- Jan 1, 2024
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One thing I found when I was saved was the overwhelming conviction of sin, and the fruits meet for repentance followed. When I went prodigal and was drawn back after many a year, the same overwhelming conviction came upon me, I went bitterly, and repented; the LORD being gracious and merciful to grant to me repentance by His grace.
This little piece by George Whitefield explains it quite well:
"And, first, He convinces of sin; and generally of some enormous sin, the worst perhaps the convicted person ever was guilty of. Thus, when our Lord was conversing with the woman of Samaria, He convinced her first of adultery: “Woman, go call thy husband. The woman answered, and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband; in this saidst thou truly” (Joh 4:16-18). With this, there went such a powerful conviction of all her other actual sins, that soon after, she ,“left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, and see a man that told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the Christ?” (Joh 4:28-29). Thus our Lord also dealt with the persecutor Saul: He convinced him first of the horrid sin of persecution; “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Act 9:4). Such a sense of all his other sins, probably at the same time revived in his mind, that immediately he died; that is, died to all his false confidences, and was thrown into such an agony of soul that he continued three days, and neither did eat or drink. This is the method the Spirit of God generally takes in dealing with sinners; He first convinces them of some heinous actual sin, and at the same time brings them in battle-array before them: “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.”
And was it ever thus with you, my dear hearers? (For I must question you as I go along, because I intend, by the divine help, to preach not only to your heads, but your hearts.) Did the Spirit of God ever bring all your sins thus to remembrance, and make you to cry out to God, “thou writest bitter things against me” (Job 13:26)? Did your actual sins ever appear before you, as though drawn in a map? If not, you have great reason (unless you were sanctified from the womb) to suspect that you are not convicted, much more not converted, and that the promise of the text was never yet fulfilled in your hearts. Farther: When the Comforter comes into a sinner’s heart, though it generally convinces the sinner of his actual sin first, yet it leads him to see and bewail his original sin--the fountain from which all these polluted streams do flow." - From The Holy Spirit Convincing the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment 1760
I have been through the "say the sinners prayer and you'll be saved" phenomenon a few times before I was truly saved, and the conviction during those times was intellectual, and fleeting. I also did not repent and put away my sin: I did not flee from it, I continued to pursue it, and it was very soon that I stopped thinking of God altogether.
When it comes to a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ, and with the brethren, conviction of sin and our reaction to it are tantamount to that deeper fellowship.
This little piece by George Whitefield explains it quite well:
"And, first, He convinces of sin; and generally of some enormous sin, the worst perhaps the convicted person ever was guilty of. Thus, when our Lord was conversing with the woman of Samaria, He convinced her first of adultery: “Woman, go call thy husband. The woman answered, and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband; in this saidst thou truly” (Joh 4:16-18). With this, there went such a powerful conviction of all her other actual sins, that soon after, she ,“left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, and see a man that told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the Christ?” (Joh 4:28-29). Thus our Lord also dealt with the persecutor Saul: He convinced him first of the horrid sin of persecution; “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Act 9:4). Such a sense of all his other sins, probably at the same time revived in his mind, that immediately he died; that is, died to all his false confidences, and was thrown into such an agony of soul that he continued three days, and neither did eat or drink. This is the method the Spirit of God generally takes in dealing with sinners; He first convinces them of some heinous actual sin, and at the same time brings them in battle-array before them: “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.”
And was it ever thus with you, my dear hearers? (For I must question you as I go along, because I intend, by the divine help, to preach not only to your heads, but your hearts.) Did the Spirit of God ever bring all your sins thus to remembrance, and make you to cry out to God, “thou writest bitter things against me” (Job 13:26)? Did your actual sins ever appear before you, as though drawn in a map? If not, you have great reason (unless you were sanctified from the womb) to suspect that you are not convicted, much more not converted, and that the promise of the text was never yet fulfilled in your hearts. Farther: When the Comforter comes into a sinner’s heart, though it generally convinces the sinner of his actual sin first, yet it leads him to see and bewail his original sin--the fountain from which all these polluted streams do flow." - From The Holy Spirit Convincing the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment 1760
I have been through the "say the sinners prayer and you'll be saved" phenomenon a few times before I was truly saved, and the conviction during those times was intellectual, and fleeting. I also did not repent and put away my sin: I did not flee from it, I continued to pursue it, and it was very soon that I stopped thinking of God altogether.
When it comes to a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ, and with the brethren, conviction of sin and our reaction to it are tantamount to that deeper fellowship.
