Chapter 186—The Office of the Spirit
When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment.
John 16:8
.
The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this
the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had
been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic
captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through
the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come
with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit
that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It
is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer
becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a
divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil,
and to impress His own character upon His church.
While we yield ourselves as instruments for the Holy Spirit’s working,
the grace of God works in us to deny old inclinations, to overcome powerful
propensities, and to form new habits.
The Spirit of God, received into the soul, quickens all its faculties. Under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the mind that is devoted unreservedly to
God, develops harmoniously, and is strengthened to comprehend and fulfill
the requirements of God. The weak, vacillating character becomes changed
to one of strength and steadfastness....
It is the Spirit that causes to shine into darkened minds the bright beams
of the Sun of Righteousness; that makes men’s hearts burn within them
with an awakened realization of the truths of eternity; that presents before
the mind the great standard of righteousness, and convinces of sin; that
inspires faith in Him who alone can save from sin; that works to transform
character by withdrawing the affections of men from those things which are
temporal and perishable, and fixing them upon the eternal inheritance. The
Spirit recreates, refines, and sanctifies human beings, fitting them to become
members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.
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