What Does it Mean to be Saved: Conviction and Confession of Sin

John 16:7-13 "...I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away,the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  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; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come."

This is the second in a series on What Does it Mean to be Saved. Other sermons in this series to follow are repentance, faith and justification.

What does it mean to be saved?  What makes a true Christian? It means to be born again, to be made spiritually alive from the dead; suddenly they now have a consciousness of spiritual things that they did not have before.  They have a consciousness of God's law and his standard, and of their own sin, their transgression.  What happens next is this:  conviction and confession of sin.  The very things that modern Christianity is downplaying, conviction of sin and confession of sin.

What is that? what is conviction and confession of sin.   Sometimes the bible says "reprove" sometimes "convince" but it means to expose suggesting shame.  Another word used is  "guilty," to feel under judgment.  Conviction is a feeling or burden of guilt, the weight of  your  sin, feeling that you are a sinner and you stand guilty before a holy God.  That person realizes that they need help.  Confession is you confess your sin, you admit "I have sinned I am a sinner"  When you are convicted you don't feel good, you have a burden about your sin.

 

How does it happen? How do we get convicted of our sin?  Sometimes people are convicted in and of their own conscience..  John 8 is the account of the woman taken in adultery.  The Pharisees told Jesus that in the law of Moses the woman should be stoned, and what did Jesus say? Jesus said to them "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."  (V7) and when they heard it "being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one." (V9) being convicted by their own conscience they went away.  Another example is  Acts 7  concerning Stephen.  When Stephen had told his accusers all that they had done from Abraham to crucifying the Lord Jesus, his accusers were "cut to their heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth" (that means they were so angry they were grinding their teeth at him).  But these men were not saved.

  Another way is when the Holy Spirit uses the preaching of the word of God to convict people.  Acts 2:37   when Peter preached that Jesus was taken, and crucified, slain and resurrected, and that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, "they were pricked in their heart" they were pierced in their hearts, they felt guilty.  They said "what shall we do?" (V37) they had a conscience of  their  need, they were convicted through the preaching of the word through the Holy Spirit.  John 16:8  "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment"  The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, not to give people good happy feelings, but to reprove and convict sinners of their sin.  To make them feel guilty of their sin.

 Another way is by reading or hearing the law of God.  Romans 3:13-20   The purpose of the preaching of God's law is that all the world would see themselves as guilty before God.  To bring conviction of sin upon sinners.  By the law comes the knowledge of sin.  Romans 7:7  "What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."  Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."  The law was our teacher that showed us our need of Christ.  We are sinners, we need a Saviour.   Confession:   Psalm 32:5  "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.  I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah." To confess your sin is to open your mouth and confess your sin to the Lord, not to a priest, to the Lord.  Lev 5:5 "And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing." Proverbs 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."   1 John 1:9  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Sin must be confessed before God.   The bible is full of conviction and confession of sin. 

Why do we need it?  why is conviction and confession of sin needed?  So that people will  know that they are sinners, and then they will confess their sin and be saved.  If there is no conviction how can people confess their sin?  If they don't confess to God they cannot be saved.  It is impossible to confess sin if you are not convicted of sin.  The reason there are so few conversions today is because churches are planted but there are no conversions, no growth because there is very little conviction of sin today.  Why is that?  The consciences of people have become so hard, hardened by the sin they commit, they don't even believe in sin. God's law is not being preached in churches, it is not even believed, people are told it has no relevance to Chirstian life.  When the gospel is presented, it is "open your heart to Jesus"  why would you need the Lord Jesus if you don't see yourself as a sinner? it is pointless. The law is not preached and people are not convicted.   There is no conviction therefore there is no confession so sinners are not saved.  What can be done?  Guard your conscience and don't let it become hard. 

All God's people have been convicted of their sin, there is no exception.  In the book Pilgrim's Progress why did Pilgrim have a big burden on his back? and why did that burden roll away when he came to the cross? because the burden of sin is lifted at Calvary and sin is forgiven at the cross of the Lord Jesus.  If you are a sinner look at Christians you might know and ask them if before they believed in Jesus and were saved, did they feel conviction for their sin and every one will say yes even though every Christian is different.

Conviction of sin and confession of sin is essential and cannot be left out.  Culture denies even  the existence of sin, they say there no such thing as sin.. don't join culture in thinking like that because if you think that way it will lead to your eternal undoing. Listen to what the bible says, "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy".  Confess your sin to the Lord and you shall be forgiven.

These notes were made by myself from the sermon by Paul Dowling at Sermon Audio.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=510091534258