Conviction is a legal term. When someone breaks the
law, they are charged with a crime, evidence and witnesses are brought forth,
and the jury declares that the person is guilty - at that point they are
"convicted" because it has been proven that they have broken the law.
The Bible word for this is "elegcho"
(el-eng'-kho) which is translated a variety of ways: confute, admonish,
convict, convince, tell a fault, rebuke, reprove.
The best and most well-known Scripture using this
word is found in Jesus' teaching, John 16:7-11:
"But I tell you the truth: It
is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not
come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do
not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the
Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the
prince of this world now stands condemned."
"He will reprove, He will
demonstrate these matters so clearly as to leave no doubt on the minds of those
who are simple of heart; and so fully as to confound and shut the mouths of
those who are gainsayers."
"The word translated
'reprove' means commonly to demonstrate by argument, to prove, to persuade
anyone to do a thing by presenting reasons. It hence means also to convince of
anything, and particularly to convince of crime. This is its meaning here. He
will convince or convict the world of sin. That is, he will so apply the truths
of God to men's own minds as to convince them by fair and sufficient arguments
that they are sinners, and cause them to feel this. This is the nature of
conviction always."
The question is, for the Christian, who is it that
does this? Who is it that convicts? Is it our own conscience? Is it other
Christians, or the Pastor?
"This is pre-eminently the
work of the Holy Spirit and the most needed task today for our complacent
age."
Certainly Jesus shows agreement with this when He
says, "Judge not that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1) - convicting
is what God the Holy Spirit does. Moses indicated the same truth when he gave
his farewell message to Israel as they were about to cross the Jordan:
"The LORD will send on you curses,
confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are
destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in
forsaking him." (Deuteronomy 28:20)
When the Psalmist said, "You rebuke the
arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands." who did he
mean when he said "you"? (Psalms 119:21) Obviously, he was referring
to God.
Of course there are some people who believe
convicting is the Pastor's job. When they think someone else is doing something
that is sinful or wrong, they expect the Pastor to confront the person, and
correct them. And in fact, with only a quick glance, it may seem that they have
some Scriptural grounds in II Timothy 4:2:
"Preach the word; be instant
in season, out of season; reprove rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine." The NIV translates it this way: "Preach the Word; be
prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great
patience and careful instruction."
It certainly seems that Paul is instructing Pastor Timothy
to do the correcting and rebuking. However, please notice that Paul is
referring to the public preaching, not private confrontation. When the Word is
preached, the Holy Spirit is present to do this work of convicting.
Also notice the balance in Paul's statement - yes
there are to be "reproofs" and "rebukes," but there's also
to be "encouragement," and all is to be done with
"patience" and "sound teaching."
In fact, in this passage, Paul isn't referring to
the exposure of personal sins at all - look at the following verse which
obviously has to do with correcting false doctrine. The inference is that when
sound doctrine is taught, the spirit, working through the word will being about
conviction.
There are also those who seem anxious to call for
public confession in order to make a public example - they also have a proof
text in I Timothy 5:20:
"Those who sin are to be
rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning." (KJV)
"Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." (NIV)
Again, we need to look at this carefully. In the
context, Paul starts the chapter with "Do not rebuke an older man harshly,
but exhort him as if he were your father."
In the immediate context where there seems to be a
call for public censure, Paul gives the caution that there must be two or three
witnesses suggesting that there should be some form of due process leading up
to public censure.
We are aware of the tremendous danger when leaders
take upon themselves the role of prosecutor, judge and jury. Just talk with
someone who has innocently become entangled in cult like organizations and
extremely legalistic churches. In these groups there are frequent, if not
weekly required public shaming of members when their alleged sins are announced
and they must come before the whole church with weeping confessions to receive
their due punishment.
Why do we think it be a problem if Pastors took on
the Holy Spirit's role of conviction? Well, obviously Pastors are people too,
and are no less subject to sin and error than everyone else. History has shown
that leaders of this sort are often prone to be hard on their own sins which
they see in others, perhaps as a way to deflect attention or make it unlikely
that anyone would suspect them of the sins they so vigorously condemn.
The question about personal
offenses must be raised here. As Christians, if we are wronged by a brother or
sister, there is a clear directive given by Jesus as to how we should respond.
(Matthew 18:15-17) We are to immediately seek reconciliation by first going
directly to the person who we feel caused us the injury, if that fails, go a
second time in the company of witnesses, preferably mature Christians
(Galatians 6:1), and if all else fails, take it to the church. However, in
cases such as this, the offended person is not usurping the convicting role of
the Spirit - they are simply letting their brother or sister know they have
been hurt, but don't want that hurt to destroy their fellowship as Christian
brother and sister. Notice, this has to do when we are personally offended, not
when we take up someone else's offense.
Now let us return to the subject at hand - the
conviction of the Holy Spirit. Actually, the Christian doesn't sit around
saying, "I'll just wait until I feel convicted, then I'll know that I
should repent and change my behavior and attitudes."
It's an old song, and in the rush to embrace the
new, it has been nearly forgotten. The title of the song is "Cleanse
Me," and the opening words, taken from Psalms 139:23 express it well,
"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts."
We readily understand this idea of search.
We search for information,
although the language has changed; today we simply "Google it."
During storms or coal mine disasters, we hear of search
and rescue operations.
All of us, at one time or another have expended
great amounts of energy searching for something that we lost.
And more pertinent to our topic, during a crime
investigation, the police request a search warrant to find evidence in order to
convict a suspect.
As Christians, because we know our own propensity to
sin, we don't wait around for conviction, we ask for it by praying for God to
shine the search light of His Spirit on our souls.
We ourselves voluntarily supply a search warrant to
the Holy Spirit. We don't run and try to hide like Adam and Eve. We have
learned from Solomon, "He who conceals his sins does not prosper."
(Proverbs 28:13) And Moses taught long before that, "You may be sure that
your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)
We purposefully expose ourselves to the searching of
the Holy Spirit. Notice that this idea is well established in Scripture:
The Psalmist asks, "Shall not
God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart." (Psalms
44:21)
Jeremiah speaks for God and says, "I the LORD
search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his
ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:10)
Ezekiel foreshadows the story of the Good Shepherd
as told by Jesus when he writes, "For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I,
even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out." (Ezekiel 34:11)
And in Zephaniah 1:12 God says, "And it shall
come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and
punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, 'The
LORD will not do good neither will he do evil.'"
By the way, did you notice the words in the song,
"Cleanse Me"? "O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee; send a
revival, start the work in me."
For decades, ever since the first and second Great
Awakenings, devout Christians throughout America have been pining for revival.
We believe that this is God's desire as well, but perhaps too many people have
an idea about revival which at best is incomplete, if not very different from
what God wants.
We want to be blessed; He wants us
to be a blessing.
We want what gratifies the flesh; He wants what
crucifies the flesh.
We want celebration; He wants contrition.
We want to get high; He wants us to bow low.
We want to be charged up; He wants us to be changed
over.
We want to be excited; He wants us to be
established.
We want to jump high; He wants us to walk straight.
We want to pass out in the Spirit; He wants us to
pass out the Gospel to those who have not yet heard.
We want a festival; He wants us to fast a while.
We want to walk on water; He wants us to give a cup
of cold water in His Name.
We want our enemies to burn; He wants them to turn.
We want a taste of heaven; He wants us to act like
hurdles to hell, doing everything in our power to keep people from going there.
We want a revival that allows us to escape from our
problems; He wants a revival that asks the Holy Spirit to search out the
personal causes of our problems.
Will you join me and pray for His kind of revival?
However, let's just remember this, when we pray for true revival, what we're
asking for is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
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