“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” John 16: 8-11
As Jesus approached his last moments together with the disciples, He shared how important it is for the Holy spirit to come and fill His disciples. Other than giving power (Acts 1:8) to the believers to be effective in spreading the gospel, it also convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
The Life Application Bible gave an interesting note about the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. It explains that the term “convict” (in Greek: elencho) means to reveal, to prove unrighteousness and to convince.
There are three roles of the Holy Spirit in convicting the world. First, the Holy Spirit will reveal sin and unbelief in order to create realization of wrongdoings and the need of repentance. This conviction will also give light to the dreadful consequences of those who continue to sin. After being convicted, they will have to choose. This often leads to true repentance that will make them return to Jesus and have Him as their Lord and Savior (Acts 2:37-38).
Second, the Holy Spirit will give the understanding that Jesus is the Son of God who has resurrected from the dead, glorified by God and has power over all things (Acts 3:12-16).
Third, the Holy Spirit will give the understanding that the devil has been defeated by the work of the cross (John 12:31), God’s judgment over this world now (Romans 1:18-32) and the judgment over all mankind in the future (Matthew 16:27).
The work of the Holy Spirit to convict sin, righteousness and judgment will be revealed in those who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and they are to become believers who are truly Spirit-filled.
It is clear that the Holy Spirit uses everyone who is filled with the Spirit to be partners in God’s kingdom to convict the world, those who still do not believe in sin, righteousness and judgment. But, what must be remembered is that we are not judging the world, instead we are reminding them of God’s judgment that will come upon those who do not believe in Jesus.
Remembering the things mentioned above, in the era of the Third Pentecost (the era of the greatest and last harvest of souls before the great and dreadful day of the Lord where He will call us and appoint us as apostles/messengers of the Pentecost), we have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and continually be filled by the Spirit. Amen.
Source: Article GBI Gatot Subroto