Page 40 - Pneumatology - Student Textbook

Study Section 8: The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin,

righteousness, and judgment

8.1 Connect

In spite of how hard you try, I’m sure you sin every day. I do. I get impatient with others when I
have to wait. Sometimes I even talk out loud and say some ugly things about a person making
sure they can’t hear me. When a driver pulls out in front of me and cuts me off, sometimes I
call them an "idiot!” Selfish thought plague my mind daily. It is a continual battle to resist sin,
isn’t it?

Well, praise the Lord, the Holy Spirit is in our lives to convict us when we sin, and to bring us to sorrow and
back to right standing before Him. He is busy in every believer’s life working to make them more like Christ
in every way. Let’s better understand this important work of the Holy Spirit….

8.2 Objectives

1. The student will understand the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting the lost world of sin,
righteousness, and judgment.

2. The student should be able to describe how the Holy Spirit works in the life of the believer to
purify him from sin.

3. The student should be able to describe how the Holy Spirit is a consuming fire and what that means.

4. The student should be able to describe the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in the lives of believers
yielded to Him.

8.3 The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment

In John 16:8, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit: “When [the Spirit] comes, he will convict
the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (ESV). In this verse, we see a three-
fold ministry the Spirit will perform in relation to the unsaved world. He will “convict” the world;
that is, He will reprove it or show it to be wrong. This reproof will target three areas in which the
world needs admonishing: sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Jesus went on to explain: “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness,
because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this
world is judged” (John 16:9–11, ESV).

The world is a sinful place, and one of the Holy Spirit’s tasks is to convict the world of
its sin. No amount of preaching, pleading, or pointing of fingers will bring about the
conviction of sin, unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the sinner’s heart. It is the Spirit’s
job to convict. And what is the most basic sin of which the world is guilty? Jesus
specifies it as unbelief. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit is at work in the world
“because they believe not in [Christ].” Once a person responds to the Spirit’s
conviction and turns to faith in Christ, the other sins he practiced will be taken care of.

39