 2-11. The Holy Spirit forbids certain activities, Acts 16, Verse 6 and 7. And then the Holy Spirit speaks in Acts 8-29. And the Holy Spirit can be grieved by sin, Ephesians 4, Verse 30. Now this is an incomplete list of the Holy Spirit's activities.

But this helps us see the deity of the Holy Spirit as well as the activity of the Holy Spirit. Now to properly deal with the lost around us, remember that's our context. That's our need. We need to examine three portions of Scripture. And these passages show us the activity or the work of the Holy Spirit in connection with lost people. So as we move on, we will see the specific work of the Holy Spirit within certain lost individuals. So I want us to see, number one, the Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ. The Holy Spirit draws sinners to Christ. Now we see this in one verse, John 6, Verse 44.

Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him." Now there's another verse that I will not have time to read that alludes to this same activity. And that is earlier in John 6, that's Verse 37. Now to get to the meaning of Verse 44 and how it applies to our situation, we must understand what is taking place here in the chapter. This is context. The Jews before Jesus, they were complaining against Jesus and they were complaining against His teaching. Simply the Jews were rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and His messianic teaching. You see that in Verse 35 and 36 and on down to Verse 41 and Verse 42 and Chapter 6.

It is in this context that Jesus says to the Jews that no man can come to Him in salvation unless the Father draws them to Him. Here is where we see a work in the Spirit, a work of the Spirit that applies to our circumstance here at NOLA. Now I want us to see a key word here in Verse 44 and that is the word "draw." Go back to your copy of God's Word. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him." Now this word is used six times in the New Testament. Once where Paul and Silas were drawn to the marketplace in Acts 16 and 19. Two times in the drawing of a net in John 21. Once in drawing of a sword in John 18 Verse 10.

Once in drawing men to Christ in John Chapter 12 Verse 32. Now John 6 44 and the teaching in John 12 32 is very very similar. Now this drawing is a part of God bringing a sinner. This is a work of God bringing the sinner to salvation. The sinner's mind is enlightened in this work. John 6 45. The sinner's will. It is inclined to God's will. Psalm 110 Verse 3. The great reformer Martin Luther describes this drawing very well. I like it. So I thought it would help us. And I'm quoting. The drawing here is not like that of an executioner who draws a thief up a ladder to the gallows.

But it is a gracious allurement such as that of a man whom everybody loves and to whom everybody willingly goes. Now what do we see here? This one verse. Verse 44. "On his own man is unable to seek God." We have firmly established that reality from Romans 3 11 and other verses. "For man to come to God, God must work first." And that is what we see here in verse 44. This is an internal and an effectual work of the Holy Spirit whereby the sinner is drawn and he has moved towards Christ. God the Holy Spirit inclines the mind and the will of the man to come to Christ.

And this is part of the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the sinner to Christ for salvation. Now pause right here. This is not salvation. Get that in your mind. This is not salvation. This is the work of the Spirit within a man before the work of salvation. Now let's move on. I want us to see second the Holy Spirit. He convicts sinners. You might want to add in your notes. He convicts our convinces sinners. Here we see what I call the next step in the process. But before we get into what is this next step in this work, we need to see what is taking place in John chapter 16.

This is a familiar chapter because we went verse by verse through these verses. John chapter 16 is a part of what is called the upper room discourses. After the Passover meal or the Last Supper in John chapter 13, Jesus began to prepare the disciples for the cross and he is leaving them. Jesus told the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans. In John 14 verse 16 to 18, Jesus told them that he would come to them in the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to teach the role and the work of the Holy Spirit both to the Christians and to the non-Christians.

And this teaching is found in John 14, John 15 and John 16, mostly in John 14 and chapter 16. Now I want us to look at this work a little further. This the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces sinners. First for the disciples and for all Christians. We must see that the Holy Spirit, he would become the helper and the comforter for the disciples and for all Christians. John chapter 14 verse 16 verse 26, John 15 verse 26, John 16 verse 7. All of these verses teach that he would teach and he would bring the remembrance what Jesus had taught them. He would bear witness of Jesus, John 15, 26. He would guide them into truth, John 16, 33.

The old Presbyterian commentator Albert Barnes describes this work. He says the Holy Spirit and I'm quoting, "He was to furnish to all Christians the instruction and the consolation which would be given by the personal presence of Jesus." So this is the work of the Spirit in the believer's life. Second for the lost or for those outside of Christ, we see this work of the Spirit in John 16 verse 8 to 11. Look at your copy of God's Word with me.

Jesus says, "And he, when he comes," that's the Holy Spirit, "he will convict or convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment." Concerning sin because they do not believe in me and concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer behold me and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. Now this is the one place in Scripture where the Holy Spirit is described as working in the lost and lost people in this manner. This is the only place. Understanding these verses are a must for all of us. For preacher and those of you in the pew alike, we must understand these verses.

This is fundamental to gospel work. This is fundamental to gospel preaching. This is the how element here. And I will get back to the how later as we proceed. Now here there is a key word we must understand as well. Go back to your copy of God's Word. We see it in verse 8. "This word convict, and he, when he comes, he will convict." Now the King James renders this reprove. This word is better translated from the original as convict because truthfully this is courtroom language. This word in the original, it speaks of a cross-examination for the sole purpose of convincing an opponent.

The goal is convincing that opponent of their guilt and their wrong. So the words convincing, proving, or convicting are strong enough words to capture the meaning. This word must be seen and understood as a judicial act. The Holy Spirit is examining. He is cross-examining the lost individual. He is convincing and convicting in this word. Now I question, who is on the bad end of this word? I think it's obvious. This word world shows us who is on the bad end of this word. This speaks of lost people whom the Spirit of God is drawing and whom the Spirit of God is convicting. Now notice how the Holy Spirit works in the lost.

Those who he is drawing. We see this in verses 8 to 11. And quickly I want us to see three areas where the Spirit is working. He is convicting concerning sin. Look at verse 8, the beginning of verse 8 and the beginning of verse 9. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin. Verse 9, concerning sin because they do not believe in me. Now it needs to be seen. In the original, this word sin is singular. It's not sins, but it is sin. This speaks of one sin, and that is the ultimate sin of sins, which is not savingly believing in Jesus. That's why context is important.

That was the sin that Jesus called out in the lives of these Jews earlier in verse 36. These Jews did not savingly believe in Jesus. In John 3, 18, those who do not believe in Him are judged or condemned already. So the lost are convinced, they are convicted of not savingly believing in Jesus. And then notice they are convicted concerning righteousness. Concerning righteousness. We see this in the middle of verse 8 and at the beginning of verse 10. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness.

And then verse 10, "And concerning righteousness because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold me." Now this righteousness spoken of here is the righteousness that Jesus possesses. This is the opposite of this previous word. The Spirit convicts the lost of not believing in Jesus, and then the Spirit convicts the lost of not possessing the perfect righteousness of Christ. In Matthew 5, 20, Jesus said that unless one possesses a righteousness which is superior to that of the religious leaders, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So the lost are convinced, they are convicted, they are prosecuted for not having God's righteousness. This righteousness which is required of men. And this is the righteousness of Christ. And then as we continue, notice there is a conviction concerning judgment. We see this at the end of verse 8 and in verse 11. And he, when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. And then verse 11, "And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged." Now this judgment spoken of here is that which is reserved for Satan at the final judgment.

The world, its evil system, and its king Satan will be judged in the end. Lost people are within this lost world, they are within this evil world system. So the lost are convinced, and they are convicted, and they are prosecuted of this judgment to come. A judgment for Satan and his followers. And of course being outside of Christ, the sinner would see themselves as a part of this judgment. So what do we see here? The Holy Spirit was sent into the world simply for two reasons. First, to work in the lives of believers. And then second, to work in the lives of those lost whom God is drawing to Jesus.

Again, man is unable to seek God, Romans 3, 11. But as the Holy Spirit internally and effectually draws the sinner to Christ, He also performs this convicting, this convincing, this prosecuting work in the sinner. As a criminal is convinced and convicted of his crimes in a courtroom, the Holy Spirit does the same work in the lost person being drawn to Christ. He convicts the sinner of his rejection of Christ. He convicts the sinner of the righteous standard of Christ that he does not possess. And the judgment of Satan and the world that is to come. This is the convincing, the convicting, the prosecuting work of the Spirit.

Again, this is not salvation. This is the work of the Spirit before salvation. Now if we've been paying attention, we see a progression. I know this is a lie. There's a progression. The Holy Spirit internally and effectually draws the sinner to Christ. In that work, the Holy Spirit convicts and He convinces and He prosecutes that sinner. As I have said two times already, this is not salvation. This is the work of the Spirit before saving faith is granted and before saving faith is exercised. This is before Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Let me read that verse again. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.

It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." All of this work of the Spirit, this is before saving grace has been given. This is before faith has been exercised in that person as they come to faith in Christ. Let's continue. Notice, third, the Holy Spirit births Christians. The Holy Spirit, He births Christians. Now to see this, we go over to our John chapter 3 passage. We read some of those verses earlier. We have quite a few that pertain to this subject. We will not deal with them all, but we will examine a few. Now we move on to saving faith. We move on to the sinner becoming a true Bible Christian.

Before we get into the passages that I want us to examine, we need to see what's going on here. Again, this is context. Right away in verse 1, we read this earlier, we see a man named Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus and he comes to Jesus at night. He was a ruler of the Jewish people. Also, he was a super curious man because he sought a one-on-one situation with Jesus at night. And then he was a super honest man because he acknowledged that Jesus had to be from God because no one could perform these great miracles. But Jesus, being God, He knew exactly what was in this man. He knew the condition of his heart. Jesus bypassed his religion.

He ignored his importance and he seized on his curiosity and his honesty. Jesus went right to the heart of the matter, to the fact that he needed to be born of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus proceeds to give the most lengthy teaching recorded on man's need for the new birth. Just a few observations that I want to make out of these verses and I want to give us a couple of specifics. First notice in verses 1-10, we have recorded before us God's divine initiative in salvation. It's important for you to see those verses in this manner. Verses 1-10, they record God's divine initiative in salvation. I'll help us here.

There are three different times that Jesus tells Nicodemus that he had to be born of the Spirit. Verse 3, verse 5 and verse 7. Look at verse 3 with me. What does he say? "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 5, Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And then to repeat verse 7, "Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again." I like what the Bible commentator Leon Morris says. He calls these verses and this teaching a radical rebirth.

He goes on to say, and I'm quoting, "What is asked of this man is not more law, but the power of God within him to remake him completely." So it is clear that Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that he desperately needed to have what could only come from God. This divine initiative, this being born of the Spirit, are born of God. Now the second observation comes out of verses 11 to 21. Verses 11 to 21 records man's reaction to this divine initiative. It's important for you to see that. This is man's reaction to this divine initiative. Now there's a key word here in these 11 verses.

Verses 11 to 21, one word, "believe." Seven times the word "believe" is seen here in these 11 verses. In verse 12, in verse 15, in verse 16, and in verse 18. What do we see in verse 12? "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" Verse 14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and whoever believes may have eternal life." And then we keep going and we see this word "believe." Again, what did I say? Seven times it is used here.

Now these verses and the emphasis on this one word, this word "believe," it highlights the human reaction to the work of God, the one being born of the Spirit. So it is clear that Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that after this new birth, one may believe and one may have this eternal life which this man desperately, desperately wants. I want to go back, I want to focus on a key phrase. Remember the subject? The Holy Spirit births Christians. This phrase is "born again." We saw this in verse 3, 5, and 7. This is the phrase which reveals that the sinner must be born of the Holy Spirit.

The New American Standard, the English Standard Version, translates this "born again." This phrase can be accurately translated "born again" or "born from above." This term refers to a spiritual transformation within a man. Now Bible scholars call this regeneration. This transformation, this regeneration, is a work produced by the Holy Spirit of God. New life is imparted to the believer. Therefore, he is born again or born from above. We see this taught earlier in John's Gospel, in John chapter 1, verse 12 and 13.

Jesus says, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." Verse 13, "who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Here in verse 12, we see the human reaction to the divine initiative. And then in verse 13, we see the divine initiative. All of this fits together, John 1 and John 3. So what do we see here? The Holy Spirit of God births Christians. The Holy Spirit of God gives birth to a new life in Christ. After God the Holy Spirit performs this miracle within the center, man reacts by receiving and believing.

The Holy Spirit performs this secret inner work of regeneration. Then man expresses the public outward work of believing. Nicodemus seemed to have everything right, but this one thing. And that was the fact that he needed to be born from above. He needed to be born again. Again, he had everything right but that one thing. Now again, I want to point to this progression. The Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, internally and affectionately draws the center to Christ. We saw that in John 644. And as the Spirit continues to draw, the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts and prosecutes that center. We saw that in John 16.

He reveals their sin, that sin of rejecting Christ. He reveals God's righteous standard that is only found in the perfect Son of God, Christ Jesus. He reveals the judgment that is to come for Satan and the world and his followers. And as I have already said, at this point, we do not have salvation. This is the work of the Spirit before saving faith. But as we progress in the work, we do get to the new birth. By the power and the work of the Spirit, the center is born from above. They are born of God. This is an internal and an effectual work of the Holy Spirit, whereby the lost center is born again of the Spirit of God.

Again, Bible scholars call this regeneration. So what have we seen with this main truth? Number three. Again, this is just part of this continuous outline. Number one, what we believe, justification by grace through faith. What we preach. Number two, the power of God for salvation. And then number three, who do we trust? The Holy Spirit of God. We trust the Holy Spirit to do this work. Now, as we continue, we see the fourth major truth in our outline. And this is much shorter. Number four, what do we do? Our methods. What do we do? I even have in my notes our do's and our don'ts.

See, church, what we do, our methods, they're extremely important. Our methods are a reflection of what we say we believe. They are a reflection of what we say our theology is. What we say we believe is one thing, but what we do proves what we truly believe. That is why it is extremely important for us to stay anchored to the truth of God's Word. That's why we must be under God's Word consistently in our own life. We must be under the Word of God in the life of the church. And we must allow God's Word to form us and form what we do. Now, in the area of man's salvation, we have worked hard here to stay away from worldly and unbiblical methods.

We have worked hard to make sure we deal with sinners properly and biblically. Remember, that's our context. That has even caused confusion for some. I'm sad to say that some have even left Nola Baptist Church for these reasons. Why? Because we would not adhere to what we see as worldly and unbiblical methods. Now, I want to address some of our methods, some of the things that we do and what we don't do. First, we preach and we teach the sinfulness of man. You might say, "Pastor, you're repeating yourself." A must.

In the almost eight years that I've been here at Nola Baptist, I have never shied away from teaching the universal and total sinfulness of man, especially to our young children and especially to our teenagers. It is vitally important for our children to grow up knowing from the Scriptures that they are sinners. Now, Nola folks, I want you to write something down. Remember it. Have it in your mind and teach it to your young people. Here we go. God only saves lost people. God only saves lost people. That was the problem with the religious leaders in Jesus' day. They just did not see themselves as lost.

And look, we must see, we have to teach faithfully that man is sinful from the cradle to the grave. We must preach the sinfulness of man. And in my mind this morning, as I was going over my notes, I remembered one of our VBS songs that we have taught faithfully to our children. Jesus came to save sinners like you and me. Listen, God only saves lost people. God only saves lost people. Second, we preach and teach the substitutionary Atonement of Jesus. We covered the substitutionary Atonement last week in Romans 3. Notice what the verses say. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There is the sinfulness of man.

"And are justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." That is the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. Verse 25, "Whom God put forward," God, God the Father put forward as a perpetuation in His blood. This is the fact that Christ died in man's place. The just for the unjust. That's what these verses teach. God the Father poured out His just and holy wrath on Jesus and that was meant for me. That was meant for you. He preached the substitutionary Atonement of Jesus. Now, I don't know if you realize it. I've just given you the gospel. That's the gospel, folks.

That is what we consistently preach and teach here. Oh, listen, from vacation Bible school to our children's classes, to our classes with our teenagers, all the way to this pulpit. And then third, we must trust the power of the gospel. We must trust the power of the gospel. Now, listen, I want you to see that I gave you Paul's preaching verse. To me, this is Paul's theme verse for his preaching. Every sermon that he ever preached can be traced back to this one verse, Romans 1, 16. What did he say? "For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God, for the salvation, for everyone who believes." And what do we see?

This is the power to save sinners. It is bound up in the message of the gospel. And then Paul's preaching example. This is one of the greatest examples of Paul's preaching. I gave this last week and again this morning, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2. And then on down to verse 4 and 5, Paul says to the Corinthian church, "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Verse 4, "In my speech, in my preaching, it was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Listen, folks, you must see that we must preach the sinfulness of man, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and that the power to save sinners is bound up in the gospel.

You know, one of the questions that people ask regularly here, and it's a good question, it's okay, why don't we give invitations? A lot of churches give invitations. I'm not throwing stones at those who do. Why don't we give invitations? Listen, folks, notice what we've seen. The gospel is the invitation. And it's the Spirit of God that empowers the message of the gospel to do what? To draw and to call sinners to Christ. We do not give a traditional invitation here at NOLA because the gospel contains the omnipotent power of God to draw sinners and to save sinners. The gospel is the invitation. But also, dealing with this, what we do.

Fourth, we trust the Holy Spirit to save. We trust the Holy Spirit to save. Now, I'm not going back over what I have just taught you, but look at who the Holy Spirit is. He's God. Look at what the Holy Spirit does. I gave you the how of salvation when I went through the doctrine and the work of the Holy Spirit. How a sinner becomes a Bible Christian. It is the Holy Spirit of God that does this work. And listen, He can be trusted. The Holy Spirit is God, and we can trust the Holy Spirit of God. I had to come to the place in my ministry and preaching where I said two things. Number one, I believe in the Holy Spirit.

And number two, I trust in the Holy Spirit. And let me tell you, when I got to that place, this preacher was just rescued from all kind of false methods and even false doctrines. And then fifth, we reject worldly methods. We reject decisionism. Decisionism. We've all been a victim of decisionism. I mean, so many programs in the life of the church are geared for decisions. Do you reject this dreaded profession of faith? So many people have made a profession of faith, but they've not been born of God. Now listen, if you responded in an invitation and you made a decision and you were born of the Spirit, praise God.

If you made a profession of faith, praise God if that was the means by which you were born of God. But so many people have gone out of balance and out of kilter with this decisionism and the dreaded profession of faith. Another thing that we reject is revivalism. I came from revivalism. You know, you can schedule a revival and you can have revival. And really, most revivalism is nothing more than getting people to make decisions and lead them in these prayers of a profession of faith. So much of it is just man-centered and it is focused on emotions and what we can get man to do.

We also reject the worldly doctrine of this demonic rededication. You never hear me use that phrase. Listen, Christians don't rededicate. Christians repent. That term rededication and the doctrine behind it, it all stems back to this heretical doctrine of the carnal Christian, whereby churches teach that you can come to faith in Christ and you can have Jesus as your Savior, but He's not your Lord, and you can go out there and live however you want to, and you can come back and you can rededicate and make Jesus Lord. That is terribly unscriptural. These approaches mostly come from bad methods.

And these bad methods mostly come from bad doctrine. It all stems from bad theology, folks. And I said mostly, because there are some good brothers. There are men who can err in some of these ways. Listen, we must come to the place where we see that none of us have perfect methods and none of us have perfect theology. What am I trying to show you? We have rejected purposefully worldly methods which result in decisions and professions of faith and this revivalism and even these dreaded rededications. Now in conclusion, what have we seen here in these two messages? Truthfully, a lot. If you paid attention, I really unloaded the wagon.

I don't think you could digest it all just in this one block of time. What do we believe? The biblical and the historic doctrine of justification by grace through faith. Listen, folks, if you move away from that doctrine, you ease or you run headlong into works salvation. That's heresy and it never saves. What do we preach? The power of God for salvation. God's omnipotent saving power is bound up and unleashed through the message of the gospel. Listen, folks, listen, folks, listen. If the gospel cannot save our sons and daughters, we're hopeless. And who do we trust? The Holy Spirit. He's God. This is God, people.

And God, through the person of the Holy Spirit, does what only God can do. He draws and He convicts and He persuades and He calls and He bursts people into the kingdom of God. And what do we do? Our methods. We just work hard to make sure they're biblical. We just work hard to make sure that they're not man-centered and they're not emotional. We let God do this work. We trust in God. We try to get out of the way and let God do what only God can do. But you know, there's at least one person here this morning and you're saying something like this in your heart. Pastor, that isn't enough. I've got to do something.

Some of you are sitting here and you're saying, "Brother Chris, that just didn't enough for me. I've got to do something." Well, let me tell you what you do. You share the Gospel, the full Gospel, the whole Gospel, the bad news and the good news, and then you pray. You go to your children, you go to your teenagers, and you explain to them their awful sinfulness, and then you pray. Oh, and then you keep praying, and you keep telling them of their awful sinfulness. You tell them of what God did through His Son Jesus, how He went to the cross and He died an awful substitutionary death, bearing the wrath of God from men, and then you pray.

And then you do it all over again, and you do it week in and week out. You share the Gospel and you pray. You tell them of their sinfulness and then you pray. Then you tell them the wondrous story of Christ Jesus and how He died on the cross, and then you pray, and you do it all over again. You do it day after day, week after week, month after month, and then we join together to do this work, and then we step back and let God do what only God can do. What's the title of the message? It's before you. Praying for a monumental movement. What are we doing? Some people think we're off our rocker.

Those who want worldly methods, tangible results, they think we're off our rocker. But we're praying. We're preaching. We're teaching. We're waiting. We're working hard and teaching the truth. We're praying. We're trusting in the Spirit. And listen, we're waiting for a monumental movement of the Spirit to save lost sinners. And listen, church, listen, folks. When God saves a sinner, it is a monumental work of the Spirit. It is a monumental work of the Spirit. That is the movement of God in a lost sinner. That's what we're praying for. That's what we're hoping for. And that's what we must go to our grave doing. Now, again, our context.

We've got children coming to the understanding, gripped by the Spirit of God that they're lost. We've got teenagers. We've got college students in the throes of conviction, broken some of them, broken the tears. They know that they're lost and undone without Christ. We've got adults here who seek counsel, and they know that they're lost. They know that their religion is not enough to save them. Listen, that's what's before us, the work of the Spirit of God. And I beg you, pray. I beg you to witness. I ask you to get on your knees. Get up earlier in the morning. Stay up late at night and pray and seek that God would do what only God can do.

Praying for a monumental movement of the Spirit to save sinners. Let's pray, and then we will close.