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John 16:7-11  THE CONVICTING WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Introduction:

	In recent texts Jesus had promised His disciples that
after He has returned to heaven He would pray the Father and
the Father would send a Comforter to them.  He was speaking
about sending the Holy Spirit upon His church to comfort
them in the persecution which they would suffer at the hands
of the unsaved.  So the term "Comforter" primarily describes
the work which the Holy Spirit would do in the hearts and
lives of the members of the local New Testament church.
This does not mean that He comforts nobody but church
menbers, bvut it does mean that His primary work as the
Comfortor is to comfort  and aid members of New Testament
churches.  He would comfort them in all their problems, but
especially in their times of persecution.
	In our text today Jesus speaks about the convicting work
which the Holy Spirit would do in the hearts and lives of
the unsaved of the world.  For the Chrisian He is the
Comfortor; for the unsaved He is the Convictor.
	Without this work of the Holy Spirit the church could
never succeed in its mission of carrying the gospel to the
world and establishing New Testament churches.  So the Holy
Spirit would comfort the Christians and convict the
non-Christians.  Without the comforting work of the Holy
Spirit the Christians would become so discouraged under
persecution that they would quit trying to witness to the
unsaved.  Without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit the
unsaved would never realize their need of salvaation and
would never get saved.  It is the Holy Spirit who comforts
the Christians andencourages them to keep on working and
witnessing for Jesus in spite of the persecution.  It is the
Holy Spirit who convicts the unsaved and helps the Christian
in his efforts to win the lost to Christ.

I.  The return of Jesus to heaven for the benefit of the
	disciples

	V. 7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is
expedient for you that I go away..."  In our text last
Sunday Jesus called to the attention of His disciples that
it was to His benefit that He would return to heaven.  He
would return to God the Father.  He would return to the
angelic host who would adore Him and worship Him and serve
Him faithfully.  He would return to the throne of God to
take His place beside the Father as joint-ruler over all the
universe -- over all heaven and earth.
	In this text He is telling His disciples that His return
to heaven is also for their benefit.  It is for the benefit
of the church that He would leave behind.
	For one thing, His departure would help them to grow in
faith.  They had become too dependent on Him as a fellow
man.  They were too dependent upon having His visible
presence with them.  They were accustomed to walking right
up to Jesus and talking to Him face to face in much the same
way that they would walk up to any other man and talk to
him.  On one occasion when He was asleep in a boat in  and
the boast was about to sink.  The disciples woke Him up
quickly.  They may have even reached out with their hands
and shook Him in order to wake Him up.  They would speak to
Him with an audible voice and He would speak to them
likewise in an audible voice.  They could look Him in the
face and see His nearness to them.  They could reach out and
touch His hand or touch His garment.
	But after He would leave them and return to heaven, they
would have to call upon Him without seeing Him.  They would
be unable to reach out and touch Him.  They would be unable
to hear His voice or see their face.  They would have to
call upon Him altogether by faith.
	With the eye of faith they would learn to see Jesus in a
much greater role.  They would not just see Him as their
fellow human and as their teacher,  They would see Him with
the eye of faith.  With the eye of faith they would envision
Him seated upon the throne of God in heaven along side God
the Heavenly Father.  With faith they would envision Him as
Joint-Ruler over the great angelic hosts of heaven.  They
would envision Him as ruler over all creation.  They would
see Him as ruler of heaven and earth.  They would see Him
not just as the Leader and Ruler of a little band of
followers, but the Supreme Ruler over all mankind.  They
would learn to see Him even as the Sovereign Ruler over
Satan and over all his evil forces which follow Satan.
	As long as Jesus stayed with His disciples here on
earth, they would never grow to see Him in all of His might
and power and majesty, but once He has gone from them, their
understanding of His majesty would grow and their faith in
Him would grow to the point that even though they could not
see Him bodily, yet they would depend on Him, they would
worship Him as God Almighty and they would yield to Him and
devote their lives to doing His will.

II. The departure of Jesus necessary for the coming of the
	Holy Spirit

	Furthermore, as long as He remained with them bodily and
physically here on earth, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
would not come upon them.  (V. 7), ...for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send him unto you."  It was not that the Holy Spirit
could not come upon them as long as He remained with them.
It was just that the Holy Spirit would not come upon them as
long as He was present with them.  It was not the will of
the Father for Him to do so.
	He had earlier said, "I will pray the Father and He will
send you another Comforter..."  Now He says simply, "I will
send Him unto you."  "I will send Him" is to be understood
in the light of what He had said earlier.  He would ask the
Father's permission and He would have the Father's
permission to send the Holy Spirit upon them.
	But the point is that while Jesus was with them, He
lived within a human body.  His presence was limited
somewhat to His human body.  But the Holy Spirit would not
be limited in such a way.  The Holy Spirit would be in all
places at one time.  This would be especially important to
them as they would scatter out under the hand of
persecution.  No matter how scattered they might be the Holy
Spirit would be with tem all at one time.  T
	his would be especially important to them as they would
spread out to carry the gospel to all of the world.  The
Holy Spirit God would be with them all at the same time no
matter where they might be.  Also, through the Holy Spirit,
Jesus Himself would be with them all at the same time no
matter how scattered they might be.

III.  The Holy Spirit's work of convicting the world of sin

	V. 8, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of
sin.."  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would touch the
hearts of men and reprove them for their sin.  He would
convict them all that they are sinners.  He would convince
them that they are sinners and that because they are
sinners, they need to be saved.
	Now a Christian can bear witness to the unsaved that
they are sinners.  He can tell the unsaved that they are
sinners.  He can even present Scriptures from God's Holy
word which teach that the unsaved are sinners.  But the
Christian cannot touch the heart of the unsaved and convince
him that he is an unworthy sinner in the sight of God and
that he ought to repent of his sin and seek forgiveness
through Jesus Christ.  Only the Holy Spirit of God can do
that.
	The Christian can bear witness to the unsaved that Jesus
is the Christ and that Jesus died upon the cross in order to
provide a way of salvation.  The Christian can tell the lost
sinner that what he needs to do is to repent of his sin and
call upon Jesus and trust Jesus tosave his soul, but the
Christian cannot convince the heart of the lost sinner that
by trusting Jesus Christ as Savior he will be saved and go
to heaven.  It takes the Holy Spirit of God to convince a
lost sinner that he cannot work his way to heaven.  He
cannot and earn salvation.  He must trust Jesus for
salvation.  He must depend fully on Jesus Christ and Jesus
Christ alone.
	It is the business of the Christian to bear witness to
the sinner that he is a sinner and that Jesus Christ can
save his soul, but it is the business of the Holy Spirit of
God to help the lost sinner to know that this is so.

IV.  The Holy Spirit's work of convicting the world of
	righteousness

	(V. 8), "...and of righteousness..."  The Holy Spirit
would not only convince the world of sin, but He would
convince the world of righteousness.  The lost sinner has a
tendency to believe that he is alright just like he is.
Many a lost sinner has said, "If anybody else makes it to
heaven, I will make it there, too."  Or, he thinks, at
least, that with a little effort on his part, he can become
good enough to get to heaven.  Instead of trusting Jesus for
his salvation, the lost sinner wants to wants to earn the
right to go to heaven by his good works.
	The unsaved has difficulty in understanding that God is
a Holy God.  God is not only without sin, Himself, but He
requires sinless perfection to get into heaven.  God will
lot let a lost sinner into heaven in his sinful condition.
He is not good enough to get into heaven.  Neither can he
become good enough by his good works.  It is totally
impossible for a lost sinner to do enough good works to get
into heaven.
	It is our business as Christians to tell this to the
unsaved.  We can tell them, but no matter how muchpersuasion
we may use, we can never convince them of this.  We can and
we should also present the Holy Scriptures which teach this.
For instance Ephesians 2:9 says that salvation is not
obtained by good works.  It says, "Not of works lest any man
should boast."  Titus 3:5 also says that salvation is not
obtained by good works.  It reads, "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he save us..."  We can inform the unsaved that he can get
perfect righteousness as a gift from God by trusting Jesus
Christ.  Romans 4:3-5 reads, "For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness.  Now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt.  But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness."  We can read Acts 16:31
which says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved."  We can tell the lost sinner these things and we
should, but we cannot convince the lost sinner that these
things are really true.  It takes the Holy Spirit of God to
persuade the lost sinner that what it takes for him to go to
heaven is for him to call upon Jesus and ask Jesus to save
him and trust Jesus to save him.
	It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the lost sinner that
he must become completely righteous without one sin and the
only way that will ever happen is for him to trust Jesus
Christ to save Him from his sin.  By the way, when Jesus
cleanses a sinner from sin, he cleanses him from all sin and
he is made to totally without sin because all his sin is
forgiven.

V.  The Holy Spirit's work of convicting the world of
	judgment

	(V. 8), "...and of judgment."  The Holy Spirit would not
only convict the world of sin and righteousness, but He
would also convict the world of judgment.  Listen!  God is a
Holy God and God hates sin.  A lost sinner must either be
cleansed from all sin by trusting in Jesus Christ for
salvation or else he will suffer in the hereafter for his
sin.  Sin brings judgment.  Sinners will face judgment.
Every lost sinner will stand before God in judgment.  John
3:18 says that he is condemned already.  A lost sinner does
not have to wait until judgment to be condemned.  In John
3:18 Jesus said, "He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already."

VI.  Reasons behind this convicting work

	This is in keeping with what Jesus said in the next
verse.  V. 9, "Of sin, because they believe not on me."  All
men have sinned.  Every man, woman, boy and girl has
committed sin.  Yet it is not the act of committing a sin
that condemns a lost sinner.  It is his failure to trust in
Jesus Christ and be saved from his sin that condemns him.
The Holy Spirit convicts a man of his sin and lets him know
that he is condemned because he has not believed on Jesus
Christ for the salvation of his soul.
	V. 10, "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and
ye see me no more."  While Jesus was here on earth He was an
example of righteousness to all who saw Him.  He lived a
100% righteous life.  He kept every jot and tittle of the
law.  There was not one iota of sin in His life --- ever!
From His first breath until His last, He was totally without
sin.  But once Jesus was gone, the world would be without an
example of perfect righteousness.
	Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit would bear witness of the
righteous standard that God requires and of the availability
of that righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
	V. 11, "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged."  The Holy Spirit will convict the world of the
certainty of judgment.  The time will come when every
rebellious unrepentant sinner will be brought before God in
judgment and sentenced.  A sure sign that all sinners will
be judged is the fact that the Devil, himself, will be
finally cast down.  The irony of it all is that Satan
entered the heartm into
the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  But the provisions for that
victory were made by His crucifixion and the resurrection.
	Listen! If God brings judgment on the most powerful of
all His enemies, you can be sure that He will bring judgment
on all the rest of His enemies.  The Holy Spirit convicts
the world of judgment and lets all men know that judgment
lies ahead.  Hebrews 9:27 reads, "And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."  Just as
surely as death comes to mankind, even so judgment will
follow."

VII.  The Holy Spirit at work today conviction men

	Every time a Christian bears witness of Jesus Christ as
the Son of God and as the Savior of men, just that surely
the Holy Spirit is at work convicting the world of sin, of
righteousness and of judgment.  He convicts the lost sinner
that he is guilty of sin.  Deep down on the inside thesinner
knows that this is true because the Holy Spirit convicts him
of it.  The Holy Spirit convicts the lost sinner that Jesus
Christ can save his soul and make him righteous in the sight
of God.  The Holy Spirit bears witness of this to his inner
self.  The Holy Spirit convicts the lost sinner that if he
will not repent of his sin and trust in Jesus Christ, he
will judged before the Great White Throne of God and he will
be sentenced to suffer in a lake of firfe and brimstone.
The Holy Spirit of God testifies to the soul ofthe sinner
that this is so.
	Then the choice is left to the sinner.  God will not
force a lost sinner to trust in Jesus Christ.  But the Holy
Spirit will tug at his heart strings and seek to persuade
him to place his trust in Jesus Christ.  The Devil cannot
prevent a lost sinner from trusting in Jesus.  The Holy
Spirit will make it possible for him to trust in Jesus and
be saved.
	Every time the gospel message is given the Holy Spirit
goes to work on the heart of the unbeliever and urges him to
come to Jesus and place his faith in Jesus for the salvation
of His soul.
	If there is a lost soul present in this congregation
here this morning, then while I have preached this message
the Holy Spirit has been at work urging him to come this
morning and get right with God.  As one youg man told me, "I
was supposed to come last Sunday, but I didn't.  And the
Lord let me know during the week that I did not do what He
wanted me to do."  That is the way the Lord through the Holy
Spirit works every time the gospel message is preached to a
lost sinner.  He lets him know what God wants him to do.
	There may be someone here this morning with whom theHoly
Spirit has been dealing.  I have done the preaching.  The
Holy Spirit has done the convicting.  Now the decision
making is up to you.  What will it be?

Conclusion:

	Who will come this morning?