John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” John 16:8, “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
As a born-again Bible believing Christian and a fundamentalist Baptist preacher, I am always on guard about strange doctrine and demonic heresies which surface on social media. I learned yesterday that there is a strange doctrine being circulated on social media right now, which claims that the Holy Spirit does not convict believers about the sins in our life. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the blessed Holy Spirit DOES convict humans about sin, whether saved or lost.
Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) gives a wonderful helpful explanation of the relationship between conviction from our human conscience, the Bible, Jesus and the Holy Spirit...
4. The Holy Spirit. John 16:8, "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." We call the Holy Spirit the university of conviction. We have learned form the conscience what NOT to do and from the Bible the type thing we are TO DO; in Jesus we see a model of the above; now the Holy Spirit adds another dimension. He comes to tell us that sin is wrong, but He tells us specifically WHERE to go and WHAT good to do. When one by his conscience has been convicted of his wrong and by the Bible has been taught principles of what is right and sees both of them combined in the perfect life of Christ, he then must come to the Holy Spirit and ask what good he is supposed to do. The conscience says, "You should not be here. You should leave." The Bible comes along and tells you the type of area into which you should go. The Holy Spirit then tells you into WHICH of the desirable areas you should go.
A man is driving too fast on the highway. He does not know the speed limit and his speedometer is not working, and yet something tells him that he is driving too fast. This is the conscience. He then sees a speed limit sign and his speedometer begins to work, so he finds not only that he is driving too fast but exactly how fast he is driving. The speed limit sign and the speedometer symbolize the Word of God. He then notices another driver who is driving carefully within the speed limit. This typifies Jesus, the pattern of the Spirit-filled life. Then he asks the Holy Spirit to tell him WHERE to drive and EXACTLY HOW FAST to drive.
In summary, the conscience tells us what we should NOT do. The Bible comes along and verifies the conscience and adds the type thing we SHOULD do. Jesus comes along and shows us the perfect EXAMPLE. Then the Holy Spirit tells us WHICH good thing we should do and which acceptable area is God's place for our lives.
If one leaves out the Holy Spirit, he may drive properly in the wrong place. If one leaves out the Bible and the Holy Spirit and trusts only his conscience, he may come out of the wrong place but not know where to go and will no doubt, sooner or later, return to the place where he should not be. Hence, the wise Christian will be careful to listen to his conscience concerning evil. He will examine the Scriptures to find Bible principles that tell him what not to do and what to do. He will study the life of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to help him become more and more fashioned in His likeness. Then day by day and moment by moment he will walk in the Spirit, asking the Holy Spirit that EXACT place that he should be and the exact thing that he should be doing.SOURCE: Pastor Jack Hyles, “Meet The Holy Spirit,” chapter 27 - “The Holy Spirit, The Ultimate In Conviction”
Bravo Dr. Hyles! I love how Pastor Hyles breaks the matter down into a simple to understand way. By God's grace, Dr. Hyles turned the Holy Bible into a science (a study). ...
The Science Of The Christian Life MP3 Series
The Holy Spirit DOES convict God's children about the sins in our life. There is nothing mysterious or superstitious about this great Bible truth. The Holy Spirit is simply God with us. The Godhead lives inside the spirit, soul and body of every believer in the form of the blessed Holy Spirit. John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
In the Epistle of James, the Apostle James writes in James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” It is important to understand the difference between our POSITION as God's children in Christ, versus our CONDITION in Christ. The moment that we got saved, our POSITION as God's redeemed and adopted child was forever settled. The old account was settled long ago. Our sins are forever washed away by Christ's precious blood.
So even if a saint is still a practicing homosexual, he or she is 100% safe and secure in God's promise of the free gift of eternal life, which is obtained through faith alone in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9). Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Believers should depart from a lifestyle of open sin, but the truth is that we all still live a lifestyle of sinning, because no one can stop sinning. We are all sinners by nature and by choice. So it is possible for a practicing homosexual, adulterer, gossipier, thief or any other horrible sinner to still be 100% safe and secure in God's free gift of eternal life, because we are saved by what Jesus did on Calvary's cross, and not be what we do.
When we sin as God's children, the Lord deals with our heart, convicting us through the Holy Spirit to repent (change our mind) to forsake those sins. So don't let anybody deceive or confuse you theologically to think that God's Holy Spirit doesn't convict us about sin. It is true that our sins have all been forgiven and washed away POSITIONALLY in Christ. Albeit, our CONDITION in Christ is strictly a matter of sanctification and service. Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Serving God as a believer is not our “mandatory service”; but rather, it is our “reasonable service.”
The conscience tells us what we should NOT do. The Bible comes along and verifies the conscience and adds the type thing we SHOULD do. Jesus comes along and shows us the perfect EXAMPLE. Then the Holy Spirit tells us WHICH good thing we should do and which acceptable area is God's place for our lives.
(AWESOME TRUTH! By Pastor Ralph “Yankee” Arnold - Please share with OTHERS!!!)
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