A
sister in Christ sent this out to our group and it prompted me to write the
below piece: “I didn't want to say this But the Lord is telling me The Old
Testament convicts of sin continually to show us How much we need a savior and
the hope of His coming Where is the crucifixion and the suffering he bore for
our sins. Don't discount it as though it wasn't good enough. Yes, repenting daily is what we must do but
remember He cleanses us of all unrighteousness If we live under the
conviction of the Holy Spirit and repent and praise Him for what He did to free
us.”
I
love the Old Testament as much as the New Testament. Much of the Old Testament warns us about our sin that is not hidden, (But if you do
not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your
sin will find you out Numbers 32:23, ), (You have set our iniquities
before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance Psalm 90:8).
and the coming of Jesus Christ who will die on the cross for our salvation, (From
prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people of
that day realized it was their sins that he was dying for—that he was suffering
their punishment, Isaiah 53:8), (that
if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved Romans 9:10. “And you,
child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the
face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His
people By the remission of their sins Luke 1:76-77), and the redemption of sin Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, Ephesians 1:7 In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to
the riches of His grace.
The
prophets where there to warn us of our evil ways and yet, His people did not
heed these warnings. Nor, are we heeding
he warnings of the Bible in this age. We
are not living in the conviction of the Holy Spirit on a consistent basis.
The word convict is a translation of the Greek word elencho, which means “to convince someone of the truth; to reprove; to accuse, refute, or cross-examine a witness.” The Holy Spirit acts as a prosecuting attorney who exposes evil, reproves evildoers, and convinces people that they need a Savior. To be convicted is to feel the sheer loathsomeness of sin. This happens when we’ve seen God’s beauty, His purity and holiness, and when we recognize that sin cannot dwell with Him (Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You). When Isaiah stood in the presence of God, he was immediately overwhelmed by his own sinfulness: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because 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 (Isaiah 6:5). To be convicted is to experience an utter dreadfulness of sin. Our attitude toward sin becomes that of Joseph who fled temptation, crying out, “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9).
We
are convicted when we become mindful of how much our sin dishonors God. When
David was convicted by the Holy Spirit, he cried out, “Against you, you only,
have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). David saw
his sin primarily as an offense to a holy God. We are convicted when we become
intensely aware of the wrath it exposes to our souls (Romans 1:18
For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness), (Romans
2:5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up
wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God). When the Philippian jailer fell at the apostles’ feet and cried, “Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30. He was under conviction and
he was certain that, without a Savior, he would die.
When
the Holy Spirit convicts’ people of their sin, He represents the righteous
judgment of God (Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart). There is no
appeal of this verdict. The Holy Spirit not only convicts’ people of sin, but
He also brings them to repentance (Acts 17:30 Truly,
these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to
repent); (Luke 13:5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise
perish”).
The Holy Spirit brings to light our relationship to God. The convicting power
of the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to our sin and opens our hearts to receive
His grace (Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God).
We
praise the Lord for the conviction of sin. Without it, there could be no
salvation. No one is saved apart from the Spirit’s convicting and regenerating
work in the heart. The Bible teaches that all people are by nature rebels
against God and hostile to Jesus Christ. They are “dead in trespasses and sins”
(Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins). Jesus
said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me
draws him” and I will raise him up at the last. Part of that “draw” to
Jesus is the conviction of sin.
Unfortunately,
the world is so full of sin that we are not making God our Lord. He is not
first in our lives. Sin causes Satan to
have legal right in our lives. We have
learned that when we are saved the curse was broken. Satan’s kingdom was defeated and we got to go
free. Yes, that has happened at the
cross, but God’s people are trying to live in disobedience over something that
was paid for in obedience. That’s when
God is not our Lord. Jesus was obedient
to the Father even to death. Most of God’s
people are not.
If
the devil has a legal right to God’s people’s lives in spite of what Jesus did
on the cross we need to know where in the bible it says that: 2 Timothy 2:24-26 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel
but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who
are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may
know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of
the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
What
was Paul saying here? His words reveal
that there can be something in a Christiane’s life that gives the devil a legal
right to steal their blessings and put a curse of disease on them more than
once in the New Testament. Jesus linked
he law of sin to disease in the Gospel of John.
He meets the paralyzed man lying beside the pool of Bethesda. Jesus heals the man by telling him to take up
his bed and walk. Hours later, Jesus is
telling that same man that now that he is healed, he should go and sin no mor,
or something much worse would happen to him:
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And
immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked John 5:8-9, Afterward
Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well.
Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you,” John 5:14.
Other
times when Jesus healed someone, He used the phrases “you are healed,” and “you
are forgiven.” Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer;
your sins are forgiven you,” Matthew 9:2.
After the Pharisees protested, Jesus answered them, “For which is easier,
to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you
may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said
to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house,” Matthew
9:5-6.
Mark
2:3-12 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the
roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on
which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the
paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were
sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak
blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But immediately,
when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves,
He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is
easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say,
‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man
has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you,
arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up
the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and
glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
The
simple fact is this: there are physical and emotional sicknesses that are the
result of our accepting the law of sin in our lives. Yes, we as Christians are
very clear on our salvation. We are way
less clear about sin. We are aware of
some sin, but fail to call on the Holy Spirit to expose and convict us of all
sins including hidden sins. We have not
been taught how to address our sin even though the bible provides answers. The body of Christ fails to teach confession
of sin, tell God how sorry we are, asking God to forgive us, and finally, to
repent. The church is not teaching this
as a whole. We are in a stupor and
cannot hear or see, Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of
stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To
this very day,” Romans 11:8.
Do
not get discouraged about the battle we face between law of sin and the law of
God. God is showing us truth for freedom’s
sake. When Paul looked at the truth of
the battle in his own life, he cried out, “Who will save me?” Then he answers his own question Oh,
what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated
by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you
see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my
sinful nature I am a slave to sin Romans 7:24-25.
One
of our responsibility as servants of God is summed up in Isaiah 61:1-3: “The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach
good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim
liberty to the captives, And the opening
of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console
those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for
mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be
called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be
glorified.”
All
that have sinned need help overcoming sin so that they can have a pure
relationship with the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Tony
Sanchez 12-20-19
