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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

Convicted But Not Converted

Father in heaven, thank you again for this time to open your word and how precious it is, oh Lord, that we can come and study together, that we can uplift each other and as we share our praises with each other, that we can be encouraged by the smallest of things and from our different experiences, how we are thankful for so many things.

So Father, please, draw us close to Thee right now, lift our minds heavenward as we open Your Word, open our hearts and our minds too, we pray.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 8.

John chapter 8 and we're starting here in verse 1.

John chapter 8 and please follow along with me in your Bibles, we're starting in verse 1.

John chapter 8 verse 1 the Bible says, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

And when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?

And this they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not." The Pharisees, the priests, they were always hot on the heels of Jesus, always trying to catch him unawares, always trying to condemn him, always trying to do something just so that they can run off and justify their evil thoughts and intents towards him.

If Jesus had disregarded the law of Moses and said, don't stone her, then they would have said, he's putting aside Moses' law.

If he had said stone her, yes, I agree with you, then he is disregarding the authority of the Roman power at that time who was ruling them.

And so there was no way possible for Jesus to win.

But yet in his infinite wisdom, he saw through all of that.

He began to write on the ground, verse 7.

So that when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

So he said a short sentence and then he kept writing.

Verse 9, And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out 1 by 1, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." We know what had happened.

Jesus was tracing the sins of the people, the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees that had come to condemn Mary, this woman that was caught in adultery.

They wanted to condemn her, and they were ready to stone her, and they wanted to know what Jesus said.

But before that, Jesus would now begin to write out all the sins, the hidden secrets in their lives, and he'd write it out there on the sand, and 1 by 1, beginning from the oldest even to the youngest, they all disappeared.

In verse 9 it says that they were convicted by their own conscience.

The Holy Spirit was working upon their hearts.

That is how the Holy Spirit works through everybody's life, is the conscience.

So they were convicted by their conscience.

They were convicted by what Jesus had said, He that is without sin, and then He wrote their sins on the ground.

You know, friends, it is not enough to just be convicted.

The priests, the scribes and Pharisees, they were convicted but eventually the plot for Jesus' life would be laid so deep that they would turn around and eventually able to crucify the Son of God and hanging up Him up on that cross to humiliate Him.

They were all convicted by what Jesus was writing there on the sand.

He caught them red-handed, for in the very midst of them was the man that led that woman into adultery as well.

But friends, there is a very big difference between being convicted and converted.

It's easy to convict my children that they've done something wrong but the grounds for change is not found in conviction alone.

It's not enough to just convict someone that they're wrong and just leave them there.

Friends, they must experience conversion in order that they don't keep going back to their old habits.

It's possible, friends, to come to salt and study the Bible and be convicted about what you're seeing there in the Bible, but you leave and you are still unconverted.

It is what grabs our attention, is what turns our mind and wakes us up.

But if all it does is wake us up, it's not enough.

You see, friends, it is very, very important to be convicted but also to be converted.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 22 and verse 32.

This is what the Bible says, But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Peter had walked with Jesus for 3 and a half years.

He had been with Jesus for 3 and a half years, this disciple, and yet still at the end of it, Jesus says, you're not converted.

Oh, look, Peter, he was so confident of self that at that point when Jesus said that, he was saying, I would never deny you.

I am willing to lay down my life for you.

But yet Jesus says, when you're converted, meaning you are not converted yet, Peter.

And he was there with Jesus for 3 and a half years.

Friends, it is possible to grow up in the church.

It's possible to be in the presence of Christ.

It is even possible to go to a Bible school like Salt and be there for 4, 4 and a half months, and still at the end of it you leave unconverted.

Let's turn our Bibles to Matthew 18 and verse 3.

Of course, the answer is obvious, but I wanted to show you a text anyways.

Matthew 18 and verse 3, the Bible says, and Jesus said, verily I say unto you, accept ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Friends, Conversion is absolutely necessary if we are to walk with Jesus on those shores of heaven 1 day.

So here's the question that we have to ask ourselves this evening.

In 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, let's turn the Bibles there.

1 Peter 2 and verse 9, it's not enough just to be convicted.

It's not enough just to know what is right and wrong.

It's not enough just to know about Jesus.

We have to be convicted, but we also have to be converted.

First Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, the Bible says this, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that he should show forth, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Friends, we must be brought out of darkness into the light of the gospel of God, into his glory.

Yes, there must be an interaction with the Bible, for thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

And so, yes, there is an active agent that we must interact with which is called the Bible.

It's possible to go to a Bible school and still not be converted.

Do you remember when the wise men came from the east when Jesus was born.

And they came all the way into Jerusalem and they were looking, they were following the star, but the star stopped over at Jerusalem first.

God in his mercy was trying to wake up the people there, but it didn't work.

But they came in and the star stopped in Jerusalem first before going to Bethlehem.

And the wise men came and the star disappeared and the wise men came in and said, we're looking for the king of the Jews.

And Herod was obviously saying, you're not looking for me.

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Convicted But Not Converted

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