When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they acquired the awareness of right and wrong. They did not learn how to discern the truth of right and wrong, but they became aware that the two conditions existed. All of Adam and Eve’s descendents have been struggling with issues of right and wrong ever since. Individually we resist accepting that we might be wrong about something. There is some mysterious force that takes over a person when they are accused of being wrong. That is where self defense kicks in and it is a most insidious sin.
God’s judgment of humanity is that all men have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Man resists this judgment and fights tooth and nail to justify himself before God on the basis of fleshly works. We do this until we reach the absolute end of ourselves and our excuses. Wringing a sincere, heartfelt apology out of someone is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. In our flesh, few of us are willing to admit we are wrong about anything until we have been boxed into a corner by undisputable facts that convict us. Even in the face of such evidence we may continue to defend ourselves and justify what we have done. Penitentiaries are largely populated by innocent people.
The Holy Spirit seeks to convict us of being wrong so that we may voluntarily see our rebellion against God and surrender it. On the way to spiritual maturity there are untold thousands of thoughts and things the Spirit will deal with that we must agree to change or release. To grow in the Lord and be filled with the Spirit we must be repeatedly convicted and found guilty concerning our unrighteous thoughts and motives. Our fleshly compulsion to declare ourselves not guilty and to defend and rationalize our error blocks the Holy Spirit from doing this mighty work in us. Self defense in the presence of truth represents continued rebellion against God and the Holy Spirit will not fill a person who continues to rebel against Him.
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