Conviction of the Holy Spirit Part 3

Conviction of the Holy Spirit Part 3

In the earlier blogs about the convictions of the Holy Spirit, I wrote that there was a third voice that convicts us. Now, I am not giving consideration for friends or other counsel. That would fall into one of the first two: the voice of the Spirit or the voice of the enemy. It is so important to surround yourself with friends that are filled with the Word of God and speak His truth into your life. The Holy Spirit works through other believers. Pastors, counselors, and friends may fall into this category. But sadly enough, they may also fall into the “Enemy” category if that person is not teaching or counseling according to the truth of God’s Word. And the only way you will be able to ascertain if the teaching or counseling is from God, is if you know what the Bible says, and you know the voice of God.

John 10:27-28; 27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

The best way to know if the voice is from God is if it aligns with His Word. The Bible cannot contradict itself. I’ll give you an example. If you are discussing your marital issues with a friend and she tells you that you should leave your husband, that does not align with God’s Word. That voice is not from the Holy Spirit.

So, let’s identify the third voice you will contend with as a believer with regards to convictions. There is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the conviction of the accuser (who will use God’s law to do it), and your own inner voice, your conscience. Contrary to what some might say, everyone does have a conscience. Some of you might think your boss or an ex doesn’t, but we all do. 😊

Where does it come from? Glad you asked. Let’s go all the way back to the beginning in Genesis.

Genesis 3:1-7; 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Here is a quick sidebar question but I always like to ask this. What was the first sin? Most people say it was disobedience. I disagree. What is the only sin that keeps a person from salvation? Let’s look at the Word. The WORD Says (shameless plug):

Matthew 12:31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.”

What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? It means to call Him a liar or in other words, you don’t believe Him. Why is that so important? For the very reason addressed in John 16:8 that we began this study on. Because the Holy Spirit is the One that “…convicts the world of sin…”. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts non-believers and tells them, I’m paraphrasing, “You have a death sentence against you to which you will never be able to pay off on your own. You need a Savior.” If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are telling Him you do not need Jesus. You are rejecting the only One that can save you or in other words, you don’t believe Him. You have unbelief. I submit to you that the same sin that keeps you from eternity with Jesus, unbelief, is the first sin committed by man as well. It was unbelief. God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would die. Adam did not believe God before he disobeyed Him and so he ate.

We know that God is always a million steps in front of the enemy. Nothing catches God by surprise. And the Word says:

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Adam chose to disobey God and because he did, all men are now born into sin. However, God still outsmarted Satan even in the sin of man. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Word says that when they did, “…the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”  It wasn’t the first sin, unbelief, that opened their eyes to recognize sin. It was eating of the tree that made them realize they were exposed. Man became conscious of sin when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, every person born has a conscience, knowledge of good and evil. Some use their conscience or moral compass more than others, but everyone has it. You don’t have to teach a child to lie. It is instinctive and the child knows it is wrong. It is inherent. That is man’s inner voice.

I assert that everyone has that inner voice. Why do I say that? Are all good people Christians or believers? Of course not. In fact, not all Christians are good people. So where do people who have never been exposed to the Word of God develop their moral compass if it is not from the Bible? I submit that it came from Adam and Eve eating of the tree. God took the sin of man and used it to create in man a guide to let man know the difference between good and evil. Albeit some people have completely seared their conscience and have no regrets about sinning, breaking laws, or harming others. Nonetheless, I submit that they still know right from wrong, they just don’t care. I believe this is also why Jesus responded to the disciples’ question about the greatest law this way:

Mark 12:30-31; 30 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. 31 "And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Jesus was essentially saying if you do those two things, you have fulfilled all the law. Compare your attitudes and behavior against those two principles. If you can go through life without committing an affront against God or man, then you will have successfully fulfilled the law. Can you, do it? I can’t. I can’t even get through a day without offending myself.

So, the very first affront against the Lord in the beginning, God used to shape man’s morality evidenced by the fact that non-believers can be morally superior to believers. That is the inner voice. In part 2 of this blog, we looked at the source of a believer’s advancing moral conscience. Let’s look at it again.

Hebrews 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

And we also determined how the Holy Spirit chastises believers.

2 Timothy 3:16-17; 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Some will look at the word “reproof” and say, “See? It says reproof.” Well, let’s look at the word “reproof." In the Greek, it is “elegchos.” Does that look familiar? It should. It is the same Greek word used for “conviction.” Paul was writing to Timothy that the Word is good for these three purposes: doctrine, because we need to know details of living a fruitful life to bring glory to Jesus. The Greek word for doctrine is “didaskalia” and it means to teach, train or instruct: reproof so that the not yet saved can feel the conviction of sin and surrender to Jesus; and correction. I must show you the meaning of the Greek word for “correction” in this verse. This will demonstrate just how much a word can lose its meaning and intent by translating from Greek to English.  In Greek the word for correction is “epanorthōsis” and it means: “restoration to an upright or right state” or “improvement of life or character." Isn’t that amazing. That Greek word is only used one time in the entire Bible. But it means so much more than correction.

Please stay with me. The Holy Spirit was sent to the world to convict sinners of their sin, to convict believers of their right standing with God, and to judge the ruler of this world. The Holy Spirit inspired men to write the Words of God. Those words are used for doctrine or teaching, for reproof or conviction (which we established is not used in the manner that the western culture has understood it), and correction (not in the sense of punishment, but of guidance toward a better life). Even in using 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to argue that the Holy Spirit would use the Word of God to “convict” a believer of his/her sins, the original meaning was that the Word would guide or lead rather than admonish, shame, punish or chide a believer.

I believe that takes us full circle. If you are scratching your head, you’re not alone. I’m a little dizzy myself 😊. But I think you understand my position on believers using the phrase, “The Holy Spirit is convicting me of my sin.”. No, He’s not. He will never again point a finger at you and say “SINNER”! No, that’s not Him. You belong to Jesus now and there is no more condemnation. However, I submit to you that you should be asking the Holy Spirit to show you things in yourself that do not align with God’s Word or His plans for you. And He will show you the manual, His Word. But any conviction you feel with regard to your sin, as a believer, is the laws that He has placed in your mind and wrote on your heart speaking to you, reminding you that you are royalty now. You are an heir and joint heir with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! You are of regal blood now. You are uncommon. You walk with kings and the instructions for that life are in His Word and He wants you to have it all. He will teach you and guide you. He gave this promise to Joshua who was under the old covenant:

Joshua 1:3 "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.”

You are a part of a New and Greater Covenant. The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, and He’s pointing at you saying you belong to the King and His promise to you is that nothing in all creation can separate you from His love. That is what He is convicting you of and nothing else.

I hope this helps. Jesus loves you!