The Spirit Convicts the World — John Murray

The Holy Spirit Convicts the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

The Gospel according to John, chapter 16. Gospel according to John, chapter 16, beginning at verse 8. And when he is come, he will withdraw the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me.

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. In connection with verse 7 of this chapter, we found this morning that Jesus is here speaking of the event of Pentecost as the sending forth of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of power and grace, so that he might be working efficaciously in all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues.

Pentecost and the Spirit's Universal Mission

Christ by his death broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, so that now there is no longer Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, bond not free, but Christ is all and in all. And the Gospel is proclaimed without distinction and without discrimination to all races and kindreds and peoples.

We found that when the Holy Spirit comes forth or came forth on the day of Pentecost, that that was a decisive event, an event once for all, an event which is not to be repeated. Because the Holy Spirit came to abide, to continue in the Church, well, carrying on his activities to the very consummation of the age.

But when the Holy Spirit came, we found that he came in the capacity of advocate, and he came particularly to do two functions. First, to reveal unto the disciples all the truth, to make them the organs and the depositories of revelation, so that we and the Church of God are deposited for us in the Scriptures.

And he also came to glorify Christ, the image of the invisible God, because to Christ had been permitted all things. And so Jesus said, He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. He shall not speak from himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he do.

He will show you things to come. Which are the text for this evening. This session is particularly centered upon the activity of the Holy Spirit in reference to the disciples. He said he will lead you by taking of the things of Christ, and showing them unto you as a result of Pentecost.

And our attention is drawn to the world. When he has come, he will ponder the world of conflict, the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And it is well for us to take account, in this particular Gospel, of his glory in the world.

He did not pass the best-known text in Scripture, God's all-holy grace, only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He sent him to the world, to condemn the world, but that the world would endure.

And likewise, in this same Gospel, our attention is drawn to the activity of Christ. Behold, in the epistle of John, we read in similar fashion, he is the propitiation for our sins, and there is the same of sin of the Holy Spirit.

Conviction of Sin and the Folly of Self-Righteousness

It is to bear, and that conviction is, we think, of course, that the world, of this particular, he shall come into, that that is the attitude of the world. It was the attitude of the world when they crucified the Lord of glory.

What did they say with reference to him? They said with reference to him that he was a sinner. You remember on one occasion what did they say? Give God, and there is the world, into the world. Deal with those people who are outwardly respectable, perfectly honest, perfectly decent in all their concern, they are spotless, against them, you cannot put your finger on any outward from the law of God, they are honest in their dealing, they will be insulted, is what this text bears, of sin, because they believe not, and if we do not have confidence in Jesus, we are for eternity, epitome of sin, the very epitome of sin, as it is recorded in the sixth chapter of the epistle to the Galatians.

God forbid that I should go and save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Paul was not thinking of notorious outward transgressions. Paul had never been a notorious outward transgressor.

He had never been an adulterer, he had never been a murderer, he had never been guilty of any of these outward transgressions of God's law, as far as his outward conduct was concerned. Touching the law, he was a Pharisee.

In that respect, impeccable as far as judgment or silence by this world was concerned, he was an admirable character. And consequently, when Paul says that he was crucified unto the world, and the world crucified unto him, he wasn't thinking at all about notorious outward transgressions, because he had never been addicted to them.

What is Paul? Of iniquity? And that's what the Pharisees were guilty of. They crucified the Lord of glory and were in complicity with others when they crucified the Lord of glory. Self-righteousness, my friends, that is the epitome of iniquity.

And it isn't the outward, the notorious outward transgressions. Who is the greatest sinner in the sight of God? It's not the gangster, it's not the thief, the murderer, but the person who is self-complacent and who rests upon his own integrity, his own righteousness, for acceptance with God.

That's what this text is. Of sin, because they believe not in me. Condemned by this action of the Holy Spirit to approach the instruments who were the proclaimers of the gospel. Now, second, we have this of righteousness, because I go to the Father and he sees me.

The World's False Estimate of Righteousness

Now, I admit, that's a very puzzling combination, isn't it? And perhaps you are often puzzled over it as I am, but because I go to the Father conception of righteousness. You must remember that this action of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of righteousness.

That is, to convict the world of what righteousness really is, and correct righteousness entertained by this present evil world. Now, what was the conception of righteousness entertained by this present evil world?

Well, you can find that in the whole history of the people of God. What did this world do with those who were the witnesses to righteousness, who were God's chosen instruments of bearing witness to the righteousness of God?

Did they listen to Noah as a preacher of righteousness? Did they listen to Lot, that righteous man dwelling among them? And they vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their ungodly deeds. Take the record of the saints of God throughout all ages, and how did the world treat them?

Did the world treat them for what they were? You remember how eloquently that is stated in the epistle to the Hebrews, the eleventh chapter, when we read others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskin, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. But you see the world's assessment of them.

And you know sometimes when you find a person who is persecuted for righteousness sake, and who is in perhaps very destitute condition, who is forsaken of his friends, who may be even despised by his family for righteousness sake, and people will say, oh I'm awfully sorry for him, I'm sorry for him.

See, the erroneous estimate that we have, instead of glowing in that witness that that person bears to the righteousness of God, we're sorry for him, we pity him. So erroneous is our estimate. So utterly awry is our judgment in reference to what righteousness is.

But it isn't simply the treatment according to the saints of God that exposes the erroneous conception that this world entertains of righteousness. We must go to the Lord and Savior Himself. And He, of course, was the holy and the just one.

There was a preacher once in Scotland of the moderate persuasion that is what would correspond to liberalism or modernism in our present situation. And he was preaching in a church in the morning and he said, if virtue came down from heaven, the whole world would bow down and worship Him.

If virtue came down from heaven, bow down. And then there was an evangelical minister preaching in the same congregation at night. And he heard the sermon in the morning and he, this is what he said, virtue came down from heaven and they crucified the dead.

That's what was meted out to the Lord of glory. He was the righteous one. He was the very epitome of righteousness. He was righteousness incarnate. And what did the world say about Him? This is what the world said about Him.

For a good watch, but for blasphemy, because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. When He cast out demons, in pursuance of His own word, if I, with the finger of God, cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come nigh unto you.

And what did they say about it? Thou hast a demon, for not man. Prince of the demons, He cast in Himself the Son of God. That was the world says to me. They condemned Him to be worthy of death. And that was the world.

To be worthy of death. And they said crucify Him, crucify Him. We will not have this man to reign over us. Well that's what the Holy Spirit takes into account when He comes into this world. He convicts the world of righteousness.

And He convicts the world of righteousness by doing. By showing what God's estimate of Him who was cast out as evil and who was condemned to death really was. And that's what Jesus has in view when He says of righteousness.

Because I go to the Father and He see me no more. Jesus is referring to His resurrection and to His exaltation. To His endowment with all power of heaven. And that was God's vindication of Him who was the Holy and the Just One.

Christ's Resurrection and Exaltation Vindicate His Righteousness

And you remember how Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, as the instrument of the Holy Spirit in bringing conviction to bear on the world, with reference to this very question, you remember what Peter says?

This Jesus hath God raised up, of which we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.

And you remember in that old sermon that Peter delivered on Pentecost. He is contrasting the treatment that was meted out by His present world to the Holy and Just One. And that vindication which was given by God the Father in the exaltation and in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus.

Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, hath reduced the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

And you know, just a little later, the Apostle Peter says the very same type of thing. Acts 3 .13,. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go.

But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murder to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we all are witnesses, and His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye both see and hear.

That's the significance of Jesus' statement of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more. It is the Holy Spirit who is bearing witness to the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus, that God hath exalted Jesus, and therefore vindicated Him as the righteous and Holy One, and what a complete reversal of this world's judgment, that He, the person who was cast out as worthy, should be exalted to the right hand of the power of the glory of God, exalted of all principality of power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also that which is to come, and given Him the name that is above everything, in order for one reason, to give vindication of what really righteousness is.

My friends, we need to examine ourselves in the light of these very patent and simple. The world rejected God's son Jesus. That is the significance of the resurrection. And do we really view things? Do we view this great conception of righteousness in the light of Jesus' resurrection and exaltation?

If we do not, if our conception of righteousness is not framed in terms of Jesus' fashion of the right hand of God in the holy heaven, it is because it is still governed by the wisdom of this world, and this is not anything that is irrelevant to us.

My friends, it is our duty that the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus should go forth, that our conception of righteousness should be governed by that fact, and that is what the Holy Spirit does. He takes the resurrection and exaltation, and therefore exposes the iniquity of its coming.

Judgment Manifested in the Cross of Christ

Now we have heard of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. And here again you have something that no doubt often puzzled you. These two things of judgment, because the prince of this world is still acting in his capacity as advocate, and is bringing conviction to bear upon the world because of its erroneous conception of judgment.

And of course the erroneous conception of judgment was manifested in the cross of Christ. The conception of judgment manifested in the cross of Christ, just because all the ingenuity and the hellish wisdom of the great arch-enemy was manifested in the crucifixion of Jesus.

That was the masterpiece of Satan's device. Jesus himself said, this is yours. It was in the cross of Christ that the judgment of this world was manifested, because it was the judgment executed upon him who was himself the very epitome of righteousness, of virtue, of truth, of holiness, of good.

There is the judgment of this world, and there is its manifestation in the judgment that was executed upon the Lord of glory. And now, how is that exposed? What does the Holy Spirit do in order to bring conviction to bear upon the world, in order to revert its estimation of what we may constitute?

Well, it is the prince of this world who is judged. Oh, how marvelous is the counsel of God. God makes the very wrath of man to praise him. He uses the very, the very, the very activities of ungodly men to accomplish his holy desire.

You remember that text which I quoted a moment ago, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, he and thy wicked hands have crucified and slain. Don't you see, my friends, that the crucifixion of Jesus is the arch crime of human history?

From the standpoint of the enemies of righteousness and of truth, it is the darkest spot in human history. But it is just in that very same crucifixion, in that very same event in which the devil conspired to bring destruction to the cause of God of truth, in that very same event, the prince of this world was cast out.

Do you remember what Jesus said that's recorded in this gospel a little earlier, John 12, 31? Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And Jesus destroyed the power of the prince of the dark in that very day which he wrought upon the accursed tree.

He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, crying out, He knoweth a minute.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might be sworn unto the bloods of the dead. There is the ingenuity of the archenemy, but there is also the supreme wisdom, the supreme grace, and the supreme love of God.

The Cross, Satan's Defeat, and the Promise of Redemption

Jesus destroyed the prince of darkness in that crucifixion which he wrought upon the accursed tree. We are not always disposed to think of redemption from that stamp of the victory that was secured in the cross of Christ over the great archenemy, over this present evil world, but it is an all-important strand in the teaching of Scripture with respect to the subject of redemption.

And how could it be otherwise? Was not the first promise that God gave to mankind, to fallen mankind, in terms of the destruction of the archenemy? I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed he shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his head.

The first promise that God gave was in terms of this very subject, of the judgment that would be executed upon the great tempter himself. And that strand runs through the Scripture, and it comes to expression here in this very pronouncement of Jesus, of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged, and because the prince of this world was judged in the cross of Christ, because principalities and powers were made ashore openly, and they were destroyed, the prison doors were opened.

And my friends, that's why through the efficacious working of the Holy Spirit there have been throughout the whole history of the Church, from the day of Criticus on to the present time, prophecies of Christ's redemptive accomplishment, taken out of the grasp of Satan, translated out of the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of God's own.

As Jesus heals again, the Holy Spirit has been convicting the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. And the Holy Spirit has been bringing to effectual provision that great victory which Jesus has secured.

And he has been bringing conviction to bear upon the hearts and minds of men throughout all the ages, in all our kindreds and peoples of that glorious act. And by faith in Jesus, by creating in them that understanding of what sin is, of what righteousness is, and of what judgment is, he has been translating out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's own Son.

That is the glory of the Holy Spirit's activity. And now in conclusion, how does it fare with us? My friends, if we are to be the heirs of eternal life, if we are to be heirs of God's devil, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, then this activity of the force to bear upon us would properly And we have been in the deepest recesses of conviction of sin, of righteousness.

The Holy Spirit's Work Is to Glorify Christ

One thing that is all before I close out meditation in these words, you remember that one of the central functions of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. He shall glorify me. And don't you see that ever in this function of conviction, his focus in Christ, in connection with the world, I say unless we discover in connection with these words the same, Christ is of sin, of judgments, of this world is judged, and judged as Jesus said by his own accounts.

Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all abandon to myself. What is it after all that is the secret of this function of the Holy Spirit?

It is the glorifying of Christ. It is the bringing of Christ in his person, in his heart. This world's interest into the focus of this world's thought and attention, that is the function. Oh, let us not, let us not be involved in the erroneous judgments of this world with respect to sin, righteousness and judgment.

But may it be true of each one of us that the Holy Spirit has so glorified Christ, so exalted Christ in our apprehension, that our whole conception of sin, of righteousness and of judgment will be guided by that which Christ is, and by that which he has accomplished.

Faith in the Exalted Christ and the Hope of Glory

Oh, let our thought be focused upon him in his exalted glory, in that place which he occupies in accordance with the determinate plan and undeclared law, exalted to the right hand of power. We see him not now, because the heavens must receive him until the times of the restitution of all things.

But let us have that faith, that faith generated by the Holy Spirit, that faith that is implanted in our hearts, and that faith that is sealed by the witness of the Holy Spirit's exalted glory. And let it be with us that we reach or be to us all, and in all to us, above all that can be thought precious to us as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

And then we'll come to effective fruition, this work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Convict the world, and we shall enter into the possession of that inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, and that paideth not away, which Christ by his word has paid.

Oh Lord, we pray that thou wouldst bless to us thy word, may it be sealed upon our hearts, may it be implanted in our minds, so that we shall go forth embracing the glory of the Redeemer, that we shall go forth with this inestimable possession, that Christ is for the hope of glory.

May he ever be fulfilled in our interest, in our thought, in our affection, in our purpose. He may be all, and in all to us, and that we may count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, for his name's sake.

Amen.