Wednesday, March 12, 2008
101 Lies Taught In Church Every Sunday - Lie #63 The Holy Spirit Convicts Us Of Our Sin
As I've mentioned, I realize this will probably be one of the most controversial of the lies I list in this series. Is there anywhere in the New Testament that you can find where the Holy Spirit convicts a Christian of sinning? There's not one.
Daniel said that when the Messiah came, He would bring an end to sin (see Daniel9:24). Many millennia passed after his prophecy until one day John the Baptist saw Jesus walking up to him at the Jordon River and he cried out, "Look! It's the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world! On the night before He was crucified, at The Last Supper, Jesus said that the wine represented His blood which was about to be shed for the forgiveness of sins. The next day from the cross, He cried out in triumph, "It is finished!" (What was finished? Sin had been defeated.) Later, the writer of Hebrews would say that Jesus had come to "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (See Hebrews 9:24) John said that he came to "take away the sins of the world." (See 1 John 3:5) Did He succeed or fail at what these verses say He came to do?
Hebrews 9:28 says that when Jesus comes back, He won't even mention our sins.
If He came to put it away, did He succeed? If He has no plans to bring up our sins when He returns the second time; if all our sins have been paid for (see Colossians 2:13-14); why would the Holy Spirit call our attention to them now? Hebrews 10:1-2 says that when we know we are cleansed, we lose consciousness of sins.
Make no mistake about it. Your sins have been put away. What the Holy Spirit does when we now sin is to convict/convince us of who we really are. He shows us that we are able to live like the righteous child of God He has made us to be. He motivates us to live like that and, in the process, we will abandon the sin that caused us to stumble in the first place.
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Oh, I think I may have to make it a point to renew my mind with this truth over and over again. #63 is my favorite so far- so appropriate for where I am at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI read your video blog every single day - I really do! My mom got me hooked on it - she has so far taught a Bible Study on every one of your books, at our church!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I just can't tell you how thankful I am that God has chosen to use you the way he has.
I can't WAIT for the actually book "101 Lies taught in the church today" comes out!!
God Bless!
Wish I could encourage you as much as you do me. Thank you for sharing this...
ReplyDeleteJust reading John 16:8
ReplyDeleteNew American Standard Bible (©1995)
"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
Doesn't that mean the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning sin?
Hi Studioman - thanks for your question. The Holy Spirit does convict the world of sin, righteousness of judgment. But the question is "who does He convict of what" For instance, if I were to insist that this verse teaches that believers are convicted of sin, I could argue equally as well that unbelievers are convicted of righteousness.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, there's a division between believers and unbelievers here. The issue is who gets convicted of what. If Christ succeeded in "putting away with sin by the sacrifice of himself" and if, when He comes again, He will come "without mentioning sin," it seems contradictory that He would bring it up now.
I don't mean,of course, He wants us to ignore our sins. As I've said, I think we are convicted of our righteousness - which gives us the desire and ability to walk away from sin.
This is one of those things I believe, but realize that it's one of the topics about which sincere Bible students can come to different conclusions. In other words, this is where I am in my thinking - but I'm certainly open to the Lord showing me if I'm wrong about it.
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI saw you on grace TV tonight. I was shouting hallelujah, because in 1991 my eyes were opened to the truth of God's grace as manifest in Jesus Christ and I haven't been the same since, neither can I be "rehabilitated" as to the One Whom I know Whom I have believed.
As to the current question re the conviction or not of the Holy Spirit in regards to the walk of the beleiver, one of the things that has become overwhelmingly real in my own walk is this: KEEP IT SIMPLE, but sometimes it's not just that easy.
If I think of God the Father and my own experience in fathering I would have to say that one of my roles would be to lovingly point out to my child where he was going wrong. The key word there is "lovingly". In that word alone is the affirmation that even though we may have erred or even sinned greivously, we are still His child and I can never sin or miss the mark to the degree where I am beyond his redemptive grace.
As you mentioned in your interview with Peter Youngren about semantics, I believe that the notion of semantics could be applied here. Also, I have learned in my Christian walk to pray that God would always give me "Godly sorrow" that leadeth to repentance (by the conviction of the Holy Spirit?) and that by His "goodness I would always be led to repentance" (by the conviction of the Holy Spirit?).
This might sound like a contradicition of terms, Godly sorrow vs Godly goodness both leading to repentance. Maybe this has to do with the severity of our sin or the condition of our heart, ie., God's first option is always the gentle reminder (by the conviction of the Holy Spirit?), and then something a LOT more severe, (some life circumstance?) should, God forbid, our hearts be hardened to His goodness and mercy.
Finally, I think of in Hebrews where we are told that if we are not chastened (chastised?) by the Father then we cannot be His son or daughter. Knowing that this has nothing to do with punishment for our sins, then maybe there are times when the Father has to "take us out behind the woodshed" (by the conviction of the Holy Spirit?) to get his point across, even though His heart is not in this more severe form of necessary discipline.
It is very refreshing to sense this latter day move of the Holy Spirit in this ground swell of liberating truth about grace. He has promised to deal with us the believer first, so that others might see Him in us.
God Bless,
Paul