Holy Spirit - Part 15: Convicting the World

Each believer's salvation begins with our being brought to a profound sense that we are in need of a redeemer/savior. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings us to this realization.

This truth is given us in the words of Jesus.

John 16:8-11

“And when he is come, he will reprove 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.”

We see in this important passage that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict men of sin. We have the first recorded fulfillment of this promise shortly thereafter.

Acts 2:36-37

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that  same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and unto the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do”?

The Holy Spirit had come just as Jesus had promised that He would and when he came He convicted the world of sin. He pricked them to their heart with a sense of their awful guilt in their rejection of their Lord and their Christ.

If the apostle Peter had spoken the same words the day before Pentecost, no such results would have followed; but now Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

The longer we study human nature, the more clearly we see how hopeless is the task of convincing other men of sin. We cannot do it, and God has not left it to us to do. He has put this work in the hands of one who is very able to do so, the Holy Spirit.

But while we  cannot convince men of sin, there is within each of us one who can.

He can convince the most hardened and self-blind man of his sin and indifference and take their hearts to a place where they see clearly their need of a savior. So we are not to despair of any man no matter how hardened they appear, no matter how worldly, no matter how self-satisfied, the Holy Spirit can convince them of their sin.

On the day of Pentecost, it was the Holy Spirit who convinced the 3,000 of sin, but the Holy Spirit came to the group of believers and through them, convinced the outside world. As far as the Holy Scriptures tell us, the Holy Spirit has no way of getting at the unsaved world except through those who are already saved. Each conversion in the book of Acts was through men or women already saved. Even Paul required Ananias.

The power of this Holy One is worked through those of us who are already His. We must recognize this fact and understand that while the Lord ordains all things before they occur, He also ordains the means of those things. This fact should renew our hearts to witness without concern of rejection by men. If we are rejected by 100 and then reach one, it is worth it. 

Notice which sin the Holy Spirit convicts men of, the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ, “... of sin because they believe not on me...”. The one thing eternal God requires of men above all other things is that they believe on the one He has sent.

John 6:29

“Jesus answered and said unto them, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him who he hath sent'”.

The one sin that reveals men's rebellion and defiance of God is the sin of not believing on Jesus Christ.

Next, we see that the Spirit has convicted men of righteousness because Jesus Christ has gone to the Father. He is convicting the world of the righteousness of Christ which is proven by this event. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see that Jesus Christ, whom the world condemned was indeed the righteous one. The Father has set the stamp of His approval upon His character by raising Him from the dead and exalting Him to His own right hand and giving Him a name above all other names.

Finally, we see that the Holy Spirit also convicts the world of judgment. This portion of conviction cannot be over emphasized. It stands alone in high importance.

John 16:11

“Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged”.

When Jesus was nailed to His cross, it seemed he was judged. In reality, it was Satan, the prince of this sinful world who was judged. By raising Jesus the Father made it plain for all ages to come who the cross truly judged. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to this fact. Judgment has come to be somewhat diminished in teaching in our modern days, but we should be thankful for this lesson in eternal retribution first promised in Genesis 3:15 by the Lord, that the head of the evil one would be crushed.