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The World Convicted

by Jerry Ousley  
5/20/2016 / Christian Living

"I stand corrected." Boy did I ever! I was guilty and I was convicted. It wasn't in a court of law; it wasn't over a terrible crime, but I was nonetheless guilty. I was the culprit who had eaten the last of the chocolate ice cream. Who could blame me? My family had gotten their bowls and I had waited until last. As I dug out my share there was only a little tinny-tiny bit left. If I had put it back in the freezer then someone would want to know why I didn't just finish it off. How was I to know that seconds were in order? So I did my husbandly duty and took it all, throwing away the container. Folks it was a no-win situation.

It was kind of like when we were in New Jersey while I was in my AIT training during my army days. I had been allowed to have Deb and Jeremy join me at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. It was a nice base but we were country folk from Southern Indiana Not used to the city life. Now I don't have anything against the State of New Jersey. But we just weren't used to it.

We had learned to hate being first in line at a stop light. That too was a no-win situation. The moment the light turned green if you hadn't begun pulling out into the intersection you were immediately the cause of horns honking behind you demanding that you either get moving or get out of the way. Yet if you bolted out into the intersection the moment the light turned green you were doomed to an accident because in the city when the light turns green it isn't the signal that it's okay to go because at least two or three more cars are going to be coming through. It simply means that it's okay to go as soon as those two or three cars have gone through. So what do you do? It's embarrassing being honked at but my feelings were that it was better than sitting in the middle of the intersection with another vehicle plowed into the side of you. So sometimes we are guilty but it's because we find ourselves in a situation where we are going to be guilty of something and we chose what we feel is the lesser of the two evils.

In John 16:7-11 Jesus said that He had to leave and here's why: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 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." Even though the disciples were sad to see Jesus go (who wouldn't be?) He had explained why it was necessary that He leave. Had He not ascended to the Father the Holy Spirit could not have come.

Because Jesus did go and sent the Holy Spirit in His place we now have access to the Lord 24/7. In addition to that the Holy Spirit is here to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. The word "convict" means that one has been found guilty. It has been proven in a legal and acceptable manner that the person did indeed commit what they have been accused of. In my silly examples I was guilty of eating the last of the chocolate ice cream. And I was guilty of not taking off when the light turned green, thus holding up all those in line behind me.

But the world is guilty of much worse. Sin, righteousness and judgment are very serious accusations. Sin keeps us away from God. Righteousness in this case means self-righteousness or in other words, our feeling that we are good enough aside from God. And judgment (because the prince of this world is judged) is referring to the devil being exposed and found guilty as the instigator of the sin and self-righteousness in the world.

Yes the world is found guilty of these things. It is convicted because it is deep in sin and self-righteousness and needs to be exposed so that all is out in the open. Once it is then something can be done about it. One person at a time coming to Christ will free the world of sin, although for all practical purposes we know that sin will never leave this planet until the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Until then mankind will continue to sin and justify himself in self-righteousness. And the devil will keep right on influencing us to do those things.

But in Christ we can be set free. We stand convicted but because we have allowed ourselves to be exposed and pleaded guilty before the Great Judge God Almighty with Jesus as our Advocate, we have been pardoned. All who come to Christ will be pardoned. Isn't that better than being judged along with the prince of this world?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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