Holy Ghost Conviction

OF WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICT THE SINNER?

Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

1 He convicts the sinner of SIN.  

Not simply "of sins", the fruit, but "of sin", the root, and of the paramount sin of unbelief the sin of rejecting Christ, John 16:9. Our consciences, if they are not too seared, 1 Tim. 4:2, will convict us of sins, such as theft, untruthfulness or jealousy, but it is only when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes that we see the enormity of the sin of rejecting the Saviour whom God has provided. The greatest sin anyone can commit, and the one sin by which we are condemned, is the sin of rejecting Christ.
 
2  He convicts the sinner of RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

He convicts of a righteousness which is required, Isa. 64:6 of a righteousness which is provided by God and offered to man in the Person of His Son, 2 Cor. 5:21, and which is receivable by faith, Apart from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, man has no true conception of his own unrighteousness or of God's righteousness, John 16:10.
 
3  He convicts the sinner of JUDGMENT. 

The Holy Spirit convinces man that Satan, and all who belong to him, are already doomed,  vs 11. What great need there is today for this threefold convicting work of the Holy Spirit! There is no substitute for it. Organization, the personality of the preacher, etc., all fail. Only the Holy Spirit can convince men of their desperate need of the Saviour.