Almost all sin is first-degree.

Steve Brown:
Almost all sin is first-degree. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Welcome to Key Life. I’m Matthew, executive producer of the program. Our host is Steve Brown. He’s an author and seminary professor who teaches that God’s amazing grace is the key to a life of radical freedom, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness to Christ.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. I hope you guys had a great week-end. As always, I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. If you were listening last week, I introduced what we’re going to be talking about over the next few weeks, and that’s the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We saw that not a lot is done on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And there are a number of reasons for that, and one is that the job description of the Holy Spirit is not to call attention to Himself, but to point to the first and second persons of the Trinity, to God the Father and God the Son. But sometimes you need to stop and look at a doctrine and look at it detailed. And that’s what we’re doing and going to do for the next few weeks. Now, I’ve got a gift for you. Next week, I’ve invited Dr. Justin Holcomb to sit down with me. Justin Holcomb is the Bishop of the Central Florida Diocese. And he is incredible. He’s a scholar, he believes every word of the Bible, and God uses him in some wonderful ways. And I thought it would be helpful if we pause next week when Justin comes in and we’ll talk about some of these issues and some of the details. We may even talk about the gift of tongues. But for now, we’re simply looking at the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And some of this is introductory. Before we do that, let’s pray. Father, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not out there somewhere, but inside, living in us. Thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the reality that the Holy Spirit gives us. Father, you know everybody who’s listening right now, and you know the hard places and the soft places. Remind us that all of that is under your sovereign control and that you’re good all the time. Father, it’s sometimes hard to believe that, so by your Spirit, give us the faith to lean on you and to lean on you hard. As always, Father, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sins because there are many, we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Now, if you were listening toward the end of last week, I said something that is really important, and I suspect that when Dr. Holcomb comes in next week, we’re going to say it again. And it’s this, that the Holy Spirit assures you that you’re going to get better. Scripture is replete with passages that suggest it’s not you, dummy, it’s Him. And He’s going to make you better. Most Christianity is, and I’m a part of it, so I’m not just throwing rocks, I’m repenting. A lot of Christianity is an effort to work hard so that we can be pleasing to God, and so that we can be better and better every day. First, God doesn’t need to be pleased, he already is, that’s what the cross of Christ was about. And secondly, a part of the sanctification process is the work that He does in every believer. I don’t know about you, but I’m better than I was. I’ve often said I thought I’d be better by now than I am, and that’s true. I thought I would be a spiritual giant by now. I’ve been doing this for a very long time, longer than most of you have been alive, and I really thought I’d be better, but that’s true. But this is true too. I am better, and I’m better in some significant ways, and I have no earthly idea how it happened. I love people I didn’t love before. I forgive quicker than I used to. I’m kinder than I used to be. I’m more faithful and obedient than I was, and I can’t even believe it happened, because that is the work of the Holy Spirit, sometimes in secret in our lives. And it’s important when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit is a promise that we’re going to get better. And it’s a promise that gives me great courage about doing this thing for Christ. Okay, let’s dig in and look at some things about the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit convicts the believer and the unbeliever of sin, John 16:8.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin.

You know, we like to make excuses for our sins. And what happened when we were justified on the cross is that we don’t have to make excuses anymore. I love the period in my prayer life when I confess. And you say, no, you don’t. Yeah, I do. Because I know I’m forgiven and it’s the place where I get me into some kind of conformity with the God of the universe. It’s called repentance and repentance is the source of Christian joy. So, when we sin, we generally know we’ve sinned, sometimes we plan to sin, sometimes we’ve thought about it a long time before we’ve sinned, but we know, and we know because God’s Spirit lets us know, gently and lovingly and without judging and condemning because.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8. Without condemning that this is the way. And this is the way you walk in it. A long time ago when I was a pastor I was flippant about the gay issue. In fact, I sometimes would make jokes and we had a young couple in our church who had a number of gay friends and had started bringing them to church. And one day after one of the worship services, they came up to me and they had a kind of sad look on their face. And at that very moment, I realized what they were going to say. And I said to them, to their surprise, you don’t even have to say it. I repent. I did it, and I’m wrong, and I won’t do it anymore. They said, how did you know? And I didn’t say it at the time, but I knew that the Holy Spirit had convicted me. Some of the people in our church who were struggling with same sex attraction were going through awful times, and here their pastor was making jokes. Making fun of it, and the Holy Spirit said you can’t do that, and I stopped. That’s the business of the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t condemn you, he doesn’t beat you over the head with it, he doesn’t say how could you have thought that, or said that, or done that, but he reminds you of what God would have for your life, and the sin that is involved in your life. And so, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. I have a voice that can sound harsh sometimes, when I don’t mean it to sound harsh. I’m actually a fuzzball. I’m sweet and nice, but sometimes I say things strongly and they sound like I’m angry. And one time I came home, I called my wife and she wasn’t there. She was out doing something else. And so, I left a message on the voice message on the answering machine. When I got home, I saw it was blinking. So, I played it and I heard what I said and I sounded angry. And I thought, oh man, is that me? Am I that way? Do I sound angry? So, when Anna got home, I told her what I discovered. And she said, well, yeah, sometimes you do sound that way. And I thought, who told me that? Why did I accept it? How did I apply it? I did it because the Holy Spirit was working inside of me. The Holy Spirit was teaching me things I needed to know. The Holy Spirit was convicting me. Now, I’m using pretty simple illustrations. But the Holy Spirit continues to do that in the life of the believer. And because the Holy Spirit does that in the life of the believer, we get better. And we can’t help it. And so, say, Lord, make me sensitive to the movement of God’s Spirit in me to make me like you. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our study of the Holy Spirit. And if you’d like to learn more, you may want to check out Steve’s book. It’s called Follow the Wind and you can find it on the products page at keylife.org more to discover tomorrow. Hope you will join us. So, who is the Holy Spirit? What does he do? What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Does God still do miracles? If you have any of these questions, you may want to get our free booklet called Questions About the Holy Spirit. Get your copy by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet and to mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the booklet called Questions About the Holy Spirit. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now gift safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. And it goes without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway. If you can’t give right now, or maybe you don’t feel called to, don’t you worry about it. Please do pray for us though, okay? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of the Key Life Network.