The Work of the Holy Spirit concerning the Sinner
He spoke of the Work of the Holy Spirit the Comforter just prior to His entry into the Garden of Gethsemane.
Joh 16:7 "Yet it is the truth that I am telling you--it is to your advantage that I go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
Joh 16:8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world in respect of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement; --
Joh 16:9 of sin, because they do not believe in me;
Joh 16:10 of righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will no longer see me;
Joh 16:11 of judgement, because the Prince of this world is under sentence.
1. He will convict :[ἐλέγχω elegchō Greek ]Strong’s el-eng'-kho
Of uncertain affinity; to confute, admonish: - convict, convince, tell a fault, rebuke, reprove.
A.C. says “He will reprove - Ελεγξει, He will demonstrate these matters so clearly as to leave no doubt on the minds of those who are simple of heart; and so fully as to confound and shut the mouths of those who are gainsayers. See Act_2:1, etc.
The world - The Jewish nation first, and afterwards the Gentile world; for his influences shall not be confined to one people, place, or time.”
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| Convicted |
Joh 3:18 He who trusts in Him does not come up for judgement. He who does not trust has already received sentence, because he has not his trust resting on the name of God's only Son.
Joh 3:19 And this is the test by which men are judged--the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than they loved the Light, because their deeds were wicked.
Joh 3:20 For every wrongdoer hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear his actions should be exposed and condemned.
He convicts of sin - Of the sin of the Jews in not receiving me as the Messiah, though my mission was accredited by the very miracles which the prophets foretold: see Isa_35:3-6. This was literally fulfilled on the day of pentecost, when the Spirit was given; for multitudes of Jews were then convinced of this sin, and converted to God. See Act_2:37.
If we take this prediction of our Lord in a more general sense, then we may consider that it is one of the grand offices of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin, to show men what sin is, to demonstrate to them that they are sinners, and to show the necessity of an atonement for sin; and in this sense the phrase, περι ἁμαρτιας, may be understood, and in this sense it is used in multitudes of places in the Septuagint, but the words, because they believe not in me, restrict the meaning particularly to the sin of the Jews in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.
2. He convicts of Righteousness
Joh 16:10 of righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will no longer see me;
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father. Human tribunals convicted him of blasphemy, because he said he was the Son of God, and put him to death. God exalted him to a throne, thereby showing that the condemnation was wrong and that he was righteous. Of this the Holy Spirit bore witness in words and by miracles.PNT
3. He convicts of judgment.
Joh 16:11 of judgement, because the Prince of this world is under sentence.
Of judgment - That God is just, and will execute judgment. This is proved by what he immediately states.
The prince of this world - Satan. See the notes at Joh_12:31. The death of Christ was a judgment or a condemnation of Satan. In this struggle Jesus gained the victory and subdued the great enemy of man. This proves that God will execute judgment or justice on all his foes. If he vanquished his great enemy who had so long triumphed in this world, he will subdue all others in due time. All sinners in like manner may expect to be condemned. Of this great truth Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convince men. God showed himself to be just in subduing his great enemy. Barnes
Cp Rom 16:20 And before long, God the giver of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
All sinners will some day soon share his doom.
Mat 25:41 "Then will He say to those at His left, "'Begone from me, with the curse resting upon you, into the Fire of the Ages, which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.
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| Everyone will stand before God on that Great Judgment Day |
Examples of the Convicting Ministry of the Holy Spirit.
a. The crowd on the Day of Pentecost.
Act 2:22 "Listen, Israelites, to what I say. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man accredited to you from God by miracles and marvels and signs which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know, Him--
Act 2:23 delivered up through God's settled purpose and foreknowledge--you by the hands of Gentiles have nailed to a cross and have put to death.
Act 2:37 Now having heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brothers, what shall we do?"
Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now when they heard this - When they heard this declaration of Peter, and this proof that Jesus was the Messiah. There was no fanaticism in his discourse; it was cool, close, pungent reasoning. He proved to them the truth of what he was saying, and thus prepared the way for this effect.
They were pricked in their heart - They were cut to the heartThe word translated were “pricked,” κατενύγησαν katenugēsan, is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. It properly denotes “to pierce or penetrate with a needle, lancet, or sharp instrument”; and then “to pierce with grief, or acute pain of any kind.” It corresponds precisely to our word “compunction.” It implies also the idea of sudden as well as acute grief. In this case it means that they were suddenly and deeply affected with anguish and alarm at what Peter had said. The causes of their grief may have been these:
(1) Their sorrow that the Messiah had been put to death by his own countrymen.
(2) their deep sense of guilt in having done this. There would be mingled here a remembrance of ingratitude, and a consciousness that they had been guilty of murder of the most aggravated and horrid kind, that of having killed their own Messiah.
(3) the fear of his wrath. He was still alive; exalted to be theft Lord; and entrusted with all power. They were afraid of his vengeance; they were conscious that they deserved it; and they supposed that they were exposed to it.
(4) what they had done could not be undone. The guilt remained; they could not wash it out. They had imbrued theft hands in the blood of innocence, and the guilt of that oppressed their souls. This expresses the usual feelings which sinners have when they are convicted of sin.
Men and brethren - This was an expression denoting affectionate earnestness. Just before this they mocked the disciples, and charged them with being filled with new wine, Act_2:13. They now treated them with respect and confidence. The views which sinners have of Christians and Christian ministers are greatly changed when they are under conviction for sin. Before that they may deride and oppose them; then, they are glad to be taught by the obscurest Christian, and even cling to a minister of the gospel as if he could save them by his own power.
What shall we do? - What shall we do to avoid the wrath of this crucified and exalted Messiah? They were apprehensive of his vengeance, and they wished to know how to avoid it. Never was a more important question asked than this. It is the question which all convicted sinners ask. It implies an apprehension of danger, a sense of guilt, and a readiness to “yield the will” to the claims of God. This was the same question asked by Paul Act_9:6, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and by the jailor Act_16:30 “He ...came, trembling, ...and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The state of mind in this case - the case of a convicted sinner - consists in:
(1) A deep sense of the evil of the past life; remembrance of a thousand crimes perhaps before forgotten; a pervading and deepening conviction that the heart, and conversation, and life have been evil, and deserve condemnation.
(2) Apprehension about the justice of God; alarm when the mind looks upward to him, or onward to the day of death and judgment.
(3) an earnest wish, amounting sometimes to agony, to be delivered from this sense of condemnation and this apprehension of the future.
(4) a readiness to sacrifice all to the will of God; to surrender the governing purpose of the mind, and to do what he requires. In this state the soul is prepared to receive the offers of eternal life;
and when the sinner comes to this, the offers of mercy meet his case, and he yields himself to the Lord Jesus, and finds peace.
In regard to this discourse of Peter, and this remarkable result, we may observe:
(1) That this is the first discourse which was preached after the ascension of Christ, and is a model which the ministers of religion should imitate.
(2) it is a clear and close argument. There is no ranting, no declamation, nothing but truth presented in a clear and striking manner. It abounds with proof of his main point, and supposes that his hearers were rational beings, and capable of being influenced by truth. Ministers have no right to address people as incapable of reason and thought, nor to imagine, because they are speaking on religious subjects, that therefore they are at liberty to speak nonsense.
(3) though these were eminent sinners, and had added to the crime of murdering the Messiah that of deriding the Holy Spirit and the ministers of the gospel, yet Peter reasoned with them coolly, and endeavored to convince them of their guilt. People should be treated as endowed with reason, and as capable of seeing the force and beauty of the great truths of religion.
(4) the arguments of Peter were adapted to produce this effect on their minds, and to impress them deeply with the sense of their guilt. He proved to them that they had been guilty of putting the Messiah to death; that God had raised him up, and that they were now in the midst of the scenes which established one strong proof of the truth of what he was saying. No class of truths could have been so well adapted to make an impression of their guilt as these.
(5) Conviction for sin is a rational process on a sinner’s mind. It is the proper state produced by a view of past sins. It is suffering truth to make an appropriate impression; suffering the mind to feel as it ought to feel. The man who is guilty ought to be willing to see and confess it. It is no disgrace to confess an error, or to feel deeply when we know we are guilty. Disgrace consists in a hypocritical desire to conceal crime; in the pride that is unwilling to avow it; in the falsehood which denies it. To feel it and to acknowledge it is the mark of an open and ingenuous mind.
(6) these same truths are adapted still to produce conviction for sin. The sinner’s treatment of the Messiah should produce grief and alarm. He did not murder him, but he has rejected him; he did not crown him with thorns, but he has despised him; he did not insult him when hanging on the cross, but he has a thousand times insulted him since; he did not pierce his side with the spear, but he has pierced his heart by rejecting him and contemning his mercy. “For these things he should weep.” In the Saviour’s resurrection he has also a deep interest. He rose as the pledge that we may rise; and when the sinner looks forward, he should remember that he must meet the ascended Son of God. The Saviour reigns; he lives, Lord of all. The sinner’s deeds now are aimed at his throne, and his heart, and his crown. All his crimes are seen by his sovereign, and it is not safe to mock the Son of God on his throne, or to despise him who will soon come to judgment. When the sinner feels these truths he should tremble and cry out, What shall I do?
Example No 2. The Ethiopian Eunuch.
Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."
Act 8:30 And Phillip, running up to it, heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Indeed, do you know what you are reading?"
Act 8:31 And he said, "How can I, if not someone guides me?" And he urged Philip to come up and sit with him.
Act 8:32 Now the portion of the Scripture which he was reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, thus He opened not His mouth.
Act 8:33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will recount His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth."
Act 8:34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this; about himself, or about some other person?"
Act 8:35 And Philip, opening his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached the good news about Jesus to him.
Act 8:36 Now as they were going down the road, they came upon some water. And the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water: what prevents me from being baptized?"
Act 8:38 And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, both Phillip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
Example No.3.Saul of Tarsus
Act 9:1 Then Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
Act 9:2 and requested from him letters of authority to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he should find any who were of the Way, both men or women, he might bring them, having been bound, to Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And as he was going, it came about that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
Act 9:4 And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
Act 9:5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Act 9:6 "But stand up and enter into the city, and it will be spoken to you what you must do."
Example No 4. The Roman Centurion named Cornelius.
Act 10:43 To Him all the prophets bear witness, that through His name, everyone believing in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins."
Act 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those hearing the word.
Act 10:45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astounded, as many as had come with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.
Example No.5. The Philippian Jailor
Act 16:25 Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Act 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and all the bonds were loosed.
Act 16:27 And becoming awake, the prison keeper, seeing the doors of the prison open, drawing a sword, he was about to kill himself, supposing the prisoners to have escaped.
Act 16:28 But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."
Act 16:29 And asking for a light he rushed in, and he came trembling, and fell before Paul and Silas,
Act 16:30 and he brought them forth outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Act 16:31 And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household."
Act 16:32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all those in his house.
Act 16:33 And taking them along in that same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Act 16:34 And bringing them up into his house, he set a meal before them; and he rejoiced with his whole house, having believed in God.
Example No.6. A Governor named Felix
Act 24:24 Now after some days, when Felix arrived with Drusilla his wife, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Act 24:25 And as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment which is going to be, Felix became afraid and answered, "Go away for now; but when I have opportunity I will summon you."
Example No 7. A King called Agrippa.
Act 26:23 that the Christ was to suffer, that as the first to rise from the dead, He was about to proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."
Act 26:24 Now as he spoke these things, Festus said with a loud voice, "You are mad, Paul! Your higher learning is driving you to madness!"
Act 26:25 But he said, "I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I boldly declare words of truth and reason.
Act 26:26 For the king knows about these things, to whom also I speak freely; for I am persuaded that none of these things escapes his notice, since this thing was not done in a corner.
Act 26:27 "Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe."
Act 26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time, you are persuading me to become a Christian!"
The Chief Ministry of the Holy Spirit to the Sinner is to CONVICT of SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUDGMENT TO COME.
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