God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

/ 6 3

G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

Our objective for this segment, The Spirit Who Convicts Us of Our Sinfulness , is to enable you to: • Recognize that human beings are deceived about their sinful condition (its seriousness and consequences) and unwilling and unable to truly seek God and his righteousness.

Rom. 3.9-11 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

• Explain the meaning of conviction and describe the Spirit’s role in bringing people to a knowledge of their sinful condition.

• Define the key Hebrew and Greek words for repentance.

• Describe the kinds of change that accompany true biblical repentance.

• Demonstrate from the Scriptures that repentance is produced by the work of the Holy Spirit.

2

I. The Spirit’s Ministry of Conviction

Video Segment 2 Outline

A. Definition: conviction is an activity of the Spirit that brings an inner awareness of one’s guilt before God. It creates a deep certainty that one is sinful and a realization that one deserves punishment for his or her actions. Conviction undermines the sense of self-justification and excuse-making that accompanies human wrong-doing. It is best expressed by the words of Isaiah the prophet who said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa. 6.5).

The Holy Spirit overcomes the spiritual blindness of the human race: first, through the conviction of sin, by which the Spirit awakens the sinner to the awareness of sin; and, second, through the grace of repentance, by which

the Spirit leads a person to godly

sorrow for sin which results in confession and change.

B. True conviction of sin is never a human phenomena but is always a work of the Spirit of God.

1. The human heart is deceived, wicked, and unable to grasp its need for God (Gen. 3.13; Gen. 6.5; Ps. 14.1-3; Ps. 36.1-2; Isa. 29.13; Jer. 9.6-8; Rom. 3.-18; 2 Cor. 4.3-4; 2 Tim. 3.12-13).

page 245 10