God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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

a. Ps. 53.2-3 - God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Martin Luther rightly said, “the proud have no taste for grace because their sins do not yet taste bitter to them” ( Luther’s Works , Jaroslav Pelikan, ed. St. Louis: Concordia, 1958, 14:166).

b. Jer. 17.9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

2. Jesus explicitly sends the Spirit to convict the world of sin, John 16.7-8.

3. Prophetic speech comes from the Holy Spirit and convicts the unbeliever of sin by exposing the heart (1 Cor. 14.24-25; Heb. 4.12).

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4. The preaching and teaching of the prophetic word found in the Scriptures is a key means by which the Holy Spirit convicts of sin.

a. Acts 2.37 (cf. Rom. 10.14-17)

b. Acts 8.26-38

c. See also: Matt. 4.17; Rom. 3.20; 1 Cor. 1.21; 2 Tim. 4.2

II. The Holy Spirit’s Work in Repentance

A. Two key biblical words for repentance

1. Old Testament