Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. This is your Bible Teacher of the Air speaking, J.W. Bramhall. We welcome you to the study and the ministry of the precious Word of God and our present theme, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We have touched upon the personality of the Holy Spirit, proving that he is a person. We have also touched from the Word of God upon the equality of the Holy Spirit in the Triune Godhead. Then we have commenced our consideration of some of the work of the Holy Spirit during the present age of the Church. Our present consideration is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his convicting work. We take the scripture that is found in John chapter sixteen, verses eight through eleven. Words that were spoken by the Lord Jesus concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit at that time, and what would be his ministry in relation to the world of the unredeemed. Here are the Savior's words saying, And when he is come, he will reprove the word meaning he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more, of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. We would notice very carefully the definite work of the Holy Spirit in these words that present him as a powerful convictor. His ministry of convincing us of three facts. We have considered the first fact. He will convince the world of sin. And that greatest of all sin, the sin of unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. Now let us consider the second phase of this convincing work of the Holy Spirit. For the Saviour declared, he will convict of righteousness this is the second phase of his convicting work as declared in John sixteen and verse eight now why and what is this work of conviction the explanation of it is given by the Savior in verse ten when he declared he would convict of righteousness because I go to my father and ye see me no more. Now you may ask the question, properly so, what does he mean to convict of righteousness? What kind of righteousness is this that the Spirit of God would convict me of? It is an important thing to know and understand indeed. Now may I state very clearly, first of all, you nor I, have any worthy righteousness of our own. We do not have any in and by and through ourselves. Well, did Isaiah in chapter sixty-four in verse six of his great book say, All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. This is in God's sight. And then in Romans chapter three and verse ten, we find God declaring, There is none righteous, no not one. Now if by any chance, my dear friend, you may think yourself to be righteous enough that God may accept you on your personal merit, please change your attitude and do it right away. You and I have no merit of righteousness. of ourselves, in ourselves, or by ourselves. Know what the Lord says, where the righteousness you and I need can only be found. To convince of righteousness because I go to my Father when ye see me no more. What does he mean by these words? First, We saw that the Spirit of God convinces us of the sin of unbelief. Now when the Spirit of God convicts us of unbelief, then the second thing he seeks to do is this, to convince you and me that though we have no righteousness of our own, the righteousness that I must have to be saved is not even found upon the earth. but it is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ who is now in heaven at the right hand of his Father above, though he may be unseen by our mortal eyes. I wonder if I may repeat that in substance. Here is the Spirit of God seeking to convince me and to convince you not only of the sin of not believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but to convince me that if I wish and desire to be righteous in the sight of God, that righteousness I can only find and obtain in and from the person of the Lord Jesus, who is not even on the earth, but who is now in heaven upon, where he has gone to be with his Father. You and I must indeed acknowledge, Lord, you alone, though in heaven, you alone can only forgive my sins. For the moment you and I come by faith to fall before that man who is in heaven, your Savior and mine, your faith and mine will be counted for righteousness. The words of Romans chapter four and verse five are very fitting in this connection, and listen to them. Paul writing by the Holy Spirit to say, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. My beloved Savior, there's a man in heaven, the Son of God who died upon the cross to save you and me. The Spirit of God is now upon the earth. His purpose and power upon the earth is to be a powerful convictor. To convince you and to convince me we must believe upon the Lord Jesus. And to convince you as well as to convince me that I must believe upon that man who in heaven above alone can provide the need of righteousness for my soul before God. And the Spirit of God desires to convince us we must trust in that man and his finished work of the cross, that man who is in heaven. For only in that man can righteousness be found. Now that there is a third convicting work of the Holy Spirit, And they all go together, for you cannot have one without the other. First to convince of sin, second to convince of righteousness, and third, he will convince of judgment. And the Lord Jesus states why? He will convince of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now take a careful look and consider very prayerfully the meaning of that expression. the prince of this world who is this prince of the world according to the scripture it is none other than the devil even Satan himself and if you know your Bible you will remember that Jesus said on one occasion and I quote the words from Matthew chapter twenty five and verse forty one depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Now this is a sentence of eternal judgment upon Satan and all of his hosts. It has been declared, but it has never yet been executed. But it will be, you need never doubt that fact. Now the Holy Spirit seeks to convince men and women that If they definitely fail to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, there is nothing left but unfailing judgment in the future that will take them where the devil is going, and that is to eternal health. For the Holy Spirit seeks to convince us of this definite unfailing judgment to come that we may turn to Christ for deliverance and for salvation. My radio friend, the devil can only take you and me to one place, and that is hell. You will never find the devil taking anyone to heaven. That's not his path. That's not his intention either. Though he may seek to persuade you that he would. But the Holy Spirit's work is to convince that if we never believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive his righteousness which is given to those who believe upon him, there's nothing left but unfailing and eternal judgment. He is a powerful convincer. And may I say, I wish to God that by the power of his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God was able to convince many today of these facts. He has come in the world to do a ministry of convicting, to convince, oh my radio listener, I want to ask the question, has the Spirit of God convinced you of your sin of unbelief in Christ? Has the Spirit of God convinced you that the only place of righteousness you can find must be found only in the ones crucified, buried, but risen Savior. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest rain, but only lean on Jesus' name wrote the hymn writer. And then finally, third, he is in the world to convince you of judgment. First that when the Savior died on the cross, he bore the judgment of your sin. in order to deliver you from where the devil is going in his angels into everlasting fire. My beloved radio friend are these facts by the Holy Spirit convincing to your soul. Let me ask another question. As the Holy Spirit converted you, true Holy Spirit conviction will bring conversion the moment you believe in the Lord Jesus. My humble but earnest prayer is, may the Holy Spirit do his work in many a heart to convince them and bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ today. Father, honor and bless thy word for the glory of the Savior. Amen.