Conviction of Sin – The Holy Spirit's Work
God pursues us. Before we've ever even thought of Him, He is drawing us to Himself - prevenient grace. But there's still more to the picture of salvation - because when we realise that the God of the universe is interested in us, we see immediately that we are not worthy of His love, because we have sinned.
Recognizing Our Sinfulness
I spoke about this on Monday, about how we have all fallen short of the glory of God and have a need for a Saviour. But when we realise how personal this is, when we realise that He is drawing us to Himself and offering us love, we also realise just how little we deserve what He is offering, because of what we've done that is offensive to Him.
Here's how Wesley describes a person who had realised this, in his sermon The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption: "The secrets of his heart are discovered to him by the Spirit of God. He feels himself a poor, vile, guilty sinner, and groans to be delivered. The more he strives to perform the commands of God, according to the letter, the more he is convinced of his utter sinfulness."
Yes, many people start to see that they are sinful, and then they strive to make things right by being a better person, and it doesn't work. The more you strive to do good in an effort to undo your sin, the more you realise how short you keep on falling.
Standing in God's Presence
In Isaiah 6, we see exactly this happening in the life of the prophet. He is in the presence of God and His heavenly creatures, and Isaiah realises in that moment that He is a sinful man. We read this: "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5 NIV11) He recognized that in comparison to the great holy and wonderful God, he was utterly sinful.
The Deeper Purpose of Conviction
And remember, it's not just a matter of God the righteous judge being mad at people who have broken the rules. In a deeper sense, feeling convicted is when you realise that God's image is in you, but sin has smashed it to pieces! That's why we say "woe to me", not because we realise we have broken rules, but because we realise we have defaced the image of God in our souls! And so we weep with conviction because we realise, this God who loves me so created me in His wonderful image, but look at me! I have taken the pure and holy image of God and defaced it with my sin and sickness. Woe to me. I need help. I need saving.
In fact Charles Wesley put it beautifully in the same hymn I quoted from yesterday:
"Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my fall lament,
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more."
Recognise how utterly broken you are without God. How you revolt against Him in a foul way, and mess up that beautiful image of God within you.
But, as Wesley said, after you've wept, believe, because as we shall see tomorrow, salvation comes to those who repent and believe.
