The Holy Spirit’s Ministry to the World
John 16:7-11
To begin this discussion of the role of the Holy Spirit to the world at large, I want to begin with the most basic of all truths. It comes to us from the dialog of Jesus with Nicodemus in John 3, and it is verses 16 and 17.
John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. TNIV
You see, God loves the World. That is a most fundamental declaration of Christianity. We in the evangelical church have not always remembered this. We have sometimes lived in such a way as to communicate that God hates the world.
We do this in subtle ways:
• we do not encourage our people to mingle with the people of the world
• we suggest that the music and drama and art of the world is somehow sinful and to be avoided
• we have even set up the divide between the sacred and the secular
Of course we have biblical precedent for this: The Bible warns us to “love not the world” and to “not be conformed to the image of the world.” For sure there are things in this world of ours that need to be avoided by a child of God. But never at the expense of us demonstrating that God loves the world he created.
Maybe a way to state this is like this:
God loves the people he has created, though he is not pleased with their continual living in rebellion against him.
So we begin by reminding ourselves that God really does love the people of our world. As such, a part of the work of the Holy Spirit relates to how he is attempting to communicate that love to the world around us.
The Gospel of John contains the most important passage in all of the New Testament in regards to the general work of the Holy Spirit to the world at large.
That passage comes from the teaching of Jesus while he is in the Upper Room with his disciples during the evening just before he is betrayed and arrested.
Jesus had just told them again of his plans to leave them and as we join his discussion today, he is trying to convince them that it is actually to their benefit that he is going away.
John 16:7
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Jesus then goes on to explain what the Holy Spirit would be doing, in general, in the world, when he comes.
John 16:8-11
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 about sin,
because people do not believe in me;
10 about righteousness,
because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
11 and about judgment,
because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Let’s look at this section by section:
He will prove the world to be in the wrong
Before change can occur, one must realize that change is needed. The word “prove” is variously translated
Convict
Convince
Reprove
The idea is that one of the first things God does in the heart of a person is to bring them to a place where they recognize that not all is well with their soul and that they stand in need of a change.
You know this is happening when people share with you that they are feeling their life is empty, or that it lacks meaning, or that they are alone and afraid, or that they feel guilty or dirty or unclean, or that they know they are far from God.
All of these things are the work of the Holy Spirit bringing people to that place where they are ready to consider change.
You and I are here this morning because this has happened in our hearts. This work of grace, wrought by the Holy Spirit, is a precursor to salvation.
The passage goes on to elaborate on three specific things the Holy Spirit seeks to convict and convince one about.
About sin
Sin is falling short of God’s desire for our life. There are many, many sins.
But notice—and this is very important—Jesus said the Holy Spirit seeks to convict and convince the word of sin—the word here is singular.
There is ultimately one sin that lies behind all others. There is ultimately one sin that condemns a soul to Hell. Just one. That’s right.
That is the sin of living in rejection of Jesus.
About sin, because people do not believe in me
You see, the Holy Spirit’s first task is not to convict a person of the world of sins in particular—too much TV, recreational drug use, immorality, etc.—but of one sin in particular—the sin of rejecting Jesus.
All those other sins are indicators that Jesus is not being given his rightful place in the person’s life. You can clean up all the stuff, but still be empty inside. Jesus says, first clean the inside, and the outside will care for itself (Matt. 23:25-26).
You do not go to heaven because you are good enough and you do not go to hell because you were somehow very evil.
Heaven and Hell are decided upon in relation to one sin and one sin only—that is the sin of not believing in Jesus. Only that sin sends you to Hell and only dealing with that sin will get you into Heaven. It is at the same time both as simple and as complex as that!
About righteousness
Righteousness means right living—living in a way that is pleasing to God.
When a person comes to realize they need Jesus in their life, they then come to place where they need a new standard of living—a new measuring rod, if you will, for judging right from wrong, justice from injustice, goodness from evil.
That standard is Jesus himself.
People need to know two things about righteousness:
One, that I need more than I have in myself—that my own efforts to live up to God’s standards are not good enough.
Two, that true righteousness is available—God graciously offers me the righteousness of Jesus, the only Perfect One.
About righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer.
At first glance, you might say, what does Jesus’ ascension have to do with righteousness.
It was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his reinstatement back to the “right hand of the Father” via the ascension that show us that God fully approved of the work of his Son.
Jesus is the only one who ever lived in a manner that fully and completely pleased God in everything, even in his suffering and death. He is the standard by which right and wrong will always be judged.
All things are placed beneath his feet and he sits in judgment over all the world.
The world, and everyone in it, needs to know that the standards it has set for judging good from bad, justice from injustice, sin from righteousness, are woefully inadequate, unless they are based on Jesus.
After coming to know Jesus as my Savior, I was immediately drawn to the Gospels. I devoured them. I wanted to learn how to live in a manner that modeled the life of Jesus.
About Judgment
The judgment that Jesus here speaks of is that judgment that awaits us all at the end of life. The Bible depicts that there are two judgment times ahead for us. There is what the book of Revelation calls the Great White Throne Judgment in which everyone is judged regarding whether or not his or her name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
And then there is the judgment that Paul, calls the Judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) and elaborates on in 1 Corinthians 3, wherein the work we have done for Jesus is tested for its sincerity and quality, whether or not it is gold or silver or hay or stubble.
In my simple way of understanding this I envision passing before God and being asked one question: what did you do with Jesus. When I answer that I have believed on him, I move to the next question: Ok then, what did you do for him?
The point in this passage is that people need to know that the outcome of there choice is eternally fixed by God.
About judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Satan, though he is alive and well here on planet earth, is already finished. Satan has lost the battle, and his eventually judgment is certain.
What I need to know, is that if I decide not to follow Jesus, there is only one other prince to follow—that is the prince of this world, Satan, and he has already lost.
No one likes losing. If you are not following Jesus, you are playing on the losing team. The game is already decided. You’ve lost. The judgment is certain. There is now way you can win.
You see, people need to know that this game of life has determined outcomes. The choices I make in life have consequences.
Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus made this statement:
… people can’t come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me . . .
John 6:44 NLT
John 16 is a commentary on how it is the Holy Spirit draws. He does so by convicting and convincing people of sin, righteousness and judgment.
How does the Holy Spirit do this?
That is a good question. Should we envision the Holy Spirit sort of hanging out in some mystical way throughout the world in general—sort of hovering over the waters, as we see him in Genesis 1:2.
Maybe. There is not doubt that God is present in his world. I believe that.
But more specifically, the Holy Spirit’s work is accomplished through us.
Remember what Jesus said:
John 16:7
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
The Holy Spirit works through us
Through our witness
Through our relationships (friendships, marriages, families)
I said in an earlier sermon about the Holy Spirit that he is spirit, that means he has no body. That is only partly correct. It is true that he has no body of his own. However, he inhabits you and me, as believers in Jesus, and as such he has a body. It is your body and my body. He lives in the body of Christ, the church. We are his body.
Consequently, he most often and most frequently does is work through us.
Scott at Kinder Manufacturing—Hippy Jesus Freak who led me to Jesus.
The Bible ends with this invitation:
Revelation 22:17
17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"
And let those who hear say, "Come!"
Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.
If that invitation is going to be heard by the world around us, it must be issued by us.
And when we do so, the Holy Spirit takes our words and begins to apply them to the heart of those who heard,
Convicting and convincing them of sin, righteousness and judgment.
This is all tremendously freeing when we think about our responsibility for evangelism—and you know, do you not, that each of you will be held accountable by God for how you have shared your faith in Jesus.
Anyway, sometimes we mistakenly think that it is we who must convince people of the truth of the Gospel. Nothing is further from the truth. All we need to do is be the spokesperson for Jesus. The Holy Spirit then takes our testimony and uses it to make people spiritually thirsty.
Go, share your faith and watch the Holy Spirit do exactly what Jesus said he would do in these verses.
