Sunday March 19
Conviction of Sin
Read John 16:8, 9. "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me"
What crucial work does the Holy Spirit do for us, and why is this so important?
The Holy Spirit defines and maintains the truth. There is no real comfort in falsehood or sin. He comes to reveal to the soul the loveliness of Jesus, the law that is perfect and exemplified in Christ's life, and helps us to see our sinfulness and our need of His cleansing, transforming grace. The Holy Spirit comes to convict us of sin, to show us that which shuts out Jesus from the soul temple. When we heed the invitation to repent, we find true comfort and joy. Whatever supposed comfort we may have thought we had in sin was a counterfeit, and we can be thankful that the Holy Spirit does come to disturb the current of the life that runs in selfish channels, that we might be led to see our CONTINUAL NEED of Jesus and His divine presence by the Holy Spirit. Only when we make a full surrender to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit are we enabled to benefit fully (in conversion) from the Holy Spirit's work. The evidence that He has done His work in us is that we are bearing all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing--because He abides in the heart by faith!
Jesus has called the Holy Spirit the paraclete, a word rich in meaning and that conveys the idea of helper, advocate, and comforter. The Holy Spirit does not enter into this important work of conviction as the accuser of the brethren or as our prosecutor. He is not sent by Jesus to condemn us but, rather, to help us see our need of grace.
Only a comforter will be received as a helper. It is a great tragedy that Christians, however well-intentioned, often approach sinners with an accusing spirit rather than a helping one. If we go around pointing out sin in the lives of other people, then we do something that Jesus has not called us to do. After all who are we to point out sin in others when we are hardly sinless ourselves?
When a soul surrenders entirely to Christ, sinful as his life may have been, he becomes a new creature, bearing all of the fruits of the Spirit, and is given a new heart and mind. The idea that we are to be in the church and be "hardly sinless ourselves" as though this is a reason not to help or reprove those who are practicing sin around us is a teaching that contributes to the Laodicean condition of the church. Many are taught that sin is only to be dealt with by the Holy Spirit, and there is to be no mention of reproof by a fellow member of the church. But Christ has given us counsel about how to deal with the erring. There are sins that are to be reproved and lovingly warned against, but all of this is to be done in the spirit of love and truth, when the soul is abiding in Christ (kept from sin). The Bible pronounces blessing upon those who help those who are in sin to turn and be converted:
James 5
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Furthermore, we are told by Jesus: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). Many are afraid to deal with sin in the church for fear that in doing so they are overstepping their bounds; while all reproof and correction is to be done in a Christlike spirit, it is sinful for us to remain silent, and reveals a lack of love--a love of self--that fears to become involved:
Leviticus 19
16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the Lord.
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. The Bible is so balanced. We are not to be talebearers (gossipers) of the faults of others (speaking of them to others, but not going to the person in sin himself or herself), but neither are we to remain silent when we see a brother sin, for in so doing we "suffer sin upon him" (that is, by our silence we may well sanction his evil course). Let us take these words prayerfully to heart and realize that in many cases, the "accuser of the brethren" is actually the voice in the church that says any reproof of sin is uncalled for. This is not the case. The Bible teaches us how we are to deal with sin in a brother:
Matthew 18:15-17
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
May you prayerfully reflect upon how important it is that you abide in Christ by the Holy Spirit's continual presence in order to rightly do your duty to help those around you, and to reprove them in the spirit of love as the case may require.
Read Romans 2:1 "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." and Matthew 7:3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" To appreciate the context, we need the next two verses:
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
What message must we take from these verses?
We are unfit to deal with the sinful course of others when we are unconverted, living in sin and hypocrisy. The context clearly does not support the idea that we are not to reprove others, but rather that we are not to be putting ourselves as judges of others when we are in a state of hypocrisy (calling others to a standard we violate). Engaging in a judgmental (non-redemptive) spirit already evinces that one is severed from Christ. Christ came to save, not to condemn, but the very light of His teaching and divine presence condemned sin, and even in His dealing with the woman at the well, she had to be brought to see her sin and her Savior. As we look to Jesus, we begin to realize that it is only as He abides in us by faith that are are saved from hypocrisy and the fatal sins that would make us critical in spirit. We are not to criticize and condemn, but we are to warn, reprove, and reveal the loveliness of Jesus in a way that will help to reveal to those who are in sin their need of Jesus and that which is shutting out His presence. If you are spending a thoughtful hour with Jesus are reflecting the light of His presence, does not your experience bring reproof to those who have no joy or peace, no matter how long they may have professed Christ? We need to see our continual need of Jesus to rightly understand the topic at hand.
We are His witnesses, not His prosecutors. We are called to be witnesses of His redemptive power, not to condemn others for their wrongs. In trying to convict other people of their sins, we assume a work that is not ours; it is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will often lead a member of the church who is converted to say something that can be used to help bring conviction and conversion to the life of someone who is in sin. We need to be in constant communion with God to know what, when, and how to say anything. I remember back to when I was in a Laodicean (blind to my sin, but felt I was fine) experience while traveling with my uncle who was a Seventh-day Adventist. At the time I was listening to some so-called "Christian Rock" music. My uncle could have assumed that the "Holy Spirit" would just deal with it all without him saying anything, but thankfully my uncle said something that the Holy Spirit used to help me see what I was doing. My uncle said something about the need to listen to "heavenly music." The Holy Spirit would later speak to me very clearly (I believe after working on my heart from what He prompted my uncle to say) in regard to my music choices. While I was listening to music that was not heavenly, the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to me over my music saying, "You don't like this anymore"--that is, who Christ was creating me to be in Him did not like the old worldly, hard music. By faith I obeyed and deleted that old music, and then the next day the Holy Spirit started to pour into my heart Scripture songs. God always has something better to put in the place of our sins, but it is the role of the body of Christ to be cooperating with the Holy Spirit to speak at the right time. I am so thankful for my uncle who was used by God at a needed time. Praise God for godly, loving reprovers who work IN HARMONY with the Holy Spirit!
It is the Comforter-not us-who shall "convince" (John 16:8, RSV) the world of what sin really is. People who have not committed their lives to Jesus often have no real sense of what sin truly is, and just how destructive it can be.
Yes, it is the Holy Spirit who does the work to convict or convince, but we are not to think that this means the church is not to reprove sin as its members are led by the Holy Spirit. We must see the whole counsel of God, in order to navigate this subject aright.
The idea here is not that the Spirit will list specific erroneous acts. Instead, He goes to the fundamental sin of all: unbelief in Jesus Christ (John 16:9). Our deepest misery and alienation does not consist in our moral imperfection, but in our estrangement from God and our refusal to accept the One whom God has sent for the purpose of rescuing us from this condition.
Unbelief is the greatest sin, but all other sins (acts of transgression) are going to also reveal that in some area we are not believing God or His counsel. How necessary for us to make this prayer our own in sincerity: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24). Christ will never turn us away when we pray this sincerely--never!
The fundamental problem of all sin is that we do not believe in Jesus and, thus, reject the only One who can save us from our sin and guilt. This is the sin that puts self at the center of things and refuses to believe the Word of God. Only the Holy Spirit can open our hearts and minds to our great need of repentance and of the Redemption that is found through Christ's death in our behalf.
How will we see Jesus? How will we see our great need for what it is and be rescued from a Laodicean condition of feeling rich spiritually while we are destitute of His presence in the soul? May we accept the invitation: "It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross." {The Desire of Ages, page 83, paragraph 4}. We need Jesus, and it is by beholding Him in His loveliness that we more clearly discern our sinfulness--and our continual need of His abiding presence to keep us from sin and make us constant partakers of the divine nature.