God undoubtedly had great expectations for Adam, his image-bearer, when he on the sixth day of creation pronounced that everything he had made was very good. God and man had a time of delightful fellowship together in the garden of Eden. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, man betrayed his Creator and turned to God's arch-enemy Satan. Imagine God's utter disappointment and great sorrow when he had to drive man out of the garden for his own good, lest he eat of the tree of life and thereby live forever in his fallen condition.

Since then, man, the crown of his creation, has continued to bring unspeakable grief to his Maker, by thwarting God's attempts to establish a loving relationship with him. Sixteen centuries after Adam's rebellion, the wickedness of man had become so great on the earth that "it repented the Lord that he made man, and it grieved him at his heart" (Gen. 6:6). So God had to destroy mankind and start anew with Noah. Yet Noah's generation also miserably failed God.

God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees in order to develop the nation of Israel as his chosen people, from whom would come the Savior of mankind. But God was consistently grieved with the great majority of the nation, and experienced great agitations of mind in having to bring about judgments against them time and time again. Being longsuffering, he strove with man by sending prophets to warn the people and call them back to Him, but they killed his prophets. Finally, he sent his Son who was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is.53:3). Because of man's sin and unwillingness to lovingly fellowship with his Maker, Jesus wept and lamented over his people, but nevertheless they rejected him and delivered him up to be crucified. The sorrow and suffering of our Savior over man culminated when he bore man's sin on the cruel cross.

Jesus forewarned his disciples of his rejection, crucifixion and departure from the world. In an effort to calm their fears, Jesus promised them "another Comforter," who is the Holy Spirit. The Comforter was to lead them into all truth and enable them to bear witness of the truth to all men. The Holy Spirit and man were to be co-laborers in reconciling the world to God.

Jesus explained the Holy Spirit's threefold work in the world:

And when he is come, he will reprove (convict, convince) 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 (John 16:8-11).

The word translated Comforter in the King James Version is the Greek word, Parakletos, which may also be rendered Advocate. Jesus Christ is the sinner's Advocate with the Father. The Holy Spirit is the Father's Advocate to plead his case with mankind.

Charles Finney, America's great revivalist and theologian, defined convince or reprove as "a legal term meaning the summing up of an argument and establishing or demonstrating of the sinner's guilt. Thus the strivings of the Spirit of God with man are not a physical scuffling, but a debate; a strife not of body with body, but of mind with mind, the action and reaction of vehement argumentation."

The Holy Spirit, according to Finney, exerts "moral power to pursue the sinner step by step with truth, to hunt him from his refuges of lies, to constrain him by the force of argument alone, to convince him to yield up his selfishness and dedicate himself to the service of God."

The Bible teaches that there are three different agents working in the conversion of a soul. The primary agent is the Spirit of God. Another agent is the minister. The third agent is the sinner himself.

The actual change is the sinner's personal act. "Ye have purified yourselves by obeying the truth" (I Peter 1:22). The Holy Spirit influences him to turn. "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth" (James 1:18). A secondary agent is the minister who presents the truth. Paul said, "I have begotten you through the gospel" (I Cor. 4:15).

Man is a moral agent who has the capacity to resist any and every truth. Sin is moral evil that can only be conquered by men responding to the truth.

Finney explains, "Whatever, therefore, hinders the truth from producing its sanctifying effect grieves the Holy Spirit, just in proportion to his desire to have it produce that effect."

The Apostle Paul warned the Church that it should neither grieve nor quench the Holy Spirit (Ehp. 4:30, I Thes.5:19). To grieve him is to resist the light and energy which he brings to the mind of man. The Holy Spirit is a moral agent with sensibilities who experiences sorrow, distress, and anguish over man's rebellion. To quench the Holy Spirit is to resist his mental impressions to the point of extinguishing his light and energy. It is to put out the fire which he longs to light in the souls of men.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit has been a major emphasis in our generation. But in what has been labeled the Full Gospel movement, the stress has not been on the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, but on seeking the Holy Spirit's manifestation through speaking in tongues and the gifts of prophecy, healing, etc. Unfortunately these gifts have been too often abused. The Evangelicals, on the other extreme, have altogether denied that these gifts are for the modern church.

The Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Evangelicals alike have quenched the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. They have contrived new and better methods to win the world to Christ. These methods speak little of the subjects of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Much is said of God's love and willingness to accept the sinner just as he is. This new way brings in large numbers to the churches. Even better, it enables Christians to escape the persecution that Jesus promised would come to those who walked and witnessed in the Spirit: "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16:1-2).

But the Church has ignored the Lord's warning. It has been offended. When the offence came, the Church changed its methods and message. The Holy Spirit has been seen as one who mollifies the world instead of convicting it. The Holy Spirit has become grieved because he is being replaced with another spirit, one who refuses to reprove sin, declare righteousness and warn of judgment. This false spirit has no relation to the One who empowered humble men to "turn the world upside down" and fearlessly face death with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This spirit, instead of confronting the world, conforms to it. It is a spirit that bears no resemblance to the mighty Holy Spirit of God revealed and manifested in the glorious Book of Acts. It is a spirit that runs on high tech, mass media, expensive gimmicks and cheap thrills.