If you turn to that scripture
that Brother Jason read there, Jeremiah, he just marked that.
We'll come back to that in a little bit. My text for the message
is going to be John 16. I'll be referring back to Jeremiah
there in a few minutes. We want to talk about the title
of the message is, The Spirit Must Convince. Now, those of
you who have been following this ministry for a while, and some
of you are visitors, and I realize that you might not know this,
but I've been preaching a series of messages that was spawned
from Psalm 9 and verse 16, which says, The Lord is known by the
judgment which He executes. The wicked is snared by the work
of His own hands. We're talking about God being
known by the judgment that He executes. That's the series of
messages. Known by judgment is the overall title of this whole
series. And I think I've preached maybe
four messages so far, and this is the fifth one, and there'll
be a couple more, at least two more, I think. But we're talking
about the Lord making Himself known. And the first judgment
God executed by which He makes Himself known is His judgment
against sin. When Christ went to the cross,
he was bearing the sins of his people, the sins of his sheep.
God was executing judgment against the sins of his elect there in
Christ at the cross. And of course, Christ put those
sins away by a perfect satisfaction and brought forth an everlasting
righteousness by which God is just to justify those sinners.
The second judgment by which God makes himself known is his
judgment in justifying the ungodly. Now, who are the ungodly? They're
those who have no reverential respect for the honor of God's
character in the salvation of ungodly sinners, like we all
are by nature. God executes that judgment. He justifies the ungodly. And
how does he do it? Just like Brother Jim said at
10 o'clock, on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ
and on no other ground. And now we're going to look at
that third judgment by which God makes himself known. It's
his judgment in the heart of his people. You see, he's already
executed his judgment against sin. He's already justified the
ungodly based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. But
he's yet to come into my heart and execute that judgment. And
that's what we're going to be talking about for the next three
messages, I think. That's why I entitled this message,
The Spirit Must Convince, because that's what we'll be talking
about, the Spirit convincing His people of sin and righteousness
and judgment. Let's start here in John 16 and
verse 1. Let me give you a little background here first before
we go there. This is the last days of Christ on earth, and
He's talking to His disciples here, instructing them about
what's about to happen to Him, to them, So they're a little
bit concerned here, so he's kind of allaying their fears somewhat. So let's read here in verse 1,
John 16 verse 1. Christ said, These things have
I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. They shall put
you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father or Me." That's what sinners who don't know God, that's what
they do in this world. They persecute those who preach
the true gospel in every generation. And that's what Christ is telling
His disciples that they'd do to them, those who didn't know
the Father or Me, verse 4. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way to him that sent me, and none of you ask me, Whither goest
thou, or where are you going? But because I've said these things
unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. Now, we're going to slow
down right here at verse 7 for a few minutes. We'll deal a little
more specifically with verse 7, 8, and 9. He said in verse
7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. Christ says, I tell you the truth
here. He said, this is the absolute truth. He told his disciples
here what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear.
And that's the same as it is today. Gospel preachers tell
sinners the truth, not necessarily what sinners want to hear, but
what sinners need to hear. Sinners want to hear that everything's
OK, that everything's all right, that I'm OK with God. They want
to hear that they're headed for heaven. They want to hear that
they've done enough. Why do sinners like you and me
come to a religious gathering like we're in here today? Well,
we're looking for confirmation that we're okay. That's why I'm
here. Isn't that why you're here? I'm here to hear. I'm here to
hear why I can have confidence that I'm headed for heaven. And
I'm pretty sure that's the reason you're here too. But That's not what sinners need
to hear. They need to hear the truth.
Sinners need to hear the gospel. They need to hear that Christ's
death on the cross has put away the legal guilt, the just condemnation
of every sinner he died for. They need to hear that the God-man
has established that one righteousness by which God is just to justify
ungodly sinners. That's what we need to hear.
That's what gospel preachers deliver to sinners every time
we don a pulpit. So that's what Christ is telling
them. He said, I'm telling you the truth here about how it's
going to be when I'm gone. They're going to put you out
of the synagogues and do all sorts of things to you that you
can't imagine. But you need to hear that. And
then we read on, he says, it's expedient for you that I go away. Now, if you study this word expedient,
that's not a word we use a whole lot in our vernacular today.
But if you study that as it's translated throughout the New
Testament, you'll find that it means profitable. It means that
one would be better off one way versus another way. For the sake
of time, there are about 17 references of this word in the New Testament.
For the sake of time, let me just give you one scriptural
example that will help us understand how this word is used. Listen
to Matthew 18 in verse 6 here. Christ said, but whosoever shall
offend one of these little ones, he's talking about his elect
there, believers, true believers in any generation, Whosoever
shall offend one of these little ones, which believe in me, it
were better," there's that word, expedient, "...it were better
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that
he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Now what Christ
is saying here is it would be more profitable, better for a
person to have a large millstone hanging about him and him to
be drowned in the sea than for him to offend or bring an offense
against one who believes in him in any generation. And that's
how this word is used in our context, this word expedient.
Christ's disciples think it would be better, that it would be more
profitable for him to stay with them, for him to stick around
on earth. than for Him to go away. They're
sorrowful that Christ has told them that He's departing and
told them about His impending death. But Christ is explaining
to them that it's better, more profitable for you that I go
away. That is, that I go to the cross.
It's profitable for you that I finish the work that I've been
given to do. It's profitable for you that
I fulfill the prophecy that's written of me. It's profitable
for you that I make an end of sin and bring in everlasting
righteousness. Christ's cross death was profitable
for the Father's redemptive glory, for his own preeminence in salvation,
and for the full and free salvation of every sinner he was given,
every sinner he died for. Christ said, my going is profitable
for you, specifically in this context, because if I go not
away, if I don't finish my work, if I don't establish everlasting
righteousness, the Comforter, that's the Holy Spirit, will
not come to you. But if I depart, if I complete
my work, that work that I came to do, then I will send the Spirit
to you. When I finish the work I was
given, I will send the Spirit to you. Christ is speaking here
about sending the Holy Spirit to His immediate disciples. He
said in John 17 in verse 9, speaking of His disciples, He said, I
pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine." Christ
is praying here specifically for those disciples that were
his immediate followers. And he sent the Spirit to his
disciples at Pentecost. You remember Pentecost when the
Spirit came down and rested on them with cloven tongues and
they were enabled to preach the gospel in seven different known
languages of those that had gathered there. Seven different nationalities
heard the disciples preach the gospel in their own native language,
is what I'm saying. And he also gave the disciples
miraculous gifts of healing, even the raising of the dead.
Some of these gifts were just temporary in nature, and they
were given mainly to confirm that the message they were delivering
was a message sent from God. We go on to verse 8. And when
He, when the Spirit, is come, Christ said that He would send
the Spirit not just to His immediate disciples to empower and equip
them to preach the gospel, but that He would send them to the
world. Read on in verse 8. When He's come, when the Spirit
has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. This is not the world in general. In other words, not all without
exception. It's the world of the elect.
It's the world of the chosen, the redeemed of the Lord, because
again in John 17 and verse 20, Christ said, neither pray I for
these disciples alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word. Those in each generation who
would believe on Christ through the gospel that these disciples
began to preach at Pentecost, those are the world that Christ
sends the Holy Spirit to in each generation. Now I can say that
rightly because I know the Spirit's work when He comes to this world
is regeneration and conversion. He will reprove, not all without
exception, but this specific world that he sent to, he will
reprove this world of sin and righteousness and judgment. The
word interpreted reprove here is also interpreted convict,
convince, and rebuke in other contexts. I think the better
translation for this particular context is convince. That's why
I gave this title its message, The Spirit Must Convince. Christ
is saying that when the Spirit of God comes to individual sinners
under the preaching of the gospel, he will rebuke those sinners
with sufficient cause. In other words, He will provide
those He rebukes plenty of reasons for His rebuke. These reasons
will be just. They'll be valid. Therefore,
His rebuke of these that He comes to will be effectual. He will
bring the one's rebuke to a conviction, even a confession. In other words,
He'll change their minds. He'll change their thinking.
Thus, in coming to them, He will convince them. That's why He
sent to them, to convict them, to convince them. He will convince
each of those He sent to of each of these three things, of sin,
of righteousness, of judgment. And He won't fail to convince
any sinner He sent to of each of these things. If the Spirit
of God has visited you in regeneration, the evidence of that visit is
you're being convinced of these things. In other words, if I'm
not convinced of these three things, sin, righteousness, and
judgment, I'm going to explain what these are in a minute. If
I'm not convinced of these things, I give no scriptural evidence
that I've been visited by the Spirit in regeneration. I give
no scriptural evidence that I'm born of God. I give no scriptural
evidence that I've entered the kingdom of heaven. And these
things the Holy Spirit will convince each regenerate sinner of are
specific things. Specific things that specific
sinners, the regenerate in each generation, will without fail
be convinced of. First, he will convince each
sinner he's sent to of sin. Now this is not a single sin,
but it is a specific sin. This is the sin that deceives
us all. Even God's elect by nature are
deceived by this sin. It's the sin that none recognizes
to be sin. It's the sin the Holy Spirit
must and will convict the world He sent to of. He will convince
every sinner He sent to, He will convince the elect of God in
each generation of this specific sin. Now, what's the sin? The sin is not believing on Christ.
He says here, I've sinned because they believe not on Me. It's
not that sinners don't believe. They do believe, the problem
is who they believe on, or rather who they do not believe on by
nature. They don't believe on me, he
said. In other words, they failed to believe on Christ as he is
identified and distinguished in the word of God. They Even
the elect of God by nature don't believe on Him whom God has sent. You remember I read in John 17
and verse 3 there that eternal life is to believe on the true
and living God and the one whom God has sent. Lord willing now,
I'm going to have a lot more to say about the specifics of
this sin in another message. But today, let's go on because
I've got another agenda for today. The second thing the Spirit will
convince the world he's sent to of is righteousness. Again,
this is specific righteousness. He says, of righteousness, because
I go to my Father and you see me no more. Christ is speaking
to His disciples here, those that have been with Him from
the beginning, those that have seen Him, those that have seen
His miracles. He said, you, have seen me no
more. You who saw me in the flesh,
you who walked and talked with me, you who were eyewitnesses
of my miracles and my death, you who will see me resurrected
from the dead and ascend into heaven, you who saw me, you see
me no more. That is, in the flesh, the way
they saw him then. Why did Christ come to this earth
in his incarnation? One word answer. Righteousness. Why did he go to the cross and
suffer such a humiliating death? One word answer. Righteousness.
Why was he raised from the dead and seated at his father's right
hand? Same one word answer. Righteousness. Although righteousness
is the theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, by nature,
we are all ignorant of the specific righteousness it reveals. In
other words, we're ignorant of God's righteousness until God
sends us a gospel preacher to tell us about that righteousness.
We hear of God's righteousness intellectually and for the first
time in the gospel. But we fail to see the value
of this righteousness in God's salvation until the Spirit of
God convinces us of this righteousness in the new birth. We fail to
see its value in God's salvation until the Spirit of God brings
us to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and former idolatry.
We fail to see its value in God's salvation until the Spirit of
God turns us away from everything but the imputed righteousness
as our only ground of salvation. Now again, I plan to have a lot
more to say about this specific righteousness in another message.
But let's go on. The third thing the Spirit of
God will convince the world he's sent to of is judgment. He will
convince the world of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. Again, that's specific judgment. The prince of this
world is Satan. He's the accuser of the brethren
from Revelation 12 and verse 10. And listen to Ephesians 2
and verses 2 through 3. Paul writes to these Ephesians,
he says, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
that's Satan, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as others. Note, The natural man does not
need to be convinced of who Satan is. Even the natural man knows
he's the devil. We know he's the accuser of the
brethren. We know he's the god of this
world who blinds the mind of the lost. We know that he's the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's still working
in the children of disobedience. We know he's the enemy of the
church. We know these things about Satan because that's all
scriptural language describing him. Even the natural man can
intellectually understand and believe these things about Satan.
But there's something about Satan that we don't know by nature.
We don't know that by nature we're all in league with Satan.
We don't know that by nature. We don't know by nature that
we're all promoting the lie of Satan, the one he started in
the garden, thou shalt not surely die. Satan has already been judged
by Christ's death on the cross, but he must yet be judged individually
in the hearts of believing sinners. God must execute his judgment
in the heart of sinners. And that judgment comes at regeneration
and conversion. Now, again, Lord willing, I'll
have a little more to say about this judgment in an upcoming
message. But today I want to turn our attention to just one
question. The question is why? Why do we
all need to be convinced of these things? Sin, righteousness, and
judgment. And why must it be the Spirit
who does the convincing? Why do we all need to be convinced
that we've not believed on the Christ distinguished by the gospel?
Why do we all need to be convinced that the only righteousness that
exists is the one that resides in the person of Christ, the
one he produced by his obedience unto death? Why do we all need
to be convinced that by nature we are all in league with the
prince of the power of the air, who's already been judged and
doomed to eternal destruction? Why do we need to be convinced
of these things? It's because, by nature, we don't
see ourselves the way the Scriptures clearly reveal us to be. By nature,
we're persuaded in our minds that we are believing on the
Jesus distinguished in the Scriptures. Now, the Scriptures I've already
quoted to you and read to you say something quite differently
about us. Why would any of us, why would
all of us, insist on what the Scriptures adamantly refute? Why would all of us be persuaded
of these things when the Scriptures, which we zealously observe by
nature, say just the opposite? The Scriptures clearly say that
all by nature believe on a counterfeit Jesus. The scriptures clearly
say that all by nature are ignorant of God's righteousness. The scriptures
clearly say that all by nature are in league with the prince
of this world who's already been judged. My question is why? Why
would any of us find our hope in a counterfeit Jesus? It makes
no sense logically. Why would any of us hold on to
our own supposed righteousness? Why would any of us remain in
league with one who's already been judged? Why do we all need
to be convinced of these things that should be so obvious? It
seems like these things ought to just come to us naturally.
Why don't we just come to these logical conclusions on our own
without being convinced? Why must God execute his judgment? Why must the Spirit do His miraculous
work in regeneration before we'll be convinced of these things?
Again, let's go to the Word of God for our answer here. I'm
asking a question, why? Let's go to the Word of God to
get our answer. The scripture give us three reasons why the
Spirit of God must convince sinners of these three things. And that
without this convincing, sinners remain as we are by nature, ignorant,
self-righteous, and lost. The first reason involves who
we are by nature. This is a passage I had Brother
Jason read, Jeremiah 17. So if you marked that, go back
over there and look at verse nine again. Jeremiah 17, nine
says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked who can know it. Now we're answering the question,
why must the Spirit convince all without exception who are
convinced of sin and righteousness and judgment? Now this verse
says that the heart of natural man If you read that or write,
it says it's the most deceitful thing in the universe. Deceitful
above all things. The heart includes the mind,
the affections, the will, the conscience. It involves what
we think, what we feel, what we embrace, what we do, our actions,
how we judge. The conscience is the seat of
our judgment, how we judge saved and lost, right and wrong, good
and evil. So the heart includes the whole
man. Who he is, what he thinks, what he loves, I judge it. The
whole man. That's what's involved in the
heart here. Now this natural heart is the
heart we're all born with. It's the heart we have before
God gives a new heart to us in regeneration. And the most damning
deception of the natural heart is our deception of God's salvation. We're not deceived about whether
drug pushers are good people that we ought to associate with
and that our kids associate with. We're not deceived by things
like that. But we are deceived about God's salvation, how he
saves sinners like you and me. The great deception of the natural
heart is its deception of who God is and what makes it right
for Him to show mercy to ungodly sinners such as we are by nature.
Romans 3.18 summarizes this deception this way. Having said, there's
none righteous, no, not one, and on down, none seeking after
God. Here's the summary of it all.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. There's no reverential
respect for the honor of how God can be just and still justify
ungodly sinners such as we are. We don't know how God is just
to justify the ungodly on the basis of Christ's righteousness
imputed alone, without a sinner meeting any condition or fulfilling
any requirement. So the first reason the sinner
must convince, he must do the convincing, and he's got to do
it to each of us, because the heart of natural man is deceitful
above all things. Let's move on to the second reason.
I said there'd be three. Second reason, all must be convinced.
This is another reason that involves who we are by nature, back there
in Jeremiah 17. The natural heart is not only
the most deceitful thing in the universe, but it is desperately
wicked. The natural condition of our
heart is a desperate condition. In other words, our natural heart
is wicked in a way that it can't overcome. It's desperate. Now
when you're desperate, you don't have any way out. You've come
to the end of your rope, so to speak. And if someone doesn't
help you, you're going to fall off the ledge and die. You're desperate. We have no
ability to deliver ourselves from this desperation. This natural
heart needs, it must have, some help to overcome its wickedness.
Without this help, the natural heart remains as it is born,
received, deceived, wicked, and desperate. And because of its
deception and because of its desperate wickedness, the natural
man will not receive the true Jesus of the scriptures. He won't
come to the Christ of the scriptures. He won't come to the Christ of
the gospel. Well, just listen to it. You don't need to turn
to this. I'm only going to quote one verse here. 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 14 says, But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Now, the natural man is the one
we just heard described there in Jeremiah 17 and 9. He's the
one with the deceitful and desperately wicked heart. In the matter of
salvation, the natural man doesn't want, he will not accept anything
that is freely given. In other words, he won't accept
anything that's given to a sinner without that sinner meeting some
condition or fulfilling some requirement. The natural man
will hold on to his false refuge rather than come to Christ for
all of salvation and thus repent of that false refuge. Why does
the natural man, now remember that's all of us by nature, that
natural man. Why do we all arrive at the gospel
in this condition? Deceived, wicked, desperate. We all do. Why do we? This brings us to the third reason
why the spirit must convince. This world's religion does not
preach the Christ distinguished in the scriptures. This world's
religion does not promote the one God sent. The only Jesus
this world's religion preaches is another Jesus. In other words,
until God intervenes in our religious life with his gospel, Until God
intervenes in your religious life with the revelation of His
Savior. Until God intervenes in your
religious life with the revelation of His righteousness. Until then,
no sinner has ever even heard of the Jesus of the Scriptures.
Now, you say, well, I heard of Jesus all my life. not the Jesus
identified and distinguished in the gospel wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed. Not that Jesus. The only Jesus
we know before then is one of men's imagination. The only Jesus
we know before then is one who cannot save. The scribes and
pharisees were the religious leaders of Christ's day. Listen
to what he told them in Matthew 23 and verse 15. He said, woe
unto you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites. For you compass sea
and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Those
are harsh words from our Lord toward these religious leaders
of his day, are they not? He said, you don't make this
proselyte twofold more the child of hell than he already was.
No, because of what you preach, you identify yourselves as children
of hell, those in league with Satan, and when you convert someone
to your way of thinking, you make him two-fold more the child
of hell than you are. Christ was speaking to and about
the premier religious leaders of His day, the preachers and
teachers of His day. But the same can rightly be said
of any preacher or teacher in any generation who fails to preach
the righteousness of God, that righteousness which is always
revealed in God's gospel as the only ground of salvation the
only way God can be just and justify a non-godly sinner. The same can be rightly said
of any preacher who does not call on sinners to rest in Christ's
imputed righteousness alone and repent of everything else, their
filthy rags righteousness, they claim before them. In other words,
any sinner not making it clear Any preacher not making it clear
to sinners that God is only just to declare a sinner righteous
in his sight on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed
to him or her is a false prophet. That preacher is promoting the
lie of Satan. That preacher is promoting a
way that seems right to men, but it's a way that ends in eternal
death. That preacher is making those who believe and follow
him or her twofold more the child of hell than they are. I'm being
no more harsh there than Christ was to the preachers and teachers
of His day. Christ said in Matthew 12 and
verse 30, He that is not with me is against me, and he that
gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. To walk with Christ is
to walk with Him as He is identified and distinguished in the Word
of God. To walk with Christ is to walk in the opposite direction
you were going when you came to the Gospel. To walk with Christ,
that Christ distinguished in the Word of God, is to walk in
opposition to the counterfeit that's in all of our minds by
nature. And none of us does that until the Spirit of God convinces
us to turn from our counterfeit and to walk with Christ in regeneration. These three reasons that I've
given you, why all must be convinced by the Spirit of God, converge
on one overwhelming conclusion here. This is the summation of
why all must be convinced. I'm summarizing it all in this
one statement. This is the overwhelming conclusion
of why the Spirit of God must be the one to convince us. It's
because all without exception arrive at the gospel thinking
that we're already saved. that we're already in the favor
of God, that we're already accepted by God, when in truth, we neither
know God nor the Christ He sent. We all arrive at the gospel thinking
we're already accepted by God, when in truth, we have no clue
what it takes for sinners like us to be accepted by God. Who
are sinners like us? Every one of us who is now saved
Every one of us, without exception, thought we were saved before
we were saved until God actually saved us. In other words, we
didn't know that we had been lost until God saved us. You can't know that until God
saves you. And those who are yet to be saved
are of the same mind. They think just like we did before
God saved us. A counterfeit Christ is one men
call Jesus, but one not identified and distinguished by God's gospel. And one worshiping a counterfeit
Christ will never see themselves worshiping a counterfeit Christ,
just like you didn't and I didn't. A sinner going about to establish
his or her own righteousness does so because they're ignorant
of God's righteousness. And that can mean one of two
things. It can mean they've never heard about it. They've never
heard the gospel preached, so they don't know about the righteousness
of God. Or it can mean, having heard about it, they just chose
not to be submitted to that righteousness as the only way God's just to
justify a sinner. And one going about to establish
his or her own righteousness, they'll never know they're doing
that. We didn't know that. The ones that are saved didn't
know that until God actually delivered us. Sinners under the
power and influence of Satan, in league with him, don't know
he's the one holding them in bondage, and they don't see this
bondage. They remain ignorant of this
bondage unless God saves them from their deceived and desperate
condition. It takes deliverance. It takes
salvation from such thinking. It takes the imputation of and
then the revelation of God's righteousness under the gospel.
That's why the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 and verse 3, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." He's
writing here to Gentiles before their conversion. He's writing
before the Spirit convinced them of sin and righteousness and
judgment. And he includes himself in that number as well. He said
we all had our conversation here. This is the predicament of all
of us by nature. but none by nature knows it.
Nor will any by nature ever know it. Jeremiah 17, 9, again that
last phrase, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? And the answer to that question
is no naturally minded sinner will ever know that deceitful
and desperately wicked heart. This is the desperate predicament
of the natural man. None of us deserves to be delivered
And none of us has any ability to deliver ourselves from this
predicament. And none, we all stand in need
of mercy. We all stand in need of God giving
us something we don't deserve and cannot obtain by the best
of our efforts. That's why it takes a miracle
of God's grace to overcome this predicament. That's why it takes
the inner vision of the spirit in this powerful work. That's
why this is a work that the Spirit alone can perform. And that's
why this is a work that the Spirit alone must and shall perform
in His elect. This is a judgment that God the
Spirit will make in each of His elect in each generation until
the last of Christ's sheep is brought into the fold. God will
execute. his judgment in the hearts of
his people. He will make himself known to
them in each successive generation. He will make himself known to
his people as a God who justifies the ungodly on the basis of Christ's
righteousness imputed alone. The Spirit must convince, and
the Spirit will convince, the world he's sent to in each generation. He'll convince them of sin and
righteousness and judgment.