The Work of the Spirit in the Unbeliever
In John 16:8-9 Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit and he said, “when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.” So even before someone has the indwelling of the Spirit, the Spirit is already working in their life. The first thing the Spirit does is convict someone of their sin. He causes them to think on their sin and he then leads them to look for the solution. The great example of this is after Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:37 when the people were, “cut to the heart.” They were responding to the conviction of the Spirit who pointed out their sin. Lloyd-Jones says, “The men and women standing there and listening to an exposition of certain Old Testament Scriptures were in trouble. They were disturbed, and they cried out. This was the work of the Holy Spirit, and there would never have been a Christian church but for this.” The Spirit testifies to the truth (1 Jn 5:6) but the unbeliever suppresses it (Rom 1:18). If they continue to suppress the truth and deny the Spirit to the point of their death, they have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The only unforgivable sin is to die having rejected the Spirit of God (Matt 12:31). We can also look at Jesus’ words in John 6:44 where he said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The Spirit is also at work in drawing people to salvation. 1 Corinthians 2:14 also tells us that, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Therefore, a person cannot even understand what is necessary for salvation, apart from the workings of the Spirit of God in their life. That’s why Paul describes our faith as a gift from God (Eph 2:8).