If I depart, I will send Him [the Comforter] unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin.
—John 16:7-8
The close connection between the two statements in these words of our Lord is not always noticed. Before the Holy Spirit was to reprove or convince the world of sin, He was first to come into the disciples. He was to dwell within them, and then, through them, He was to do His work of convicting the world of sin. “He shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness” (John 15:26–27).
The disciples were to realize that the great work of the Holy Spirit, striving with man, convincing the world of sin, could be done only as He had a dwelling place in them. They were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. They were to receive the power from on high with the one purpose of being the instruments through whom the Holy Spirit could reach the world.
The Holy Spirit comes to us so that through us He may reach others. When He enters us, He does not change His nature or lose His divine character. He is still the Spirit of God striving with man and seeking his deliverance. Wherever He is not hindered by ignorance or selfishness, He makes the heart willing and bold to testify against sin. He does this as the Spirit of the crucified Christ.
For what purpose was it that He received the Spirit without measure? “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me…to proclaim liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1). It was this same Spirit of Jesus whom He sent down on His church. The Spirit would pursue His divine work in them as He had in Christ, as a light shining in, revealing and condemning, conquering the darkness, as “by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4).
The Spirit can reach others through us only by first bringing us into perfect sympathy with Himself. He enters into us to become one with us. He becomes an attitude and a life within us. His work in us and through us becomes identical with our work.
Complete surrender is needed if, by my life, He is to convince the world of the sin of unbelief. One thing is needed to do this. There must be intense, continued, united, believing prayer that the Father would strengthen us all with might by His Spirit.