This is wonderful, this makes all the difference. A preacher can speak about these things; he can preach a sermon about sin, but who wants to hear about sin? What a negative subject! Who wants to be accused of all sorts of things, of pride and deceit and selfishness and ill-temper and every conceivable sin? Who wants to be made to feel that they are rejected of God and spurned and will be punished eternally and go to heaven? Is the gospel going to be a popular subject? Are people going to be patient and sit and listen, and say, ‘Yes, you are right. That is me. I am a wicked sinner’? They will not. Every fibre of their being will be against the preacher. They will walk out. They will repel the message. They may persecute the preacher. That is what happens. Nobody wants to listen. Nobody wants this message. A Christian person will say to a friend, ‘I have a Saviour. I would like to tell you about my Saviour who saves from sin.’ He does not want to hear that.
Well, then how can this message ever succeed? How can it change people who will resent it and be against it? The difference is the Holy Spirit. As we speak, in hearts known to him, who he has targeted and to whom he will speak, inside he will convict. This message is true. They will say, ‘This is about me. This makes me feel terrible. This makes me feel guilty and condemned. This makes me feel my need of God’s forgiveness. I never believed in him. I scoffed at him, I scorned him, I laughed at him. But he is real and he is there, and this makes me feel that I need his loving kindness. I hear about a Saviour who suffered and died for a sinner like me, I need him.’ What a change, what a turnabout, what an amazing difference in the hearing we get when the Holy Spirit works within. As we speak to the outer man and woman, the Holy Spirit moves in the inner man and woman. And that is power; that is the difference, dear friends. ‘When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,’ and the opponent melts, his heart is inclined, and he is made aware of his state before God.
What is meant by the world? Well, to the disciples the world is the unbelieving Jewish leaders who are against them, the persecutors, the people who are doing their utmost to turn the masses against Christ. In any day and age, the majority of people who are unbelievers, who are against Christ are the world.