This week, we are looking at a part of the final
conversation that Jesus had with His closest followers before His death, which
is recorded for us in John 16. Yesterday, we looked on as Jesus revealed that
after His departure from the earth, He would send a Helper, a Counselor to
earth. And this Helper, this counselor, would be the third member of the
Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Today, as Jesus continues His final conversation with
the disciples, we see Him reveal exactly what the Holy Spirit as Helper and
Counselor, would do upon His arrival on earth beginning in John 16:8:
"And
He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning
righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and
concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Here we see Jesus begin to explain to His closest
followers the Holy Spirit’s function and activity here on earth. First, Jesus
states that the Holy Spirit, upon His arrival, will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Now, when Jesus refers to the
world here, He is referring to everything in the world system
that is hostile to God and that sets itself up in opposition to God and the
kingdom of God.
Jesus
point here is that as the Helper, as the Counselor, the Holy Spirit will act
like a prosecuting attorney to bring about the world’s conviction of
selfishness and rebellion. You see, there is a difference between conviction
and conversion. Jesus here is revealing for us the reality that one of the
roles that the Holy Spirit performs is to reveal to those in the world who
reject God and the word of God the evidence of their guilt before God.
And
that evidence, according to Jesus, concerns sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Now a clear and simple definition of sin is that sin refers to acts of commission and omission that are
committed against God and others that flow from our selfish rebellion against
God and the word of God. Jesus here is revealing the reality that the Holy
Spirit provides the evidence that those who oppose God are guilty of
selfishness and rebellion because they did not believe that Jesus was who He
said He was. Instead of placing their confident trust in Jesus, they selfishly
rebelled against Jesus. Instead of loving God and others, they instead chose to
love themselves over God and others.
When the Bible uses the word righteousness, a clear and
simple definition of righteousness is that righteousness is the quality or
state of being right. Deep huh. Instead of recognizing that God is right, they
believed that they were right. Jesus point here is that the Holy Spirit
provides the evidence that those who oppose God are guilty because God is right
and they are wrong. And that evidence, Jesus explains is in the fact that He is
going to the Father and that they will no longer see Him. Jesus is revealing
for us the reality that the resurrection of Jesus provides the evidence that
Jesus was who He said He was and that God was right and those who reject Jesus
are wrong.
The word judgment here refers to the activity of Jesus as
the just judge. Jesus point is that the Holy Spirit provides the evidence that
those who oppose God are guilty because the ruler of this world has been
judged. The ruler of this world is Satan, who is the leader of the cosmic
rebellion against God and the word of God.
Jesus life, death, and resurrection would provide the evidence that
Satan has been defeated and that justice has ruled and reigned.
And the Holy Spirit, like a great prosecuting attorney,
provides the evidence that will result in a guilty verdict for those who oppose
God and reject the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Holy
Spirit reveals the selfishness and rebellion of those in humanity who reject
God and the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit reveals that God is right and those
who oppose God are wrong. And the Holy Spirit reveals that the just God wins
and Satan loses.
Now does that make your brain hurt? If you feel like your
brain is going to explode, I have some good news for you. You are not the first
person to feel that way, as we see in John 16:12:
"I have
many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
In other words, Jesus says “I
have much more that you need to know, but you are unable to process what I have
to say. You are sad and stressed because I told you that I am leaving. And as I
am telling you what is going to happen in the future, your brains are about to
explode. You are not able to wrap your minds around what I am telling you”.
Friday, we will see Jesus transition
from explaining the role that the Holy Spirit would play in the lives of those
who oppose God to explaining the role that the Holy Spirit would play in the
lives of those who follow Jesus…
No comments:
Post a Comment