Conviction of sin

When he comes, he will convict the world of ...sin ... because they do not believe in me (Jn. 16:8).

One of the tasks of the Holy Spirit, and one sign of His presence and action in us, is the conviction of sin.  We don't really see sin in ourselves until He arrives---then we are not condemned, but convicted.  There is a huge difference. 

We spend a great deal of time in self-defense, justifying ourselves to ourselves and to others---until the Spirit of God gently begins to open our eyes.  When we finally begin to see ourselves as God sees us, under the action of the Spirit, it is not to condemn us, but to heal us.  We become sorrowful and subdued, resolving not to continue acting that way anymore.  Other people may condemn us; we may condemn ourselves---but condemnation is not repentance; it is not healing. 

An alcoholic in sober moments condemns himself but keeps on drinking to mask the pain.  He is not healed and set on a different path.  One in recovery is so convicted that he/she is determined never again to inflict that kind of pain on himself or on others.  Sinners in recovery are so aware of their weakness and tendency to inflict pain that they do not trust themselves at all.  They know that unless Jesus Himself sustains them, they will certainly fail.  They do not rely on their own resources or strength, but His.

When Jesus says, "He will convict the world of sin because they do not believe in me," He means that as long as we do not cast all of our hope / trust on Him to save us, we will continue to sin.  If we believe/ trust Him as our "higher power," in the words of AA, we will not continue to sin---He can keep us when we cannot keep ourselves.  Strong resolutions are not the answer, but knowing ourselves in our weakness (conviction of sin), and knowing that we can not help ourselves, is.

Blaise Paschal (1600's) wrote this:

[People] revile the Christian religion, because they misunderstand it.  They imagine that it consists simply in the worship of a God considered as great, powerful, and eternal; which is strictly deism, almost as far removed from the Christian religion as atheism....And thence they conclude that this religion is not true...

But let them conclude what they will against deism, they will conclude nothing against the Christian religion, which properly consists in the mystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the two natures, human and divine, has redeemed men from the corruption of sin in order to reconcile them in His divine person to God.

The Christian religion teaches men these two truths: that there is a God whom men can know, and that there is a corruption in their nature which renders them unworthy of Him.  It is equally important to men to know both of these points; and it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness without knowing the Redeemer who can free him from it.

The conviction brought to us by the Holy Spirit lets us see both truths---we are not "good;" we are weak and helpless---but there is One who is good and who has taken upon Himself our weakness to redeem us.  If He is allowed to begin living His life in us, He can continue to bury the man of sin and raise the man of God in us.  Until we come to that realization, we are just Deists and still dying in our sins.