Today we continue our outlook of biblical worldview as it relates to the Holy Spirit. Yesterday we saw that the Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity. He is God. He is eternal. He has now come to this earth during this church age to do a particular ministry to this world and to us as believers. We are going to start with His role and ministry to us in the world.
John 16:8 says, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” He, referring to the Holy Spirit, has a ministry to the world in general. Later this week we will look at the ministry of the Holy Spirit to specifically believers. However, the Holy Spirit has a general ministry to the world, I believe here we are speaking of the unregenerate, unbelievers. The Holy Spirit has always been omnipresent. He has always been eternally in existence, and He has never not been. When Jesus speaks about Him coming, He is talking about having been sent by the Father and the Son for a particular ministry during this church age. As He talks about that, He tells us He is coming to convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgement. Three ministries that the Holy Spirit has to the world. These are pivotal in our understanding of the world system.
He continues in John 16:9, “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” This verse is talking about the Holy Spirit when He convicts of sin. His ministry here is to convict people of their sinfulness. I don’t think most people believe they are sinners. Most people know they are not perfect. Most people know they do wrong things. Most people are displeased about certain aspects of their lives, but to accurately see themselves as sinners and missing the mark of God, defying Him, living in rebellion against God, and being the enemy of God does not register for most people. They think they are doing okay. Most people, if you ask them, think they are pretty good people. They do nice things for people, they take care of their family, they do the things they should do. If they believe they sin, it is something real horrible, but they don’t do that very often, so most people don’t believe that they are sinners as such. It takes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to remove the blinders from the eyes of people so that they can recognize that they are sinners. That is pivotal because no one will come to the Savior unless they recognize they need a Savior. No one recognizes they need a Savior unless they recognize they are sinners, and they are hopelessly lost in their sin . . .
