Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND JUDGMENT

John 16:5-11

5 "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

NIV

Having pondering on the Trinitarian doctrine, and the fact the Holy Spirit is present in the world and has made his dwelling within us and as such has sealed us until the day our redemption is complete, we should also consider the three areas of his expertise. These reasons that he came were to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. Jesus expands on these three and we should take a look at how he applied the Spirits work. The Spirit convicts people, referred to here as the world, in regard to sin because they do not believe. In other words, the Spirit does this type of work among the people who have not accepted Jesus, known as the non-believers, or sinners. Of course, we sin as well, but our title is not sinner, but a saint. We have already responded to that convicting power of the Spirit and repented, or turned from our sinful ways or our life centered in sinful ways, being a non-believer. So the Spirit does this work in those who have yet to come to Christ. We might witness and witness and witness, but we cannot convict nor convince someone to repent of their sinful ways, for that requires the Spirit. The work if the Spirit in regard to righteousness has to refer to the righteousness of Christ. He was condemned as a sinner, a blasphemer, by the Jews, the very people he came as, His chosen nation. We should note the reason they were chosen is not that they are special people, but they are the people of the promise God made to Abraham, but more importantly, he chose them to reveal himself to the whole world. Nevertheless, they condemned him as a sinner, but the Spirit testifies to his innocence. The proof of which is the fact Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. God, the Father, would not have raised up an impostor. So, the Spirit’s work is to show the righteousness of Christ so that we can see our unrighteousness and turn to Him, for Jesus is our righteousness. The last work we need to consider, not that it is the last work of the Spirit, for he simultaneously does all this work, is the conviction in regard to judgment. The reason for this work of judgment is because the prince of this world now stands condemned. Some would say, this is the Jewish people who condemned Jesus, and that would then extend unto any person who by their refusal to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, for they too are already condemned by their unbelief. God does not condemn them, but they are so condemned by their own unbelief. However, some say this prince of the world refers directly to Satan. He now stands condemned because Jesus won the victory over death. It would not seem, although Lucifer was cast out of heaven, at the time he was on earth, he was not yet condemned. He had free reign to tempt man, which he certainly did and still does today. He even tempted Jesus, and that was by the direction of the Spirit. However, he is now condemned because of what Jesus is doing. So today, we are still being tempted, but it may not be by a condemned spirit. James says that when we are tempted, it is because we are drawn away by our own evil desires. That sounds frightening, to think we tempt ourselves. It seems way too easier to blame Satan then self. We have accepted the prompting of the Spirit in regard to our sin, and have repented, and we accept the fact that Jesus is the only righteousness we have. We also have no doubt that Satan is already condemned and his fate is the lake of burning sulfur. But his temptation, whether it still comes from him, or we somehow still have that dark side within, that old self who tempts us to yield to desires that lurk within, has us pondering. Can we really say, “The devil made me do it”? Rather, could, and should we say, “We made us do it”? The Spirit leads us into all truth. In addition, his work deals with sin, righteousness, and judgment.