There is much talk in religion
today of the Holy Spirit. Much being said, many claims
being made of Holy Spirit anointing and the work of the Holy Spirit
in our midst. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
of the Holy Spirit, particularly in the Gospel of John, chapters
14 through 16. Now, what is being said today
of the Holy Spirit greatly differs from what the Lord says in these
chapters. The claims of Holy Spirit power
and working today greatly differs from what the Lord said is the
work of the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm reading from the Gospel
of John, chapter 16. John, chapter 16. Look at verse
13 with me. following along. And the Lord
says, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide
you into all truth. Now, He is speaking to His disciples
here, and He says to them, He will guide you into all truth,
the Spirit of truth. For He shall not speak of Himself,
but He will say the things that He has heard from me. Well, the
spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. And the spirit,
the Holy Spirit, uses one means to teach, to guide into all truth. One means is not the workings
of signs and miracles and wonders which convinces of the truth
or leads and guides into the truth. No. but rather the preaching
of God's Word. Listen as I read from 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 13 and 14. Paul says to the church there,
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, or that is, a
setting apart of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and belief of
the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel." That is,
God called you through the agent of the Holy Spirit, through the
means of the preaching of the gospel. And the Apostle Paul
says this. in several places, but Romans
1, verse 16, Paul says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21,
he said it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. And so the Holy Spirit, or the
Spirit of is primarily at work in the preaching of the gospel
or the truth, the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Here in John
chapter 16, our Lord goes into detail as to what the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the word, what he convinces or that
is, reproves, rebukes, corrects and instructs and leads and guides
his people into. Three things he said that the
Holy Spirit will convince his people of. Read with me in John
16, verse 8. Our Lord says, when he has come,
that is, the Holy Spirit, he will reprove the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment. When the Holy Spirit has come,
he will reprove the world of three things. Now, stop right
there. When the Lord says he will reprove,
or that is, convince the world, he is certainly not talking about
every individual in the world. No. No more so than John 3.16
means every single individual in the world. For if God loved
every single person, then every single person would be saved.
God does not damn those whom he loves, but saves them. And this means that he has a
people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and people out of or
in the world, not just Jews, but a people out of the world
whom he will convince, the Holy Spirit will reprove or convince
the world, or that is, a people out of every tribe, kindred,
and nation of these three things. Number one, he said, he will
reprove the world of sin. Singular. It does not say sins. Plural. but rather sin, singular. Or that is, the Holy Spirit will
convince, will reprove, will rebuke, will instruct his people
of their sinful nature. The first thing the Holy Spirit
does is convinces a man, a woman, a young person of what they are,
a sinner, full of sin, sinful, full of sin. Everyone will admit
to sins, plural sins. Everyone will confess to a degree
that they have faults or have made mistakes. Most everyone
feels some measure of guilt over committing particular sins or
doing particular wrong things. But the Holy Spirit here, the
Lord says, will convict of sin. Holy Spirit conviction is convincing
us of what we are, sinners through and through. The Apostle in Romans
chapter 7 describes the nature and the feelings and this conviction
which every sinner whom the Holy Spirit works upon has. The Apostle
in Romans 7 says this of himself. And now, he said this when he
was a believer, when he was converted, not before. And he says in Romans
7, things that I would, I do not. And the things I would not,
that's what I do. In other words, he says the things
that I would like to do, I don't seem to be able to do them. And
the things that I don't want to do, the things I hate, That's
what I seem to do, until he reaches the point where he says in verse
24 of Romans 7, O wretched man that I am. This is the convicting,
the convincing power of the Holy Spirit upon everyone whom he
saves, whom God has chosen to save. He convicts them of what
they are, sinners. until they reach the point with
the apostle and saying, I am a sinner, a wretched man. I cannot
seem to do anything but sin. I cannot seem to think anything
but sin. Not like the Pharisees who think
they are above or without sin, but no, rather that they are
full of sin. As David said, my sin is ever
before me. My sin. is ever before me. He said in Psalm 38, David said,
My loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and that disease is
sin. Notice this sin or the root of
it all, which the Lord says the Holy Spirit will convict or convince
of. He says in verse nine, the Holy
Spirit will convict of sin because they believe not on me. unbelief or rather not believing,
not trusting, not looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if
God's Spirit is at work upon a human being, he will convince
them through the preaching of the gospel that they have not
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Number one, they either haven't
believed or cared about him at all. and or they had believed
the wrong one, the wrong Jesus, another Jesus, Paul said, or
rather another gospel. And the Holy Spirit comes and
reveals the true Christ, the true gospel, the true Lord Jesus
Christ as he is, seated on a throne, high and lifted up with all things
and all persons in his sovereign controlling hands to do with
as he pleases, not a pitiful, weak and helpless figure named
Jesus, but rather an omnipotent, sovereign Lord on a throne named
the Lord Jesus Christ. Which brings us to the next thing
our Lord deals with, the next convincing power of the Holy
Spirit. He says in verse 10, the Holy
Spirit will convict of righteousness because I go to my Father and
you will see me no more, he said. Now, the Holy Spirit convinces
all whom God has chosen, all whom God saves through the preaching
of the gospel, the Holy Spirit will convince that person that
they are worthless, helpless, dead sinners and in need of a
righteousness, or that is, a perfect holiness, a perfect righteousness
in order to stand before a righteous or holy God. Romans chapter 10
goes into detail. The apostle goes into detail
in Romans chapter 10 concerning this righteousness which we must
have to stand before God. Now, most persons believe in
their minds that they need to be good in order to be saved.
Most will admit that. And so many go about trying to
be good, to do good, to quit this, to quit that, to start
living right or righteously in order for God to accept them
or approve of them. But that is not Bible righteousness. That is not the righteousness
which God will accept. God looks on the heart. God demands
absolute perfection in thought as well as deed. God demands
absolute perfection or holiness and righteousness in the motive
as well as the action. And who can have perfect motives
or perfect thoughts? Well, in Romans chapter 10, I
read, Paul says, many have a zeal of God, but it's not according
to knowledge. They're being ignorant of God's
righteousness, that is, his perfect holiness, are going about to
establish their own righteousness, that is, their own standard which
they think God will accept of right and wrong and doing good,
and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
And he concludes by saying in verse 4 that Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. That's why Christ is called the
Lord, our righteousness. Jesus Christ is the righteousness
of every believer. He is the only righteous standard
which God will accept. It must be perfect, as perfect
as Christ, to be accepted. And what Christ did when he came
to this earth was establish a righteousness for his people. On behalf of
his people, he lived a perfect holy life as a man for men and
imputed, now this is Bible language, Romans 4 speaks much of it. He
imputed or charged this perfect life to his people. those whom
God had given him to do this for. And now God accepts them. They are holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable in God's sight by simply believing and trusting
Christ as their righteousness. Well, this is what the Holy Spirit
convicts and convinces of. And the last thing Christ says
is of judgment. In John 16, verse 3, the Holy
Spirit will convince or convict his people out of the world of
judgment because the prince of this world is judged, that there
is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, that all accusations,
charges, penalties had been answered by the Lord Jesus Christ, been
paid for by Christ. All foes under his feet and all
of his enemies his footstool and all of his people justified
and accepted. in God's sight because of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So this Holy Spirit conviction
is of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and that through the
preaching of the gospel. It is my prayer that the Holy
Spirit will convict or convince you of these three things unto
salvation. Until next Sunday, may it be
so with you. Amen. Thank you.