16:8
The Holy Spirit would work with the disciples and empower them, but He also works in the world. On its own the world is powerless to see the truth of the gospel, to see who Christ is. However, the Spirit works in the world as well, convicting the world of “sin, righteousness and judgement”. This does not mean that the whole world is convicted, except in the final day, but will work personally with individuals. So the witnessing work of the disciples, and indeed all of us, is a joint enterprise between ourselves and the Holy Spirit. If we fail to appreciate this then we will either get discouraged, or become manipulative or try and convince people in our own strength. This is bound to lead to disaster.
16:9-11
If they believed in Jesus, then they would listen to Him, and would know that they were guilty of sin. Because of their rebellion they do not listen to Jesus. So in order for someone to be saved they need the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin. Jesus taught and demonstrated what true righteousness was, rather than the religious righteousness of the Pharisees. Jesus would no longer be there to do this work of exposing false righteousness, so the Holy Spirit would take over this task. The world today very much has its own sense of righteousness. Try arguing against transideology, or abortion, and you will very quickly discover that the world has its own righteousness. The Spirit will expose the contradictions and the flaws inherent in the world’s righteousness. Likewise, the world has its own judgement, indeed is very judgemental as demonstrated by things like woke thinking and cancel culture. The “ruler of this world” is judged. The ways of the world are judged and found wanting.
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