We continue with Part 2 of our Holy Spirit series discussing another attribute of The Holy Spirit, Conviction. We believe this will be an 18-Part Series in which you’ll discover who The Holy Spirit is and what He does. Many attributes are given to The Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. He is not a force. He is a person. He is a member of the Trinity, a part of YHWH. He is referred to as a “he”. In Part 1 of this series, we featured His part in creating and recreating. Now, let’s look at how He convicts us, acting as our conscience, keeping us in-step with The Most High.
Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Here, we read in Romans 9:1 that the Holy Ghost is acting as part of the conscience. The Holy Ghost bears witness to Yeshua and reminds us of everything He said.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
In that manner, the Holy Ghost is able to convict us when we act in a way unacceptable to God or go against any of His commandments. You are able to discern lies. He witnesses to the Truth.
Now, let’s take a look at an amazing passage of Scripture:
Hebrews 10
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
This passage is speaking of Yeshua’s sacrifice being sufficient as a ransom for our sins, acceptable unto God. God will no longer remember our sins and iniquities. Generational curses are obsolete as they are covered by the blood of Yeshua. Once you have repented and accepted Yeshua into your heart, you are covered by the blood. Pray to The Father to remove and break these covenants in the name of His son Yeshua!!
Jeremiah 31:26 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
The Holy Ghost bears witness to this. The Lord says He will put His law into our hearts and will write them on our minds. When we break a commandment or even think about breaking one, the Holy Ghost will convict us, acting as our conscience. The more in tune you become with the Holy Ghost, the more He convicts you. Ever notice that? You see evil everywhere. You are throwing out idols you once held near and dear to your heart, such as great-great-grandma’s figurines. A family heirloom may be the only thing you have of his or hers, but when the Holy Ghost convicts you, you walk it straight into the trash can, no questions asked. Yes, Lord! Your entire wardrobe changes. You change the music you listen to. You change what you watch on television and read. You stop eating unclean foods. He cleans your temple – your home and His house!
I think this next passage can also be placed under how the Holy Ghost can be grieved, and we will discuss that, but it also talks about erring in the heart. I want to touch on that since we just went over His laws being written on our hearts. It ties in nicely.
Hebrews 3
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Here, the Holy Ghost is again bearing witness to the hearts of men. He says not to harden your hearts as in the days of temptation in the wilderness (and this is right now!). Remember, the Lord wants a soft heart of flesh, not a heart of stone. Read what the verse says: He was grieved. They erred in their hearts and did not know His ways (and this is right now!)
First, we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Second, they erred in their hearts by not knowing His ways. What are His ways? The Lord had just given them His ways on top of Mt. Sinai written by His own finger onto Sapphire tablets taken from His very throne. Remember, we just read that He will put His laws in our hearts. They erred in their hearts by breaking His laws, His commandments. Therefore, they were unable to enter into His rest.
I tell you this is right now, because it is. Exodus is a foreshadowing of things to come, plagues and all. Where are we right now? Spiritual Egypt. We are living in a strange, hostile land as exiles from our Kingdom. We are to not grieve the Holy Ghost. We are to obey His law and commandments. They are written on our hearts and minds. Again, Yeshua said:
John 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
When you do this, He will manifest Himself to you and you will enter into His rest. After the Exodus from Egypt, those who disobeyed His commandments in the wilderness did not enter into the rest of the Promised Land, but we can. Our rest from the exodus of spiritual Egypt is entering into the Promised Land of New Jerusalem with Yeshua. These will attend the marriage with Yeshua.
The carcases of those who had an evil heart and did not believe could not enter at all and fell in the wilderness.
Psalm 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Scripture says they that fell in the wilderness could not enter because of unbelief. It’s belief in Yeshua as the son of the Most High God that saves us.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
I personally believe we are going to have those who believe entering into New Jerusalem, but those who believe and keep His laws and commandments entering into a more personal rest – marriage with Yeshua. It’s the only way the Parable of the Virgins makes sense to me right now, although I may change my mind as I research more. All the virgins were believers – ALL of them. But, only those who had their oil full and lamps ready were able to come into the marriage. The door was shut on the other believers.
Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Revelation 22:14Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Note the Commandments must be kept to have a lamp, but the oil of that lamp, I believe, is the Holy Ghost, the gift of God, faith not of yourself, so no one can boast – not based on works (Read Part 1). It’s the Holy Ghost who convicts us to keep His Commandments and it is He, as well as our BELIEF, who keeps our flame burning fervently with a hunger and thirst for more of The Word. Also note, the oil could be purchased. Yeshua paid the price for all and then the Holy Ghost was sent to us. He groans to be reunited with Our Father and give us the fuel to expose evil, feed the needy, visit the sick, help the poor, and more! Yet still, we also sacrifice daily was we walk in The Spirit and not in the flesh, sacrificing our flesh daily.
You cannot be a Pharisee obeying the commandments without faith in the gospel from the Holy Ghost. Nor, can you have faith in the gospel only, without works.
Matthew 25
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
We are commanded to have both and it’s the Holy Ghost that prompts us to it. He quickens us to act. He convicts us and leads us into all things.