So one of the first purposeful instructions Jesus' gives about the Holy Spirit, is that the HS will be sent to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgement.
So when you "feel" the conviction of the HS for your sins and your sinfulness what should you do?
Just about the best passage i can think of - and also one of the most beautiful (especially in the King James) - is Isaiah 1:2-20 which i have included below. Read my comments in blue below for notes on the passage and then down below are the 6 things you should do when under conviction (and 1 you shouldn't).
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
God is speaking in these first 2 verses like a prosecuting attorney. He is appealing to the heavens and earth to witness the case he is about to unpack before them like a lawyer unpacks his case before a jury. He likens Israel this time to children he had raised with his own hand. At no point did Israel's sin sever this relationship with God... it only brought the requisite punishments that their sins deserved.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Here is God's charge against Isarel: They are backsliders... they "have forsaken YHWH" and as a result YHWH's anger has been provoked against them.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Here is God's metaphorical evidence to prove his charge: they are bruised and beaten from head to toe with the results of their sin. Yet even this recounting of their sorry state is compassionately coupled with a fatherly plea "Why should ye be stricken any more?" In other words... Quit it and come home! Like the father in Jesus' parable of The Lost Son in Luke 15.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Here is the actual evidence to back his charge: their land is empty of people and their cities are smoldering because of foreign invaders brought by the Lord to chasten and hopefully turn his people back. They have been isolated and left without protection like those wonderfully evocative images of a "cottage in a vineyard". Good only really to protect from the rain... barely.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
God's people now speak for the 1st time: they note that though their sins deserved utter destruction like those OT cities of infamous lore they were left a remnant... a small group to carry on God's covenant.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
God turns from the jury to directly calling out the leaders of His people... although for rhetorical effect he addresses them as "rulers of Sodom"... that is how far they had fallen. And notice what he calls them to listen to... "the law of our God". We'll come back to this.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Very simply put God castigates them for being religious in public but wretches in private. Note that all these religious rites are public rites... sacrifices, festivals, assemblies, feasts.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Repentance has two aspects for God in Isaiah 1... the ceasing of evil and the embracing of good. And note the particular nature of "the good" God is looking for: justice. The oppressed, the orphan, the widow... our treatment of "the least of these" are the barometer by which God judges His people.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
So powerful and compassionate is God's call to "come now, let us reason together". Here is the God who revealed Himself to Moses as "YHWH, YHWH, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." in Exodus 34. But look at the covenant: its relationship is unconditional... despite their sin they are STILL God's children. But its blessings are condition, based upon their obedient. If they are willing and obedient they will eat the good of the land but if they "refuse and rebel" well...
The 6 Things You Should Do When Under Conviction Are:
1. Remember you are STILL God's Child. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
2. Journal/write down the ways that God - using the chastening love of a Father - has brought difficulties, wounds and setbacks into your life in an attempt to turn you back from your sin and toward Him again. (Isaiah 1:6-8, John 4:17-20)
3. Admit to yourself, Him and at least one other person, that you understand that the problems you are facing aren't just "struggles" or "trials" but are rather the chastening blows of a loving Father that is looking for you to return to obeying Him. (Nehemiah 9:3, James 5:6)
4. Thank Jesus Christ for bearing the ultimate wounds and penalty for your sins and sinfulness in order for you to have been justified and ultimately made "white as snow". (Hebrews 13:12)
5. Catalogue in writing the willing and obedient actions you will replace your previously rebellious actions with, knowing that God's blessing but not His love, is contingent on your obedience. (1 Corinthians 11:30, Matthew 25:34-40)
6. With another Christ-follower, read out loud, pray over and set another meeting to recap your progress in doing, the willing and obedient actions that are going to make up the positive side of your repentance. (Luke 10:1)
The 1 Thing You Shouldn't Do When Under Conviction of Sin Is:
1. Redouble your efforts at being publicly religious. (Psalm 26:4, Matthew 6:1-16, 15:6-9)
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