The Holy Spirit Uses The Word Of God To Reprove Us (1).

This ministry of the Spirit - His reproving ministry - is vitally related to His correcting ministry. These ministries belong together. In His reproving ministry, the Spirit is concerned with showing us where we have gone wrong. In His correcting ministry, He is concerned with bringing us back to the right way. There will be those who are reproved by the Spirit of God yet they refuse His correcting ministry. The Word of God speaks very directly of this in Proverbs 29:1 - ‘He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing’. This, however, is not the intention of the Spirit’s reproving ministry. The Holy Spirit reproves us so that He might bring us back into the way of holiness. In Hebrews 3:7, we read words which ‘the Holy Spirit’ speaks to us, ‘Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’.