The Holy Spirit roams the earth; the power of His grace bringing salvation to all (Titus 2: 11). It is by convincing the heart that He is finally able to give and that marvelous gift is received. Before any of that can happen, though, three areas must be dealt with: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told us the Spirit’s presence would replace Him in this world and that the Spirit would minister in those three areas through the method of conviction. “Concerning sin,” Jesus said, “because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16: 9–11).
Sin. Rampant in the world are various forms and degrees of sin that comprise our human nature. We’re born into them and manifest some them. However, there is a worldwide, chief sin that the Spirit seeks to convict us of above the rest. Addressing it is the prime directive in His mission.
It is the sin of unbelief. The Spirit’s task in this area is to help the world to believe in and accept Jesus; to help all to believe that Jesus accepted on our behalf the fatal punishment for sin; this so that we’d have the opportunity to forever live.
Righteousness. Because Jesus is no longer here in body, having gone to the Father, the Spirit seeks to convict all that there is a godly standard of righteousness. He informs that the standard is Jesus Himself; that Jesus lived His earthly life expressing godly righteousness in words and deeds; and that we ourselves can become and live that very righteousness by spiritually living in Jesus and letting Jesus’ spiritual presence live in us (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
Judgment. The Spirit’s job is to also convict of the judgment to come. He speaks that God will not allow sin and sinners to inhabit the new earth. As such, He seeks to impress the reality that the devil has already been condemned to a fiery extinction (Ezekiel 28: 18, 19), and that all on this present earth who choose to love and participate in the evil one’s dark deeds, having rejected the Light of the world, will be sentenced to the same fiery fate (John 3: 18, 19; Revelation 20: 15).
As said, it is only the power of the Spirit that brings conviction to and in the heart. Sometimes this is done directly from the Spirit without any outside help. But more often, the Spirit’s work is accomplished through us, the people of God. We proclaim His word, and it is by hearing the word of God that unbelievers are touched by the Spirit in their hearts and come to believe (Romans 10: 17).
Therefore, it seems most important that all Christians, clerics and pew-sitters, incorporate the three areas into their evangelizing and preaching. Sadly and incredibly, some don’t agree. I’m talking mainly about preachers in the pulpit. They won’t talk about sin and judgment. They think it’s negative and will offend people. Joel Osteen comes to mind. That‘s wrong. What needs to be preached is what needs to be heard; that is, we’re all sinners in need of the Savior, in order to live righteously, eternally.
To not be ashamed of the gospel and to boldly emphasize the three areas is to be in conformity with and a useful partner in the Holy Spirit’s ministry.