The Work Of The Holy Spirit

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

John 16:8-15

1) The Holy Spirit convinces and convicts (Vs. 8-11).

The word that John uses in verse 8 to describe the work of the Spirit is variously translated—reprove, convict, convince. The Greek word is elegchein which is used for the cross-examination of a witness, or a person on trial, or an opponent in an argument. Cross-examination can do 2 things: (1) convict someone of the crime he has committed or the wrong he has done; (2) convince a person of the weakness of his own case. The Holy Spirit brings conviction and it dismantles our defenses. ‘Convict men of their sins’. We see this from the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s arrival. Acts 2:33-35. First, there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; the confirmation of Jesus’ promise of sending Him. With the tongues of fire the affirmation was made that Jesus is still alive and that he didn’t forget about them when he went to heaven. The Holy Spirit convinces us that the promises of Jesus are real. “Gordon Brownville’s Symbols of the Holy Spirit tells about the great Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole. On one of his trips, Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird’s cage and set it free. Imagine the delight of Amundsen’s wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. No doubt she exclaimed,