The Spirit Convicts of
Righteousness
The Spirit’s work
goes beyond convicting of sin. Jesus
said that the Spirit would convince
the world of righteousness. The
Spirit is able to do this, said
Christ, “because I go to my
Father, and ye see me no more.”
(John 16:10.) What is righteousness?
Simply defined, it is right doing.
Ezra declared of God, “Thou art
righteous in all his ways.”
Psalm 145:17 “In all His
ways” includes His dealings with
the bad as well as with the good,
with devils as well as with holy
angels.
Since God is
righteous, His law must be righteous.
Indeed, “all thy commandments
are righteousness.” Psalm
119:172. No wonder the prophet Daniel
exclaimed, “O Lord,
righteousness belongeth unto
thee.” Daniel 9:7. And David
insisted, “There is nothing
unrighteous in God’s dealings
with any of the creatures in His vast
universe. His law and judgments, His
love and mercy, His justice and pity,
all manifest His righteousness. The
term “righteousness” is
somewhat like a basket; it holds all
excellencies and all perfections.
“Thy righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness.”
Psalm 119:142.
However, when we look
at the unregenerate man, a different
picture appears. Man is “filled
with all unrighteousness.”
(Romans 1:29.) Of the billions upon
billions of human beings that have
trod the earth, Paul declared.
“There are none righteous, no
not one.” Romans 3:10. Isaiah
said, “All our righteousness are
as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6.
What is the
possibility of reform? Can man make
himself righteous? Is there any such
thing as a spiritual self-improvement
program? Can man ever completely
reform himself? Self may be ever so
disgusted with self-lament and mourn
over its evil ways-but self-will
never overcome self; it can never
cast itself out. Self may reform in
some things, but whenever it works
out some voluntary humility, it
quickly brags about it. “See
what ‘I’ have done, boasts
self-attainment. God asks, “Can
the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots? Then may ye also
do good, that are accustomed to do
evil.” Jeremiah 13:23.
The office of the Holy
Spirit is to make righteousness so
attractive and so desirable to man
that he will be will to sacrifice his
incorrigible self to obtain it. When
the sinner sees the righteousness,
the goodness, and the love of Christ,
who willingly suffered as his
substitute on the cross and died in
his stead for his sins, gratitude
wells up in his soul and he cries
out, “I believe.” When he
accepts Christ, he receives
forgiveness and with this
Christ’s righteousness. He
stands justified before God through
the merits of Christ’s sinless
life and shed blood.
Jesus was made sin for
us “that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.” (2
Corinthians 5:21.) The Holy Spirit
not only deals with the
negative-sin-but with the
positive-righteousness. When God
forgives sin through faith in the
merits of Christ’s sacrifice, He
imputes righteousness to the
believer. The believer stands before
God not only as though he had never
sinned, but also as though he had
given God the same perfect obedience
that Christ has given Him.
How can the Spirit
convince man of righteousness? Jesus
said, “Because I go to my
Father.” How can His going back
to God convince us of this? Because
God the Father would never have
accepted Jesus back into heaven if
there had been one stain of sin upon
Him. Of Jesus we read, He “was
in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin.” (Hebrews
4:15.) “Though he were a Son,
yet learned obedience by the things
which he suffered.” Hebrews 5:8.
He was obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every
name.” (Philippians 2:8,9.)
Because Jesus obeyed, God the Father
accepted His righteousness.
How did Jesus develop
His positive righteousness? Isaiah
prophesied of Christ, “The
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him, … and shall make him of
quick understanding in the fear of
the Lord: … with righteousness
shall he judge the poor … And
righteousness shall be the girdle of
his loins.” Isaiah 11:2-5. The
Holy Spirit resting upon Christ
enabled Him to live a righteous life.
Because Christ Himself lived such a
life, was Himself so filled with the
Spirit, He could “go to the
Father,” or be resurrected; and
because of this the Spirit could
convict of righteousness. Only after
Christ’s life had demonstrated a
perfect righteousness could the
Spirit follow and Himself convict men
that they should have the
righteousness reflected in the life
of Christ.
However, the
Spirit’s work in convicting of
righteousness encompassed more than
convicting the sinner that Christ is
righteous. It also includes
convincing men that they may have
this same righteousness.
Justification has to do with that
portion of a man’s life which he
has already lived-the sins committed
in the past. (Romans 3:25.) However,
once justified does not mean always
justified. The question naturally
arises, how is the convert to live
that unlived portion of his life that
is yet future? Surely, it is not to
be lived to the lusts of the flesh.
(1 Peter 4:2.) To receive
Christ involves accepting the
righteousness that He lived out in
His life 1,900 years ago and
receiving the same Spirit that
enabled Him to live the righteous
life, He lived then. It means that we
should live “soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this
present world,” just as Christ
lived while on earth. (Titus 2:12.)
How can this be done? Through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit!
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shall not fulfill the lust of the
flesh.” Galatians 5:16. Thus,
the Holy Spirit goes a step further
and uses the Christian to convince
“the world … of
righteousness”!
The Bible calls this
growing up in Christ
“sanctification.” The
sanctified believer behaves as Christ
behaved. He has a progressive
experience, continuing as long as
life lasts. As justification is by
faith (Romans 5:1), so sanctification
is by faith (Acts 26:18). We receive
justification by believing that Jesus
took upon Himself the penalty for our
guilt when He died for us. We
experience sanctification as day by
day we let the Holy Spirit do in us
what He did in Jesus. Sanctification
means obedience to the law through
the Spirit. (Romans 15:16.)
Sanctification may also be spoken of
as imparted righteousness. “God
hath … chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the
Spirit.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
Memory Verse:
Galatians
5:22,23. “But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things
there is no law.
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