Sermon
delivered on April 15th, 2018
Sunday Morning Service
By: Pastor Greg Hocson
Scripture Text: John 16:7-14
Introduction
Today
I want to start a mini-series of messages on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in
relation to the unsaved world. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit
has a ministry not only to the believer but also to the unbelieving world.
It is important that we understand the Holy Spirit's ministry in relation to
the unsaved so that we would be on the same page with what He is seeking to
accomplish in their live.
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Here
our Lord tells us that one to the purposes of the Holy Spirit's coming is to reprove
the world. The world refers to the unbelieving world
of men and women. It refers to mankind that is lost in their sin whether
they be Jews or Gentiles. Jesus promised the disciples that when
the Holy Spirit comes, His main ministry to the unbelieving world is to
reprove them.
The
word "reprove" means to
convict, reveal, to bring to light, to expose, to show one's fault. It is a
legal term that means to convict of guilt in a court of law. It is a word which
refers to what the prosecuting attorney does when he argues his case. He puts
the defendant on the witness stand and begins to pile up the evidence against
the defendant. Evidence upon evidence, until finally, the enormity of the
evidence is so over-whelming that the defendant is compelled at the end of the
trial to step up and say, "I admit it.
I confess. I am guilty."
What
is it that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of or exposes?
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9: Of sin, because they believe not on
me; 10: Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11:
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Our
Lord gives us the threefold area that the Holy Spirit will convict the
world of, namely, sin, righteousness, and judgment; of sin, because they
believe not on Him; of righteousness, because He will go to His Father, and
they will see Him no more; and of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged.
This
morning consider with me the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting the world
concerning sin.
I The Necessity of the Holy Spirit's
Conviction
The
necessity of the Holy Spirit's conviction arises from the fallen nature of man. Men
and women are by nature blind to their true sinful condition. We were
all born blind to our guilt and sin before God and without the Holy
Spirit we will continue to be in that sad condition of spiritual blindness.
The
spiritual blindness of men and women, boys and girls is demonstrated by
the way they excuse themselves and say that they are not really that
bad and that they don't deserved judgment in hell. They always look for
someone who is worse than them, to pat themselves in the back. I'm not that
bad, look at my neighbor, my co-worker, look at the people at jail, and the
list goes on and on. They make excuse after excuse.
It
is easy to get people to admit they are not perfect. It is easy to
get people to admit that they make mistake. It is easy to get people to admit
that they sin from time to time. But it is difficult to get men and
women to admit they are truly sinners before a holy, righteous and just God. In
fact, it is humanly impossible to get men and women admit that they are
truly guilty and deserve to be judge in hell because
of their guilt and sin before God.
Regardless
of how educated or intelligent a person may be, the truth of the gospel is
beyond the reach of his or her natural mind. Without the Holy Spirit,
no one could discern the truth as it is in Christ or be convicted of it,
no matter how familiar he or she might be with the Scriptures. Spiritual
things are spiritually discerned. Human beings simply cannot
experience the power of the gospel without the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
No
amount of preaching or pleading will
bring about the conviction of sin, unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the
sinner's heart. And mere admission of wrong doing is not enough. There
must be a powerful, effectual working of the Holy Spirit in the heart,
convicting and convincing that person to confess and forsake his sins and to
renounce self-righteousness.
II The Nature of the Holy Spirit's Conviction
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9: Of sin, because they believe not on
me;
You
may have noticed that our Lord says "sin" not "sins". It is singular not plural. Our Lord does not give a long list of
sins. He just says that the Holy Spirit will convict men of sin. What one sin
does the Holy Spirit expose in the life of the unbeliever? It is not adultery,
nor drunkenness, nor lying, gambling, drug abuse, pornography, or having a bad
temper, for sure these are all terrible sins but the one sin
that the Holy Spirit exposes in the unsaved person is unbelief. It is not
believing in Jesus Christ. Our Lord in basically saying that not to believe
in Him is the greatest of all the sins. It is the chief of all the
sins.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.
This
one sin sends the unbeliever to a Christ-less eternity is the sin of
refusing to believe in Jesus Christ. A persons'
eternal destiny is determined by whether or not they believe in Jesus. This is
one of the things that the Spirit convicts the world of.
Andy
Woods puts it this way,
"This is the
very sin that the Spirit strives to bring to the unbeliever's attention. The
Holy Spirit seeks to make them aware of their failure to believe in Christ.
After a person comes to Christ, then the Spirit will convict them of other
sins. But such sanctification cannot transpire until the unbeliever first
becomes a Christian. There is only one condition that must be satisfied for a
person to become a Christian and this one condition is faith. This reality
explains why the Spirit is so intent in convicting the unbeliever of the
specific sin of unbelief. In other words, rather than convicting unbelievers of
gambling, drug abuse, pornography, or having a bad temper, etc. ...the Spirit
convicts them of unbelief in Christ."
III The Effect of the Holy Spirit's Conviction
How
do we know the Holy Spirit is convicting the sinner?
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world may become guilty before God.
That
is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the world - to bring conviction to the
world, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world is guilty and
held accountable to God. He is convicting men and women of their guilt before
God.
Look
at the tax collector who went to the temple and pray ...
Luke 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a
Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11: The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12: I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess. 13: And the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast,
saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14: I tell you, this man went down to
his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Here
we have a Pharisee and a publican who went to the temple and pray. Their
prayers were recorded in the Scriptures. Let's listen to their prayers.
The
Pharisee
Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God,
I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. 12: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all
that I possess.
What
the Pharisee said shows that has no conviction of sin and guilt and that he
trusted to himself that he was righteous. His mistake was he compared his
outward life with the lives of those around him. He went up to the temple to
pray, but he was full of himself and his own goodness. There was no
conviction of sin and guilt.
The
Publican
Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift
up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner.
The
publican's address to God was full of humility, and of repentance for sin, and
desire toward God. His prayer was short, but to the purpose; God be merciful to
me a sinner. Here is a man who has been convicted of his sin and guilt. He did
not look at the direction of the Pharisee he looked towards God. He
acknowledged himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God.
This
is the obvious effect of the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin. When a lost
sinner is truly under conviction, there will be no more excuses, no more
boasting of one's goodness and there will be an honest admission of guilt and
sin before God.
Both
prayed only one was forgiven ...
Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So
the Pharisee returned from the temple as poor and proud as he came, while the
publican, whom he despised, found forgiveness and peace.
To
come to a point where we blame no one but ourselves; and to make no excuses but
confess our sins is humanly impossible. Only the Holy Spirit can produce this.
Closing Thoughts
We
live in a sinful world, and one of the Holy Spirit's ministries is to convict
the world of its sin. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict.
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9: Of sin, because they believe not on
me; 10: Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11:
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
This
is the first step in salvation. Sinful, fallen human beings must be
convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. It is the work of
the Holy Spirit to do this through the preaching of the gospel. The
convicting power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world today.
But
the Holy Spirit is not merely convicting to make people feel bad or to pile on
guilt. The Holy Spirit is working to convict a person to admit their
sin and to help them. The Holy Spirit came not to make the world
miserable, but to convict the world of sin and to bring them to
repentance and faith.
If
you are lost this morning may God be pleased by the Holy Spirit to convince you
of your need of the forgiveness of sins! May you be brought to repentance from
sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!
What
a wonderful gift and provision it
is that the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of men and women of their
sinfulness so that they could be brought to a saving knowledge and relation
with Jesus Christ!
Before
I close let me speak to those among us by the grace of God have been forgiven
and justified. As believers we are called to witness. Witnessing is a great
privilege, but it is also a serious responsibility. It is a matter of life or
death! How we need to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us to
the right persons and give us the right words, but
it is most certainly the work of the convicting Holy Spirit that brings others
to faith in Christ.
AMEN!