The rise of Romantic philosophy [better felt than told] is greatly manifested in the average “sermon” of false teachers. A tuning to local radio stations on a Sunday afternoon will quickly reveal the wild assertions and belief in some mysterious, direct operation of the Holy Spirit; the statements are many, e.g., “The Holy Spirit laid it on my heart,” or, “The Holy Spirit told me this or that.” But, such claims demonstrate a general lack of Bible knowledge and disrespect for the all-sufficiency of God’s written word. In conviction, conversion, and sanctification, the Holy Spirit works to affect the human heart only through the medium of the Scriptures (the completed, written word of God). This is the case due to the composition of man’s heart: intellect, will, and emotion. Mans intellect gathers information (Ephesians 1:18); the information is processed and proceeds to the will, where a decision is made upon the information gathered (Ephesians 6:6); and, once the decision has been made, the emotion propels the decision made to action (2 Corinthians 7:10). Man is therefore an intellectual being so designed by God. Appeals made to the heart, then, must accord with the design of the mind, starting with intellect (information).

It would be wholly impossible for God to affect the heart, which He designed, in some way other than the way He designed it. Therefore, what the Holy Spirit does to the human heart, He does through the word of God: salvation (Romans 1:16), understanding (Psalm 119:130), sanctification (John 17:17), et cetera. To suggest that the Holy Spirit directly affects the heart is to deny the all-sufficiency of the word of God, deny the free moral agency of man, and ultimately charge God with providing a book that no one can understand without divine, direct help. In conviction, conversion, and sanctification, the Holy Spirit operates on the heart of man only through the written word of God. [The Northside (Calhoun, GA) Transformer, 12-30-01]
 

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
- Acts 20:32 KJV