God is the triune God. One God in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Co-equal, co-eternal, co-omnipotent and co-omniscient. In what is known as the Upper Room Discourse recorded in John 14-16, Jesus informs His disciples that He is returning to His Father in heaven yet “when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative – that is, the Holy Spirit – He will teach you.” “And when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict.” Earlier, Jesus reminded Nicodemus that people needed to be born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, unseen yet present, gets involved in the everyday lives of individuals. He speaks by conviction and circumstances thereby preparing their hearts for the turning from sin and turning to God. Sometimes this period of turning to Christ can be very intense. A change of heart, a change of mind and a change of will are all three involved in this matter of being born again. “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Being convicted of sin leads to the relief of forgiveness. The realization that I am wandering around in the circles of estrangement from God gives way to the security of establishing a relationship with God.
The somewhat uncomfortable stage of being driven to Christ will usher itself into the joy of knowing Christ in a personal way. Being convicted of sin leads to the relief of forgiveness. The realization that I am wandering around in the circles of estrangement from God gives way to the security of establishing a relationship with God. One individual expressed his conversion by saying, “In a sense I did not come to Christ.” “It was more like, I ran and ran and ran from God until He caught up with me!” “I could not out-run God!” We are saved by God’s amazing grace – His unmerited favor. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins on the Cross. The Holy Spirit leads us to that place where we humbly and gratefully accept Jesus into our lives, by simple faith. Like the hymn says, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood!”