¹¹ “… and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

Fear of judgment runs deep in the human heart, a foreboding sense of coming up short of what God expects. That is what enlightens our understanding of what Jesus meant when speaking of the third aspect of the Spirit’s convicting work. To be certain, Satan knows he is judged, but Jesus is speaking of a wider conviction. Satan’s defeat simply validates or confirms to us the certainty of judgment for everyone who follows Satan’s rebellious ways. If the leader is judged, will not the pack that follows him also be judged?

This is the classical argument from the greater to the lesser, similar to what the writer of Hebrews wrote: “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb 2:2–3a). If the pinnacle of God’s creation (Ezek 28:12) fell into the judgment of God because of His rebellion, how shall we escape judgment if we fall into the same pattern of unbelief.

Though humans by their rebellion have darkened their hearts through the callousness that sin produces (Rom 1:21), though they even mock the idea of God’s judgment (2 Peter 3:3), the Holy Spirit can still break through and convict the greatest of sinners. When Paul, the great persecutor of the early church, was confronted on the road to Damascus with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, there was no arguing with God’s righteousness. Although he once thought of himself as being righteous and blameless under the Law of Moses (Phil 3:6), he came to see himself as he really was: “formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. (1 Tim 1:13, 15). The Holy Spirit revealed this to him and convicted him.

Yes, the Spirit of God is in the world convicting people of sin, or righteousness and of judgment. As we observe our culture continuing its downward spiral of sin in rejection of God and His righteousness, and as we anticipate the coming judgment, our thoughts need to turn inward, lest we become like Pharisees and fail to see that our culture is made up of human beings, of which I am one. Have I hardened my heart against the convicting work of the Spirit in any area of sin? Have I compromised God’s righteousness? Have I lost the fear of His judgment?

Lord, please let Your Spirit continue His convicting work in my life.