Another portion of the Word that shows the sanctifying Spirit is John 16:8-11. These verses say, "And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe into Me; and concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." Luke 15:8-9 plus John 16:8-11 are on the sanctifying Spirit. This sanctifying of the Spirit includes the Spirit's seeking us and convicting us. Her seeking was for her convicting. The Spirit came to us to sanctify us unto God, to separate us unto God, first by seeking us carefully and second by convicting us prevailingly. The Spirit convicts us concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. These three items are big subjects in the New Testament.
First, the Spirit convicts the world concerning sin in Adam because they do not believe into Christ (John 16:9). Romans 5:12 says that sin entered into the world, into the people of the earth, through Adam. Adam was a big entry for sin to come in to all his descendants. We need to repent of the sin in Adam and believe into Christ. The sin which came into us from Adam causes us not to believe into Christ. To be born in Adam and not believe into Christ makes us sinners. We are companions of sin. We belong to sin. Sin is our kingdom, our realm, our field. We were in sin, in Adam, in our not believing into Christ. The Spirit convicts us that we are in Adam and will not believe into Christ. This is the first aspect of His convicting.
Then the Spirit convicts us concerning righteousness in Christ in His resurrection (John 16:10). Sin is in Adam. Righteousness is in Christ. Without Christ, there is no righteousness. On the whole earth, in the whole universe, righteousness is in Christ, and He is God's righteousness given to us as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). This is altogether in His resurrection. Romans 4:25 says Christ was resurrected for our justification, for our righteousness. If Christ only died on the cross and still remained in the tomb, there would be no righteousness and we could never be made righteous. Justification, to make Christ our righteousness, is through His resurrection.
We need to remember that Luke 15 was the Lord's parable, and John 16 was the Lord's teaching. Both came out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus, the One who is wisdom. Only Christ could have given us the parable in Luke 15. And only He could have given us the teaching in John 16. The parable in Luke 15 has the details. The teaching in John 16 has the crucial major points—sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sin as we have seen is in Adam, causing us not to believe. Not believing into Christ is the real sin before God. Then righteousness is in Christ. He died for our sins, and He was buried. Then He rose up for us to have Him as our righteousness, for us to be justified by God with Him as our righteousness.