Holy Ghost Conviction — E.A. Johnston

Holy Ghost Conviction and the Necessity of Repentance

I submit to you, friends, that there may be some here among us today who sit on a rotten foundation and a false hope of heaven. I don't believe you can be saved from your sins without first being convicted of them by the Spirit of God.

When God operates on the sinner's heart, He first does it by bringing Holy Ghost conviction. Christ told His disciples, and when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

Peter's Sermon and the Conviction of Three Thousand

Was this not the case in the book of Acts where 3 ,000 came under conviction of sin by God's Spirit under Peter's searching sermon when he declared, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Is this absence of Holy Spirit conviction in our churches today the reason why so many are yet unconverted and why there is no cry in our midst today of wounded sinners crying out, Oh, what must I do to be saved?

Christ's Conviction of the Samaritan Woman

The biblical pattern is there for our study, friends, in how Christ dealt with sinners. Was not the woman from Samaria brought by Christ searching words to see her own sin? Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

Her reply was that of a guilty sinner. The woman answered and said, Have no husband. Christ directs her attention to her secret whoredom before she can be bettered by the water of life. So too God deals with all sinners by bringing Holy Ghost conviction.

The Danger of Unrepentant Sin

And here is where some of you lie in great danger, my friends, of dying in your sins for without Holy Ghost conviction there is no repentance and faith for if you miss repentance and faith there is no salvation.

Preaching Sin Honestly to Awaken Conviction

I submit to you, friends, that the reason so few are saved today is because of a want of good preaching. Very few preachers will be honest with your soul and will preach against sin. And if you fail to preach against sin there will be no conviction of sin.

Peter's sermon with his piercing words of their murder and contempt of Christ by dipping their hands in his blood gave room for God's spirit to work and operate upon their heart by conviction of sin. Charles Finney had such an awakening ministry because Finney preached hard against sin.

Finney's Millstone Illustration of the Law and the Sinner's Heart

All you have to do is study his sermon notes and his memoir to see this is the case of so many fallen under conviction of sin in his meetings. Finney spoke of Holy Ghost conviction in the following terms.

He said, imagine in your minds a town mill where two millstones grind corn. The top stone is the law of God and the bottom stone is the sinner's heart and when these two stones meet then the Holy Spirit can go to work in grinding conviction of sin.

And that's what we're missing today, friends, grinding conviction of sin. Let me tell you a story about Duncan Campbell who was mightily used to God in the revival on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland so many years ago.

Duncan Campbell's Revival Preaching and the Little Dog

Duncan Campbell preached hard against sin and Duncan Campbell saw scenes of revival that were startling in a God consciousness that spread over the island. He named sin in his sermons. He was preaching on the sin of stealing one day and a man got up in the middle of the back of the church and turned his back on Duncan Campbell and walked out in the middle of his sermon and he didn't return for three days.

When the man finally returned he approached Duncan Campbell and said, I'm sorry I disturbed your meeting the other day but I had to leave when I heard that little dog bark. Duncan Campbell said, I heard no little dog bark.

Oh yes, said the man, a little dog barked. You see, when I was a young lad I stole a very expensive puppy from a nearby farm and I sold it to another farmer in a neighboring town and I had completely forgotten about that incident until while you were preaching I heard a little dog bark and in my memory I saw that puppy and how I held it in my hands as I had stolen him.

Well, I left the church immediately as you saw me leave and I got into my pickup truck and I drove to the farm where I had stolen that little dog. The owner of the farm had since died but his adult daughter answered the door and I related to her my story of stealing her father's little dog and how I then sold it for a nice price to a neighboring town.

I had computed in my mind the cost of that dog and the interest on that money all these long years and I handed that man's daughter a check for the balance and made her take it along with my apology. Then I went home and the next day I drove out of town to try to locate the other farm where I had sold that little dog too.

I had trouble finding the original owner of that farm for it had been sold a number of times through the years but after asking the local townsfolk I finally was directed to a grandson of that farmer to whom I handed him a check for the price of that dog plus interest on that money through these many years and I made that young man accept the money along with my apology and I drove home that day and today I was determined to come back to church and relate these circumstances to you who was so faithful to my soul for I have confessed my sin to the great God and have accepted his dear son Jesus and now I have a peace and love to God I had not previously known before.

The Spirit's Conviction and the Call to Repent

Listen friends, I share that story with you today about the little dog barking because there may be someone within the sound of my voice whereby God's Spirit is now dealing with you and you too hear a little dog barking if I may so speak as God's Spirit speaks and God is working an operation upon your heart in conviction of sin.

Repentance means admitting your sin and confessing your sin to Almighty God and turning from your sin to repudiate it, break off from it, from all of it and cast yourself upon the Savior from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Coming to Christ for Salvation

If God is dealing with your soul right now, friend, go get alone with God and get serious with him. The testimony of the Samaritan woman to her neighbors was, come see the man that had told me all that I ever did in my life.

Come to that same Jesus, friend. He is the friend of sinners. Let us pray.