We are looking at the glorious doctrine of conversion. Conversion is not the work of the human soul, though we are to use the means of grace. We are tracing the steps of the Holy Spirit in His work in conversion. As a sinner is not converted by his own works, so neither are sinners converted by the work of an evangelist. The soul must be changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. The evangelist brings the message of the Gospel and proclaims to the sinner the good news that God may convert him or her according to grace and not according to the merit or works of the sinner. Here are some words from Thomas Hooker from his book The Soul’s Humiliation:
“Do you think that a few faint prayers, and lazy wishes, and a little horror of heart can pluck a dead man from the grave of his sins, and a damned soul from the pit of hell, and change the nature of a devil to be a saint? No, it is not possible; and know that the work of renovation, is greater than the work of they creation; and there is no help in earth, either go to Christ, or there is no succour for thee. We can pity poor drunkards, and sorrow for them; but we are as able to make worlds, and to pull hell in pieces; as to pull a poor soul from the paw of the devil. Nay, he is a devil, and a damned devil, as you have heard; if this were well considered; it would dash in pieces, all those carnal conceits of a great many which make nothing of turning a devil to be a saint.”
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the sinner of sin. Until the sinner realizes the depths of sin, conversion will be thought of as a small thing. Until true conviction is brought to the soul, the sinner will be full of pride and self-sufficiency. People differ in thinking about what conviction of sin really is. We can think of this in terms of a court of law. The accused is brought before the judge to have the crimes that s/he is charged with read. The accused can plead guilty or not guilty. If the accused pleads not guilty, then a date trial is set. But if the accused pleads guilty, s/he must understand what s/he is being accused of and what the punishment for each crime is. The accused criminal cannot just shrug his or her shoulders, say the words “I am sorry,” and then just walk off. The accused cannot admit guilt to lesser crimes than being charged with if the judge insists on the accused admitting to the crimes before sentence is passed. The judge will also want the accused to know that each crime has a certain punishment and that the sentence will be passed according to certain guidelines before the plea is accepted.
The Holy Spirit operates much like the practices of a court (in the sense above). He works in the hearts of sinners to bring them to a realization of their sin to show them what they are guilty of and what the punishment for their crime really is. Until a sinner realizes from the depths of the soul that s/he is worthy of God’s wrath for eternity the sinner has not truly been convicted of sin. Until a sinner reaches the point that David reached in Psalm 51, that sinner has not truly confessed the guilt of sin. The word “confession” has the idea of “to speak the same as.” When a judge reads the crime against the accused that person is said to confess only if the confession agrees that what the judge said the accused is guilty of. The Holy Spirit works in those who are criminals against God and His Law so that they agree with what God’s Law says against them, know the punishment prescribed by that Law. Only then can they be said to agree that they are worthy of the punishment prescribed. Below is David’s confession:
Psalm 51:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
David saw that his sin was so great that whatever God as punishment would be just. He saw that his sin was so great that his only plea was to God for His lovingkindness and His compassion. That is the point that sinners must come to. They must not only feel some conviction for sin in the sense that they must feel bad, but they must see that they are guilty of violating the Law of God and that they deserve the punishment that the Law prescribes against them. It is only when they see something of the depths of their sin that they are truly convicted of sin which is to say that they see themselves as standing before the Judge who is also the Jury and that they know that they have been convicted of all the crimes against them. For the sinner to be convicted of sin is to know that s/he is now righteously exposed to eternal hell as a just punishment for sin. It is to be in the presence of God and declared guilty by Him as the Judge and to hear (so to speak) the sentence passed. It is to know and to feel the weight of the crimes and to realize that one is guilty as charged. It is to feel in the soul the hideous nature of sin and to know that “I” am guilty of all that and deserve nothing but hell as the worst miscreant on the planet.
In our day it is taught that a sinner admitting to a wrong or sin is enough to be called conviction of sin. However, we have to keep in mind the quote from Thomas Hooker that conversion is harder than the creation of the human being. Conversion is to be changed from a devil to a saint and to be translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It is to be changed from being a child of the devil to be a child of God. A conversion like that is not possible for a human to do, but only the Holy Spirit. The conviction the Spirit brings is a true conviction of sin that comes to the whole soul. The soul that is truly convicted is pictured to us in Scripture in several places. We have men crying out to the apostles on multiple occasions wondering what they were to do. They did not just nod their head and agree to something, but when the Holy Spirit worked in them they were acutely aware of their sin.
The following is from last week’s newsletter:
“The text (Acts 2:37) tells us that “they were pierced to the heart.” The Greek transliteration of the word for “pierce” is katanusso. This is a word that is made up of the preposition kata and the word nusso. In John 19:34, while Jesus was on the cross, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” The Greek word used in John 19:34 is nusso. Some of the meaning seems to be immediately clear, but to expand on it some it has the idea of to pierce with compunction [sorrow] and pain of heart. It is a feeling of sharp pain connected with anxiety and remorse and it is to be deeply moved. This is something of what David mean when he said that he knew his sin (Psa 51:3-4). This is the anguish of soul felt by Job (42:1-6) and Isaiah (6:1-6). It seems to be parallel to what Isaiah felt in his soul when he saw God and the weight of his sin became unbearable.”
In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit brought a true conviction of sin through the preaching of Peter. It was not just a head knowledge of sin that the Spirit brought, but it was such an acute sense of sin that the Holy Spirit (Who breathed forth Scripture) used and uses the same word for it as He did in speaking of the spear that was thrust into the side of Jesus. True conviction of sin, when brought to the soul by the Holy Spirit, brings pain into the soul that He describes His own work as a spear thrust into the side and up into the heart. Conviction of sin is not a comfortable thing but it is to know that one is worthy of eternal death in the presence of a thrice holy God. It is not possible for the soul to feel nothing when its sin is discovered in the presence of God. We should not assume that people have been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit if they are casual about it. The older writers taught that people should seek the Lord and pray for a true conviction of sin. In our day the avoidance of preaching about sin or even preaching about sin as nothing more than a violation of moral actions leads to a hardening of the heart rather than a true conviction of sin. For a sinner to be truly converted by the Holy Spirit, the first step is a true conviction of sin.
There are arguments given against this, usually based on one of two points: 1) That they do not want to put anything between the sinner and Christ. 2) This sounds like works as though the sinner could work up conviction of sin and prepare himself for salvation. I would like to point out, however, that these arguments also argue against the historical Confessions of the Church. In response to the first point, the answer is simply that we are not putting anything between the sinner and Christ, but instead are pointing out what is already there. What is already there is a heart full of pride and self and a heart that needs to be converted from those. In answer to argument 2, let me quote from Chapter 7 of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith: “It pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.” The good news of the Gospel is not that Christ has accomplished salvation and leaves it to the sinners to do with it what they will, but that He promises to give the elect the Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe. That is the promise of the Gospel according to the Confession. That is also what Acts 2:37-39 is teaching as well. The work of conviction, as seen in the 1689 in Chapter 8:8-10 and 10:1-2, teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who converts sinners and part of that conversion is His convicting them of sin. Sinners are convicted, converted, and are “made willing by His grace.” The work of the Holy Spirit in converting sinners starts with a deep conviction of sin and that is grace too. The Holy Spirit works in effectual calling to bring sinners to a deep conviction of sin so that they will no longer trust in themselves but in Christ alone. The Spirit brings sinners to a deep humility because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The work of the Spirit is by grace and prepares the soul for grace. This is a Gospel of grace from beginning to end.
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