Many men are troubled with the guilt of sin. At times, the arrows of sin are piercing to the natural man. He may be brought to a state of concern from preaching or some great affliction. He may set himself against a particular lust that greatly disturbs his peace of heart. But the poor creature! He labours in the fire, and his efforts are destroyed.
–John Owen

In one of the chapels of last semester at The Master’s College, the speaker was talking about sin and conviction. I can’t say I remember who the speaker was — or even the rest of the message, but I do remember one comment that he made: Conviction of sin and life transformation are two radically different experiences, and one can be addicted to conviction without desiring transformation. Conviction is the feeling that one has done wrong, that one’s conscience is not at ease, that one has done a thing that violates his conscience (regardless of whether that thing violates the law of God). Transformation, on the other hand is the actual working of the Holy Spirit on a Scripture-informed conscience, accompanied by feelings of penetence, that lead to repentence and an eventual change of action.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have listened to a good sermon and walked away feeling very convicted. However, more often than not, the conviction has eventually flowed away — like most emotions do — and it left no change behind, only the same old residue of sin that was there before. Thinking that conviction will remedy sin is like thinking that looking at how dirty we are will make us clean. It does not matter how acutely aware we are of the dirt and sweat clinging to our bodies. If we do not shower, we will not be clean. Likewise, we can be painfully convicted of our sin but without experiencing an ounce of transformation. The most dangerous thing about conviction is that it feels very spiritual. You or I can easily experience the guilt of a sin and mistake that guilt for transformation. However, without the working of the Holy Spirit, repentance, or a consequent change of action, conviction is nothing less than a product of hell! It can fool us into thinking that we are spiritual while we still wallow in sin.

Let us not be addicted to conviction! Conviction, in and of itself, is no good thing, but insofar as it leads us to repentence it is useful. Conviction may either be a “godly grief” that leads to repentance or a “worldly grief” that leads to death (2 Cor 7.9-10). The difference between the two is that the former is God-centred, but the latter is man-centred. We can either hate our sin because it offends a holy God or because it makes us feel guilty. When we come to the point where we can say, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Ps 51.4), we can know that our conviction is a godly grief that will lead to repentence and transformation. Let us hate our sin and desire transformation in ever greater degrees into the image of Christ!