Trusting the Holy Spirit in Preaching and Conversion

I think we can lay it down as a fairly general rule that the greater the amount of attention that has been paid to this aspect of worship namely the type of building and the ceremonial and the singing and the music the greater the emphasis on that generally speaking, the less spirituality have you had a lower spiritual temperature and spiritual understanding and desire. [00:08:21]

The deliberate attempts at conditioning the people are surely thoroughly bad. I'm going to deal with this in my next section but I'll just put it like this now that this attempt to condition the people to soften them as it were surely something that militates against the true preaching of the gospel. [00:10:58]

The first is that it is wrong surely to put direct pressure on the grille oh let me expand that men consists of his Monde his affections and his will and my contention is that you shouldn't put direct pressure on the will that the will should always be approached through the mind the intellect and then the affections and that the will is determined by the other two. [00:19:32]

The preaching of the word and the call for decision should not be separated in our thinking now I want to explain what I mean yeah you know that great Protestant principle which came in in the 16th century the writings of scripturally that the sacraments should never be separated from the word. [00:27:53]

The sinner is completely impotent he can do nothing he has not got any power of decision or of self conversion or I'll put it in another way in the fifth point there is an implication surely hear that the Evangelist somehow is in a position to manipulate the Holy Spirit and is well. [00:30:19]

This method tends to produce a very superficial conviction of sin if any at all the reasons that people respond are often that they have got the impression that by doing this they're going to receive certain benefits. I remember the gathering of a man who was regarded as one of the well he was referred to as the star convert of a campaign. [00:37:12]

The work of conviction of sin and of regeneration the giving of the gift of faith and new life is surely the work of the Holy Spirit and as it is his work it is always a thorough work and it is always a work that will show itself I don't hesitate to make this as these assertions it always has done. [00:37:12]

The appeal must be in the truth itself and in the message as you go along with your sermon you're applying it all along the line and especially of course at the end when you come to a special application into a kind of climax but the appeal is a part of the message it should be inevitable. [00:49:33]

I believe that the minister should always make an announcement in some shape or form that he is available to talk to anybody wants to talk to him about the soul and its eternal destiny you can put it on a card in every seat as we used to do or you can do it in any other way make yourself available. [00:50:34]

This is the work of the Holy Spirit of God his work is a thorough work it's a lasting work and so we must not yield to this over anxiety about results I'm not saying it's dishonest I'm saying it is mistaken we must learn to trust the Spirit and to rely upon his infallible work. [00:51:33]

I find people coming to tell me that they'd been converted while listening to a sermon of mine I knew nothing at all about 50 years ago I was actually in the induction service other men just about 18 months ago and he was there giving a bit of an account of his life and to my utter amazement I never known it. [00:51:33]

My point is that as the Spirit does the work it is a real work it's a solid work and it will declare itself all I'll go on and put it like this tea was 1/10 pint no sinner really ever decides for Christ that's a very long and a very false term I've often heard people use a phrase like this. [00:51:33]