And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:8–11 (NKJV)
Learning what Holy Spirit is really like changes everything.
Many believers think that Holy Spirit watches them day and night to point out the sin in their life. According to our verse today, this simply isn’t true. This passage of Scripture says that Holy Spirit convinces the world (non-believers) of sin (their need for Jesus). At the same time, He convinces believers of righteousness (our right standing with God in Christ) and of the fact that judgment is coming (which motivates us to take as many people as we can with us into eternity).
In other words, condemnation is not the voice of Holy Spirit. He doesn’t convince you of all that’s wrong, but all that’s right with you because of Jesus!
We all experience guilt when we do wrong. But lingering guilt and condemnation is not the work of Holy Spirit. It may seem like those thoughts are coming from God. After all, you know when you’ve done wrong and you feel bad for it. But Romans 8:1 says, “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). Those condemning thoughts may be coming from the devil or from your own heart, but they’re certainly not from God.
We all have things we need to improve, but guilt and shame won’t help you to change. Instead, trust in God’s love and the power of His Word to change you from the inside out.
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