The work of the Holy Spirit is the first work of grace in a sinner's soul. You must come to your senses about the pure evil of your sinning against God continually day after day. The effectual work of the Spirit must come to your soul or nothing will ever be eternally done within you. There will be nothing savingly done for you unless the Spirit of God begins to move and work upon your soul. Without the Holy Ghost's influence and quickening, your soul will remain void, with no life of God within it, no faith in Christ, and no true hope for the future. Your soul is emptiness itself without Christ Jesus. This is a very humbling and humiliating truth for human nature to swallow.
The Spirit of God is like the wind in the sails of a ship: if the wind doesn't blow, the ship doesn't get anywhere; likewise, the Holy Spirit must blow through your heart and mind, or you will never be moved to sincerely trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. *John 3:8*
The very best that mere human morality can ever produce is vanity and nothingness. You must come to the end of yourself. You cannot control your life or your eternal destiny. All human effort which men make by nature, they are only religious confusion. Vices and carnal habits may be discarded, but they will only be replaced by something worse - carnal pride and self-will. Certain sins may be forsaken for a while, only to come back to haunt you. The dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. You can make great effort and do your very best, but that which is born of the flesh is still just sinful flesh. When the flesh does its dead-level best, it is still only flesh. Except a man be born again by the Spirit of God, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
There is no light in the lost soul of man. There is nothing there whatsoever to help the Spirit of God. You cannot prepare the way for the Spirit to come, He doesn't need your assistance at all. In the unregenerate man, there is nothing whatsoever that can help God. Human nature proudly wants to help God out. Stop refusing to become the servant of the eternal Spirit of truth. You are not half dead, but you are wholly "dead in trespasses and sins." And in the dead sinner there is nothing that can help his spiritual resurrection.
Every soul is dead till the Spirit of God comes to him. You only have death, rottenness, filth, stench, and corruption to offer the Lord. Human nature is like a disease-infested leper house, a corrupt grave, a little hell till Jesus passes by. Only the Holy Spirit can begin a work of grace in you. Jesus dwelt *with* sinners, but the Holy Ghost dwells *in* sinners. This is a miracle of mercy that God's Spirit would inhabit such vile souls as ours.
Every soul is dead till the Spirit of God comes to him. You only have death, rottenness, filth, stench, and corruption to offer the Lord. Human nature is like a disease-infested leper house, a corrupt grave, a little hell till Jesus passes by. Only the Holy Spirit can begin a work of grace in you. Jesus dwelt *with* sinners, but the Holy Ghost dwells *in* sinners. This is a miracle of mercy that God's Spirit would inhabit such vile souls as ours.
There is nothing at all in the heart by nature that can please the Holy Spirit, but everything is there that would grieve Him. Only the Spirit of Christ can work repentance for sin in you. Human nature is full of unbelief. The heart is fond of sin, and is inclined to run away from God and do everything that is contrary to Him. Human nature is full of chaos and darkness. In mercy the Spirit of God comes and deals with sinful men. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
The work of the Spirit brings eternal life freely and delivers the soul from old habits, old ways, from hell fire, and lifts the soul all the way up to heaven. The work of the Spirit is equally needful and necessary for you whether you sit in a prison cell or on a church pew. Wretched and respectable people must all be born again. The all-important matter is the New Birth - the life of God must be put within you by the Spirit of God Himself. You are completely dead in sin, and only the Holy Ghost with His saving power can quicken and resurrect your soul from its dead state.
You are a gross sinner bent on your own destruction till the Spirit of God moves in your soul. Great sinners need the great Savior and His great salvation. The man who is greatly in debt will the love the Friend that forgives all his debts freely. Christ Jesus is the Physician, you are the patient, He is certainly able to heal your sick soul, if you will simply yield to Him. Your soul is empty of everything but sin. Sin brings you into a very sad and miserable condition. Look away to the Cross now, trust in Jesus' precious blood alone to save your ungodly soul.
You are a gross sinner bent on your own destruction till the Spirit of God moves in your soul. Great sinners need the great Savior and His great salvation. The man who is greatly in debt will the love the Friend that forgives all his debts freely. Christ Jesus is the Physician, you are the patient, He is certainly able to heal your sick soul, if you will simply yield to Him. Your soul is empty of everything but sin. Sin brings you into a very sad and miserable condition. Look away to the Cross now, trust in Jesus' precious blood alone to save your ungodly soul.
By nature, you are sunk in sin and superstition, you do not wish to be saved from sin, you have no care at all about the Cross and the Gospel. The only power that can save you from sin lies outside yourself. You will never be accepted by God through anything that you are in yourself. You can only be accepted by God in Christ Jesus. You can only become a living child of the living God through simple faith in Jesus' precious blood (Romans 3:23-25). There is in you nothing whatsoever that can recommend you to God. Christ and He alone must save you if you are ever to be saved. Cease from your own works, leave off the whole idea of self-salvation, and fall down at the foot of the Cross, and cry out to Christ for mercy.
Salvation is of the Lord alone. You can only safely enter Eternity through the Cross. Everything that is of human nature's doing will have to be forsaken, your soul must be clothed in the spotless robe of Christ's Righteousness. You cannot continue to build on the sandy foundation of your human merit, all that you build will surely not stand. You are utterly unable to do anything to help save your soul from sin. Jesus did everything for you long, long ago. You can only build upon what Jesus Christ has already done, He is the true Foundation and Rock of Salvation. The Spirit of God moved (Genesis 1:2).
Salvation is of the Lord alone. You can only safely enter Eternity through the Cross. Everything that is of human nature's doing will have to be forsaken, your soul must be clothed in the spotless robe of Christ's Righteousness. You cannot continue to build on the sandy foundation of your human merit, all that you build will surely not stand. You are utterly unable to do anything to help save your soul from sin. Jesus did everything for you long, long ago. You can only build upon what Jesus Christ has already done, He is the true Foundation and Rock of Salvation. The Spirit of God moved (Genesis 1:2).
