John 16:5-11 (NIV)
“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
Jesus knew that the hearts of His disicples were sad. All this news of His departure, of betrayal and death, and of impending persecution had sucked them dry of the festive spirit with which the evening had started. They were now both tired and discouraged. But Jesus also knew that if He didn’t tell them what was going to happen, if He let the coming events hit them unaware, it would be doubly devastating, a blow from which some of them would not recover.
Jesus also wanted to give them a few rays of hope. He was going away, true. But if He didn’t go away, He would not be able to send the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, which would be with them and be able to guide them, teach them, and help them to bear witness to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit would work on the people of the world as well, to convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit had been in the world before this time, “coming on” people to empower and inspire them. But now He would dwell in God’s people, live in them, work in them, and act and speak through them 24 hours a day. And as He works and speaks through them, it results in conviction of those not living in the kingdom about sin, righteousness, and judgment.
He convicts the people of the world abut sin, because they do not believe in Jesus. They will see the holy lives of those who do believe in Him, and realize that those people have something in their lives that they themselves lack: victory over sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He convicts the people of the world regarding righteousness because Jesus is returning to the Father and is no longer on earth. As far as righteousness goes, right actions stemming from a right relationship with God, it was easy for the people of Jesus’ day, especially the religious leaders, to write Jesus off as a fluke, the kind of person that would only appear once every few centuries. But those people were going to suddenly find themselves awash in Christians (“little Christs” in the day’s vernacular) and realize that such righteousness was NOT in Jesus alone, but was the new normal for the people of God’s kingdom.
And He convicts the people of the world of judgement because satan himself has been defeated. The religious leaders and their exorcism rituals were largely ineffective against demonic forces. But the Holy Spirit, working through the people of the kingdom, was able to cast out demons infallibly with only a word.
All those actions of the Holy Spirit that Jesus would send from heaven to live in His people would serve to convict the people of the world, and open their hearts to true repentance, leading to faith in Jesus, and ultimately to salvation and their own filling with the Holy Spirit.
Father, it is safe to say that the unpowerful, sin-filled, similar-to-the-world lives that most professed Christians live have nothing about them that will convict anyone of anything. In the absence of that kind of real power and holiness, we train people to use words, and perhaps Bible verses, to try to provide conviction in the hearts of the targets of our evangelistic efforts. But only the living, active presence of the Holy Spirit can actually produce that kind of holy conviction. Forgive us, Lord, for trying to do even this divine work in our own strength. Help us instead to ask for and receive Your Holy Spirit in all of His fullness according.to Your promise (Luke 11:13). Then You will be able to effectively use us to convict the hearts of those around us, who will see the reality of what we profess in how we live, so that they can be saved. Amen.
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