To Convict Me of Sin

[Thompson, Darryl]

To Convict Me of Sin

     And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me.
John 16:8, 9  

     The office of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words
of Christ: "When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment." It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of
sin. If the sinner responds to the quickening influence of the Spirit,
he will be brought to repentance, and aroused to the importance of
obeying the divine requirements.  

     As Saul yielded himself fully to the convicting power of the Holy
Spirit, he saw the mistakes of his life, and recognized the far-reaching
claims of the law of God. He who had been a proud Pharisee, confident
that he was justified by his good works, now bowed before God with the
humility and simplicity of a little child, confessing his own
unworthiness and pleading the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour.
Saul longed to come into full harmony and communion with the Father and
the Son; and in the intensity of his desire for pardon and acceptance,
he offered up fervent supplications to the throne of grace.  

     The prayers of the penitent Pharisee were not in vain. The inmost
thoughts and emotions of his heart were transformed by divine grace, and
his nobler faculties were brought into harmony with the eternal purposes
of God. Christ and His righteousness became to Saul more than the whole
world. The conversion of Saul is a striking evidence of the miraculous
power of the Holy Spirit to convict men of sin.  

     It is through the mighty agency of the Holy Spirit that the
government of Satan is to be subdued and subjected. It is the Holy
Spirit that convinces of sin and expels it from the soul by the consent
of the human agent. . . . Through the merits of Christ man may be able
to exercise the noblest powers of his being and expel sin from his soul.


>From My Life Today - Page 43