Yesterday’s post featured the first half of the Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday in Year B — John 15:26-27 and John 16:4b-15.

That post has the full set of readings and an exegesis covering the last two verses of John 15 and the first seven from John 16.

This post focusses on the middle part of the Gospel, John 16:8-11.

The Gospel is as follows (emphases mine):

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.

15:27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

16:4b “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

16:5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

16:6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

16:8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

16:9 about sin, because they do not believe in me;

16:10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;

16:11 about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

16:14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

16:15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit — the Advocate — comes, He will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement (verse 8).

That is a powerful statement, one that is particularly pertinent to today’s world in which anything goes and, therefore, everything is excused. This also holds true for many churches.

John MacArthur says that we discount the Holy Spirit at our peril:

So what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer? He comes to make all the promises of Christ real. This is a majestic truth concerning the Holy Spirit as over against the ridiculous nonsense that is attributed to Him so frequently in the contemporary evangelical movement. This is elevated, majestic, divine, exalted truth concerning the Holy Spirit, and to think any less of the Holy Spirit than this is to violate the commandment. The commandment, which commandment? “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

The Holy Spirit is the most dishonored member of the Trinity. People are slow to dishonor the Father, slow to dishonor the Son; seem to be in a hurry to dishonor the Holy Spirit. It is a devastating thing to dishonor God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in any way, shape, or form. It starts with having a true understanding of His glorious work.

It is the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us alive so that we can believe. It is the Holy Spirit who grants us faith, who makes the gospel clear. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us life – we’re born of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is now sanctifying us and will one day bring us to glory. And how is He sanctifying us? By illuminating the Word of God and depositing in us all the promises of heaven. And He is to be worshiped for that.

For some reason, people seem hesitant to worship the Holy Spirit. That’s ridiculous. We worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There’s a lot of talk about worshiping God, and worship is directed toward God so often. And there’s a lot of talk about thinking about Christ, thinking about the cross – the work of the cross, the work of redemption – and the Holy Spirit is forgotten. And it is He who is bringing us to glory. It is He who is conforming us to Christ, “from one level of glory to the next” (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is He who’s in us, “to work and to do of God’s pleasure.” It is He who “makes all things work together for good.” He is to be worshiped.

With that in mind, the Holy Spirit is with and in all true believers.

Matthew Henry gives us an overview of the ministry of the Holy Spirit:

II. That the coming of the Spirit was absolutely necessary to the carrying on of Christ’s interests on earth (v. 8): And when he is come, elthon ekeinos. He that is sent is willing of himself to come, and at his first coming he will do this, he will reprove, or, as the margin reads it, he will convince the world, by your ministry, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.

1. See here what the office of the Spirit is, and on what errand he is sent. (1.) To reprove. The Spirit, by the word and conscience, is a reprover; ministers are reprovers by office, and by them the Spirit reproves. (2.) To convince. It is a law-term [to convict], and speaks the office of the judge in summing up the evidence, and setting a matter that has been long canvassed in a clear and true light. He shall convince, that is, “He shall put to silence the adversaries of Christ and his cause, by discovering and demonstrating the falsehood and fallacy of that which they have maintained, and the truth and certainty of that which they have opposed.” Note, Convincing work is the Spirit’s work; he can do it effectually, and none but he; man may open the cause, but it is the Spirit only that can open the heart. The Spirit is called the Comforter (v. 7), and here it is said, He shall convince. One would think this were cold comfort, but it is the method the Spirit takes, first to convince, and then to comfort; first to lay open the wound, and then to apply healing medicines. Or, taking conviction more generally, for a demonstration of what is right, it intimates that the Spirit’s comforts are solid, and grounded upon truth.

2. See who they are whom he is to reprove and convince: The world, both Jew and Gentile. (1.) He shall give the world the most powerful means of conviction, for the apostles shall go into all the world, backed by the Spirit, to preach the gospel, fully proved. (2.) He shall sufficiently provide for the taking off and silencing of the objections and prejudices of the world against the gospel. Many an infidel was convinced of all and judged of all, 1 Cor 14 24. (3.) He shall effectually and savingly convince many in the world, some in every age, in every place, in order to their conversion to the faith of Christ. Now this was an encouragement to the disciples, in reference to the difficulties they were likely to meet with, [1.] That they should see good done, Satan’s kingdom fall like lightning, which would be their joy, as it was his. Even this malignant world the Spirit shall work upon; and the conviction of sinners is the comfort of faithful ministers. [2.] That this would be the fruit of their services and sufferings, these should contribute very much to this good work.

MacArthur has more and tells us what being ‘born in the Spirit’ truly means. The Holy Spirit is working through us in the way that we, as fallen men and women, cannot work on our own:

Now, most people read this section I just read to you and they say, “Well, this is just saying that the Holy Spirit is going to work in the lives of nonbelievers to make them know that they’re sinful and they’re unrighteous, and they’re headed for judgment, and to make them feel guilty.” That’s not what this is about – not initially and not primarily. The Holy Spirit is going to do something for sure, and He’s going to do it to and for the unbelievers, to and for sinners. But it is not the point here that He’s doing something inside sinners. It’s pretty easy to see the word “convict” and sort of give it kind of a contemporary connotation when you say, “You know, I was convicted about overeating last night.” And what you mean by that is, “I felt bad.” “What do you mean I felt bad?” Or, “I have a conviction about that; I don’t do that.” We really throw this word around and give it a big, broad meaning.

Now, it is true – and I want to affirm that it is true – that no sinner will ever repent and believe the gospel without the Holy Spirit, right? We understand that; we get that. The Holy Spirit has to work in the mind of a sinner or that sinner can never be saved. The Holy Spirit has to break through, first of all, the sinner’s natural love for sin. Men are not only in the darkness, they’re not only blind and double-blinded by Satan, they love the darkness, right? They pursue their sin with deep affection. On their own, they’re not going to repent. They’re dead in trespasses and sin. They’re under control of the god of this world. They’re blinded by the god of this world. They’re alienated from the life of God. All that’s out of Ephesians.

Colossians, again, 1:21, “They’re alienated from God. They’re alienated from God. They’re hostile in their mind toward God.” Romans 1, Romans 1 says, “They’re under divine wrath.” Romans 3, “No one seeks after God. They’re all wicked. They’re all evil. None does good, no, not one.” So all human beings are in the dark, and they love the dark, and they cherish the dark, and they love the sin that dominates their lives.

So no one is going to repent and believe on his own. He doesn’t have a capacity for that; it can’t be done. That’s why Jesus said in John 3, “Unless you’re born of the Spirit, you’re never going to have eternal life.” Unless you’re regenerated by the working of the Spirit, you’re never going to live. God has to step into your blindness, into your darkness, and into your death and say, “Let there be light,” 2 Corinthians 4; and He does that by the Holy Spirit.

Like Henry, MacArthur discusses the verb ‘to convict’:

Let’s start with the word “convict” verse 8. By the way, this Greek verb elegch is translated a myriad of ways by New Testament translators, even in English. It has all kinds of translations even in one given translation like I use, the NAS. Elegchó – let me give you the sense of it – it’s a legal word, okay. It’s a legal word, and it takes us into court essentially. It means “to indict by evidence.” It’s a word that would fit a grand jury, for example. It is a word that could be translated “to prosecute.”

And it can even be translated “to prove guilty,” to prove guilty. It is a word that embraces the activity of a prosecutor and a judge in one. In a legal sense – let’s say a non-legal sense, you might say, “Oh, I feel convicted.” And by that, you mean, “I feel some guilt.”

But take the word “convict” in a courtroom and it takes a completely different meaning. If you say, “A convict was convicted,” you mean the trial is over. You’re not talking about some emotional feeling. You’re not talking about something inside. You’re saying, “He was measured against the law and found guilty. The proof is in; the verdict is guilty.” That’s a conviction. That’s the sense of this word.

The Holy Spirit is not here saying, “I’m going to make people feel bad about sinning.” He’s saying, “I’m going to render a final verdict, a final verdict,” the evidence as in the verdict is given …

Go back to verse 8: “When He comes, He will convict the world.” That mean He will find them guilty. He will prosecute them, He will roll out the evidence, and the final verdict is guilty – the whole world. A lot of people come to this passage and they kind of play around with, “What does world mean? What does world mean? Does it mean that the Lord, the Holy Spirit convicts every human being on the inside?” No, this isn’t talking about that. The Holy Spirit is going to convict the whole world.

How does He do this? How does the Holy Spirit do this work of final conviction – conviction in the sense that you are a convicted criminal, a lawbreaker, a God-violator? How does the Holy Spirit do it? Listen, through preaching the Scripture, through preaching the Scripture, through testifying from the Scripture. The Scripture is the law, and if you have violated the Scripture, you are a lawbreaker and the proof is in, and you’re convicted.

MacArthur goes on to say that faithful clergy convict the sinner, not face to face (although that can happen), but indirectly through preaching Holy Scripture:

The apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, “Preach the word all the time, in season and out of season,” the first verb elegchó, convict. Go out in the world and measure people against the revelation of God and hold them as guilty, convicted criminals. That’s what you do when you preach. To Titus, chapter 1, verse 9: “Hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, the Word of God, so that you will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to convict those who contradict. You take the Word and you preach it in Corinth, and you convict the unbeliever. You take the Word, Titus, and you go out and you proclaim it, and you convict those who contradict the Word.” Verse 13, he says it again: “For this reason, reprove them severely, convict them severely, that they may be sound in the faith.” Titus 2:15, “These things speak and exhort and convict with all authority. And let no one disregard you.”

I want you to understand what he’s saying: those of us who preach the Word of God are the world’s prosecutors. We are the world’s prosecutors, we are God’s select prosecutors; that’s what we do. We do it by preaching; we do it in testimony.

Jesus is saying this to the disciples: “The Holy Spirit is going to reveal the truth.” First, called the Apostles’ Doctrine. Eventually, it ends up in print in Scripture. And by means of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, you are going to be able to indict and prosecute and convict the world before God. Indictment, conviction, prosecution – that is what we do in preaching the gospel. The good news makes no sense if it’s not a deliverance from a severe punishment for a severe violation of the law.

MacArthur reminds us that the prophets in the Old Testament did the same thing:

Moses was a prosecutor. All the prophets that you read in the prophetic books were prosecutors. Elijah was a prosecutor. Elisha was a prosecutor. They were prophets of Israel.

But think about it: once in awhile they said things that were comforting – once in awhile. Once in awhile, they actually interceded for the people; but most of the time, they prosecuted their sins. They were prosecutors – far more than they were comforters, far more than they were intercessors. They indicted Israel; they indicted Judah; they indicted the nations. They indicted them for violations of the law of God; they indicted them for their immoralities and their idolatries that rendered them guilty before God so that we could honestly say that all the prophets were God’s prosecutors through the whole Old Testament period. Their role was primarily to bring in accusation, and to bring evidence, and to render a guilt verdict on those who violated God’s law. This led to a conviction of guilt. All, all the Old Testament prophets did this; all of them did it.

And, by the way, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that’s why they did it. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit for this. It’s all over the Old Testament. And I’m not going to take time to trace it; you can find those things just about any place in the prophets, those indictments.

MacArthur also reminds us that the people hated the prophets for that, just as they hated Jesus Christ centuries later, just as they hated the Apostles and those who follow them in ministry today. The price for that was death at the hands of those who resented that message — and still can be in the present day:

The prophets prosecuted and were killed. John the Baptist prosecuted and was beheaded. Jesus prosecuted and was crucified; now it’s our turn. Ten out of the eleven disciples – ten out of the eleven, with the exception of John as far as we know – were killed.

Jesus then went into specifics about the Holy Spirit’s work against the world’s mistaken perceptions.

MacArthur explains our Lord’s purposes in saying what He does in verses 8 through 11:

The revelation that our Lord gives in those verses, verses 8 to 11, has two purposes, okay. Purpose Number 1 is to be an encouragement to the hated and persecuted disciples, is to be an encouragement to the hated and persecuted disciples, and Christians throughout all of history. These are encouraging words.

And:

“When He comes, He’s going to put a tool in your hand so that you can prosecute the world for sin because they believe not on Me, for righteousness because I go to My Father and you see Me no more for judgment because the prince of this world is judged.” In other words, “You’re going to the be the world’s prosecutors, and you’re going to a have a tool to prosecute them, and it’s going to be the revelation that the Spirit of God puts in your hands – namely, the account of Me and My life and My ministry in the New Testament.”

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would prove the world wrong about sin because the world does not believe in Him (verse 9).

MacArthur says:

So here’s the trio; here’s how we have to give the gospel. First of all, we find in the Scripture everything we need to know concerning sin. But it’s one particular sin that we have to proclaim. What sin? “The sin of not believing in Me.”

I know it’s real popular today to measure people against the Ten Commandments; that’s not what this is talking about. Everyone has a general sense of morality, everybody has a general sense of sinfulness and breaking the rules, but everybody tends to think that even in spite of breaking the rules, they’re good enough, they’re good enough. So here is the sin that sends people to hell: not believing in Jesus Christ; that’s what sends people to hell; not acknowledging Him as Lord, Savior, God.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If you don’t believe in Me – ” John 3:18 “ – you’ll perish. Whoever believes not shall perish.” John 5 says, “You don’t believe in Me.” John 8, “You don’t believe in Me.” John 15, “You don’t believe in Me.” That’s the damning sin.

To talk about sins in general never gets to the point because people will inevitably think that they’re good deeds – which they think are good deeds – outweighs the sin. So you have to rush to the simple reality, “Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as God and Lord and Savior?” because the rest doesn’t matter. All other religion that’s outside of Christ, all other christs, all other views of Christ, all views of morality, all compassion, all good works mean zero if you reject Christ.

And then we have to preach righteousness, we have to preach righteousness. Well, how do we preach that? “Righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me.”

What is that saying? Let me tell you what it’s saying. Most people think, “If there is a God, if there is a heaven, I’m good enough to go there, I’m good enough to go there.” We’ve already said no, if you don’t believe in Christ you’re not going to go there.

But, secondly, here’s why you’re not going to go there. There’s only one person who ever walked on this earth who had a right at the end of His live to go directly on His own merit into the presence of God, only one. So unless you possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you will never see God; that’s the point. The righteousness that is demonstrated, “Because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” In other words, God highly exalted Him, lifted Him to glory, sat Him at His right hand, and gave Him the name Lord, the name that’s above every name.

The divine message of Scripture is this: the sin that damns you is rejecting Jesus Christ. The righteousness that saves you is the righteousness that belonged only to Christ. The divine message is this: there is absolutely no righteousness in any human being that can ever bring that human being into the presence of God. If you’re ever going into the presence of God, you have to possess the righteousness that Jesus Christ possessed.

That, by the way, is the gospel. When you believe in Christ, He gives you His righteousness, He covers you. You become the righteousness of God in Him; that’s the gospel. Our righteousness is filthy rags. Our righteousness will damn us. But there’s one whose righteousness allowed Him to disappear and go into the presence of God. The only way you’ll ever get to God, or I’ll ever get there, is to be granted His righteousness, His holiness.

And dear friends, that is the amazing doctrine of imputed righteousness that is the heart of the gospel.

Henry says this about unbelievers and sin:

3. See what the Spirit shall convince the world of.

(1.) Of sin (v. 9), because they believe not on me. [1.] The Spirit is sent to convince sinners of sin, not barely to tell them of it; in conviction there is more than this; it is to prove it upon them, and force them to own it, as they (ch. 8 9) that were convicted of their own consciences. Make them to know their abominations. The Spirit convinces of the fact of sin, that we have done so and so; of the fault of sin, that we have done ill in doing so; of the folly of sin, that we have acted against right reason, and our true interest; of the filth of sin, that by it we are become odious to God; of the fountain of sin, the corrupt nature; and lastly, of the fruit of sin, that the end thereof is death. The Spirit demonstrates the depravity and degeneracy of the whole world, that all the world is guilty before God. [2.] The Spirit, in conviction, fastens especially upon the sin of unbelief, their not believing in Christ, First, As the great reigning sin. There was, and is, a world of people, that believe not in Jesus Christ, and they are not sensible that it is their sin. Natural conscience tells them that murder and theft are sin; but it is a supernatural work of the spirit to convince them that it is a sin to suspend their belief of the gospel, and to reject the salvation offered by it. Natural religion, after it has given us its best discoveries and directions, lays and leaves us under this further obligation, that whatever divine revelation shall be made to us at any time, with sufficient evidence to prove it divine, we accept it, and submit to it. This law those transgress who, when God speaketh to us by his Son, refuse him that speaketh; and therefore it is sin. Secondly, As the great ruining sin. Every sin is so in its own nature; no sin is so to them that believe in Christ; so that it is unbelief that damns sinners. It is because of this that they cannot enter into rest, that they cannot escape the wrath of God; it is a sin against the remedy. Thirdly, As that which is at the bottom of all sin; so Calvin takes it. The Spirit shall convince the world that the true reason why sin reigns among them is because they are not by faith united to Christ. Ne putimus vel guttam unam rectitudinis sine Christo nobis inesse—Let us not suppose that, apart from Christ, we have a drop of rectitude.—Calvin.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would prove the world wrong about its mistaken notions of righteousness, because He (Jesus) would return to the Father and the Apostles would see Him no more (verse 9).

MacArthur recalls the odious self-righteousness of the Pharisees, of whom Paul — in his days as Saul — was one:

Your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees; you have to be holy like your Father in heaven is holy. You can’t be on your own, and so it has to be something granted to you, a righteousness that is alien to you.

And that’s what Paul gave in his testimony in Philippians 3. He went about, like all the Jews, trying to establish his own righteousness. Then he saw it was absolute rubbish, and he believed in Christ, and God imputed the believing sinner the very righteousness of His Son. That’s the gospel. And then – and that, of course, all the details of that are laid out in the Holy Spirit’s revealed revelation, Scripture. So as we go forth with the Scripture, from the Scripture, we preach sin, the sin that damns, not believing in Christ. We preach righteousness. The only righteousness acceptable to God is the righteousness of Christ. And we can preach from the revealed testimony of Holy Scripture, given by the Holy Spirit, that that righteousness can be imputed to a sinner who puts his trust in Him.

Henry explains the importance of Christ’s return to His Father and His physical absence from us:

We may understand this, [1.] Of Christ’s personal righteousness. He shall convince the world that Jesus of Nazareth was Christ the righteous (1 John 2 1), as the centurion owned (Luke 23 47), Certainly this was a righteous man. His enemies put him under the worst of characters, and multitudes were not or would not be convinced but that he was a bad man, which strengthened their prejudices against his doctrine; but he is justified by the spirit (1 Tim 3 16), he is proved to be a righteous man, and not, a deceiver; and then the point is in effect gained; for he is either the great Redeemer or a great cheat; but a cheat we are sure he is not. Now by what medium or argument will the Spirit convince men of the sincerity of the Lord Jesus? Why, First, Their seeing him no more will contribute something towards the removal of their prejudices; they shall see him no more in the likeness of sinful flesh, in the form of a servant, which made them slight him. Moses was more respected after his removal than before. But, Secondly, His going to the Father would be a full conviction of it. The coming of the Spirit, according to the promise, was a proof of Christ’s exaltation to God’s right hand (Acts 2 33), and this was a demonstration of his righteousness; for the holy God would never set a deceiver at his right hand. [2.] Of Christ’s righteousness communicated to us for our justification and salvation; that everlasting righteousness which Messiah was to bring in, Dan 9 24. Now, First, The Spirit shall convince men of this righteousness. Having by convictions of sin shown them their need of a righteousness, lest this should drive them to despair he will show them where it is to be had, and how they may, upon their believing, be acquitted from guilt, and accepted as righteous in God’s sight. It was hard to convince those of this righteousness that went about to establish their own (Rom 10 3), but the Spirit will do it. Secondly, Christ’s ascension is the great argument proper to convince men of this righteousness: I go to the Father, and, as an evidence of my welcome with him, you shall see me no more. If Christ had left any part of his undertaking unfinished, he had been sent back again; but now that we are sure he is at the right hand of God, we are sure of being justified through him.

Then Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would prove the world wrong about judgement, because the ruler of this world — Satan — has been condemned (verse 11).

MacArthur explains our Lord’s thought process here:

Here’s the argument: if God has overpowered and judged the most powerful, evil force in the universe, you’re not going to escape. It’s an argument from the greater to the lesser. I can prove to you from the Scripture that your sin will damn you, because the Scripture says if you don’t believe in Christ, you’re damned. I can prove to you that the righteousness you need to go to God is the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and if you don’t have His righteousness imputed to you, you will never be accepted to God. And I can prove to you that to reject Christ and His righteousness is to lead to judgment, and you will never escape because even the greatest force of evil, which is Satan and his demons, supernatural beings, can’t escape the judgment of God. You have no chance. This is how we’re supposed to preach the gospel: sin, righteousness, and judgment.

MacArthur gives us Peter’s first sermon on the first Pentecost:

... Acts 2: first sermon preached by an apostle. Here we are on the Day of Pentecost, first sermon. Do you think Peter was listening that day? Here’s the first sermon. Here’s how he preaches the gospel:

“Men of Israel – ” verse 22 “ – listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” Peter is a prosecutor on the Day of Pentecost. He is a prosecutor with an indictment, accusations, proof, and a conviction: sin, the sin of rejecting Christ.

Then notice the second thing, verse 24: “But God raised Him up, putting an end to the agony of death.” And then he quotes from the Psalms. Then go all the way down to verse 32: “And God raised Him up again and – ” verse 33 “ – exalted Him to the right hand of God.” That’s righteousness, right, because Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. Christ was taken into glory, the only holy man, the only holy man. It is that righteousness that God accepts, and that alone. And unless you have that righteousness imputed to you, you have no hope.

And finally Peter preached judgment, verse 34: “It wasn’t David who ascended into heaven, but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’” God is going to crush the enemies of Christ. “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.” You say, “Wow, if you preach that kind of message, people are going to run.” Really?

Look at the rest of the story: “When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart,” that’s the work of the Holy Spirit inside. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit inside. “They said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ’What do we do? What do we do?’” You remember the answer. And verse 40: “With many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’”

I will conclude tomorrow with verses 12 through 15.