To Convict Me of Sin, February 8

The Work of the Holy Spirit

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me. John 16:8, 9.ML 43.1

The office of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the words of Christ: “When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin. If the sinner responds to the quickening influence of the Spirit, he will be brought to repentance, and aroused to the importance of obeying the divine requirements.^{21The Acts of the Apostles, 52.}ML 43.2

As Saul yielded himself fully to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, he saw the mistakes of his life, and recognized the far-reaching claims of the law of God. He who had been a proud Pharisee, confident that he was justified by his good works, now bowed before God with the humility and simplicity of a little child, confessing his own unworthiness and pleading the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. Saul longed to come into full harmony and communion with the Father and the Son; and in the intensity of his desire for pardon and acceptance, he offered up fervent supplications to the throne of grace.ML 43.3

The prayers of the penitent Pharisee were not in vain. The inmost thoughts and emotions of his heart were transformed by divine grace, and his nobler faculties were brought into harmony with the eternal purposes of God. Christ and His righteousness became to Saul more than the whole world. The conversion of Saul is a striking evidence of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to convict men of sin.^{22The Acts of the Apostles, 119, 120.}ML 43.4

It is through the mighty agency of the Holy Spirit that the government of Satan is to be subdued and subjected. It is the Holy Spirit that convinces of sin and expels it from the soul by the consent of the human agent.... Through the merits of Christ man may be able to exercise the noblest powers of his being and expel sin from his soul.^{23The Review and Herald, April 25, 1893.}ML 43.5