Work of the Holy Spirit Part 1

[HKHaugan]

Work of the Holy Spirit John 16:8-11

Vs.8-11 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.

As far as Jesus is concerned there is no question as to whether or not the Holy Spirit will come. When Jesus leaves the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus is emphatic about this fact. It is what He does when He gets here that is the important thing. He will do five things: convict the world, convict the world of guilt, convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment.

First, convict the world

To start with, the word ’conviction’ has a very simple two-part meaning in the Scripture; “to show someone his sin and to summon him to repentance (Kittel, pg.474).”

We have already established that the world is secular society, a human environment without God, man submitted to man-made structures, institutions and principles. Hearts without God are vulnerable prey to their overtures and empty promises.

So the first task of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world that it is in need of God. The atmosphere of secular society is really a spiritual void run by a spiritual prince of darkness. It is an environment of ‘every man for himself,’ exploitation for self-interest and individual manipulation for power and survival. It is a wilderness in the truest biblical sense. It is a sea of self-perceived needs and wants where real needs are drowned in its storms. Secular society has no heart, no eternal direction and is completely impersonal at every level. It is certainly a land of Nod east of Eden.

The world needs to be convicted to turn to God. Hearts given to its demands need jarring. This requires secular society and its adherents turn focus from self and research their source. Neither individuals nor institutions can function without the One who made them in the first place. It is a ‘runaway world’ as one author put it, a world running away from God. It is a world so centered in self that its inevitable end is its own destruction, self-destruction. A world with self at the center is suicidal. Watch the media. At every level they reflect what they manipulate; self-centered survival tactics used by self-centered executives and reporters exploiting the baser tiers of fear and anxiety in self-centered readers and viewers. The world is concerned only with the immediacy of its desires. ‘Get what you can while you can, the devil take tomorrow.’ That is its credo.

Second, convict the world of guilt

Guilt is an interesting word. Guilt is the sense of self-condemnation when there is a thought or a behavior that has grieved the self. It is the regret for having broken one’s moral code. To simplify it, it’s the ‘I could kick myself’ reaction. It begins early in our very being. We have an inherent need to be right as opposed to wrong no matter what system of ethics we live by. It is that breaking of ‘right’ and in spite of knowing what is ‘right’ we do the opposite. That’s what gets us inside. And, it is common in every human being.

Paul, of course nails both the sense and cause of guilt perfectly in Romans 7:15-20, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So sin by its very nature brings with it guilt. Guilt is a companion that accompanies bad behavior, bad thoughts and bad attitude; all bound up in a sinful heart. It is like the pilot fish that hangs on to a shark as it cruises for prey. Wherever you find guilt there lurks sin and wherever you find sin there lurks guilt.

Rather than go into an exhaustive review of what guilt is our major concern is how we handle it. We do know that guilt is pervasive, active and consuming. It burdens the heart, clings to our memory and influences our entire relational experience. Guilt can cause us to try and escape it through increased activity, find some easing of its pain by atoning through ‘good works’ or deny its reality. Whatever way we choose, like David says, my sin [therefore my guilt] is ever before me. Because of its persistent constantly nagging presence we have to deal with it somehow. What is the best way?

For those who believe in Jesus there is an immediate spiritual assessment. We are born sinners, which means we are born guilty because we are born without the Spirit of God. Separated from God we will indulge our perceived needs while totally unaware of our real needs. But the Cross of Christ has brought us a new reality. Unable to handle our guilt alone we find that Jesus has the power to remove our guilt through faith in Him. His blood was shed to atone for our sins and their nagging guilt. When we confess to Him He does what no one or nothing else can and that is forgive us. Forgiveness removes the stain, relieves the burden and frees us. The memory may remain but that is simply to keep us honest. Jesus bore the guilt of all sin on the Cross. Accept Jesus and you accept repentance which enables forgiveness. This is why Paul goes into such detail about justification by faith. It is faith in Jesus Christ that removes the guilt of sin we inherit from Adam. The ongoing forgiveness that sinners need follows a lifestyle, a mindset of repentance. That is what Jesus guarantees when we bear the cross of faith in Him. This is the work of the Holy Spirit that can take place only if Jesus goes back to the Father.

What really needs to be understood at this point is that Jesus is still with the disciples. Everything He says and does is by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The reason He has to go away is to return to the Father and again have that intimacy with the Father where He is no longer limited to a human body. This will enable the release of the Spirit to enter every heart that chooses to believe in Jesus and to be the same Spirit who touches the lives of those yet to experience that second birth, their spiritual birth and to do the work of grace that holds the universe together. All of this by the power and authority the Father gives to Jesus as God the Son, the Lord of Heaven and earth.