And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
When He comes, the Holy Spirit reproves and convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. He is the Comforter, the third person of the Godhead come in full divine power as Christ's representative to carry on Christ's work, reproving directly and unsparingly rather than praising or flattering. Sin means unbelief in Christ in a practical way, righteousness means Christ goes to the Father and is seen no more, and judgment means the prince of this world is judged and stands judged. He does this work upon soul, mind, heart, conscience and will through the channel of truth, exposing guilt and presenting Christ's sacrifice, so that if the sinner responds there is godly sorrow, repentance, confession, faith, regeneration and a sanctified obedient life. This conviction must be asked for, submitted to and not resisted lest the heart harden in darkness, and it is carried forward through every colaborer with Christ whose human effort is joined to divine agency.
Promise and Setting
The verse distinctly specifies the office and the great object of the Holy Spirit's coming, that it is He who reproves and convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. That convicting work means exposing sin as unbelief in Christ in a practical way, revealing righteousness through Christ's going to the Father where He is seen no more by the disciples, and declaring judgment because the prince of this world is judged and stands judged. If the sinner responds to that quickening influence he is brought to repentance and aroused to the importance of obeying the divine requirements. Every person is to be worked by this power as part of God's provision to help people overcome and be saved.
Christ spoke this as part of His farewell words to the disciples in the upper chamber, recorded in John 13-17 and especially John 14-16. Those words of comfort, counsel, and prayer were given to keep their hearts from being troubled. They were spoken to prepare, strengthen, encourage, and give hope and courage for trials, hatred, affliction, and temptation ahead, imparting courage to stand fast in the most trying hour. The disciples did not fully understand them until after the resurrection, but afterward repeated them to strengthen one another and to comfort believers through their testimony. They belong to instruction about God's commandment-keeping people as a distinct people and about the gospel's power to win converts through transformation.
He spoke it near the close of His earthly ministry as a wonderful trust, standing in view and in the shadow of the shameful cross. He had full realization of the load of guilt to be laid upon Him as Sin-bearer and of the guilt that made His sacrifice necessary to save the world from complete ruin. Yet His greatest anxiety was for His disciples, to find solace for them in the coming of the Comforter. He looked forward to the Spirit's coming and felt it His privilege to share His relief with them.
It was expedient for Him to go away and return to the Father, for unless He departed the Comforter would not come. Having departed and ascended to take His place as Advocate, He sends the Holy Spirit in His name as His representative to carry on His work through His merits with divine power. That agency was made possible and purchased by His death and sacrifice on the cross, to reform and renew the mass of humanity held under Satan's sway of sin and death. The light and power received at the center of the work is to be communicated to those in the highways and hedges and carried to others.
The promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when, after the ascension and before the New Testament was written or a gospel sermon preached, the Spirit was given upon the praying disciples. Then the Spirit's power enabled them to speak to people from many nations, showing the gospel was not confined to one country or region, and their testimony filled Jerusalem with teaching. Hundreds were brought to believe the gospel, and three thousand were converted in illustration of the converting power of the Word. The same promised Spirit is to come upon people now as He came then, opening eyes now blinded and causing scales to fall from them. Through Spirit-sanctified preaching the world is still convicted of sin, sinners converted, and people brought the righteousness of Christ, with Christ Himself present as the unseen worker whose field is the world.
The teaching belongs to instruction needed in every home, church, and setting, with the words of John 15-17 needed in every home as a message from God about how to receive Christ's grace. Refusing the conditions Christ sets leaves people unready to stand before Him when He comes in glory. Understanding His office with new enlightenment brings strength and assurance to the true believer as long as time shall last, with rest and peace and completeness in Christ and all blessings. It is a theme of encouragement to be kept before the people and presented in every discourse, while ministry without that divine agency joined to human effort cannot accomplish its appointed work or uplift humanity.
Spirit Who Reproves
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, and He comes with no modified energy but in the fullness of divine power. Evil had been accumulating for centuries, and He alone is competent to meet, restrain and oppose the essence of evil and the satanic captivity working in every way, convincing the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment in order to save it. That office work is carried on through every colaborer with Christ in God's order, as human agents obey divine direction and rely on the Spirit rather than worldly counsel or their own power, that the world may recognize truth and the reality of the eternal world.
He comes as Christ's representative and messenger to carry on Christ's work in and through Christ's merits with divine power, made possible by the sacrifice on the cross. After Christ ascended and took His place as Advocate, He sent the promised Spirit in answer to prayer, and Christ Himself is present as the unseen worker, opening hearts and doors so that words find entrance. Through people controlled by the Spirit He carries that work to others to reform and renovate the mass of humanity held under Satan's sway of sin and death, converting, enlightening and sanctifying, endowing human agents with supernatural power and instructing the ignorant in the mysteries of the kingdom. No picture or human artistry can do for the soul what He does in making impressions that lead to conversion, constantly drawing attention to Calvary, unfolding God's love, opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul, and making effectual what the Redeemer wrought by humiliation, temptation, conflict, and dying the Just for the unjust.
He is both Comforter and Reprover, the Spirit of truth and not deception. The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know the Author of truth, while believers know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them, given to those who love Jesus and keep His commandments to abide forever. His comforting does not make Christ's service unattractive or joyless, for the divine promises give comfort as well as conviction.
His work is to reprove, not to praise, flatter, exalt, or build up mistaken ideas. That reproof is direct and unsparing, not smooth speech shaped to please the world, not tame lifeless sermonizing that meets the world's standard and catches the world's ideas, nor smooth things prophesying deceit, but faithful testimony with a certain sound that reproves, rebukes and exhorts with doctrine. He does not flatter people or work according to human planning, direction or control, and often moves in unexpected ways, exposing sin and calling people to hear and obey and to exchange their own unrighteousness for the pure righteousness of Christ.
As the Spirit of truth He guides into all truth, does not speak of Himself but speaks whatever He hears, shows things to come, and glorifies Jesus by receiving what belongs to Jesus and showing it to believers. Christ's faithful workers share in that work by giving a clear message that reproves sin and encourages those who forsake sin and are converted. He also acts as appointed judge and guide, teaching, reminding, witnessing, and giving evidence that God's word is sure with light and protection to the faithful.
Sin Righteousness Judgment
Of sin means not believing on Christ, not in mere profession but in a practical way, and the exposure reaches many things men do not call sin yet stand registered as sin in heaven. That unbelief has selfishness and covetousness at the foundation of all sins, showing itself in boasting, self-sufficiency, self-applause, flattering of self, lip service, pride, impatience, impure thoughts and speech, grasping large wages and depriving others of God-given rights, departing from the Word and from the spirit and practice of truth, and seeking to establish one's own righteousness. Many are not convicted of this because selfishness is part of their nature and they do not listen to the reprovings of the Spirit, holding a false estimate of merit that gives no standing before God while their work remains poor, finite, tainted performances and blemished obedience that offends God.
Of righteousness means because Christ goes to His Father and is seen no more by His disciples, and His return to the Father reveals righteousness and carries on the controversy with Satan since the fall until the gospel is proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It also means the moral standard presented to awaken to eternal truth, the sinner's need and neglected righteousness brought home to the heart, and the righteousness that comes by faith in Christ. That is the pure unadulterated righteousness of Christ to be received in exchange for human unrighteousness and blemished obedience, for human self-righteousness is unrighteousness, and to the repentant hungering and thirsting for righteousness the Lamb of God that takes away sin is revealed.
Of judgment means because the prince of this world is judged and stands judged, bringing condemnation to the world and bringing coming judgment to view. The conviction comes by distinct rays of truth shining on the pathway and impressing the heart with the solemn realities of the judgment, the terror of appearing in guilt before the Searcher of hearts, and the sense of the righteousness of Jehovah. True discernment of sin, righteousness and judgment to come depends on heart purity, for those who hold the truth without being sanctified by it, with impure, earthly, sensual hearts controlled by the spirit of the world, fail to see sin in its true character, fail to have correct views of righteousness and of coming judgment, and cannot commune with the only true God nor know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. When that light is refused, unbelief of the truth is what convicts in the day of judgment, as with Capernaum, and those who resist may fail to recognize that false ideas about the Christian life have led them into spiritual darkness until, remaining open, they feel their need and plead for mercy.
How Conviction Reaches Hearts
The Spirit does His office work upon soul, mind, heart, conscience, judgment and will, exposing guilt, awakening conscience, shining into the secret chambers of the soul and making manifest hidden darkness. Truth is His instrument, and when truth is brought home the mind is convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment, with deep regret for past guilt, remaining in darkness, dishonoring God, breaking His holy law and refusing Christ as personal Saviour, leading to the question what must be done to be saved. That conviction is Christ Himself working upon the heart, where Satan and his agents are then sure to be present to introduce doubt, questioning and confusion and to oppose the law of God. He does not force the will, for each person remains free to choose for or against truth and is responsible for receiving or rejecting it, and people can resist Him even while ministers' words, actions and conduct influence the decision. Without this divine work no one can repent or become ready to come to Christ, yet no one need wait until feeling repentant, but may submit to the drawing, respond to the quickening influence, and move toward Christ in order to repent.
He works only through the channel of truth, and wherever the Word of God is faithfully preached, read in Bible readings, taught step by step, or spread by the printed page, He accompanies it with power to quicken conscience, press truth home, establish truth point by point and end resistance. God opens the heart to receive the Word, faith is His gift, and the Spirit brings previously ununderstood truth home with living conviction, impresses minds and characters, and leads the will to submit to God. Teaching is therefore to make sin, righteousness and coming judgment plain and to help hearers see what they must do to be saved, for only so does the ministry of the Word become effective in conviction and conversion. Human learning, skill, display and outward representations make only temporary impression, while this constant working of divine agency is indispensable as the transforming power that alone can save the soul.
He constantly draws attention to Calvary, presenting the benefits of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, unfolding the love of God, and opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul. To the repentant sinner hungering and thirsting for righteousness He reveals the Lamb of God that takes away sin, given as a regenerating agency to make effectual the salvation wrought by the Redeemer's death. With the person's consent He expels sin from the soul, breaks the shackles of sin-slavery, subdues and rejects the government of Satan, lifts the mind from degradation and fastens it upon eternal reality. Sin can triumph only where the liberty of the soul is extinguished, and when consent is given the mind is brought under a new law, the royal law of liberty, through Christ's merits exercising the noblest powers of being. As truth reaches the heart Christ draws the person to Himself and transforms the nature.
He comes as a heavenly Guest and the Lord's messenger to convince of sin and to soften hearts hardened by long estrangement from God, making repentance possible and drawing people toward Jesus to submit and receive Him who reveals God's love and the possibilities open to believers. He broods over youth even during school hours to open all understanding and to give wisdom and knowledge in all lines of study to be used for the glory of God, and to reveal the great love with which God has loved them as His heritage. When hearts are cold and dark with no desire for His presence His light is withdrawn, so educators need the higher education before they are qualified to be teachers and guides of youth.
This conviction comes in the inner life where the Word of God, the bread of life, is eaten, studied and obeyed to subdue every unholy trait, awakening faith that works by love to Christ, conforming every part of the being to Him so God can use the person to do His will, with power working from within outwardly to communicate received truth to others. Studying God's works in nature can also be a means through which He impresses spiritual truth on the heart, a conviction deeper than logical reasoning, unless a person has become too darkened to recognize God. He is present in gatherings, camp-meetings and preaching to convict backslidden believers and poor souls out of Christ, moving them to come forward to seek the Lord and accept Christ, with over one hundred responding in earnest testimonies, heartfelt desires to settle into the work, to live out the truth and be sanctified by it, and confessions made with contrition. He is present in the foot-washing service to convince of sin, righteousness and judgment, calling participants to examine hearts and relationships with fellow believers, put away wrongs, bitterness and strife, and serve one another in humility.
He convinces of particular traits, giving closer acquaintance with objectionable character and deeper consciousness of cherished wickedness within, until the evil of the natural disposition is hated and despised. He presses the sinner under the law's condemnation until the soul awakens to ask how to be saved, convincing the world of sin as transgression of God's law, which is pure and binding upon all who live and must be reverenced and obeyed as the expression of God's character. He convicts of sins committed every day even while professing to be Christians, presenting the claims of God and Christ's thirty-three years dwelling on earth as the example all must follow in walking as He walked if they expect to enter the kingdom. He convicts of indifference toward worldwide missionary work when fields stand open and God has supplied rich grace and divine power for the work.
Repentance and New Life
When the sinner responds to the quickening influence, the threefold reproof of sin and righteousness and judgment opens the eyes to understand the perilous position, makes the conscience smart under the application of the Word, and shows the self as God sees it in imperfection and spiritual poverty. That conviction exposes unbelief toward Christ and the need exposed by the Word, bringing the sense that nothing good dwells in self and that no righteous act can be done without the Spirit's work. So answered, it arouses to the importance of obeying the divine requirements and leads to godly sorrow, repentance toward God, confession, and faith in Jesus Christ.
To the repentant sinner hungering and thirsting for righteousness the Spirit reveals the Lamb of God that takes away sin and inspires faith in the only One who can save from sin. He is given as the regenerating agency to make effectual the salvation wrought by the Redeemer's death, humiliation, temptation, conflict, and dying the Just for the unjust, constantly drawing attention to the offering on Calvary, unfolding the love of God, and opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul. This conviction gives a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and the terror of appearing in guilt and uncleanness before the Searcher of hearts, driving sinners to cry for deliverance and to see that nothing but the merits of Christ can atone for transgression and reconcile man to God. With faith and humility they accept the Lamb and receive through the blood of Jesus remission of sins that are past, rejoicing in pardon, cleansing, clothing with salvation, and the love of the heavenly Father rather than despairing under guilt and defilement against His holiness.
Conviction alone does not bring a person to Christ, for truth must be applied directly to the heart, Christ's claims made plain, and the hearer urged to decide for the Lord while opportunity remains. The sinner cannot produce repentance or make himself ready to come to Christ, and cannot repent without this divine work, yet need not wait until feeling repentant before coming to Jesus. He may submit to the Saviour's drawing and move toward Christ in order to repent, casting the helpless soul on Christ where Christ can work for him until the soul is made penitent and brokenhearted and pardon comes. Calling that draws the sinner is distinct from justification, and repentance with brokenness of heart as well as forgiveness are procured only through the atoning sacrifice, with pardon given to none but the penitent.
The Spirit then withdraws the affections from temporal earthly perishable things and fills the soul with earnest desire for holiness and the immortal imperishable inheritance. He recreates, refines, and sanctifies the whole being in those willing to be molded, fitting them as members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, takes the things of God and stamps them on the soul, guides into all truth, and makes the way of life so plain that none need err. Through the Spirit Christ lives in the powers of the soul, producing obedience to God's commandments and a continuing current of joy that counteracts Satan's influence toward disobedience and enables firm standing against every species of idolatry to exalt the Lord alone.
This was seen when Saul yielded to the convicting power, recognized the mistakes of his life and the far-reaching claims of God's law, and saw that confidence in being justified by good works was misplaced. He confessed his unworthiness and pleaded for acceptance through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour unto pardon. The Spirit convinces of sin to lead the repenting believing sinner to Jesus through faith in His blood for forgiveness, imparts renewing of the mind unto holiness, and brings the believing pardoned one to sit with Christ in heavenly places under the sanctifying influence of divine grace.
Genuine fruit must follow, for brief sorrow or prayers for mercy do not prove conversion unless the work leads to a changed life that resists temptation and follows Christ. The ministry of the Word brought home to the heart through Bible readings and step-by-step teaching produces true conversion seen in breaking off tobacco, tea, coffee, and liquor and becoming health reformers, and in confessing and forsaking evil despite inherited tendencies. Even little children can be convicted as they hear spiritual truth unto conversion and unto the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and sinners, drunkards, backsliders, lost sheep once with believers but gone out, those in contention, and those long absent and unready for appearing in glory are drawn to confession, contrition, return, and forgiveness through earnest seeking, prayer, personal visiting, and special efforts, with none who sought the Lord seeking in vain.
Resisting or Receiving Reproof
Enlightenment for readiness is to be sought day by day, and conviction is to be asked for in prayer, received by submitting to God's way rather than dictating how He answers, and met without discouragement but with determined work toward the right. With the person's consent that work changes the way, the spirit, and the self-set standard, putting self to death and putting off an envious, jealous spirit of evil-surmising and hatred. In its place Christ's life is formed, doing the blessing work He did with sanctified courtesy, amiability, and grace of love, preparing to overcome and sit with Him upon His throne. A general belief in the Spirit's work is not acceptance of it, for lasting reform requires facing bondage to sin, turning from particular sins, giving the self to Christ, and seeking His power to do God's will, lest selfishness grow stronger and light received be cherished without complete surrender.
The natural heart does not desire this reproof of sin, neglected righteousness, and judgment it tries to forget, but resists conviction and seeks excuses to quiet the conscience. A genuine experience of truth includes seeing the sinfulness of sin, feeling need when truth reaches an open heart, pleading for mercy, and discerning the cause of the condition instead of being led by false ideas about Christian life into spiritual darkness. The heart should stay open as God speaks through His Word.
Reproof continually exposes sin and exalts righteousness, revealing helplessness to do good without Christ and dependence on God, and it does not flatter or conform to human plans but calls for hearing and obeying in exchange of human unrighteousness for Christ's pure righteousness. Rejecting that light dulls spiritual perception, and repeated resistance leaves a person hardened and in darkness. Long resistance leavens the religious experience, blinds for years, clouds judgment, confuses the senses, perverts principles through selfishness, and makes it hard to have eyes anointed and to distinguish the voice of God from the deceiving voice of the enemy. Insulting the Spirit and rejecting light shuts light out and leaves sins that were pointed out still remaining, even grasping large wages and depriving others of God-given rights while departing from the Word, the spirit and practice of truth, standing under Satan's banner on the brink of a precipice as blind leaders of the blind. Continued resistance hardens in revolt, as shown by the people before the Flood and the inhabitants of Sodom, whose judgments revealed incorrigibility. If resistance is given up, the Spirit strives, anoints the eyes to see, brings consciousness of guiltiness, thorough conversion and renovation, and awakens from paralysis to a sense of lost time and lost opportunities, because it is not God's will that any perish but that all have everlasting life.
Those once convicted who turn from light into darkness become capable of the worst crimes with degraded perception. Herod was once so convicted that he very nearly became a disciple of John, whom he knew to be a true prophet, yet at decision he turned away to gratify revenge by putting John to death, and his conscience became far less sensitive than when he trembled at Herodias's request, his moral perceptions more and more degraded by licentious life until his sins appeared but trifles to him. Pilate likewise, as Jesus questioned him, was led to examine his own heart and saw his soul stirred by conviction, though pride arose in response. In Nazareth prejudice led people to reject the great Convictor's testimony that Jesus was the Anointed One, and under Satan's influence they turned against Jesus toward throwing Him over a precipice. So the leaders who rejected Jesus continued to be convicted yet resisted influence and misrepresented the work, choosing deception instead.
Sin deadens moral perception and leaves the wrongdoer in partial blindness to his own sin, so that without yielding to convicting power he remains in blindness and does not realize the enormity of transgression. Without yielding, confessions are not sincere and earnest but add apology and excuse to every acknowledgment of guilt, blaming circumstances for the course reproved and persisting in stubborn self-justification, which turns away the only means by which God can work to save a person from himself, willfully separates from God, and cuts off divine help and guidance until return by confession. Genuine repentance yields to conviction and confesses with no excuse for sin and no attempt at self-justification, discerning defects of character and realizing enormity of evil committed. Christ's servants must cooperate by warning erring ones of peril and teaching them to acknowledge the justice of God's corrections, that others may fear, while false sympathy that excuses sin, blinds eyes to danger, and lulls to rest on the brink of destruction directly opposes and hinders the Spirit, makes its givers partakers in guilt, and leaves fearful responsibility for impenitence and ruin.
Bringing conviction about wrongdoing, God's right standard, and coming reckoning, and forgiving sin and removing guilt, belong to God alone, so no minister or apostle by himself takes guilt away or passes final judgment; the Spirit convicts people of their own sins, not of other people's sins, and no man is placed on the judgment seat to judge his brother and define the character of his sin. Correcting others, especially brethren in faith, requires wisdom from God and growing experience to call spiritual things by right names instead of judging with a beam in one's own eye while trying to remove the mote from a brother's eye. Human agents used as reprovers must speak plain truth, live it, and maintain it even when placed unpleasantly and misjudged, with words of encouragement even in reproof, and comfort is left to follow plain truth, for there is no comfort in error or a lie and satisfaction only in truth which makes free. They must not speak truth in a way that does no good, bring in temperament, conceal truth to avoid displeasing friend or neighbor, suffer wrong upon a brother, or pacify and neglect to stand firmly for fear of offending, lest they repeat Aaron's unfaithfulness in not plainly declaring truth which led to the golden calf and further falsehood. When truth is presented, truth and the Spirit act as reprover and judge convicting souls in darkness of unbelief, and human speakers must not take that place with unguarded expressions, cutting remarks, accusing and condemnatory words, or severe statements about unbelievers that bruise and wound the soul and turn an inquirer into an opponent; love must prevail and every discourse be cleared of harshness so none can call the speaker unkind or severe.
That reproving work proves those loyal to God and His truth will not have friendship of the world, which stands as His enemies. Its reproof exposes errors and calls for surrender to God, and those accepting present truth must yield self-will and let the divine Spirit break old habits and hereditary and cultivated traits, molding them into vessels fit for honorable use, lest resisting leave them in darkness. Receiving truth and drawing near to God brings deeper awareness of sin, righteousness, and coming judgment, purifying the heart from selfishness and worldliness and awakening tender concern for those needing help.
Sharing Work Through People
The reproving of the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment is to work every person, and it is carried forward through every colaborer with Christ as human instrumentalities serving in God's order. The Spirit works through messengers sanctified by Him to proclaim the gospel, and His power in their witness convinces of sin, converts sinners, and brings them the righteousness of Christ, for Christ's field is the world and church members are called to take part and use their resources fully. All converting efficiency is of Christ through the Spirit and human workers can do nothing alone, but when every member lives the Word and presents Christ's words in simplicity with settled intelligent knowledge of its requirements rather than working merely upon feelings, heavenly agencies unite with them and the Spirit becomes their efficiency to bring conviction, make truth divinely real to draw sinners to the light, deepen conviction as believers reflect God's glory, and cause truth to shine with power.
Without divine agency joined to human effort ministry cannot do its appointed work or uplift humanity. Even education, knowledge of Scripture, and skill in presenting it cannot make gospel preaching successful, and convicting a soul and bringing one soul to repentance is the deep moving of God so that all human effort combined is weakness and falls infinitely short, with even the deep learning and restless energy of a Paul and the eloquence and talent of an Apollos able to do nothing alone. The frail human instrument is nothing in itself but worked by the Spirit can accomplish much, for the Lord Himself is the worker and man is of value when soul, body, and spirit cooperate with divine power, while God communicates truth through the human channel and will do nothing without it. The Spirit gives weight to the message of the physically weak preacher so that people are converted, stands as the unseen worker behind the minister giving efficiency to gospel efforts and bringing conviction and conversion, and must be sought in daily converting power for earnest personal work to bear much fruit. At Pentecost this produced thousands converted in a day and moved them to walk in humble footsteps doing the work given them, as believers' lips speak Christ's words and their voice becomes the talent to convince with the law of God as subject and the truths Christ dwelt on as weapons learned daily, sanctified and subdued by the Spirit to be pleasant, clear, distinct and fervent so speech becomes the sword of the Spirit impressing hearers.
Those who speak and write the truths of God must have the endowment of the Spirit or they will make great mistakes. The Spirit works only through the channel of truth upon the human agent, and this constant working of divine agency is indispensable as the transforming power God alone can impart for saving the soul. God opens the heart to receive the Word and faith is His gift, and the Spirit must bring the gospel seed to life in the heart. Accompanying truth to the heart, He is the only effective teacher of divine truth who teaches divine truth, awakens the conscience, transforms the life, and must bring truth home to the heart for it to quicken conscience and have effect, since without His continual presence and help human learning or skill cannot make anyone a channel of divine light. He came upon the praying disciples after the ascension before the New Testament was written or a gospel sermon preached, and their testimony filled Jerusalem with teaching.
Faithful workers share this reproving work by giving a clear decided testimony in behalf of righteousness and truth, with a message that reproves sin and encourages those who forsake sin and are converted. That work requires a living testimony with a certain sound, not tame lifeless sermonizing that meets the world's standard and catches the world's ideas, not smooth things prophesying deceit or concealing truth to avoid displeasing, as Aaron's unfaithfulness showed, but faithful preaching that reproves, rebukes, and exhorts with all longsuffering and doctrine. Correcting others, especially brethren in the faith, requires wisdom from God and growing experience in spiritual things to call spiritual things by their right names instead of judging with a beam in one's own eye, for no man is placed on the judgment seat to judge his brother and define his sin. Teaching should make conviction of sin, righteousness, and coming judgment plain and help hearers see what they must do to be saved, and this conviction accompanies practical care and the opening of God's Word to prepare people to come to Jesus the great Healer and Redeemer, since the follower cannot change another's heart but can convince of the truth that defines duty and convicts of sin. For the receiver the Spirit gives the mind of Christ and makes him a faithful worker, bringing self into subjection, repressing evil inclination, refusing to excuse faults, and cutting away evil in faith and prayer, and when He sees that determined effort man is not left to struggle alone for mastery for Christ is with him to help in every true purpose and battle with the enemy, while the Spirit also guides into truth and shows things to come.
This reproving work has been done and must continue to be carried on in every church in the land. It becomes more needed the more nearly the closing scenes of history are approached, when Satan's work becomes more pronounced and every species of deception is used to divert the mind and resources from God, so that even good projects can hinder more essential work when they leave less support for workers and new fields. God sends the Comforter to warn His people when they fall into apostasy and to rebuke backsliding, especially when pride, vanity, extravagance, and idolatry follow separation from the divine Leader, and when they gratefully recognize and value His love they receive comfort and joy. His office as Christ's representative is a theme of encouragement to be kept before the people and presented in every discourse, and comprehending it brings all blessings and makes complete in Christ. In this period the work must not be haphazard, for Satan and his agencies play the game of life for souls and plan to steal away true conviction, and not discerning the signs of the times leaves souls exposed to losing it.
The most blessed work belongs not to preachers only but to all believers according to ability, including canvassers, teachers, physicians, parents, and children. The Spirit impresses conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment on hearts when truths are presented humbly by workers whose own hearts are filled and imbued with them, and He is present to impress hearts and give real and lasting success in directing minds to solemn truths for this time, which outward display and desire for worldly advantage cannot secure. Accepting the Spirit's work in conversion also requires accepting His reproving work unto repentance, and teachers and students need practical knowledge of it so they can recognize its cautions and the Shepherd's voice, especially when professing Christians are unbelieving or educators mislead those who trust them.
As workers sow in unselfish service, live in close connection with God with self crucified, and present truth in Christ's love, humility, and simplicity, the Spirit impresses minds and characters, enlightens understanding, leads wills to submit, draws to God, separates a people on eternal truth, and turns from darkness to light and from disobedience to righteousness. The world is warned as those who believe the truth are sanctified by it and live by high and holy principles, making clear the difference between those who keep God's commandments and those who trample them. As people simply present truth from Scripture or experience, He brings previously ununderstood truth home with living conviction, implants convictions through the word, awakens moral powers to restore the fallen and turn them back to God, and ministers as human instruments may cooperate by pointing hearers to Jesus or turn them away by their influence. When those preaching the truth are not sanctified by it God's presence and power to convict sinners and cleanse from unrighteousness is not manifest and their work is hindered.
The world must receive evidence and be convinced of sin. The Lord receives those who repent and condemns those who despise His mercy, His hand remaining stretched out to save all who come, and those who know the truth are accountable for their knowledge and are to be light-bearers to the world working with God to help the church act in unity to do the truth. The Spirit enables Christ's servants to represent Him and to turn people from darkness and Satan's power to God, so they may repent, receive forgiveness, and share the inheritance of those sanctified by faith in Jesus. His drawing touches the heart opened to the Divine Spirit, meets the heart's yearning for peace and happiness by turning it to look to Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, gives appreciation of the value of the soul, convinces that the commandments are a life-and-death question, and brings a heart that responds to the touch of God and always sees light in His light when His life is within, yet His striving is extinguished if one walks away to avoid the cross, as seen when some at the meeting entered a new deeper experience while others did not feel their need.
When He comes, the Holy Spirit reproves and convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. He is the Comforter, the third person of the Godhead come in full divine power as Christ's representative to carry on Christ's work, reproving directly and unsparingly rather than praising or flattering. Sin means unbelief in Christ in a practical way, righteousness means Christ goes to the Father and is seen no more, and judgment means the prince of this world is judged and stands judged. He does this work upon soul, mind, heart, conscience and will through the channel of truth, exposing guilt and presenting Christ's sacrifice, so that if the sinner responds there is godly sorrow, repentance, confession, faith, regeneration and a sanctified obedient life. This conviction must be asked for, submitted to and not resisted lest the heart harden in darkness, and it is carried forward through every colaborer with Christ whose human effort is joined to divine agency.
Promise and Setting
The verse distinctly specifies the office and the great object of the Holy Spirit's coming, that it is He who reproves and convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. That convicting work means exposing sin as unbelief in Christ in a practical way, revealing righteousness through Christ's going to the Father where He is seen no more by the disciples, and declaring judgment because the prince of this world is judged and stands judged. If the sinner responds to that quickening influence he is brought to repentance and aroused to the importance of obeying the divine requirements. Every person is to be worked by this power as part of God's provision to help people overcome and be saved.
Christ spoke this as part of His farewell words to the disciples in the upper chamber, recorded in John 13-17 and especially John 14-16. Those words of comfort, counsel, and prayer were given to keep their hearts from being troubled. They were spoken to prepare, strengthen, encourage, and give hope and courage for trials, hatred, affliction, and temptation ahead, imparting courage to stand fast in the most trying hour. The disciples did not fully understand them until after the resurrection, but afterward repeated them to strengthen one another and to comfort believers through their testimony. They belong to instruction about God's commandment-keeping people as a distinct people and about the gospel's power to win converts through transformation.
He spoke it near the close of His earthly ministry as a wonderful trust, standing in view and in the shadow of the shameful cross. He had full realization of the load of guilt to be laid upon Him as Sin-bearer and of the guilt that made His sacrifice necessary to save the world from complete ruin. Yet His greatest anxiety was for His disciples, to find solace for them in the coming of the Comforter. He looked forward to the Spirit's coming and felt it His privilege to share His relief with them.
It was expedient for Him to go away and return to the Father, for unless He departed the Comforter would not come. Having departed and ascended to take His place as Advocate, He sends the Holy Spirit in His name as His representative to carry on His work through His merits with divine power. That agency was made possible and purchased by His death and sacrifice on the cross, to reform and renew the mass of humanity held under Satan's sway of sin and death. The light and power received at the center of the work is to be communicated to those in the highways and hedges and carried to others.
The promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when, after the ascension and before the New Testament was written or a gospel sermon preached, the Spirit was given upon the praying disciples. Then the Spirit's power enabled them to speak to people from many nations, showing the gospel was not confined to one country or region, and their testimony filled Jerusalem with teaching. Hundreds were brought to believe the gospel, and three thousand were converted in illustration of the converting power of the Word. The same promised Spirit is to come upon people now as He came then, opening eyes now blinded and causing scales to fall from them. Through Spirit-sanctified preaching the world is still convicted of sin, sinners converted, and people brought the righteousness of Christ, with Christ Himself present as the unseen worker whose field is the world.
The teaching belongs to instruction needed in every home, church, and setting, with the words of John 15-17 needed in every home as a message from God about how to receive Christ's grace. Refusing the conditions Christ sets leaves people unready to stand before Him when He comes in glory. Understanding His office with new enlightenment brings strength and assurance to the true believer as long as time shall last, with rest and peace and completeness in Christ and all blessings. It is a theme of encouragement to be kept before the people and presented in every discourse, while ministry without that divine agency joined to human effort cannot accomplish its appointed work or uplift humanity.
Spirit Who Reproves
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, and He comes with no modified energy but in the fullness of divine power. Evil had been accumulating for centuries, and He alone is competent to meet, restrain and oppose the essence of evil and the satanic captivity working in every way, convincing the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment in order to save it. That office work is carried on through every colaborer with Christ in God's order, as human agents obey divine direction and rely on the Spirit rather than worldly counsel or their own power, that the world may recognize truth and the reality of the eternal world.
He comes as Christ's representative and messenger to carry on Christ's work in and through Christ's merits with divine power, made possible by the sacrifice on the cross. After Christ ascended and took His place as Advocate, He sent the promised Spirit in answer to prayer, and Christ Himself is present as the unseen worker, opening hearts and doors so that words find entrance. Through people controlled by the Spirit He carries that work to others to reform and renovate the mass of humanity held under Satan's sway of sin and death, converting, enlightening and sanctifying, endowing human agents with supernatural power and instructing the ignorant in the mysteries of the kingdom. No picture or human artistry can do for the soul what He does in making impressions that lead to conversion, constantly drawing attention to Calvary, unfolding God's love, opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul, and making effectual what the Redeemer wrought by humiliation, temptation, conflict, and dying the Just for the unjust.
He is both Comforter and Reprover, the Spirit of truth and not deception. The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know the Author of truth, while believers know Him because He dwells with them and shall be in them, given to those who love Jesus and keep His commandments to abide forever. His comforting does not make Christ's service unattractive or joyless, for the divine promises give comfort as well as conviction.
His work is to reprove, not to praise, flatter, exalt, or build up mistaken ideas. That reproof is direct and unsparing, not smooth speech shaped to please the world, not tame lifeless sermonizing that meets the world's standard and catches the world's ideas, nor smooth things prophesying deceit, but faithful testimony with a certain sound that reproves, rebukes and exhorts with doctrine. He does not flatter people or work according to human planning, direction or control, and often moves in unexpected ways, exposing sin and calling people to hear and obey and to exchange their own unrighteousness for the pure righteousness of Christ.
As the Spirit of truth He guides into all truth, does not speak of Himself but speaks whatever He hears, shows things to come, and glorifies Jesus by receiving what belongs to Jesus and showing it to believers. Christ's faithful workers share in that work by giving a clear message that reproves sin and encourages those who forsake sin and are converted. He also acts as appointed judge and guide, teaching, reminding, witnessing, and giving evidence that God's word is sure with light and protection to the faithful.
Sin Righteousness Judgment
Of sin means not believing on Christ, not in mere profession but in a practical way, and the exposure reaches many things men do not call sin yet stand registered as sin in heaven. That unbelief has selfishness and covetousness at the foundation of all sins, showing itself in boasting, self-sufficiency, self-applause, flattering of self, lip service, pride, impatience, impure thoughts and speech, grasping large wages and depriving others of God-given rights, departing from the Word and from the spirit and practice of truth, and seeking to establish one's own righteousness. Many are not convicted of this because selfishness is part of their nature and they do not listen to the reprovings of the Spirit, holding a false estimate of merit that gives no standing before God while their work remains poor, finite, tainted performances and blemished obedience that offends God.
Of righteousness means because Christ goes to His Father and is seen no more by His disciples, and His return to the Father reveals righteousness and carries on the controversy with Satan since the fall until the gospel is proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It also means the moral standard presented to awaken to eternal truth, the sinner's need and neglected righteousness brought home to the heart, and the righteousness that comes by faith in Christ. That is the pure unadulterated righteousness of Christ to be received in exchange for human unrighteousness and blemished obedience, for human self-righteousness is unrighteousness, and to the repentant hungering and thirsting for righteousness the Lamb of God that takes away sin is revealed.
Of judgment means because the prince of this world is judged and stands judged, bringing condemnation to the world and bringing coming judgment to view. The conviction comes by distinct rays of truth shining on the pathway and impressing the heart with the solemn realities of the judgment, the terror of appearing in guilt before the Searcher of hearts, and the sense of the righteousness of Jehovah. True discernment of sin, righteousness and judgment to come depends on heart purity, for those who hold the truth without being sanctified by it, with impure, earthly, sensual hearts controlled by the spirit of the world, fail to see sin in its true character, fail to have correct views of righteousness and of coming judgment, and cannot commune with the only true God nor know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. When that light is refused, unbelief of the truth is what convicts in the day of judgment, as with Capernaum, and those who resist may fail to recognize that false ideas about the Christian life have led them into spiritual darkness until, remaining open, they feel their need and plead for mercy.
How Conviction Reaches Hearts
The Spirit does His office work upon soul, mind, heart, conscience, judgment and will, exposing guilt, awakening conscience, shining into the secret chambers of the soul and making manifest hidden darkness. Truth is His instrument, and when truth is brought home the mind is convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment, with deep regret for past guilt, remaining in darkness, dishonoring God, breaking His holy law and refusing Christ as personal Saviour, leading to the question what must be done to be saved. That conviction is Christ Himself working upon the heart, where Satan and his agents are then sure to be present to introduce doubt, questioning and confusion and to oppose the law of God. He does not force the will, for each person remains free to choose for or against truth and is responsible for receiving or rejecting it, and people can resist Him even while ministers' words, actions and conduct influence the decision. Without this divine work no one can repent or become ready to come to Christ, yet no one need wait until feeling repentant, but may submit to the drawing, respond to the quickening influence, and move toward Christ in order to repent.
He works only through the channel of truth, and wherever the Word of God is faithfully preached, read in Bible readings, taught step by step, or spread by the printed page, He accompanies it with power to quicken conscience, press truth home, establish truth point by point and end resistance. God opens the heart to receive the Word, faith is His gift, and the Spirit brings previously ununderstood truth home with living conviction, impresses minds and characters, and leads the will to submit to God. Teaching is therefore to make sin, righteousness and coming judgment plain and to help hearers see what they must do to be saved, for only so does the ministry of the Word become effective in conviction and conversion. Human learning, skill, display and outward representations make only temporary impression, while this constant working of divine agency is indispensable as the transforming power that alone can save the soul.
He constantly draws attention to Calvary, presenting the benefits of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, unfolding the love of God, and opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul. To the repentant sinner hungering and thirsting for righteousness He reveals the Lamb of God that takes away sin, given as a regenerating agency to make effectual the salvation wrought by the Redeemer's death. With the person's consent He expels sin from the soul, breaks the shackles of sin-slavery, subdues and rejects the government of Satan, lifts the mind from degradation and fastens it upon eternal reality. Sin can triumph only where the liberty of the soul is extinguished, and when consent is given the mind is brought under a new law, the royal law of liberty, through Christ's merits exercising the noblest powers of being. As truth reaches the heart Christ draws the person to Himself and transforms the nature.
He comes as a heavenly Guest and the Lord's messenger to convince of sin and to soften hearts hardened by long estrangement from God, making repentance possible and drawing people toward Jesus to submit and receive Him who reveals God's love and the possibilities open to believers. He broods over youth even during school hours to open all understanding and to give wisdom and knowledge in all lines of study to be used for the glory of God, and to reveal the great love with which God has loved them as His heritage. When hearts are cold and dark with no desire for His presence His light is withdrawn, so educators need the higher education before they are qualified to be teachers and guides of youth.
This conviction comes in the inner life where the Word of God, the bread of life, is eaten, studied and obeyed to subdue every unholy trait, awakening faith that works by love to Christ, conforming every part of the being to Him so God can use the person to do His will, with power working from within outwardly to communicate received truth to others. Studying God's works in nature can also be a means through which He impresses spiritual truth on the heart, a conviction deeper than logical reasoning, unless a person has become too darkened to recognize God. He is present in gatherings, camp-meetings and preaching to convict backslidden believers and poor souls out of Christ, moving them to come forward to seek the Lord and accept Christ, with over one hundred responding in earnest testimonies, heartfelt desires to settle into the work, to live out the truth and be sanctified by it, and confessions made with contrition. He is present in the foot-washing service to convince of sin, righteousness and judgment, calling participants to examine hearts and relationships with fellow believers, put away wrongs, bitterness and strife, and serve one another in humility.
He convinces of particular traits, giving closer acquaintance with objectionable character and deeper consciousness of cherished wickedness within, until the evil of the natural disposition is hated and despised. He presses the sinner under the law's condemnation until the soul awakens to ask how to be saved, convincing the world of sin as transgression of God's law, which is pure and binding upon all who live and must be reverenced and obeyed as the expression of God's character. He convicts of sins committed every day even while professing to be Christians, presenting the claims of God and Christ's thirty-three years dwelling on earth as the example all must follow in walking as He walked if they expect to enter the kingdom. He convicts of indifference toward worldwide missionary work when fields stand open and God has supplied rich grace and divine power for the work.
Repentance and New Life
When the sinner responds to the quickening influence, the threefold reproof of sin and righteousness and judgment opens the eyes to understand the perilous position, makes the conscience smart under the application of the Word, and shows the self as God sees it in imperfection and spiritual poverty. That conviction exposes unbelief toward Christ and the need exposed by the Word, bringing the sense that nothing good dwells in self and that no righteous act can be done without the Spirit's work. So answered, it arouses to the importance of obeying the divine requirements and leads to godly sorrow, repentance toward God, confession, and faith in Jesus Christ.
To the repentant sinner hungering and thirsting for righteousness the Spirit reveals the Lamb of God that takes away sin and inspires faith in the only One who can save from sin. He is given as the regenerating agency to make effectual the salvation wrought by the Redeemer's death, humiliation, temptation, conflict, and dying the Just for the unjust, constantly drawing attention to the offering on Calvary, unfolding the love of God, and opening the precious things of Scripture to the convicted soul. This conviction gives a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and the terror of appearing in guilt and uncleanness before the Searcher of hearts, driving sinners to cry for deliverance and to see that nothing but the merits of Christ can atone for transgression and reconcile man to God. With faith and humility they accept the Lamb and receive through the blood of Jesus remission of sins that are past, rejoicing in pardon, cleansing, clothing with salvation, and the love of the heavenly Father rather than despairing under guilt and defilement against His holiness.
Conviction alone does not bring a person to Christ, for truth must be applied directly to the heart, Christ's claims made plain, and the hearer urged to decide for the Lord while opportunity remains. The sinner cannot produce repentance or make himself ready to come to Christ, and cannot repent without this divine work, yet need not wait until feeling repentant before coming to Jesus. He may submit to the Saviour's drawing and move toward Christ in order to repent, casting the helpless soul on Christ where Christ can work for him until the soul is made penitent and brokenhearted and pardon comes. Calling that draws the sinner is distinct from justification, and repentance with brokenness of heart as well as forgiveness are procured only through the atoning sacrifice, with pardon given to none but the penitent.
The Spirit then withdraws the affections from temporal earthly perishable things and fills the soul with earnest desire for holiness and the immortal imperishable inheritance. He recreates, refines, and sanctifies the whole being in those willing to be molded, fitting them as members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, takes the things of God and stamps them on the soul, guides into all truth, and makes the way of life so plain that none need err. Through the Spirit Christ lives in the powers of the soul, producing obedience to God's commandments and a continuing current of joy that counteracts Satan's influence toward disobedience and enables firm standing against every species of idolatry to exalt the Lord alone.
This was seen when Saul yielded to the convicting power, recognized the mistakes of his life and the far-reaching claims of God's law, and saw that confidence in being justified by good works was misplaced. He confessed his unworthiness and pleaded for acceptance through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour unto pardon. The Spirit convinces of sin to lead the repenting believing sinner to Jesus through faith in His blood for forgiveness, imparts renewing of the mind unto holiness, and brings the believing pardoned one to sit with Christ in heavenly places under the sanctifying influence of divine grace.
Genuine fruit must follow, for brief sorrow or prayers for mercy do not prove conversion unless the work leads to a changed life that resists temptation and follows Christ. The ministry of the Word brought home to the heart through Bible readings and step-by-step teaching produces true conversion seen in breaking off tobacco, tea, coffee, and liquor and becoming health reformers, and in confessing and forsaking evil despite inherited tendencies. Even little children can be convicted as they hear spiritual truth unto conversion and unto the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and sinners, drunkards, backsliders, lost sheep once with believers but gone out, those in contention, and those long absent and unready for appearing in glory are drawn to confession, contrition, return, and forgiveness through earnest seeking, prayer, personal visiting, and special efforts, with none who sought the Lord seeking in vain.
Resisting or Receiving Reproof
Enlightenment for readiness is to be sought day by day, and conviction is to be asked for in prayer, received by submitting to God's way rather than dictating how He answers, and met without discouragement but with determined work toward the right. With the person's consent that work changes the way, the spirit, and the self-set standard, putting self to death and putting off an envious, jealous spirit of evil-surmising and hatred. In its place Christ's life is formed, doing the blessing work He did with sanctified courtesy, amiability, and grace of love, preparing to overcome and sit with Him upon His throne. A general belief in the Spirit's work is not acceptance of it, for lasting reform requires facing bondage to sin, turning from particular sins, giving the self to Christ, and seeking His power to do God's will, lest selfishness grow stronger and light received be cherished without complete surrender.
The natural heart does not desire this reproof of sin, neglected righteousness, and judgment it tries to forget, but resists conviction and seeks excuses to quiet the conscience. A genuine experience of truth includes seeing the sinfulness of sin, feeling need when truth reaches an open heart, pleading for mercy, and discerning the cause of the condition instead of being led by false ideas about Christian life into spiritual darkness. The heart should stay open as God speaks through His Word.
Reproof continually exposes sin and exalts righteousness, revealing helplessness to do good without Christ and dependence on God, and it does not flatter or conform to human plans but calls for hearing and obeying in exchange of human unrighteousness for Christ's pure righteousness. Rejecting that light dulls spiritual perception, and repeated resistance leaves a person hardened and in darkness. Long resistance leavens the religious experience, blinds for years, clouds judgment, confuses the senses, perverts principles through selfishness, and makes it hard to have eyes anointed and to distinguish the voice of God from the deceiving voice of the enemy. Insulting the Spirit and rejecting light shuts light out and leaves sins that were pointed out still remaining, even grasping large wages and depriving others of God-given rights while departing from the Word, the spirit and practice of truth, standing under Satan's banner on the brink of a precipice as blind leaders of the blind. Continued resistance hardens in revolt, as shown by the people before the Flood and the inhabitants of Sodom, whose judgments revealed incorrigibility. If resistance is given up, the Spirit strives, anoints the eyes to see, brings consciousness of guiltiness, thorough conversion and renovation, and awakens from paralysis to a sense of lost time and lost opportunities, because it is not God's will that any perish but that all have everlasting life.
Those once convicted who turn from light into darkness become capable of the worst crimes with degraded perception. Herod was once so convicted that he very nearly became a disciple of John, whom he knew to be a true prophet, yet at decision he turned away to gratify revenge by putting John to death, and his conscience became far less sensitive than when he trembled at Herodias's request, his moral perceptions more and more degraded by licentious life until his sins appeared but trifles to him. Pilate likewise, as Jesus questioned him, was led to examine his own heart and saw his soul stirred by conviction, though pride arose in response. In Nazareth prejudice led people to reject the great Convictor's testimony that Jesus was the Anointed One, and under Satan's influence they turned against Jesus toward throwing Him over a precipice. So the leaders who rejected Jesus continued to be convicted yet resisted influence and misrepresented the work, choosing deception instead.
Sin deadens moral perception and leaves the wrongdoer in partial blindness to his own sin, so that without yielding to convicting power he remains in blindness and does not realize the enormity of transgression. Without yielding, confessions are not sincere and earnest but add apology and excuse to every acknowledgment of guilt, blaming circumstances for the course reproved and persisting in stubborn self-justification, which turns away the only means by which God can work to save a person from himself, willfully separates from God, and cuts off divine help and guidance until return by confession. Genuine repentance yields to conviction and confesses with no excuse for sin and no attempt at self-justification, discerning defects of character and realizing enormity of evil committed. Christ's servants must cooperate by warning erring ones of peril and teaching them to acknowledge the justice of God's corrections, that others may fear, while false sympathy that excuses sin, blinds eyes to danger, and lulls to rest on the brink of destruction directly opposes and hinders the Spirit, makes its givers partakers in guilt, and leaves fearful responsibility for impenitence and ruin.
Bringing conviction about wrongdoing, God's right standard, and coming reckoning, and forgiving sin and removing guilt, belong to God alone, so no minister or apostle by himself takes guilt away or passes final judgment; the Spirit convicts people of their own sins, not of other people's sins, and no man is placed on the judgment seat to judge his brother and define the character of his sin. Correcting others, especially brethren in faith, requires wisdom from God and growing experience to call spiritual things by right names instead of judging with a beam in one's own eye while trying to remove the mote from a brother's eye. Human agents used as reprovers must speak plain truth, live it, and maintain it even when placed unpleasantly and misjudged, with words of encouragement even in reproof, and comfort is left to follow plain truth, for there is no comfort in error or a lie and satisfaction only in truth which makes free. They must not speak truth in a way that does no good, bring in temperament, conceal truth to avoid displeasing friend or neighbor, suffer wrong upon a brother, or pacify and neglect to stand firmly for fear of offending, lest they repeat Aaron's unfaithfulness in not plainly declaring truth which led to the golden calf and further falsehood. When truth is presented, truth and the Spirit act as reprover and judge convicting souls in darkness of unbelief, and human speakers must not take that place with unguarded expressions, cutting remarks, accusing and condemnatory words, or severe statements about unbelievers that bruise and wound the soul and turn an inquirer into an opponent; love must prevail and every discourse be cleared of harshness so none can call the speaker unkind or severe.
That reproving work proves those loyal to God and His truth will not have friendship of the world, which stands as His enemies. Its reproof exposes errors and calls for surrender to God, and those accepting present truth must yield self-will and let the divine Spirit break old habits and hereditary and cultivated traits, molding them into vessels fit for honorable use, lest resisting leave them in darkness. Receiving truth and drawing near to God brings deeper awareness of sin, righteousness, and coming judgment, purifying the heart from selfishness and worldliness and awakening tender concern for those needing help.
Sharing Work Through People
The reproving of the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment is to work every person, and it is carried forward through every colaborer with Christ as human instrumentalities serving in God's order. The Spirit works through messengers sanctified by Him to proclaim the gospel, and His power in their witness convinces of sin, converts sinners, and brings them the righteousness of Christ, for Christ's field is the world and church members are called to take part and use their resources fully. All converting efficiency is of Christ through the Spirit and human workers can do nothing alone, but when every member lives the Word and presents Christ's words in simplicity with settled intelligent knowledge of its requirements rather than working merely upon feelings, heavenly agencies unite with them and the Spirit becomes their efficiency to bring conviction, make truth divinely real to draw sinners to the light, deepen conviction as believers reflect God's glory, and cause truth to shine with power.
Without divine agency joined to human effort ministry cannot do its appointed work or uplift humanity. Even education, knowledge of Scripture, and skill in presenting it cannot make gospel preaching successful, and convicting a soul and bringing one soul to repentance is the deep moving of God so that all human effort combined is weakness and falls infinitely short, with even the deep learning and restless energy of a Paul and the eloquence and talent of an Apollos able to do nothing alone. The frail human instrument is nothing in itself but worked by the Spirit can accomplish much, for the Lord Himself is the worker and man is of value when soul, body, and spirit cooperate with divine power, while God communicates truth through the human channel and will do nothing without it. The Spirit gives weight to the message of the physically weak preacher so that people are converted, stands as the unseen worker behind the minister giving efficiency to gospel efforts and bringing conviction and conversion, and must be sought in daily converting power for earnest personal work to bear much fruit. At Pentecost this produced thousands converted in a day and moved them to walk in humble footsteps doing the work given them, as believers' lips speak Christ's words and their voice becomes the talent to convince with the law of God as subject and the truths Christ dwelt on as weapons learned daily, sanctified and subdued by the Spirit to be pleasant, clear, distinct and fervent so speech becomes the sword of the Spirit impressing hearers.
Those who speak and write the truths of God must have the endowment of the Spirit or they will make great mistakes. The Spirit works only through the channel of truth upon the human agent, and this constant working of divine agency is indispensable as the transforming power God alone can impart for saving the soul. God opens the heart to receive the Word and faith is His gift, and the Spirit must bring the gospel seed to life in the heart. Accompanying truth to the heart, He is the only effective teacher of divine truth who teaches divine truth, awakens the conscience, transforms the life, and must bring truth home to the heart for it to quicken conscience and have effect, since without His continual presence and help human learning or skill cannot make anyone a channel of divine light. He came upon the praying disciples after the ascension before the New Testament was written or a gospel sermon preached, and their testimony filled Jerusalem with teaching.
Faithful workers share this reproving work by giving a clear decided testimony in behalf of righteousness and truth, with a message that reproves sin and encourages those who forsake sin and are converted. That work requires a living testimony with a certain sound, not tame lifeless sermonizing that meets the world's standard and catches the world's ideas, not smooth things prophesying deceit or concealing truth to avoid displeasing, as Aaron's unfaithfulness showed, but faithful preaching that reproves, rebukes, and exhorts with all longsuffering and doctrine. Correcting others, especially brethren in the faith, requires wisdom from God and growing experience in spiritual things to call spiritual things by their right names instead of judging with a beam in one's own eye, for no man is placed on the judgment seat to judge his brother and define his sin. Teaching should make conviction of sin, righteousness, and coming judgment plain and help hearers see what they must do to be saved, and this conviction accompanies practical care and the opening of God's Word to prepare people to come to Jesus the great Healer and Redeemer, since the follower cannot change another's heart but can convince of the truth that defines duty and convicts of sin. For the receiver the Spirit gives the mind of Christ and makes him a faithful worker, bringing self into subjection, repressing evil inclination, refusing to excuse faults, and cutting away evil in faith and prayer, and when He sees that determined effort man is not left to struggle alone for mastery for Christ is with him to help in every true purpose and battle with the enemy, while the Spirit also guides into truth and shows things to come.
This reproving work has been done and must continue to be carried on in every church in the land. It becomes more needed the more nearly the closing scenes of history are approached, when Satan's work becomes more pronounced and every species of deception is used to divert the mind and resources from God, so that even good projects can hinder more essential work when they leave less support for workers and new fields. God sends the Comforter to warn His people when they fall into apostasy and to rebuke backsliding, especially when pride, vanity, extravagance, and idolatry follow separation from the divine Leader, and when they gratefully recognize and value His love they receive comfort and joy. His office as Christ's representative is a theme of encouragement to be kept before the people and presented in every discourse, and comprehending it brings all blessings and makes complete in Christ. In this period the work must not be haphazard, for Satan and his agencies play the game of life for souls and plan to steal away true conviction, and not discerning the signs of the times leaves souls exposed to losing it.
The most blessed work belongs not to preachers only but to all believers according to ability, including canvassers, teachers, physicians, parents, and children. The Spirit impresses conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment on hearts when truths are presented humbly by workers whose own hearts are filled and imbued with them, and He is present to impress hearts and give real and lasting success in directing minds to solemn truths for this time, which outward display and desire for worldly advantage cannot secure. Accepting the Spirit's work in conversion also requires accepting His reproving work unto repentance, and teachers and students need practical knowledge of it so they can recognize its cautions and the Shepherd's voice, especially when professing Christians are unbelieving or educators mislead those who trust them.
As workers sow in unselfish service, live in close connection with God with self crucified, and present truth in Christ's love, humility, and simplicity, the Spirit impresses minds and characters, enlightens understanding, leads wills to submit, draws to God, separates a people on eternal truth, and turns from darkness to light and from disobedience to righteousness. The world is warned as those who believe the truth are sanctified by it and live by high and holy principles, making clear the difference between those who keep God's commandments and those who trample them. As people simply present truth from Scripture or experience, He brings previously ununderstood truth home with living conviction, implants convictions through the word, awakens moral powers to restore the fallen and turn them back to God, and ministers as human instruments may cooperate by pointing hearers to Jesus or turn them away by their influence. When those preaching the truth are not sanctified by it God's presence and power to convict sinners and cleanse from unrighteousness is not manifest and their work is hindered.
The world must receive evidence and be convinced of sin. The Lord receives those who repent and condemns those who despise His mercy, His hand remaining stretched out to save all who come, and those who know the truth are accountable for their knowledge and are to be light-bearers to the world working with God to help the church act in unity to do the truth. The Spirit enables Christ's servants to represent Him and to turn people from darkness and Satan's power to God, so they may repent, receive forgiveness, and share the inheritance of those sanctified by faith in Jesus. His drawing touches the heart opened to the Divine Spirit, meets the heart's yearning for peace and happiness by turning it to look to Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, gives appreciation of the value of the soul, convinces that the commandments are a life-and-death question, and brings a heart that responds to the touch of God and always sees light in His light when His life is within, yet His striving is extinguished if one walks away to avoid the cross, as seen when some at the meeting entered a new deeper experience while others did not feel their need.