April 15, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Very first time that you have seen this telecast. I
want you to know that the thing that we emphasize
on getting to Know your Bible is a word of God.
The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written.
Many years ago, there were those that wrote books that
thought they would replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine
(00:55):
thought when he wrote The Age of Reason. But the
Bible continues to live after century. Jesus said, heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.
So on getting to Know your Bible, we're teaching from
the timeless Word of God. The Bible is God's book,
the greatest book that has ever been written. And today
(01:17):
we're going to be opening up the pages of the
Word of God and delivering a message to you from
God's book. Today we're going to be seeing a one
of our classics that is a production of one of
our telecasts from time in the past, and we want
you to stay tuned. We're going to be offering a
(01:39):
free Bible correspondence course today and we will see information
on the screen as to how you can receive that course,
and so we want to pause at this.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course
right too. Getting to Know Your Bible po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
(02:09):
call toll free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The Bible teaches that there are three in the Godhead, God,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and one
John five and verse seven tells us those three are
(02:37):
one the Holy Spirit. You know, there's a lot of
confusion about the subject of the Holy Spirit today, and truthfully,
there's not much teaching about it today, not as much
as there should be. So today we want to talk
about the role of the Holy Spirit in Bible conversion.
(02:58):
What role does the whole spirit play. Stay tuned as
we discuss that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Today.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I'm going to be reading out of Luke the eighth chapter,
verse eleven to fifteen. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside
are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and
takes away the word out of their hearts lest they
should believe and be saved. For the ones on the
(03:29):
rock are those who, when they hear, receive the Word
with joy. And these have no root, who believe for
a while in a time of temptation fall away. Now
the ones that fell among thorns, of those who, when
they have heard going go out in a choke with cares,
riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
(03:52):
But the ones that fell on the good ground, or
those who having heard the Word with a noble and
good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. The
Holy Spirit is involved in the conversion of sinners. But
(04:15):
what role does the Holy Spirit play? And that's a
subject that confuses many people. And all we would like
to do today is try to understand it in light
of what.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The Bible says.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
But I think first of all, we need to understand
the word conversion.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It is a Bible word.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
As a matter of fact, we read that word in
several places in the Bible, in the New Testament, especially
repent and be converted Acts three nineteen, except you be
converted and become His little children.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
In Matthew chapter eighteen.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
In Matthew thirteen and fifteen, Jesus said, lest they be converted,
and I should heal them. So three times we read
the word convert in the Bible. But what is conversion?
What does it mean for a person to be converted
to Christ. Well, conversion is not just a change of
(05:14):
your opinion. A person might change their opinion and never
be converted to Jesus Christ. Conversion is not just a
change of your moral habits. Maybe you have some habits
that are not good habits and you may change those,
but that's not an evidence that you've been converted to
Jesus Christ. Benevolence is not a sign of conversion.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's not conversion.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
There may be an individual who is very generous with
his or her money, and they have lots of people,
but Jesus means absolutely nothing to them. You see, benevolence
is not a sign that a person has been converted,
and church attendance is not conversion. I'd have to go
on in that when you are converted to Jesus Christ,
(06:02):
that being in worship is a very important thing to
you and you want to be there. But what does
it really mean to be converted? The word convert simply
means to change or to turn, So there is a
changing or there's a turning. In the twenty second chapter
of Luke's Gospel, Jesus was talking to Peter and he
(06:23):
called him Simon. He said, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired
to have you, that he may sift you as we
But I have prayed for you that your faith failed.
Not when you are converted, When you are converted. You
see who would or not thought Peter was already converted.
(06:43):
But Jesus said, when you are converted, well, what does
that mean? It means to change. It means to turn again.
Listen to Acts three nineteen. Repent and be converted, that
your sins be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the present of the Lord. Conversion is
a change. We talk about water being converted into steam,
(07:10):
we talk about wood being converted into paper. So there
is a conversion that takes place, and there's a change
that takes place. There's a changing into another way, into
another use for one's life when we are converted. I
(07:31):
think we have an example of Bible conversion in First Thessalonians,
the first chapter and in verse number nine, and Paul
is talking about what happened to the people of Thessalonika
when they were converted to Jesus Christ. For they themselves
declare us, contrary what manner of entry we had to you?
(07:53):
How we turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
That's converted.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
When you turn from idols to serve the living and
the true God. There was a change, there was a
turning in their lives. Well, there is a threefold change
when a person is converted to Christ. Change number one,
there's a change of your intellect, your intellect from being
(08:24):
an unbeliever to being a believer. And this is produced
by faith. In Hacks fifteen and verse nine, the Bible
there reach like this that they have put no difference
between us and them purifying their hearts by faith. So
hearts are purified by faith, and so there must be
(08:46):
faith in Bible conversion. But how does one become a believer? Well,
Romans ten and verse seventeen says that faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the word of God. So change
number one in Bible conversion. You go from being an
unbeliever to being a believer. You will go from a
person who does not believe Jesus is the son of
(09:08):
God to believe in Jesus is the Son of God.
You go from a person who does not believe God
exists becoming a person who believes that God does exist.
And so that's a change of your intellect. Now, once
you become a believer, that must be a change of life.
And that change of life is produced or brought about
(09:31):
by Bible repentance. Romans chapter two and verse four says,
it's the goodness of God that leads a person to repent.
You know, when you stop and think about how good
the Lord has been to you and all the things
God's done for you, it should make it should cause
all of us to want to repent and to live
our lives for God. But this repentance is a turning,
(09:54):
it is a change. You know, Jesus said, except you repent,
you shall all likewise perish. In Second Corinthians, chapter seven
and verse ten, pouls said, godless sorrow worketh repentance under salvation,
not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the
world worketh death.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
What does it really mean to repent?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I read a story once about a man, and this
was in someone's book that I read it. And this preacher,
who lived a number of years ago, was rather flamboyant
in his presentation in the pulpit. And they said that
he would walk across the pulpit in one direction and
he would say, I'm going to Hell, I'm going to Hell.
(10:35):
And then he would stop in a rather dramatic fashion,
and they'd turn and look in the other direction, and
he said, now I'm going to heaven. I'm going to heaven.
And he said, now that's repentance. No, No, that's not
Repentance is a change of mind for the better. You
repent when you decide you're going to turn from going
in the wrong direction doing the wrong things, to going
(10:57):
in the right direction doing the right things. And the
going in another direction is the fruit of your repentance.
But there can be no Bible conversion unless we are
believers in Jesus Christ. There can be no Bible conversion
unless we are willing to repent of our sins. But
there's a third change that takes place in Bible conversion.
(11:21):
That's the change of relationship from being outside Christ to
being in Jesus Christ. Person outside of Christ has no hope. Cornifesians,
chapter two and verse twelve. It is unnecessary for any
one to be outside of Christ and not be in
that relationship with Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ is one's
(11:44):
savior and one's lord.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Paul in Igalatians the third chapter.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Tells one how this change of relationship takes place. Listen
to a beginning in verse twenty six in Galatians three.
For you, all the children of God, by faith in
Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ. This is something these people, he's writing to,
(12:09):
it already done.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You see, you've put on Christ.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
The way that we put Christ on, and that Jesus
Christ is with me and I am with him is
when I as a penitent believer in Jesus Christ or baptized.
In Romans the sixth chapter, this is the very thing
that the apostle Paul is writing about when he says, know,
you're not that so many of us. As we're baptizing
(12:35):
to Christ, we're baptizing to his death. When you're baptized,
this is a burial in water. You're baptized, you're baptized
into Christ, and then you're baptized into his death. And
in the benefits of his death, Jesus shed his blood
in dying, did he not when he was hanging upon
the old rugged cross? And Jesus Christ's blood is applied
(12:59):
to our sins when we believe in repent of our sins,
and we're baptizing to Jesus Christ. And when we are
in Christ, we become a new creature in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Second corinthis chapter.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Five and verse seventeen says, therefore, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. But how do
we get into Christ? Believe repent and you're baptizing to Christ?
And that very simple. The Bible is not complicated, It
is not confusing. The Bible is so plain and so
easily to understand. So this is something that's involved in
(13:35):
our being converted to Jesus Christ. If we are converted,
there's a change of intellect, a change of life, and
a change of relationship. For being out of Christ to
being in Christ. But now, what role does the Holy
Spirit play in Bible conversion? What's the part the Holy
(13:57):
Spirit plays? You know, it's a very popular that the
Holy Spirit operates directly on the hearts of sinners, separate
and apart from the Word of God. Now, that's a
very popular idea that many have. That's the reason you'll
hear people saying, you know, I was walking down the
(14:17):
road one day and all of a sudden, the Lord
just appeared to me and knocked me down to the ground,
and I just knew that I've saved. Well, see, that
person has never been taught the Bible. Is that the
way it is, is that the way the Holy Spirit
operates on our hearts, separate and apart from the Word
of God. If there's such a thing, is a direct
(14:40):
operation of the Holy Spirit. My question is, why should
we teach anything? Why would we teach anything to people?
You know, where to teach people?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The Gospel?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
In Roma's the tenth chapter, Beginning in verse thirteen, Paul said,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. But how shall they call on him in
who they have not believed? And how shall they believe
on Him of whom they have not heard, And how
shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach
except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful
(15:11):
out of the feet of them that bring the Gospel
of peace and bring glad tidings and good things. So
then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. Prince, people have to be taught the Bible.
But if there's a such thing as in the direct
operation of the Holy Spirit working on the hearts of sinners,
separate and apart from the Word of God, why would
(15:31):
we spend money sending missionaries overseas. Why not just pray
for the Holy Spirit to go and to convert those
people to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I want us to look back in Luke the eighth chapter.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
And Luke the eighth chapter is the parable of the soure,
the souls and the seed. And Jesus had just given
a parable beginning in verse five, and he talked about
a sore that went out to sow his and some
of that seed fell by the wayside, some fell on
(16:05):
a rock, some fell among thorns, and some fell on
the good ground. And so later the disciples ask him
what the parable meant. And this is Jesus' explanation. The
seed is the word of God. The seed is the
(16:25):
word of God, and the seed was sown in the
hearts of people. So the seed is the word of God.
And he says, those by the wayside are those who
hear what the word of God? And then the devil
comes and he takes away what he takes away the
word out of their hearts. Well, what effect would the
(16:46):
word have on their hearts lest they should believe and
be saved? You see, a person cannot be saved unless
they believe and obey the word of God. Then he says,
the ones on the rock are those they hear what
hear the word? Receive the word how with joy? But
they don't have any root. And for a while they believe.
(17:09):
But in time of temptation what happens to these people?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They fall away?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
And then there are those that fell among thorns in
verse fourteen. And they're the ones when they have heard
heard what heard the word? They go out and are
choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and bring
no fruit to maturity. But then there are others that
the seed falls on good ground, that's in verse fifteen.
And these are those that hear the Word with a
(17:37):
noble and good heart.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And keep it and bring fruit with patience.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
You see the importance of the Word of God and
people being saved. Now, if the idea is true that
God can save people without the Bible, that God can
save people without being taught the Bible being taught the truth,
well then the Lord didn't know it. Are we wasting
money sending missionaries all over the world. Why are we
(18:03):
building church buildings? Why are we spending all of this
money on television. We just ought to have a great,
big prayer meeting and ask God to send the Holy
Spirit to these people. But it doesn't work that way.
It's not God's plan. And if this idea of a
direct operation of the Holy Spirit working on the hearts
of men, separate and apart from the Word of God,
(18:24):
if that's true, it just makes the Bible a dead letter.
Hebrews four and twelve says the Word of God is
quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing A son of the soul
and spirit of the joints and mayor, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
The word of God is not a dead letter. The
Word of God is quick, and it is powerful, and
(18:47):
it changes the hearts of those that receive it with joy.
And then if this idea of the Holy Spirit working
on people apart from the Word of God is true,
it nullifies the great commission. You see, Jesus didn't say
going to all the world cares and pray for the
Holy Spirit to go. Jesus said, going to all the
world and preach the Gospel. Preach the Gospel to every creature.
(19:11):
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He
that believeth not shall be down. And if the idea
of some direct operation of the Holy Spirit working apart
from the Word of God is true, then that it
just denies man his free moral agency.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Man is a free moral agient.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
He has volitional powers, meaning by that that man can
make a decision whether obey the Lord or to not
obey the Lord. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter
preached about Jesus, and the people asked what shall we do?
And he told him what to do to the repenting
to be baptized for the remission of their sins. He said,
save yourselves from this untoward generation. There was something they
(19:53):
had to do to be saved, is they had to
respond to the Gospel. And so then we deny God's
plan when we say that you can have a direct
operating of the Holy Spirit on your heart and on
your life, separing it apart from the Bible, you just
have some experience that's better felt than told. But God's
(20:17):
plan is the world be saved through the preaching of
the gospel. You know in Romans one sixteenth, that's where
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, or it
is the power of God under salvation to everyone that believe.
To the jew first and all sool of the Greek
and listen to Paul in First Corinthians, chapter one and
verse twenty one, for sense, in the wisdom of God,
(20:42):
the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased
God through the preaching, through the message preached to save
those who believe. It is through the message that is
preached that people are saved. That's God's plan. You see
(21:04):
John six and verse forty five. Jesus said they shall
all be taught of God.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Everyone.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father,
cometh unto me. Will Someone says, well, then, if there's
no operation of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of people,
separate and apart from the Word of God, what role.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Does the Holy Spirit play?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
The Holy Spirit uses a medium or a method in
reaching men, and it is the Word of God. I
want you to listen to your Bible and first Corinthian
first Peter, chapter one, verse twenty three, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God,
(21:50):
that liveth and abideth forever. Folks, if men are saved,
they're going to.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Have to be taught to gospel.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Though you have many instructors in Christ, yet not many
fathers far in Christ.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I have begotten you through the Gospel.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
You see, people are forgotten by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
not some better felt than tol experience. They have to
be taught the Gospel. There's power in the Bible to
cleanse people's hearts and lives. In John chapter fifteen, in
verse three, Jesus said, now you're clean. Now you're clean
through my word which I have spoken unto you. There's
(22:24):
power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to save this
world ten times, over thousand times, over million times over.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
The power is not in a man. The power is in.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is the Gospel
that the Holy Spirit uses in the conviction and in
the conversion of sinners.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Second Peter one twenty one says it holy men of
God spake as.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
They removed by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
In Second Peter Timothy, Chapter three and verse sixteen, Paul wrote,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for construction, instruction, and righteousness,
that the Man of God may be perfect truly furnished
under all good works. In John sixteen and verse thirteen, Highbien,
when he the Spirit of Truth is come, he shall
(23:20):
guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit guided men
in the revealing of not some of the truth, but
all of the truth. And all of the truth has
been revealed in the Bible, but the lat By the
time the last inspired man died, all religious truth had
been revealed to mankind. And the Holy Spirit uses the Bible.
(23:44):
The revealed Word of God to convict and convert men.
That's the reason we must preach the gospel. It is
the gospel that saves, it is the gospel that convicts.
It is a gospel that tells men what to do
in order to be saved. Imagine a man going out
into the forest and he wants to cut down a tree,
(24:06):
and he takes a chainsaw with him, and he takes
the chainsaw, cranks it up, cuts down the tree. Now,
what cut down the tree? Well, someone says, well, the
man cut down the tree. Someone else says, no, the
saw cut down the tree. Well, I want to submit
to you that the man could have not cut down
the tree without the chainsaw. But the chainsaw could not
(24:30):
have cut down the tree without the man. The man
used an instrument in order to cut down the tree,
and the instrument he used in cutting down the tree
was the chainsaw. Now, the Holy Spirit uses an instrument
in conversion. The Holy Spirit is not operating on people's
(24:50):
heart apart from the Bible.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
He uses the.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Instrument called the Word of God to teach and instruct
men in their aalvation.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
People have to be taught words.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
There's a passage that comes to mind Over in the
eleventh chapter of Acts and in verse number fourteen. And
here Peter said, Peter is at the house of Cornelius.
And this is that Acts chapter eleven, in verse fourteen,
and he said that Cornelius was told to sin for him.
And he went to cornelius house and preached the Gospel
(25:25):
to Cornelius and his household. And later, when Peter got
back to Jerusalem, his Jewish brethren called him on the
carpet because he had been associated with Gentiles. And so
he began to rehearse by order what took place at
the house of Cornelius. Now listen to verse fourteen, and
I'm bid to go back to verse thirteen. And he
told us how he had seen an angel standing in
(25:47):
his house, and he said, send men to Joppin, call
for Simon, whose surname is Peter, verse fourteen, who will
tell you words by which you in all your household
we'll be saved.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Folks.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
It takes words for people to be saved, and the
words are the words of salvation, the words of the Gospel.
Let me give an illustration of how people are saved
by the Gospel and also the role the Holy Spirit
plays in conversion. I'm looking at the eighth chapter of
Acts now, and this is when an angel of the
(26:23):
Lord instructed Philip to go towards the south along the
road that from Jerusalem to Gaz and this is desert.
And in verse twenty seven he rose and he went. Now,
later there was this man from Ethiopia, he on his
way home from Jerusalem, and verse twenty nine says, then
the Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this charity.
(26:46):
Why didn't the spirit tell the man from Ethiopia what
to do? Because the message at that time had not
been revealed in written form as we have it today.
And Paul said in second Crinchon's four and seven, we
have this treasure to call the Gospel in earthen vessels,
and Philip was the earthen vessel to teach this man
(27:06):
what he must do in order to be saved. The
Gospel today we have in written form, and we need
to heed it today. And we ought to do just
what this man did. When you heard the Gospel preach,
he asked, why can't I be baptized?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He said, you.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Can if you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.
He said, I do I believe Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, and that very day that man became
obedient to this spirit inspired revealed word of God by
being baptized into Jesus Christ. Jesus said, heed it, believe it,
and is baptized, shall be saved.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Would you do that today? May God bless you until
we meet again.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Getting to Know Your Bible has been presented by Churches
of Christ. If you have a question about the church,
or if you would like the location of a Church
of Christ near you, or to receive the free Bible
course right two Getting to Know Your Bible heelbox one
four Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or call
one eight seven seven seven one one five two one
(28:07):
four Join us next time forgetting to Know your Bible.
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Very first time that you have seen this telecast. I
want you to know that the thing that we emphasize
on getting to Know your Bible is a word of God.
The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written.
Many years ago, there were those that wrote books that
thought they would replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine
(00:55):
thought when he wrote The Age of Reason. But the
Bible continues to live after century. Jesus said, heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.
So on getting to Know your Bible, we're teaching from
the timeless Word of God. The Bible is God's book,
the greatest book that has ever been written. And today
(01:17):
we're going to be opening up the pages of the
Word of God and delivering a message to you from
God's book. Today we're going to be seeing a one
of our classics that is a production of one of
our telecasts from time in the past, and we want
you to stay tuned. We're going to be offering a
(01:39):
free Bible correspondence course today and we will see information
on the screen as to how you can receive that course,
and so we want to pause at this.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course
right too. Getting to Know Your Bible po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
(02:09):
call toll free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The Bible teaches that there are three in the Godhead, God,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and one
John five and verse seven tells us those three are
(02:37):
one the Holy Spirit. You know, there's a lot of
confusion about the subject of the Holy Spirit today, and truthfully,
there's not much teaching about it today, not as much
as there should be. So today we want to talk
about the role of the Holy Spirit in Bible conversion.
(02:58):
What role does the whole spirit play. Stay tuned as
we discuss that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Today.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I'm going to be reading out of Luke the eighth chapter,
verse eleven to fifteen. Now the parable is this. The
seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside
are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and
takes away the word out of their hearts lest they
should believe and be saved. For the ones on the
(03:29):
rock are those who, when they hear, receive the Word
with joy. And these have no root, who believe for
a while in a time of temptation fall away. Now
the ones that fell among thorns, of those who, when
they have heard going go out in a choke with cares,
riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
(03:52):
But the ones that fell on the good ground, or
those who having heard the Word with a noble and
good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. The
Holy Spirit is involved in the conversion of sinners. But
(04:15):
what role does the Holy Spirit play? And that's a
subject that confuses many people. And all we would like
to do today is try to understand it in light
of what.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The Bible says.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
But I think first of all, we need to understand
the word conversion.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It is a Bible word.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
As a matter of fact, we read that word in
several places in the Bible, in the New Testament, especially
repent and be converted Acts three nineteen, except you be
converted and become His little children.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
In Matthew chapter eighteen.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
In Matthew thirteen and fifteen, Jesus said, lest they be converted,
and I should heal them. So three times we read
the word convert in the Bible. But what is conversion?
What does it mean for a person to be converted
to Christ. Well, conversion is not just a change of
(05:14):
your opinion. A person might change their opinion and never
be converted to Jesus Christ. Conversion is not just a
change of your moral habits. Maybe you have some habits
that are not good habits and you may change those,
but that's not an evidence that you've been converted to
Jesus Christ. Benevolence is not a sign of conversion.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's not conversion.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
There may be an individual who is very generous with
his or her money, and they have lots of people,
but Jesus means absolutely nothing to them. You see, benevolence
is not a sign that a person has been converted,
and church attendance is not conversion. I'd have to go
on in that when you are converted to Jesus Christ,
(06:02):
that being in worship is a very important thing to
you and you want to be there. But what does
it really mean to be converted? The word convert simply
means to change or to turn, So there is a
changing or there's a turning. In the twenty second chapter
of Luke's Gospel, Jesus was talking to Peter and he
(06:23):
called him Simon. He said, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired
to have you, that he may sift you as we
But I have prayed for you that your faith failed.
Not when you are converted, When you are converted. You
see who would or not thought Peter was already converted.
(06:43):
But Jesus said, when you are converted, well, what does
that mean? It means to change. It means to turn again.
Listen to Acts three nineteen. Repent and be converted, that
your sins be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the present of the Lord. Conversion is
a change. We talk about water being converted into steam,
(07:10):
we talk about wood being converted into paper. So there
is a conversion that takes place, and there's a change
that takes place. There's a changing into another way, into
another use for one's life when we are converted. I
(07:31):
think we have an example of Bible conversion in First Thessalonians,
the first chapter and in verse number nine, and Paul
is talking about what happened to the people of Thessalonika
when they were converted to Jesus Christ. For they themselves
declare us, contrary what manner of entry we had to you?
(07:53):
How we turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
That's converted.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
When you turn from idols to serve the living and
the true God. There was a change, there was a
turning in their lives. Well, there is a threefold change
when a person is converted to Christ. Change number one,
there's a change of your intellect, your intellect from being
(08:24):
an unbeliever to being a believer. And this is produced
by faith. In Hacks fifteen and verse nine, the Bible
there reach like this that they have put no difference
between us and them purifying their hearts by faith. So
hearts are purified by faith, and so there must be
(08:46):
faith in Bible conversion. But how does one become a believer? Well,
Romans ten and verse seventeen says that faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the word of God. So change
number one in Bible conversion. You go from being an
unbeliever to being a believer. You will go from a
person who does not believe Jesus is the son of
(09:08):
God to believe in Jesus is the Son of God.
You go from a person who does not believe God
exists becoming a person who believes that God does exist.
And so that's a change of your intellect. Now, once
you become a believer, that must be a change of life.
And that change of life is produced or brought about
(09:31):
by Bible repentance. Romans chapter two and verse four says,
it's the goodness of God that leads a person to repent.
You know, when you stop and think about how good
the Lord has been to you and all the things
God's done for you, it should make it should cause
all of us to want to repent and to live
our lives for God. But this repentance is a turning,
(09:54):
it is a change. You know, Jesus said, except you repent,
you shall all likewise perish. In Second Corinthians, chapter seven
and verse ten, pouls said, godless sorrow worketh repentance under salvation,
not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the
world worketh death.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
What does it really mean to repent?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I read a story once about a man, and this
was in someone's book that I read it. And this preacher,
who lived a number of years ago, was rather flamboyant
in his presentation in the pulpit. And they said that
he would walk across the pulpit in one direction and
he would say, I'm going to Hell, I'm going to Hell.
(10:35):
And then he would stop in a rather dramatic fashion,
and they'd turn and look in the other direction, and
he said, now I'm going to heaven. I'm going to heaven.
And he said, now that's repentance. No, No, that's not
Repentance is a change of mind for the better. You
repent when you decide you're going to turn from going
in the wrong direction doing the wrong things, to going
(10:57):
in the right direction doing the right things. And the
going in another direction is the fruit of your repentance.
But there can be no Bible conversion unless we are
believers in Jesus Christ. There can be no Bible conversion
unless we are willing to repent of our sins. But
there's a third change that takes place in Bible conversion.
(11:21):
That's the change of relationship from being outside Christ to
being in Jesus Christ. Person outside of Christ has no hope. Cornifesians,
chapter two and verse twelve. It is unnecessary for any
one to be outside of Christ and not be in
that relationship with Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ is one's
(11:44):
savior and one's lord.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Paul in Igalatians the third chapter.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Tells one how this change of relationship takes place. Listen
to a beginning in verse twenty six in Galatians three.
For you, all the children of God, by faith in
Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ. This is something these people, he's writing to,
(12:09):
it already done.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You see, you've put on Christ.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
The way that we put Christ on, and that Jesus
Christ is with me and I am with him is
when I as a penitent believer in Jesus Christ or baptized.
In Romans the sixth chapter, this is the very thing
that the apostle Paul is writing about when he says, know,
you're not that so many of us. As we're baptizing
(12:35):
to Christ, we're baptizing to his death. When you're baptized,
this is a burial in water. You're baptized, you're baptized
into Christ, and then you're baptized into his death. And
in the benefits of his death, Jesus shed his blood
in dying, did he not when he was hanging upon
the old rugged cross? And Jesus Christ's blood is applied
(12:59):
to our sins when we believe in repent of our sins,
and we're baptizing to Jesus Christ. And when we are
in Christ, we become a new creature in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Second corinthis chapter.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Five and verse seventeen says, therefore, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. But how do
we get into Christ? Believe repent and you're baptizing to Christ?
And that very simple. The Bible is not complicated, It
is not confusing. The Bible is so plain and so
easily to understand. So this is something that's involved in
(13:35):
our being converted to Jesus Christ. If we are converted,
there's a change of intellect, a change of life, and
a change of relationship. For being out of Christ to
being in Christ. But now, what role does the Holy
Spirit play in Bible conversion? What's the part the Holy
(13:57):
Spirit plays? You know, it's a very popular that the
Holy Spirit operates directly on the hearts of sinners, separate
and apart from the Word of God. Now, that's a
very popular idea that many have. That's the reason you'll
hear people saying, you know, I was walking down the
(14:17):
road one day and all of a sudden, the Lord
just appeared to me and knocked me down to the ground,
and I just knew that I've saved. Well, see, that
person has never been taught the Bible. Is that the
way it is, is that the way the Holy Spirit
operates on our hearts, separate and apart from the Word
of God. If there's such a thing, is a direct
(14:40):
operation of the Holy Spirit. My question is, why should
we teach anything? Why would we teach anything to people?
You know, where to teach people?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The Gospel?
Speaker 3 (14:50):
In Roma's the tenth chapter, Beginning in verse thirteen, Paul said,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. But how shall they call on him in
who they have not believed? And how shall they believe
on Him of whom they have not heard, And how
shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach
except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful
(15:11):
out of the feet of them that bring the Gospel
of peace and bring glad tidings and good things. So
then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. Prince, people have to be taught the Bible.
But if there's a such thing as in the direct
operation of the Holy Spirit working on the hearts of sinners,
separate and apart from the Word of God, why would
(15:31):
we spend money sending missionaries overseas. Why not just pray
for the Holy Spirit to go and to convert those
people to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I want us to look back in Luke the eighth chapter.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
And Luke the eighth chapter is the parable of the soure,
the souls and the seed. And Jesus had just given
a parable beginning in verse five, and he talked about
a sore that went out to sow his and some
of that seed fell by the wayside, some fell on
(16:05):
a rock, some fell among thorns, and some fell on
the good ground. And so later the disciples ask him
what the parable meant. And this is Jesus' explanation. The
seed is the word of God. The seed is the
(16:25):
word of God, and the seed was sown in the
hearts of people. So the seed is the word of God.
And he says, those by the wayside are those who
hear what the word of God? And then the devil
comes and he takes away what he takes away the
word out of their hearts. Well, what effect would the
(16:46):
word have on their hearts lest they should believe and
be saved? You see, a person cannot be saved unless
they believe and obey the word of God. Then he says,
the ones on the rock are those they hear what
hear the word? Receive the word how with joy? But
they don't have any root. And for a while they believe.
(17:09):
But in time of temptation what happens to these people?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They fall away?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
And then there are those that fell among thorns in
verse fourteen. And they're the ones when they have heard
heard what heard the word? They go out and are
choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and bring
no fruit to maturity. But then there are others that
the seed falls on good ground, that's in verse fifteen.
And these are those that hear the Word with a
(17:37):
noble and good heart.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And keep it and bring fruit with patience.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
You see the importance of the Word of God and
people being saved. Now, if the idea is true that
God can save people without the Bible, that God can
save people without being taught the Bible being taught the truth,
well then the Lord didn't know it. Are we wasting
money sending missionaries all over the world. Why are we
(18:03):
building church buildings? Why are we spending all of this
money on television. We just ought to have a great,
big prayer meeting and ask God to send the Holy
Spirit to these people. But it doesn't work that way.
It's not God's plan. And if this idea of a
direct operation of the Holy Spirit working on the hearts
of men, separate and apart from the Word of God,
(18:24):
if that's true, it just makes the Bible a dead letter.
Hebrews four and twelve says the Word of God is
quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing A son of the soul
and spirit of the joints and mayor, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
The word of God is not a dead letter. The
Word of God is quick, and it is powerful, and
(18:47):
it changes the hearts of those that receive it with joy.
And then if this idea of the Holy Spirit working
on people apart from the Word of God is true,
it nullifies the great commission. You see, Jesus didn't say
going to all the world cares and pray for the
Holy Spirit to go. Jesus said, going to all the
world and preach the Gospel. Preach the Gospel to every creature.
(19:11):
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He
that believeth not shall be down. And if the idea
of some direct operation of the Holy Spirit working apart
from the Word of God is true, then that it
just denies man his free moral agency.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Man is a free moral agient.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
He has volitional powers, meaning by that that man can
make a decision whether obey the Lord or to not
obey the Lord. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter
preached about Jesus, and the people asked what shall we do?
And he told him what to do to the repenting
to be baptized for the remission of their sins. He said,
save yourselves from this untoward generation. There was something they
(19:53):
had to do to be saved, is they had to
respond to the Gospel. And so then we deny God's
plan when we say that you can have a direct
operating of the Holy Spirit on your heart and on
your life, separing it apart from the Bible, you just
have some experience that's better felt than told. But God's
(20:17):
plan is the world be saved through the preaching of
the gospel. You know in Romans one sixteenth, that's where
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, or it
is the power of God under salvation to everyone that believe.
To the jew first and all sool of the Greek
and listen to Paul in First Corinthians, chapter one and
verse twenty one, for sense, in the wisdom of God,
(20:42):
the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased
God through the preaching, through the message preached to save
those who believe. It is through the message that is
preached that people are saved. That's God's plan. You see
(21:04):
John six and verse forty five. Jesus said they shall
all be taught of God.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Everyone.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father,
cometh unto me. Will Someone says, well, then, if there's
no operation of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of people,
separate and apart from the Word of God, what role.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Does the Holy Spirit play?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
The Holy Spirit uses a medium or a method in
reaching men, and it is the Word of God. I
want you to listen to your Bible and first Corinthian
first Peter, chapter one, verse twenty three, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God,
(21:50):
that liveth and abideth forever. Folks, if men are saved,
they're going to.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Have to be taught to gospel.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Though you have many instructors in Christ, yet not many
fathers far in Christ.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I have begotten you through the Gospel.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
You see, people are forgotten by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
not some better felt than tol experience. They have to
be taught the Gospel. There's power in the Bible to
cleanse people's hearts and lives. In John chapter fifteen, in
verse three, Jesus said, now you're clean. Now you're clean
through my word which I have spoken unto you. There's
(22:24):
power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to save this
world ten times, over thousand times, over million times over.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
The power is not in a man. The power is in.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is the Gospel
that the Holy Spirit uses in the conviction and in
the conversion of sinners.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Second Peter one twenty one says it holy men of
God spake as.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
They removed by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
In Second Peter Timothy, Chapter three and verse sixteen, Paul wrote,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for construction, instruction, and righteousness,
that the Man of God may be perfect truly furnished
under all good works. In John sixteen and verse thirteen, Highbien,
when he the Spirit of Truth is come, he shall
(23:20):
guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit guided men
in the revealing of not some of the truth, but
all of the truth. And all of the truth has
been revealed in the Bible, but the lat By the
time the last inspired man died, all religious truth had
been revealed to mankind. And the Holy Spirit uses the Bible.
(23:44):
The revealed Word of God to convict and convert men.
That's the reason we must preach the gospel. It is
the gospel that saves, it is the gospel that convicts.
It is a gospel that tells men what to do
in order to be saved. Imagine a man going out
into the forest and he wants to cut down a tree,
(24:06):
and he takes a chainsaw with him, and he takes
the chainsaw, cranks it up, cuts down the tree. Now,
what cut down the tree? Well, someone says, well, the
man cut down the tree. Someone else says, no, the
saw cut down the tree. Well, I want to submit
to you that the man could have not cut down
the tree without the chainsaw. But the chainsaw could not
(24:30):
have cut down the tree without the man. The man
used an instrument in order to cut down the tree,
and the instrument he used in cutting down the tree
was the chainsaw. Now, the Holy Spirit uses an instrument
in conversion. The Holy Spirit is not operating on people's
(24:50):
heart apart from the Bible.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
He uses the.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Instrument called the Word of God to teach and instruct
men in their aalvation.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
People have to be taught words.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
There's a passage that comes to mind Over in the
eleventh chapter of Acts and in verse number fourteen. And
here Peter said, Peter is at the house of Cornelius.
And this is that Acts chapter eleven, in verse fourteen,
and he said that Cornelius was told to sin for him.
And he went to cornelius house and preached the Gospel
(25:25):
to Cornelius and his household. And later, when Peter got
back to Jerusalem, his Jewish brethren called him on the
carpet because he had been associated with Gentiles. And so
he began to rehearse by order what took place at
the house of Cornelius. Now listen to verse fourteen, and
I'm bid to go back to verse thirteen. And he
told us how he had seen an angel standing in
(25:47):
his house, and he said, send men to Joppin, call
for Simon, whose surname is Peter, verse fourteen, who will
tell you words by which you in all your household
we'll be saved.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Folks.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
It takes words for people to be saved, and the
words are the words of salvation, the words of the Gospel.
Let me give an illustration of how people are saved
by the Gospel and also the role the Holy Spirit
plays in conversion. I'm looking at the eighth chapter of
Acts now, and this is when an angel of the
(26:23):
Lord instructed Philip to go towards the south along the
road that from Jerusalem to Gaz and this is desert.
And in verse twenty seven he rose and he went. Now,
later there was this man from Ethiopia, he on his
way home from Jerusalem, and verse twenty nine says, then
the Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this charity.
(26:46):
Why didn't the spirit tell the man from Ethiopia what
to do? Because the message at that time had not
been revealed in written form as we have it today.
And Paul said in second Crinchon's four and seven, we
have this treasure to call the Gospel in earthen vessels,
and Philip was the earthen vessel to teach this man
(27:06):
what he must do in order to be saved. The
Gospel today we have in written form, and we need
to heed it today. And we ought to do just
what this man did. When you heard the Gospel preach,
he asked, why can't I be baptized?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He said, you.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Can if you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.
He said, I do I believe Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, and that very day that man became
obedient to this spirit inspired revealed word of God by
being baptized into Jesus Christ. Jesus said, heed it, believe it,
and is baptized, shall be saved.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Would you do that today? May God bless you until
we meet again.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Getting to Know Your Bible has been presented by Churches
of Christ. If you have a question about the church,
or if you would like the location of a Church
of Christ near you, or to receive the free Bible
course right two Getting to Know Your Bible heelbox one
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