“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”John 16:8-11 (ESV)
In John 16 Jesus is about to be crucified, buried, rise again and ascend to the Father. John records Jesus preparing his disciples for what will take place after he is gone. Jesus tells them that they will suffer persecution and some of them martyrdom. And he is telling them at this time so that when it happens they will not be taken by surprise. He also makes them a promise: he will send them a Helper, the Spirit of truth. Jesus said the Helper would, among other things, “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
Man has a sin problem. All have sinned; all die in Adam, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 6:23). Both Jews and Greeks are under sin (Romans 3:9). Man doesn’t become a sinner because he sins; he sins because he is a sinner. Man was born with a sin nature; he cannot help but sin (Ephesians 2:3). The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians and the Colossians that they were once dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13).
If by some chance we believe that man has some good in him, listen to the apostle Paul, he wrote, . . . as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. . . .there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-12, 18).
To transgress against a holy and righteous God is exceedingly sinful. R.C. Sproul refers to sin as cosmic treason. Apart from being awakened by the Holy Spirit man doesn’t even understand the depth of his sin. Paul wrote, The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV) Because man is spiritually dead in his sins he has neither the capacity to understand his predicament nor to change his sin nature. A dead man cannot just decide he wants to be alive. That is why the initial work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is to convict them of sin.
The reason Jesus gave for the Helper to convict the world of sin was “because they do not believe in me.” Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would bear witness about him (John 15:26). So, the Holy Spirit bears witness that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) and to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). To be justified one must recognize he is a sinner and believe on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. This is not possible without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
It is also the Holy Spirit’s work to breathe life into a dead soul (John 3:7-9). This work enables them to repent and believe in Christ for salvation (John 3:8). And the means most used in this work of the Holy Spirit is the preaching of the gospel, bearing witness to the saving grace of God. God, in his love, has been most gracious to provide a remedy for man’s sin, forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Have you believed? Behold today is the day of salvation.
Scriptures for meditation:
John 3:36
Romans 7:5