The night before Jesus was crucified was a busy time. He instituted the Lord Supper,(Matthew 26:26-28), washed the apostles’ feet (John 13), talked with them about the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14-16) and had a long, thoughtful prayer to His heavenly Father (John 17).
The Holy Spirit was going to guide the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). Jesus also said, “When He (Holy Spirit) comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). How was the Spirit going to cause men and women to be convicted of their sins? There could only be two ways possible: (1) By directly coming into a person’s mind to bring about conviction, (2) Indirectly which means that He was going to work through an agent – the Word of God. If the Spirit works directly on a person’s heart, then God becomes a respecter of persons in that some are convicted while others are not convicted. By working indirectly through the Word of God, then God let’s each person decide how he or she will react to the gospel each is taught.
Holy Spirit’s Work Illustrated
In Acts 2:1-4 the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised (Acts 1:4-5). After the crowds gathered, Peter began preaching to them with these words, “Men of Israel, listen to these words” (Acts 2:22). When he finished the sermon, the people reacted this way, “when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart” (Acts 2:37). They were convicted. What convicted them? They were convicted by the words the Holy Spirit guided Peter to say. Thus, they were convicted indirectly by the Spirit through the agency of the Word of God.
Not all people who were convicted wanted to be saved. Some wanted to kill the messenger. Peter and John were brought before the rulers of Israel and Peter told them they had killed Jesus. When the rulers “heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them” (Acts 5:33). Again, people were convicted by the Word that was preached, not directly by the Holy Spirit touching their hearts.
Acts 7 records Stephen’s sermon which was preached to the Council (6:12). He showed them how God had worked all through their history but when they resisted, he said, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51). How were they resisting the Holy Spirit? – By resisting the Word of God that Stephen was preaching.
The Holy Spirit Spoke Only to His Inspired Messengers
Philip, who was one of the seven on whom the apostles laid hands to give him a miraculous gift (Acts 6) was told by the angel of the Lord go toward the south. When he got there, he saw a man riding in a chariot and “the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot’” (Acts 8:29). The Spirit did not speak to the sinner who needed to be saved but to the messenger who would teach him the gospel. Why didn’t the Holy Spirit speak directly to the sinner or touch his heart to be convicted? Even when God did speak to people directly, He spoke only to His inspired messengers. Jesus had commanded that the gospel was to be preached by humans (Mark 16:15-20). Christ’s inspired apostles spoke the same truth (I Corinthians 1:21; Romans 10:13-17).
For about the first eight years after the church was established, the gospel was preached only to Jews and those who were part Jews (Acts 2-9). When God decided it was time to allow the Gentiles to enter the church, He chose Cornelius and his household to be the first Gentile converts. When the angel appeared to Cornelius to tell him to send for Peter the angel said, “he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household” (Acts 11:14). Why didn’t the angel tell Cornelius what to do to be saved? Why didn’t the Holy Spirit convict Cornelius of sin and save him? That was not God’s plan. God expected, then and today, for His people to preach to the lost. When Peter preached to Cornelius, the Spirit was working indirectly, not directly on Cornelius.
The Principle Stated
When Paul described the Christian armor he commanded, “take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The Word of God touches a person’s heart and that person can be convicted to obey the gospel or he may be convicted to kill the messenger. The Holy Spirit never has nor ever will work directly upon the heart of a sinner. He always works indirectly through the Word of God. That is why Paul said that the gospel “is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).
It is so sad that so many people are taught that the Holy Spirit must come on them before they can be saved! The Bible does not teach that. Numerous people think they have had “a direct experience” with God to be saved. That did not even happen in the early days of the gospel being preached in all the world. Neither does it happen today. People’s emotions can convince them that they have had an experience with God, but that is not taught anywhere in the Bible. Emotions can deceive us.
The Holy Spirit does convict people of their sins, but He does it through the gospel being preached to them. In the Bible when they were convicted that they were a lost sinner, they were baptized to have their sins forgive or as was told to Saul, to wash away sin (Acts 22:16; 2:38).
Lost people who are convicted of sin were never told to “Pray the sinner’s prayer.” There is no “sinner’s prayer” found in the Bible.
If you are convicted that you are lost and separated from God, please contact me and I’ll help you obey the gospel.
Wayne Burger
